Podcasts about Affirmative

JP Morgan has responded to the U.S. Virgin Islands' (USVI) motion to strike several of its affirmative defenses in the ongoing lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations. The bank argues that these defenses are crucial to demonstrate the alleged complicity of the USVI government in enabling Epstein's activities.JP Morgan contends that high-ranking USVI officials, including former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, played a role in facilitating Epstein's operations by managing his local companies and helping spread his influence throughout the government. The bank alleges that Epstein's ties with local political figures allowed him to receive favorable treatment, such as tax benefits and reduced oversight, despite his known criminal background/The USVI's motion to strike these defenses is viewed by JP Morgan as an attempt to avoid exposing the government's own culpability. Conversely, the USVI argues that the bank's defenses are baseless and are intended to deflect from its failure to act on clear signs of Epstein's criminal behavior​.(commercial at 7:20)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.94.5.pdf (courtlistener.com)

JP Morgan has responded to the U.S. Virgin Islands' (USVI) motion to strike several of its affirmative defenses in the ongoing lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations. The bank argues that these defenses are crucial to demonstrate the alleged complicity of the USVI government in enabling Epstein's activities.JP Morgan contends that high-ranking USVI officials, including former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, played a role in facilitating Epstein's operations by managing his local companies and helping spread his influence throughout the government. The bank alleges that Epstein's ties with local political figures allowed him to receive favorable treatment, such as tax benefits and reduced oversight, despite his known criminal background/The USVI's motion to strike these defenses is viewed by JP Morgan as an attempt to avoid exposing the government's own culpability. Conversely, the USVI argues that the bank's defenses are baseless and are intended to deflect from its failure to act on clear signs of Epstein's criminal behavior​.(commercial at 7:20)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.94.5.pdf (courtlistener.com)

JP Morgan has responded to the U.S. Virgin Islands' (USVI) motion to strike several of its affirmative defenses in the ongoing lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations. The bank argues that these defenses are crucial to demonstrate the alleged complicity of the USVI government in enabling Epstein's activities.JP Morgan contends that high-ranking USVI officials, including former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, played a role in facilitating Epstein's operations by managing his local companies and helping spread his influence throughout the government. The bank alleges that Epstein's ties with local political figures allowed him to receive favorable treatment, such as tax benefits and reduced oversight, despite his known criminal background/The USVI's motion to strike these defenses is viewed by JP Morgan as an attempt to avoid exposing the government's own culpability. Conversely, the USVI argues that the bank's defenses are baseless and are intended to deflect from its failure to act on clear signs of Epstein's criminal behavior​.(commercial at 7:20)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.94.5.pdf (courtlistener.com)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

JP Morgan has responded to the U.S. Virgin Islands' (USVI) motion to strike several of its affirmative defenses in the ongoing lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations. The bank argues that these defenses are crucial to demonstrate the alleged complicity of the USVI government in enabling Epstein's activities.JP Morgan contends that high-ranking USVI officials, including former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, played a role in facilitating Epstein's operations by managing his local companies and helping spread his influence throughout the government. The bank alleges that Epstein's ties with local political figures allowed him to receive favorable treatment, such as tax benefits and reduced oversight, despite his known criminal background/The USVI's motion to strike these defenses is viewed by JP Morgan as an attempt to avoid exposing the government's own culpability. Conversely, the USVI argues that the bank's defenses are baseless and are intended to deflect from its failure to act on clear signs of Epstein's criminal behavior​.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.94.5.pdf (courtlistener.com)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

JP Morgan has responded to the U.S. Virgin Islands' (USVI) motion to strike several of its affirmative defenses in the ongoing lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations. The bank argues that these defenses are crucial to demonstrate the alleged complicity of the USVI government in enabling Epstein's activities.JP Morgan contends that high-ranking USVI officials, including former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, played a role in facilitating Epstein's operations by managing his local companies and helping spread his influence throughout the government. The bank alleges that Epstein's ties with local political figures allowed him to receive favorable treatment, such as tax benefits and reduced oversight, despite his known criminal background/The USVI's motion to strike these defenses is viewed by JP Morgan as an attempt to avoid exposing the government's own culpability. Conversely, the USVI argues that the bank's defenses are baseless and are intended to deflect from its failure to act on clear signs of Epstein's criminal behavior​.(commercial at 7:20)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.94.5.pdf (courtlistener.com)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

JP Morgan has responded to the U.S. Virgin Islands' (USVI) motion to strike several of its affirmative defenses in the ongoing lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations. The bank argues that these defenses are crucial to demonstrate the alleged complicity of the USVI government in enabling Epstein's activities.JP Morgan contends that high-ranking USVI officials, including former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, played a role in facilitating Epstein's operations by managing his local companies and helping spread his influence throughout the government. The bank alleges that Epstein's ties with local political figures allowed him to receive favorable treatment, such as tax benefits and reduced oversight, despite his known criminal background/The USVI's motion to strike these defenses is viewed by JP Morgan as an attempt to avoid exposing the government's own culpability. Conversely, the USVI argues that the bank's defenses are baseless and are intended to deflect from its failure to act on clear signs of Epstein's criminal behavior​.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.94.5.pdf (courtlistener.com)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

In this special episode, host Amanda Joy welcomes the compassionate hypnotherapist and spiritual practitioner Joan Coletto, creator of the Heart Shift Method. Together, they explore the powerful ways spirituality and clinical hypnotherapy intertwine to create profound transformation.Amanda Joy opens up about her own raw and challenging spiritual awakening, and Joan shares her personal journey through pain, infertility, and healing, leading her to discover the practices that now form the heart of her life's work. From prayer and meditation to affirmations and heart-centered hypnosis, Joan's method helps clients release old patterns, reconnect with themselves, and step into a life filled with peace, purpose, and love.This conversation extends beyond techniques; it delves into the essence of spiritual connection, self-love, and resilience. Expect discussions on: ✨ The truth about spiritual awakening (and why it isn't always calm and blissful) ✨ Affirmative prayer and how to “claim” what you desire ✨ The healing power of gratitude and visualisation ✨ Working with limiting beliefs and inner child wounds ✨ How spirituality and hypnotherapy combine to support deep emotional healing ✨ Joan's upcoming book Heart Shift Transformation and exclusive resources for listenersWhether you're a therapist, a spiritual seeker, or simply curious about how hypnotherapy can help you reconnect with your true self, this episode is rich with insights and practical wisdom.

 Getting Policed & Propositioned. A 2-part story By Requiax. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. So I was feeling euphoric as I continued on my way back to my family's vacated house. This whole experience had been a fantasy of mine for a long time; that it was going so well in reality was giving me even more confidence. Car 9 So, I didn't hear the car pull in behind me. Not until the flash of blue lights and the peal of the siren, anyway! I jumped, and turned. I was on a quiet road, no other people or traffic; but a police cruiser had just pulled up to the curb right where I was walking!Had someone who had seen me walking around naked called the police? That was my first thought. It was, after all, something I had expected. My only plan for dealing with such as that had been to keep moving, and hope that by the time the cops were called and (if they decided to) responded, I would be somewhere else. But was that enough, or had my own hubris gotten the better of me and I'd underestimated the police ability to locate one naked dude somewhere in town? Or was this just a random patrol who had seen me out walking and done what any cop would do and investigate. I froze in panic, all my excitement undone in an instant. I knew I was breaking the law. Public nudity is illegal in my state. Yet here I was, stark naked on a public street, with no clothes nearby. I was potentially in real trouble. In a flash I considered my options. I'm a fit guy, and I briefly wondered about running. I wasn't a million miles from the house now. But it wasn't like I had access to the house any more, the keys were with the realtor. The only reason I was going back to the house was for me to put my clothes back on, get in my car and go. And could I really outrun a police cruiser? Or was it more likely that I'd just make more trouble for myself (or even; worst case scenario; end up in a car chase if the police assumed I was intoxicated and then saw me get behind the wheel)? I could pretend I was drunk, or high; or even that I was freaking out. But those weren't sensible suggestions. Being drunk or high and naked in public would probably go down worse than being straight sober and nude; and if they thought I was crazy I might find myself getting a tazer to the balls; or even a gun pointed in my face. Even at best I'd probably end up in a hospital getting checked out when I needed to be on my way back to college. I decided that really, the only option I had was to co-operate with the cops and tell them the truth (well, a version of the truth; if at all possible I intended to leave out the part where I had masturbated publicly in front of people!). I turned and faced the cruiser. I had my hands by my sides, palms out; I didn't want the cops to think I meant trouble. It was a lone officer driving, and he got out of the car. He was an older cop, about my dad's age. I recognised him; I didn't know his name but when you've been a teenager in a small town you get to know all the local cops, and they get to know you. "Are you alright there, son?" he asked me. I nodded. "Uh-huh, I'm fine officer." He took a long look at me. "Where are your clothes, son?" "Um, I don't have them with me." "I can see that. Where are they?" I paused. "Back at my house." "You been drinking?" He asked. "Smoked anything? Taken anything?" I shook my head. "No sir." He looked sceptical, but appeared to take me at my word. "Then, son, do you mind telling me what you're doing out here at this time of day in a public place without a stitch of clothing on you?" I chose my words carefully. "Well, officer," I began, "it's my last day in town. I'm moving away and I'm leaving tonight. And, well, I just got this idea in me that before I went I would do a little streak, just my way of seeing the town off. It seems real dumb now to say it to you but it just made me laugh at the time to think it, so I sorta dared myself to take my clothes off and run about a bit. You know, the way sometimes people do at football games and the like?" Well, it wasn't a lie. I wasn't sure if the sort of prolonged public nudity I had engaged in counted as 'streaking' exactly; but it came I think from the same motivation; that compulsion to exhibit oneself, to show my naked body to the world. The cop said nothing for a minute. I could tell he was turning my explanation over in his mind, looking to see if it held up. I had no idea if he was responding to a complaint; if he was, my story might unravel, especially if it showed I had been naked for about 90 minutes now and travelled quite far. "You know, son, that running around in public view in the altogether is against the law?" "I know, officer," I replied, trying to sound suitably contrite. "I'm sorry for this. I meant no harm, I was just having a little fun before I leave town. But I should have thought about it more. I guess I'm in real trouble now, huh?" The cop looked thoughtful. "Well now," he said after a while, "I wouldn't say that." He opened the door to his cruiser and made to lean inside, but stopped and turned back to me. "Cover yourself up a moment would you, son," he advised. I cupped both hands over my cock and balls. I'd been very conscious of my nakedness during this whole conversation; the presence of the cop in his starchy uniform seemed to emphasise more my own nudity and vulnerability. Fortunately, my cock had stayed flaccid; I was too nervous to get aroused. Satisfied for the moment, the cop leaned back into his cruiser and picked up his radio. "Dispatch, this is car 9," he hailed. After a moment the radio crackled back; "Dispatch. Go ahead car 9." The cop paused, then spoke clearly. "Dispatch, has anyone called in a code 3 1 4 tonight?" The woman on the other end of the radio seemed thrown by this question. "Code 3 1 4, car 9?" she repeated. "Affirmative, dispatch. Has anyone called in a code 3 1 4 tonight?" "No, car 9," the woman replied after a moment. "No call outs for code 3 1 4. Why?" "Just a conversation with a citizen, dispatch," the cop replied. "Nothing to worry about. Car 9 out." (I learned later that a 3 1 4 was the penal code for indecent exposure or public nudity, and if someone had called the cops about me, that would have been what would have gone out to the officer on call; although at the time it meant nothing to me). Cupped or Cuffed The cop turned back to me. "Well son," he said, "it seems like we've had no complaints about you. So it looks like the only law enforcement that knows you're out here with your dingus in the wind is me. "Now," he continued, "I really should write you up with a citation, at least give you a ticket and give you a ride back home. But, you seem like a good kid. I know your folks, know of them anyway, and when you say you're leaving town tonight I know that's true. I think you're a smart kid who decided to do something dumb on a goof and, well, it isn't in me to punish you for that. How old are you, son? 18, 19?" "20," I replied. He nodded. "I got a son around your age and he's a smart kid too but he says and does the dumbest stuff sometimes. Not 'run around the street in your birthday suit' dumb but still pretty dumb. I wouldn't want to see him get into trouble for that and I doubt your daddy would want the same for you. "Well," he continued, "the way I see it is, if you can tell me you're gonna turn around and head straight back home and put your goddamn pants back on, and you do just that, I'm willing to forget I ever saw you. Can you do that?" I nodded enthusiastically. "Of course officer. I was actually just heading-" He cut me off. "Just go, son. The longer you're stood there with your balls out, the more likely it is someone will call it in and then I can't ignore it." Evidently, I learned later; there are some statutes which require a community complaint, in order to be prosecuted. Just as a cop's peace cannot be disturbed, A cop's morals cannot be outraged. The community has to initiate the complaint. I thanked him and set off in a sprint for home. I kept my hands cupped over my genitals until I was out of his sight, then I just jogged briskly, my cock swinging as I moved. I felt a great sense of relief; I'd got caught by a cop, the thing I had specifically not wanted to happen to me, and yet I'd got away with it. Had it been any other day or night I had tried this, I might well have ended up in a whole load of trouble, with the law and with my parents. But because it was my final night in town, it seemed like fate had cut me some slack and given me a cop who was willing to look the other way as long as nobody had come to any harm. Sunset Driveway I was feeling excited again, thrilled once more by my own exposure. But I also felt a sense of sadness. I was almost back at the family home; I'd no intention of breaking my word to the cop and doing any further nude adventuring tonight. But once I got back to our old home, the fun would be over, and I'd be clothed again and on my way. I rounded the corner and headed along my old street. It was night now, and a lot of the houses were dark. There were a few lights on but I didn't feel like I was at risk of getting into trouble here. I was nearly home anyway, and my clothes should be where I left them, on the floor by my car. Sure enough, as I walked up my driveway I could see them; crumpled jeans, boxers and a t-shirt. It had been over 2 hours since I'd last had any clothes on, and in that time I'd been seen by who knows how many people; all of them staring at my naked body and exposed cock. I'd masturbated, and ejaculated, in front of two complete strangers, shopped in a convenience store nude, and even brushed with the law and got away with it. Whatever exhibitionism I got up to in future, it would be hard to top this. As I got to the car I decided to postpone the disappointment. As it was now dark, I could probably get away with driving in the nude. As long as I kept my clothes close by, I would be able to go maybe even until my first stop for gas without dressing! Mrs. Robinson I was walking around to where my clothes lay when I heard my name being called. "Chris?" came the shout. "Chris Gill?" I turned. Walking up the driveway towards me was a woman. I recognised her straight away. Her name was Laura. She was one of our neighbours; and the wife of a friend of my dad's. I was busted. Ryan, Laura's husband, was one of the people who would be keeping in touch with my parents, if only through Facebook. If she told her husband she'd caught me naked outside the house, word would get back to my mom and dad, and I'd have some awkward explaining to do. I could probably come up with an excuse to them that would cover it (as it was only in the driveway), but still, I'd have preferred not to have had to discuss it with them. "Um, hi Laura," I said. My clothes were on the bottom step; I went to reach for them, then stopped. Laura was close now, lit by the outside light of the house, which was still on, its sensor triggered by her presence. Laura was younger than her husband by quite a few years; she was only in her late thirties, or at most forty. She was dressed, as she often was this time of night, in running gear; yoga pants and sneakers, a loose muscle vest with a sports bra top underneath it. The tight clothes hugged her athletic curves. Laura was always working out, running or exercising, and it paid off. She was flat stomached, with a rounded swing to her hips and small, but not over-small, breasts. Her face was tanned and youthful, only a few lines in the corner of her eyes. She took care of herself and never left the house without looking her best, and in my teens I had harboured more than a small crush on her. And she was currently smiling happily at me. "Chris Gill, you're naked," she exclaimed. "What are you doing out here naked?" "Uh, yeah," I said, standing up. "I was just;  uh; " "I saw you earlier," she went on. "You went out, down the street, no clothes on you at all, just like now. Have you been naked this whole time?" I decided, once again, that honesty was the best policy. It's hard to lie when you've got no clothes on! "Yeah," I said, trying to appear casual about it. "What?" she said. "You've been running round the neighbourhood naked?" "Yeah," I said. "Actually I went into town." Her eyes widened. "Like that?" She looked me up and down. I became very aware of my gaze, and my cock, which had been flaccid, began to stir. I nodded. "And you didn't get arrested?" "Nah. A cop saw me. He was cool though." She shook her head. "I can't believe it," she said. "Why on earth would you do that?" "Well," I shrugged. "It was my last night here. I wanted to make it memorable. And besides," my cock was slowly rising now, "I just really like being naked in front of people." She laughed warmly. "Why am I just learning this now?" she asked in mock exasperation. "Why when this is your last night here? I'd have had you mowing our lawn naked every time Ryan was out of town!" A dozen frustrated teenage Milf fantasies fizzed in my mind. From her tone and body language I could tell that, far from being shocked or embarrassed by my naked body, Laura was enjoying the experience of seeing me exposed. My cock sprang to full attention as we talked. "Front lawn?" I joked. Laura laughed again. "It would give the neighbours something to talk about," she said. "And something tells me you'd have been quite happy to do it." She was doing the worst job of pretending she hadn't noticed my erection; something which only served to increase my arousal as I noticed every downward glance she was making. I confirmed to her that, yes, I'd have been more than happy to go naked in public at her direction, and I began to describe some of my prior experiences with exhibitionism, which she reacted to with humour and enthusiasm. I was rock hard now. Almost without realising it, as we talked I reached down and took my cock in my hand. I gave myself a few lazy, slow strokes, a tingle of pleasure running through me. Laura looked down again, making no attempt to hide it this time. "Naughty boy," she said with a smile. I made no reply, instead I slowly stroked my cock again. Laura pulled off her muscle vest, exposing her tanned, flat stomach. "Is that what you want to do?" she asked. I nodded. Laura hiked herself up, sitting on the hood of my car. She parted her legs, and I stepped into that V of space between them, under the spotlight of the security lamp, ready to perform. I stroked myself, long movements up and down my shaft. I stood legs apart, crotch thrust forward, stomach muscles tight. I took my time; I had come once already, not an hour before, so I knew I would last a lot longer this time. Laura would appreciate a decent show, I thought. She watched in silence, eyes wide. She was leaning back on the front hood of my car, biting her lip, a smile teasing on her face. I stroked myself for a few minutes, finding a rhythm. I made sure she could see everything. After a while, Laura shifted. As I watched and pleasured myself, she pushed her elasticated sports bra upwards, freeing her breasts beneath, exposing them. Her skin was the same tanned shade; clearly she didn't wear a bikini to sunbathe; her small brown nipples puckered and hard. She rolled one between thumb and forefinger, letting out a little moan of pleasure. Her other hand slid into the waistband of her yoga pants and she began to touch herself. That was it for me, and I could hold back no longer. I crested the wave of my orgasm, my shaft pulsing. Cum squirted from the end; not the geyser I had shot forth earlier but still clearly visible in the light, dripping from my cock to spot on the asphalt between myself and the car on which Laura sat. I grunted and moaned as I came, as if to force every drop of cum from my balls, and Laura laughed delightedly. My orgasm finished, I slowed then ended my stroke. I stood for a moment, still hard, a bead of cum formed on my cock head. Laura withdrew her hand from her waistband almost embarrassedly. I bent to retrieve my boxers, making as if to wipe myself with them, but Laura stopped me. Leaning forward, she slipped the head of my cock into her warm, wet mouth, licking me clean. My cock was still sensitive from my orgasm, and I gasped and shivered. Laura made an appreciative noise as she let my cock plop loose from her mouth. "I wanted to blow you," she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "But you're such a kinky guy, I knew you'd be happier giving me a show." "You didn't like the show?" I asked. "Oh, I loved it," she smiled. "But it means I'll never get a chance to show you what I can do, too. Now now you're going away." "Well," I said, "I can always come and visit; the next time Ryan's out of town?" She laughed. "I just might take you up on that." We said our goodbyes then. She grabbed me in a bare-chested hug before pulling her top down, pressing her bare breasts to my naked torso. She reached behind me and grabbed my ass with both hands, squeezing, and squealing delightedly. "Seriously, call me," she said, replacing her clothing, and she headed quickly back down the driveway and away, presumably before her husband wondered where she had gone to. After that, there was little left for me to do. I gathered up my discarded clothes, tossed them into the passenger seat, and then hopped into my car and drove away from the house. On The Road To Campus I spent most of the overnight drive back to college nude, donning my t-shirt and jeans only to get gas or visit rest stops. I was nude again as I arrived on campus; it was early morning by then, and not a soul was around when I parked up by the dorm. Cautiously I opened the car door and stepped out. It wasn't my first time being nude on campus at this sort of hour, and I knew the low light and early morning mist meant I was pretty safe to do so. But I was so tired I had no energy for fun, and picking up my loose clothes and one of my bags from the car I headed straight into the dorm. My roommate didn't stir as I went into our room; fortunate, as I would have had to explain to him why I had walked in completely naked; and I quickly kicked off my shoes and crawled into bed. I lay back, and as sleep came quickly to me I smiled. I would miss my old home town a great deal, and I had so many fond memories of growing up there. But, I told myself, none would be quite as memorable as my last evening there. By Requiax, for Literotica

