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durée : 01:00:11 - Abed Azrié, chanteur et compositeur franco-syrien - par : Priscille Lafitte - Dernier né d'une fratrie de 10 enfants, Abed Azrié grandit à Alep, où il chante en araméen chaque dimanche à l'église. Il vient à Paris pour apprendre le piano et la composition en autodidacte, à l'écoute de Bach, Debussy et Ravel, avant de traduire et de mettre en musique l'épopée de Gilgamesh. - réalisé par : Philippe Petit
For most of his career, Kumail Nanjiani has been asked to play the same type of brash nerd character that he perfected over six seasons on HBO's ‘Silicon Valley.' Then, a few years back, everything changed. The Pakistani-American comedian transformed his body to appear in the Marvel movie ‘Eternals' and ever since, strange new doors have opened for him in Hollywood. One of those unexpected opportunities came when Natasha Lyonne reached out to him to play the bleach-blonde-haired, heavily tattooed Florida panhandle cop named Gator Joe on this week's episode of her Peacock hit ‘Poker Face.' At first, he thought she might have been joking. In this episode, Nanjiani talks about how he nailed the character's very specific Southern accent only days before they started filming. Then, he looks back at the earlier part of his career, including how close he came to playing Abed on ‘Community,' what he learned about “amoral” tech giants like Elon Musk through ‘Silicon Valley,' and the deeply rewarding experience of bringing his real-life story to the screen in ‘The Big Sick.' And he also discusses his long-awaited return to stand-up comedy with his first special in 12 years set to hit Hulu later this year. Follow Kumail Nanjiani on Instagram @kerrikenneysilverFollow Matt Wilstein on Bluesky @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpodHighlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In Part 2 of our interview with Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, the 22-year-old recounts leaving Gaza last month for Ireland while facing threats to his safety and suffering from malnutrition. He says he has found solidarity and comfort in Ireland, but says he is still dealing with the trauma of a year and a half of war. The sounds of planes and helicopters still trigger fear in him. “I'm trying to navigate this pain,” he says.
In Part 2 of our interview with Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, the 22-year-old recounts leaving Gaza last month for Ireland while facing threats to his safety and suffering from malnutrition. He says he has found solidarity and comfort in Ireland, but says he is still dealing with the trauma of a year and a half of war. The sounds of planes and helicopters still trigger fear in him. “I'm trying to navigate this pain,” he says.
Abed's out-of-nowhere quest to connect everyone's backstories leads to an interesting if shaky bout of personal revelations in "Heroic Origins" (S4E12). We're almost done with this season, y'all!Listen to CR101 on AnchorSpotifyBreakerGoogle PodcastsPocket CastsRadio PublicOther links:Follow the CR101 crew on TwitterMutant ReviewersThomas Midena YouTubeHeather's Twitch channel
Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks talks with Dr. Mary Abed Al Ahad about how long-term exposure to air pollution is quietly driving people to the hospital. Drawing from her recent study, Dr. Abed Al Ahad breaks down which specific pollutants were linked to higher hospitalization rates and how those effects vary—some pollutants hit the lungs harder, others may affect the immune system or even mental health. They also explore the science behind why certain pollutants cause different kinds of harm, and wrap up with ideas for how we can clean up the air and protect our health. If you've ever wondered what's really in the air you breathe—and what it's doing to your body—this episode is worth a listen. Dr. Abed Al Ahad is a researcher and associate lecturer in Population and Health Geography at the School of Geography & Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews in Scotland. You can learn more about her research here. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here.Support the show
Palestinian architect and researcher Abdalrahman Kittana, who has been actively engaged in discussions and initiatives on Gaza's reconstruction, joins Yara Hawari to examine the various reconstruction plans and their feasibility amid Israel's ongoing genocide.
Dear Muslims, we never asked you to ease our suffering with bottles of water or food parcels. You misunderstood Islam when you chose this path. Sadly, you only act with Israel's approval, as you've been unable to lift the ongoing Israeli blockade on Gaza for over 20 days.You can find Abubaker Abed here:https://x.com/AbubakerAbedWBecome a member here:https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membershipYou can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/DonateListen to the audio version of the podcast:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636aApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.comPurchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merchFind us on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslimFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslimBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/thinkingmuslim.bsky.socialHost: https://twitter.com/jalalaynHost IG: https://www.instagram.com/jalalayns/Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jeff and Robert are joined once again by Sabrine Abed to talk about the recent detention of Mahmoud Khalil, what that means for civil liberties and the American crackdown on on dissent. SUPPORT GOOD MORNING COMRADE Support us on Patreon Follow us on Tiktok Subscribe on Youtube Follow Jeff on Twitter Email us! goodmorningcomrade.com Tiktok Bluesky Twitter Facebook Leave a review! 5 stars and say something nice to spread the word about the show!
It's Christmas in March as CR101 unwraps "Intro to Knots" (S4E10), but don't thank us -- it's a vapid, unsatisfying episode with the lamest knots ever. Oh, and Abed something something Die Hard.Listen to CR101 on AnchorSpotifyBreakerGoogle PodcastsPocket CastsRadio PublicOther links:Follow the CR101 crew on TwitterMutant ReviewersThomas Midena YouTubeHeather's Twitch channel
09 03 2025 02 Radio Revista Carlos Vera Abed Libro de Cuento by ABC Color
Stratcom Talks bu bölümünde Filistin Telekomünikasyon ve Dijital Ekonomi Bakanı Dr.Abed-Alrazzaq Natsheh'i ağıladı. Filistin'deki mevcut durumun ele alındığı bölümde Dr. Natsheh, Filistin Telekomünikasyon Bakanlığı olarak Gazze ve Filistin'de yaşananları dünyaya duyurmak, iletişim altyapısını koruyarak gerçek hikâyeleri aktarmak ve İsrail'in yanlış bilgilendirme çabalarına karşı dijital araçlarla mücadele etmek için kesintisiz çalıştıklarını vurguladı. Bunun yalnızca Filistin'in değil, adalet ve hakikate inanan herkesin ortak sorumluluğu olduğunu ifade etti.
Jeff is joined by Sabrine Abed to talk about Palestine, resistance and fighting back against apartheid. SUPPORT GOOD MORNING COMRADE Support us on Patreon Follow us on Tiktok Subscribe on Youtube Follow Jeff on Twitter Email us! goodmorningcomrade.com Tiktok Bluesky Twitter Facebook Leave a review! 5 stars and say something nice to spread the word about the show!
WATCH the video of this interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/D0LaSJqnI-I Abby Martin speaks with Abubaker Abed in Gaza City, a Palestinian journalist who reported through the 15 months of Israeli genocide, about Trump's threats and the status of the ceasefire. FOLLOW Abubaker on Twitter: https://x.com/abubakerabedw READ his work on Substack: https://substack.com/@abubakerabedw EMPIRE FILES VIDEOS + MERCH + SOCIALS + PATREON + EXCLUSIVE CONTENT :: https://linktr.ee/empirefiles
Istrouma en Español Jan 19 – 21, 2025 ========== 19 de Enero, 2025 Dios camina contigo en el fuego Daniel 3 ========== Daniel 3:1-30 El rey Nabucodonosor hizo una estatua de oro cuya altura era de sesenta codos, y su anchura de seis codos; la levantó en el campo de Dura, en la provincia de Babilonia. Y envió el rey Nabucodonosor a que se reuniesen los sátrapas, los magistrados y capitanes, oidores, tesoreros, consejeros, jueces, y todos los gobernadores de las provincias, para que viniesen a la dedicación de la estatua que el rey Nabucodonosor había levantado. Fueron, pues, reunidos los sátrapas, magistrados, capitanes, oidores, tesoreros, consejeros, jueces, y todos los gobernadores de las provincias, a la dedicación de la estatua que el rey Nabucodonosor había levantado; y estaban en pie delante de la estatua que había levantado el rey Nabucodonosor. Y el pregonero anunciaba en alta voz: Mándase a vosotros, oh pueblos, naciones y lenguas, que al oír el son de la bocina, de la flauta, del tamboril, del arpa, del salterio, de la zampoña y de todo instrumento de música, os postréis y adoréis la estatua de oro que el rey Nabucodonosor ha levantado; y cualquiera que no se postre y adore, inmediatamente será echado dentro de un horno de fuego ardiendo. Por lo cual, al oír todos los pueblos el son de la bocina, de la flauta, del tamboril, del arpa, del salterio, de la zampoña y de todo instrumento de música, todos los pueblos, naciones y lenguas se postraron y adoraron la estatua de oro que el rey Nabucodonosor había levantado. Por esto en aquel tiempo algunos varones caldeos vinieron y acusaron maliciosamente a los judíos. Hablaron y dijeron al rey Nabucodonosor: Rey, para siempre vive. Tú, oh rey, has dado una ley que todo hombre, al oír el son de la bocina, de la flauta, del tamboril, del arpa, del salterio, de la zampoña y de todo instrumento de música, se postre y adore la estatua de oro; y el que no se postre y adore, sea echado dentro de un horno de fuego ardiendo. Hay unos varones judíos, los cuales pusiste sobre los negocios de la provincia de Babilonia: Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego; estos varones, oh rey, no te han respetado; no adoran tus dioses, ni adoran la estatua de oro que has levantado. Entonces Nabucodonosor dijo con ira y con enojo que le trajesen a Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego. Al instante fueron traídos estos varones delante del rey. Habló Nabucodonosor y les dijo: ¿Es verdad, Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego, que vosotros no honráis a mi dios, ni adoráis la estatua de oro que he levantado? Ahora, pues, ¿estáis dispuestos para que al oír el son de la bocina, de la flauta, del tamboril, del arpa, del salterio, de la zampoña y de todo instrumento de música, os postréis y adoréis la estatua que he hecho? Porque si no la adorareis, en la misma hora seréis echados en medio de un horno de fuego ardiendo; ¿y qué dios será aquel que os libre de mis manos? Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego respondieron al rey Nabucodonosor, diciendo: No es necesario que te respondamos sobre este asunto. He aquí nuestro Dios a quien servimos puede librarnos del horno de fuego ardiendo; y de tu mano, oh rey, nos librará. Y si no, sepas, oh rey, que no serviremos a tus dioses, ni tampoco adoraremos la estatua que has levantado. Entonces Nabucodonosor se llenó de ira, y se demudó el aspecto de su rostro contra Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego, y ordenó que el horno se calentase siete veces más de lo acostumbrado. Y mandó a hombres muy vigorosos que tenía en su ejército, que atasen a Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego, para echarlos en el horno de fuego ardiendo. Entonces estos varones fueron atados con sus mantos, sus calzas, sus turbantes y sus vestidos, y fueron echados dentro del horno de fuego ardiendo. Y como la orden del rey era apremiante, y lo habían calentado mucho, la llama del fuego mató a aquellos que habían alzado a Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego. Y estos tres varones, Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego, cayeron atados dentro del horno de fuego ardiendo. Entonces el rey Nabucodonosor se espantó, y se levantó apresuradamente y dijo a los de su consejo: ¿No echaron a tres varones atados dentro del fuego? Ellos respondieron al rey: Es verdad, oh rey. Y él dijo: He aquí yo veo cuatro varones sueltos, que se pasean en medio del fuego sin sufrir ningún daño; y el aspecto del cuarto es semejante a hijo de los dioses. Entonces Nabucodonosor se acercó a la puerta del horno de fuego ardiendo, y dijo: Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego, siervos del Dios Altísimo, salid y venid. Entonces Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego salieron de en medio del fuego. Y se juntaron los sátrapas, los gobernadores, los capitanes y los consejeros del rey, para mirar a estos varones, cómo el fuego no había tenido poder alguno sobre sus cuerpos, ni aun el cabello de sus cabezas se había quemado; sus ropas estaban intactas, y ni siquiera olor de fuego tenían. Entonces Nabucodonosor dijo: Bendito sea el Dios de ellos, de Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego, que envió su ángel y libró a sus siervos que confiaron en él, y que no cumplieron el edicto del rey, y entregaron sus cuerpos antes que servir y adorar a otro dios que su Dios. Por lo tanto, decreto que todo pueblo, nación o lengua que dijere blasfemia contra el Dios de Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego, sea descuartizado, y su casa convertida en muladar; por cuanto no hay dios que pueda librar como este. Entonces el rey engrandeció a Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego en la provincia de Babilonia. 1. El Poder que oprime. (Daniel 3:1-7) 2. El Pacto que sostiene. (Daniel 3:16-18) 3. El Protector que salva. (Daniel 3:24-25) Daniel 3:1-30 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. 1. The Power that oppresses. (Daniel 3:1-7) 2. The Covenant that Sustains.(Daniel 3:16-18) 3. The Protector who saves. (Daniel 3:24-25) [Image] https://imageproxy.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/117574509-1705700493680.jpg [Image] https://imageproxy.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/117574509-1697561260831.jpg Regístrate ¡Si es la primera vez que asistes te invitamos a que te registres utilizando el siguiente link! https://istrouma.org/nuevo Nuestro Facebook Link de nuestro facebook donde nuestros servicios estarán en vivo ¡Acompáñanos! https://www.facebook.com/IBCespanol/ Visita nuestra pagina oficial: ¡Te esperamos! https://istrouma.org/espanol
Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed describes life in Gaza as Israel continues to destroy hospitals, schools, and entire communities. He shares stories of hope and resilience ahead of a ceasefire, and discusses what life would look like in a "Free Palestine." PLUS: Journalist Sam Husseini details his physical expulsion from Blinken's press briefing and what the episode says about the deferential press corps. ----- Watch full episodes on Rumble, streamed LIVE 7pm ET. Become part of our Locals community Follow Glenn: Twitter Instagram Follow System Update: Twitter Instagram TikTok Facebook LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Istrouma en Español Jan 12 – 14, 2025 ========== 12 de Enero, 2025 Decisiones que Definen tu Fe Daniel 1.1-21 ========== Daniel 1:1-21 En el año tercero del reinado de Joacim rey de Judá, vino Nabucodonosor rey de Babilonia a Jerusalén, y la sitió. Y el Señor entregó en sus manos a Joacim rey de Judá, y parte de los utensilios de la casa de Dios; y los trajo a tierra de Sinar, a la casa de su dios, y colocó los utensilios en la casa del tesoro de su dios. Y dijo el rey a Aspenaz, jefe de sus eunucos, que trajese de los hijos de Israel, del linaje real de los príncipes, muchachos en quienes no hubiese tacha alguna, de buen parecer, enseñados en toda sabiduría, sabios en ciencia y de buen entendimiento, e idóneos para estar en el palacio del rey; y que les enseñase las letras y la lengua de los caldeos. Y les señaló el rey ración para cada día, de la provisión de la comida del rey, y del vino que él bebía; y que los criase tres años, para que al fin de ellos se presentasen delante del rey. Entre estos estaban Daniel, Ananías, Misael y Azarías, de los hijos de Judá. A estos el jefe de los eunucos puso nombres: puso a Daniel, Beltsasar; a Ananías, Sadrac; a Misael, Mesac; y a Azarías, Abed-nego. Y Daniel propuso en su corazón no contaminarse con la porción de la comida del rey, ni con el vino que él bebía; pidió, por tanto, al jefe de los eunucos que no se le obligase a contaminarse. Y puso Dios a Daniel en gracia y en buena voluntad con el jefe de los eunucos; y dijo el jefe de los eunucos a Daniel: Temo a mi señor el rey, que señaló vuestra comida y vuestra bebida; pues luego que él vea vuestros rostros más pálidos que los de los muchachos que son semejantes a vosotros, condenaréis para con el rey mi cabeza. Entonces dijo Daniel a Melsar, que estaba puesto por el jefe de los eunucos sobre Daniel, Ananías, Misael y Azarías: Te ruego que hagas la prueba con tus siervos por diez días, y nos den legumbres a comer, y agua a beber. Compara luego nuestros rostros con los rostros de los muchachos que comen de la ración de la comida del rey, y haz después con tus siervos según veas. Consintió, pues, con ellos en esto, y probó con ellos diez días. Y al cabo de los diez días pareció el rostro de ellos mejor y más robusto que el de los otros muchachos que comían de la porción de la comida del rey. Así, pues, Melsar se llevaba la porción de la comida de ellos y el vino que habían de beber, y les daba legumbres. A estos cuatro muchachos Dios les dio conocimiento e inteligencia en todas las letras y ciencias; y Daniel tuvo entendimiento en toda visión y sueños. Pasados, pues, los días al fin de los cuales había dicho el rey que los trajesen, el jefe de los eunucos los trajo delante de Nabucodonosor. Y el rey habló con ellos, y no fueron hallados entre todos ellos otros como Daniel, Ananías, Misael y Azarías; así, pues, estuvieron delante del rey. En todo asunto de sabiduría e inteligencia que el rey les consultó, los halló diez veces mejores que todos los magos y astrólogos que había en todo su reino. Y continuó Daniel hasta el año primero del rey Ciro. 1. "Decidió ser fiel por encima de su posición" (Daniel 1:8) No permitió que el privilegio de la mesa del rey comprometiera su relación con el Rey de reyes. 2️. "Defendió su identidad por encima de la presión" (Daniel 1:12-13) Su lealtad a Dios no dependía de su entorno, sino de su convicción. 3️. "Depositó su confianza en Dios por encima de las circunstancias" (Daniel 1:17) Sabía que Dios respalda a los que son fieles, incluso en medio de sistemas opresivos. Daniel 1:1-21 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my Lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. 1. "He decided to be faithful above his position" (Daniel 1:8) He did not allow the privilege of the king's table to compromise his relationship with the King of kings. 2️. "He defended his identity above the pressure" (Daniel 1:12-13) His loyalty to God did not depend on his surroundings, but on his conviction. 3️. "He placed his trust in God above the circumstances" (Daniel 1:17) He knew that God supports those who are faithful, even in the midst of oppressive systems. [Image] https://imageproxy.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/117574509-1705700493680.jpg [Image] https://imageproxy.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/117574509-1697561260831.jpg Regístrate ¡Si es la primera vez que asistes te invitamos a que te registres utilizando el siguiente link! https://istrouma.org/nuevo Nuestro Facebook Link de nuestro facebook donde nuestros servicios estarán en vivo ¡Acompáñanos! https://www.facebook.com/IBCespanol/ Visita nuestra pagina oficial: ¡Te esperamos! https://istrouma.org/espanol
Today, we revisit conversations with two 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. First, King: A Life, the biography by Jonathan Eig, provides a fresh perspective on the life of one of America's most important activists. In today's episode, Eig speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about how Martin Luther King, Jr. rose to prominence at such a young age, and how he maintained his spirituality through deep scrutiny and surveillance. Then, A Day In The Life of Abed Salama is a true story that takes place in Jerusalem. In 2012, a bus collided with a semi trailer. Six Palestinian kindergarteners and a teacher burned to death. Abed Salama, who is the father of one of the children, has to navigate physical and bureaucratic barriers as he searches for his son. Author Nathan Thrall revisits the journey and the vivid people, both Palestinian and Jewish, Salama encountered. In today's episode, Thrall and Salama speak with NPR's Leila Fadel about the emotional odyssey and the book's reception after the Hamas attack on Israel in October.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
00:08 — Nathan Thrall is an American writer living in Jerusalem. In 2024, he received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. The post Fund Drive Special: A Day in the Life of Abed Salama appeared first on KPFA.
How important is hope and a feeling of agency over your own life? I think we'd say those are crucial to anyone. But if you're born into a consistent cycle of poverty, if your family and community have struggled for generations, hope and agency can seem as fantastical as unicorns. Welcome to part 2 of Charlie Bresler's discussion with Shameran Abed, Executive Director of BRAC International, and Scott MacMillan, Director of Learning and Effectiveness and author of Hope Over Fate. In part 1, the show delved into BRAC's history and the evolving vision of its founder, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. In this new segment, Charlie and his guests look into the necessity of hope and agency in breaking the cycle of poverty. BRAC takes this notion very seriously. BRAC supplies funding, but also skills training, health care, education, and microloans for entrepreneurial efforts. Listen to the conversation to find out how BRAC is truly moving the needle on extreme poverty, then go to BRAC's website, bracusa.org, to learn more and to give. You can also order a copy of Scott's book, Hope Over Fate: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty: bracusa.org/hope-over-fate. Musings About Ourselves and Other Strangers is the podcast for the non-profit organization The Life You Can Save and is hosted by co-founder Charlie Bresler. Please check out other episodes as well as our website for ideas on how you too can extend your impact for good in the world: www.thelifeyoucansave.org.
Finishing the normal weekend.In 25 parts, edited from the works of FinalStand.Listen and subscribe to the ► Podcast at Connected..“Being an asshole is not so much a matter of anatomy as one of social consciousness.”(Where we left off)"Bitch, did you just Taser my fiancé?" Orlando's lady stood up. Orlando was struggling back up as well."You are questioning the obvious," Estere mused as she dropped the device. She deftly pulled out what I thought was a compact Bersa 9 and began applying a silencer.It was sort of amazing that no one was screaming yet, then it dawned on me that we were in a soundproofed room and Estere was standing at the only exit."Would you have preferred I use this?" the Hashashin killer motioned with her firearm."How did you get a gun in here?" Brennan stammered. He looked ready to pee himself, so tonight was coming out in spades."Estere," I greeted the woman from Kurdistan. "Those two are okay," motioning to Orlando and his lady. "He's got some testosterone issues; I'm sure you understand.""Is this a kidnapping?" Anima sounded rather upbeat."Your rung on the Ladder of Heaven is not high," Estere commented to Anima. "Your outlook is not promising either. Silence is your best option, so exercise it.""Cáel, do you know this woman?" Libra had begun piecing things together; as in; my life was so crazy that women with guns showing up was much too common an occurrence. I thought about 'Yes Honey, she's a member of an 11th century mystic order of Nazri Ismailis assassins. In fact, her people gave us the word assassin'. Telling the truth at this juncture didn't seem wise, so;"Yes, Estere and I are old pals," I lied. "She's a freelance archivist, genealogist and an Olmec-tastic historical pioneer." Don't bother looking it up; Olmec-tastic is a made up word; it is the crunching of Olmec (a Mesoamerican pre-Columbian culture) and '-tastic' which means; I guess it is a truncated form of 'fantastic'."You mean she's in 'record reduction', the same as you?" Casper whispered."Precisely!" I grinned her way. "Except she's got a Masters diploma on some wall somewhere alongside the shrunken heads of her first three victims; I mean clients; Clients!" Why was I blathering? There was a strange (to most of the room) woman between us and the only exit and panicking would suck; big time.Pause."So, Orlando," I restarted things, "are you going to get up and attempt to kick my ass, causing my friend here to shoot you, or can I return to explaining to Brennan how the world is NOT his oyster and I'm willing to slam anal beads made of flesh-eating scarabs up his rectum to prove it?"That was a gross visual, even for me. A momentary pause as Brooke and her new friend wedged their way toward me (and the girl with the gun)."Every time we meet," Estere observed, "you are surrounded with a curtain of women.""Sucks to be me?" I shrugged."At least these are sheep," she noted. That didn't go over well. Libra confronted Estere."Hey now, you can't talk about us that way," Libra insisted."Or what?" Estere regarded her."Or; or, Cáel will make you stop," Libra growled; THEN looked at me. Wrong sequence of events."Libra," I pulled her back into my embrace, "I've been on the job about a month. She's been making character-building life decisions since before I hit puberty.""What was that; a month ago," Brennan snorted. A yelp followed. Estere had shot at him. "What the fuck!" he staggered back into his seat. "You shot me.""No, I shot 'at' you. Had I shot you, you would be bleeding," Estere glowered. "I am not one of Cáel's normal guardians. I take insults to any women as a personal affront; a sickness best dealt with in a pain-filled, educational fashion. You are not bleeding because that would displease Cáel. Now say 'thank you' in the next ten seconds, or be prepared to go through life as a eunuch."Brennan looked to Orlando in hopes he had some secret mojo to handle this situation."Dumbass," Orlando snarled at Brennan, "you are the punk who put us in a room with only one damn exit. I'm not taking a bullet for you.""You are the martial artist," Brennan snapped back. "Do something!""Brennan, you had better say something quick." Casper urged her host."I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Brennan whined."I have crippled supplicants for groveling with twice that level of passion, Cáel Ishara," Estere stared at me. She began removing her silencer. "Cáel and I have unfinished business, so I will let this pathetic insult pass."She shoulder holstered her weapon and moved to sit at my side. The problem was the passel of ladies around me. Estere looked past the last woman (Brooke) to the somewhat stupefied rich thing beside her."Move," she stated politely. Unlike my difficulties earlier, the whole crowd quickly shuffled down to make space.That tiny hiccup settled, we returned to the abnormal activities of the Illusions Gentlemen's Club's private room. Some of us had fun. A few, used to tormenting the staff, found themselves shooting fearful looks Estere's way whenever they began to act out. I took a few seconds to quietly talk to Estere, now that I had some breathing room."I talked with Ishara; the Goddess," I related. "She's pissed with the Host right now and I'm not sure what to do." Divulging information? Yes. I needed help somewhat badly."Your Order has been out of balance for some time," Estere counseled. "Without balance, there can be no true strength. You are dying out and there must be a blemish behind that; some cancer eating away at the foundation of your belief system."Wow; actually useful. Essentially ; I needed to stay the course."Cool. Thanks Estere," I smiled. "Can I plumb the depths of your knowledge for two more pieces of advice?" We both knew what 'plumb' really meant. I pulled out the necklace from beneath my shirt. "An Earth and Sky envoy sent me this gift, but; the message didn't make it.""What would a suitable gift be and how would I find the person in New York City?" I asked."That is not a gift," Estere smiled warmly. "That is a token of passage from a Beg of the E and S; essentially a regional commander. Pretty impressive. Unfortunately, he, or she, is expecting you to return it at some pre-described place and time; which was probably stated in the message you never received.""My turn," she twisted in her bench seat and placed her left leg over me then inserted it between my legs. "What will be the fate of our daughter?""She will automatically be a member of the Host. Heritage passes through the male line. If she has the genetics that conspire against fate, then she would be in the running to become Head of House.""Not automatic?" she questioned."No. Such things, at least while decided by me, will be based upon merit. I couldn't keep faith with the members of the House otherwise," I explained."Would she be allowed to be passed between us?" was the next question."Absolutely. Not only am I a huge fan of motherhood; I see such an education making her stronger and more flexible when dealing with issues with outsiders," I assured Estere."You act freely. Don't you have to consult your High Priestess; perhaps the Council?" she mused. "I must seek direction from my superiors.""Over the welfare of my children? Nope, not happening. The daughters and sons of; the House are our responsibility as a group. We do not need the other Houses meddling in our affairs," I stated."That is good," she snuggled up even tighter. Sadly for that romantic moment, we had less romantic company to contend with.(Later that Night)Why was I still at Casa da Sulkanen? Brennan couldn't take a hint, buy a clue, or learn a lesson. Why was Estere with us? It was the Pamela factor. Who was going to tell her to leave? After five, non-continuous hours of sex with three women (Casper still hadn't come over to our side yet), how was I still standing? Simply put, I wasn't.Brooke and I were in the nicely heated pool, her arms wrapped around my neck, mine massaging her naked ass and us doing a little whisper/snicker/tickle/giggle game that is very whimsical and hard to explain. Brooke went from micro-orgasm to micro-orgasm to the Big One. Fortunately, our mutual experience allowed me to be in water shallow enough that my toes could touch bottom."I've decided I'm not jealous of Estere," Brooke panted into my ear. "I see the happiness in your eyes when we make love. I think you and I are doing okay." Not quite a Writ of Possession. I was working out the uncomplicated response when our gentle, body-bonded, circular motion caused Brooke to tense up. I followed her gaze to the lounge chair where we had stacked up our belongings, and the dark, dark blonde-haired women sitting in it.Her dress was business chic yet rumpled. Her eyes had the lines of someone who spent too much time looking at a computer screen and she looked mentally and emotionally drained."Good evening," I greeted her. I steered Brooke toward the closest ladder only to realize that even our towels were by her seat. There was nothing we could do but face the situation head on."I'm Cáel Nyilas and my beautiful friend here is Brooke Lee," I made our introductions. "Please excuse our condition, but we weren't expecting company at this hour by the pool.""You are not my brother's normal flock of seagulls," she commented. "Hana Sulkanen, by the way." The way 'seagulls' rolled off her tongue, I knew she meant 'winged rats' instead of any true avian.Oh cool; she had a Carnegie-Melon ring. Oh cool; she was watching my still erect penis bobbing her way. I thought a little damage control/diplomacy was in order."As I said, I'm Cáel. I work as an intern at Havenstone Commercial Investments. Brooke recently graduated Vassar, was going to get married to some other guy, but that fell through a little while ago," I directed the conversation to Brooke and I not being parasites."School?" Hana inquired. So much for that."Bolingbrook in New Hampshire," I answered."Never heard of it," she yawned. Brooke simmered with outrage over that."You and 99.99% of North America," I joked. "It doesn't change the fact that I kick ass at my job, am constantly underestimated and enjoy making my own way in the world.""And you consider making your own way in the world to be swimming in my father's pool at four in the morning?" she snorted. Her drink was a V-8. No alcohol for her."We came because Cáel's father was murdered this week," Brooke snapped. "He needed a break." That brought a few seconds."Really now," she regarded me studiously. Out came the E-device."Ferko Nyilas; Burnham Illinois which is a suburb of Chicago," I fed her the pertinent data. Brooke was even unhappier that I felt compelled to verify her statement, so I distracted her by suggesting we gather our belongings."Your father was killed in a gun battle; still under investigation," Hana muttered."Are you some sort of criminal? Was your father?" she probed."Ah, I see you possess the same level of common courtesy as your brother, Brennan," I responded. "To answer the first and only question I feel like answering; no; making my own way in the world means I don't answer the questions of exhausted, over-extended, junior plutocrats who somehow assume they can provide any useful input to my life."Verbal hammer to her facial self-esteem. Hana was a 'producer' in that she had a job she felt she deserved, worked at it to some acclaim and added to her family's productivity; the opposite of Brennan."If you feel insulted, by all means leave, Mr. Nyilas," Hana glared."Oh, thank God," I sighed happily. I began dressing, as did Brooke. Hana looked uncertain."Cáel's been looking for a cordial excuse to get us out of here since we arrived," Brooke explained. "I imagine I should thank you. I wasn't sure how I'd keep Cáel from punching out your little brother over breakfast." Hana looked out-maneuvered."What is that?" Hana pointed to my horse-hoof necklace. She almost reached for it, then politesse kicked in."It is gift from a stranger," I told her. "It is from Central Asia.""May I see it?" she inquired. I nodded, then handed it over."Looks old," she muttered. "The language; it's not Uzbek;” Seeing the curious look on my face, "I do some business for my step-father in the old SSR's, so I've picked up some of the languages." Then, "I swear it's Chagatai." (SSR = Soviet Socialist Republics.)"Where is that from?" Brooke leaned in."Nowhere today. For 500 years, it was the lingua franca of the Turkish people ; until the Soviets wiped it out a hundred years ago. They wanted Russian to be the unifying language, so they promoted regional tongues and regulated Chagatai to the long list of dead languages," she answered.I added my attempt at Russian conversation; "In Soviet Russia, you do not speak a language, a language speaks for you." I joked.Hana snorted. Then replied in her Russian; "Be careful comrade, or your cleverness might get you promoted to the rank of apparatchik," she snickered. I feigned horror."No!" Brooke protested. "Speak something I can understand, damn it."I quickly translated for Brooke as the three of us migrated inside. Hana led us to a third, and newer, section of the estate. The goal was her purse and the reading glasses there in. Compared to the few bedrooms we'd seen, Hana's room was rather austere."Well, I know Uzbek and this is similar; say Canterbury Tales English to Modern American," she mused."The only thing I know for sure is that it belonged to Shahrukh Mirza of the House of Barlas," she read off several of the symbols. No one said anything. "Please don't tell me you found this at some rummage sale, or flea market." she grew intense."No. As I said earlier, it was a gift and given with the understanding it would be returned at a future place and time," I told her."Too bad. I would pay a pretty penny for this," she held it up to the light for further examination."I'm not one of those dreamers that feels money cheapens stuff and blah; blah; blah. Money has its uses," I countered. "I also believe some things are priceless. They either can't, or shouldn't, be sold. As I said, this was a gift meant to be returned.""Maybe you can put me in touch with the owner so I can make them an offer," Hana suggested."I'd do that except that I have no idea who gave it to me, or where I am to return it," I shrugged. Hana was now looking for some deception on my part. "It was delivered to my place of work and a person who intercepted the necklace destroyed the message that came with it.""Well, I hope they got a stiff reprimand, if not outright loss of employment," Hana sighed."Oh no," I chuckled. "That's not the Havenstone way. My people and I are going to stalk her and her people down and then beat/stab/scar each and every one of them. What she did wasn't a mistake. This was a direct and calculated insult that only blood will cleanse.""That sounds positively Old Testament," Hana nodded."Cáel's women don't kid around," Brooke added."Really, now. What is it exactly that you do?" Hana asked me."This should be good," Brooke muttered through her saucy grin."I'm a facilitator for an aerospace project with our R and D division," I feigned concentration. "Its high-tech stuff; I don't understand all the details. I'm relatively positive we are creating nano-thin, artificial polymers for balloons aimed at space. You know, fill up the aerial unit with Helium, create a powerful x-direction buoyancy then let the package accelerate into high orbit.""I've never heard of anything like that," Hana furrowed her brow."Neither has anyone else before now," Brooke laughed, then hugged me. "The miraculous part is; I think he creates these employment opportunities off the cuff; no rehearsal.""Wait; you just lied to me?" Hana grew petulant."Yes, I did and I apologize, Hana," I looked rather shamefaced. "I work as an intern for Executive Services. I am also on the Board of Directors, but that's a truth best gotten into at another time.""Oh; if you are on the Board of Directors for Havenstone, how can you be an intern?" Hana frowned."I was given the position on the board, I earned the position of intern," I answered. "Being a guiding force for a corporation I know nothing about is rather stupid, in my book.""I couldn't agree more," Hana said thoughtfully and seemed make a severe weather-vane shift. Brooke stifled a yawn rather unsuccessfully and it quickly made a circuit of our little troupe. It was bedtime for us all.