 Getting Policed & Propositioned. A 2-part story By Requiax. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. So I was feeling euphoric as I continued on my way back to my family's vacated house. This whole experience had been a fantasy of mine for a long time; that it was going so well in reality was giving me even more confidence. Car 9 So, I didn't hear the car pull in behind me. Not until the flash of blue lights and the peal of the siren, anyway! I jumped, and turned. I was on a quiet road, no other people or traffic; but a police cruiser had just pulled up to the curb right where I was walking!Had someone who had seen me walking around naked called the police? That was my first thought. It was, after all, something I had expected. My only plan for dealing with such as that had been to keep moving, and hope that by the time the cops were called and (if they decided to) responded, I would be somewhere else. But was that enough, or had my own hubris gotten the better of me and I'd underestimated the police ability to locate one naked dude somewhere in town? Or was this just a random patrol who had seen me out walking and done what any cop would do and investigate. I froze in panic, all my excitement undone in an instant. I knew I was breaking the law. Public nudity is illegal in my state. Yet here I was, stark naked on a public street, with no clothes nearby. I was potentially in real trouble. In a flash I considered my options. I'm a fit guy, and I briefly wondered about running. I wasn't a million miles from the house now. But it wasn't like I had access to the house any more, the keys were with the realtor. The only reason I was going back to the house was for me to put my clothes back on, get in my car and go. And could I really outrun a police cruiser? Or was it more likely that I'd just make more trouble for myself (or even; worst case scenario; end up in a car chase if the police assumed I was intoxicated and then saw me get behind the wheel)? I could pretend I was drunk, or high; or even that I was freaking out. But those weren't sensible suggestions. Being drunk or high and naked in public would probably go down worse than being straight sober and nude; and if they thought I was crazy I might find myself getting a tazer to the balls; or even a gun pointed in my face. Even at best I'd probably end up in a hospital getting checked out when I needed to be on my way back to college. I decided that really, the only option I had was to co-operate with the cops and tell them the truth (well, a version of the truth; if at all possible I intended to leave out the part where I had masturbated publicly in front of people!). I turned and faced the cruiser. I had my hands by my sides, palms out; I didn't want the cops to think I meant trouble. It was a lone officer driving, and he got out of the car. He was an older cop, about my dad's age. I recognised him; I didn't know his name but when you've been a teenager in a small town you get to know all the local cops, and they get to know you. "Are you alright there, son?" he asked me. I nodded. "Uh-huh, I'm fine officer." He took a long look at me. "Where are your clothes, son?" "Um, I don't have them with me." "I can see that. Where are they?" I paused. "Back at my house." "You been drinking?" He asked. "Smoked anything? Taken anything?" I shook my head. "No sir." He looked sceptical, but appeared to take me at my word. "Then, son, do you mind telling me what you're doing out here at this time of day in a public place without a stitch of clothing on you?" I chose my words carefully. "Well, officer," I began, "it's my last day in town. I'm moving away and I'm leaving tonight. And, well, I just got this idea in me that before I went I would do a little streak, just my way of seeing the town off. It seems real dumb now to say it to you but it just made me laugh at the time to think it, so I sorta dared myself to take my clothes off and run about a bit. You know, the way sometimes people do at football games and the like?" Well, it wasn't a lie. I wasn't sure if the sort of prolonged public nudity I had engaged in counted as 'streaking' exactly; but it came I think from the same motivation; that compulsion to exhibit oneself, to show my naked body to the world. The cop said nothing for a minute. I could tell he was turning my explanation over in his mind, looking to see if it held up. I had no idea if he was responding to a complaint; if he was, my story might unravel, especially if it showed I had been naked for about 90 minutes now and travelled quite far. "You know, son, that running around in public view in the altogether is against the law?" "I know, officer," I replied, trying to sound suitably contrite. "I'm sorry for this. I meant no harm, I was just having a little fun before I leave town. But I should have thought about it more. I guess I'm in real trouble now, huh?" The cop looked thoughtful. "Well now," he said after a while, "I wouldn't say that." He opened the door to his cruiser and made to lean inside, but stopped and turned back to me. "Cover yourself up a moment would you, son," he advised. I cupped both hands over my cock and balls. I'd been very conscious of my nakedness during this whole conversation; the presence of the cop in his starchy uniform seemed to emphasise more my own nudity and vulnerability. Fortunately, my cock had stayed flaccid; I was too nervous to get aroused. Satisfied for the moment, the cop leaned back into his cruiser and picked up his radio. "Dispatch, this is car 9," he hailed. After a moment the radio crackled back; "Dispatch. Go ahead car 9." The cop paused, then spoke clearly. "Dispatch, has anyone called in a code 3 1 4 tonight?" The woman on the other end of the radio seemed thrown by this question. "Code 3 1 4, car 9?" she repeated. "Affirmative, dispatch. Has anyone called in a code 3 1 4 tonight?" "No, car 9," the woman replied after a moment. "No call outs for code 3 1 4. Why?" "Just a conversation with a citizen, dispatch," the cop replied. "Nothing to worry about. Car 9 out." (I learned later that a 3 1 4 was the penal code for indecent exposure or public nudity, and if someone had called the cops about me, that would have been what would have gone out to the officer on call; although at the time it meant nothing to me). Cupped or Cuffed The cop turned back to me. "Well son," he said, "it seems like we've had no complaints about you. So it looks like the only law enforcement that knows you're out here with your dingus in the wind is me. "Now," he continued, "I really should write you up with a citation, at least give you a ticket and give you a ride back home. But, you seem like a good kid. I know your folks, know of them anyway, and when you say you're leaving town tonight I know that's true. I think you're a smart kid who decided to do something dumb on a goof and, well, it isn't in me to punish you for that. How old are you, son? 18, 19?" "20," I replied. He nodded. "I got a son around your age and he's a smart kid too but he says and does the dumbest stuff sometimes. Not 'run around the street in your birthday suit' dumb but still pretty dumb. I wouldn't want to see him get into trouble for that and I doubt your daddy would want the same for you. "Well," he continued, "the way I see it is, if you can tell me you're gonna turn around and head straight back home and put your goddamn pants back on, and you do just that, I'm willing to forget I ever saw you. Can you do that?" I nodded enthusiastically. "Of course officer. I was actually just heading-" He cut me off. "Just go, son. The longer you're stood there with your balls out, the more likely it is someone will call it in and then I can't ignore it." Evidently, I learned later; there are some statutes which require a community complaint, in order to be prosecuted. Just as a cop's peace cannot be disturbed, A cop's morals cannot be outraged. The community has to initiate the complaint. I thanked him and set off in a sprint for home. I kept my hands cupped over my genitals until I was out of his sight, then I just jogged briskly, my cock swinging as I moved. I felt a great sense of relief; I'd got caught by a cop, the thing I had specifically not wanted to happen to me, and yet I'd got away with it. Had it been any other day or night I had tried this, I might well have ended up in a whole load of trouble, with the law and with my parents. But because it was my final night in town, it seemed like fate had cut me some slack and given me a cop who was willing to look the other way as long as nobody had come to any harm. Sunset Driveway I was feeling excited again, thrilled once more by my own exposure. But I also felt a sense of sadness. I was almost back at the family home; I'd no intention of breaking my word to the cop and doing any further nude adventuring tonight. But once I got back to our old home, the fun would be over, and I'd be clothed again and on my way. I rounded the corner and headed along my old street. It was night now, and a lot of the houses were dark. There were a few lights on but I didn't feel like I was at risk of getting into trouble here. I was nearly home anyway, and my clothes should be where I left them, on the floor by my car. Sure enough, as I walked up my driveway I could see them; crumpled jeans, boxers and a t-shirt. It had been over 2 hours since I'd last had any clothes on, and in that time I'd been seen by who knows how many people; all of them staring at my naked body and exposed cock. I'd masturbated, and ejaculated, in front of two complete strangers, shopped in a convenience store nude, and even brushed with the law and got away with it. Whatever exhibitionism I got up to in future, it would be hard to top this. As I got to the car I decided to postpone the disappointment. As it was now dark, I could probably get away with driving in the nude. As long as I kept my clothes close by, I would be able to go maybe even until my first stop for gas without dressing! Mrs. Robinson I was walking around to where my clothes lay when I heard my name being called. "Chris?" came the shout. "Chris Gill?" I turned. Walking up the driveway towards me was a woman. I recognised her straight away. Her name was Laura. She was one of our neighbours; and the wife of a friend of my dad's. I was busted. Ryan, Laura's husband, was one of the people who would be keeping in touch with my parents, if only through Facebook. If she told her husband she'd caught me naked outside the house, word would get back to my mom and dad, and I'd have some awkward explaining to do. I could probably come up with an excuse to them that would cover it (as it was only in the driveway), but still, I'd have preferred not to have had to discuss it with them. "Um, hi Laura," I said. My clothes were on the bottom step; I went to reach for them, then stopped. Laura was close now, lit by the outside light of the house, which was still on, its sensor triggered by her presence. Laura was younger than her husband by quite a few years; she was only in her late thirties, or at most forty. She was dressed, as she often was this time of night, in running gear; yoga pants and sneakers, a loose muscle vest with a sports bra top underneath it. The tight clothes hugged her athletic curves. Laura was always working out, running or exercising, and it paid off. She was flat stomached, with a rounded swing to her hips and small, but not over-small, breasts. Her face was tanned and youthful, only a few lines in the corner of her eyes. She took care of herself and never left the house without looking her best, and in my teens I had harboured more than a small crush on her. And she was currently smiling happily at me. "Chris Gill, you're naked," she exclaimed. "What are you doing out here naked?" "Uh, yeah," I said, standing up. "I was just;  uh; " "I saw you earlier," she went on. "You went out, down the street, no clothes on you at all, just like now. Have you been naked this whole time?" I decided, once again, that honesty was the best policy. It's hard to lie when you've got no clothes on! "Yeah," I said, trying to appear casual about it. "What?" she said. "You've been running round the neighbourhood naked?" "Yeah," I said. "Actually I went into town." Her eyes widened. "Like that?" She looked me up and down. I became very aware of my gaze, and my cock, which had been flaccid, began to stir. I nodded. "And you didn't get arrested?" "Nah. A cop saw me. He was cool though." She shook her head. "I can't believe it," she said. "Why on earth would you do that?" "Well," I shrugged. "It was my last night here. I wanted to make it memorable. And besides," my cock was slowly rising now, "I just really like being naked in front of people." She laughed warmly. "Why am I just learning this now?" she asked in mock exasperation. "Why when this is your last night here? I'd have had you mowing our lawn naked every time Ryan was out of town!" A dozen frustrated teenage Milf fantasies fizzed in my mind. From her tone and body language I could tell that, far from being shocked or embarrassed by my naked body, Laura was enjoying the experience of seeing me exposed. My cock sprang to full attention as we talked. "Front lawn?" I joked. Laura laughed again. "It would give the neighbours something to talk about," she said. "And something tells me you'd have been quite happy to do it." She was doing the worst job of pretending she hadn't noticed my erection; something which only served to increase my arousal as I noticed every downward glance she was making. I confirmed to her that, yes, I'd have been more than happy to go naked in public at her direction, and I began to describe some of my prior experiences with exhibitionism, which she reacted to with humour and enthusiasm. I was rock hard now. Almost without realising it, as we talked I reached down and took my cock in my hand. I gave myself a few lazy, slow strokes, a tingle of pleasure running through me. Laura looked down again, making no attempt to hide it this time. "Naughty boy," she said with a smile. I made no reply, instead I slowly stroked my cock again. Laura pulled off her muscle vest, exposing her tanned, flat stomach. "Is that what you want to do?" she asked. I nodded. Laura hiked herself up, sitting on the hood of my car. She parted her legs, and I stepped into that V of space between them, under the spotlight of the security lamp, ready to perform. I stroked myself, long movements up and down my shaft. I stood legs apart, crotch thrust forward, stomach muscles tight. I took my time; I had come once already, not an hour before, so I knew I would last a lot longer this time. Laura would appreciate a decent show, I thought. She watched in silence, eyes wide. She was leaning back on the front hood of my car, biting her lip, a smile teasing on her face. I stroked myself for a few minutes, finding a rhythm. I made sure she could see everything. After a while, Laura shifted. As I watched and pleasured myself, she pushed her elasticated sports bra upwards, freeing her breasts beneath, exposing them. Her skin was the same tanned shade; clearly she didn't wear a bikini to sunbathe; her small brown nipples puckered and hard. She rolled one between thumb and forefinger, letting out a little moan of pleasure. Her other hand slid into the waistband of her yoga pants and she began to touch herself. That was it for me, and I could hold back no longer. I crested the wave of my orgasm, my shaft pulsing. Cum squirted from the end; not the geyser I had shot forth earlier but still clearly visible in the light, dripping from my cock to spot on the asphalt between myself and the car on which Laura sat. I grunted and moaned as I came, as if to force every drop of cum from my balls, and Laura laughed delightedly. My orgasm finished, I slowed then ended my stroke. I stood for a moment, still hard, a bead of cum formed on my cock head. Laura withdrew her hand from her waistband almost embarrassedly. I bent to retrieve my boxers, making as if to wipe myself with them, but Laura stopped me. Leaning forward, she slipped the head of my cock into her warm, wet mouth, licking me clean. My cock was still sensitive from my orgasm, and I gasped and shivered. Laura made an appreciative noise as she let my cock plop loose from her mouth. "I wanted to blow you," she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "But you're such a kinky guy, I knew you'd be happier giving me a show." "You didn't like the show?" I asked. "Oh, I loved it," she smiled. "But it means I'll never get a chance to show you what I can do, too. Now now you're going away." "Well," I said, "I can always come and visit; the next time Ryan's out of town?" She laughed. "I just might take you up on that." We said our goodbyes then. She grabbed me in a bare-chested hug before pulling her top down, pressing her bare breasts to my naked torso. She reached behind me and grabbed my ass with both hands, squeezing, and squealing delightedly. "Seriously, call me," she said, replacing her clothing, and she headed quickly back down the driveway and away, presumably before her husband wondered where she had gone to. After that, there was little left for me to do. I gathered up my discarded clothes, tossed them into the passenger seat, and then hopped into my car and drove away from the house. On The Road To Campus I spent most of the overnight drive back to college nude, donning my t-shirt and jeans only to get gas or visit rest stops. I was nude again as I arrived on campus; it was early morning by then, and not a soul was around when I parked up by the dorm. Cautiously I opened the car door and stepped out. It wasn't my first time being nude on campus at this sort of hour, and I knew the low light and early morning mist meant I was pretty safe to do so. But I was so tired I had no energy for fun, and picking up my loose clothes and one of my bags from the car I headed straight into the dorm. My roommate didn't stir as I went into our room; fortunate, as I would have had to explain to him why I had walked in completely naked; and I quickly kicked off my shoes and crawled into bed. I lay back, and as sleep came quickly to me I smiled. I would miss my old home town a great deal, and I had so many fond memories of growing up there. But, I told myself, none would be quite as memorable as my last evening there. By Requiax, for Literotica

Send us a textPeaches kicks off this drop swinging at everything from the chaos in D.C. to the ridiculous idea that military academies ever needed race-based admissions. National Guard troops are back in the capital because apparently it's become Mad Max with monuments. Cyber interns get a salute for their terrifyingly cool hacking skills, a World War I badass gets long-overdue recognition, and Space Force is about to light off the Vulcan rocket like it's the Fourth of July. There's also some sharp-shooting at West Point, desert fun with the Marines, and a not-so-subtle reminder that your enemy doesn't give a damn about your DEI training—they just want you dead. Strap in.

This is the second in a 4 part series on treatment, or affirmative prayer. Affirmative prayer or treatment is a powerful spiritual practice that will deepen your relationship with a god of your understand and allow you to get what you pray for.  The steps of treatment are Recognition, Unification, Realization, Thanksgiving and Release. The first podcast in this series is called The Treatment Series, 1st Step, What Is GodYour support is very much appreciated!Support the podcastDonate via PayPalDonate via VenmoCheck out our website!Send us a textSupport the show

In today's episode, Dr. Sheila White talks with Tanesha Thompson, a creative entrepreneur and founder of the artistic organization It's L.I.T Candles by Tanesha, about how the affirmative power of self-care can help people become more empowered to achieve mindfulness and healing in their own lives.

Send us a textFIRST BLOOD SPECIAL NOTE: SEASON 15 OF THE GOOD, THE POD AND THE UGLY CELEBRATES THE USE OF THE PRACTICAL AND DIGITAL EFFECT KNOWN AS THE SQUIB. IRL GUN VIOLENCE IS INTOLERABLE AND RENOUNCED BUT... CINEMATIC VIOLENCE WILL BE CELEBRATED IN A WAY WILL DISTURB SOME LISTENERS.   FIRST BLOOD (1982), a.k.a. Rambo I! Surely the best possible pick for TGTPTU's Season 15 – Squib Season. An‘80s action flick, special forces, small town cops, a M60 machine rifle capable of firing 600 rounds a minute… Unless… Perhaps… Could it be the sequels changed the original movie, that actually the Rambo series starts not as the rah-rah patriotic killer of anonymous foreign brown peoples with knife, machine gun, and explosive-tipped arrows?  Affirmative. (Yes.) After years in development hell trying to adapt an early 70s anti-war novel about a young returning soldier-drifter (perhaps even younger than pod host Thomas and season guest Jack) with PSTD from his time as an elite killer in Vietnam, the movie First Blood went through three production companies and eighteen screenplays--including pod fav and former 4x4 season director John Frankenheimer attached at one point and Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Steve McQueen (who liked the jailbreak+motorcycle chase), Eastwood, DeNiro, Nolte, and Michael Douglas all considered for the role--as a nearly a decade passed from the actions of the undeclared war in ‘Nam contemporary with the novel and the protagonist subsequently aged up in the movie's contemporary Regan-era world. Other elements in adapting the book for the screen included giving Rambo a first name (John); omitting alternating storylines between Rambo and Sheriff Teasle; reducing the vet's body count from intentional dozens killed in the forest and back in town to one confirmed death falling from a helicopter after John Rambo throws a rock (with three additional possible from a vehicle wreck and gunshot wound), and giving Rambo a good cry at the film's end.   But while changes made, one thing unfortunate for the pod was maintained adapting the book into movie: Neither has blood squibs.   While a tree gets shot and a wall explodes in simulated gunfire, few people get plugged on screen in this action film, and those who do are sans exploded condoms of red liquid and juicy matter. Despite the franchise reputation to be parodied in pod fav Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), this initial entry in the Rambo film pentalogy is relatively bloodless. (Here might be a good place for a parenthetical on how this film was selected by bookworm Thomas who's expressed subversive reservations about the violence inherent in this season of the pod.) This ep: Jack returns to the pod, Thomas presents the book report, Ken postulates that shooting the picture during an unexpectedly cold Canadian autumn might be why the sequels take place in warmer climes, Ryan continues his disgusting habit of recommending other film podcasts, and Sidney Poitier's Ghost Dad (1990) reenters the chat.  Note: Former presidential candidate Ross Perot's involvement with Vietnam War POW/MIA in the 80s, playability reviews of the NES and arcade Rambo video games,  and episode-by-episode recaps of the 1986 Saturday morning Rambo cartoon series were all cut for brevity.  THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.Email: thegoodthepodandtheugly@gmail.comFacebook: https://m.facebook.com/TGTPTUInstagram: https://instagram.com/thegoodthepodandtheugly?igshid=um92md09kjg0Bluesky: @goodpodugly.bsky.socialYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mI2plrgJu-TB95bbJCW-gLetterboxd (follow us!):Podcast: goodpoduglyKen: Ken KoralRyan: Ryan Tobias