(Breakfast and fast breaks)I could have used a good deal more sleep. But I knew working out and jogging were better for my body and soul. Brooke and Libra acted as if I had betrayed their friendship in favor of torture. Estere took secretive amusement at their suffering and at my ability to stress myself as hard as I did. She had already enjoyed the physical benefits of my exercise mania last night.A wonderful distraction to the whole ordeal (beyond listening to Libra and Brooke spit death curses at me between ragged gasps of breath) was the rising sun setting the Atlantic Ocean on fire.We had been summoned for breakfast at 9:30 am. That translated to me and three lady companions showing up to an overly large dining room on time to find Hana already there.The South wall was a series of French doors, all open, whose long white curtains billowed in the morning breeze. It was a bit chilly for our 'beach casual' attire, yet survivable. A staffer I hadn't seen before verbally related this morning's menu; blink. By quick consensus, we agreed to order the same things to make our orders easier to recall.In hindsight, that was probably unnecessary. The woman servicing us was very professional. She was also sympathetic enough to our efforts at kindness to acknowledge it. The vigor with which we demolished our fruit bowls caused Hana to chuckle."Building up your energy reserves?" she teased us. Libra and Estere didn't know Hana."He made us run this morning," Brooke griped. "It was utter Hell.""On the beach?" Hana asked me."Yeah," I replied."Try running along the road next time," Hana snorted. "It is easier on the arches."Libra hit me with a backhand to the bicep."Asshole," she glowered. "You had better get those magic fingers to work on my calves when breakfast is over.""What's in it for me?" I countered."Oh, have mercy, Cáel," Brooke pleaded. "You do this every day; as does Estere apparently, but Libra and I don't. Help us out here.""We have a masseuse," Hana offered. "He's very good. I can give him a call and have him come over from the spa.""Please do, Ms. Sulkanen. I'm feeling a real yen for some time alone this morning," I requested."I can do that, Cáel, and call me Hanna," she finished just as;"Hey Hana," Brennan yawned as he came stumbling into the room wearing boxers and nothing more. "Brooke, Kibble, Lisa," he added. His not unimpressive cock was strategically placed in the opening.Hana rolled her eyes in disgust. Brooke snickered. Libra did one better."I didn't know they made them that small," she said to Brooke who began giggling."Shut up, you lesbian freak," Brennan's amusement evaporated to bitterness. The attendant showed up, got his order and then the orders of the next two to stagger in.The low course of the conversation included the arrival of Orlando and his fiancée, only to dissipate with the appearance of Anima leading Casper. Casper could barely take her seat, even with Anima's help. Anima's look was victorious and challenging. Casper; she was stoned, wasted and not in anything approaching her right mind. Her body was sweaty and her hair was slick.The kicker was the splotches of dried semen and vaginal fluid on Casper's face."Say 'hi' to Cáel," Anima pressed the issue."Hi," Casper waved as her body swayed. Hana was uncomfortable. Libra and Brooke were furious. Estere was; studious. Anima's eyes remained lock on mine.I pulled out my phone and began taking pictures of the participants. By the time I made it to Brennan, he was laughing and joking at my efforts. Orlando had a different tack."What are you doing?" he menaced."Life should be about moral decisions, compassion and consequences," I related drolly. "You made your call last night. Live with it."I finished the photo session while Orlando was still trying to figure out what was going on. I had to use my phone for a different function."Buffy, I'm sending you several pictures of people who think they are above the law. Those people raped, or facilitated the rape of the woman in the final picture," I told the First of House Ishara. "I cautioned those people about appropriate behavior last night.""They chose to ignore me. The legal system can't touch them. I don't know what a proper punishment for such a horrendous act is, so I thought you might give me some council on this matter," I added. Long pause."Don't worry about it, Cáel," Buffy responded in a ghostly voice."Take care and I'll see you on Monday," I finished up. She hung up and that was it."That was spooky," Brennan chuckled. "How about I make a scary phone call and mention the words 'Cáel' and 'trash collection'?"I ignored him."I could call the sheriff and have you charged with menacing."I continued to ignore him."Stop serving him," he snapped at the server as she came to my plate."Serve him breakfast, Donna (the server)," Hana interrupted. "He's my guest, Brennan, so no longer your worry." I didn't acknowledge Hana's kindness as this was still part of a family feud and I wasn't family. I'd thank her later. The Vacuous Think Tank members weren't done yet. The privileged shit-heads began playing a video on their ultimate phone devices, sexually feeble soundtrack included.Deep down in Casper's mind she began to put the current audio input to her recent nightmare. Tears fell down her cheeks. On the video, the name 'Casper' was used enough to move it past the throws of ecstasy into the realm of sorry-ass amateur date-rape porn."We may have broken Casper a teensy bit," Anima feigned sincere regret well."Oh," I chuckled, "it is too late for word play now, Anima. That train has left the station and the whole crew here missed it. I warned you about slithering horrors and the beautification of humanity. Here is the final lesson;""Fuck you and your bullshit," Brennan mocked me."Brennan; my guest," Hana insisted. His response was to blather some noise; nah, nah, nah; an act several of his playmates took up. It was a display more appropriate for 5 year olds than men and women above the age of consent. Estere tapped Brooke next to her, motioning with her fork to a melon ball in her bowl. After a momentarily confusion Brooke tossed the melon up.Estere tossed the fork, skewering it with enough force to sail past me and land on Libra's plate. Two more exhibits, including the final one that had her spitting her thrown melon on a tumbling fork and Estere turned on Brennan, fork ready. The melons were nearly the size of eyeballs."Do it and go to jail for fucking ever," Brennan tried to 'man-up'."Diplomatic immunity," she smiled. "I doubt the government of Azerbaijan will give a rat's ass about you and your drug-consuming, alcohol-guzzling, whoring lifestyle. The worst that happens to me is that I have to go home for a few months. You will be blind forever." Estere revealed her second fork."Not this morning, Bitch," Orlando stood up. "I'm not afraid of forks and side-show tricks." I stood up as well, but went in a different direction. Brennan was at the top of the table; Hana was at the bottom. Casper and Anima were on the opposite side of the table and closer to Hana so that was the route I took.Anima, Brennan and Orlando had a problem. Estere was threatening Brennan. I was clearly coming to retrieve Casper. The quandary was which way Orlando went; he couldn't both safeguard Brennan and stop me. I was pretty sure that Brennan was convinced Orlando would come his aid because of his role as paymaster.Orlando Keyes wasn't a thug, or a dog. He was a tactician and he planned to win this fight. Contrary to my desires, that meant I came first. I was far closer and getting nearer all the time. Even if Estere managed to fork out one of Brennan's eyes, Estere couldn't contribute to the fight with me quickly enough to make a difference."Casper, you want to stay with your friends, don't you?" Anima cooed to her victim. Casper's head bobbled, making a tragic contrast to her tears. Hana had done as much as she dared at this juncture. Orlando came closer, snatching up an unused chair to counter my knife. I backed up. It was my only true choice.Charging forth against Orlando certainly would have been romantic. It would have also been futile. I couldn't beat the man; hurting him didn't equate to actually winning. Estere blinding Brennan accomplished nothing. When I had back-pedaled to Hana, Orlando relented. Once his bladder-weakening fear turned into post-survival euphoria, Brennan started laughing."Fucking dipshit," he sneered. The thump of helicopter blades began dominating perceptions. "I knew you didn't have it in you. You are a wimp and a chicken-shit coward." Brooke and Libra were worried and confused."He could not win against Mr. Keyes," Estere stated to them. "Getting pummeled would have been a wasteful gesture.""Oh, now you are his apologist." a random fuck-nut snorted. The helicopter kept getting closer."What about Casper?" Brooke worried. Anima smirked at the show of heartfelt concern."They haven't gotten her out of the room yet," Estere pointed out. "Once they depart the table we will be able to double-team Mr. Keyes and break him. The aftermath is an absolute certainty.""I don't think so," Orlando challenged."Oh yes," Estere grinned wolfishly. "Once we have you on the ground, I'm going to shatter your palms then tear off your fingers. Pull up, twist and snap; I've done it several times; it is quick and easy. If you think you can continue your career without fists, by all means, stay on your present course of action.""What is it that you do again?" Hana asked Estere."I'm a; a freelance archivist, genealogist and an Olmec-tastic historical pioneer; according to Cáel anyway," she answered."From Azerbaijan?" Hana murmured."I never said I was from there, only that I have diplomatic status with their UN mission," Estere clarified. Hana said something in an unknown tongue to which Estere responded. Their conversation lasted about one minute."We both speak Farsi, though mine is 'schooled' and hers has a Tabriz accent," Hana enlightened us."I apologize for last night, Cáel," Hana nodded. "I mistook you for one of my little step-brother's normal crowd of useless nitwits. You appear to be both smart and know interesting people." 'And how', I muttered internally."I take it your daughter is with Philip," Brennan intervened. "Miss her?"By this time, the helicopter had traversed the ocean-side view of the villa and was humming its way to the east end of the estate. Philip must have been Hana's divorced whatever who most likely had alternating weekends of child custody."Cáel, you mentioned something about a 'final lesson'," Hana turned to me."Only this: there was a woman who trusted a man. She decided to leave him; so he, and a few buddies, held her down and gang-raped her for two days. When they passed out, she didn't run away, or call the police. No, she took a baseball bat and knocked them into la-la land. She secured them with garbage ties, woke them up by stabbing them in non-vital areas and then proceeded to castrate each and every one with a dull kitchen knife.She went to prison, got out and put her life back together. She eventually rose to a position of some importance and influence with various questionable characters at her command," I continued. "If confronted with a similar situation, especially when money renders justice mute, I'm not sure what this woman would do to assuage her haunted memories.""Do you really want to put poor Casper up on the top twenty free porn sites, Cáel?" Anima pouted."Not my concern anymore," I sighed. "I put the facts out there. What other people make of that information is no longer under my control. From here on out, it doesn't matter what you do, Anima. You've chosen to act in a heinous manner, as have the rest of your crowd; Orlando and his lady included.""If something happens;” Orlando rumbled."You will do nothing," Estere laughed. "You can do nothing. I know the person of whom Cáel speaks and there is nothing you can do, nowhere you can hide where she will not find all of you and balance karmic accounts.""We didn't do anything," the fiancée proclaimed."Standing back and abetting a vile deed is hardly an effective defense," Estere stared with pitiless eyes. "Did you attempt to alter Mr. Keyes' course of actions; you clearly could have? You did not. Mr. Keyes safeguarded the perpetrators of the heinous deed, and thus both of you are condemned by that crime."The boot was on the other foot now for Orlando. He couldn't come at me. He couldn't come at Estere. None of the 'men' on his side were going to stand up to any pain while Brooke and Libra, though unschooled, looked ready to be a serious nuisance. That meant Orlando would be fighting Estere and I simultaneously; and he would lose.Worse, he would lose over a phone call that might not mean a thing. Oh, Estere and I were confident retribution was coming his way and that was unsettling. It wouldn't hold up in court and Hana's presence negated everyone else's legal immunity, except for Brennan who remained her family- the nut sack. Anima's gaze shifted from me to Libra, which my girl found unsettling."Cáel, what is going to happen; over this and getting Casper back?" Libra whispered. For starters, we hadn't rescued Casper yet, so there was no 'getting her back'."Libra, you've seen the scars crisscrossing my body; the bruises and sore ribs I've suffered through," I told her."Those were from the co-workers who hold deep and abiding affection toward me," I continued. "Imagine what they are capable of inflicting on those they do not like. Think about what they might do if they thought I was in danger and distressed. Couple that with the intimate knowledge of exactly what Casper has gone through ; is going through, and then draw your own conclusions." There was a pause while the others ate and Libra digested the information."Are we ever going to see Trent again?" she leaned in and whispered."It can be done, but that it isn't something either of you would enjoy," I whispered out of the side of my mouth. Sending Brooke and Libra on a one-way flight to Indonesia/Philippines definitely wasn't part of my life plan. It was the safest way to let her know Trent was alive."Does Brooke know?" Libra nudged me quietly. I shook my head. "Does Trent?" Another head shake. Pause. "That day in the office; when Trent dumped Brooke; you really were trying to keep us from harm, weren't you?""Yes," I mouthed. "Now eat up."The helicopter noises had a purpose and the consequences entered the dining room as breakfast was winding down. It was Jormo and Misty Sulkanen, aka Dad and Wife #3."Brennan," Jormo said in a neutral voice. We, Brennan's guests, barely rated a glance."Hana," Dad greeted his step-daughter with much more affection."Hey Dad," Brennan laughed. "You've almost missed Orlando here busting up Kibble," he waved a fork at me."Good Morning, Father," Hana waved, "Misty.""Kibble?" Jormo sighed, distracted from his path further into the villa by his son's statement."That would be me, Mr. and Mrs. Sulkanen," I swallowed a piece of my omelet quickly and raised my hand, "though my fellow homo sapiens call me Cáel Nyilas.""Mr. Nyilas, along with Brooke, Libra and Estere have agreed to be MY guests for the weekend," Hana added."Very well," her dad nodded. "Mr. Keyes, your endorsement contract with 'Fitness Tech' doesn't include you getting into fights on my behalf, or my son's." Mr. Sulkanen must have owned Fitness Tech, thus Brennan's believed power over an athlete endorsing some product."It also doesn't stop me from getting into unsanctioned bouts," Orlando glared at me. The tension was broken by Casper starting to sob loudly and uncontrollably.We all did the standing-up game once more. This time Casper saw me coming back for her and stood up. Anima tried to calm the shaken woman. Orlando closed in."New target," Estere stated serenely. She had a fork at the ready and was staring at Orlando's fiancée. It gave me the opening I needed.I took hold of Casper's left arm. Anima took Casper's right. This time she had misjudged the situation and I wasn't settling for a vocal educational moment. I pushed Casper aside, put both hands under Anima's arms and lifted her up."I told you this wasn't a game you wanted to play," I cautioned her right before I slammed her length-wise on the table.Anima's head cracked-down hard and the breath was driven from her body."Mr. Nyilas!" Mr. Sulkanen shouted. "What do you think you are doing to Anima?""I'm not being an enabling bastard, Sir," I growled back. "Come on, Casper," I began leading her back to my seat."Why don't we see what security has to say about that," Jormo shot back angrily."Father, something has happened to the young lady; Casper; and neither Anima, nor Brennan, were adequately helping her," Hana stood up. "The last time Cáel tried, Mr. Keyes got in his way. This time, Anima discovered she wasn't the same level of deterrent.""He slammed Anima into the table, Hana," the old wolf snarled. There was nothing wrong with this guy's macho. Anima shot me a treasured, smug glance as she rolled off the table. The spiraling tension was a super-cell caused by the Hana-Brennan poison and Jormo's displeasure with me. Hana decided to not abandon me, which allowed Brennan to go after her like a starving piranha."Hold on," Misty tried to calm the pseudo-sibling shouting match. She strode majestically over to me, Casper, and Libra to take a look at our charge. Within a meter there was no doubt what Casper had been put through. The smell of an orgy's aftermath, the tattered look, the listless smile belying her tears and her inability to focus, clearly chilled Misty.We were thrust back into Sulkanen family politics. The purely human reaction was for Misty to lambast Anima and Brennan then call the cops. Except, Misty was wife number three, Hana was step-daughter from marriage number two; not even blood-relations with Jormo, and Brennan was a blood-heir for what little time he had left on Earth."Come with me," Misty curled an arm around Casper's waist."We are coming with you," Brooke announced."That won't be necessary," Misty smiled wanly."That wasn't a request," Brooke snapped angrily. "After this, I don't trust any of 'you' people."That went over as well as a father realizing his son looked like the butler. Jormo's demeanor turned thunderous; he was being disrespected in his own home, Brennan looked happily vindictive and the rest didn't matter at the moment."Young lady;” the old wolf growled."Shut up!" Brooke screamed. "The fact that neither you, nor any of your people, are calling 9 1 1 speaks volumes about the lack of character and untrustworthiness of your clan, Mr. Sulkanen."Brooke had just discovered her noblesse oblige. All that crap I'd been talking about the upper crust of society, the top 1% etc.; here was finally the 'face slap' that was married to the 'backhand' so many of us lower class schmucks experienced. Sulkanen was nouveau riche; a self-made man if you considered coming to America with three million in family assets to be a low enough starting point.Brooke wasn't going to attack his credit rating, or bad-mouth him to his business associates. No, there were a ton of socially critical charities and committees that were about to be told by an impeccable source (Brooke) that Dad Sulkanen harbored his rapist son from criminal prosecution. No, this wasn't some 'nobody' being defended either. Casper wasn't known, but she was notable."You can certainly leave," the Old Man rumbled. "The young lady stays. I'm calling Security and my concierge physician.""Go," I glanced to Estere and off she sprinted. A moment too slow, Brennan and Orlando clued into the threat. Orlando took after Estere."She's got a gun!" Brennan squealed. Jormo was busy dispensing orders over his phone as the situation spiraled. But then there was Hana."Mr. Nyilas, please exert some control over this situation," Hana urged."I'll try. Brooke, why don't you, Libra and Mrs. Sulkanen take Casper to a more comfortable setting," I suggested."What about your Azerbaijani friend?" Hana pressed."Oh," I chuckled. "Me giving Estere advice about conflict resolution is like me giving you advice on," I had to wrack my mind about something the Sulkanens were invested in, "natural gas exploration. She'll be fine.""This way," Misty directed. I was so much more enamored and impressed with my two princesses than I had been during our initial meeting. They both shot me quick looks that said the same thing. They knew I was sending them out of harm's way, not exiling them from the decision-making process.Only three of the remaining people weren't scared; myself (I'm an idiot), Anima (sick fuck) and Jormo Sulkanen, who seemed to know the difference between fear you could do something about, and the fear you ignored. We heard bellows from upstairs as Orlando finally discovered that he didn't know what room my group was staying in and that Estere had evaded him.The hopeful-to-be Mrs. Keyes stood up and looked in the direction her fiancé had disappeared into."Don't worry," I said. "The moment Hana expressed the bonds of hospitality to Ms. Abed, you were protected from premeditated mischief." I wasn't 100% sure of that. Keeping the woman from racing after Estere was crucial.The two security types showed up first. They must have had some part of the house dedicated to their use, because I had no idea they were about, yet here they were. They wore moderately expensive, off-the-rack suits, seemed to be in decent physical condition and had pistols and stun guns. One word from Jormo and the guns came out. They had the polished look of pretend-professionals.Had I not worked at Havenstone and seen its malicious underbelly, I would have been impressed. As it was, how could things go more wrong? They split up; one going after Orlando and Estere and the other closing cautiously with me. He looked cool, but his gun was held too high and he blithely came within hand-to-hand combat range.Oh please, everyone I cared about had left the room. If this guy and I wrestled for his piece, I could have cared less who got shot while it was his damn job to see that no one besides me got a scratch. I was sure his corporate employer cautioned him about such mistakes a lot; because he still had the safety engaged on his firearm. I'm an idiot; I'm an idiot; I'm an idiot."Your bitch is going to get shot now, Cocksucker," Brennan sneered. The security guy was reaching for my arm to pull me away from the table. He hadn't bother to ask me, instead being engrossed in his ear piece chatter. I snatched his gun from his grasp, disengaged the safety and pointed it at the guy."Put the stun gun on the table then back up nice and slow," I eye-balled the shocked man.I was pretty sure that was the moment Brennan wet himself. No one said a thing. The guard did as I requested, then backed away. At three meters, I dropped out the magazine then put it on the table. Next, I removed the chambered round from the pistol and put them both on the table."Mr. Sulkanen, you don't know me so I'm cutting you some slack right now," I sighed."Dad, his father was murdered Monday night in a gunfight," Hana interrupted. "Pointing a gun at him probably wasn't the best course of action.""So it appears," Jormo glared at me."G; get your gun back, you idiot," Brennan squawked at the guard.I slid the stun gun to Hana then reloaded the pistol before handing it back to the guy, grip first."Keep your distance to two meters, or more, unless you have a partner ; and whoever taught you to keep the safety engaged is a moron. Guns aren't toys, so don't treat it like one," I told him. The guy took his gun back."You served?" he muttered to me. Me? In the military; I guess I now qualified."Nah, I work with a bunch of girls at the Customer Complaint desk at a major telemarketing firm. After a few weeks on the job, you learn to get squirrely when you see people coming into the office with trench coats in this early summer heat," I said. So much implied with no real information."Oh God," Hana snorted in amusement. "You really do that job thing all the time," she giggled, "don't you?""At Havenstone, my sadistic task-mistresses often require me to think on my feet, so I've learned to share the love at work and abroad," I nodded."What?" Jormo scowled."Cáel Nyilas is on the Board of Directors at Havenstone, as well as an intern for their Executive Services division," Hana stated. "He is learning about the corporation from the bottom up.""Bullshit," Brennan snapped."Can you prove this, Mr. Nyilas?" Jormo challenged me."Normally your recognition would mean nadda to me, but Hana has gone out of her way to be nice to my friends," I agreed. "Who do you want me to call that you will believe?""I don't actually know anyone at Havenstone Commercial," he admitted."Wait!" I had a brainstorm. "Call Javiera Castello. She'll verify who I am and she's pretty much as 'an unimpeachable source' as I'm likely to get.""Who is she?" Hana pulled out her phone."She's an United States Attorney for the District Court of the Northern District of Illinois," I babbled."Are you sure we can reach her on the weekend?" Hana was already networking. She wasn't a lawyer; she was a power player, if a small one."Tell her you think Cáel Nyilas is involved with some crime, and she'll be in touch ASAP," I assured her.The call went in to her team of corporate lawyers and the countdown began. Brennan decided it was time to migrate away from the danger, so he and his buddies decided to take the yacht out after changing; by way of using its crew to escape. Anima elected to remain behind. She kept expecting a reaction from me. She wasn't getting one.No anger, sullenness, contempt, or pity. I'd save my anger for those a bit farther from the grave. I wasn't sullen because her victory wasn't a victory. It was a loss for both of us. I had requested that she exert some self-control in my presence and she hadn't; end of discussion. I certainly didn't pity her. Anima was evil, not merely a creature ruled by compulsions.She had thought I was bluffing. I wasn't. Anima thought she was in an emotional endurance match and if she waited long enough, my façade would crack and she'd get her first taste of my pain. Twenty-four minutes. That was the time it took Javiera to call back."Yes, Ms. Castello," Hana answered, "I have Mr. Nyilas here with me right now.""What's he done wrong; that's difficult to explain," Hana began. I heard the laughter coming from the other end. "You sound like this happens to him a good deal." Talking. "That doesn't sound promising." Talking. "I'm not a criminal legal talent, but I'll give it a shot. Theft, theft of a firearm, assault, obtuse death threats and possible possession of a stolen object." Talking.Hana gave me her phone. At the same moment, Estere dropped down in front of one of those beautiful French doors with their southern exposure and sauntered back into the dining room. Her hastily applied clothing additions suggested she was better armed. The guard gave a startled jolt as Estere drew even with him."Don't worry about him," I told Estere while covering the phone with my hand. "I chambered in the first round backwards." Estere smirked. The guy tested his piece and, sure enough, a normally chambered round popped out; I had lied. The poor bastard gave me a nasty stare. Estere's look to me was pricelessly appreciative.Ninja were all about stealth, the Black Hand was all about making use of whatever weapon was handy; and the Hashashin were all about misdirection and deception. Estere was a Mistress of M and D giving a young trainee a congratulatory nod. Would the guard search Estere for weapons? Not anymore. Now he was worried his pistol would fall apart and Hana had never returned his stun gun.His confidence had been shattered before combat had actually begun."Hello, USA Castello," I spoke into the phone."How are you going to get out of this mess this time?" she began."Can't I simply be innocent?" I pleaded."No," Javiera asserted with authority. "Now tell me what is going on.""For the sake of the interested parties swarming about; some with guns; I'll use pseudonyms. 'A' invited 'B' to his domicile for the weekend. 'B' invited me and 'C' to come along. 'A' had a friend, 'D' plus a cast of assorted losers.'A' and 'D' also had 'E' here for the weekend. She trusted them so ended up drugged and sexually assaulted; a great deal. Video was made," Estere tapped my left upper arm and exhibited her phone suggesting to me she'd gained access to the video the group had taken of Casper. "'F' showed up and decided to help myself, 'B' and 'C' get 'E', only to be outmuscled by 'G'.'H' shows up, takes charge, and decides that myself, 'B', 'C' and 'I' (new friend) should leave while he sits on 'E' and waits for the bought-and-paid for doctor to show up. Goodbye any evidence, trot out the legion of lawyers, crucify the victim and justice dies," I related."What do you want me to do?" Javiera sighed. She believed me.She also believed that I was going to seek revenge for the young lady and while she had to publically chastise me and privately urge me to stop, she knew what motivated me."The caller wanted some confirmation that I'm a Big Wheel at Havenstone along with being an intern," I stated. "Personally I could care less, but 'E's fate is in jeopardy."I handed the phone to the guard after motioning toward Jormo. A few seconds later, he had his own little chat with Javiera. I had a feeling it was rather heated. Was I who Hana claimed I was? Yes. Was I a criminal? No comment on ongoing investigations."Is he dangerous?"I imagine she said 'What do you consider dangerous?' because Jormo wasn't pleased. After a pause, the conversation from Javiera's side picked back up."What do you mean, 'have I crossed him?' You are a part of the Federal law enforcement process. You are paid to handle those things. Now answer me," Jormo simmered.I imagine it boiled down to 'yes, I was a dangerous human being' and 'no, I wasn't a homicidal maniac' which didn't help him much. That concluded Javiera's participation in events."Do you think you can inconvenience me, young man?" he shot his steely gaze my way."Mr. Sulkanen, there are precisely two things keeping me away from you; basic civility," I enlightened him, "and Hana.""I have discovered in a few short months that there is nothing as precious a resource as nice people. The world is overwhelmed with assholes with a highly overestimated sense of their worth in the greater scheme of things. I do not hate you, or like you. You do not register on my interpersonal radar," I said."You think you've learned some harsh life lessons, Mr. Nyilas? You don't know anything," Jormo met me anger for anger. Hana, in her short time, had gained a far better picture of me."Cáel, he is my father," Hana called to me. "You know about paternal respect, don't you?" That was a good shot on her part; painful, but not crippling."You are right, Hana. I am in your father's house and I owe him both that respect and the respect for how he treasures your person," I responded. The tension began to bleed away. Jormo wasn't an ass-hole, just driven by an iron determination to get his way. It had made him stinking rich and, I was beginning to think, outwardly ruthless.Why weren't Brooke, Libra, Estere and I being flung out of his home after our collision? Hana. That man had the same honest and trusted affection for the step-daughter that wasn't even his offspring as my father held for me. You don't mistake it once you've witnessed it. He knew this wasn't her vagina talking. He held Hana in higher regard.Hana saw something in me that made her stand up to both him and Brennan. I doubted that happened often. Hana made the call and her step-father honored it; end of the debate for now. That meant Hana, Estere and I went to find Casper and the others. Libra was helping the focus of such anguish shower off. It had been accepted there would be no police rape inquiry.Another advance, if you could call it that, had occurred in my relationship with Brooke and Libra. Their quick glances said it all- 'Get the bastards' and they expected it to get done. Like Odette and the now-deceased Latin Kings, those two didn't truly understand what that meant. In this case, most likely messy, painful deaths for those who would learn too late that a little law is a good thing; it keeps the really nasty things, like the truly lawless, at bay.There was no mention of events passing beyond my control. Those two had no idea where their wealth came from, what homes they owned outright, versus still under mortgage, or rented, and what their actual tax rate was; as opposed to the mythical 'tax bracket' the masses dreamed the rich were in.Casper came right at me, even slipping out of the towel Misty, and the newly arrived maid, tried to get around her. Why? I had gained an unanticipated affliction. Girls in the worst possible mindsets wanted to trust me. Oneida, Cameron, Wiesława and now Casper homed in on me being a gentle, honest and trustworthy soul; but damn it! I wasn't!I wrapped my arms tightly around Casper, making her feel snug, safe and warm. I lied to her. I told her things were going to be okay. We'd work things out and she'd get better in no time. No one was going to get to her while her 'real' friends were around and we promised to stick around as long as it took. This was supposed to be my vacation. I need to stop making plans for the future and avoid the disappointment from having my hopes trampled by cruel reality.(Saturday Night)The Hamptons gathering had transformed from a post-college exploration to a mature gathering. We had an adult-level task laid out before us; creating an emotional buffer zone for Casper. I gave Estere an 'out'. There would be no more 'fun time' this weekend. She elected to stay anyway.When we moved out to a cliff-side patio for dinner, Brennan and company showed up, sans Orlando and his lady. Casper tensed up, Hana and I rallied and put up a warding wall, so the cast of idiots settled for taunting Casper as she shivered behind us. Because, you know, all of this was one big joke;I had enough peripheral awareness to not get blind-sided by Casper. Hana didn't and went tumbling into Anima. Casper launched herself at Brennan. He had some under-developed martial talent while Casper was clearly driven by frantic energy alone. Brennan received a few scratches then flipped Casper over his shoulder and down hard on the patio's deck.A punch to her face was coming Casper's way when I pushed Brennan several steps back. The one scumbag who attempted to get behind me took an ice cube to the eye, courtesy of Estere. His yelp allowed me to yank Casper up and circle my arms around her."The whore scratched me," Brennan exhibited his scarred forearm. "I guess she goes to jail now."I didn't do anything and I think three of the ladies were thinking I should. Brennan snorted. Now for a lesson in community."Okay," I shrugged. "Casper can go do jail." By the depth of her whimper, that wasn't what Casper wanted at all. I looked to Libra and Brooke. Giving someone the unwarranted label of 'snob' was wrong and those two ladies were going to exhibit that.Libra hurled her drink from the patio table at Brennan. She missed but that was okay. Brooke missed as well."I guess we are going to jail with Casper," Brooke declared as they moved up. Casper wiggled around in my grasp so she could take in the scene. "We'll stick with you, Casper.""Bitches!" Brennan snapped. "What the fuck;""These people can't help you, Casper," Anima stepped up. "You are in trouble now and they don't know trouble.""You are horrible," Brooke seethed in response."Why all the hostility?" Anima gave a disarming smile. Libra had definitely tapped into her 'Inner Cáel'. That was only fair, since her 'Outer Cáel' had been tapping her pretty vigorously."Because we are better than you and you consistently fail to acknowledge that, you soulless tramp," Libra volleyed."Cáel, I apologize so much for bringing you here this weekend," Brooke touched me."I'm not," I squeezed Casper. Crap, I could use a break. It was so wrong that I suddenly wished for Monday and to be back to the work week. It was even screwier that I thought that would give me any sort of relief; it wouldn't."Touching, but foolish," Anima sighed with amusement. She pulled out her phone from her back pocket. She made a call then showed the device to Casper. "I'm sure your boyfriend will be very impressed with last night's antics. Of course, he may expect a repeat performance." Casper trembled. I rubbed her back as she sobbed into my shoulder and bicep."I'm not very impressed with your virtue," Anima sounded disappointed in me."You and your ilk deserve only two words; 'Good bye'," Estere sounded serene. "As a general instruction, anyone on this deck that I do not like and that hasn't left by the exits in the next three minutes will be flying over the railing.""This is my fucking house!" Brennan shouted."Actually, it is Dad's house, Brennan," Hana smiled."He's not your father, shit-for-brains," he snapped."Brennan, for every time you have forced your way into my life through bratty behavior; I consider this moment long overdue," Hana snorted."I'm not leaving," he took a defiant stance."Good," Hana laughed. "In; ""Two minutes 25 seconds," Estere supplied the data."I'm taking every other lady and leaving, locking the doors behind me," Hana kept grinning."Before I leave, I will ask Cáel to physically obstruct the stairs leading down the bluff," she added. "Then it will be you and Ms. Abed. She is going to kick all of your asses, I'm not letting you