Physician assisted suicide and the economic impossibility of safeguardingFor best results and links to related articles and to read my other work, find this post on Substack: https://shirabatya.substack.com/p/death-affirmative-care.------------------Last Friday, the UK Parliament voted by a narrow margin to legalise physician-assisted suicide.Since then, there has been much discussion of the possibility that the House of Lords could tighten up safeguarding for this bill, which has been criticised widely for lacking sufficient safeguards for people who are mentally ill, anorexic, diabetic, or simply socially isolated and therefore easily suggestible by doctors who, according to this law, will be allowed to raise the topic of suicide with patients who have not raised the issue first themselves.In fact, Parliament explicitly rejected an amendment to prevent doctors from suggesting to patients that they may wish to end their lives, voting only to protect children from such suggestions. Similarly, although Parliament approved an amendment that prevented patients from being deemed terminal due to voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED), this does not apply to anorexics, whose refusal of food is due to a mental health condition and therefore is arguably involuntary.The erosion of safeguarding is not a matter of if, but of when. It is not a bug but a feature.A number of people who have concerns about the bill are hopeful that with the correct amendments in the House of Lords, it will be made fit for purpose and add the safeguards that are currently lacking. Although safeguards are obviously to be welcomed, I believe that such people are failing to recognise a more fundamental problem with this proposal, which comes down to economics. In the end, whatever safeguards are officially agreed, as long as this matter is framed in terms of a “right to die”, over time, practical constraints will lead to an erosion of safeguards as has occurred in places such as Australia and Canada. The erosion of safeguarding is not a matter of if, but of when. It is not a bug but a feature.For those who are in favour of physician-assisted suicide, the discussion about this legislation has been framed in terms of patient choice and the “right to die”. How dare I restrict the choice of somebody else who has freely consented to ending their life? It's their life, not mine. Their body. Their choice.For those of us who have followed the child gender transition debacle of recent years, this conversation is oddly familiar. It is no coincidence that people such as Kathleen Stock and Fred Sargeant who are critical of physician-assisted gender transition, have also been concerned about physician-assisted suicide. In gender critical circles, we know to be careful when people talk about bodily autonomy and choice; we know that the issues of safeguarding or gatekeeping or autonomy are never as simple as people might think.How will the NHS deal with this backlog of people demanding to die, particularly if the service is framed in terms of people having a right to die?Already in recent days, health secretary Wes Streeting has raised concerns about the cost of implementing physician-assisted suicide, possibly topping £15,000 per patient. A whole new service needs to be set up in the NHS to provide this procedure. Personnel need to be trained to assess requests from patients and to determine which patients should be allowed to die, and which should be told “no, not you”. This will also divert resources away from other treatments, possibly away from the important palliative care, provision of which is known already to be inadequate. Adequate palliative care is crucial if patients are to have a real choice between ending their lives and having a dignified death free of excessive pain.Whether or not the House of Lords strengthens safeguards, we know that implementing this legislation will be difficult and costly. The greater the safeguards that may be added, the greater this cost, as savings are generated only after sick people actually do die. We have already seen that practical constraints (economics) have led to changes in the safeguarding process. A shortage of available high court judges forced the bill's proponents to remove the safeguard that such a person would need to approve applications, in favour of a more practical panel without a person of such high legal qualifications.We must ask: What will happen in a few years' time, when there is a backlog of say hundreds or thousands of patients who have requested assisted suicide? What will we do when the safeguards necessary to make sure that their suicide has not occurred under duress or due to inappropriate factors such as mental illness — when these safeguards lead to unacceptable delays because systems are overwhelmed. How will the NHS deal with this backlog of people demanding to die, particularly if the service is framed in terms of people having a right to die?Imagine a few years hence, if careful safeguarding and gatekeeping is in place, if the process has not devolved into the informed consent model in which a patient's “right to die” is simply affirmed and they are pushed down the pipeline towards death. Someone will be frustrated by the delays from “excessive gatekeeping” that interferes with their “right to die” and they will sue complaining that they are being coerced into remaining alive. If strong safeguards are kept in place, this lawsuit will happen (again, not a matter of if but of when). More likely, organisations such as Humanists UK will push for a reduction in safeguards to avoid such delays.Those of us who have been following the issue of gender-affirmative care in medicine cannot help seeing the obvious parallel: the similarity to another story in which gatekeeping was eroded due to the reality of practical constraints or economics. Years ago, when Dutch doctors initially decided to begin to transition a small number of gender non-conforming children in order, theoretically, to provide them better cosmetic outcomes as fully transitioned adults, there were significant safeguards in place.Let's leave aside the question about whether, in principle, we think that one should ever block the puberty of a child and medically transform a young person to look like the opposite sex. Leave aside that question for the moment and simply consider the matter of safeguarding. Leave aside for the moment the very valid criticisms of the Dutch protocol, which I know was severely flawed research. Nonetheless they did have safeguards in place. If you have followed the New York Times podcast, The Protocol, you will recall that one had to undergo several months or years of therapy. There was screening for all sorts of mental health problems that disqualified patients from puberty blockers or medical transition.Thus the “gender-affirmative” care model began to view gatekeeping as a pejorative, something we should not do as we had a duty to affirm patients…So what happened when American and British doctors saw what was happening in Holland and decided to bring these procedures back to their own countries to replicate them so that patients in their own countries could have access to this new apparently ground-breaking treatment protocol? Quickly, in both the UK and the US is, the number of children seeking “gender-affirmative care” far exceeded what clinics they could cope with following the Dutch model, because along with the patients they expected to see (those who had been gender nonconforming from a young age, mostly boys), there came a multitude of distressed adolescents (mostly girls) with no prior history of gender dysphoria. Thousands of patients built up on waiting lists, or in the case of the United States, patients sought treatment at hospitals hundreds of miles from their homes, and so they could not reasonably be expected to show up for months and months of appointments and therapy sessions (See NYT The Protocol, episode 3).As a result, as explained in the NYT podcast, the process was changed. It was streamlined to get through the waiting lists. Months of therapy often turned into a single assessment. And thus we ended up with problems that far exceeded those from the Dutch protocol. Again, I am not saying that the Dutch protocol was itself a good process or defending that research, which is deeply flawed. But certainly, what happened in the USA and UK etc. was far, far worse. It became a free-for-all.You will change the product to fit constraints just like any vendor of any product in a market economy. Therefore, if it is impractical, expensive or onerous, safeguarding gets cast aside.Johanna Olson Kennedy explains on the Protocol (again episode 3) that she realised it actually made no sense to engage in these sorts of safeguarding / gatekeeping procedures in order to decide which patients should be getting gender-affirmative care and which should not. Gatekeeping did not work because, of course, doctors could not easily tell which patients should and should not be transitioned, and patients would simply change what they told doctors in order to get past gatekeepers, thus hiding other mental health problems. Again, this is a matter of economics, of practical constraints and incentives (people may not be honest with doctors if that does not get them what they want).Olson Kennedy therefore decided that patients who wanted to transition should be allowed to transition, should be affirmed. Thus the “gender-affirmative” care model began to view gatekeeping as a pejorative, something we should not do as we had a duty to affirm patients and believe them when they claimed a gender identity. Transition was no longer a treatment which would be provided or not based on medical judgment by a trained professional. Rather, transition became purely the exercise of what was framed as “trans rights.”You could say that this was an ideological development, but I'm going to look at this purely from an economic point of view, since I am trained as an economist. Set aside the culture wars, “woke”, queer theory, all of that. It was inevitable that this would happen. If the resources are not available to do the safeguarding that you would like to implement and you have a backlog of cases, then you will then adapt your product to fit the circumstances so that you can provide a service that satisfies your clients, patients, customers (whatever you wish to call them). You will change the product to fit constraints just like any vendor of any product in a market economy. Therefore, if it is impractical, expensive or onerous, safeguarding gets cast aside.The better safeguarding functions, the more we will hear people criticizing the gatekeeping that prevents people from dying when they want to.Of course, to avoid cognitive dissonance, you will then be attracted to an ideology that justifies your actions. Alternatively, jobs providing this care will attract ideologically compatible personnel — people whose mindset allows them to do this new job and still to sleep at night. Self-selection of compatibly minded people will inevitably lead to group think within these clinics. None of this requires any conspiracy, any neo-Marxist strategy to take over the Academy and inflict queer theory on students. This is a process driven by the economics. Ideology is a secondary result.In short, I don't think that what happened in the States was in any way surprising. It's exactly what you would expect to happen because the only practical alternative to getting rid of all the safeguards would have been what's happening now in so many US States and countries, which is to halt provision of this service completely. You can't transition any children at all because we can't tell which patients should or should not be transitioning as children. Because the reality is that, at any reasonable cost, within realistic practical constraints, it is just not possible to put in place safeguarding or appropriate gatekeeping so that only the correct patients get the treatment. You either have a free for all or you stop doing it completely.This brings us back to physician-assisted suicide in the UK. I predict that if this law gains royal assent, even if the House of Lords agrees extra safeguards, it will not actually make that much difference. Yes of course, it will help if safeguards are put in place. Some vulnerable patients can of course be protected from killing themselves and it is better if the law closes the anorexia loophole, the diabetes loophole, the doctor-suggestion loophole, etc. However, when it comes down to it, whatever safeguarding we do will be constrained not by what the law says those safeguards should be, but by the economics.Safeguarding / gatekeeping will be constrained by the funds available to pay personnel on review panels, meaning quicker decisions by less qualified people. It will be constrained by the ability to train health workers for jobs implementing the service, and these new jobs in death-affirmative care will self-select for those who are ideologically committed to the right to die, just as clinicians in “gender-affirmative youth medicine” self-selected for those who believed in queer theory or had themselves transitioned or had supported the transition of a partner or child. We must expect that gatekeeping will not protect vulnerable patients. When this failure occurs, it will not be a surprise, but an economic inevitability of enshrining a “right to die” and to have this death provided by the NHS.Initially, we may have a good service with careful decisions. Morally problematic, but perhaps analogous to the Dutch protocol. However, over the course of time, as the number of people seeking assistance for suicide increases, as the caseload and the backlog of cases builds up, as the systems in place to provide careful safeguarding become overwhelmed and more ideologues are attracted to the death-affirmative care profession, the death-provision procedure will be streamlined, and safeguarding will be reduced. The better safeguarding functions, the more we will hear people criticizing the gatekeeping that prevents people from dying when they want to: for example, discrimination against the disabled or the mentally ill who all have an equal right to die.Doctors are paternalistic. They offer us treatments that evidence shows to be beneficial, not treatments we demand as our “right”. We are patients, not customers.No matter what safeguards are put in place, the reality will be that these safeguards will not be adequate because they cannot be adequate because to put adequate safeguards in place will simply cost too much and place too many obstacles in front of those who see this as a right. Thus, people will find a way of rationalising why a more streamlined approach is consistent with the intention of parliament, or the law will be amended to solve practical difficulties — meaning to remove safeguards that are practically impossible to implement.There will be lawsuits by patients affected by the delays that will force pragmatism by the NHS. And in the end, we will institute an easy pipeline towards death in the same way that there was, until recently, an easy pipeline in the United States towards gender transition of children. And as we found in the United States to do with child gender transition, the only way to actually stop the abuses of the system will be to abolish the service completely. Except in this case, it is unlikely that a reversal will occur. We will have become efficient at killing off those who are an economic or medical drain on society. The economic cost of reversing this progress will be far too high.There is a deeper lesson here. The fact is that there are some kinds of choices, medical decisions, medical procedures, where theoretically we might say that some people should get them, but where we can't allow this to become normative medicine paid for by the state or by insurance, because we know that the reality is that the safeguards that one would need to put in place are actually impossible. There is no way to make the care widely available to your target group without catching all sorts of other people who may be harmed if this becomes normalised and paid for by institutions, particularly if this care is framed as a human right.This is why it is fundamentally wrong to have physician-assisted suicide in the UK, provided by the NHS, framed in terms of a “right to die”. It cannot be done, and the reason is not because I don't think that it is morally justified for people to be able to end their lives if they so choose. This is not because I feel that I have a moral right to tell other people whether they ought to live or die. Rather, the reality is that if you try to put in place physician-assisted suicide based on a right to die, you will end up with exactly the same problem happening that happened with child gender transition. Because even if you believe that some children should be transitioned, (which I don't), there is no way to offer such a service without being swamped by patients who definitely should not be receiving it.If a service is demand-led, you end up finding it impossible to safeguard patients and to distinguish between those who should be treated, and those who should not. You end up with an assembly line and a free-for-all and a lack of gatekeeping. It is a process driven by the economics, once it receives an initial ideological green light to begin.Does this mean that it is impossible for there ever to be physician-assisted suicide provided to any patient with any health condition? What about people with terminal cancer, suffering intolerable pain in their final days or hours of life? Do we leave them to suffer in agony? I actually believe there may be a way to help such patients. The key is that any such assisted death must not be framed in the terms of the right to die, in the same way that medical alteration of sex development cannot be framed in terms of a “right to transition” — paid for by the NHS or insurance as the case may be.This is because there is no “right” to have any particular kind of healthcare. We do not waltz into a doctors office and demand antibiotics because we feel we have an infection. We require a diagnosis, and if the treatment is appropriate, we get the penicillin. Otherwise, the doctor says no. Doctors are paternalistic. They offer us treatments that evidence shows to be beneficial, not treatments we demand as our “right”. We are patients, not customers. The failure to understand this basic fact lies at the root of the scandal that is gender-affirmative care.Can doctors ever offer death as an option to patients? Possibly yes, but this would have to be offered like any other medical treatment. If there are particular medical circumstances (such as end stage cancer), where evidence shows that even with the best palliative care, a patient cannot control excruciating pain, so that the best treatment possible may be to increase morphine to deadly levels, one might be able to make a clinical argument to offer this. But this would be a very specific clinical judgment, and it is not about whether someone has the “right to die.” It is about caring for a patient who is dying, so that his or her death is less painful.I think this scenario is what comes to mind for those who make the most emotive arguments for assisted dying. In that case, what a law could do is give authority to NICE to look into the possibility of hastened death being elected by patients with that particular health condition, in order to allow their death to be less agonizing.But we cannot frame this in terms of the right to die. It's not about a patient making a choice and then demanding that the NHS provides death to order, with the patient as consumer. Rather, we're talking here about doctors engaging in what effectively is a form of health care for a patient, where medical evidence indicates they may be better served if they are allowed to die sooner, and therefore they are given this as one treatment option.Even here, the offer would be fraught with risk. This would entail legislation that would protect doctors from prosecution when they offer such help but only subject to enormous safeguards, similar to those proposed for the assisted suicide bill, but not framed in terms of a “right to die.” Moreover, if we are talking about just a small number of conditions for which there is solid medical evidence that palliative care alone cannot prevent an agonising death, we may find that the economics does not necessarily lead to an erosion of safeguarding. Even here, we would need to compare a hastened death to the best possible palliative care, so that patients are not effectively forced to choose death because they are not being provided for properly otherwise.The key to understanding this is to avoid a misconception about informed consent: namely the mistaken notion that it is reasonable to offer death to patients if they have capacity to consent to that death. This is not how informed consent normally works in medicine. Rather, even where informed consent applies, doctors act paternalistically. They evaluate which treatments can help a patient, and then a patient must consent to treatment and has a right to refuse treatment. But patients do not have a right to demand treatments that doctors do not deem helpful. There is a right to say no, not a right to demand yes.The problem we have with the so-called “right to die” is similar to what happened with gender-affirmative care. There, treatments were framed in terms of a right to transition as opposed to being framed in terms of evidence-based health care. And that's how we ended up in the mess we're in with a complete free-for-all with the elimination of safeguarding or gatekeeping because patients felt they had a right to the care whether or not there was any evidentiary basis for it.The key here is to realise that, when given by healthcare providers, death is no more a right of patients than any other kind of healthcare a doctor could give. Doctors do not have a duty to give any patient any medical procedure, any outcome that the patient wants. They have a duty to give healthcare which is evidenced and sensible and also cost effective. When a particular kind of treatment becomes a “right”, we throw out of the window the most important question: whether the treatment does or does not benefit patients, based on evidence. Because if it is truly a right, then it is equally a right for a patient dying in agony of cancer, and for a nineteen year-old with anorexia who has just given up on life and wants doctors to end it. This way of framing medicine is a very, very dangerous, dangerous path to take.Thanks for reading Heterodox Jewish Woman! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. https://shirabatya.substack.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shirabatya.substack.com

Jason "Mr. Integrity" and GOOFBALLERY  GOOFBALLERY: Term coined by Jason, aka Mr. Integrity, reflecting his no-nonsense, straight-talking style. Marketing Maven: Jason is known for being a standout, no B.S. marketer with a sharp instinct for authenticity. Poker Player: He dabbles in the World Poker Tour—indicating strong intuition and strategic thinking. AND LUCK! "Bullsh$t Meter" Always On: Jason quickly assesses potential clients with a high-functioning intuition radar. Want to learn more? Visit https://integritygo.com/   Mental Muscle & Intuition INTUITION as a Skill: Jason's top trait is his well-developed intuition, one of the six mental muscles Bob Proctor emphasizes. Innate Ability: Jason seems to be naturally gifted at spotting authenticity in people—especially potential clients. Why Intuition Matters in Business Jason identifies three essential reasons to develop and use intuition in business: Understand Who YOU Are Understand How You Connect with People Understand and Know Your Target Market These steps go beyond “sales is a numbers game” to create real alignment with ideal clients.   Jason's Self-Discovery Process Deep & Honest: His method is a self-discovery journey that may evoke strong emotions—even tears. Painful but Powerful: The process challenges people to confront personal truths to grow their business effectively. Selective Approach: Jason's process helps filter out those not committed to genuine business growth. Using Intuition and Jason's process of  DISCOVERY:  “HERE'S WHAT YOU DO,   Understand Who YOU are,  How You Connect with People” This is a self discovery process and it can be painful… I mentioned that I bet people cry during this process AFFIRMATIVE was his response Kundalini Yoga  We all hear about MERCURY in RETROGRADE.  Learn a yoga technique that helps you power through that time https://youtu.be/N_oYW1nfhfI?feature=shared FINE SPIRITS FOR SUMMER - SIPPING TEQUILA Typical flavors of Tequilla for food pairing: Blanco - unaged or slightly in neutral oak.  Pair with fish, cheese, light meals such as shrimp salad.  Reposado means rested - it is aged in barrels from a few months to two years.. pair with Mexican food..easy. Anejo- smokey and smooth- grilled meats on the barbeque.. portabello mushrooms, corn on the cob.. big flavors so barbeque flavors are the perfect match. https://youtube.com/shorts/aueylrQFLM0?si=3QbNZ6Md6lF7UZtO RESOURCES Jason Integrity Go Want to learn more? https://integritygo.com/ MARKETING CHECKLIST from Jason Integrity. GO TO HIS WEBSITE ABOVE https://drive.google.com/file/d/10MqZVp3R7Mxs7FWW-pUesHutM3IYszgy/view?usp=share_link RECOMMENDED by JASON: 12 Week Year https://12weekyear.com The 12 Week Year book will walk you through the proven step-by-step system for achieving more in 12 weeks than others do in 12 months CONTACT: Merci valerie@allinourminds.com www.allinourminds.com    

Josh welcomes his 1620 the Zone colleague, Matt McMaster, to the Saturday Morning Coffee Show for his I-80 Club debut! They dive into Nebraska football and the 2025 season, in particular Josh's recent HuskerMax column about reasons to doubt the Huskers can take the next step in 2025. In order, they tackle:Are we sure Dylan Raiola can take the next step? (10:56)How much regression should be baked into the defensive cake? (21:21)Are there difference makers on offense or defense? (33:03)Is the schedule as light as it seems on paper? (46:23)Can Nebraska finally close games out? (55:10)Plus, why 2025 needs to be a setup year to buy into Nebraska in 2026, special teams, and so much more!Want more podcasts like this? Subscribe to the I-80 Club for as low as $5 a month: patreon.com/i80club. And don't forget to subscribe to the I-80 Club YouTube channel! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before the stories, the deep dives, and the guided meditations—comes the anthem.

Hello, horror fans! To kick off summer, we're covering our first sequel: Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Crack open a cold one and join us in our living room as we discuss existential robots, mind blowing practical effects, daddy issues, and more. Is this the greatest action movie ever made? AFFIRMATIVE!Follow us on Instagram ⁠⁠@bloodfearandbeerpodcast⁠⁠If you have questions for us, movie or beer suggestions, or just want to say hello, we would love to hear from you! Email us at bloodfearandbeer@gmail.comCover art by Silvia G.Music by Jeri CrossCheers!

Our guest this time is Dr. Margaret Nichols. Dr. Nichols, Ph.D., is a psychologist, AASECT certified sex therapy supervisor, founder, and first Executive Director of the Institute for Personal Growth, a psychotherapy organization in New Jersey specializing in clinical work with the sex, relationship, and gender diverse community. She is the author of The Modern Clinician's Guide to Working with LGBTQ+ Clients: The Inclusive Psychotherapist. Dr. Nichols is an international speaker and author of many articles on LGBTQ sexuality, transgender youth, kink, and consensual nonmonogamy, as well as the co-director of Modern Sex Therapy Institutes' Transgender Mental Health certification program. Dr. Nichols has been licensed since 1981 and trained as a sex therapist since 1983. In 1983, she founded the Institute for Personal Growth, and in 1985, she helped found and served as the first Executive Director of the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, New Jersey's largest HIV social service agency. Since she sold IPG in 2018, Dr. Nichols has maintained a small private psychotherapy practice and a roster of sex therapy supervisees across the country. Resources on ways to support trans and non-binary people: Supporting transgender people in your life - Advocates for trans equality How to be an ally to trans and non-binary people - Trevor Project How to be an ally to trans and non-binary people - George Mason LGBTQ+ center  Dr. Margie Nichols' TED talk  If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half, please give us a 5-star rating and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. It really helps support our show! As always, thanks for listening!

Check the full script on YouTube ⇒ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtu.be/4_QjU0sfV-k⁠⁠⁠GENKI 2 Japanese Textbook P58, 59 (Edition 2) / P54, 55 (Edition 3) ▼Buy me a coffee and Be a sponsor of one episode ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/KANAKO-Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠▼BGM ⇒ DOVA-SYNDROME（⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dova-s.jp/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)▼Ending BGM ⇒Flower Field【FLASH☆BEAT】

In this episode of Friday Fiduciary Five, Eric Dyson presents a follow-up to the previous Friday Fiduciary Five regarding the Supreme Court's Decision on Cunningham v Cornell. Eric talks about the concept of affirmative defense. He explains that affirmative defense allows for exceptions to prohibited transactions if certain conditions are met, particularly the proper disclosure of fees through 408(B)2. Eric suggests that advisors and committee members ensure they have these disclosures and understand them, as they are not typically issued annually. He also suggests that plan sponsors request these disclosures annually from all service providers. Use the keyword “90north”: https://www.fiduciaryinabox.com/ Connect with Eric Dyson: Website: https://90northllc.com/Phone: 940-248-4800Email: contact@90northllc.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/401kguy/ The information contained herein is general in nature and is provided solely for educational and informational purposes.It is not intended to provide a specific recommendation of any type of product or service discussed in this presentation or to provide any warranties, financial advice or legal advice.The specific facts and circumstance of all qualified plans can vary and the information contained in this podcast may or may not apply to your individual circumstances or to your plan or client plan specific circumstances.

Our guests today signed onto a statement by a group of 18 law professors who opposed the Trump administration's funding threats at Columbia on free speech and academic freedom grounds.  Since then, Northwestern, Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, and nearly 60 other colleges and universities are under investigation with their funding hanging in the balance, allegedly for violations of civil rights law.  To help us understand the funding threats, Harvard's recent lawsuit against the federal government, and where universities go from here are: - David Rabban — distinguished teaching professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law - Erwin Chemerinsky — distinguished professor of law and dean at UC Berkeley Law Timestamps:  00:00 Intro 02:50 Govt's approach with Harvard and Columbia 05:39 Title VI violations 11:30 Anti-Semitism on campuses 23:02 Viewpoint diversity in higher education 27:12 Affirmative action and the Supreme Court 35:52 Title IX under the Obama and Biden administrations 42:32 Bob Jones University and tax-exempt status 45:53 Future of federal funding in higher education 54:08 Outro Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org. Show notes: Academic freedom: from professional norm to first amendment right David Rabban (2024) Worse than nothing: the dangerous fallacy of originalism Erwin Chemerinsky (2022) “A statement from constitutional law scholars on Columbia” The New York Review (2025) Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1967) Federal government letter to Harvard (2025) “The promise of American higher education” Alan Garber (2025) Harvard's lawsuit (complaint) (2025) “Columbia agrees to Trump's demands after federal funds are stripped” The New York Times (2025) “Sustaining Columbia's vital mission” Claire Shipman (2025) Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023) “What is Title IX? Its history & implications” FIRE (2025) Bridges v. Wixon (1945)

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Let us know what you think of this episode with a text!A discussion about some of the pitfalls of modern technology and robots.Affirmative, robots.Email: 3copstalk@gmail.comWebsite: https://www.3copstalk.comYoutube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCFWKMerhChCE6_s5yFqc4awFacebook: 3 Cops Talk | FacebookInstagram: https://instagram.com/3copstalk?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

In this episode, Cloie delves into the principles of neuro-affirmative care, explaining its significance and offering insights into fostering a supportive and inclusive environment.guest: Dr. Cloie Parfitt, neurodiversity-affirming psychotherapist and researcherVisit the Website To Learn More: Diverse Minds Therapy - HOMEConnect on Instagram: Dr Cloie Parfitt | Diverse Minds Therapy (@the_neurodivergent_therapist) • Instagram photos and videos

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/26/trump-gaza-ai-video-israel-hamas-war https://www.reuters.com/legal/straight-womans-reverse-discrimination-case-goes-us-supreme-court-2025-02-26/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/25/ohio-discrimination-marlean-ames-supreme-court/ https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scotus-hear-straight-womans-discrimination-case-could-reshape-employment-law https://www.thefp.com/p/christopher-caldwell-dei-trump-executive-order Christopher Caldwell writes: Now Trump has done what Reagan would not. His repeal came via three executive orders, two issued on Inauguration Day. The first overturned dozens of Biden decrees, including the “Advancing Racial Equity” executive order signed in the first hours of his presidency in 2021. The second ended all initiatives, offices, contracts, and employees connected to DEI, which Trump referred to as “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.” The decisive blow came the following day. In an order called “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” Trump repealed a variety of executive orders, including 11246, and explicitly barred the OFCCP from enforcing affirmative action. And his Office of Personnel Management followed through on the previous day's business, ordering that all DEI federal employees be sent home, all DEI federal contracts be terminated, and all efforts to pursue federal DEI programs under another name be rooted out. RIP affirmative action. But that is only part of the story. A curious element of Trump's third executive order is its invocation of the president's “solemn duty” to enforce “longstanding Federal civil-rights laws,” mentioning the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is not a concession. It's a threat. While the Civil Rights Act mentioned “affirmative action” it attached no specific meaning to the term, and the law was resolutely color-blind. Affirmative action programs, with their differing treatment of races, are in tension with it. DEI programs, many of which scapegoat white people, are even more so. It is Trump's assertion that DEI programs “violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws.” Trump is doing more than reforming the public sector. He is signaling to the private sector that certain kinds of programs are liable to prosecution, even asking each federal agency to name up to nine large private-sector organizations that might be engaged in discrimination. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEYmda1KQTjrhLBeWutKuGA/join https://odysee.com/@LukeFordLive, https://rumble.com/lukeford, https://dlive.tv/lukefordlivestreams Superchat: https://entropystream.live/app/lukefordlive Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/lukeford/ Soundcloud MP3s: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593 Code of Conduct: https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=125692 http://lukeford.net Email me: lukeisback@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter.com/lukeford, Best videos: https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=143746 Support the show | https://www.streamlabs.com/lukeford, https://patreon.com/lukeford, https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback Facebook: http://facebook.com/lukecford Book an online Alexander Technique lesson with Luke: https://alexander90210.com Feel free to clip my videos. It's nice when you link back to the original.

01:00 Trump's plan for Gaza 08:00 How morality is used against Israel 13:30 Under Trump we have more free speech 15:00 Affirmative action 23:00 Why Michael Kochin eschews jargon 25:00 Paying obeisance to the tiny group of people who decide what knowledge is 31:00 "It is not possible to articulate common experience in politically acceptable language." 39:00 Collegiality among professionals 45:00 Does Israel have a higher quality of life than America? 51:00 Jacob Taubes: The Man Who Made Thinking Erotic, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/17/books/review/professor-of-apocalypse-jerry-z-muller.html 53:00 Accreditation 57:00 The right-winger who wants a career in academia 58:00 Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future? by Harry Lewis, https://www.amazon.com/Excellence-Without-Soul-Harry-Lewis/dp/1586485016 1:06:00 Nathan Cofnas's critique of woke 1:08:00 Critiquing women in law enforcement, fire fighting, and the military 1:12:00 Prof. Thomas Powers' recent book on civil rights politics deemed ‘the definitive study, https://www.carthage.edu/live/news/51009-prof-thomas-powers-recent-book-on-civil-rights 1:14:00 Israel judicial reform, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Israeli_judicial_reform 1:22:00 Donald Trump is a race realist 1:23:30 Steve Sailer 1:24:34 Leo Strauss 1:30:00 Paleocons vs Straussians 1:51:00 Gadi Taub, https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/israel-update 1:52:00 Caroline Glick, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Glick 1:54:00 Meir Kahane, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_Kahane 1:50:00 United States Semiquincentennial, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Semiquincentennial 2:02:00 Historicism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicism 2:04:00 Walther Rathenau, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Rathenau 2:05:00 Exodus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exodus 2:08:00 Who wrote the Torah? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah 2:11:00 Nehemia Gordon, https://carm.org/preachers-and-teachers/nehemia-gordon/ https://x.com/mskochin https://telaviv.academia.edu/MichaelKochin https://americanmind.org/salvo/reforming-the-national-security-state/ https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-crisis-of-the-managerial-state/ An Independent Empire: Diplomacy & War in the Making of the United States, https://www.amazon.com/Independent-Empire-Diplomacy-Making-United-ebook/dp/B082T3MYJD/ Five Chapters on Rhetoric: Character, Action, Things, Nothing, and Art, https://www.amazon.com/Five-Chapters-Rhetoric-Character-Nothing-ebook/dp/B017EUAR4C/

Wellness + Wisdom | Episode 717 Wellness + Wisdom Podcast Host, Josh Trent, shares why your self-narrative and language are the ultimate mindset reset for personal growth and emotional well-being, and practical tools and exercises for self-love and manifesting your dreams. Is there a topic that you'd like us to cover in the next AMA episode? Record your message HERE.

Today, Hunter spoke with Alexandra Bailey and Cindy Nguyen to discuss Oklahoma's Failure to Protect Laws. A few years back, Alexandra joined the show to discuss theses laws, and as a reminder, these laws allow for victims of domestic violence, mostly women, to be sentenced to longer jail sentences for failing to protect their children from abuse than the men who commit the abuse. Today, Cindy and Alexandra join the show to discuss the fight to reform these laws.   Guest Alexandra Bailey, Domestic Violence Survivor and Advocate Cindy Nguyen, Policy Director, Oklahoma ACLU Resources: SB 594: https://www3.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=sb594&Session=2500   https://www.motherjones.com/criminal-justice/2022/08/failure-to-protect-domestic-abuse-child-oklahoma-women-inequality-prison/   https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/oklahoma-failure-to-protect-kerry-king-dave-rader/   Latest version of SB 594 (2/10/25) Taking out reductions for child abuse/neglect due to having to apply retroactivity for all of them Keeping reductions for FTP/enabling child abuse and neglect = 6 years Affirmative defense + retroactivity    ACLU-OK Research/Stats for FTP: 1 in 4 women convicted of failure to protect received sentences longer than the man convicted of abusing the child. 93% of those convicted under failure to protect are women. Almost half of the women convicted under failure to protect were experiencing domestic violence.   Key Stories: Tondalao Hall – 30-year sentence compared to the actual abuser receiving a 10-year suspended sentence.  Robert Braxton Jr. abused two of her children and broken multiple bones.  Released after 15 yrs, we have direct contact with her and she can help on storytelling for campaign.   Elizabeth Crafton – 20 year sentence  compared to the actual abuser receiving 11.  Chris Good beat Crafton's 1 year old while she was away at work. Crafton took her baby to the hospital but was accused of enabling child abuse.    Kerry Lalehparvaran – 30 year sentence compared to actual abuser receiving 18.  Boyfriend beat daughter and Kerry put herself in between the spankings.  ACLU of Oklahoma https://www.acluok.org/en       Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home  

In honor of African American History Kelsunn Communications is excited to present this re-play of this exclusive interview. Our founder, Silas, “Your E-Journalism Social Work Advocate” conducted this with The late Dr. Fletcher, "Father of Affirmative Action" who was, interestingly enough in town to do a Lecture at Stony Brook University. Silas conducted this interview in 1993 while studying broadcasting at Suffolk County Community College in Selden, NY. In case you didn't know, the "Father of Affirmative Action" was “An African-American, Republican. His name was, the late Dr. Arthur Fletcher. Listen to the interview to learn what he had originally called Affirmative Action, which we know the Supreme Court ruled in unconstitutional in 2023. Also, In these tumultuous times with the recent EO's banning DEI in Gov't Institutions and many corporations getting in “lock-step it is important to look at the connection between the two to have a better perspective.According to the “American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity (https://bit.ly/3Ql5uVE), ”Affirmative Action and managing diversity go hand-in-hand, each reinforcing the gains of the other. Without affirmative action's commitment to hiring and promoting diverse employees, organizations would rarely have the diversity of staff to reach a stage where differences are valued and diversity is effectively managed”. World-renowned Stony Brook University, in Stony Brook, NY is referenced on the website as contributing the following, “Stony Brook University's discussion of the relationship between affirmative action and diversity addresses the results sought by both approaches:Affirmative action is numbers oriented, aimed at changing the demographics within the organization. Managing diversity is behavioral, aimed at changing the organizational culture, and developing skills and policies that get the best from everyone. Affirmative action opens doors in the organization while managing diversity opens the culture and the system. Managing diversity does not replace affirmative action; rather, it builds on the critical foundation laid by workplace equity programs.”

Why did President Barack Obama start using words like “diversity, equity, and inclusion” instead of the typical "affirmative action"? Affirmative action was created to right the historic wrongs imposed on African Americans during the Jim Crow era, which included about 10% of the U.S. population. Obama used DEI to expand the terminology to anyone who isn't white. Why? Victor Davis Hanson argues in this edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” that it was to dramatically increase the size of the historically marginalized constituency, allowing the Obama administration to implement its expansive woke agenda:  “Affirmative action was created during the civil rights era, 1964 and '65, and then, now, it has been with us almost 60 years. But remember what it was originally designed for—to address the historic racism and oppression of black Americans through slavery and Jim Crow, de facto segregation in some of the Northern states, but de jure segregation in the South. "And it said that because of that African Americans had not been given equality of opportunity. Statute never said anything about quotas or equality result ...  “When the Obama administration came in, they saw that that constituency was not big enough for the type of woke agenda that they were envisioning  "So, they recreated it. They used a word, “diversity.” And diversity then would morph in, during the Obama years, to “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” They added the “equity and inclusion” so you didn't obsess on race, which was the obsession. But they didn't want you to think about that. So then, all of a sudden, anybody was diverse on one qualification. "They were not white." For Victor's latest thoughts, go to: https://victorhanson.com/   Don't miss out on Victor's latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You'll be notified every time a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHqkXbgqrDrDVInBMSoGQgQ The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories like this one without the support of our viewers: https://secured.dailysignal.com/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why did President Barack Obama start using words like “diversity, equity, and inclusion” instead of the typical “affirmative action”? Affirmative action was created to right the historic wrongs imposed on African Americans during the Jim Crow era, which included about 10% of the U.S. population. Obama used DEI to expand the terminology to anyone who […]

This week Fran and Alvin discuss food, Pakistan, and American history.Join Our Patreon For Bonus Content! https://patreon.com/affirmativemurder?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkWE'RE GOING TO CRIME CON UK!!!! Use code AFFIRMATIVE at checkout for 10% off you pass!Our Sponsors:* Check out Diet Smoke and use my code AMP20 for a great deal: https://www.dietsmoke.com* Check out Factor: https://factormeals.com/amp50off* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code AMP for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com* Check out Magic Mind: https://www.magicmind.com/ampjan* Check out Mood and use my code AMP for a great deal: https://mood.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/affirmative-murder/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week Fran and Alvin discuss chicken and religion.Join Our Patreon For Bonus Content! https://patreon.com/affirmativemurder?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkWE'RE GOING TO CRIME CON UK!!!! Use code AFFIRMATIVE at checkout for 10% off you pass!Our Sponsors:* Check out Diet Smoke and use my code AMP20 for a great deal: https://www.dietsmoke.com* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code AMP for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com* Check out Incogni: https://incogni.com/affirmativemurder* Check out Magic Mind: https://www.magicmind.com/ampjanSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/affirmative-murder/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Everything is changing -- FAST. After five years, Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast has stopped bankrolling a group for "marginalized genders" in Magic the Gathering. Then we talk about author Ben Riggs, who is convinced the Drow are stand-ins for African Americans despite the OG TSR creators repeatedly stating they were based on evil fairies from folklore. Will Wizards drop the woke to save their own butts? Wizards of the Coast abruptly terminated funding for the VML program, which supported marginalized genders in Magic: The Gathering, despite previous commitments to diversity and inclusion. The sudden cancellation of the VML program has left marginalized players feeling betrayed and questioning the integrity of Wizards of the Coast's commitment to diversity initiatives. Affirmative action and diversity hires in the VML program led to perceived favoritism and questioning of legitimacy for players who identify as marginalized genders, even those who earned their spots through skill. The controversy has sparked debate about the impact of diversity initiatives on gaming communities, with some arguing they can lead to unfair advantages and undermining merit-based competition. Wizards of the Coast cited lack of funds as the reason for stopping VML program support, despite previously providing funding and invites to competitive events. Author Ben Riggs controversially claims that Drow in D&D are stand-ins for African Americans, contradicting original TSR creators who state they were based on evil fairies from folklore.

he Institute of Chicana and Chicano Psychology and Community is preparing to host a public, online training session next month.The session is aimed at providing participants with a foundational understanding of culturally responsive therapy from a Chicano, Chicana, and Chicanx affirmative approach.The event is designed to explore the unique intersection of culture, identity, and mental health, offering tools to better serve the diverse communities within the Chicano/a/x population.Contributor Bibi Heredia joined News 8 anchor Dakarai Turner to provide deeper insights into this important initiative.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) against JPMorgan Chase regarding the bank's alleged facilitation of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations, the USVI has filed a motion to strike several of JPMorgan's affirmative defenses. These defenses suggest that the USVI government itself was complicit in enabling Epstein's activities.JPMorgan argues that these defenses are crucial to demonstrate the extent of the USVI's involvement and alleged complicity in Epstein's crimes. The bank claims that high-ranking USVI officials, including former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, facilitated Epstein's operations by managing his local companies and spreading his influence throughout the government. The bank also alleges that Epstein's ties with local political figures allowed him to receive favorable treatment, such as tax benefits and reduced oversight, despite his known criminal background​.The USVI's motion to strike these defenses is seen by JPMorgan as an attempt to avoid exposing the government's own culpability. The USVI, on the other hand, maintains that JPMorgan's defenses are baseless and intended to deflect from the bank's failure to act on clear signs of Epstein's criminal behavior​.(commercial at 7:44)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.94.4.pdf (courtlistener.com)

The true crime podcasting community has come together for the holiday season to discuss all things true crime podcasting. Over the next two weeks, ten shows will be dropping bonus episodes sharing these conversations. In this episode, I'm joined by Alvin Williams (Affirmative Murder) and Javier Leiva (Pretend) to discuss how we started our shows, true crime as an industry, how we've grown and lessons we've learned, cases we've covered, monetizing true crime, television, the future of our shows, and more.Check out Alvin's and Javier's shows:Affirmative MurderPretendOther true crime conversations coming:• Josh (True Crime Bullsh**), The Captain (True Crime Garage), Charlie (Crimelines)• Lucy (Wine & Crime), Kristen (Murder, She Told), Charlie (Crimelines)• Amanda (Wine & Crime), Javier (Pretend), Whitney (Navigating Advocacy)• Robin (The Trail Went Cold), Melissa (Navigating Advocacy), Robert (The Broken System)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-bullsh--3588169/support.