Living the nightmare; hungering for a normal life. In 25 parts, edited from the works of FinalStand. Listen and subscribe to the ► Podcast at Connected.. “If your heart starts the fight, you can lose without regret.” (Thursday Night) It was well past the descent of Night's veil when the Havenstone jet landed outside of New York City. Naomi and team gathered us up and led us to the main building downtown. An unlooked for conflict developed. Naomi's team was there to present me to Hayden. Rachel's team was still focused on securing my wellbeing and they didn't like the attitude Naomi's squad was giving off. With Buffy (Helena was in a different car), there was no concealing Rachel's hostility toward the latest group of SD ladies. The new group was treating me like a 'package', not a Head of House, and that infuriated my First too. All of that ill-will simmered as we made our way to Havenstone. The situation was compounded by the elevator ride. Naomi, her team, Buffy, Rachel and I went into the first elevator. By the time we made it to the top few floors, it was clear that the rest were not immediately following along. The situation ratcheted up to nasty when Naomi demanded Buffy's firearm. Buffy looked ready to use it. "Buffy; gun," I held out my hand, palm up. Buffy reluctantly handed it over. I walked over to the nearest trash can, dropped out the clip, chambered out the first round then dumped the entirety into the trash receptacle. "If they touched it, the weapon would be fouled and not fit for a true Amazon," I explained to Buffy. "Best to save your noble tool the indignity and dispense with it instead." Buffy snorted with amusement, Naomi's crew pretended not to care while Rachel was deeply disturbed. It took a perfunctory gesture to stop Buffy outside Hayden's office. In I went to face Hayden, Katrina, Saint Marie and Troika of House Šauška alone. Šauška was the 'sister goddess' of Ishara; together they formed Ishtar in later incarnations. I didn't believe Troika was here for any sister solidarity this time around. "Why did you do this? Start a war; is this your hatred of Amazon culture shining through, trying to get us all killed in some global struggle against the other Secret Societies?" Hayden opened up with in an even tone. "No," I kept it succinct. They waited for more of an explanation. "Do you have anything you can say to defend your actions?" Troika glared. "I don't need to defend my actions," I regarded her as if she was of alien origin. "The actions speak for themselves." "Why don't you explain it to us, Ishara?" Saint Marie rumbled. Insulted yet again. As an equal, I warranted the use of my first name. "Do I have your permission to fully and completely lay out my reasoning without everyone closing in like a pack of hyenas on a leopard?" I looked to Hayden; not happy. She gave a curt nod. It wasn't like running away would get me far. "I will speak slowly because all of you appear to have become incredibly stupid," I started. "My parent and carrier of my Amazon ancestor's genetic heritage was murdered. The leader of the Amazon Security Detail identified herself, Then they were fired upon. Somehow you do not see those actions as Casus Belli. [cause for war] There are three possible reasons for your blindness: you are all cowards who bully behind closed doors, but fold up like gutless wonders when a true challenge presents itself. Or, the male penis renders you incapable of intelligent thought and induces irrational and unsustainable hostile deductions in your though processes. Or, you want me and the line of Ishara dead and are willing to accept any accident of fate that will render us so," I laid things out for them. "Or, you were in pain over your father's loss and used Havenstone as a tool to lash out at your perceived foes without concern for what price the other houses would have to pay for your personal vendetta," Hayden suggested. "Your gender bias is appalling, High Priestess Saint James," I shook my head. "Have I been such an out of control, emotional male that yours is the logical assumption for how events unfolded?" I smirked. "Except for the meeting where I learned your secret; only Katrina caught that. I've risked death three times for Amazons; yet I hate all of you enough to kill those people and myself. Besides, Saint James, your opinion has been rendered irrelevant." "You will call me Hayden," Hayden simmered. "I will when you and your lackeys get around to calling me Cáel," I countered. "I don't like being insulted any more than you do. I could keep up this childishness forever, but, as I was pointing out, we don't have forever. War is coming. Between my father's murder and my threats to the Condotteiri and Seven Pillars' emissaries, I've guaranteed that. Apologizing won't do any good. They won't believe you. Offering me up won't do any good. They think you hold male life to be worthless; the truth of which I am personally witnessing here and now. They are coming for you no matter what you wish. The best chance for an alliance rests with me. I can establish truly good will with the Nine Clans, Illuminati and the Earth and Sky. Without me, they don't trust you enough to do any good. I'm sure only Katrina believes this; I did all that alliance-building for Havenstone. I am House Ishara and the fate of the Amazons is my fate. Yet here I am, being insulted, being treated like a traitor; an infantile traitor at that, and being informed you will not honor your oaths and obligations to me," I shook my head. "Are there any other issues to discuss, or can I go home now? I'm beat." "You will be housed downstairs for your own safety," Hayden informed me. "Unless you arrest me, I'm going home," I shrugged. "Not only do I not want your protection, I have ceased to trust you. You do not treat me like a sister. Instead you accuse me of atrocities against MY people and layer on the petty insults. Goodnight." I made to leave so Saint Marie interposed herself. "That wasn't a request, Ishara," Hayden murmured with menace. "Beat me up," I chuckled, "and you will be more screwed than you know." The Golden Mare and I locked gazes. I tried to move around her so she put a hand on my chest. "Welcome to the consequences of being known liars and bigots, ladies." "I am tiring of your insolence," Saint Marie growled. "Runners'," Katrina sighed with melancholy amusement. "What about them?" Troika mocked. "The majority of the 'Runners' aren't going to see this as the Council punishing Cáel for starting the upcoming conflict," Katrina chided her cohorts. "They are going to see the Full-blooded shutting down the Only House letting them in. Going to war? They are willing to fight and die for our cause. They assume we are too," Katrina regaled her unwilling audience. "Pleased with yourself, Ish; Cáel," Hayden's eyes narrowed. "He has almost nothing to do with it, Sisters," Katrina chortled. "We were the ones who promised to let the 'Runners' join the houses then reneged on that promise. The worst you can say about Cáel was that only after we picked out, loaded and handed him the gun, did he use it for what it was intended for." "We are not punishing him for this 'Runner' insult," Troika spat. She meant my 'hasty' inductions. "Then why are we punishing him; and thank you for making Cáel's point for him; 'Runner' insult indeed. Since your disgraceful attitude is overwhelmingly common, the 'Runners' are not going to believe your excuse for dealing with Cáel." "Katrina," Hayden cautioned. "Hayden, as your 'First Bearer of the Sun Spear through the Halls of Night and Death', I am required to give you this news," Katrina bowed her head in reverence. "I tell you Cáel's actions have been a lightning rod for the 'Runners'. He gives them hope where there was none. Putting Cáel down will have repercussions you do not understand. They will then 'Know' for a certainty we look down on them and treat them little better than slaves; which is the truth," Katrina responded to the others. "Not only are we going to war, we are successfully convincing half our population that they Cannot trust the Council to spend their lives wisely." "How dare you?" Saint Marie seethed at me. "Are you seriously blaming me for keeping the oaths the rest of you made in my name; while Ishara was dead to the Council?" I laughed. "The 'Runners' are your idea, Saint Marie, not mine. You promised to bring them into the Houses ; and didn't. You lied and I chose to not perpetuate that lie, thus honoring my ancestors, my founder and my Goddess." "Do I need to remind you who Ishara is? The Goddess of Oaths; particularly military oaths," I added. "In case you missed it, I am implying that you have failed your ancestors;” and I went flying. Damn, Saint Marie was fast. I rolled as best as I could, ending bumping into Hayden's desk. No one said a word which I found tragically consistent. My follow-up pain wasn't 'Mare' induced. Spiritual flames consumed me internal organs, causing me to cry out in torment and vomit copious amounts of something. I was cradled inside a horror film as first my esophagus, then stomach and finally my intestines seemed to flush forth from my lips. The stench was beyond horrid; putrid and corrupt combined with the atrocious odor of bloated flesh left to rot in the Sun for weeks. Considering the minimal amount I had eaten on the flight home, I was even more baffled by what felt like 100 liter quantity of discharge. When the ordeal eventually ended, I half-rose then flopped backwards into darkness. I hurt. I hurt in the same way you have 'pins and needles', except mine were industrial capacity and giving it 110%. My head was resting at a slight incline and someone was flipping a lock of my bangs on and off my forehead. I opened my eyes into infinity; seriously worse agony consumed my brain pan. "That is too much for you to know, Cáel," she murmured. Those eyes had been feminine, just not in a human way and definitely filled with more joy and suffering than could be granted by a thousand lifetimes. The pain faded, so I tried the whole eye thing again. At the top of the lap that cradled my head was a really nice pair of boobs clothed in thin wool; lush, mature, yet firm like a young virgin's. "Thank you," she lilted. Mind-reading? "Do I want to know what has happened to me?" I groaned. I reached for a boob because if it was a toxin-induced delusion, what was the worst that can happen? "Careful, I haven't been with a male in 1800 years, my Preciously Odd Amazon," she laughed. "I like challenges," I bantered with my mental conjuration. Definitely mind-reading. "I am not the creation of your fevered dreams, my Cáel," she flicked my nose. "I have pushed you near death to place a curse on the Host. As a side benefit, I am able to have metaphysical contact with you." "To date you, I have to have a near-death experience? I don't know if I should admire 1800 years of male common sense, or that last guy who risked everything for one night with you," I shrugged. "So much compassion; and so little fear," she petted my scalp. "Since you clearly aren't getting into the name game and I am more than happy to doubt everything I've experienced in the past five minutes," I smiled at her, "what am I supposed to do?" "You know," she smiled back. "No, I don't," I insisted. "Something extra-concise that doesn't come from a fortune cookie." "I've always wanted to eat a fortune cookie," she looked away. "I'll start walking around with one in my pocket so next time you nearly kill me, you can indulge," I offered. "Save my people, Cáel," she placed her hand over my eyes. "Save their spirits." "A bit of help would be nice," I pressed forward blindly. "I've given you help," she whispered on my lips. Since I didn't consider that to be helpful, I opted to give a gentle twist to her nipple. Either something was really going on inside my head, acting as a conduit between me and something else, or I was experiencing a psychotic break with reality. If it was the former, I was a Class-A idiot. If it was the latter, it was me being me, rolling the dice with the pretty girl. "I wanted you to be brave," she laughed melodically, the echo of every woman I'd ever given a reason to sing out with joy, "yet now I find myself wishing you would expend a tiny bit more caution on my behalf." Sensing my dissatisfaction, she added "I cannot give you 'the' truth, so I will give you 'a' truth. Nothing is set in the future while much is foreseen." "As long as you know I've disappointed every women I've ever been with," I reminded her, my eyes still shielded and her lips tantalizingly close to mine. "Oh, you like to think you are selfish, Cáel Nyilas of Vranus and Ishara, but you justifiably take pride in the sensuality you bring to so many women's lives," she pointed out. "Many lovers are far more truthful yet far less giving," she said. "Pain heals while an education is forever," I countered. Another joyous note. "It is time for you to wake up, my Cáel," she sighed. "Go now." Wakefulness required a return to the putrid qualities of my current surroundings. I forced myself to my knees. No one did anything; no reaction, or assistance, so it fell to me to save myself. "What; what was that?" Troika nearly retched at the stench. Katrina stood, visibly pale and shaken. "Hayden?" Katrina requested of her leader. "Cáel, what have you done?" Hayden snapped. She also stood up so she could look down at me from her desk. I mumbled something. Even I wasn't sure what I was trying to say. The last touch of a lady far chillier than the one in Chicago caressed me and I knew the gist of what had happened. Why was I the one suffering at the hands of my Goddess? I was the easiest to get at because I was already devoted to her, her chosen children and I was Patron and Head of the house dedicated to her honor. The forecasted ass-kicking wasn't aimed at me, though. I was the necromantic shotgun barrel into this reality. Too many bitches had spat on me, her hand-picked patsy and punching bag, and her temper was beyond sending some vague signs and portents to the Host. I didn't know the particulars of this curse, yet I didn't doubt for a second it was both fiendishly evil and well-deserved. My jacket, shirt and tie were goners. The lower part of my tie which had been thoroughly drenched in my vomit was already decaying into filth, soon passing into nothingness. I tried speaking again. "Having exhibited no faith in me, you have committed apostasy to Ishara," issued the words from my acid-scared throat. "You are condemned to live with that choice. Good night." I fumbled and stumbled to Hayden's door, weakly opened one of the two double doors and left. The confrontation I had departed outside remained in force; Naomi and detail versus Rachel and Buffy. Helena, and a former 'Runner' named Madori who worked at Havenstone HQ with us, had not been sent up. "I am going home," I rasped. With no orders to keep me there, Naomi let me pass. Rachel and Buffy closed in. "Boss, you smell like;” Buffy searched for words. "A red tide," Rachel said. "All those dead fish floating on the water for days and days; it is that level of horrible smell." "Rachel," I stated as we got on the elevator, "thank you for the loyalty, intelligence and understanding you have given me in this trying time." "I am a member of the Host, Ishara. I would do no less for Hayden herself; but you are welcome," she sighed. "How about we postpone our date night until I've cleared up a few things with the Council and Ishara?" I suggested. Rachel nodded. I briefly talked to Helena over the phone, went with Buffy to the basement where she checked out a car then sat back as she drove me home. I must have looked like a disaster because Buffy didn't give me an ounce of grief. Home was home now. There was a house with my name on it now, but it wasn't my hearth; this mid-town, 'just above the poverty line' apartment was definitely home now. I would suspect that business travel was like a clothes dryer; you mystically pulled out less clothes than you put in. I was coming back with twice the amount of luggage I had departed with Odette would be home in an hour, so it was me and Timothy for a bit. "Hey Bro," Timothy greeted me. He set down one of those fanciful Asian vegetable mish-mashes that he liked from time to time, stood up and gave me a hug. "How bad was it?" "Let's just say I finished it up this evening by vomiting all over the Big Boss's rug, and that was the highlight of the trip," I mumbled. "That would explain your bare-chested look," Timothy snorted. I had been so out of it, I had spaced on the need to put on clothes like a normal human being. "Something to eat?" "Nah, my insides were spewed forth, so I'm foregoing food for a while," I mumbled. That reminded me. I went to the bathroom and gargled repeatedly with mouthwash. I could still smell the aromatic abomination, but at least I couldn't taste it anymore. "Do we want to go down the lists of women who have called you?" Timothy was trying to cheer me up. I wanted to be cheered up so I told him to go right ahead. Brooke and Libra; an immediate call back with the briefest of details; no weekend date for Brooke and I yet. Jason, the bar-back I had met chasing down Katy Lee, had called. I dialed his number and we had a short chat. He and his buddies were coming along well, I was invited back any time, and the Latin Kings had gotten the message because they hadn't been around since. I requested he and his friends keep their eyes open just in case and I'd be around for another pick-up game soon enough. Since most of those LK's were dead and the remainder scattered, I wasn't worried about Jason. Nikita; I called and she 'agreed' to come over. I was too fatigued to fight her off. Ulyssa called and I had to inform her that this weekend didn't look good for me; funeral and all. I initiated contact with Nicole. She was still wrapping up some of my business in Chicago and would be gone until Saturday morning. Timothy crashed for the evening, I was nibbling on some of his fodder and the doorbell rang. A check at the peephole revealed Nikita. She came in, hugged and I could sense something was definitely wrong. We were back to first date material. We hadn't been separated long enough; crap. I gave us space on the sofa. "That was incredibly fast," I groaned. "What tipped them off?" "What do you mean?" Nikita tried to scoot down the sofa to me. I held her off with one hand. "I am hardly one to uphold honesty in a relationship, but I normally consider it a selfish endeavor and not done for the benefit of a third, unrelated party," I sadly met her eyes. "Cáel, what do you?" Nikita stammered. "You are not a very good liar," I pointed out. "You are wearing a wire of some kind?" "Have you done something wrong?" Nikita evaded. "My loss," I moped. "All I wanted was the semblance of a normal life and now that's gone down the tubes." "Nikita, what do you want to drink?" I restarted the whole fiasco. Drinks were served and we kept to our separate ends of the sofa talking about mindless shit until Odette showed up. Then I could politely show Nikita the door and be with someone who did care about me. We made slow, passionate love. I gave her orgasms and giggles with the added benefit I felt more human when we finally fell asleep. (Friday) The morning started out with the same routine. I pulled up various routes for my bike ride into work, chose none of them and off I went in the pre-dawn dark blue/grey sky. I came within 20 seconds of my best time, so I was feeling pretty positive about what lay ahead. Security was a full 180 from their normally sour selves. "Good morning, Cáel Ishara," the security team (not Security Detail) leader greeted me. That was part 'thanks for letting my sister 'Runners' into a house' and 'maybe pick me next time.' "Good morning, Wilma Draper," I nodded back. I went to the counter and leaned in. I needed to fortify my supportive base and I knew how to do it. "You do realize I don't choose who joins House Ishara, don't you?" I addressed her softly yet loud enough for the two closest security women to hear. "You do not?" the woman appeared perplexed. "No," I shook my head in the negative. At that moment she wondered if this was a trick of the Council. Good girl. "The senior Amazons of House Ishara chose the next candidates. I make the ritual appeal to Ishara, of course. Selection remains in the hands of former 'Runners' who nominate the 'Runners' who have proven themselves. I was inspired to initiate Buffy and Helena because I had enough faith in them to believe they knew Havenstone and what House Ishara needed. The Amazons in the second ritual were all Buffy and Helena's choices. I think those two and the latest group Ishara has approved of, will make the perfect judges for picking future 'Runners' of accomplishment and worth; not only for House Ishara, but for the new Amazons who have risked everything for our People," I piled on the propaganda. She nodded. The two closest security guards nodded as well. Off I went to the gun range. With less than a minute worth of words, I had reinforced my perfection. I wasn't a male. I was a male with a passel of hardcore, praiseworthy Amazons working around me, insulating me from committing any errors and making all the important decisions while I behaved like a bobble-headed doll. The range was back to 'normal' except I could smell the chemicals this time out. Whatever concrete and surface coating substances they had used to repair my grenade-inspired damage left my nose with a terrible itch. I had a gun selection today. I had no instructor yet was hopeful. I packed up my 40 caliber, my back-up 3 80, the combat shotgun and my Personal Defense weapon then headed out. I patiently waited behind one of the stations, soaking up the view of medium gray yoga pants worn by a woman who presented a meticulously crafted, awesome bubble-butt to the world. After she finished off one magazine, the Amazons looked over her shoulder at me. Horn-dog time. The woman smiled as she motioned me forward. We put my weapons on the stand and prepared for school. "I am Wiesława of House Živa," she smirked playfully. By the Almighty, she had a thick Polish accent, rich lips, russet hair and 'come hither' eyes. I was prepping for some early 'nookie' time. "Hello, I am Ash Ketchum and I have an unhealthy relationship with free-roaming, anthropomorphic creatures," I replied as we clasped forearms Amazon-style. As Wiesława was trying to puzzle that out, an Amazon from an adjoining booth came over and punched me in the arm. I couldn't even recall this one's name though I knew that face and physique. "Stop that, Cáel," the woman chastised me. "She's new here." "I thought he was bringing me more weapons to use. Was this male being insolent?" Wiesława tried to put things in their proper place. "Should he be disciplined?" At least she wasn't taking me being beaten as her Goddess-given right. "No, Wiesława. This is Cáel Ishara, Head of House Ishara, he brought those weapons for His use and most likely came to your station looking for instruction," the unnamed Amazon stated. "Does this mean we are passed that whole 'grenade launcher' thing?" I inquired of the women. "We are not sure. For now we have decided to not pre-judge you since you remain consistently combative no matter what. Constanza is recovering," she tacked on. "Good," I grinned. "How soon can she return to duty? I imagine she makes a lousy patient." Pause. The 'Constanza' bit had been a test. I had a feeling that my emotional tendency to spare lives and show mercy was getting around. It wasn't the Amazon way, though it did mean Constanza would remain alive for a while longer when it was generally accepted she should not. "She will have to retrain her vision. Her doctors are hopeful," the woman responded. "That is for the best. I do hope there are no ill intentions toward Pamela," I warned her. "Such a vengeance would be personal and I would feel no obligation to treat those criminals as I would my fellow Amazons; are we clear?" "It has been made expressly clear that this issue is at an end," she bowed slightly. "Let us commit this to the 'nothingness'," was my suggestion. The two Amazons twitched. That was a phrase straight out of their cultural playbook. Both nodded, the familiar Amazon left and I turned back to Wiesława. "Do you still want a go at training me?" I asked the Pole. "Yes; yes, I would like that," she gave me a bright, toothy white smile. "I find you interesting." Off I went again. Wiesława was diligent and definitely 'hands-on'. Twenty minutes into the training one of my familiar SD firing partners showed up. "Don't let him take his clothes off," Felicité teased me. Her Congolese French contrasted erotically with Wiesława's Polish. "His clothes come off?" Wiesława seemed puzzled. "How is that accomplished?" "A deeply scientific, psychological process," Felicité teased my latest friend/fish in the barrel. "Cáel, take off your clothes," she commanded me. I gave her a haughty, condescending glare. "Please." My biking shirt came off first then my biking slippers and finally the shorts. "Your turn," I regarded Wiesława. She shot a look to Felicité. Her sports bra was millimeters from exposing her goodies when my Congolese tormentor stepped in. "You don't have to take off your clothes for him," she intervened. "But I like seeing you ladies naked," I protested. Felicité patted my package. "We like seeing you naked too. Now put on your pants before a hot shell casing creates yet another incident," Felicité teased me again. A great chasm of misunderstanding had been bridged since Friday. The grenade-launcher was part of it, yet I think Rachel and Velma were far more constructive than I could have been. Velma had seen me in crisis mode. I hadn't panicked. I had seen to my partner (though she was an inconsequential female) and been cool throughout the process in Katrina's office as Velma and her four team members had overheard. Rachel, Charlotte, Mona and Tiger Lily had probably given a different story; less professional and more human. That must have worked in my favor. A stone-cold bad-ass would have been more worrisome; a challenge. No, I had been shaken, irrational, brave and grieving. I had fought an assassin of the Nine Clans and not lost (thus not an embarrassment to a culture I didn't really belong to; until that moment). I had insulted the Condotteiri and the Seven Pillars, who were universally hated. I had been nice to the Earth and Sky and Illuminati, who they didn't like much, but could be handy if a war did break out. I had been 'friendly' to the Egyptians and Nine Clans, who the Amazon rank and file did approve of. The SD had no doubts; they were looking at a war. Unlike their leadership, the Security Detail was anticipating this, even anxious for the test. Fighting is what they spent their whole lives training for. Thirty years had passed since the last major clash between Havenstone and the others. For the youngest, this was the ultimate chance to prove their training had been perfect. For the oldest members of the SD, this was the culmination of a lifetime's devotion. 'Take themselves to the cliffs'? Not now. Now came the chance to make every burn, bullet hole, stab wound and piece of shrapnel worth it. Their Host lavished care and resources on the Security Detail; their Warrior Elite; and they were about to reward that glorification with a fervor only female's with 3000 years of martial tradition could match. Like me? Allowable yet not required. Respect me? Constanza was their lesson on respect. Obedience? No. Rachel had most assuredly related my contact with the 'Runners' and Buffy, so they could hit me like they could no other Head of Household; as long as it was 'appropriate'. Since they were not forced to give me full equality, they could stomach my 'almost' equality. Think of it as being able to punch your manager at work in the arm whenever you thought they were doing something stupid. Imagine how much worker morale would benefit. By stepping up and taking a punch, or two, I bought myself and House Ishara much more respect than a snippy insistence on etiquette would have ever done. Bringing 'Runners' into a First House? The SD wasn't jumping for joy. Here, the SD's sense of superiority worked in Ishara's favor. What did it matter to them that a few 'Runners' had been exalted to Full-blooded status? SD was the best of the best. That they were the best of the 'best available until now' hadn't occurred to them yet. All that circled back to Felicité playing with me, no one taking exception to me making a play for Wiesława and the return of the firing range to an educational platform for me. As I had told Oneida, 'defeat starts in the mind'. Along with that came 'Victory starts with a plan', and 'seize the moment'. I was aiming for seizing victory in the flesh. I bent over to put my pants back on. Since Felicité was departing for jobs-unknown, I ran the pants, and my hand, along Wiesława's inner right thigh. By the look in her eyes when I was finished, she didn't mind in the slightest. At the end of my allotted time period, my marksmanship had improved and Wiesława was mine for the taking. What bothered me was that it felt too easy somehow. Weird huh; that 'easy' would bother me. "You don't hang around men much?" I questioned the Pole as the weapons were being put away. "No," she sighed. "The last male in my hold died eight years ago. That is one reason I was re-assigned here," she informed me. "What department are you with?" I asked as we waited on the elevator. "Security Detail," she answered. "Fantastic," I murmured. "Elsa is a great boss. The two of us get along great." "Really? That is good news," Wiesława sounded upbeat. "How close are you?" Hint, hint. "Like the Cobra and the Mongoose," I grinned. Into the elevator we went. "I'll let you figure out which is which." "You are the Cobra," she patted my thinly covered cock. Yay! No personal boundaries. Less I forget I was still on the list of approved prey animals the door opened on the first floor and Brielle, her buddy, and Oneida stepped onboard. I had no clue where Wiesława was supposed to go. I guessed she was along for the ride. "Good morning, Cáel," Brielle greeted me before licking my left nipple. Wiesława was confused; could she have been licking me, and getting licked by me, half an hour ago? "What are you doing?" Oneida squawked. "Yum; someone has been to the gun range this morning," Brielle smiled at me. "Oh, and; sorry about your paternal person," she hastily added. "They are called Fathers," I sighed. To defuse Oneida, I slipped a hand to the small over her back then wiggled three fingers between the top of her skirt and panties. It was 'dangerous' enough to give her pause before going after the other women. "It is good to see your new, exalted status hasn't gone to your head, Cáel Ishara," Brielle looked very naughty. "Sisters first, last and always," I responded. "I'm not going to take credit for my ancestors being kick ass." "They must have been very courageous women," Wiesława stated. I snorted. "Wiesława, my Ishara lineage goes down the male side of the family, so those lethal ancestors were all male," I chided her. "When the Dacian-Thracians moved into the region, they joined with those tribes fighting the Celts. Later, they joined with the Dacian kings and fought against the Romans. Germans, Avars, Bulgars and finally the Magyars came their way; my ancestors impressed them all enough to be accepted. I know this because my Father's name was Nyilas, which means Archer in the Magyar tongue. We were fighters under the Arpad dynasty the same way we had gone to war with our Amazon War leaders thousands of years earlier. I also know this because of my bloodline; if the female folk had been raped, the bloodline would have perished," I explained. "Where exactly was your family from?" Wiesława inquired. "My grandfather said we Nyilas' were from Székelys Lands in Northern Romania," I replied. "My great-grandfather grew up under the Romanian King, hated it and died fighting as a Hungarian soldier against the Soviets in World War II," I continued. "That is why my great-grandmother took her children and came to America. They had lost their homeland in her opinion. Dad said she was bitter until the day she died," I sighed over my forerunners intransience. "She even wanted to be buried at her home town of Szászrégen," I let them know. "That never happened." The elevator door opened, I waved good-bye to friends new and old then raced to Katrina's bathroom. Katrina was at her desk, working away. "Cáel," Katrina acknowledged my passage with a wave of her hand. "Hayden and I have been examining a list of possible; " "That boat has sailed, Katrina," I cut her off. "I'll take care of my business without Hayden's help, thank you very much. I know you tried to warn her. I should have known there was no use dealing with the Council in any way, shape, or form. There isn't." I paused. "Tell your allies that there will be many in House Ishara and Warrior-Fathers too." "Aren't you worried in the least?" Katrina requested. "We both know that some of these bitches want to face their end like the lead characters in a Wagnerian opera. All we can do is remind them they are traitors to their Race, not patriots to some modern day concoction of a cult of gender blood purity," I stated, "as we work to save our people." "Those 'Old Guard' broads have forgotten what an Amazon is supposed to be," I explained. "And a man is going to show us the way?" Katrina studied me with emotionless intent. "Yes," I muttered. "A man who prefers love over hate and counts his worth by the lives he saves, not the one's he takes." "Do you ever fear this 'softness' will weaken your masculinity?" Katrina mused. That hurt; not because of her words, which could be true for any man. It hurt because the bastion against such thinking had just died. "My only fear is that I won't live up to my father's example," I responded. "Not only as a man and a father in my time, but as a human being," I delved into the wounded portion of my soul. "He never went to college, served in the military, or even got into a fight until that last minute of his life. He covered for co-workers with family issues, never failed to answer a call out to work in inclement weather, and did all that normal boring shit few here even understand. He let me be weak and let me be strong. His greatest lesson was that no matter where my life led, I had to take responsibility for it. The strong ask for help. The weak ask for someone to do the task for them. Love is not a word. Love is the star you chart your life by. The worst weakness is letting fear stop you from pursuing what you want. That is what I have to measure up to," I finished. In the interim, several of the new hires showed up and were observing the spiel. "I would think he would be happy if you measured up to what you wanted out of life," Katrina said. "I aim to do both," I grinned. I went to the bathroom and quickly changed into my work attire. The meeting started on time with the additional of a gnat-bite; Dora was two minutes late. At the time, nothing seemed out of sorts to me. It was a day on the job with Rosette. Around 3:30 pm, Pamela stopped our knife training (her with her wand and me with my weighted, wooden blade). She went to the corner of the room, ran her finger along the central point and drew back a finger with dust on it. She raised the finger so I could clearly see it. "It's dust?" I shrugged. "Normally they do a much better job," Pamela noted and back to training we went. The nightmare became real with one phrase in common usage: 'I'll get to it when I can', one Runner told Desiree when Desiree gave her a task. One of the most fascinating things in my book about Havenstone was that it hummed along like a well-oiled, organic machine. Tasks were completed, back-ups were always on call, and promptness wasn't a virtue; I was the absolutely expected. "What did you say?" Desiree asked for confirmation. "I said I'll get right on it," the woman sighed. I caught the look in Desiree's eyes. Something was wrong, but she couldn't put a name to it. Oaths and obligations; the lubricant for patently lethal Amazon society. Those words tossed out without too much consideration were now fraying around the edges. This wasn't the Plague, boils, lesions, leprosy, rickets, or the Home Loan bubble bursting. Those you could fight. How did you counter the devaluation of someone's word? Ishara's curse was crawling toward a very bad end unless I did something, but what? Personal respect would remain. Hierarchy? Amazons would begin to question why they were prioritizing their lives around someone they didn't know, or knew and didn't like. We weren't at that final destination, yet it was coming, and best of all, every woman in the company had a weapon, or quick access to one. A phone call grabbed me before I went in for the 'end of day' meeting. It was Brooke. "Christopher Cáel-umbos," I murmured. "Economy Class Oriental tours. How may I help you?" Laughter; and more than Brooke's. "Libra and I were getting ready to head out to the Hamptons and wanted to give you one last chance to come along," Brooke pleaded. An impressive dicking indeed. Thousands of reasons not to go; safety, responsibility, risk for other; "Sure, I'd love to come along. Can you pick me up at Havenstone at 6:10 pm? We'll make a quick run to my place to pick up some stuff and then head out, unless that's too late?" I offered. "See you then, Cáel," Brooke purred. "See you," Libra called out as well. It was a loathsome indicator of how out of control my life was ; that me, a working class kid, was going on a romp with two rich, high society girls to some mansion for a weekend of hedonistic fun; because that was more 'normal' than my week had been. I entered the meeting, took my teasing and made for the gym. This hour was devoted to a hardcore workout and nothing but. Rapid repetitions, quick shifts, rolling through the muscle groups. Even a few of the dedicated lifters gave me appreciative looks. I didn't have the time today. I hit the showers and made the doors before I hit a snag. Security held me up yet again. They seemed nervous, so I asked and got a bottled water and made some jokes. These ladies were going to be my allies, damn it, before I was done. Troika caught up with me a minute later. She extended a handful of round, brownish-yellow balls in a necklace. Each ball had a symbol inscribed on it. "We received this and a message this morning," she snapped. "We have decided to reject it." "It is horse-hoof," Pamela whispered in my ear. The gears went spinning. There was one person I knew who would send me keratin scrimshaw jewelry. Those nasty bitches were piling on the stupid. I looked it over; it was old, maybe going as far back as Timur aka Tamerlane to the English-speaking world. The 'cord' was made of hair; probably horse tail hair. I had no reciprocal gift to offer; absolutely nothing this valuable. But wait, I did! Somewhere there was a Havenstone bureau, department, or office that hung on to the artifacts ALL the Houses had accumulated over the passage of years. Some of that shit was mine; Ishara's. Our house had expired before the colonies became states. That still equated to a long period of pack-ratting. I'd put a minion on it right away! I'd pray that they didn't have plans for the weekend; later. "It arrived this morning and you are only giving it to me now?" I grumbled. "That message was meant for me, not for any of the rest of you. Where is the rest of it? Oh, and you're on the list." "It was consumed in its examination," Troika blatantly lied. "You have a visual copy," Pamela sounded bored. "Give it to him." "I do not carry such things around on a handheld device," Troika parried. "Ah; that's theft," Pamela gave a slender grin. "Just so we are clear." "If Cáel Ishara wished to put forth such an accusation to Hayden, I will be prepared to defend my actions," Troika gave a hostile glare right back. "That won't be necessary," I snorted. "I'm good. Pamela, I'm out for the weekend. Have fun." I turned and walked away. "Count the days, Troika," Pamela menaced. "I'm not afraid," she countered. "I don't care, but in 21 days, Cáel's ban on internal conflict will be at an end. Like me, he will not go to a corrupted Hayden for justice. We will be exacting it in our own way and in our own time. That you should worry about," Pamela gave a tilt of the head, a feral grin and joined me in departing. In Hittite, she said; "A matron, 21 Runners and one archaic mistake," Troika joked. In Hittite, she said; "But how many more 'Runners' can he recruit between now and then?" one of Troika's bodyguards worried. "More than enough to raise your daughters after you are all gone and forgotten," Pamela shouted over her shoulder. (Starting Friday Evening in the Wrong Damn Place) Waiting outside for me were two beauties and a small car. I hefted my bike, detached the front wheel for easier storage and climbed into the Lilliputian backseat. "Sorry," Libra in the passenger seat sounded embarrassed. "I'm not sure Brooke and I thought this through. Do you have a seat belt?" She was referring to the rear-mounted cup holder I was sitting in. "This is not rated for human occupation," I grinned back. What that really meant was there were three conflicting emotions pulling events along. Wanting me to fuck them; the easy one. Loyalty to your social/sorority sister; the relationship under stress. Me being a 'suitable' human being; the one that they were both stumbling toward which made the second emotional force such a problem. Had I solely been a fuck toy for either one, the other could have gracefully exited the field (with the occasional sharing). I was far from 'husband' material yet I was closing in on being the 'crossing a crowded club to greet me' kind of guy; already passed the 'not embarrassed to introduce me to their friends' phase. "You can sit in my lap," Brooke offered. With her driving and our height differential; we'd be lucky to be pulled by the PD before we wrecked. "How about you drive, I sit in Libra's seat and she sits in my lap?" I offered. "That's no fun," Brooke shot me a pout. "It sounds like fun for me," Libra giggled. "Now Libra remember, for the seat belt to be effective, you will have to sit facing me;” I sighed. "Facing you?" she winked. "Yes; facing me naked," I assured her. "Hey!" Brooke protested. "How come she gets to be naked in your lap?" "Otherwise me being naked would be pretty pointless," I explained. "Libra," Brooke demanded, "you get to drive." Petty arguments and playful exchanges followed. I left a message for Timothy and Odette, letting them know I was heading out to some address on the far end of Long Island. I even shot myself in the foot with the Nerf gun and told Timothy so he'd feel better. Brooke and Libra were dressed similarly. Red and khaki almost 'short-shorts', white/yellow bikini tops under white wife-beaters covered with a denim shirt (sleeves rolled up) and white cargo short-sleeved shirt, tennis socks and canvas shoes. In a way, I was a victim of my own success. Both ladies wanted to fuck me bad, but their desire to prove to me I was more than a fuck toy meant I didn't get sex at my place. If you are a girl, that will make much more sense. The car ride out was an issue. If I drove, Brooke and Libra promised to put on a Sapphic display for the ages. If Libra drove, I promised to publically molest Brooke at every stop. The reverse went for Brooke driving. The solution was that the girls would take turns driving and I would be a truly diligent cunnilinguist, with a strong background as an anatomically astute Braille harpsichord player. Our destination turned out to be the hamlet of Sagaponack, aka the most expensive place to live in the United States. Why was I doing this to myself? For starters, Brooke thought our host, Brennan Sulkanen, lived in one of those $50+ million homes; funny, I thought those were called estates. The girls laughed when I told them that. My utter lack of forethought, underutilized intelligence gathering capabilities, and even not acting my age were coming back to chew a huge hunk off my heine now. Brennan was a fraternity brother of Trent; warning indicator #1. Brennan didn't actually do anything, but his father was loaded; situation getting worse. Brennan was the youngest of the three sons from the first marriage with three other children from two other marriages waiting in the wings. A quick search revealed that the third and current Mrs. Sulkanen, was very elegant for a thirty-two year old lady. His current Mom being the same age as his oldest brother could be an issue. I was living proof how good parenting could help build up a child. Improper parenting; could do the opposite. Nothing was guaranteed though. "So, why are we going to Brennan's?" I hazarded to inquire as we cruised down Highway 27 through East Patchogue. In the back of my mind, I realized I was due south of scenic Doebridge and their frisky policewomen/Stasi law enforcers. "Oh, we met in college when I came up for one of Trent's; that loser; frat functions," she told us. "He was very drunk and tried to hit on me," the tale continued. "How and where did he 'hit' on you?" I prodded. "He stumbled into the Ladies' room, knocked my drink over and tried to give me his, but I was insulted by his inebriated pawing and left," Brooke said. Lone drunk men DO stumble into Ladies' rooms; usually to vomit. Frat brothers hit on each other's girls; men are pigs. Greeks are pigs with tie pins and secret handshakes. Drunk people do not demolish another person's drink then offer up their own. The spilling of alcohol is a drink-worthy event which you can't do if you have given your drink away. Man math: Brennan stalked Brooke, ambushed her in the bathroom and tried to roofie her with his drink because our host was a dirt bag and a total ass-bandit. How had I failed to do some basic 4 1 1 on this bastard? Oh yeah, brought an extinct First House to life, multiple threats to my well-being, treated like crap by most of my co-workers and then my father was murdered. "I repeat; why are we going to this guy's house?" I asked. "He's been persistent ever since Trent bailed and he sounds so worried about me," she answered. "Oh, I don't want you to think I'm using you as Brennan-deterrent, Cáel," she added. "I wanted to get out of the city and be with you; and Libra." I was more than Brennan-deterrent alright. I was a 'Highway Closed Indefinitely' sign for his edification. This was okay with Brooke (and me) because of all the sex we were going to have. "Thanks," Libra teased her pal. My dilemma was that despite all the positive emotions wafting my way, I wasn't one of 'them' yet. I couldn't simply say 'this dude is a scumbag. Let's go somewhere else.' This was going to take some tact and pretty much annihilated my hopes for a weekend to unwind. I had to play nice and at the first opportunity pull our host aside and politely inform him that I was going to floss his teeth with his still functioning intestines if any of us partook of something we hadn't asked for, ended up in some spot we hadn't wanted to go to, and/or doing something we didn't want to do. My diplomatic approach was from some movie that was way before CGI. It was ('you' meaning 'me': 'I want you to be nice; until it is time; to not be nice.') I was going to give Brennan's survival instincts the benefit of the doubt. I felt certain he wasn't enchanted with the idea of personal pain and I was going to let him know there wasn't a bank account deep enough to protect him from my wrath. If there was ever any doubt; I'm an idiot. We pulled up to the gate right before eight. Yes; one of those nice wrought-iron, automatic opening double gates. Brooke answered the security screen and in we went. Two people, definitely staff, met us as we parked. There was six cars present already, all variations of the high-performance, turbo-charged, 'Daddy/Mommy don't love me so they gave me this deathtrap instead' ideal. Cargo space? Fuel efficiency? Excessive safety features? Not a concern for this crowd. There was a momentary bout of confusion as the male staffer came for my baggage. I thanked him. He looked at me funny. Brooke insisted the female staffer give directions to where her/Libra's luggage was going so I did the same with the guy. My stuff was not only not heading to Brooke's room, I was being banished to another branch of this sprawling villa. "Take my stuff to their room," I directed the man. "Sir, a different room has been set aside for the gentleman," he insisted. "Oh; okay," I nodded. I took my bags from him, much to his surprise, and followed the 'maid'. Brooke and Libra laughed at my obstinacy and tagged along. Our introduction to the 'pack' was delayed and, by his look, Brennan wasn't happy with my detour. I wasn't happy either, but for a different reason. "Brooke; Libra, right? Cecil?" he clearly was disrespecting me straight out of the gates. Brooke and Libra said 'hi'. I was a little less diplomatic and I was staring down the barrels of a serious crimp in my main battle plan. There were two dissipated young ladies, three men of the same caliber and two guys I identified hangers-on. Most likely rich; just not rich enough to be treated as equals by the majority. Then there was this one girl who was certainly the unsuspecting party favor. You can learn all kinds of thing about the darker side of male-female relationships at Spring Break if you pay attention. The vacation can be wonderful, but seeing fuck-head bottom-feeders getting girls wasted for the eternal glory of Girls Gone Wild and the ability to stick their prick into someplace it doesn't belong, and they haven't earned the right to be in, truly sucks. For the moment, I had to look past her. The focus of my anxiety was a couple, both African-American and from a different mold than everyone else there. I knew the guy because he was somewhat famous. "Hey Bitch," I replied in an off-handed manner. "What?" Brennan hammed up his confusion. The 'Home Alone' gasp. What had he done wrong? "What?" I responded. "Did you just call me a 'bitch'?" he clarified. "No," I lied. "I didn't even know you were talking to me. Hi, I'm Cáel Nyilas. Who are you again?" "I think you called me a bitch," Brennan watched his whole weekend plan to dispose of me coming gift wrapped here in the opening round. He looked to the 'famous' guy. I am an idiot. "Well, with your family money, I'm sure you can hire top notch Otolaryngologist to handle that hearing problem of yours," I grinned. "Orlando, what do you think Kibble here said?" Brennan indicated the guy. "Orlando Keyes," I smiled. "Man, you are one mean son of a bitch. That fighter from Ecuador; missed his name; you broke his left cheek with one hit during that MMA bout in New Orleans last Thanksgiving. The only thing almost as impressive was that guy managed to stand up afterwards." No, I wasn't buttering this guy up. There was no point. I only knew about him because the whole 'martial ardor' doesn't have to be yours to get some tail. Girls who like watching physical combat; MMA, Kick-boxing, Boxing, and the NHL (WWE if they are somewhat gullible); will jump on your bones at the completion of that match. "I think this cunt called you his bitch," Orlando came my way. I gently pushed Brooke and Libra aside to give me space. "You are mistaken," I kept smiling at Orlando. "I was calling that lady over there," I pointed at the lady he had been talking to, "my bitch for tonight. The acoustics in this place must suck." Outdoor pool; the Atlantic Ocean crashing less than 100 meters away; this place rocked. "You are going to die," Brennan laughed at me. Keyes kept coming. "Right, or left?" I asked him in a pleasant tone. He glared yet hesitated. "What does it matter?" Orlando studied me. He had stopped being a hired thug and returned to being a modern day gladiator. "I'm packing so I wanted to know which knee you can live without," I stated. "He's got a gun?" one of the other males mumbled. "Gun?" Orlando's eyes narrowed. "Knife," I corrected. At this point, everyone but Orlando and I felt better. In that snippet, Orlando and I exchanged a vital piece of information; I was going to hurt him. No matter what he did, I was going to put a knife into him. How did he know? I had warned him and I laughed at Death. I wasn't bluffing and Orlando made his life's work piercing his opponent's deceptions. "That's my fiancé," Orlando grumbled. I extended my hand. "I apologize then," I said as he shook my hand. "That was rude of me and uncalled for. Not only is she one of the classiest ladies here, she was hanging out with you, a man not known for accepting anything short of the perfect match. Besides," I whispered, "we both know who I was truly talking about." Orlando wasn't happy with me, or forgiven me. What he did accept was that I'd given him an out. I had backed down and apologized. Brennan was frowning. Orlando and I didn't care; we were both fighters and we'd both ponied up on the promise of pain. If there was to be a conflict, he wasn't going to do it for Brennan. He was going to do it because he always wanted to know how tough the other guy really was. Names floated around. The only people that mattered to me were Anima and Casper. Anima was Brennan's 'girlfriend' which I translated as a debauchery enabler. She was under the delusion that life was boring and pointless, so she should punish the world for her ennui. Her life's cup had been emptied at twenty-three? Bitch, I worked with real women who couldn't even consider such nonsense. Casper; Casper was going to be a problem. For starters, Anima had taken Casper under her wing; was going to show Casper the 'ropes'. Casper proudly proclaimed that. Casper was also not as rich as the 'in crowd' and not a hanger-on; she was the weekend's amusement, or would have been if Brooke hadn't shown up. And, of course, she couldn't see the danger, she was so eager to be with the super-rich. After the name game came the initial party shuffle. Who was aiming for whose bedroom tonight and how would they get what they wanted. Brennan sent two backup boys cruising for Libra while he angled in for Brooke. Anima and Casper were supposed to keep me busy. Libra promptly showed she'd thumbed through my Book of Social Fugliness. "I only date real men," she shredded the 'second-stringers' to pieces. The blast socially staggered them. "If you have to think about it, boys, you are not a man. Don't strain yourself trying to be something you can't even comprehend. Now one of you go get me a drink while I think about what Cáel and I are going to do to Brooke tonight." In social parlance, that was shooting someone with both barrels of a shotgun then using the stock to tenderize the remains. That was one flank secure. Next, Casper and Anima. Anima had the feeling I didn't like her; good for her. "Would you really have cut Orlando?" Casper asked me softly while she ran a fingernail over my right forearm. "Casper, to begin with, call him Mr. Keyes. There will come a time when you can freely use his first name, but you ain't there yet," I cautioned her. "To answer your question: yes, I would have sliced down and across, cutting his right hamstring." Keyes heard me, as I had intended. "Brennan says you are a co-worker of Trent," Anima cooed. "Kind of," I shrugged. "Trent is a big-shot with the Far East Unit while I remain in Personnel in the city (Manhattan)." They both looked disappointed then Casper handed me a plum. She wasn't stupid, just willfully blind. "Where did you learn to use a knife then?" Casper tried to 'salvage' me. She was doing herself a favor by trying to make me look better to the rest; doing me a favor. Nice. "I'm with the Records Redaction Unit of Havenstone's Executive Services," I lied. Blink. "That doesn't make any sense," Casper's brow furrowed. "You delete records?" "No Casper," I returned her arm rub, "someone creates a list with names on it. I am part of the team that reduces the number of those names on that list to zero." Blink. "You fire people?" she remained uncertain. She had to believe I was playing with her, which I was. "No," I shook my head. "That implies extra paperwork. We take a more ergonomic approach. No termination rigmarole; no traceable termination at all." "That sounds vaguely like you murder people," Anima murmured. "Murder is a crime. Converting all the data of a given person into one, misplaced file is a way of circumventing the whole 'exit interview/providing references for other jobs/pension' process." If you believed that this nation, nay, the whole world, was run by soulless corporate monsters that made scary sense. "What do you do with the people?" Anime was showing the tiniest bit of enthusiasm for this conversation. "What people? People have names," I smiled. "Bodies with no records are normally handled as John and Jane Does and are buried in Potter's Field, or used at medical schools." "Do you enjoy sex with multiple partners?" Anima smiled; veering the conversation off in a different dir
“When people ask me now what BRAC stands for, I like to say that we stand for an idea – an idea of a world where everyone has an equal opportunity to realize their potential." --Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC Founder For Shameran Abed, BRAC was basically an elder sibling. The organization, formed in 1972, preceded Shameran's birth by about a decade and was founded by his father, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. BRAC was born from the devastation that occurred as Bangladesh fought for its independence and also faced a disastrous cyclone. What began as a modest, local relief effort quickly grew into a movement that reaches more than 100 million people in need across Asia and Africa. The organization and Shameran basically grew together, making his perspective on philanthropy both unique and life long. Welcome to part 1 of the discussion among host and co-founder of The Life You Can Save, Charlie Bresler and his guests Shameran Abed, Executive Director of BRAC International and Scott MacMillan, author of Hope Over Fate: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty. In this discussion, they discuss the history of BRAC and its founder, the evolution of BRAC's mission, what it's like to grow up in a mission-centered household, and the state of philanthropy today. We hope you'll also join us for part 2, publishing December 5, 2024, on the importance of hope and agency in overcoming poverty in a lasting and sustainable way. Musings About Ourselves and Other Strangers is the podcast for the non-profit organization The Life You Can Save and is hosted by co-founder Charlie Bresler. Please check out other episodes as well as our website for ideas on how you too can extend your impact for good in the world: www.thelifeyoucansave.org.
Ilham Gallery is set to host artist Noor Abed, who will bring her evocative film trilogy to the gallery this 10th - 21st November, with a special screening and conversation with writer Jo Kukathas on the 9th of November. Abed is a Palestinian artist who works at the intersection of performance and film, and her works, including Penelope, our songs were ready for all wars to come, and A Night We Held Between, delve into Palestinian folklore, blending visuals and soundscapes to reflect themes of resistance, community, and the deep ties to land. We speak to Noor to find out more about her work.Image credit: Noor Abed
Cáel's tombstone: For the love of women, women put him here.In 25 parts, edited from the works of FinalStand.Listen and subscribe to the ► Podcast at Connected..
Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Abubaker Abed is a sports journalist in Gaza but since October last year he had to change his scope to cover an ongoing genocide by Israel in the Gaza Strip. He opens up to PalCast hosts about the trials and tribulations of existing in Gaza today. He says, despite the unbearable atrocities has he seen, he has not lost hope because he insists on being a human every day. In fact he demands that we all do. Abubaker calls on people all over the world to speak up to end the genocide in Gaza and call out their complicit governments. What we have seen is beyond a genocide, he repeats. As he speaks, gunshots and noise are heard in the background from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where Palestinians were burnt alive by an Israeli airstrike last week. Rory's Dublin Marathon for Gaza:https://www.patreon.com/posts/112598735
Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Abubaker Abed is a sports journalist in Gaza but since October last year he had to change his scope to cover an ongoing genocide by Israel in the Gaza Strip. He opens up to PalCast hosts about the trials and tribulations of existing in Gaza today. He says, despite the unbearable atrocities has he seen, he has not lost hope because he insists on being a human every day. In fact he demands that we all do. Abubaker calls on people all over the world to speak up to end the genocide in Gaza and call out their complicit governments. What we have seen is beyond a genocide, he repeats. As he speaks, gunshots and noise are heard in the background from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where Palestinians were burnt alive by an Israeli airstrike last week. Rory's Dublin Marathon for Gaza:https://www.patreon.com/posts/112598735
Mom and the Neighbor.by Krosis. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.On the way to school, Ed asked Perry, "So where are you from, originally?"*Long way from here, Ed...not even sure you'd have a proper frame of reference.*"How am I hearing you in my head?"*I told you before, dude, we are one. If you work at it, you won't even have to vocalize for me to 'hear' you.*"Really? Cool." He continued walking. "Hey, Perry?"There was no response. "Perry?""Knock knock!" Eve Doughtry called out, looking in through her neighbor Darla's screen door. Her friend's pretty face poked out from the kitchen."Eve! C'mon in!"She did so, and rounded the corner to find Darla's wide ass pointing right at her as the woman pushed a tray of muffins into the oven. Eve suddenly had a strong urge to flip the woman's skirt up and...She shook her head. And what? Where had that come from? she wondered.Darla stood up and turned around, a vision of brunette beauty, 5'3" and voluptuous. "Lemonade?" she asked.Eve nodded, and they sat at the kitchen table to chat. After shooting the shit about the usual subjects, Eve asked her, "So how's the sex life?"Darla spluttered around a mouthful of lemonade. "Cripes, Eve, that's forward, even for you. Umm...I guess things could be better. We'd been trying for a baby, but no luck. We're kinda losing hope, so there hasn't been much action lately. Oh, why am I telling you all this?" She took in her friend Eve, looking as gorgeous as ever, especially with those huge boobs that had only grown larger after having a child. She sighed, jealous.Eve's eyes bored into hers. "Well, we were a lot closer at one point."Darla blushed. "That was when we were younger. We're both married now.""Hm."Beeeep!"Oh, my muffins..." Darla got up and headed back to the oven.Eve got to her feet as well, unzipped her slacks, and pulled down her panties as she came up behind her friend. After Darla placed the hot muffin tin on the stove top and closed the oven door, Eve grabbed her from behind, one hand moving to Darla's breast while the other went under her skirt."Eek! Eve, what are you...ohh..."Eve's hand slipped into Darla's panties and expertly manipulated her clit. "Lean forward," Eve instructed her, and she did.As she had imagined when she first walked in, Eve flipped Darla's skirt up onto her back and moved her hips forward, nudging aside the woman's panties and slotting the head of her new 3" blue cock between her friend's vaginal lips."Oh my God, Eve, what is that? Oh..." Darla felt what seemed to be a small penis pushing into her wet pussy. "Are you wearing a strap-on? That's so naughty...umm..."Eve's small penis was soon buried inside her friend's pussy, and she pulled back to slam it into her again, making Darla cry out in pleasure. "Take off your blouse," Eve urged her."Ugh...ugh...ugh..." Darla groaned as her friend thrust that hard alien cock inside her. She tried to unbutton her top, but then just gave up and pulled it up and over her head.With her quick fingers, Eve quickly unfastened Darla's bra, freeing her B-cup breasts, and moved her hands to them, squeezing those mounds and lightly pinching her nipples. "Hmm...maybe I'll fill you up with a baby..." Eve whispered into Darla's ear."Oh God!" Darla moaned. "You always know what to say to make me hot, Evie! Fuck me!"She did, pounding her new cock inside her friend's pussy. Soon, Eve felt the stirrings of an orgasm, one much like the squirting ones from the previous night with her husband. She thrust faster, feeling her new cock throbbing as her release approached.All through the previous day and night, Perry's blue sperm had been at work inside Ed's mother. Unable to find an egg to inseminate, they swam on, eventually finding one of her ovaries. Sensing the similarities between that organ and Ed's testicles, and with their need to propagate all-encompassing, they transformed that female gonad, while also increasing the mass of her clitoris and connecting that organ up to her new, blue testicle."Huh!" Eve cried out and thrust hard into Darla's pussy. Her new testicle produced a burst of blue sperm, which shot down through her pelvis and rushed up the shaft of her cock. Her new blue penis ejaculated hot alien seed into Darla's overheated vagina."Oh God...!" Darla cried out in orgasm as she felt the hot liquid shoot inside her. "What is...?! Oh!""Perry!?"*Oh, sorry, Ed, got distracted by something. What's up?*"I was gonna ask what your plans were here on Earth. You just want to be my penis forever?"*Sure, Ed! What more do I need?*Darla lay on the kitchen floor, her body intertwined with Eve's, breathing heavily. She stared at her friend's now 4" blue penis, wondering how that came to be, but strangely not worried about it.Deep inside her, Eve's blue sperm swam, searching...Ed and the Librarian. "So, when can we go fuck Charisma?" Ed whisper-asked Perry in a stall in the boy's bathroom at school. The senior student had tried to telepathically talk to the alien, but it hadn't worked. Perry insisted that he'd get it eventually, but for now he had to at least whisper.*You have to get her alone somewhere...where can we do that?* Perry asked him in his head."I...I dunno...I didn't really think about this very well, did I? If she's not in class, she's always surrounded by her friends. It's not like I can just pull you out and you'll hypnotize all of them...er, can you?"*Let's just stick to one at a time, okay, Ed? Rome wasn't built in a day.*Ed paused. "Rome? What do you know about Rome?"*I know what you know, Ed, now that we're joined.*"So...you know what I'm thinking, at all times?"*Ehh...I try not to listen in too much, but I need to know more about your world, bud. You're my Encyclopaedia Eddica.*The bell rang and Ed headed to class. A couple rows over sat Charisma, the bubble-bodied blonde cheerleader, in a tight top and short skirt, neither of which were appropriate for the school dress code, but her mostly male teachers never complained. Ed sighed and tried to think of a way to get her alone. Eventually, the teacher asked him a question, and Ed looked like an idiot when he had to ask him to repeat it. After that, he concentrated on his work.When the bell rang for lunch, Ed grabbed his stuff and followed Charisma. She would be heading to meet her friends, but in the meantime, maybe he'd have a chance to get her alone! As he entered the busy hallway, he was buffeted by the cross-channels of hangry teenagers, unconcerned about his paltry needs. He hopped up into the air for a better vantage point, spied Charisma heading down one hall, and rushed after her.He was always just a little too slow, getting blocked by people who were crossing in front of him, or stopping outright when they encountered one of their friends. He didn't want to start shoving people...that could get you a bloody nose! Finally, he rounded a corner and she was gone.He heard the library door close and followed, though he didn't know why Charisma would be in there...reading hardly seemed like one of her pastimes.*Now, now, Ed!* Perry admonished him, *Are you making assumptions based on someone's looks?*He could see Mrs. Parker at her desk. The slightly overweight, thirtysomething brunette woman, with her glasses perched on her hawkish nose, would be the epitome of a dour old librarian after another 20 years or so, Ed thought. He stepped up to her. "Um, Mrs. Parker? Did Charisma come through here?"She looked up. "The cheerleader? Heh...she wouldn't come in here by choice, Ed.""See?" Ed subvocalized to Perry."See what?" Mrs. Parker asked him.*Hmm...I think we have something she can see, Ed...* Perry suggested.Suddenly, Ed felt desire surge through him, and his eyes roamed Mrs. Parker's stacked form. Her breasts might actually be larger than his mom's, he thought. He took a quick look around and, seeing no one else in the library, unzipped his jeans. "Have a look at this, Mrs. Parker."She couldn't help but stare as Perry slithered out from Ed's zipper hole. "Umm...oh wow..." she moaned, her eyes going glassy."Is there somewhere we can go to be alone, Mrs. P?"Soon, in the library office, the curvy librarian was sucking Perry into her mouth. Ed groaned, enjoying the feeling of his new cock being fellated. Once again, he marvelled that he could feel the alien appendage as if it was his own penis."Let me see your boobs, Mrs. P." She quickly unfastened her sweater and blouse, and let those bra-covered EE-cups out to play. "Oh damn..." Ed moaned as she unfastened the bra and those massive mammaries sprang out."Let me..." she moved back and surrounded Perry with her boobs, moving them up and down the alien penis' shaft."Holy shit..." Ed had never felt anything like it, and Perry was long enough that she could continue to suck him on the downstrokes.After a few minutes of this, she got up, pulled down her skirt, hose, and panties, and bent over her desk. "Please..." she urged him.Ed was super hard now, and moved up behind her. Perry, eager as always, contorted and adjusted himself so that he could insinuate himself into the woman's wet pussy."Oh..." she moaned, "you're so big, Ed..."Once Perry was inside her, Ed started to thrust, making them moan. Ed realized that Perry had done something to him to get him into the mood to fuck her, as he hadn't really thought of the older woman as sexy before. There was no stopping him now, though! He continued to thrust his blue 10 inches into the wanton woman."Ugh! Ugh! Oh, so deep..." she moaned and orgasmed. "O-h! Oh, Ed, I may never be able to have sex with my husband again after you..."Ed felt proud at hearing that, though it was all Perry, not him, he realized. Well, he reconsidered, he was the one moving his hips, so maybe he could take a little credit? He continued to thrust, and reached around to fondle her massive boobs."Mmm..." she moaned as he pawed at her mammaries. They had grown during each of her two pregnancies. They caused her chronic back discomfort, but nobody could beat her in the breasts department. It seemed that Ed liked them, so she was happy.Then she frowned. There was something bothering her...pregnancy? Why was she thinking about that? She shook her head...she'd come back to that thought later, after this hot sex.Ed's fingers finally found Mrs. P's nipples and pinched them lightly. She gave a little squeak and came again, and this time it pushed Ed over the edge into his own orgasm. He thrust into her hard and fast, feeling his balls boil up a load of cum, which pleasurably rushed up his shaft and splashed deep inside the woman's unprotected reproductive system."Oh...!" she cried out, her waning orgasm ramping back up upon feeling Ed's hot cum fill her depths. Her spasming cervix was deluged by potent alien cum.Finally, Ed collapsed upon the woman's back, gasping. He could feel Mrs. P's pussy, still cumming as it sucked the last few drops from Perry. When she stopped vibrating, Ed pulled out, and blue-tinged semen splashed onto the office floor. "Oops! Sorry..." he offered."It's...okay, Ed..." she breathed, slowly coming back to reality. Then she stood up. "Oh! I...we...oh no! What did we do, Ed?!"Ed had re-zipped and was heading out the door. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, Mrs. P; our secret." He gave her a wink and then went to go grab some lunch. Darla watched Eve's back as her old friend and neighbor walked back home. She couldn't believe what they had done together, Eve taking what seemed to be an actual blue penis and fucking Darla right there in the kitchen! It had been incredibly hot, especially when Eve suggested that she might even impregnate Darla, as bizarre a statement that was.Her clit itched a little, and she gave it a scratch through her skirt. She shuddered at how pleasurably sensitive it was.Deep inside the woman, Eve's blue sperm had already found Darla's waiting egg and quickly laid claim to it, one alien spermatozoa piercing the cellular membrane and injecting its genetic payload inside. Under The Bleachers. The next day, Ed once again tried to get Charisma alone during lunch, but she managed to find her friends first. The clique of cheerleaders giggled at each other over some stupid thing.*C'mon, Ed! Let's find someone else.* Perry suggested."Mrs. Parker again?" Ed considered, heading toward the library.*Naw...someone new, guy. Don't you want to 'play the field'?*Inspired, Ed headed out to the playing field, but everyone there seemed to be in groups. Then he had an idea and went under the bleachers, where he found a couple of seniors: Cora...something, and another girl he didn't know."Ugh...our secret spot isn't so secret anymore...seeya, Cora," the other girl said as she tossed the remains of her cigarette and trudged off the other way.Cora, an elfin, auburn-haired retro grunge chick, with the requisite flannel overshirt and oversized jeans, regarded Ed as he approached. "Ed, right? You smoke?" She took a puff from her cig."Umm...no," Ed responded. She knew his name?"Then what'cha doin' here? This is the unofficial smoke pit." The school had closed the official one the previous year. She held out her half-finished cancer stick to him.Ed paused only a moment before he took it and pulled a drag off of it. Then he started hacking up a lung.Cora grabbed it back with a smirk. "Poser." Then she paused, looking at his crotch. "What the hell is that?"Ed looked where her eyes were pointing. Perry was writhing within his pants. "Perry?""Who's Perry?" Cora asked, unable to tear her eyes away from Ed's undulating crotch. "Jeez! What's going on in there?"*Woo! What was that? I feel good...lemme out to play, Ed!*"The nicotine, maybe?" Ed could feel Perry straining at the confines of his jeans. "Okay, just a sec..." He unfastened his pants and Perry sprang out, hard and pointing at Cora."Holy shiuh..." The grunge girl's mouth hung open as Perry gave her his alien whammy. "I gotta...gotta have that in me, Ed..." She said and pulled off her overshirt, showing off her braless, undershirt-covered A-cup breasts, her poky nipples quite visible through the thin fabric. Then she was pulling her oversized jeans off, revealing surprisingly small hips and slim legs. Why had she been hiding her cute, sexy body with those bulky clothes? Ed wondered.She pulled down her undies and bent over, grabbing onto one of the bars that held up the bleachers. "Get that huge thing in me..." she commanded him breathily, and he stepped forward to grab her hips.Perry dipped down and slithered between her legs, making her gasp. "Oh, wow, that's...uh...oh shit..." She bent over more as Perry's head slipped between her vaginal lips, and Ed thrust in, his passage aided by her suddenly wet pussy. "Ahh fuck..." she moaned, "you're so fucking big..."As Ed thrust into the mesmerized teen, he pulled her shirt up and reached under to massage her small breasts. He felt her pussy grip him tightly, and she moaned as he stimulated her boobies.Perry noticed mucus around Cora's cervix, and remembered the lady doctor from the other day, as well as their neighbor Darla when Eve, Ed's mom, had fucked her with her new blue cock. Darla had mentioned that she was trying to get pregnant, and Eve's blue sperm had found an egg waiting inside her...that was it! He was figuring these humans out, bit by bit.Ed had found Cora's nipples and pinched them between his fingers. "Uh! Uh!" she cried out, and came again."Oh shit..." Cora's grasping pussy pushed Ed over the edge, and he thrust hard inside the slight girl. Pleasure rushed up his oversized cock, and then he blasted blue alien seed deep inside her.As she felt her fertile insides inundated by hot sperm, her nipple-induced orgasm was supplemented by a full vaginal one, and she moaned in pleasure, her needy pussy urging Ed's cum deeper inside her unprotected reproductive system. Finally, she slumped forward, barely able to hold herself up."I...I gotcha...you're in trouble!"Ed turned and saw the girl that had left earlier, now pointing her phone at them, clearly recording. He pulled out of Cora, making her gasp at the sudden evacuation, and turned to the newcomer."You...you keep away with that...thah..." The girl dropped her arms to her side, her jaw dropping open as her mind was ensorcelled by Perry's writhing form.*I got her...your turn, Ed.