The true crime podcasting community has come together for the holiday season to discuss all things true crime podcasting. Over the next two weeks, ten shows will be dropping bonus episodes sharing these conversations. In this episode, I'm joined by Alvin Williams (Affirmative Murder) and Josh Hallmark (True Crime Bullsh**) to discuss how we started our shows, true crime as an industry, how we've grown and lessons we've learned, cases we've covered, monetizing true crime, television, the future of our shows, and more. Check out Josh's and Alvin's shows: Affirmative Murder True Crime Bullsh** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In possibly the last episode of the calendar year, Fran and Alvin make some 2025 predictions, talk Aliens, and dive into one of the most horrid cases of police misconduct imaginable Merch Links- https://www.bonfire.com/am-snowball-stand-worker-tee/?utm_source=copy_link&utm_medium=campaign_page&utm_campaign=am-snowball-stand-worker-tee&utm_content=defaultWant more Affirmative Murder? https://www.patreon.com/affirmativemurderOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code AMP for a great deal: happymammoth.com* Check out Incogni: https://incogni.com/affirmativemurderSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/affirmative-murder/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of Hi'Vibes, we explore “Affirmative Meditation: Happiness”, uncovering the power of consciously choosing joy and aligning with the happiness already within you.As a part of ‘The $uccess Is Spiritual' Collection — The Wisdom of Universal Law Synced to 174 Hz to reduce pain, promote deep relaxation, and provide a sense of safety and comfort, supporting healing at a foundational level.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists.   Important Links: Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride Instagram Hmong Innovating Politics Instagram Hmong Innovating Politics Website   Transcript: Cheryl: Good evening, everyone. You are tuned in to APEX Express. I'm your host, Cheryl Truong and tonight is an AACRE night. What is AACRE might be asking. Comprised of 11 grassroots, social justice groups, the Asian Americans for civil rights and Equality Network– AACRE– leverages the power of its network to focus on longterm movement building and support for Asian Americans committed to the fight for social justice. Speaking of AACRE groups. APEX Express is proud to be apart of the AACRE Network.  Joining us for tonight's show from Yokuts also known as Fresno, california is my special, big hearted friend Shai Chang from Hmong Innovating Politics. Also known as HIP. Shai, do you mind introducing yourself? Who are you, who are your people, and where do you come from?  Shai Chang: Yes, thank you so much for having me on the show. My name is Shai pronouns are they and them. I'm located in Yokuts Valley, currently in Fresno, California. I'm actually working with Hmong Innovating Politics located both in Sacramento and Fresno. I'm in the Fresno. And officially, just recently in October, I got my name title changed to be the Trans and Queer Fresno Community Organizer. So I am so ecstatic to be doing the trans and queer work in the Central Valley, yeah, born and raised in Fresno, Hmong, Southeast Asian, and really, actually I was born in a house. The rest of my siblings were born in the hospital. We were actually, the reason why was because we were trying to go to the hospital and my dad was like, Oh, wait for me, wait for me, wait for me, and couldn't wait any longer. Cheryl: And then you just popped out. You couldn't wait any longer. Did your dad make it in time? Shai Chang: I think my dad made it in time, but only in time for us to come out.  Cheryl: I didn't know that about you, Shai, that you were a home birth. How many siblings do you have?  Shai Chang: I have five other siblings. We were all born one year apart. Honestly, like, growing up, I really loved the idea of, Oh, we're all born one year apart. It's so nice. My siblings were so close. And now I'm looking back, Oh my gosh, my mom. Oh  Cheryl: my gosh. are any of your siblings also trans or queer?  Shai Chang: No, um, one of them is queer, but, the rest of my family is, actually very progressive and a great ally to me. So I've been very privileged and blessed.  Cheryl: Do you think that's a common Hmong queer experience to have supportive and progressive parents?  Shai Chang: so I'm not actually out to my parents or my grandparents or my uncles or some of my aunts. I am out to my siblings and so I think it's very interesting and I'm still grappling along with that as well. I think there is internal work to be done. It's that both I think it's, this is a reality of some things. It's that outside of the community, I'm queer and trans and at home, I'm very much having to play a role. My dad is a shaman and so he does do, they do come from a lot more like traditional values and conservative values. And at the same time, they are progressive on things. I think that they understand racial issues. But not gender issues. So you can wear, for example, I would say like my aunt, she it's like progressive and the most conservative ways, so it's like. Oh yeah, I'm totally okay that you're gay, Shai, but if my kids wore earrings, that's too feminine.   Cheryl: Thanks for sharing that shy. It's sounds like you've had to navigate a lot of different spaces, also expectations.  I'm curious, what was it like growing up queer in Fresno?  Shai Chang: I think that it has really shaped me because I feel like I came into my queerness and my transness so late. I feel like I came into being who and knowing who I am or what I am so late into my life. It wasn't until I was much more exposed into the organizing work over in the Bay Area. And so obviously big props to Lavender Phoenix.  Cheryl: Love them. Shout out Lavender Phoenix.  Shai Chang: And just really seeing so many of the organizers really live and their truth and who they are. And I. And having to also trying to figure out what that means for myself as well. Also knowing that How many other like Hmong trans queer folks are also might be going through the same thing as well. And so there is a definitely a strong sense of unwelcome this or not even unwelcome this, but not the intentional welcome. Right. When we think of radical welcome. From Lavender Phoenix, there is a lack of radical welcomeness within our Hmong community, and so, especially for trans and queer folks, and it wasn't until just this year that there's a in the Hmong community, there's 18 clans, or our last names, and there's an organization over in the Midwest, over in Minnesota, Minneapolis that just then wrote a letter in Hmong talking about the recognition that, Hey we recognize that we have not been intentional in inviting like trans and queer people into our community. So like one, it was super validating and two, that's just like the bare minimum. Okay. They recognize it, but what did they do? Right. Nothing. And so, or, you know, for me I didn't really see much, but also that's so different. Like that, that lived experience over in Minnesota is so different from the lived experiences in California for our Hmong community. And yeah.  Cheryl: Yeah Shine you're bringing up so many things. You're so absolutely right. There is such a different between. Merely tolerating transness and queerness, such as you know, in the story you shared earlier but your aunt and her kid wearing earrings. And then also with the vagueness and The lack of action and accountability in the . Minneapolis letter. Versus the radical, welcoming. Of trans and queer folk, such as, is done in Lavender Phoenix, which. For folks who don't know is also an AACRE group. that organizes is around building trans and queer AAPI power in the bay area. And I also love. That you called in that, of course there are differences in the lived experiences for the Hmong community in Minneapolis. Versus California. Because I also think that that's super true to in the in lived experiences for trans and queer as in the bay, Area. You know, such as, what Lavender Phoenix does. Versus the transness and queerness that is experienced in the central valley, which is of course where a majority of Hmong Americans in California live. Which is also actually a great segue to talk about the amazing work that HIP does and the work that you lead with QHIP, which is for listeners who don't know. Is short for Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride. Do you mind telling us what QHIP is and what led to its fruition. Shai Chang: Yes, thank you so much. Back in 2018, I actually was, that's when Hmong Innovating Politics actually branched out to Fresno. And that's when I was like, Oh, I've heard about you all, like in the organizing work over in Sacramento. I will love to get involved. And literally that weekend that they came in Mytao one of the original organizers for, to, to branch out into Fresno, she actually messaged me, it's Hey, I have this application that's due on Sunday. It's Seeding Change. Can you apply for it? I was like, Yeah, sure, of course. It's Friday. Also, how did you get my number? Ha ha ha ha ha., and so, like, it was just a great She actually got my number through, like, different connections here and there, and then that's how she got my number, and then she contacted me, and she talked Yeah, and so, that's how I got involved with HIP, was through Seeding Change. I've already been trying to organize in the Fresno community around , Hmong and trans and queer issues, and, , Leadership has always, always been a very big issue. Just finding other trans and queer leaders, and I was very lucky, it was such a very strange time that one of my were One of my friends, um, friends now, but then, uh, actually it's like this other random person came into Fresno and was like, Hey, I just got back from, Texas, and I am in Fresno. Like, I was born and raised in Fresno, I moved away, came back, and wanted to organize around trans and queer issues. I was like, no way!  So, on top of that, Mytao, later in the summer, was able to organize to get us, funding, and so we got 3, 000 just to organize for trans and queer issues, and in the next two to three months, um, we got 20 people to start showing up. We met every single week. Wow! And then on top of that, we were hanging out for another two to three hours. So I honestly, we all use obviously like our own personal funding, our own like, like vehicles, transportation, pick it up folks just so that we can meet and really being housed in like HIP's office. And. To really honor HIP, we were also trying to think of our name for our own space because I think it came from actually like being, and I, I really also want to share that like quip, the reason I'm like, why QHIP? Why QHIP? Why not join any of the, like the trans and queer spaces? Let me be very clear about why not join any of the other gay spaces in Fresno? So, and,, Fresno historically has been a very white cis space. male gay space. And so that's really also we want to highlight that. There is like also trans spaces that just came more recently as well, Trans-E-Motion. But before that , we were actually then like, okay, let's go and be a part of these organizing spaces as like our little group, right? And we show up to these spaces and they're asking, what's your name? , who are you all? What's your name? Are you gay little Asian boys?  And so I share the stories. As to, like, how much it speaks volume to the microaggressions, the internal racism that exists, and as well as how much, like, work is done. Like, why we need this space so much, right? When we show up to these spaces, we are not feeling that sense of belonging, that radical welcoming. And so, Yeah, we just started organizing from there and then obviously we were being housed and so HIP was like, okay So do you want to spin off and do your own organizations? Who are you and What's your five year plan and the whole time we're like “What?!” I've never thought about a five year plan, you know, and got, yeah, that's her name. And also Katie Moua, who's working with us as our , program director, you know. And so, we finally actually just this year became a program under HIP. So originally we were like a support group. We were just holding space and we just hit our five year last year and after seeing so much transition and leadership,, we just know that for, sustainability is that we need to make sure that we're holding it somewhere and so HIP was able to hold that program space for us. And so that's just where and where we're at right now.  Cheryl: Thank you so much for sharing the origin storyof QHIP. It's really inspiring to meto hear how organizations come to be? And. All of the community effort and community members that came together, recognizing a need and supported each other through it all. It really shows the power of mutual care and collective organizing. We're going to take a quick music break, but there'll be more on the incredible organizing workbeing done by QHIP for trans and queer Hmong folk in the central valley when we return. Up next. We'll be listening to “GRLGNG” by Rocky Rivera. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.  Here's “GRLGNG” by Rocky Rivera.  And we're back. You're listening to apex express on 94.1 KPFA and 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley and also streaming online at kpfa.org. That last track was “GRLGNG” by Rocky Rivera. We're here with Shai chang lead organizer of Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride (QHIP). A program by Hmong Innovating Politics, also known as hip. So far Shai has shared some powerful, personal stories about growing up queer and trans in a more conservative central valley.  And how essential programs like QHIP are for helping trans and queer Hmong Americans. I thrive in such places which are often hard to find. We've learned about how QHIP. Came to be and how it was created by and for the community through effort and also through. I would say great courage. So Shai. Can you tell us a little bit more about the programming that QHIP does? Shai Chang: Thank you so much for asking. A lot of the work that we do is rooted in healing justice. when we first came together, we just knew that. There's so much trauma that we had. Um, so I, I say this because one, we were like, okay, like, should we open it up to, like, other Asian Pacific Islanders? Should we do like a Southeast Asian, queer, trans work? And then, I was like, let's look at the space we're in currently. Who is in here with us? Like, how can we say that we're a lot of the time, it's, I think it's frustrating that it's always like, API, API, right? And there's no other Pacific Islanders in this space. Um, so it's like to say that Hmong people are here and it's okay for us to focus on Hmong communities. On top of that, we have so much particular trauma that if we then invite other folks into the space and they have their own intersectional trauma, how can we also hold space for them when we're also then trying to figure out our own, like. issues. And so, uh, not realizing that these were like rooted in healing justice. We just knew that we just needed space for ourselves and to heal and, and heal in different ways. And so in one of those ways, like, how can we heal and also have fun? And one of the organizers around that has been One of the events we did was Sports Day. Um, I was like, okay, how does Sports Day relate to healing, you know? And it's like, of course it does, right? We know that many times, like, trans and queer folks are not allowed to have fun in sports, are not allowed to be queer enough, like, they're too queer, um, that they're not allowed to be Performing to mask, to fan, and like in queer, like in sports. And so, we know and we recognize that it's so important for us to actually be able to live in these spaces as well. For us to reclaim these opportunities for ourselves. And so, um, It has shown up in many different ways. And so every single, almost every year we, we do something like that together. And so, uh, we did one in Sacramento and they're all like, this is where the BIPOC people have been at. Uh, because there is like a queer and like sports, like, uh, outing that is over there, but it's always like predominantly white, and so when all of the people of color started showing up, I'm like, oh! Uh, and so it's so funny. It's so funny. Like, that we get to actually practice community, care, and love, and intentionality, and really finding space of joy for one another, especially If you want to like play volleyball, hit the ball back into a twerk, you know, like we've seen our Southeast Asian Filipinos, like Cheryl: I love that image of just like this pack of like Hmong queer and trans folk just like rolling up, you know, I just love that image so, so much. And I love that point too. Like what does sports have to do with queer being queer and trans? And it has so much. It starts in those like little things, those little sports outings, being able to hit a volleyball and go into a twerk. That's healing justice. Wow. That is so incredible. You mentioned that when QHIP first started, it was around 20 people. What would you say like the age demographic is? of the people in QHIP.  Shai Chang: So when we first started, no one was over 30.  We had folks from high school, and we had folks, um, in like, uh, like over 18, um, and, uh, no one was over 30. Yeah, so we had a very young group and we can just see how like hip has also adapted into that as well It's not like we have always been really young organizers and so When you were talking about the budding and the seedings like that's what we do We train and we right now we are wanting to bring up and train other trans and queer leaders that really also want to be a part of the space too because One, like, to be very honest and transparent, if I'm gone, Quint is gone. That's what I mean by the sustainability of leadership. Like, I'm the one who's holding this work right now. And because we have just recently expanded over to Sacramento to have Christine also hold that space, like, oh my god, Once I'm gone, it's gone, right? And so  so we actually Went um, we had a booth at the Hmong New Year's. It was a queer and trans booth It's super queer super trans and we were anticipating lots of pushback And so folks we actually just asked like our friends who I mean like I already didn't have like queer friends already And so we asked our friends to just come and be in the booth with us, come organize with us, and then words kind of spread out around that, like, oh, there's this thing, they're doing this thing, and so folks came and volunteered. And I need to share this story because, like, we were all anticipating people to come to our booth and push back. Um, we've, there's like Christian monk folks there have come and done push back in the past, but there has never been like a trans and queer booth. Like a Hmong trans queer booth and so folks, we have like a photo booth in the back and the way that you can take brief pictures is that you just signed the board that I support Hmong LBTQ and really there was so much overwhelming love and support for us that many of the times like our own like folks, our own trans and queer folks, they had to take a pause and like, yeah, Actually, I need to take a break, right? I think this overwhelming sense of love and care from community and so this is where it grew and this is where and how we grew and also knowing at the same time that like there's so much multiple layers in this conversation, I'm sorry. Um, so it's like One, there is so many overwhelming support, yes, and that's how many people came and started to know about us and started organizing along with us. And the other piece and part of it too is that right now and where I'm at now is that I'm trying to organize for trans and queer spaces for Hmong folks, and I'm really trying to invite community to come and be part of us, and at the same time, not seeing folks show up. Um, and so like when we had our organizing program, our 7, 8, 9 month long organizing program, first time this year, opening it up for like, community to apply and be part of, like, 4 folks applied, and they were all allies, um, and so I, yeah, I didn't want to take that away from them as well, and so these are the people that applied, and these are the people that like, I will be working with, right? And so when we went to the Pride Parade, and other, like, trans and queer Hmong folks showed up, and they're like, Oh, is this an organizing program? And I was like, Yeah, it is! And they're like, Oh, I should've applied! And I was like, Yeah, you should've! And so, We, Christina and I, we really had to sit in with that, and it's like, why is that? Why is that, like, a really challenging place? Um, and we really lean in back into that, like, in the Hmong community, there is such a lack of welcomeness. There is such a lack of belongingness, like, many times in the Fresno, and this is just, like, trans queer people in general, in the Central Valley, is that For you to be trans and queer, it's for you to move away from home. Um, go to the Bay Area, go to L. A. And so, um, in our name, Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride, Intersectional from Kimberly Crenshaw, is really where we are highlighting that you can be queer and you can be Hmong. And Many of the times it's so hard for us to show up in like our own community because there's like so much layers of like anti blackness, like patriarchy, uh, lots of gender justice that needs to be done, transformative and healing justice that needs to be done and I appreciate Lambda Phoenix for being so bold and I'm also sitting over here. It's like how can I be bold and I think about, like, for us, like, we were already ostracized by our own community, some, many of the times, like, unwelcomed, and for us to then fight to be in our own community, it's such a big fight already, and then, like, folks would then welcome us, and then, okay, let's talk about police brutality. Right? How much of that would then also, um, be welcomed as well? And so really to be trans and queer is for us to be anti imperialist, anti capitalist, you know, anti, um, anti racism, right? And so Yeah, so like that's that's just so the realm that we're like like Hmong and trans queer folks are living in and so our next steps for our quip is for really us to build our sense of belonging. We're going to be launching our campaign Love is Love or Luya Lu um to really highlight um that that piece of belongingness within our Hmong and transqueer community that we do need to find a sense of belonging, that we don't need to be part of like our Hmong community to really find community, that we can have our own community and still be part Hmong and still be transqueer. Cheryl: I love that so much,, the I in quip intersectional is you can be queer and mom. And I think that is so brilliant. And I wonder the whole that also that piece you shared about how a lot of, you know, queer and trans, trans People of the Central Valley leave to go to larger cities, more liberal quote unquote spaces. I wonder, too, if that's part of the reason why there was low signups for your organizing program, because so much of the trans and queer among folk that are in quip are all really young and are still reliant on living in the same household as their family. Shai Chang: Yeah, thank you so much for highlighting that. Yes, that is so, so, so true. Um, I also really want to highlight that it's so hard on our femme and women folk, our transqueer femme and women folk, um, because in our experiences as a young person for them, they were the babysitters. Um, they were the caregiver and the caretaker of their family. And so many of the times it's that, you know, They could not join us in these particular spaces because they constantly had to ask for permission from their family just to be with us. Um, so, can I go? I was like, oh no, I need you to watch the house, or watch the babies, watch, watch your siblings. Um, I need you to take care of this, or X, Y, and Z, and so. It's a lot of, like, it's a lot of the patriarchy coming up in this multi layer, like, this multi layer level of oppression, multi layer level of, like, Experiences that Hmong and transqueer, , women and femme folks go through. And so really wanting to highlight that. Cheryl: So, of course, like I'm hearing the family dynamics, the patriarchy. What do you think are the other struggles that queer and trans Hmong youth currently face in Central California? Shai Chang: you know, the Central Valley is very poor., and so, lot of trans folks actually have a hard time in transition. There's only like one doctor that comes once in a long while that like really does affirmative care. And so we're trying to grow our affirmative care resource and our doctors list. And so now I think we've probably grown I think maybe like two or three in the Citra Valley. And I mean Central Valley from like Stockton to like Bakersfield, like there is no, like, it's hard to find affirmative care. And many of the times folks are, if they're wanting like gender affirming care, they have to go into the bigger cities. And so there has been in the past transportation. So obviously when we're doing like, it's, you know, Affirmative care surgery. It's a very, very big thing. And so transportation on top of like housing for rest is a very big thing as well. And so there was funding that folks have been organized to do transportation as well as housing to take care of them. What does what does aftercare look like? And so I think there's like those kind of layers like racism, Obviously, transphobia, , homophobia, and I think it just speaks to a lot, you know, about like the, there's like a lot of, and there is gender based violence in our community, quite a bit, right? When you think about patriarchy, of course, it's attached. I think in the media of the times, community needs to also see that patriarchy also impacts, patriarchy impacts all genders. Right. , it forces more, males and men to be more masculine, really pushing them away from what it means for them to actually have, like, quote unquote feelings, or being feminine, or, um, there's a lot of big drinking problem in our Hmong community as well, and so, there's lots of, like, over drinking and binge drinking, and so, yeah, there's also deeply rooted issues that are also, uh, showing up in the community as well. Cheryl: Wow, there's a lot. And it sounds like there's so much infrastructure and resources that are still, that still need to be developed. Central California is still developing their resources for trans and queer, especially trans and queer Hmong folk. My question then, Shai, because you, because I do agree, like if the moment you leave, QHIP is gone. How are you dealing? Because this is a lot of work. How do you deal with all of this responsibility? Shai Chang: I lean into hip. I have to. Um, to be very honest, I had a really hard time. I think last year, um, we had a really hard time when I was just like, I feel so alone. I went to this like conference. This was called creating change. It's their national, like LBGTQ conference and over in San Francisco and like February, July and went to that conference and then came back home. I was like the only trans, you know, I was the only person on the train back home. Right? And so it feels so isolating. It feels so alone sometimes. And I brought this up to HIP and we all just cried and we're like, This is not okay, right? And so that's when we started to see what programming for quip actually looks like and recognizing that something needs to happen. We need to build more. And so I also really want to highlight that it takes time and it takes It takes time and commitment to want to build with people. Um, and we were able to really build space for our trans and queer community here because we were so committed to wanting to build something here. Um, and so it is very alone, like, and also it's really to recognize that we are not alone. Um, I think Lambda Phoenix has done such a great job in really being able to model what that means and what that looks like. And literally asking for help. Um, it's not to say that I'm not good at delegating. It's not to say I'm not good at delegating. I'm just really bad at breaking down, like, these roles and responsibilities for me to then Invite other folks in to also to support me to help, you know, to make the movement go and grow together. And we're so used to doing this work alone. I'm so used to doing this work alone that I feel like I have to do everything together. I have to be the creative artist, the social media campaign manager. The comms manager, coalition building, I, I feel like I have to be then like the, the organizer, the program manager, the development, the HR, um, the supervisor, and, and at the same time as a, you know, not as a young person anymore, but like young enough still 29, is that I'm still also learning what organizing is and what organizing means. And so, um, it means all of us. It needs all of us. Cheryl: That's actually such an important dimension too, because as , you're all developing this in the works, you're also learning along the way. , I guess maybe to end our conversation. I want to know, because you bring up the welcomeness, the radical welcomeness you've learned from Lavender Phoenix and how Revolutionary that has been in your praxis of trans and queer organizing for Hmong folk. What does radical welcoming look like for you for quip moving forward in the next couple of years? What would you want it to look like? Shai Chang: What it will look like for quip is that Um, next year we're going to be launching a campaign and then continuing the Love is Love or Lu is Lu Ya Lu campaign and really highlighting the sense of belonging that needs to be built up in our Hmong community. Um, as much as we're fighting for trans justice, racial justice, and gender justice, and trans queer justice, and like, those are like the big words, and all of those things, and what does that mean? And it starts at the small, it starts at the small, like, if we don't even feel that sense of belonging within our own community, if we don't even feel that sense of belonging within our own selves, small like the sports day, it's not going to actually build in that piece of justice in the long term. And so it's so important that, um, we build in that radical welcomeness through all layers. And it can look very different. It doesn't have to be like, Oh, welcome. Verbatim welcome. This means that we are doing it every single time at every single point, at every single way. It looks like having dinners. Um, it looks like having fun. It looks like karaoke. It looks like listening to each other's story, passion mic, open mic nights, poetry slams, and sports days, and Really going out to vote together. It really looks and shines in all the different ways and really being in coalition with one another is how we're going to get there and build there. And so, yeah,  Cheryl: that was the perfect answer, Adrian Murray Brown writes about this all the time. Small is all. Radical welcoming in all areas of this work. I think that's just so beautiful.  We are actually going to take another music break. But learn how to plug into quips work when we get back. So don't go anywhere.  Up next is taking names by Rocky Ibarra. And we're back. You are tuned in to apex express on 94.1 KPFA and 89.3. KPMB in Berkeley and online@kpfa.work. You were just listening to you taking names by Rocky Berra. Before we close off the show shy. Do you mind letting our listeners know how they can stay in touch with Quip and learn about all of your upcoming programming? Shai Chang: Yeah, I would say follow us on our social media, Facebook and Instagram. That's a great place to begin, um, and continue to share and highlight us. , we are trying to post more. And you can follow us at qhip. ca at qhip. ca or quip. california. ca. Yeah, um, I think that's a great place to begin and then you all always can message me there. Um, yes.  Cheryl: Thank you shy. All of those links to equip socials we'll be linked in our show notes. And so before we close off for the night, do you have any last words, you'd like to share to any trans. Queer, mung folk who might be listening right now.  Shai Chang: Yes. Um, lean into your leadership. Lean into it. I know that you're so scared of, like, wanting to be in a leader because it feels like there's so much responsibility that comes with it. And know that you are not alone. In it. You are not alone in this leadership. You are never alone. There's so much people who have paved the way and so much people who are still here with us today. And so, I am here and we can learn and lean into each other and really actually create spaces of love. Like, how do we lean into love and not into our leadership? Right? And so, you don't have to feel like you are leaning into your leadership alone. But leaning into community and leaning into love. Cheryl: Thanks, everyone. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time. Cheryl Truong: Apex express is produced by Miko Lee, Paige Chung, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar. Shekar, Anuj Vaidya, Kiki Rivera, Swati Rayasam, Nate Tan, Hien Nguyen, Nikki Chan, and Cheryl Truong   Tonight's show was produced by me, cheryl. Thanks to the team at KPFA for all of their support. And thank you for listening!  The post APEX Express – October 24, 2024 – Trans & Queer Hmong Rise: Organizing in Central California appeared first on KPFA.