*My turn? Ed wondered, and then he stepped forward. "Gimme your phone." She handed it over, and he quickly stopped the recording and deleted it. When he turned back to the girl, she was on her knees and reaching for Perry.Unlike Cora, this girl had larger breasts, probably a C-cup, he figured. She wore a t-shirt and shorts, and he thought that he recognized her from the soccer team. She was pretty, not beautiful, but she had nice curly brown hair and an athletic figure. She took the first few inches of Perry into her mouth, and Ed moaned at the feeling of her warm mouth around his cock. Despite having just cum inside of Cora, he was soon ready to go again.There was no way to lay down under the bleachers without getting dirty, so he had this new girl do as Cora had, grabbing hold of a supporting bar and bending over after shucking her shorts. As with Cora, her juicy pussy allowed Perry easy access to her sodden depths.Ed was amazed that two women's vaginas could be so different. Cora's had been tight but slick, but this girl's pussy was looser, but also somehow less slippery, her vaginal walls pulling at the skin of his cock as he thrust and withdrew. Both were amazing...Perry had been right to suggest fucking a variety of women, Ed realized. He pulled up her shirt to get at her boobs, though he had to unfasten her bra first, and then his hands were mashing her more substantial breasts between his fingers, making her gasp in pleasure.Cora...he looked around. She was laying on the ground, unconscious, near the supporting bar he had fucked her against. "Did you knock Cora out?" he asked Perry subvocally.*Yeah...controlling more than one at a time's a strain, Ed. I brain-blitzed her so you can do this one...what's her name?*Ed considered. "You know what? I don't even care." And he thrust faster into the athletic girl.*Good for you, man! You'll be a player in no time!*"Oh God..." the girl moaned, "...oh God..." Then as Ed thrust one last time and buried his cock as deep as possible inside her, she cried out, "Oh God!" as she felt Ed's hot sperm bathe the walls of her vulnerable pussy, the sensation causing her own orgasm to wash over her. "Uh! Uh! Uh!"Then the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. Ed's empty stomach growled, but his cock felt damn good, and that was what mattered, he figured. He pulled out, causing the girl to gasp and sink to her knees, Ed's white semen splashing out and soaking the ground between them. Then he zipped up and headed back to class. In the afternoon, a census taker arrived at Ed's house. Eve invited the woman in before seducing her and filling her up with a load of blue sperm. The woman left on unsteady legs, her body inundated with alien seed, swimming deeper into her vulnerable insides...Spring Break, and a visit from extended family.For the rest of the week, Ed was unable to get the primary object of his lust, the cheerleader Charisma, alone. He made do with any other senior students or teachers that he could find, though, filling them up with his alien sperm, unmindful of the danger. Then Spring Break started."Okay, when Erin's family gets here, we're going to have you..." Ed's mother Eve pointed at her husband Bob, "in Ed's room with Dave. I'll be sleeping with my sister in our room, since I haven't done that in forever, and then the kids will take the living room, like normal."Ed scratched his head. Normally Aunt Erin and Uncle Dave would take his room. This changeup was odd."I don't wanna sleep on the floor, Eve," Dave told her.She gave him the look that told him that she was done arguing. "Just blow up the air mattress, Bob; it's only one night.""Humph." When his aunt's family arrived, Ed was surprised to see that his strawberry blonde cousin Julie had grown even taller in the last year, about 5'10" now, though the 18-year-old's willowy figure had filled out as well, becoming more substantial in the hips and bust. He waited for Perry to say something about the gorgeous young woman, but he had been strangely silent for most of the day. Ed hoped that the alien parasite was finally realizing that his family was off limits. Next door, Eve's neighbor Darla had invited another neighbor, Mrs. Chen, over for tea. Darla's new 5" blue cock, overstimulated by the other woman's orgasming pussy, ejaculated alien seed deep inside her. Across town, the curvy librarian Mrs. Parker was sawing her new 5" blue cock into the juicy pussy of Mrs. Abed, the co-owner of the local convenience store. Bags of chips rained down from the shelves from their frenzied coupling. After a sumptuous dinner, the extended family sat down to play some board games. Ed and Julie's team stomped the parents at Pictionary, but then the brother-in-laws Bob and Dave destroyed everyone with their ability to remember useless facts in Trivial Pursuit. Finally, it was time for bed.The taller Julie took the couch, of course. Ed had mixed feelings when he found that he had grown just enough that he could no longer fully stretch out on the love seat. After some uncomfortable adjustments, he finally fell asleep. Erin, Ed's Aunt, woke up to find what she thought was her husband sidling up to her, his hard cock poking into her thigh. "Oh, Dave..." she moaned, and raised her leg to allow his penis to slip between her thighs. Her bedmate slipped lower, and she could feel that hard cock start to press between her vaginal folds.Then she remembered that she wasn't at home, and had gone to bed with her sister. "Wait, wha?"Then Eve thrust, burying her now 6" blue penis deep inside her sister's pussy.Erin gasped, feeling pleasure blossoming from within her. She moved a hand to her partner's chest and found her sister's substantial breasts. "Wha? Evie? How?""Shush!" Eve responded as she started to thrust in and out of her sister's well-lubricated pussy.Erin moved her hand down, between her sister's thighs, and felt the impossible cock there. It wasn't a strap-on dildo; there was no belt or harness. Everything felt unreal...was she dreaming? she wondered. She felt Eve's fingers move her hand aside so that she could thrum her sister's clit. "Oh..." Her nipples were so hard under the fabric of her nightie...she lay back and enjoyed what her sister was doing to her, the craziness of it not fully registering in her conscious mind.Soon, she felt her orgasm rise from her clitoris and where that wonderful cock slid along her most private of places. "Oh, Evie...Evie...Unh!""Yes.." Eve hissed, and thrust deep. Her own orgasm rushed up through her cock and injected blue sperm inside her orgasming sister's pussy.Erin's eyes flew open as she felt that amazing cock throb, and then hot cum splashed deep inside her. That sensation took her orgasm and rebounded it through her body. Her back arched in pleasure as her cervix spasmed open, allowing her sister's alien sperm to seep through into her fertile, forbidden depths. "Uh! Uh! Uh..." "Perry?" Ed couldn't sleep. Julie's breathing was regular now, so he figured it was safe to talk.*Oh! Hey, Ed!*"You didn't answer me all evening. Were you sleeping?"*Naw...I gotta make sure things are progressing well, y'know?*"Progressing?""Who are you talking to? Are you on the phone?" Julie asked. A light shone at him from the couch."Ack!" Ed cried out, covering his eyes against the sudden glare."What...is that?"Oh no! Ed realized that Perry was moving. "Don't look, Julie! I'm not decent!" He moved his hands down to try to cover up, but Perry slipped out of Ed's underwear and thrashed his blanket off."Oh my god! Is that your penis..." The light flipped up to illuminate the ceiling as her phone fell to the carpeted floor.Ed froze. "Julie?" He couldn't see, as the beam had been right in his eyes and now it wasn't. He blinked, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the gloom, and then he felt her grab his cock."Julie, no! I mean, Perry, no!" Ed hissed. "She's my cousin!"*Mother this, cousin that! You know what, Ed? I think you need to expand your horizons!* With that, Ed felt his cock get harder as a rush of desire roared through him."Oh no..." Ed moaned as Julie took Perry into his mouth. "Julie..." She grasped his shaft and stroked, making him feel tremendously good as he lay back. Then she took her mouth off of him and he felt her climbing on top of him. "No..." Then Perry was slithering up inside her.*Mmm! Some yummy blood up in here! Munch munch munch!*Ed raised his head. "Oh shit! Was she a virgin?"*Nope! I had no problem getting in. The blood seems to be coming from further inside.*Julie was on her period, Ed realized. Well, at least there was no way that he was going to get her pregnant...He paused. He had been fucking women every day since Perry had arrived, without a condom...why hadn't he even considered that he could get those women pregnant? Was this Perry's doing, or was he just that dense?*Fuck fuck fuck!* Perry urged him.Julie was grinding herself down on him now, having finally been able to take all 10 inches of him inside herself. Ed raised his knees, grabbed his cousin's rounded hips, and lifted her up and down upon his cock."Huh! Uh! Oh..." she moaned, feeling Ed's huge member filling her, unlike her boyfriend with his mere six incher. She pulled her t-shirt off, setting her B-cup breasts free, and now that Ed's eyes had adjusted to the scant light from her phone flashlight reflecting off of the ceiling, he saw that they were amazing, pale and round, with small, dark areolas. He leaned forward to take one into his mouth."A-ahh!" Julie cried out as he greedily sucked. "Careful! They're really sensitive at this time of the month, Ed."He switched to licking at her nipples instead. She rode him harder."It's...so deep..." Julie moaned. Then she stopped moving. "Oh my god...it's...pushing...ow...!"Ed stopped moving as well. "Perry? What're you doing?"*I'm peckish for period, Ed! Yummy!*Ed didn't know enough about female anatomy to realize that Perry had forced his way through Julie's cervical opening and was now in her womb, consuming all the excess uterine lining that was sloughing off. All Ed knew was that Julie was in pain. He reached down and flicked at her clitoris while he continued to lick at her nipple.After a minute she relaxed. "It's...better now..." she whispered, and then she began riding him again. "That felt so strange, almost like losing my virginity again, but it's feeling...good...oh..."Ed could feel her pussy gripping him tighter and knew that he wasn't going to be able to last much longer. "Can we be...kissing cousins?" he asked her."Mmm..." she moaned, and moved forward to kiss him passionately. As her tongue speared into his mouth, he felt his balls give up their contents. His cum rushed up his lengthy shaft and was injected directly into her uterus."Umm!" Julie screamed into his mouth as she came hard, her body shaking in extreme pleasure as Perry spewed hot alien seed into the deepest recesses of her body. They found one of her ovaries within minutes and began the transformation process, just as their compatriots had done with several other women over the past couple of weeks.In the morning, Julie woke Ed up, excited. "My period's all gone! I should come visit you every month, Ed!"Ed looked around worriedly and then laughed, glad that nobody had overheard that.After breakfast, both families gave each other hugs and Aunt Erin and her brood headed home. What a crazy night, she thought as her husband drove them home.Deep inside her womb, her sister's blue sperm penetrated her vulnerable egg. The fertilized ovum would implant itself into the lining of her uterus the next day.To be continued in part 3, by Krosis for Literotica
How did Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego hang on to the Living God in the midst of all the false gods around them in Babylon? How do we resist the pull of the false gods in our "Babylon"? In this study in Daniel, we see true faith displayed by three men who determined they would serve their God no matter how He decided their fate. They knew where their allegiance lay.
It's Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Ilan Pappe, professor of history at the University of Exeter and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, author of Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic, to discuss the state of affairs in the Middle East a year after October 7th, 2023. Then she speaks with Rakan Abed El Rahman, correspondent at the National News stationed in the Gaza Strip, to discuss what it has been like reporting on the Israel/Gaza conflict since October 7th of last year. First, Emma runs through updates on today's voter registration deadlines, Israel's decimation of Gaza, the IDF's failing invasion of Southern Lebanon, Blinken's role in approving the IDF's bombing of aid trucks in Gaza, France's military aid to Israel, the Harris campaign, SCOTUS, Biden's immigration policy, and the impending Hurricane Milton, before parsing through Elon Musk's simultaneously cringeworthy and genuinely concerning appearance at Trump's rally in PA. Professor Ilan Pappé then joins, diving right into the rapid escalation and exacerbation of Israeli society and the Israeli state's genocidal desires, first tackling the clear signs of the citizenry's right-wing turn and the Netanyahu Administration's messianic nature in the wake of the 2022 elections, before unpacking his thoughts on how the rapid radicalization during Israel's brutal ethnic cleansing of Gaza (now expanded into a regional conflict) has exposed extensive cracks in the state of Israel. After briefly touching on the role of Israeli's backlash to Netanyahu's fascistic judiciary reforms – and the particular dearth of any connection between the violence imposed on Palestinians and the fascism coming home to roost – in demonstrating the precarious state of the country, Professor Pappé steps back to explore this evolution as a natural progression of right-wing colonial ideology in direct conflict with the world it's invading, bolstered by Israel's proactive violence in stamping out any conditions for change. Ilan then walks Sam and Emma through the evolution of the super-alliance that backs the Zionist state, exploring the movement's roots in an Evangelical Christian movement that sought to capitalize on anti-Semitic sentiment and the growing aims of the British Empire, putting together an overwhelmingly powerful coalition before the Jewish community even came to the fore, also looking at the incredible evolution of the Zionist lobby in the United States and how Israel's ability to stamp out conditions for change extends well beyond its border. After expanding on the ever-growing international backlash to Israel's genocidal apartheid regime, Pappé dives deep into the need to recenter Palestinian actors in this fight, and what must be done to achieve decolonization in the region as quickly and with as little violence as possible. Rakan Abed El Rahman then looks to the ongoing devastation Israel is inflicting on the Gaza Strip, unpacking the ever-rising death toll, the debilitating material and mental conditions, and the complete decimation of civilian sectors in the region, before stepping back to outline how very real (while certainly less extreme) all of those issues were *prior* to October 7th of last year. Expanding on this, El Rahman walks Emma through the near-total nature of Israel's reign of terror in Gaza since Hamas' attack last October, even in contrast with Israel's other major offensives against Gaza over the last two decades, before wrapping up by sharing his (and others') experiences of Israel's explicit and targeted terrorizing of journalists and medical personnel, and the insane need for the West (and Israel) to recognize Palestinians as humans rather than terrorists. And in the Fun Half: Emma and the MR Team reflect on the Veepstakes after last week's debate, parse through Donald Trump's recent comments on the real estate value of colonizing Gaza, and watch Google's former CEO attempt to argue that providing infinite growth for AI is more important than tackling climate change. Plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Professor Pappe's book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Lobbying-for-Zionism-on-Both-Sides-of-the-Atlantic/Ilan-Pappe/9780861544028 Follow Rakan on Twitter here: https://x.com/Rakanabdrahmn Check out the National News here: https://www.thenationalnews.com/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityrep ort Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Join Sam on the Nation Magazine Cruise! 7 days in December 2024!!: https://nationcruise.com/mr/ Check out StrikeAid here!; https://strikeaid.com/ Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Check out today's sponsors: Cozy Earth: Your peace of mind matters. 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We live in a difficult day. The moral decline of our nation is more rapid than ever. The sacred nature of marriage is collapsing. The dignity of man as made in the image of God is under attack. Life is no longer sacred. Truth has eroded into relativism. Our world is filled with self-indulgence and lies, and yet, God has seen fit in His sovereignty to give us the PRIVILEGE of serving Him at this time in this generation. What do Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego, Nehemiah, Esther, Zerubbabel, Mordecai, and Jeremiah all have in common? They were sacrificially loyal and faithful during a time of exile. They were faithful in the midst of a dark, evil and pagan day. Make no mistake, days such as ours are the days when heroes are born. We are the Lord’s sling and spear. No matter how tough the times may get, we will remain faithful holding out the Word of truth and the light of the gospel because we know that Jesus wins. Never underestimate the power of showing up. Each week, as we gather for worship, we make a bold statement to the world. As we clog up the streets, fill the parking lot, and run shuttles, we let our community know that there is still a group of people at the corner of 87th and Lackman who believes that God is good, heaven and hell are real, Jesus saves, and the Bible is true. Make plans to worship with us. This weekend is special. As part of our worship, on Sunday morning, we will ordain five men to the deacon ministry, and on Sunday night at 5 pm, we will ordain two men to pastoral ministry. These moments are mission critical, and I pray that you will join us. — Pastor Chad
The Tongue Conquers Enemies (Audio) David Eells 9/22/24 A shaking is on the way. War appears to be breaking out on the surface. The Covert war between the Alliance and the DS is likely to break out in larger overt operations. The DS has invaded the cities with terrorists and military-aged men and CCP Chinese along with others that are expanding the voter rolls within, in order to overthrow President Trump and the Alliance. They are preparing for terrorist acts because of the Brunson case has gone to the Supreme Court which will overthrow the DS government. This from Operation Disclosure: The Brunson Brothers Voter Fraud Case before the Supreme Court asked a simple question: Did Congress investigate 50 formally filed allegations of voter fraud before certifying the 2020 Election? Obviously not, and rumor was that the Supreme Court had already ruled such on the case. We awaited an announcement likely in favor of Brunson that would dissolve the Biden Administration and all of Congress, plus bring in Martial Law until a new election was held. Five separate assassination teams actively targeting President Trump. Three are foreign, two domestic. Three Assassination Attempts have come in the last few weeks. Your prayers and faith have cast down all five of these teams. President Trump is insulated. Congressman Tim Burchett exposed the CIA's Sinister MK ULTRA plot to assassinate Trump! amg-news.com. As we will see below your prayers and confession will cast most of the lawlessness down. The DS anarchists plan on mass anarchy and destruction of cities and the Alliance military is being spread coast to coast before the announcement of the Supreme Court ruling in order to defend the cities and liberty from the lawless left who will not accept democracy. We cast down their weapons of warfare. A New War Is Coming Michael Boldea Jr. - 04/06/2007 Jeremiah 50:22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. James 5:8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. I dreamt I was hearing what were at first faint hoof beats, but the closer they got, the louder they grew, until it was a thundering roar of not one or two horses but what seemed like hundreds. I felt as though the ground beneath me was shaking from the onrushing horses, and the sound of them became so loud, that I suddenly awoke in my bed. As I blinked a few times, adjusting to the darkness in my room, I noticed a shadow at the foot of my bed. I blinked again, and there stood the same man I have seen on previous occasions, dressed in battle armor, his hands resting atop each other before him, on the hilt of his sword. “What is the meaning of what I just dreamt?” I asked, somehow knowing he had come to give me the interpretation. “What you heard”, he began, “were the chariots of war, and they are swiftly approaching. A new war is coming, but it will be unlike this present one. Speak as you have spoken, pray as you have prayed, and walk as you have walked for dark days will soon come upon the land to which you are returning. Even now their enemies plot, even now their enemies unite under one banner, and soon they will make their intentions known to the world. There is no refuge but in the Father, and He will guide and protect those who know His voice”. (And confess His promises.) I blinked again, and the man was gone, and I was left to ponder the words I had heard. I struggled with whether I should make this dream public, for I know the reaction that some will have to it, and the last thing I desire is to stir fear in the heart of any man. After much prayer I felt I was supposed to publish the dream, and though some may receive it as a reason to fear, the true children of God will receive it for what it was, the forewarning of a loving Father, preparing His children for what is to come. God's desire for us is not ignorance, but rather knowledge, that we may prepare our hearts, in prayer and fasting, that we may draw closer to Him, that we make Him our place of refuge long before hardship forces us to seek one. The wise man prepares, while the foolhardy is caught unaware. Jeremiah 19:15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words. Terrorists Hiding in the States Michael Boldea Jr. - May 5, 2003 I dreamt I was on a very high ridge, with a great valley spanning out beneath me. The night was calm, the moon and stars shining brightly in the sky. As I looked around trying to get my bearings, I was stunned to see my grandfather (Dumitru Duduman) standing next to me. He looked young and vibrant, his hands in his pockets, and a smile on his face. “Interesting times ahead my boy, interesting times ahead”, he said. For a minute I was so shocked I couldn't say anything. Finally I blurted out the only thing that came to mind, “They have been interesting ever since you left. Trial after trial, hardship after hardship”. “Now you know how Jesus felt when He walked the earth”, he answered, “always doing good, always in the Father's will, yet always mocked and rejected, always misunderstood and despised. Besides, it was all a test anyway”. “A test of what?” I asked. “For you personally, God wanted to see if you would stay true to your calling even when all seemed lost. He was preparing you and purging you, refining you, for the time when He will use you, and speak to you as He spoke to me”. Before I could say anything, he lifted his hand to stop me. His fingers were no longer crooked from his arthritis, they were straight, and normal. “I know what you're going to say my boy, it's not what you want, it's not what you asked for. But you should know by now it is the task you were chosen for. In this you have no choice, besides where can you hide from the face of God? Men have tried before, look how it turned out in the end. To reject what God has planned for you is to deny God. You know what the consequences are”. Unable to find the words to answer, I simply nodded my understanding and allowed him to continue speaking. “As for why the ministry had to go through what it went through, God has already spoken that to your heart. You already know the answer. God wants all that know of this work, to be certain of one thing. It is He who sustains it; it is He who blesses it, and not the hands of men or their gimmicks. Do you think any of it would still be here after all that has happened if not for God? Never doubt Gods promises concerning this work, or His ability to fulfill them. Hope in God never disappoints; hope in man always leads to disillusionment.” (Amen. God has been preparing and sanctifying His Reformers to be leaders for the soon coming tribulation.) “Now for the reason I am here. I was sent to show you something. Look and see”, he said, pointing down to the valley below. As I looked, I saw the outline of a map of America then the outlines of states began taking shape. As I continued to watch this map solidify, small lights began to flicker on and off in some of the states. I recognized California, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona, Washington State, Florida, and New York, among the states that lit up. The light was rhythmic, almost like a homing beacon, constant in its progression. I continued watching the lights go on and off, waiting for something else to happen, but nothing did. Finally I said, “I don't understand. What does this mean?” “These are the places where those who were sent here long ago, to bring fear and cause chaos, have situated themselves. They lay in waiting, planning and plotting destruction. They are as coiled serpents, looking forward to the hour when they will be loosed upon this nation. If God's children pray, once more will He delay the season of sorrow that is yet to come”. (I believe He has done this.) We stood on the ridge in silence for a long time. After a while the lights stopped flickering in the valley below, and the map began to fade away. Suddenly my grandfather turned his head toward the east, and began to sniff the air as he used to do. “Storms coming my boy, and it's a bad one”, he said. “Now give an old man a hug and let me be on my way. Be vigilant and work while you still can, it's all God asks of any of His servants. If the Father wills it, we will speak again”. As I hugged my grandfather, I began to hear the rumbling of a great storm. The sky darkened overhead, and the booming of thunder was now audible. In my dream I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was in my bed, awake. I wiped at my cheeks with the back of my hand, and realized I had been crying. As my eyes began to adjust to the dark, I saw that my wife was sitting up in bed, staring at me. When I asked her why she wasn't sleeping, she said I'd been talking in my sleep for over thirty minutes. I tried going back to sleep but sleep would not come. Finally I gave up trying, went into the kitchen and prayed until morning. Over the past few days, I have spent much time in prayer as to whether I should share this dream or not. I believe that I am supposed to. My prayer is that no one would perceive it as a reason for fear, but rather a reason to hope. God hears the prayers of His children, and as long as He encourages us to pray, we must do so without reservation. The day will come, a day I anticipate with great dread, when God will speak to His children as He spoke to Jeremiah, and say do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry for them any longer. For now, while we still can, may we ceaselessly bring our petitions before the Lord. Our Secret Place of Safety David Eells Everyone is looking for the place of safety in the tribulations to come. One man says the safe place is to be with the Ark of the Covenant, which is said to be in a Chapel next to St Mary of Zion, Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Axum, Ethiopia. I believe that Solomon gave a copy of the Ark to the Queen of Sheba who carried it there. Be that as it may; God no longer dwells in houses made by men, so the ark is a relic. (Acts 7:47) But Solomon built him (God) a house. (48) Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in [houses] made with hands. That just tells us that the ark in the temple was just a type and shadow of Jesus in His body. As He said, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one” (Jn.17:23). God now dwells in the ark of Christ and Christ now dwells in the Body of Christ. In us He is the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein [was] a golden pot holding the manna (of the Word in us), and Aaron's rod that budded (a sign of the authority of the High Priest in us), and the tables of the covenant (of the law written on our heart) (Heb.9:4). The presence of the Ark ensured Israel of victory and protection. When the Philistines captured the Ark it brought a curse on them so terrible that they sent it home with an offering. On the other hand Jesus said in (Mat.5:13) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. Another brother asked me if I thought the Christians will flee for safety to the city of Petra in Jordan. I told him that I thought Petra would be far too small to accommodate them and it would be a natural trap where they could be wiped out. I do believe that some natural Jews will find shelter in Petra, which is the Greek word for “rock”. However, spiritual Jews who are circumcised in heart, have the spiritual Rock of Jesus as a place of safety. Jesus said that standing on Him was the place where Hell had no power over us. (Mat.16:18) And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter (Gr: “Petros”, meaning a piece of the rock), and upon this rock (Greek: Petra) I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Jesus is our rock of safety. Peter himself said that Jesus was the Rock that we are to be founded on. (1Pet.2:5) ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6) Because it is contained in scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. (7) For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; (8) and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. The disobedient stumble through unbelief in the Word and so are not founded on the Rock. Judgment will take them away wherever they hide. Those who are obedient to the Word through faith are on the safety of the Rock. (Mat.7:24) Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: (25) and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and if fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. (26) And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: (27) and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof. The apostate churches belittle obedience to the Word because of their unbelief. We don't stand on the Rock in our own strength but our faith gives us God's strength. My wife had a dream of me after we first became Christians. She saw me standing on a Rock in the middle of the ocean. I had leg braces on like crippled people wear to strengthen their legs. I perceived that the Rock was Christ or the Word and the ocean was the curse as was the flood. In our own strength we are crippled and not able to stand on the Word, but the filling of His Spirit and faith in His promises empowers us to be what we normally are not. It has come to me that only the rich in a time of economic collapse and wrath would be able to fly to the city of Petra, but salvation is for the poor. No amount of money can buy us safety, because it is not a place but a state of being. (Pr.11:4) Riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death. (6) The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them; But the treacherous shall be taken in their own iniquity. Faith in the Lord makes Him our secret refuge. (Psa.91:1) He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Notice the confession that puts us on the Rock. (2) I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in whom I trust. The secret place of safety will be hidden to many who are only called “Christian” but the righteous are safe right in the middle of judgment. (7) A thousand shall fall at thy side, And ten thousand at thy right hand; [But] it shall not come nigh thee. (8) Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, And see the reward of the wicked. (The good confession that puts us in safety.) 9 For thou, O Jehovah, art my refuge! Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. God's angels will protect the righteous wherever they are. (11) For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. (12) They shall bear thee up in their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. They do this for the righteous who believe. (Gal.3:13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (14) that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus. A friend of mine had a very clear dream about the coming invasion of America. He said everyone in the Gulf States was fleeing toward the north to get as far away from the invading army as possible. He was going to get on a shuttle and go too, but the Lord told him to give his place to someone else and sent him and his family into a local city that had been nuked. He had no fear of the radiation or the enemy. It is obvious that God's people will not need to follow the world's example. Paul was not hiding but sharing the Gospel in the most effective time to do so. He said, “[in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren” (2 Cor.11:26). The Lord told me that this time represented the second 3½ years of the tribulation period. Paul also said, “what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me” (2Tim.3:11). He also said, “But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me; that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom” (2Tim.4:17,18). If one is called to be a martyr, they will have the protection of God until their testimony is finished and even then only their flesh will be given up for a sacrifice. (Rev.11:7) And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them. Agree with the Blessed Provisions David We are in a battle which can be won by those who will speak the Word of the Lord and confess His promises for safety and provision. The Bible tells us that Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Pro.18:21). Let's look at how we can cooperate with God in the process of sanctification so that we are those who speak life and partake of the benefits of the Kingdom and able to give them to others. (Jas.3:8) But the tongue can no man tame; [it is] a restless evil, [it is] full of deadly poison. (9) Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God: (10) out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11) Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening [sweet water] and bitter? (12) can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither [can] salt water yield sweet. We want to learn by the grace of God to bring forth those “sweet waters” so that we will not suffer with the wicked. When Moses and the children of Israel came up to Marah, meaning “bitterness” (Exo 15:22-25), they couldn't drink the water. God commanded that a tree be cast into the waters so that they would be made sweet. Marah represents the bitter waters of the fountain, or mouth, which were cured by the tree, representing the Cross. The Cross has conquered our tongue and has given us this gift of the sweet waters so we can bring forth blessings, instead of the cursings, out of this spring of our mouth. Believe this. The Bible also tells us, The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth, And addeth learning to his lips (Pro.16:23). So we want to educate ourselves to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath (Jas.1:19). We need to think about what we are saying and disagree with the devil because he tempts us to speak the things under the curse and not the things of the Kingdom. The Lord is helping us and He has already conquered the tongue, which no man can tame, but the Lord can through His Word and promises. Jesus was the sacrifice Who gave us a new tongue through the reconciliation. It says in (Jos.1:6) Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their father to give them. (7) Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. Notice that God said that Joshua (Hebrew: “Jesus”) was going to cause His people to be brought into their inherited Promised Land. This land belongs to us, not every Pagen alien they can invade us with and we will win this battle with them. We know that the Promised Land is also us. Heb 6:7-8 For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from God: 8 but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned. Jesus bore this curse let us confess Him before men. The Son of God is being manifested in His people. (Col.1:27) … Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is a product of the Word of God being assimilated in our life and mouth; Christ is the Word of God (John 1:14). He saved us from our enemies. (Luk.1:70-74) (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old), 71 Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; ...74 To grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Should serve him without fear, You crucify the spiritual man when you walk and talk in the flesh and for those who have been filled with the Holy Spirit and enlightened, who have tasted of the heavenly gift, this will become a curse unto them. (Heb.6:7) For the land which hath drunk the rain (Those who have partaken of the Word from heaven.) that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from God: (8) but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned. The word “rejected” is adokimos, meaning, specifically, “reprobated.” The apostle Paul said that he kept his body under control if, perhaps, after he had preached to others, he himself would be “rejected” or “reprobated” (1Co 9:27). This has been demonstrated to us. God doesn't reprobate land; He reprobates people. The Bible is very plain; in the original Greek, we are God's “tilled land” (1Co.3:9). God wants to plow this earth, our natural life, and plant His seed in the midst of it, bringing forth the fruit of Jesus Christ in us. The land that Joshua wants to cause us to inherit is referring to our new fruit and life. Part of that is our bold faith. The spiritual man, the Israelite, is to conquer this land with the edge of the Sword, the Word of God. The spiritual man is to take the land from the enemy, the Canaanite and live in his house, our body, and plant his crop and bear the fruit of the spiritual man. (Jos.1:7) Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. Notice that turning to the right or left would cause failure to take our Promised Land from the enemies. I had a dream many years ago where I was standing on a mountain, looking down into a valley and a road that went down the side of this mountain. The road had a ditch or trench down the middle of it. I was in a car, with one set of tires on one side of the trench and the other set on the other side, going down this road to the bottom of the mountain. I realized I couldn't turn to the right or the left because, if I did, two wheels would fall into