Don't get to the end of this year wishing you had taken action to change your business and your life.Click here to schedule a free discovery call for your business: https://geni.us/IFORABEShop-Ware gives you the tools to provide your shop with everything needed to become optimally profitable.Click here to schedule a free demo: https://info.shop-ware.com/profitabilityUtilize the fastest and easiest way to look up and order parts and tires with PartsTech absolutely free.Click here to get started: https://geni.us/PartsTechTransform your shop's marketing with the best in the automotive industry, Shop Marketing Pros! Get a free audit of your shop's current marketing by clicking here: https://geni.us/ShopMarketingPros In this episode, David and Lucas are joined by Brian Herron, CEO of Opus IVS. Brian discusses the benefits of accessibility in the repair industry, emphasizing how the Right to Repair promotes competition and ensures consumer safety. David and Brian also discuss the proactive efforts by manufacturers like Toyota, who release diagnostic tools to independent shops, contributing to better repair outcomes. Additionally, they highlight the quality and supply challenges between OE and aftermarket parts, underscoring the growing preference for OE parts due to their reliability and sometimes more competitive pricing.00:00 Years advertising and evolving car repair industry.04:54 Car deck's rise, right to repair relevance debated.08:25 Collision repairs now require OEM post-scan software.10:43 Does pushing right to repair alienate cooperatives?13:08 OE parts more competitive; aftermarket quality declining.18:17 Diagnosing post-lightning car requires advanced tools.21:54 Industry systems cause inefficiencies and creative fixes.24:17 Hourly hybrid pay prevents employee complacency.29:12 Aftermarket diagnostic tool success following Opus acquisition.30:10 Building something different in a consolidating industry.35:40 Prefer in-house repairs due to dealer delays.39:30 Issues with Nissan transmission warranties and programming.41:31 Organization connections provide solutions and support effectively.44:23 Repair friction impacts profitability in car industry.47:11 Opus helps MSOs grow through calibration support.50:28 ETI expanding to Europe; enhancing OEM relationships, access.53:13 Affirmative agreement between two individuals.

The US DOJ leveled charges at Russia Today hosts who allegedly paid top right wing influencers for content. @DigitalPundit reacts. Affirmative action impact on colleges revealed ft @RareCamellia Barron Trump arrives at NYU. Why he's a force of his own ft @PentsakDaniella  

Praying to win is playing to win. Prayer can be defined as positive mind conditioning. Praying isn't just the time we say a formal prayer. Prayer is what we are continuously saying, thinking, and feeling about ourselves, others, and our circumstances. Affirmative prayer is praying to win because we are conditioning our mind to correspond with the harmonizing Spirit of universe. Using prosperous words is the best investment you can make in your future. On this episode, Darrell and Ed highlight the power of prayer. We're not just entitled to help. We're entitled to miracles. And, during the second segment, Author Kirk Kjeldsen has cooked up something good in heaven's kitchen with today's reading, “A Miracle Makin' Recipe”. Support the show: www.Patreon.com/funniestthing