the trench and that would be the end of any progress; I wouldn't go any farther. I steered very carefully, not to the right and not to the left, as I went down this mountain. Let us speak what the Word says about us. The Lord gave me the understanding afterward that this mountain represented the kingdom of the world – man, self or the old life. I was to navigate this road and not turn to the right or left, until I got off of this mountain. As soon as I was at the bottom, I immediately realized that there were enemies everywhere. To the extent that we humble ourselves to the Word of God, going down the mountain of “self,” the more enemies we will have, even religious enemies or so-called “Christian” enemies. (2Ti.3:12) … All that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But as we hold fast to the confession of our hope the enemies will be conquered as our faction was and the political faction shall be. (Luk10:19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. Most of the persecution toward Jesus and the disciples came from the people who called themselves the “people of God” but were not. When I got to the bottom and knew that the enemy was everywhere, I went under a bush and there I found tools that I picked up, and treated them as if they were treasure. These tools were hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches and so on. The Lord later revealed to me that these tools represented the authority to bind and loose (Mat 18:18), as all of these tools do. The Lord made me to know I was coming to a time, when under the bush, I was going to manifest more of this authority. Let us bind our enemies in the name of Jesus. At the time of the burning bush, Moses was given authority to go into Egypt to act for the Lord. I've been binding and loosing for many years but I believe that we're coming to a time of real power from God. It's only going to come to those who humble themselves and don't turn to the right or to the left, but stay on God's road, a self-crucifying path of obedience to the Word of God. When I picked up these tools, I went up another mountain, which represented Mount Zion. I went through the front doors of a great temple, which I believe represented the New Jerusalem on Mount Zion and I saw Jesus sitting on His throne. I went over and sat down next to Him, as He said that overcomers would do. (Rev.3:21) He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne. This is the throne of dominion over our enemies. As I was speaking with Jesus, I heard people trying to come into the throne room by a back way and not through the door that I had come through. Jesus is the door in John 10:1. Jesus saw these people and said, “Don't worry about them; they can't come in here.” So these were people looking for “throne room” authority but they wouldn't humble themselves to the Word of God personally. The Pharisees only had physical authority as in our day. God will give authority only to those who overcome according to Rev 2:26. Back to (Jos.1:8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. The spiritual man speaks the Word so that as you walk, it will bring good success when conquering our Promised Land for the Lord. The first fruits are approaching this point. We must speak according to God's promises, even in the midst of the fiery trial. As Christians, we “calleth the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). We speak the things we have according to promise and not according to what we see in the world. This is how we change the things around us. This is God's plan. We let the Word, or our agreement with the Word in what we say, come from our mouth so that we may have good success in conquering our Promised Land. Further on in Joshua, we see that he is still leading the people of God to conquer their Promised Land in order to put to death their enemies there. In this particular case, the head of God's people, Joshua, is conquering the Amorites. (Jos.10:12) Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; And thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon. I believe God is showing us here to what extent He would go to give our enemy into our hands, if we would speak the Word with boldness. (Jos.10:8) And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thy hands; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. On a personal and spiritual level that “man” He was referring to was the old man who lived in the Promised Land of our life before the new man took possession. He represented the lusts of the flesh, which would not be able to stand. On a physical and political level it would be the DS and their invading army. Joshua and the children of Israel were having victory over the Amorites but they were running out of time. Remember, the Lord said that if we confess Him before men, He shall confess us before the Father in Mat 10:32. Likewise, Joshua confessed in the sight of Israel. He was bold and full of faith and he spoke it right in front of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; And thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon (Jos.10:12). (13) And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. Now at first, I thought God just stopped Earth from spinning, but I later realized that the moon stayed in the same relative position as the sun and Earth didn't spin. It's possible the whole solar system had stopped. This is a very dangerous thing to do, unless you also control the rest of the universe. Things would tend toward collision down the road somewhere. Can you imagine that God stopped the solar system and more, just so Israel could conquer their enemy? What kind of other big miracle can you imagine that God would do for us to give us victory over our enemy? God gave the Israelites an awesome victory over their enemies! Of course, they needed the time and, for a whole day, the system was frozen. We have all heard of NASA finding the missing day so they could calculate where things would be at a certain time. People claim that God only did that back then and does not do that today, simply because of the verse right after it. (Jos.10:14) And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel. Well, the Lord still hearkens unto our voice, for many people speak miracles today and they come to pass as they did in the Bible long after Joshua. The key here is “voice of a man” The creation now hearkens to the voice of God through man. Jesus said, the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life (Joh.6:63), meaning they are His Spirit and His life. In other words, it's the life of God living in us; it's the spiritual man who speaks in agreement with the Word of God. Also, it is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph.6:17). Therefore, it's not as if God is hearkening unto the voice of a man, but He is hearkening unto the voice of His sons. That spiritual man in us is not man, but God. The Son of God is manifesting in His people speaking His Words out of us. When we come into agreement with the Word, we can be trusted. The Lord said, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you (Joh.15:7). Why? The Word in you is trustworthy to God. If you fill yourself up with the Word and you desire earnestly to walk in agreement with it, God says you're trustworthy. A long time after Joshua, the Lord wrote this: (Isa.45:11) Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. Does God really do that? When you command something to be done, like when His disciples commanded healings, deliverances, provision and so on, God fulfilled it. God gave them the authority, which is the right to use power and it's what we do when we speak in agreement with the Word of God. In effect, what we are doing is commanding God, since He said that if we do, He will do it and Jesus said the same. Psalm 8 was spoken concerning the natural Adam and his seed, but also in type to spiritual Adam, Jesus Christ, and His seed. (Psa.8:6) Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet. This was said of man and the Son of man. Jesus said that God had given Him authority because He is son of man (Joh.5:27). Man was given authority on the earth but when Adam sinned, he lost that authority to Satan. However, we gained it back through Jesus Christ because He was faithful. We now have this authority over the works of God's hands when we speak in agreement with the Word of God and He fulfills it. (Lam.3:37) Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? The next thing we see in Joshua is that they went after the five kings who were ruling the Promised Land. (Jos.10:16) And these five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. (17) And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah. (18) And Joshua said, Roll great stones unto the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to keep them: (19) but stay not ye; pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hand. The first thing they did was trap the five kings in the cave and then they rolled great stones over the mouth of the cave. Adam was created from the dust of the earth and this old man is earthly, but as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (1Co.15:49). We are both earthly and heavenly, a spiritual man of the heavens and the carnal man of the earth represented by this cave in the earth. The carnal man of the earth has a mouth and here it's called “the mouth of the cave.” The Lord made the spiritual men roll these great stones over the mouth of the cave. The five kings represent the five senses and the spiritual man put stones, which represent the Word, over the mouth so the carnal senses are not permitted to speak and bring a curse. The Bible says that senses must be exercised by the Word of God so that we understand the difference between good and evil. (Heb.5:13) For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. (14) But solid food is for fullgrown men, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. Born-again people have born-again senses. As spiritual men, we must have spiritual senses. Our carnal senses trap and rule over us and our land when we live according to what we see, hear and feel as the old man and the world does. God teaches us how to spiritually see in (2Pe.1:3) Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue. We see that God has already provided us everything that pertains unto life and godliness! Now you have the eyes of a dove (Son 1:15). You have the eyes of the Spirit when you begin to see that the promises are true, but the world is transitory. (2Pe.1:4) Whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises (the stones at the mouth of the cave); that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. Having eyes to see, we can partake of God's nature. We will have spiritual eyes, ears, touch, spiritual smell (or discernment), spiritual taste and words. We've been given these spiritual gifts that enable the spiritual man to take over. The Israelites had captured the five kings who ruled the Promised Land in a cave and they closed up the mouth with great stones. And we know, Jesus is the Stone; He's the Rock which is the Word of God. These great stones represent the great promises of the Word of God. We're adding learning to our lips, which are the “mouth of the cave.” When we study the Word of God, we learn and see what we are supposed to say and what we're not supposed to say. It gives us restraint to not say things that would permit a curse upon our life. The Israelites had to conquer the Promised Land, and conquer these kings that ruled over the carnal man and bring the curse upon him. And this is what the parable points to – rolling out those stones in front of the mouth. (Eph.4:29) Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying (building-up) as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear. We can see that we can apply many verses when speaking of conquering the DS with all their invaders who are getting ready to overthrow this land we live in. Just a couple come quickly to mind. (Mat.18:18-19) Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. And (Mar.11:23-24) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. 24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. These will come in useful when the invaders rise up. If we see and walk in the Spirit, then we speak in agreement with the Spirit. (2Co.7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Our nature is changed by the Word of God when …we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. (2Co 3:18) When we see a need, such as someone living under the curse, we should speak truth with grace to them to overcome, grace to meet that need, whatever it may be. When we speak according to the Kingdom, we are meeting someone's need for God and His benefits. Saving this country from the invaders to whatever extent God permits is a need. They will be permitted to persecute the apostate Church for it is in rebellion to the Word of our covenant. (Col.3:17) And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, [do] all in the name (Greek: “nature, character and authority”) of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Do everything as if you are representing Him because you are an ambassador of Christ (2Co 5:20), so speak His words to this world and His enemies. We're called to confess Him before men always and to speak in His name. (1Pe.4:11) If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth, [ministering] as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen. When we speak as an oracle of God, that is His Word coming out of us, we're letting the spiritual man, who is in communication with God through our spirit, do the speaking. We don't let the carnal man, the flesh, do the speaking. To walk holy is to walk separate. The Greek word for “holy” is the same word for “sanctified” and it means “separate”; that is, separated from the world, from sin, separated unto God. We speak His words, think His thoughts and we do His works because He lives in us. The more we do that, the more we grow in holiness. It's the place of Holiness, preservation and provision. Without holiness, no man can see the Lord (Heb 12:14). Holiness is what we grow in when we bear the fruit of Jesus Christ. It is separation from the old man, who is moved and ruled by the carnal senses, unto the new man, who is ruled according to the spiritual senses. Now let's go to (Isa.11:2) And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. (3) And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; (4) but with righteousness shall he judge the poor (This is poor in the things of the Kingdom), and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. He's talking about Christ in His first-fruits Man-child in the end-time who will not walk according to the carnal senses because he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears (Isa.11:3). Instead, we are to have our senses exercised to discern good from evil (Heb 5:14) by the Word of God, which is the washing of water with the word (Eph.5:26). As our senses are exercised, we begin to see and hear spiritually; we begin to hear and speak the Voice of the Spirit. It's similar to when David went to slay Goliath, the giant in the land. He went to the brook and pulled out those five smooth stones that were exercised by the washing of the water, which represents the Word. He took only one of those stones and he felled Goliath (1Sa 17). David spoke it to him ahead of time, declaring that he would take off Goliath's head and feed him to the birds. That's very bold! And because David spoke it, that's exactly what he did. The stone, or sense, that David was using was the tongue. The tongue senses tastes but it also speaks the Word. David conquered Goliath because he had spiritual senses. Now we can return to Joshua. He told the Israelites to go after their enemies, since the five kings were already trapped in the cave and closed off with the stones. Now they were able to conquer those whom the kings had ruled over. (Jos.10:20) And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, and the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, (21) that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. (22) Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring forth those five kings unto me out of the cave. (23) And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon. (24) And it came to pass, when they brought forth those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the chiefs of the men of war that went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them. They let them out of the cave and they had to keep them from speaking, so they put their feet on their necks. It reminds me of the dream I've shared before about being in a war with a giant and not letting the old man speak. When he did, he said, “Bigger, bigger, bigger!” We have a lot of giants around us – a lot of big problems and a lot of big enemies. But we can't let the old man, whom I captured in the dream and who was in bondage to me, speak out of our mouth. I didn't want to let him speak because the old man has the authority to make the situation worse and make the enemy stronger and bigger. I refused him and demanded that the giant be reduced, saying, “No! Smaller, smaller, smaller.” Similarly, the Israelites put their feet on the kings' necks, causing the five senses to not speak or to rule over the body. (Jos.10:25) And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight. (Notice, you speak the Word and the Lord will do it. In Rev.12:11, the devil and his angels were cast down by the “word of their testimony” of the saints.) (26) And afterward Joshua smote them, and put them to death, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. Notice that all of our enemies, firstly our old man, will be conquered in this way. Father said against Babylon in Jer.51:3 …Utterly destroy all her army. We are not permitted to wrestle with flesh nor use fleshly weapons but to “resist not” and if opportunity arises we are to preach Christ to them. But we have authority over all their power and that includes the principalities and powers. (Luk.10:19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. As an example to us, before Jesus' time of crucifixion, when the Jews sought to throw him off a cliff, he just passed through their midst unharmed. I was shot at by an assassin from close range and my angel made the bullet disappear. A tractor back blade was thrown straight at my head by a demon, while Michael watched, but all I felt was a finger on my nose pushing me to the ground with zero pain. That was just ahead of the blade. Michael was sure it had hit and killed me. My tractor wheel fell into a hole and the tractor was flipping into a gully. I was looking straight down at the ground when the tractor uprighted with me stuck in the seat. It was a work of our satanists. Several other times I escaped them. (Luk.1:68) ...For he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people... 71 Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us...74 To grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Should serve him without fear. Jesus Christ was hanged upon a tree, or cross, and they wanted to take Him down before evening, too. Jesus also was buried in a cave. So why is God applying this to the senses of the old man? (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. That includes our five senses. The Lord has already taken care of this problem when He was crucified on that tree and you were crucified with Him. You have been given this gift of the new man, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified (Heb.10:14). We walk in the spirit according to these divine senses that are attuned to the Kingdom of Heaven. These senses see how to walk in the Kingdom. It comes quite naturally to us to walk in the world but it comes supernaturally to us to walk in the Kingdom; that is, to have our senses exercised by the Word of God to see and hear the way God sees and hears, and to smell, or discern, the way God does. It is also to have our emotions in communication with God. We have the victory over the old man and his senses because he's dead and the new man, Who is Jesus Christ, lives in you. Because of your faith and speaking that faith, God will bring it to pass. He will do it through our faith and not by our works. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. Father, we pray that You will (Psa.141:3) Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips. Amen. So we know that in the Kingdom of Heaven, there is singing, praise, worship and thanksgiving to the Lord our King. When we do this, we are bringing more of His Kingdom down here to earth. (Mat.6:10) We have ‘authority over all the power of the enemy' (Luk.10:19). We have power in praise. When we praise the Lord, He gives us the victory! Worship and Praise Vines Expository Dictionary on the Greek word Worship: “to make obeisance, do reverence to” (from pros, “towards”, and kuneo, “to kiss”), is the most frequent word rendered “to worship”. It is used of an act of homage or reverence. In other words, worship is an act of love toward God. Father is looking for those who worship Him with their all: (Joh.4:21) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. (22) Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. (23) But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. (24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. There is much fake worship -- words without heart and spirit. Worship is the way to bring God's presence: (Psa.100:1) Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands. (2) Serve Jehovah with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. (3) Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: It is he that hath made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (4) Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Give thanks unto him, and bless his name. (5) For Jehovah is good; His lovingkindness endureth forever, And his faithfulness unto all generations. Worship reveals our love and admiration for God and He knows it: (1Ch.29:11) Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. Praise Him everywhere, with a new song that comes from your heart, and dancing and with all instruments and enemies will be conquered: (Psa.149:1) Praise ye Jehovah. Sing unto Jehovah a new song, And his praise in the assembly of the saints. (2) Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. (3) Let them praise his name in the dance: Let them sing praises unto him with timbrel and harp. (4) For Jehovah taketh pleasure in his people: He will beautify the meek with salvation. (5) Let the saints exult in glory: Let them sing for joy upon their beds. (This will bind our enemies works against us.) (7) To execute vengeance upon the nations, And punishments upon the peoples; (8) To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; (9) To execute upon them the judgment written: This honor have all his saints. Praise ye Jehovah. (Children can conquer enemies in worship.) Psa 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established strength, Because of thine adversaries, That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. (150:1) Praise ye Jehovah. Praise God in his sanctuary: Praise him in the firmament of his power. (2) Praise him for his mighty acts: Praise him according to his excellent greatness. (3) Praise him with trumpet sound: Praise him with psaltery and harp. (4) Praise him with timbrel and dance: Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe. (5) Praise him with loud cymbals: Praise him with high sounding cymbals. (6) Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah. Praise ye Jehovah. It is the will of the Lord to worship in songs and hymns: (Eph.5:17) Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (18) And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit; 19 speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; (20) giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; We give thanks to God; this is a secret of power because we believe we have already received what we asked, right? Praise (meaning “brag on”) Him to everyone: (1Ch.16:23) Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth; Show forth his salvation from day to day. (24) Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. (25) For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods. (26) For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But Jehovah made the heavens. (27) Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place. (28) Ascribe unto Jehovah, ye kindreds of the peoples, Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength; (29) Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory due unto his name: Bring an offering, and come before him: Worship Jehovah in holy array. (30) Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is established that it cannot be moved. (31) Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth. We are taught to worship, praise and pray with hands lifted up to the Lord: (1Ti.2:8) I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. (Psa.63:4) So will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. (Lam.3:41) Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. (Neh.8:6) and Ezra blessed Jehovah, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with the lifting up of their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped Jehovah with their faces to the ground. Why lifting up hands? Offering our hands to the Lord for His works and to conquer His enemies: (Exo.17:9) And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. (10) So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. (11) And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. (12) But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. (13) And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Worship and praise will conquer overwhelming enemies: (2Ch.20:17) Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed: to-morrow go out against them: for Jehovah is with you. (18) And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Jehovah, worshipping Jehovah. (19) And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise Jehovah, the God of Israel, with an exceeding loud voice. (20) And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in Jehovah your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. (21) And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing unto Jehovah, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks unto Jehovah; for his lovingkindness endureth forever. (22) And when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten. (The angels will smite the enemies in the land.) Worship to bind the enemy and their kings: (Psa.149:6) Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand; (7) To execute vengeance upon the nations, And punishments upon the peoples; (The Lord is doing this.) (8) To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; (9) To execute upon them the judgment written: This honor have all his saints. Praise ye Jehovah. Because judgment and enemies are near, fear God and worship Him: (Rev.14:7) and he saith with a great voice, Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters. (Dan.3:16) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. (17) If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. (18) But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (2Ki.17:38) and the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods: (39) but Jehovah your God shall ye fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. We can clap and shout our triumph over our enemies. Triumph is celebrating the victory before we see it: (Psa.47:1) Oh clap your hands, all ye peoples; Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. (Jos.6:20) So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. Praise in Hebrew is “Hallal”, meaning brag on the Lord. Give credit or ascribe to the Lord: (Psa.29:1) Ascribe unto Jehovah, O ye sons of the mighty, Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength. (2) Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory due unto his name; Worship Jehovah in holy array. (3) The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters: The God of glory thundereth, Even Jehovah upon many waters. (4) The voice of Jehovah is powerful; The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty. (5) The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars; Yea, Jehovah breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. When we speak in agreement with the Word of God, we are giving “voice” to the Word and the angels hearken to His voice. (Psa.103:20) Bless Jehovah, ye his angels, That are mighty in strength, that fulfil his word, Hearkening unto the voice of his word. Amen!
Abed Alrahman Shabaneh is a Palestinian writer and curator. In addition to writing novels and essays, Abed also worked on urban planning in Jerusalem. From this experience he gained invaluable insights into how colonialism and occupation is constructed. In his conversation with Edgar, Abed speaks about his ideas about where the technological future will take us, expressed through his slightly dystopian literary work. If you enjoy Kalam Podcast and want to suppor the show, there is an excellent way to do so - by signing up to our Patreon. For just $3 a month you'll gain access to full length interviews with all our guests and lots of bonus material - including our series Kalam Shorts: 10-15 explainers of concepts like Zionism and Orientalism. Join at www.patreon.com/kalampodcast For continuous updates on the podcast and content about Palestine and the Middle East, follow us on Instagram @kalampodcast Please like and subscribe if you enjoy Kalam Podcast! It helps other people find out about us.
Have you ever witnessed a transformation as profound as a medical radiation therapist morphing into an integrative biohacker? That's the remarkable journey our guest, Jessy Abed, shares on this episode of the Biohacking Beauty Podcast. Her life took a fascinating turn from conventional cancer care to embracing holistic health strategies through biohacking, leading her to merge her medical expertise with cutting-edge wellness techniques.Jessy also reveals her vision to integrate exercise with medical treatments in cancer care, the importance of personalized medicine, consistent lifestyle changes and so much more!Jessy Abed is an Advanced Practice Medical Radiation Therapist with 16 years of experience at a world-renowned cancer hospital. She holds three degrees, including a Master of Health Science with a focus on nutrition and exercise for cancer patients. We also discuss:(02:35 - 03:26) Biohacking Journey(06:15 - 07:33) Unique Perspective on Biohacking(13:21 - 14:54) Exploring Biohacking Skincare Benefits(17:36 - 19:10) The Impact of Environment on Skin(31:34 - 32:52) Navigating Personalized Health and Wellness(41:49 - 43:36) Medical Grade vs Homeostatic Skincare(46:32 - 47:39) Impact of Philosophy on Wellbeing(54:45 - 56:04) Incorporating Mental Health Practices Into ChaosTo learn more about Young Goose:Use code PODCAST10 to get 10% off your first purchase, and if you're a returning customer use the code PODCAST5 to get 5% off at https://www.younggoose.com/Instagram: @young_goose_skincareTo learn more about Jessy Abed:Website: https://www.niamahealthconsultancy.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativebiohacker/
Life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is often stalked by violence, heightened by the events following 7 October. When US journalist Nathan Thrall decided to write about their experience, he wanted to unveil the sheer catastrophe that they live through daily. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ‘A Day in the Life of Abed Salama', focuses on Abed whose son died in a bus crash in 2012, and the other individuals linked to the tragedy. Speaking to Georgina Godwin, Thrall shares the relationships he has with Salama and others, the reaction to their story and the Israel-Hamas war. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
====================================================SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1=======================================================================MI VIDA EN TUS MANOSDEVOCION VESPERTINANarrado por: Miguel PaezDesde: Bogotá, Colombia===================|| www.drministries.org ||===================22 DE AGOSTOSOLO EL SEÑOR Solo tú, SEÑOR, eres Dios. ISAÍAS 37:20, LBLA Nabucodonosor, rey de Babilonia, erigió una estatua de oro y ordenó que todo el pueblo de la tierra se inclinara y la adorara. No obstante, a tres hebreos, Sadrac, Mesac y Abednego les habían enseñado desde niños a adorar solamente al Señor Dios, así que se negaron a obedecer al rey. Nabucodonosor los amenazó con arrojarlos a un horno de fuego ardiente, pero ellos respondieron: «Nuestro Dios a quien servimos puede librarnos del horno de fuego ardiendo; y de tu mano, oh rey, nos librará. Y si no […] no serviremos a tus dioses, ni tampoco adoraremos la estatua que has levantado» (Daniel 3:17–18). ¡Qué gran proclamación de fe! Esta es la actitud que el Señor desea ver en todos los que creemos en Él, porque habrá ocasiones en que los rugidos del diablo serán tan fuertes que nos sentiremos impotentes para vencerlo. Pero ese siempre es el momento de exclamar: «Nuestro Dios a quien servimos puede librarnos. Y si no lo hace, ¡permaneceremos fieles!». Sigue exaltando al Señor como el único Dios verdadero. Esa es fe que Él honra, la cual en última instancia te llevará hacia la liberación, tal como pasó con Sadrac, Mesac y Abed-nego. Jesús, solo tu nombre es digno de mi adoración. A pesar de la presión para que me conforme al mundo, permaneceré fiel a ti. Amén.
In this pop culture driven episode, Spencer and Kevin are joined by special guest Abed Gheith. Abed shares his thoughts on the latest Batman cartoon, "Batman: Caped Crusader," and its noir-inspired take on the classic character. We also jump into the complexities of multiplayer games and the politics involved, particularly in Magic: The Gathering. We also touch on some societal issues, such as the nuances of cancel culture, the expectations we place on public figures, and the complexities of navigating modern social norms regarding language. Check out Spencer's t-shirt designs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this episode of The Kara Goldin Show, Karim Abed, Founder and CEO of WYR, shares the story of building a pioneering direct-to-consumer menswear brand. Karim shares his inspiring journey launching WYR and the motivation behind creating high-quality, stylish men's essentials at reasonable prices. He discusses how his Egyptian heritage played a significant role in creating and now building WYR, what he thinks it takes to build a successful men's essentials business today, and offers his top tips for budding entrepreneurs. Tune in to hear Karim's insights on maintaining quality without compromise, staying ahead in the competitive fashion industry, and his vision for the future of WYR. This episode is packed with valuable advice for anyone looking to update their style or start their own business. Have pen and paper ready—you don't want to miss a minute of this inspiring episode! Now on The Kara Goldin Show.Interested in sponsoring and advertising on The Kara Goldin Show? Which is now in the Top 1% of Entrepreneur podcasts in the world. Let me know by reaching out to me at karagoldin@gmail.com. You can also find me @KaraGoldin on all networks.To learn more about Karim Abed and WYR:https://www.instagram.com/wyrwear/https://www.facebook.com/wyrwearclothing/https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimadelabedhttps://www.wyrwear.com/Sponsored By:Indeed - get a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com/kara.Check out our website to view this episode's show notes: https://karagoldin.com/podcast/573
DISCLAIMER: SPENCER LIKED DEADPOOL. HE LIKED IT A LOT. On today's episode of Anime Binge Club, we look at the fascinating world of anime tropes and storytelling with Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 10. Spencer and Kevin discuss the intricate plot points and character developments in the latest episode, highlighting how the narrative builds tension and explores themes of vulnerability and competence through Asuka's character. They also touch on the cultural nuances in anime, such as the trope of school trips and the unique way Japanese voice acting adds to the experience. The episode is rounded out with Abed's Banter Corner, some very Canadian Coke, and a humorous recap of the "Syrup Village" arc from One Piece. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Nathan Thrall, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book A Day In The Life of Abed Salama – which uses the story of a terrible bus crash in the West Bank to describe in ground-up detail the day-to-day lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Speaking to me from Jerusalem, Nathan tells me why he believes it's right to call Israel an 'apartheid state', how the bureaucracy of the Occupied Territories made the fatal crash 'an accident that wasn't an accident'; and what he thinks needs to change to bring hope of an end to the conflict.
====================================================SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1=======================================================================CONOZCO Y CUIDO MI CUERPODevoción Matutina Para Pequeños 2024Narrado por: Ministerio JAE AsturiasDesde: Gijón, Asturias, España===================|| www.drministries.org ||===================08 DE AGOSTOCABELLOS PROTEGIDOSVersículo: «y comprobaron que ni un pelo de la cabeza se les había chamuscado...» Daniel 3: 27HOY ESTUDIARÁS OTRA HISTORIA DE LA BIBLIA que menciona cabellos, pero con un final feliz ¿Sabes cuál es?El rey Nabucodonosor mandó hacer una inmensa estatua para que todo el pueblo la adorara. Sin embargo, Sadrac, Mesac y Abed nego, decidieron no postrarse ante la imagen, pues ellos solo adoraban a Dios. Furioso el rey, envió a sus soldados a que los arrojasen a un horno de fuego, calentándolo 7 veces más. ¡Entonces, algo increíble paso! Dentro del horno de fuego se veían 4 personas platicando, como si nada pasara con el fuego. El rey reconoció que era el hijo de Dios el que acompañaba a los jóvenes hebreos. Cuando salieron del horno, el rey y la multitud observaron que ni un cabello tenían quemado, ni siquiera olían a humo.Dios los protegió porque fueron obedientes a él y fieles a sus mandamientos.Actividad: Con ayuda de mami, protege tu cabello aplicándole una crema hidratante.Oración: Querido Padre, gracias porque cuidas hasta de mis cabellos.
This episode originally aired on Feb 20, 2024 under the title “Community is Autistic.”“(Abed) is possibly the greatest character in the history of television.”“He's more than a medical condition—that's his identity. This is part of his culture. And this is why he is a champion of Autistic culture.”“None of us want to be alone. We want to be understood. We want people around us who get us, people who support us. We want a true family, not just a bunch of relatives who judge us. And when you find people where you fit, where they like you, where they appreciate you—if you don't have that, there's nothing in the world to tell you how great it is. And if you've been rejected your entire life, you may stop looking for it, which is a form of trauma.”“Abed is never seen as anything other than, you know, a person with certain strengths and certain weaknesses it's it's not it's not pathologizing it's not inspiration porn it's just the way he works.”“It's uniquely Autistic centered, celebrating Autistic culture, celebrating Autistic heritage, celebrating the Autistic mindset.”Do you relate to Abed? How does a character like Abed, or a show like Community, make you feel seen?Fan Favorite Game, design #7 (get yours here)Play the game! Fan Favorites Game rulesLearn more about Trail HouseEpisode 70: Rick & Morty is AutisticEpisode 60: Mythic Quest is AutisticEpisode 12: Parks & Rec is AutisticReady for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!Check us out on InstagramRate us on Apple podcasts and SpotifyMatt Lowry, LPPAutistic Connections Facebook GroupAngelaLauria.com and Difference PressAngela on Twitter and TikTokTACP's merch shop This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe
This week, two major terrorist leaders were assassinated in the Middle East. Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion in Tehran, just a day after top Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut in retaliation for the horrific rocket attack that killed 12 children on a soccer field in northern Israel. What does this mean for Israel and the wider region? Is this a major setback for Iran and its terror proxies? Tune in to hear what AJC Jerusalem Director Lt. Col. (res.) Avital Leibovich, who visited the site of the terror attack in Majdal Shams, has to say. Episode Lineup: (0:40) Avital Leibovich Learn: What to Know About Hamas Terror Leader Ismail Haniyeh What to Know About Hezbollah's Escalation Against Israel Listen: Aviva Klompas is Fighting the Normalization of Antisemitism on Social Media On the Ground at the Republican National Convention: What's at Stake for Israel and the Middle East? Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Avital Leibovich: Manya Brachear Pashman: This week marked 300 days of captivity for the 115 remaining hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7. There was also a major development: confirmation that an operation in July led to the death of Hamas' military leader Muhammad Deif. But there were two more assassinations this week, the leaders of two terror groups targeting Israel. On Wednesday, we learned that Hamas terror leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion in Tehran shortly after meeting with Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Haniyeh had been in Tehran for the inauguration of its new president. This just a day after top Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut in retaliation for the horrific rocket attack that killed 12 children on a soccer field in Golan Heights. AJC Jerusalem director Avital Leibovich is with us now to discuss these developments. Avital, welcome back to People of the Pod. Avital Leibovich: Thank you. Manya. Good to be here. Manya Brachear Pashman: So, Avital, my first question is, are we safer now than we were at the start of the week? Do two fewer terror leaders lead to less terror? Avital Leibovich: Well, I would say the world in general is a safer place with the absence of Shukr and Haniyeh. However, the neighborhood here is not changing. And unfortunately, we are still surrounded by vicious enemies, who still are seeking to see our erosion and eradication. So while I'm very happy with your outcome in the last 24 hours, I also know there's still a lot of reason for concern. Manya Brachear Pashman: So tell us about these terror leaders. Who was Ismail Haniyeh? And what was his role with Hamas? Avital Leibovich: Sure. So Ismail Haniyeh, who's also, by the way, has another name, which is Abu al-Abed, he actually served as the number one political leader of Hamas since May 2017. He actually substituted in this role, Khaled Mashal and other terrorists, and before that, he actually served as the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority just for a very brief, short time between 2006 and 2007. And he actually became very close to a Hamas leader called Ahmed Yassin. And basically, he really grew into the very radical agenda of Hamas. Interesting enough, his background was totally different. I mean, even worked in Israel in the city closest to Gaza called Ashkelon. So he knows the country. He knows the mentality. So in addition to this, he also began to do some terror activity after the three years of working in Ashkelon in Israel. And then he initiated different kinds of activities. Among them was the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, a soldier who we'll remember. And after being involved in the terror realm and the political realm, he decided to focus more on Hamas' agenda, on Hamas' charter. And basically, what we have seen in the last couple of years are a few things. Number one, Hania got very rich, because he received millions and millions of dollars from the Qataris. Number two, he left Gaza and he spent the last years of his life in Qatar, in lavish hotels and apartments, enjoying great life. And this is also an indication of how much does he care about the people of Gaza. And I want to connect to the current war and give you a quote of who Haniyeh was because I see that some of the media outlets have the nerve to call him a moderate negotiator. Therefore, I'd like to help them and share with you the following quote, which was said on October 27 — that was the first day where the IDF entered Gaza following the October 7 massacre. So he said, "We need the blood of women, children, and the elderly of Gaza, so it awakens our revolutionary spirit." This is the moderate guy that international media is referring to in their reports. He was a radical, he was a terrorist, and we had a very good opening of our day this morning when we heard the news. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Fuad Shukr, what was his role with Hezbollah? Avital Leibovich: He also, you know, this is a name which is not known, I think, to many people, but he does have a French connection and an American connection — of course, an Israeli connection. The guy was number two in the level of seniority in Hezbollah. He was actually the manager of the army in a way of the Hezbollah military apparatus. But more than that, he was a strategist, and he knew what direction should Hezbollah take in the next years. He was in charge of developing the entire missile industry that Hezbollah had, including the accurate missiles. In other words, he was a strategist but also was a practical man. Now, here's the connection that he had to the US and to France. In 1983, he was one of the orchestrators of the attack in the marine base in Beirut. On that terrible day, 241 American marines lost their lives, but 70 French soldiers were killed as well. So as you can imagine, this terrorist Fuad Shukr has 40 years of terror activities, primarily against Israel, but also against Israeli allies. So again, I think it was a very courageous and accurate Israeli operation. And more than anything, Manya, it shows the amazing level of intelligence, where that person was exactly in which room, in which building, in which floor, and to be able to very surgically act in the right time, at the right moment and target him, I think that shows a lot for the Israeli intelligence capabilities. Manya Brachear Pashman: Was Haniyeh part of the ceasefire and hostage release negotiations? Avital Leibovich: So if you look at the title that Hanieyeh had, which is the head of the political branch of Hamas, you could think that he had some impact on the decision making process with the hostage deals. But I can tell you that he had really no impact, very little impact. Because from the analysis that we have here in Israel, the main decision maker is Sinwar. Now the question is, will the death of Haniyeh have an impact, number one on Sinwar? And therefore, number two on the hostage deal? Now, I'm not sure it will have an effect. I have to say. Sinwar is known as the longtime rival of Haniyeh. So in other words, he will not be mourning his death. But he had the last word with regard to any of the discussions on the hostages. And at the end of the day, Sinwar said numerous times, that he's willing to die. And his ultimate goal is to make sure that Hamas has some sort of a controlling Gaza. He understands today Sinwar, that Hamas will no longer control the government, therefore, he's willing to compromise. For example, let's say Hamas will be giving the role of being in charge of the renovations in Gaza. Or perhaps they will be in charge of the education system and so on, in other words, just to have some sort of a stronghold inside Gaza in terms of governance of some sort. Now, if that will not be a part of any possible deal, then Sinwar has no interest to give a positive answer to a deal. Manya Brachear Pashman: I am curious why Haniyeh would have met with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before his death? Avital Leibovich: Hamas and Iran have different kinds of cooperation. We have seen that across the region. In other words, we have seen Hamas representatives in Lebanon, working alongside Nasrallah, the health Hezbollah, but also meeting the Iranian foreign minister, when he came to Lebanon for visits. We understand that this time around there is a clear interest which Iran supports, is to target Israel as much as possible. And obviously Iran prefers a proxy like Hamas to be representative of its own goals and intentions. And therefore you saw Haniyeh last time, was last night paying respects for the inauguration ceremony in Iran. And according to what I'm hearing, he was also hosted in a Revolutionary Guards facility. In other words, whoever targeted Haniyeh had a great level of intelligence by knowing how to get to that specific building. But moreover, this is a very secure area, because the Revolutionary Guards are considered the body which is the most guarded of all bodies in Iran. They're the ones controlling the budget of the Iranian government. They're the ones operating Hezbollah and other militias and proxies. So in other words, the fact that it was a Revolutionary Guards headquarters, Antonia was there and despite of all this information, the security system around him cracked. I think that sends a very loud and clear message to the Iranians. Manya Brachear Pashman: How is the relationship between Iran and Hamas and the relationship between Iran and Hezbollah different? Can you explain that to our audience? Avital Leibovich: First of all, I mean, you know, Iran is the chief orchestrator of everything that we have been seeing here since October 7, but actually before that as well. Now, I would say that with Hezbollah, it's a long love story between the two. Actually, Hezbollah was founded by Iran, quite shortly after the revolution in '79. When the country became a fundamentalist Islamist and obviously, took the wrong path, distancing itself from the Western world. Iran actually built Hezbollah, founded Hezbollah, first the military wing, and then adding three years later the political wing. And the idea was to use them in order to attack Israel. And this is very convenient. Think about it, Iran is 1300 kilometers away from Israel. It's not convenient to fire a rocket all the way from that country to Israel. But let's say you want to use simpler means and within half an hour to take an operation out, it's easier to use someone who's bordering with Israel. So gradually, we saw Hezbollah taking over almost the entire country. And everything had to do with Iranian funding. Now, in order to have Iranian funding in terms of sanctions, Iran and Hezbollah, found alternative options like laundering money, like a whole chain of drug trafficking in Syria and other countries. So they found solutions to do that. By the way, Iran is doing the same thing with the Houthis in Yemen, also using them as a proxy. Because you know, this is the most poor country in the region, huge unemployment rates, you can recruit 10s of 1000s and hundreds of 1000s of people, as long as you pay them a very minimal salary. Now, as for Hamas, Hamas was built a little bit later. It's actually an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, so not directly of Iran. However, sometimes there are joint interests between different terror groups. Actually, Iran founded the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, in 79, right after the revolution, because he thought this would be the main actor controlling Gaza with the best assets and so on. But with the course of the years, when Hamas controlled Gaza, and was able to develop its terror means rockets, drones, etc, then, of course, Iran moved to cooperate with Hamas, according to its needs for Iran, it's, of course, more worthwhile to use the blood of Palestinians than the blood of Iranians to sacrifice Palestinians and not the Iranians. This is how they see it. At the end of the day, Iran now wishes to resume to the situation of being a major empire as it used to be, a Persian empire decades and decades ago. So this is the longtime dream, I would say. And the proxies are just another, I would say detail in the path to reach that dream. Manya Brachear Pashman: Now, Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for the attack that killed a dozen children on a soccer field. Why not? They're usually proud of the death and destruction that they wreak. Why did Israel target the terror group anyway? Avital Leibovich: Look, say a few words about this tragic event that took place just a few days ago in a very small, beautiful, pastoral village called Majdal Shams, which, by the way, means the tower of sun. It's on the Syrian border, and the other side is on the Lebanese border. And, you know, people asked me if this is the first time that Hizballah ever targeted Druze or targeted Muslims. Now this specific village was targeted five times already by Hezbollah. Saturday, obviously, was the deadliest of all the five. It was 6:18 in the afternoon, beautiful summer day, lots of kids outside. I visited the soccer field where it happens. And the rockets left, really not a chance for those kids who were playing there. Although there was actually a shelter right there, maybe two feet from where the rocket hit the ground. They really didn't have a chance to make it and go into the shelter. And unfortunately, those poor 12 year old kids, ages 10-16, died in place. We still have over 30 people hospitalized, many of them are kids as well. And I have to say, Manya, that I saw a village who has been traumatized. People are still wearing black clothes. There are black flags hanging everywhere inside the village. The pictures of the kids are, you know, pasted everywhere, on the squares just on random villages and walls of buildings. I also went to one of the bereaved families. And you know, you sit there with a parent who lost his 12 year old boy named Johnny [Wadeea Ibrahim]. And he tells you about his dreams. And he says to me, you know, these dreams will never be fulfilled. And he says to me, we don't even know how to digest what happened to us. So, for Hezbollah, they don't really care who they're firing at, whether it's Jews or Arabs, or Muslims or Christians, whoever, they don't care if it's in the eastern Galilee, or the Western Galilee, or the Golan. All these areas are relevant for the Hezbollah fire since October 8. Manya Brachear Pashman: Well, Hezbollah did not take responsibility. Why not? Avital Leibovich: So here is the mistake. Hezbollah actually made the mistake. Hezbollah has a TV station, which is its mouthpiece, just like Hamas's TV station mouthpiece is Al Jazeera. Hezbollah's is Al Mayadeen. Now, immediately after an attack, a Hezbollah attack, Al Mayadeen immediately publishes responsibility taking by Hezbollah always every time. And by the way, we're talking about an average of eight attacks a day, every day. And that's what they did here too. On Saturday, they immediately took responsibility in the name of Hezbollah. Unfortunately, for them, after 20 minutes, they understood the extent of the mistake they did, and deleted, of course, this responsibility, and then they made up their own narrative. The narrative was that a misfiring of an Iron Dome interceptor, mistakenly killed the kids, like Israel's fault is that the kids died. Now, this narrative, if you think it was only the social media, then think again, they sent the foreign minister of Lebanon to the media to repeat it. But they also did something more. They sent the head of the Druze community. It's the same blood and flesh of the Druze in the Golan. They sent him to the press to declare that it was not a Hezbollah rocket. So they understood that they will pay a price of some sort. I'm sure they understood that I'm not sure they understood the extent of the intelligence Israel had. And now of course, they're threatening to target Israel. I think the next 48 hours will reveal where we're heading. Manya Brachear Pashman: And you talk about the incredible intelligence that led to the precise explosion in Beirut as well as the death of Haniyeh. Has Israel taken responsibility for his death and what it claimed credit if it was responsible, Avital Leibovich: Up to this minute, Israel did not take any responsibility for Haniyeh's death. Of course, yes, for the Hizballah number two guy Fuad Shukr, but not for Haniyeh. As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister ordered the Cabinet members and the ministers not to speak publicly on the issue. And basically, there's been a lot of quiet from the political echelon here since the morning. Manya Brachear Pashman: And you touched on what my last question is, and that is, how will this elevate the tensions? Does this raise the chance of a war between Israel and Lebanon, Israel, and Iran, these assassinations? Avital Leibovich: So I would say we are already in a war to some extent with Hezbollah, because Hezbollah has fired more than 6000 rockets since October 8. And I've counted 43 Israeli casualties since October 8. So we are talking about an active war in a sense, I think that there is a good reason to believe that both Hezbollah and Iran will react to these two targets. I'm not sure in which way. I do think that Hezbollah still has the notion and the strategy of not completely escalating the situation to a full scale war. I'm sure that Nasrallah is sitting in his bunker in the darkened neighborhood, seeing the footage from Gaza and understanding Israel's capability and does not want to turn Beirut into a similar kind of situation. And he also saw the building last night and he also understood the extent of the intelligence capability. So I think he will have to react in such a way that on the one hand, he could be proud that he did something but on the other hand, would not engage in a full scale war. Iran, on the other hand, is a different story. Because three months have passed since April 14 in which Iran decided to gift us with hundreds of drones and different kinds of ballistic missiles. And from their perspective, it failed. It failed because Israel has a great defense system. It also failed because the US led the great coalition of countries who supported the interception attempts in April 14. However, and this is a big however, Iran learned its lessons. Iran learned why it failed in April. And therefore, my concern is that they will take these lessons and implement them in whichever reaction they will have. I'm not sure it will be tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, they will celebrate Haniyeh in the big funeral in Iran, and then there will be additional mourning days in Qatar. So it may take a few days, but I have no doubt that they will both, Hezbollah and Iran react. Manya Brachear Pashman: Avital, thank you so much for just explaining all of these developments and what they mean. Avital Leibovich: Of course, I just hope that for once they will be able to talk about positive things and not only terror and wars. Manya Brachear Pashman: We hope so too. We hope so too. Thank you so much. Avital Leibovich: Thank you and Am Yisrael Chai.
Get ready for an epic conversation with the one and only Jon Bailey, the voice behind Honest Trailers and one of the voices of Optimus Prime. Jon shares his unique journey into voice acting, from his unexpected start and overcoming the early hurdles of being labeled "just a YouTube voice" to establishing himself as a renowned actor in the industry. We discuss the importance of performance background and how platforms like YouTube have become integral to shaping modern voice-acting careers. Authenticity and resilience are the cornerstones of lasting success in the entertainment industry. This episode illuminates how maintaining a genuine persona can inspire others, with practical advice on consistency, branding, and leveraging mentorship. 00:01 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey, bosses want to be that well-rounded talent that's always in demand. I offer coaching in a variety of genres, including commercials that grab attention, medical narrations that educate, corporate scripts that inspire and e-learning modules that engage. Find out more at anganguzacom. 00:24 - Intro (Host) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, anne Ganguza. 00:43 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am so excited to have a very special guest in the studio with me today Epic voice guy of the four-time Emmy-nominated Honest Trailers, the sixth voice of Optimus Prime and over 20 other Transformer characters and voices for Marvel, disney and many, many more and the credit list just goes on and on, but this is a finite amount of time that I have with you, so I am going to let you talk. Welcome, Jon Bailey. 01:17 - Jon Bailey (Host) Thank you. It's good to see you again after 100 years. I said 500. 01:21 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) So, yes, we go way back. At least we were just discussing it like 16 years it is. I said 500. So, yes, we go way back. At least we were just discussing it like 16 years, gosh, when you first got into voiceover and I have watched you over the years become this incredible success. Bosses I mean, this is the VO Boss podcast. We are talking very boss-like. We are talking very boss-like strategies and hard work. Jon, I am so, so happy for all of your successes and so proud of you, my gosh, because I know in the beginning it was a struggle for you. So maybe for the bosses I don't know anybody that probably doesn't know who you are, but in case they don't, tell us a little bit about how you got into the world of voice acting, it's good to be back. 02:06 - Jon Bailey (Host) Thank you for having me back on. It's been a hot second. Yeah, it was all kind of accidental. I had background in performance from school, all the way from, I would say, kindergarten, through college and public speaking and improv and things like that. 02:23 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) In fact, I think that's how we met is through Rebecca's love. That, oh, yes, that's right. Oh my gosh, I feel like that had something to do with it. 02:27 - Jon Bailey (Host) It's been so long ago I don't 100% remember, but I feel like that may have been how we connected. So that was back in my R&D days, which was two years before I even did anything professionally and, like you had said, before, we started the show. Seriously, I would go in, for my first manager kind of found me on the Internet by accident because I'd started YouTube out of boredom. 02:47 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) really, Little did you know? 02:49 - Jon Bailey (Host) Yeah well, the main reason why I did it was because I saw other people taking old cartoons and dubbing over them and making funny things out of them. I was like, well, that's what I wanted to do. If they can do it, then why can't I do that? And I had this small following just based off the comedy stuff that I put together involving Transformers and the movie trailer voice, the inner world guy and my first manager, family from that video. And then I ran into the problem with him, like he pitched me to Sony because I would feel like we've heard your voice before and something. I'm like, oh, cool. I was like, well, I did this little tiny thing online and caught on his trailers and they, oh, because you're not a real voice actor, you're a YouTube voice actor. And I was like there's a difference. 03:30 And it's so funny how much just changed in a decade, because now that's considered a major platform. 03:36 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That is what is so impressive, Jon. You just forged through, because I remember that they're like oh yeah, honest Australia's. You're not a real voice. I remember that and I remember your struggles and your frustration with that, and you have like a trillion followers. I mean literally. 03:50 - Jon Bailey (Host) Not that I'm inflating. 03:51 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But you got what? 03:52 - Jon Bailey (Host) over a million, over a million, yeah, combined across all platforms, which is impressive. For voice actors, yeah, who haven't been the main character in some major popular anime or cartoon or whatever game? I kind of coined the phrase recently where it's like I'm the guy everyone's heard but no one's heard of, right. 04:10 Because I'm so in everything like my manager, my agents, whoever, or sometimes just directly from the clients. They just throw everything at me and I'm just willing to give everything a shot. I know that can't hurt to try, so as long as it doesn't violate my personal faith. There's some things I'm just like no. And other things I'm like well, I'll check it out, but I can't make any promises and some stuff. I'm just like you know, don't bother me with this stuff because I'm not going to work on it. 04:35 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, so you've worked on such a wide range of projects. I mean, what would you say, say I mean outside of? I know in the beginnings were really like getting started and getting your feet wet and getting known. Talk about some of the biggest challenges that you've had as a voice actor, because, gosh, we all run into what we think are challenges. But I feel like just with the amount of exposure and the amount that you've grown over the years, I mean your challenges I feel must equal almost sometimes your follower size. 05:04 - Jon Bailey (Host) I think my challenge is there's been a lot of them, but I'd say if I had to narrow it down for an interview with you, I would say that you really need to have some organization to your personal life, because if you don't have the availability for this job, you're wasting your time because you really can't do anything else. 05:24 You have to find a way to work around their schedule instead of your own and be available for them, and that often leads to that thing between voice actors where it's like why did they get the job instead of me? Well, it might've been because they had a home studio and you didn't, and they had immediate availability and you didn't. Or they might've decided to move to a town like Los Angeles rather than the middle of nowhere, because sometimes it doesn't matter how great you are for the job, it really doesn't. For some reason, some people out here are just too scared of change and they would rather have a real human person that can show up at their studio at a specific time and day and record the thing. And unfortunately, you have to sacrifice a lot. I mean, you have to kind of give up your freedom, so to speak, and I'm thankful that technology has changed, where there's mobile options now, where I don't feel like I'm stuck in this particular physical space 24-7. 06:18 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, I was just going to ask how much do you actually go in studio now? 06:21 - Jon Bailey (Host) Still probably more than me, I would say it's more than it used to be only because I'm booking more, but I would still say, you know, 90% of the time it's still here. In fact a good percentage is. Just to look at the bookings for this coming week, I have four bookings the first week of June and half of those are in studio and half of those are home studio. So it sometimes varies, but I would say the majority of the time I still feel like the majority of it is here. But certain projects they really want to work with just the studios that they've already recording all their other actors at, because they want the quality to sound the same. It makes sense to me, but at the same time people's home technology has gotten so good they don't really need it anymore. 06:58 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) COVID kind of proved that. Yeah, exactly Now. Did you have to do any upgrade? I'm sure you probably had a great studio already, but did you have to do any upgrading to your studio? 07:08 - Jon Bailey (Host) I mean it's still the same booth. It always was this one I've had, for I would say I've had this one for at least five or six years. Todd Haberkorn's misfortune was my fortune. He got this booth for his place, which is not too far from here, and he moved here from West Hollywood, which it fit perfectly fine in his old place, but it just happened to be a few inches too big for his new place. So he had to sell it for a third of what they normally run and I'm like well, I can make payments. 07:36 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And he was cool with that. 07:36 - Jon Bailey (Host) He just wanted to get rid of it because it takes up so much space and it's so heavy and so bulky and big. It's bigger than I need. It's an 8x4 and I don't recommend anything bigger than 4x4. But the truth is you really don't have to have a booth that looks like yours, no offense, but it looks beautiful on camera. That's great. 07:52 That's one of the main reasons why I had it, because if I want to make content and look like a pro, it needs to look like a pro. And no matter how great the audio quality is, no matter how many studios or clients that you've worked for, when it looks like the inside of a closet you don't look like a very good pro and I guarantee people out there it sounds better in that ugly closet than it does in that fancy studio of yours. Even the guys from VoiceOver Body Shop they recommend you don't have to have a whisper room, you can just have that freaking closet. But I figure that half my career is content creation. Freaking closet, but I figure that half my career is content creation. Half my career has been voiceover, so it might as well upgrade that because the opportunity presented itself for such a low price. 08:31 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, and I agree with you that image, I mean, it's how you present yourself really. 08:36 - Jon Bailey (Host) They don't teach you about how much branding is important. 08:38 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Back in our day, when we first started. 08:40 - Jon Bailey (Host) Branding was not part of the education. It was all about the voiceover, the career. They never really talked about, like your social media presence or having a color scheme. Well, you were developing that. We were still figuring it out. 08:51 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) We were, and I remember like first time physically meeting you at a VO Peeps meetup. We were talking about how important it is to start branding and things were just getting popular on the internet. They were starting gosh. We're talking back in our day when we walked to school 10 miles. I know it's funny, that was only 10 years ago I know, I know, and it's incredible how it's grown. 09:12 And you know, you mentioned content creation, which, wow, I mean, like I said, you were ahead of your time back in the day on YouTube, and so I concur, yeah, you were ahead of your time, and I like to think of myself as being a little ahead of my time because I was broadcasting from my living room back when people weren't broadcasting on the Internet. 09:31 My VOP's made up and, that being said, I feel like we're kind of pioneers together, forging our own little paths in our business, which is why I'm so excited that we're talking today and you mentioned content creation. So let's talk a little bit about content creation and what it takes for you on a day-to-day basis, creating the content that you do, because, gosh, I've been following you for the longest time. And then I have another question that I'm going to talk about in a minute, because you have transformed. Not only have you voiced transformers, but you have transformed yourself. But let's talk a little bit about content creation and how important it is for bosses today and people wanting to build a successful business. What does content creation mean for that business? 10:11 - Jon Bailey (Host) Well, the one thing I learned and I have always been a trial and error person People always ask me every freaking day. I would have said you need to find reliable, trustworthy coaches that are affordable and just get coaching, instead of trying to do this the cheap, free way and learning it all the hard way through trial and error and just free research on the internet. 10:38 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It can be done. 10:39 - Jon Bailey (Host) I'm proof that it could be done, because I didn't get any coaching until I'd already been at this job for like almost a decade and I just didn't see the point because I'd been. Unfortunately, a few not so great coaches can ruin it for everybody else. I'm like I don't hear anything here that I couldn't find on the internet. 10:55 I personally have a theory that when we got started, people were gatekeeping the information. I think people were only telling they were so insecure in their own careers they were afraid if they shared this information, this is going to create more competition, which is going to screw me out of work, and I don't think that this is the kind of career where you should have to worry about that because it's so freaking huge. There is enough room for everybody in this job. 11:19 And if you're great at the job and you do a good job and you take the time to grow your brand and create content, do all the things that you need to do in order to be able to show what you're capable of, you'll be able to get work. There's no doubt in my mind. I've always been kind of ahead of my time, but I've been that guy that like I'll do it and until some huge voice actor does the same exact thing after they've seen me do it, then all of a sudden it becomes popular. I was one of the first voice actors to stream my own video games on Twitch. It didn't really go anywhere and I was like you know what and I told a few other voice actors about it. I said this is a great idea. Now all of them are actually making a separate income from doing the same thing I was doing, but nobody even showed up for me. 11:57 I was also one of the few people out there like I should create content about what I do, or just do career centered content. That's entertaining slash, maybe a little informational way to show what I do, just to promote myself. Because the thing, like I started off, the thing that I learned by making content, was that your representation. They will never represent you as well as you can represent yourself. And when I found out that my agents only just get the auditions and sometimes they'll have some relationship with clients and they'll pitch you to somebody they're never going to know you until you get out there and show them who you are. So take whatever thing that you do and just formulate your content around what you're best at, whether you're best at creating creatures or you're best at doing impressions. Whatever Impressions won't get you anywhere in professional voice of a career. 12:48 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) but they're fantastic for content. 12:48 - Jon Bailey (Host) That's not the advice I got 12 years ago. I was told you will never get anywhere in this business doing impressions. That's not true, because you can grow a brand and all of a sudden you're so popular Clients can't do anything except they can't ignore you once you have millions of followers and you're like, oh man, we should hire this guy because people will buy our brand or at least consider our product or service or whatever, just because this guy has so many people. 13:08 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Absolutely. I love that. 13:15 - Jon Bailey (Host) So growing your brand and making content is a way for you to represent yourself and not just sit back and sit on your hands and wait for your agents to do it, because they're not. Your representation's primary job is to make you look good and let people know what you're booking even if they didn't book it for you, and get you auditions and opportunities. They're not out there promoting you specifically, they're not putting out visual audio demos of you doing stuff and working on things, and everything is content Everything. 13:39 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Now question for you because you create so much content and now that you have so many followers, I would imagine yes, of course. Now you're getting sponsorships. You're getting people who want you to talk about their things, because you do have a big follower base. Do your agents have control over the type of content? How careful do you have to be now creating your content? 14:00 - Jon Bailey (Host) I think that agents representatives have to be careful depending on their talent. I think if their talent is smart and they're wise, obviously they're going to hit me up and say you can't post that, you need to take that and sometimes I just have to kind of self regulate. 14:15 I'll give you a perfect example of that. There was a project that was coming out and I thought it would be funny to make a prank video because it's a project that I have been known to work for in the past. So for an April Fool's joke, I created a fake thing for this thing and posted it on the Internet and all of a sudden it reached a point because my content has gotten so big and my career has grown so much that people were using that as a potential news leak of some nondisclosure stuff. I'm like oh crap, I've reached the point where I can't just be regular Joe fan that makes funny stuff for the internet. And then they're like oh, that's so. 14:54 I had to be way more thoughtful and because of, like I said, I learned everything the hard way because of some NDA scares and because of some reprimands from some agents in the past. Over the last decade and a half I've learned like what is okay and what's not, and I'm just always very careful because it does help. I've been working for Hasbro for eight years. Eight years I've been doing voices for the same company, for the same franchise, and only within the last couple of years? Did they even know I was working for them? 15:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Wow. 15:15 - Jon Bailey (Host) Because when you have a massive corporation they drop down all those little jobs down to other companies that are lower on the pole. So they can just like look, we're just going to license this brand out to you. You tell us what you're going to make, you do the entire production, We'll approve, and then you know it's got our official stamp on it. They have no idea who's working for them. So when I get out there and I start making content, I'm really starting to push something like Transformers, for example, because I remember that. 15:39 I do remember that, so they'll send me products or they'll send me news, information or images, digital assets whatever to repost because it makes sense for me, and the more that I do that, the more that people are associating me with my favorite brands that I already work for or it's making other companies go wow, he does a really good job for them. As long as there's no conflict between clients, maybe we should get them to check out our stuff or whatever. So, for example, for Transformers specifically, I have probably four different companies that send me stuff that I don't have to pay for, that I can make content with, or I can resell or give away. There's a lot of different ideas that you can do. You just have to think outside the box. 16:37 It's all about thinking outside the box and doing the best you can to represent yourself in a way where your reps don't have to worry about what you make because they're afraid that you're like oh my gosh, you said you're not a chub on that, I mean, I even had to think about that whenever it came to anything marvel related, because when I started booking sound likes for some of these actors for marvel, I'm like does that mean I can't make comedy, marvel content or whatever, because that might be a spoiler for something that I don't even know about because I'm not working on a project. But I feel like anything I'm doing to help it boils down to this. This is the very, very important part. It boils down to only doing positive things about the clients, brands, products, whatever that you want to work with or that you're a fan of, whatever Because let's just say you like. 17:18 Snickers. If you like Snickers, you don't want to do negative Snickers things. You want to show yourself eating a Snickers, show yourself talking about Snickers, making funny things based on Snickers, and eventually you get enough followers and enough people are like this is really funny, this is really entertaining. This makes me like Snickers. This makes me want to support you by getting whatever. Eventually, snickers is like hey, you know what, we'll send you some free Snickers, send you money in a brand deal. The important part is to do it positive. Don't do anything negative about a brand that you like. 17:46 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I was just going to ask you. There's the other side of the coin, where any publicity is good publicity, so sometimes negative. 17:52 - Jon Bailey (Host) True, but I feel like you're playing it safe and smart if you just stick to only things that, for example, if something comes out, that's not that great, but it's for a company that I like. That's the truth. But it's also about growing your brand, about being seen by enough people to be considered like, oh, and it's also about showing all the things that you do, whether it's your skill set, whether it's your sense of humor, whether it's just your perfect, whatever it is that you're doing it helps them understand like this person has all these positive traits that we like. We would like to continue to work with them, or we'd like to start working with them. 18:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I like that. I like that a lot. 18:34 - Jon Bailey (Host) The whole Mint Mobile ad with Ryan Reynolds. It did not come from my voiceover stuff, it came directly as a result of social media stuff. I was one of the first people out there doing an impression of Ryan Reynolds, because I've seen people out there doing impressions for decades. They started doing it on YouTube when it was first brand new a thing. People were trying to do it as some kind of bit where it's like here's this tiny little cartoon picture in the corner and here's one second of me doing this character. Like I could do 500 cartoon characters in three minutes. And I was like, okay, I see what you're doing, but it's also terrible. It doesn't mean you're a good voice actor, it just means you've made clever content that a lot of people watched. 19:09 But wouldn't it be better, instead of doing those impressions, to just take your skill set and promote yourself in a different way and do something nobody else is doing? So I started looking. It's like man, my gosh. All these voices are old. These characters are ridiculously ancient. It's always Mickey Mouse and Kermit the Frog and stuff that anybody pretty much could do, because the guys who came up with those characters they didn't want to stray so far from their own voices. They were just doing whatever. So I was like you know what? I should just look at who's popular right now, who's the number one top dogs right now? So I started looking at the A-listers. I'm like nobody's doing Chris Hemsworth Nobody's doing Ryan Reynolds. 19:43 Nobody's doing. 19:51 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) All of a sudden. 19:51 - Jon Bailey (Host) Now everybody's copying that pattern. It's just one of the first out there and because I did such a good job with Ryan Reynolds' voice and I made positive, funny, entertaining content, it eventually got the attention of Maximum Effort who reached out to my agents, said we really like Jon, we have this funny idea. We don't really know what we're going to do yet, but we'd them on commercial. There's a good paycheck for it involved, also good social media. Because he's smart enough to know, because Maximum Effort is very good about this. They think like I do. They're like there's a potential for this stuff. It's all in the internet and how you present this More people to see that than you can by throwing this up on a television commercial. So, yeah, it just kind of became that formulation of is it positive? Does it show off my skill set well, does it make me look like we should work with this guy and want to work with this brand? Would this brand be like? This is a unique or entertainer insert thing here of a way to promote our product. We'd like to work with this guy more or continue to work with him. So, yeah, it's going to be, became the whole mindset and the main goal was always not to make money from. 20:49 I make hardly any money from social media, just next to nothing, because the primary goal was not to make money. If I wanted to monetize, there's a very particular set of rules that you have to follow in order to make money from social media. My goal was to get more eyeballs on it, get more followers, because at some point you want to be indispensable, you want to be invaluable to people and like well with me. Not only do you get 16 years of professional experience, all these credits, all these working with all these great companies or clients or studios or whatever. You also get somebody with over a million followers on social media who will promote your project and make content about it for no extra money, just because that's what he already does, because that also helps. It's a cycle. It helps me get bigger, which helps me book more jobs which helps me get bigger, which helps me get more jobs. 21:32 It all works together and it does kind of feel like you're working half your time for free, but that's why you should do things you enjoy. Make your content something that you enjoy, based on things that you like. Just build it around your skillset around your talent. 21:44 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Sure, I love that and I love the whole positive spin that you put on things, as well as authenticity. To take a moment to talk about authenticity you have been very authentic, having known you for so many years now, about things like in your personal life, like your transformation right In your family, and so let's talk a little bit about what authenticity means as well in terms of I feel as though it's not a put on to get more followers. I just really identify with you through your stories. I think you and I have a similar story about, let's say, our body change, our health. We've transformed a little bit in that way, and I've seen a lot of posts from you about that and also stuff about personal struggles that you've had. Let's talk for a moment about the authenticity and how important that is. 22:30 - Jon Bailey (Host) Well, I think you should keep the majority of your personal life offline. Nobody needs to know all your personal business. But I do feel like, when people have been supporting you for so long, they feel an attachment to your story and to you and they want to root for you. They want to be in your corner, they want to see you succeed. Some of them even live vicariously through you. But a lot of people are just looking for inspiration. They're looking for somebody else to give them justification for whatever it is that they're going to decide to do, and when they see somebody like me give up, it makes them want to give up. When they see somebody like me keeping on and pushing on and just never quitting, it makes them not want to give up. 23:09 I inspire other people and, as a person of faith, that's kind of half the reason why I do what I do, because I feel like it's better to be genuine and be yourself, because if you have to mask, eventually it'll all fall apart. You won't be able to keep that up for forever because it's not really you. Jim Carrey's talked about this a lot because he used to be that guy. He thought he had to be like this all the time. That was a persona that he created. It was just a different version of himself where he literally was not Jim Carrey, he was whatever character he was portraying. 23:38 That was Jim Carrey. And when he finally dropped the mask and started being himself, he felt better. And yeah, he's not a super energetic I mean, he's still funny, but he's not that crazy, energetic, over-the-top, ridiculous guy all the time. He's actually just a normal human being who happens to have a very clever mind and sense of humor, et cetera, et cetera. And he talks all the time about how the word depressed has the words deep rest in it and how our brains can't keep up with that fake facade. 24:05 And I know exactly what he's talking about, because my personal life is not rainbows and skittles all the time. I don't go into great detail about it, but people do know. They know that I'm on the spectrum. They know that my son is very much on the spectrum and he's had a lot of issues. They know that my home life has not always been a hundred percent fun. And they also know that financial struggles and all I go through the same thing everybody else does. 24:29 There's a really great interview with Larry King, with the actor who played Abed in Community, which is one of my favorite TV shows and I did promos for it, which is how I became a fan and he was being interviewed. 24:40 Larry King's like give me a luxury that you can't live without. He's like cup of coffee. He's like no, no, no, a luxury. He's like a warm pair of socks. He's like no, a luxury, you know. Like a private place, like I work on duck tails, larry. It's like people don't get that. We're struggling just as much as I don't think, until the strike came forward. This feels like the first time ever that a strike has actually finally got people to realize we don't make a lot of money, we're not sitting around floating in a pool of money and everything is fancy and expensive. 25:09 I literally live from paycheck to paycheck. I don't know how I get from point A to point B except through faith and hard work. That's all there is to it. And you have to find things that work with your schedule in order to stay in this career, because you can't just go get a grocery store job or whatever and be able to make it. You'll only be able to work when you're free. These clients don't care when you're free, they only care when they're free. So so you have to make yourself available until you get to the point where you've reached the career level, we're like no, no, no, we'll wait for you, we can reschedule for you, don't worry. That didn't used to be the case when you first start off like next, because they have a million other people that can do what you do. No-transcript, how fast they can get it done, reliability, all these different things that are factors they're going to succeed. They see that, they can just tell, and part of it is that I am a really hard freaking worker and I'm very genuine and open about. 26:09 I'm just always going and doing stuff, but it's gotten a little better with content creation wise, because while I'm still just being me, I do take the time to like look ahead and see, okay, what's coming out. What am I working on? What am I allowed to talk about? What am I not allowed to talk about? What's trending right now? Since right now, I only have this free time on Saturday, and that's it. I'm going to make a whole bunch of stuff that week, and then I'm just going to drop it online whenever I have time, rather than so. 26:34 it's not like I'm making stuff all day long, every day. I can't do that. I can't keep working for free because people don't realize if they're not sending gifts or they're donating to your social media you're doing it out of the goodness of your heart on what little spare free time you've got. I don't have all day long to stream and et cetera. Content creation is. I absolutely agree with you, it's no small feat it is a full-time job that does not pay. 26:59 No small task at all, but it does pay off in jobs, in exposure. 27:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, absolutely, and that's interesting. My next question was going to be what's your best tips for people starting out in the business? You just gave it to me in that last Well, I got a lot more tips than that, but I loved it because hard work and I'm going to say determination, and especially now that the industry has shifted, I mean and evolved and I think you, more than anyone, really understand how to roll with the changes and to really evolve. 27:23 - Jon Bailey (Host) Well, you've brought up challenges, and that's what the challenge is that this job has become far more public. It's gotten much bigger. It was already big, but the career itself is already bigger and we have all these factors to be concerned about now, like AI replacing jobs like ADR. 27:50 And the competition has increased by a ton because now people understand technology is caught up, where you can pretty much do this anywhere with a decent Internet connection, which makes a big chunk of the industry going to be much tougher. But if you do all those things in conjunction, if you get training, get training from good, reliable coaches that are honest, trustworthy and affordable, you'll spare yourself years of research and development. Start creating a brand. I say this to people when I coach and all of a sudden it's like people realize all this stuff is just common sense stuff. 28:06 Make your profile picture Be the same. Make your bio Be the same across all your platforms. Just be consistent with making something. Find free time, bank up a bunch of free stuff. Post it when you don't have time, because you may not have time to make stuff later, but be showing what. Like I said, everything is content. If all I have time to do is be in the booth doing my job, then I'm going to record myself in the booth doing the job. 28:29 Add some different audio to it, so I don't break non-disclosure agreement when I'm recording auditions and just post something else over that and make that into a video to show people like I'm freaking, working, I'm doing this stuff here, I am in my booth, or just take a picture, do something, but make content and keep something going out there. Yes, it helps if you stay up with current trends, if you have a particular genre. I'll give you a couple of examples, because people probably think that this is just confined to well, you work in cartoons and movies. It's easy for you because you have all this stuff. That's not necessarily true. You never know which horse is going to win the race. 29:00 I would have thought that Mad Max would have been a great thing to post content about, but it's not doing as well as I thought it would do. So all the other stuff that I do content for is like okay, well, I can keep making that, but you just kind of have to keep an eye on it. But you have inspirational stuff, you have creepypastas, scary stories. There's just so many things that you can do and it be your brand, as long as you keep consistent and keep making something. And in the meantime you're doing auditions, you're out there, whatever, and as you're growing you can start adding that to like oh well, if you book me, you also get this. 29:30 I have a protege. I would love for you to interview her sometime. Her name is Hunter and she did not know what a voiceover was before she met me, but she did have performance experience. She used to be a haunter in haunts and let me tell you something it is harder to be a haunter in a haunt than it is to do stand-up comedy, Because you have an infinite amount of time that you're going to be doing this little performance. You've got about 10 minutes In a haunt. You're in there for hours coming up with characters, terrifying people, improvising, doing all the makeup and stuff yourself too. So there's on-camera stuff as well and you develop crazy skill sets that she didn't even know was a valuable skill set. She can create creature sounds that I've never heard a woman do before. 30:10 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I've only heard Dee Bradley Baker, do what she's done. 30:13 - Jon Bailey (Host) And, like you, have any idea how special that skill is in this industry. 30:17 You need to make content and show people what you do, and especially if it's something that you can do that they cannot do and all of a sudden, within three months of just doing a little voiceover coaching with me showing you the stuff that I know after 16 years, she was booking work, which proves that you don't have to have two years to 16 years to book that kind of stuff. If you have the information and you work hard and you supply the stuff that you learn, you can book stuff right away. This industry is easy to get into. My biggest problem and I'm going to hurt a lot of people's feelings right now my biggest problem is that people come to me with their hands out and that's all they ever do hey, what can I do to blah, blah, blah. 30:52 And I tell them they're like that doesn't sound like I'm just going to be able to do it without you giving it to me. So I'm like if you don't want it, if you're not willing to work for it, then don't ask. It's not a job where you can just go get an answer and I give you a key and you go open the door and you receive the rewards for it. It took 16 years to do that, yes, yes, it can be condensed down to shorter amount of time. When you find somebody like me who coaches and I've made all those mistakes already in 16 years' time I've gone through every version of how not to do the job, then finally figured out the right way to do the job wouldn't it make sense to invest a little bit of money and save yourself a lot of years to get that information and actually use it and apply it and just work hard at the job? It's kind of like Shawshank Redemption All it takes is time and patience. 31:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Absolutely Well, before we go, I do want to talk to you about your transformation. 31:42 - Jon Bailey (Host) You look amazing. 31:43 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I imagine you must feel great. I feel a lot better today, not so much because I injured my shoulder. 31:45 - Jon Bailey (Host) I'm sorry, that's right, but again, like I said, everything is content and I'm like you know what. A lot of people are already supportive. They want to see me succeed and I wanted to show them that if I can do something, anybody, if you just put your mind to something and you're just consistent at whether it's your health or your career or whatever, if you're just consistent at it, that's all it is. People just fall out of it because they go too hard, too fast. Whether it's your physical health or whether it's the career, they think that, okay, all I have to do is this one thing and then when it doesn't work out in a couple of months, people just quit. Or a couple of weeks, they just don't give it enough time. You don't get healthy in just a couple of weeks. 32:20 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It took years of back and forth and bouncing up and down, you and I both know, because we both been there. 32:25 - Jon Bailey (Host) I remember, I remember. 32:27 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) You look like a different person too. 32:29 - Jon Bailey (Host) I've lost an entire person at this point I'm down 145 pounds. 32:33 - Intro (Host) I haven't had my biggest, I was 335. 32:36 - Jon Bailey (Host) That was around the time when you and I met I was literally that. 32:39 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) No neck guy and my overall goal was 170 pounds, but still is wonderful. 32:42 - Jon Bailey (Host) Thank you. I've only got 25 pounds left to go. 32:45 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Good for you. I still have some to go too, and it's funny People are like what? But I need to continually have that challenge. I feel like I'm like you in that way. 32:53 - Jon Bailey (Host) I'll give everybody something that really helped me, and it's going to seem like a silly thing, but if your health is important to you and you have people that depend on you and need you to be around, then you should make it a primary thing. Number one. Everything is content. You can film and take pictures of your progress. My progress stuff gets more traction than my professional career stuff does Mine did too my picture of me shrinking. Those are just pictures not even a video. 33:20 Those pictures had over 3,000 likes and I don't even have that many followers on Instagram. People want to see you succeed and it also inspires them and makes them want to do better for themselves, which is great. So you can literally make that as part of your journey, and I remember incorporating it into my routine. I'm like you know what, instead of it feeling like it's a job and that I have to go lose weight and I have to go hike and I have to go to, I'll make content while I'm out there. I'm make videos of me doing the thing, or make I did different celebrities going to the gym, you know, or working out or exercising, and it became where it was fun and eventually I'm multitasking. At that point, I'm making content and I'm working out. 33:57 At the same exact time, I'm also finding cool locations while I'm out doing whatever that like you know what. This would be a cool place to make a thing. There's so many different cool factors involved in just doing things better for yourself. The gym that I got for the backyard I was like you know what this would make great if I want to do gym videos because they have a very strict policy about making content inside of a gym, so having a gym in my backyard makes it a lot easier for me. 34:21 But it also I got it from another voice actor. Dave Fennoy got rid of his old gym because his studio flooded and he did not feel like putting it back in there. 34:30 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) So I got a great deal on it. Oh, that's awesome. I didn't realize that was Dave Fennoy. It helped me network more with yeah it helped me network with Dave Fennoy who's? 34:37 - Jon Bailey (Host) also a local to Memphis, which you know, I've only known two or three other voice actors that came from where I came from. So there's so many positive things about. Everything is interconnected, everything's all part of one big giant thing and it does sometimes feel a little bit like a video game because you're just like this doesn't feel real, but it's just all the parts working together and just looking for opportunities. I'll put it to you this way there's a movie I hate to bring up Jim Carrey again, but the movie yes man. I don't live quite that strictly to that kind of policy, but I do feel like you should say yes to every opportunity that comes your way. Unless you have a very solid like there, unless you have a very solid like, there's just no way I can. If it feels like there's resistance, then don't do it, but unless there's just something that instantly red flags, I'm just trying to be like yeah, I'll, absolutely. I'll do my best. I'll give it my best freaking shot, whether it's my health, whether it's my content, whether it's a voiceover job. 35:29 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And I've been shocked at how many times that has worked out for me. 35:31 - Jon Bailey (Host) Just give it a chance. So many people are not confident in themselves. They don't have security in themselves. I don't think people understand the term fake it till you make it. It's talking about acting. It's literally talking about pretending to be okay and pretending to be fine and acting like you're good even if you're not good, even if you are nervous. This will change your entire life and I'm only going to give this one, and this is just an example of what you get when you coach with me. By the way, if you can pretend to be another person when you go into an audition, it completely changes things, because when you're already acting like you already got the job, you're going to do a better job performing the job. So, whether it comes to in-person auditions or whatever, or social situations or networking situations, you can literally just get comfortable acting like the person who is confident and who is a success until you are that's what faking it do to make it move. 36:22 People on the spectrum and voice actors and actors and performers. We're all very good at masking, and does that make us an exceptional liars? Probably All of us are not like that in our personal lives. 36:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But when? 36:34 - Jon Bailey (Host) you're very good at pretending to be someone else. You can make that into a viable career and it works for your content. It works for your overall brand. It works for your auditions. It also works for your booking. When you actually get the job, People will like you better, when you act like you belong there. In other words, when you go into a session, don't sit there and go. I'm sorry, let me do it again. I'm sorry. 36:53 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I messed up. 36:55 - Jon Bailey (Host) Hang on. I messed up. Hang on. I'm sorry you shut your mouth. Just say let me try that one more time. 36:59 I got a better one in me Change your mindset, change the way you speak, change the way you act. You're faking it till you make it, because eventually you'll start booking those jobs and it's just. I hate to keep using nerd references, but I am one it he could do it because he saw himself do it, and this is exactly. There was a life changing moment for me when I went into record Bumblebee for the third time and it's one of my favorite movies that I've ever worked on. It's my favorite franchise, my two favorite characters that I got to voice. I had no idea who I was working with in that studio. I didn't have a clue. Nobody told me that anybody from the movie was going to be there. The only people that I saw that were famous were some of the other voice actors that were working. So on the third session I was like I wonder who the director of this film is. And I looked it up and it was the guy I'd been working with for three sessions. 37:48 I didn't even know he was the director of the movie. I thought he was just the engineer at Paramount and it was like dude. I was nailing it, not even knowing I should be nervous. So why even be nervous? The next chance I got to work with another director, it was Michael freaking Bay. I wasn't even concerned anymore. Everybody was warning me. He's hard to work with. He's difficulty blah, blah, blah. I'm like dude. I worked with Travis Knight, didn't even know I was working with Travis Knight. I'm fine Because I can just act like I belong there and and people will believe it because I'm being very confident. Even though it's fake confidence, it's still confidence and eventually you'll start to believe your own confidence. 38:22 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It's kind of manifesting. 38:24 - Intro (Host) Manifesting that it's faking it till you, make it I didn't understand. 38:27 - Jon Bailey (Host) I heard people say that for years and years and years until I realizing it's just faking confidence until you're actually doing that job, because you really kind of need to prove to everybody else and yourself that, yeah, you can do this, and once you can do it you don't need to worry about it anymore. 38:40 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) And what I love is knowing you for so long Like I've seen this happen. I've actually watched you become this incredible success, confident, and it's. I love it. I'm just so, so happy for you. 38:54 - Jon Bailey (Host) I appreciate that it really is just about kind of like learning all the cheat codes. It takes me a little longer than most. I had friends tell me like it takes 10 years to get into cartoons. I booked an anime in eight and thought I was doing good, but then it was just crickets for another four years. So you just never really know. But then when I started realizing it really is all about faking that confidence and just believing in yourself, even if you don't believe in yourself. If you can fake it, other people will believe it. 39:17 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I'm signing up to coach with you, but actually this is a great segue into, first of all, how can people follow you If they don't know they should know because you're all over the place and then how can people work with you. 39:29 - Jon Bailey (Host) I recently. I won't say it's finished yet because I'm trying to add a couple more pages to it, but I recently overhauled my website thanks to my awesome mentor who also does website design. So if you need a voiceover website, I know somebody and the contact page. There's a section on coaching. My rates are all there. I've expanded from when I first started. You probably remember this. There was a long time I did not want to coach because I didn't feel like I had enough experience for it, because I was like I've only been at this five years. Even though I'm doing great, I don't feel like I've got anything to say to anybody. Brand new, because I'm brand new Now. I don't feel I've got a decade and a half plus two years of research and development. 40:01 I've worked for the biggest studios out there. I have gone through every version of how to do this job wrong, just like Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb wrong 99 times. I figured out the right way to do it by doing it wrong so many different ways. So I haven't named it yet, but it's kind of like the gamer's guide to voiceover. 40:17 - Intro (Host) It's a little cheat code magazine. 40:18 - Jon Bailey (Host) Love it. So, yeah, I'm really easy to find Epic Voice Guy on every major platform and you can contact me via my website page or any DMs across any of the social media. I'll probably still sling you over to my website because it goes straight to my email address, but my coaching rates are ridiculously affordable compared to most people and you won't have to keep coming back for more coaching sessions unless you want to, because I didn't like that when I got started. I think we had this conversation before. I was very against the overall coaching community because I felt like so much of it was predatory. They were giving some of the same information over and over that you can find on the Internet for free. And now they have a website. D Bradley Baker God bless his soul created Iwanttobeavoiceactorcom, and now I don't even have to like look, if you don't want to pay me, spend a few weeks on this free website. No skin off my teeth, you don't have to pay me a dime. 41:07 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) If they're not willing to look at that website for a couple of weeks because there's a lot of information there, then they don't really want to do this job and that's my number one go-to thing. 41:12 - Jon Bailey (Host) But yeah, I coach and I also do other stuff too. I also offer, if they want, fan stuff, a little bit of everything Awesome. 41:19 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, you do. I remember that you were doing that back 16 years ago too. 41:23 - Jon Bailey (Host) Yeah, I try to look at the industry and see where the gaps were and see where is something missing. It's like, oh, I started realizing these brands that reached out to me like, oh, we realize, you make a lot of Transformers content. I was like, well, you know, as a voice actor and having a professional page, I should freaking have a shop page. 41:39 And then call those companies and say hey, would you like to advertise for free on my website? Duh Three or four, I'm like, yeah, we'll give you some free ads and we'll even throw you a commission if they buy some stuff through the way I mean. 41:49 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) there's so much opportunity. 41:51 - Jon Bailey (Host) We just don't. Nobody really takes the time to think they're just looking at insert job here in the voiceover business and they don't think about all this other stuff. 41:59 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It's the business mind too. 42:01 - Jon Bailey (Host) Yeah, the simplest way I can put it, because I know your time is valuable too. The simplest way I can put it is if you're going to fish because you're starving to death and it's your only option, you have plenty of opportunities to fish, but you have a boat and you have a place to fish Do you put one hook in the water or do you put them all in if you have the opportunity, to put them all in there If you have a chance to catch more fish? Look for every single chance, every single opportunity, whether it's a YouTube and a TikTok and a Twitch and a whatever. If you're a gamer, game, if you're a reactor, react but do something. Build it around your skill set, make content on every platform out there. Look for every opportunity networking opportunities, voiceover meetups like what Anne and I used to go to the coaching sessions from people that are reliable free website resources. 42:47 There's a ton out there If you just put in the freaking effort. That's where you guys make me angry. Put in the freaking effort. 42:52 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) This podcast is a resource. 42:55 - Jon Bailey (Host) Exactly, I've been doing this podcast for eight years, eight years weekly. So yeah, I just celebrated my eight year and you guys are not paying for it. This is free resources that are extremely helpful, Jon. 43:05 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Bailey, john Bailey. Oh my gosh, it has been so wonderful. We should have like five more, no, 15 more episodes. 43:11 - Jon Bailey (Host) I mean I would if I didn't have a game to record I know right. 43:14 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I could go on and on and on and I have a session I got to get to myself. I take that back. Five sessions. 43:19 - Jon Bailey (Host) I forgot one. I just booked another one today. Five sessions and two out of five are at home. That's not normal though. 43:25 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) But I did want to be fair and honest. That means you got to drive three out of the five too, so that's time involved as well. Knowing this area. 43:32 - Jon Bailey (Host) Oh, that's aed. There you go, there you go, oh my gosh. 43:46 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) John, it's been amazing. Thank you so, so much for this. Bosses out there, follow John and coach with John. I'm telling you, you were like a fountain. You're a fountain of wisdom and information and again, thank you I keep telling people they should go to me. 43:54 - Jon Bailey (Host) I've got living proof. If you want living proof of how far you can come with a little information for me, if you are properly motivated and you work hard, go to VoxyDitch on any of the social medias. That's my mentee. I'm mentoring her and look how quickly she has people coming to her asking her for voiceover advice. Awesome, only being in this job for a few months. 44:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Awesome. Well, John, thanks again. Bosses, I'm going to give a great big shout out to our sponsor, IPDTL. You too can network and connect like bosses like John and myself. Find out more at IPDTLcom. Everyone have an amazing week and we will see you next week. Bye. 44:33 - Intro (Host) Join us next week for another edition of VO Boss with your host, Anne Ganguza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at vobosscom and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via IPDTL.
In this episode of the Regenerative by Design Podcast, host Joni Kindwall-Moore sits down with Dr. Abed Chaudhury, a plant geneticist and farmer, to explore some intriguing and often overlooked topics in our food system. They dive into the hidden power of phytonutrients, the mysteries of the gut microbiome, and the surprising ways our farming practices impact soil health.Dr. Chaudhury shares his journey from rural Bangladesh to MIT and beyond, revealing secrets about our shift from perennial to mono-harvest crops that have had a dramatic impact on biodiversity and soil quality. He talks about his groundbreaking work with Genofax on the gut microbiome and a revolutionary breeding program in Bangladesh that could change the future of farming.As the conversation unfolds, they touch on big ideas like the co-evolution of humans and crops and the urgent need to rethink our agricultural practices. Dr. Chaudhury's unique blend of traditional agricultural wisdom and cutting-edge molecular biology uncovers the deep connections between our health and the health of our soil.But that's not all—Joni and Dr. Chaudhury reveal some surprising insights about the importance of crop diversity and the potential for a more resilient, sustainable food system. This episode is packed with revelations that will keep you hooked until the very end. Don't miss out on these eye-opening insights!Link(s):The Gaia Hypothesis: teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/files/97.07.02.pdfGenetics with Abed Chaudhury: https://bengal.institute/team/abed-chaudhury/www.krishanfoundation.comRegenerative by design is hosted by Snacktivist. Snacktivist creates baking mixes and finished products that are allergy-friendly, soil, water, and carbon-focused, all while radically impacting human nutrition by transforming staple foods into something more than just empty calories. Visit snacktivistfoods.com to learn more.
I read Nathan Thrall's book last year before the Gaza and October 7th massacres. I couldn't put it down. It tells the true story of a young Palestinian boy, a tragic accident, his family and the daily humiliations of the Palestinian people. There is much cruelty but there is much love, too, and courage, resolve and tenderness. For everyone who is interested in Palestine and Israel, listen to this - this is a conversation for you. Join the gang! https://plus.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Join Counterpunch Radio contributor Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt, in conversation with activists and community organizers, Alakaʻi Kapānui and Fatima Abed, to discuss the Palestinian Solidarity movement in Hawai'i. From being the first “state” to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, to the #CancelRIMPAC campaign against the world's largest Navy exercises, Hawai'i organizers are drawing deeper connections between the military occupations of Hawai'i, Palestine, and the Israeli apartheid state. Decades of Native Hawaiian-led demilitarization efforts and current Palestinian and Jewish-led grassroots community are finding ways to collaborate towards genuine security. Alakaʻi Kapānui is a Kanaka ʻŌiwi and Jewish activist and community organizer. She is the poʻo (head) of Kona 4 Palestine and co-founder of Huliau o Nā Wahi Kapu both of which focus on the demilitarizations and deoccupations of Hawaiʻi and Palestine. She has been a Hawaiian Kingdom and sovereignty activist since 2018 through Hui Aloha ʻĀina and with a heavy focus on cultural reconnection and practice. She is a kiaʻi o Mauna a Wākea, Mākua, Kaloko Loko ʻIa, and Pōhakuloa. As the head of Kona 4 Palestine, she has been able to begin to reconnect to her Jewish heritage and since started working with other pro-Palestine organizations by hosting a series of teach-in events that directly address Palestine and global imperialism. And as a co- founder of Huliau o Nā Wahi Kapu, she has been able to focus on the ends of military leases and occupations such as Pōhakuloa Training Area, Mākua Valley, and the parallel military occupation of Palestine. Aloha ʻāina ʻoiaʻiʻo. Fatima Abed (she/they) is a Palestinian and Puerto Rican human rights and animal activist residing in Hawaiʻi. She is the founder of Rise for Palestine, a grassroots organization focused on lobbying for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a free Palestine. Spearheading the campaign to adopt a ceasefire resolution in Hawai‘i at the “state” level, Rise for Palestine hosted teach-ins and film screenings, led rallies, and mobilized nearly 26,000 emails and phone calls to elected officials from residents throughout the islands. Once resolutions were given hearings, Rise for Palestine led the effort to mobilize testimony, helping to secure more than 1,600 pages of written testimony and numerous, powerful verbal testimonies in support of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza in the State House and Senate. These efforts led to Hawai‘i becoming the first “state” in the nation to adopt a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire resolution for Gaza, with 72 of Hawai‘i's 76 elected legislators voting in support. Fatima has also led events to support Sulala Animal Rescue in Gaza, the only animal rescue still operating under fierce bombardment. You can follow Sulala and Saed on instagram: @Sulalaanimalrescue Fatima is currently traveling the continent, gathering the stories of Palestinian-Americans, and activists and students who are fighting for a free Palestine. She is headed towards the DNC as an elected “Uncommitted” delegate for the “state” of Hawai'i. Here she will uplift and echo all of the voices of the activists she encountered during this genocide in Gaza to US media and elected officials. Follow her journey and support here: https://gofund.me/8c8b0b1e And on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RiseforPalestine Follow Rise for Palestine on Instagram: rise_for_palestine If you know anyone interested in sharing their stories you can contact her at rise4palestine@gmail.com. More The post Alakaʻi Kapānui and Fatima Abed appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were three young men who refused to compromise. Because of this unwavering commitment to the Lord, they made such a difference for the Kingdom of God. They were men of courage and conviction, two qualities desperately needed today. Will you stand for the truth when the pressure comes, or will you bow to get along and to save your hide? In this powerful message, Pastor Jeff Schreve shares three insights to help you become a person of true faith and strong conviction.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were three young men who refused to compromise. Because of this unwavering commitment to the Lord, they made such a difference for the Kingdom of God. They were men of courage and conviction, two qualities desperately needed today. Will you stand for the truth when the pressure comes, or will you bow to get along and to save your hide? In this powerful message, Pastor Jeff Schreve shares three insights to help you become a person of true faith and strong conviction.