The game of football is won in the trenches. You've heard this. We have to agree. It starts and ends with the big guys up front on offense and defense.  WRU? Sure. QB factory? Affirmative. DBU? We can make a strong argument. But the trenches ... the trenches. Which brings us to defensive linemen Trajen Odom and Maxwell Roy. Two guys that get it done in their respective high school trenches. Our Bill Kurelic has rolled Crystal Balls for both to do the same for Ohio State. We get you totally up to speed on that duo and their impending commitments, offer info on David Sanders, Dorian Brew, Jordan Davison and others before a deep dive on new offensive lineman commitment Jake Cook.  Spend 5ish with us this a.m., 'Nutters! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode Summary This week on Live Like the World is Dying, Maria comes on to talk to Inmn about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the state of aid going to Gaza, and the obstacles the powers that be have erected to prevent aid from arriving. Guest Info Maria Elle is a wing nut anarchist Jewish dyke extremist whore anti-Zionist psycho who writes poetry, conspires against the Empire, and organizes for collective liberation. You can find her on IG @Lchiam.Intifada or @bay2gaza Gaza Freedom Flotilla: freedomflotilla.org International Solidarity Movement: palsolidarity.org International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network: ijan.org Host Info Inmn can be found on Instagram @shadowtail.artificery Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: Maria on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla **Inmn ** 00:15 Hello, and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host today Inmn Neruin. And today we're going to be talking about a kind of different lens of preparedness than we normally talk about...or no--well, I guess we always kind of talk about it. But we're...you know, we're not we're not going to be talking about a skill today as much as the importance for figuring out how to provide aid when the powers that be: governments and nations that we absolutely don't put our trust in but...are trapped by fail to do that or purposefully obstruct it. And today we're going to be talking about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and organizing efforts around that and trying to bring critical aid to Gaza. But before that, we are a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts and here's a jingle from another show on that network. [singing] Doo doo doo doo doo. **The Ex-Worker Podcast ** 01:24 The Border is not just a wall. It's not just a line on a map. It's a power structure. A system of control. The Border does not divide one world from another. There is only one world and the Border is tearing it apart. The Ex-Worker podcast presents No Wall They Can Build: A Guide to Borders and Migration Across North America, a serialized audio book in 11 chapters released every Wednesday. Tune in at crimethinc.com/podcast. **Inmn ** 02:04 And we're back. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. I know we had you on the Stranger's podcast recently for your poetry collection, which everyone should pause right now and go and listen to another hour long podcast episode first and then come back and listen to this...or don't. Or listen to it afterwards. Anyways, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Could you introduce yourself with your name, pronouns, and a little bit about yourself and your involvement with the Freedom Flotilla? **Maria ** 02:44 Absolutely. Yes. Hi, thanks for having me. I'm Maria. She/her pronouns. I am a Jewish, anti-Zionist, anarchist, I don't know, organizer, agitator--whatever you want to call it--from the Ohlone of xučyun (Huichin), aka Oakland, California. And I am.... I've been involved doing Palestine Solidarity work since I was a teenager. Originally, I came to awareness around what was happening in Palestine during the assault on Gaza in 2008 and got involved in the student movement and the student occupations that were happening back then. And then actually got kicked out of university as a result of that, which ended up being perfect because I got the opportunity to join the International Solidarity Movement doing work on the ground in Palestine, which is an amazing group that folks should look up. They were defunct for a little bit during COVID but have come back and are working again basically bringing comrades and activists from around the world to stand in solidarity with Palestinian resistance on the ground in Palestine. So I had that opportunity and then I came home and got involved in organizing back here and was not.... So the flotilla, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla has.... So, freedom flotillas have been sailing, trying to break the siege on Gaza since 2008. Basically, a flotilla--for those who don't know--is a group of boats. So it's a group of boats from.... Our flotillas or group of boats from all over the world. There's over 30 countries that are involved sending comrades and activists to break the siege on Gaza. And so these boats are filled--our current boat--is filled with 5000 tons of food and medical aid that we are attempting to bring directly to Gaza in defiance of Israel's illegal naval blockade. These.... Like I said, these missions have been happening since 2008, trying both to bring aid to Gaza and to bring awareness, international awareness, of Israel's blockade and kind of getting a lot of international notoriety 2010 When the Mavi Marmara, a Turkicsh ship that was part of the flotilla, was attacked. And nine people were murdered in that process. And it made headlines at the time and brought a lot of awareness to the ongoing siege on Gaza. And then since then there have been many attempts to break the siege. This year, of course, is a different context. And it's a little bit hard to know what to expect. As you know, as many of us already know, there has been a genocide happening in Palestine since 1948. But the particular intensified moment of genocide that we're in creates a different context that we don't totally know what to expect. But we are determined to sail. We are determined to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza. And especially now more than ever, while there's been a humanitarian crisis in Gaza for a very long time, and this blockade has been happening for 18 years, the famine that is now gripping Gaza is unprecedented. And we are seeing mass death, especially in the north of Gaza, and that is spreading throughout Gaza. Now with the most recent attacks on Rafah, the situation just gets more and more dire every day. One of the goals of the Freedom Flotilla is to emphasize that this is not a natural disaster. You know, there's.... A lot of the way that this gets covered in US media and global media is as if this was a humanitarian--people use the word, "humanitarian crisis," and they use the word "famine." And both of those things are true. And they're also a little bit misleading because this famine is being intentionally created by Israel as a tool of genocide. Israel controls the flow of all aid moving into Gaza and is intentionally and carefully counting how many calories it is allowing into the Gaza Strip in order to intentionally keep the population on the verge of starvation in order to cripple the resistance. This needs to be highlighted. This isn't.... It isn't like they don't know how to get the aid in. It is not logistical obstacles. They try to make it seem like this is, "Oh, how can we possibly get aid in?" Israel has closed every barrier. Like, the fact that we even need to go by sea is insane. They could open the land crossings, which would be the most effective way, but they absolutely refuse. And the United States, our so-called government that has the power to do that and has the power to force the--probably the only government in the world--with the power to force Israel to open the land crossings--is instead building this pier, spending millions of dollars of wasted money that could be being used on aid or, you know, on stopping Israel. And this long drawn out project that now isn't even functioning due to like "climate" or "weather." I can't even remember what they said. There's some kind of structural damage. I mean, they put all this money into it and like still can't deliver aid somehow. And we're supposed to believe that that's a coincidence. Meanwhile, we have a plan to,within three days, effectively deliver all of this aid to Gaza by simply having a basic little fold-out pier that we have packed on the ship that could unfold, deliver the aid, and then we can leave again. It's actually really simple. It's not complicated. None of this has to be complicated. It's being intentionally made complicated as a tool of genocide and as a tool of hiding what Israel is intentionally doing. So that's really a big part of what the Gaza Freedom Flotilla is about. I would say that it's rooted, ultimately, in the principles of DIY and direct action, which are fundamentally anarchist principles to me, and to many of us, the basic idea that no one is going to do this but us. If we want something done, we have to do it ourselves. We cannot rely on these so-called governments who, many of whom around the world claim to support Palestine and give lots of lip service to the need for aid to get in and even for Palestinian Liberation. Other governments, such as our so-called government, have done nothing but contribute to and fund and exacerbate this genocide, still give lip service to "Oh, we need to get aid into Israel," but they're not going to do anything. At best, they don't care. At worst, they actively want this to happen. We cannot wait for them. We've been trying.... Like, you know, not that.... You know, fight by every means necessary. I really do believe in a diversity of tactics. And at the same time, we need to be honest with ourselves that there is no amount of pressure that we can really put on the Biden administration that is going to change the US' has strategic Imperial interest in propping up Israel, you know? And there's no amount of electoral or domestic pressure within the existing system that we can put in that will change the fact that Israel is a beacon of US imperialism in the Middle East. It is a central part of US imperialism's operation globally. And not only our military imperialism but our economic imperialism. So as many of you may already know, and many of you may not, a big part of the impetus for this genocide has to do with global trade and global shipping. So, after the Suez Canal crisis, we saw.... It became clearer than ever to the international community, how delicate the infrastructure of global shipping is. We saw with the simple breakdown of one ship in the Suez Canal, the global economy was brought to a halt. And it is unacceptable-- [Interrupted] **Maria ** 10:18 It's so fragile. And we saw its fragility even more with COVID and with the plague. And it has become clear to the West that having such an important chokehold located in Egypt is not strategic for them. And so Israel has a plan to build what they're calling the Ben Gurion Canal, which is going to be directly north of Gaza, within missile range of of Gaza to be clear, that would be an alternative to the Suez Canal and that would allow for Israel's, and therefore the United States', control over global shipping in a way that we do not currently have. So the depth of the economic investment in committing this genocide is deeper than even natural gas off the coast of Gaza, which a lot of us have also seen headlines about. And a lot of us already know Chevron's interest and BP's interest in colonizing Gaza and eliminating Hamas in order to secure access to that natural gas, but even beyond that, in order to facilitate the construction of the Ben Gurion Canal. With that much at stake, with both fossil fuels and global shipping at stake, there's a no amount of pressure that we can put up on the Biden administration to get them to like, hear truth, you know? If we want change, we have to make it ourselves. And no one is going to do this but us. And I think that the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the amount of aid that we can actually deliver it with one flotilla is a drop in the bucket. The principle that we are trying to communicate to the world, and that we've seen in many places, is that we can't wait. We have to...we have to show up. We have to be there for our Palestinian siblings. We have to be there for our siblings around the world. And we have to do it ourselves. You know, I think we saw a similar thing with the Great March of Return, and I'm extremely inspired by the Great March of Return of Palestinians coming from Lebanon and breaking through the border there. And we, you know, continue to be inspired by Palestinian resistance globally and to work in concert with that resistance in order to do whatever we can to stop this genocide, both in the immediate sense and in the ongoing sense of Israel's colonization of Palestine from the river to the sea. **Inmn ** 10:18 It's so fragile. **Inmn ** 12:35 Golly, thank you for that very--I will call it a little bit of a rant thing. That was incredible and very informative. And now I have like 100 questions. **Inmn ** 12:47 I have 100 more things to talk about but lay it on me. **Inmn ** 12:51 Um, I think like, or.... I don't even know where to start. Actually, there's this funny place that I want to start, which I'm maybe gonna feel funny about and is maybe like.... Whatever, I don't think it's me feeling nihilistic about it as much as like confused by imaging in..... So I, as a lot of us have been seeing a lot of news graphics, infographics. And I saw this one recently that was talking about "planned distraction." And it was like this thing that was like, "Israel's really counting on Americans being distracted by Memorial Day weekend to intensify the assault on Rafah." And I was just like, I don't think Israel's thinking about what random Americans are doing. Like, as you say, I don't think there's any amount of pressure that we can put on institutions like the Biden administration to change those things. **Maria ** 14:30 Yeah, it's an interesting question. I mean, I don't know. I mean, nobody really knows. I do think that it's worth noting that the last major assaults on Rafah began during the Superbowl also. So I mean, it's...who knows, maybe they are thinking about it. And Israel is very much concerned with its public image. [half interrupts self] Well, it's complicated, right? They are very much concerned with their public image and they're also on a genocidal, psychotic rampage, which is causing all sorts of domestic tensions. And Israeli domestic politics are a whole nother can of worms. You know, there isn't one--like anywhere--there isn't one unified Israeli interest. Israel, like every other country, is a contestation of political forces with central goals but also pulling at each other and pulling itself apart. And we actually are seeing Israeli domestic-- [Interrupts self] I think it's also very worth noting that last summer before the assaults on Gaza, before the most recent assault on Gaza began, we saw the first ever domestic Israeli social movement, really since the creation of the state. There was an actual--I mean, you know, fairly tame but for Israel significant--uprising of Israelis against their government. And several months later, this genocide happens, right? And this is not a coincidence. We've seen this kind of pattern time and time again, where a state in order to secure domestic unity will declare war or genocide on a foreign enemy. I think it's also worth noting that the plans for this--while October 7th may have been the the spark--the plans for this were very much already in place. And it is very clear from how quickly and strategically and efficiently they have acted that they have just been waiting for this opportunity. So I think that's worth emphasizing. I think, and then I just also want to clarify, as far as like "no amount of domestic pressure," I think that there's...I want to be clear that, like I said, I believe deeply in a diversity of tactics. And I do think that we need to do everything. And I think that there is very--like, I'm not saying that we should all just go to Palestine. I think there's very important roles for us to play here in the United States in organizing. But we need to be realistic about how we're gauging our targets. So we're never going to be able to appeal to the moral or even political interests of--as far as like electoral political interests--of these things. We...I think...I personally think that our best hope is to challenge their economic function, right, and to make this cost so much that they cannot continue. And that's a lot. It has to cost a lot because they have a lot to gain. But you know, what? We have a lot to lose. We have everything to lose and everything to gain. And we need to make this cost more than they can imagine. **Inmn ** 17:28 Yeah. And yeah, maybe to be clear, the infographic that I was seeing, it was like, its suggestion was like, you know, "Get on the phone and call your congress people." And I was just like, you know, yeah, "by any means necessary," and whatever people can do, but I was like, I don't think the one thing stopping.... It framed it in this way--I am gonna get off this topic very quickly and spent too much time on this--but it framed it in this way of like, "Oh, if Americans just weren't so distracted by barbecuing over the weekend then genocide and then Gaza would have been over," and I was just like...that. Okay, whatever. Anyway, a real question. So I think maybe something that I've been curious, I guess, about is some of the like geopolitical--or like, specifically like geographical--forces at work where.... Like for the.... Can you tell me about waterways, waterways in and around Israel and Gaza? Like I guess like what is the proposed route? Or like, what are some of the.... Like, how get Flotilla? **Maria ** 18:48 How get Flotilla. **Inmn ** 18:49 How blockaded? **Maria ** 18:52 Through the Mediterranean. So we had originally, we had originally planned to sail from Turkey, from Istanbul, and I was actually in Istanbul with hundreds of other people. We were, our bags were packed, the boat was full, we were ready to sail, and the mission was bureaucratically sabotaged by Israel. This was several weeks ago. **Inmn ** 19:13 Is this the flag thing? **Maria ** 19:14 Yeah, so Israel has tried many different avenues to sabotage the Flotilla, including physical sabotage of the ship. But one--and this has happened for many years--but one tactic they have not tried before, and that we were not prepared for, was that they pressured.... So I don't know how much people know about shipping. But every ship that leaves a port has to pass to sail under a flag, a national flag. As far as I understand, any ship that doesn't sail under a flag is technically considered a pirate ship. [says incredulously, laughing] So if we wanted to leave and be allowed to leave by the Coast Guard, we would have to have a national flag. And usually those flags have nothing to do with the mission. You basically buy a flag to sail under. It's interesting. It's actually kind of like a side hustle for a lot of poorer countries, they sell their flags at a cheaper rate and with less bureaucracy. So I think most international shipping actually happens under the flag of the Philippines. But we were gonna sail under the flag of Guinea Bissau, which was a flag of convenience. And Israel put immense--Israel in the United States--put immense pressure on Guinea Bissau to withdraw the flag. And so the flag was withdrawn literally the day we were supposed to depart, like bags packed and ready to go. And, you know, we could have...like the captain could have, I suppose, made the choice to sail anyway, but then that would have forced a confrontation with the Turkish Coast Guard, rather than with the Israeli naval blockade, which people felt wasn't...wasn't worth it. You know, for better or worse. Whatever. The people thought it wasn't worth it. And that it was a better plan to just try to get another flag. So the flotilla is delayed as we are searching for another flag. That process is well underway. And I am hoping.... We'll have more information within the next week about where that is at and when and where we're planning to sail from. It's not sure that we'll be sailing from Turkey anymore at this point. Turkey would have been about a three day sail to Gaza. And at this point we might have to be looking at somewhere further out. TBD. **Inmn ** 21:27 Like somewhere further out to escape the influence of Israel putting pressure on those local areas? **Maria ** 21:36 Yeah, so there was a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure put on the Turkish Government. And Turkey, while it gives incredible lip service to supporting a free Palestine, is actually deeply economically dependent on Israel. And the domestic politics there is a whole can of worms. Anyway, I don't know where that's at. That's not part of the...that's not the team that I'm on. You know? I'm doing a lot of more of a social media and grassroots organizing here in the US. So I'm not one of those people figuring that part out. But, I mean, we can all see, we all basically know the general geopolitics of that region and how complicated it is for any country in the world to allow us to sail because of the possibility of antagonizing Israel, and what that can mean as a nuclear power and as a proxy of the United States in the region. But we will. We'll find a place that we will do it. Inshallah, very soon. And that is underway. I think as far as what's happened in the past, so what's happened in the past, most of the Flotillas have not--actually all of the Flotillas--have not actually made it to Gaza. They are pretty consistently stopped, often in international waters--which is illegal--before arriving. There are no ports in Gaza that one could land at. So like we said, we had this plan with a pier that can unfold. In the past Israel has stopped the flotilla with its naval blockade. In 2010 the ships were famously--one of the ships in particular--was famously attacked, and nine people were were murdered in that process. Since then, there have been no fatalities. No one has been matyred. But everyone pretty much has been arrested and deported. **Maria ** 21:37 From like international waters? [Said confused like it sounds sketchy] **Maria ** 23:40 I think they get brought into Ashdod, usually, and deported from there, like on an Israeli vessel or whatever. I don't know. I haven't been on any of the flotillas before. This will be my first journey. One of my aunts was really involved in them for many years, so I learned a lot about the process, and I've been following the process, since 2010. She's been very involved in--or she was--very involved in it. Gail Miller, may her name be for blessing. So I've been following it but this is my first actual mission joining. **Inmn ** 24:14 Cool. Um, yeah, it's...I don't know, it's.... Thinking about waterways has been something that's been really interesting with a lot of the goings on in and around the genocide in Gaza, like specifically with like...it was fun to see countries like Yemen be like, "Oh, we're gonna blockade Israel or we're gonna blockade shipping routes for Israel shit." And interesting to hear you talk about the connections to global shipping, because then that turned into this big global shipping catastrophe. And like the US and Israel were like "We're protecting global shipping lanes for like the good of Capitalism..." **Maria ** 25:14 One of the first honest things they've said. Yeah, absolutely. I think even with that, it's worth remembering too, just kind of going back to what I said, that the governments of the world are not acting. It wasn't the Yemeni government who took that action. You know, it was it was the Houthis. And overwhelmingly, we see that is not governments anywhere, but rather people working with conviction and solidarity who can actually stop the infrastructure of global trade, can actually stop...can actually have some real impact on this genocide, right? Like, that's one of the only meaningful...you know, people know that acronym BDS, It's boycott, divestment, and sanctions, which is...was a movement in South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle that the Palestinian anti-apartheid struggle has adopted, and that has been a global call for some time now. And one of the only real meaningful BDS actions we've seen has been by the Houthis, in that way, you know, actually interfering with Israeli shipping. **Inmn ** 26:15 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay, that's, interesting to hear. I feel like this is a topic that I've tried really hard to learn about on the internet and every time I do it's deeply confusing. And I get more confused because there's a lot of propaganda from the US and from Israel about, like, you know, who's enacting these blockades and whatever reasons that they make up. I saw...I was reading a little bit about the 2010 flotilla where, either like before or after it, Israel was making these wild accusations that the flotilla was working with Al Qaeda or had all these connections to groups they labeled as terroristic. And then the claims were withdrawn later because everyone was like, "Literally what the fuck are you talking about?" **Maria ** 27:15 Yeah, absolutely. And, of course, they're always going to do that, you know, and they're always going to try any possible means to antagonize and paint any kind of resistance is terrorism, which is also what we're seeing in Gaza, right? They will paint five-year old children as terrorists, you know? They have no shame and and they've gotten so far...they've spiraled so deep into their own narrative that they have really lost the plot. It's kind of wild. **Inmn ** 27:46 Yeah. Yeah. I think there's...it's like this thing that's been happening for quite some time, which seems like less obvious to people who have been paying attention, but like, I feel like a decade ago, or a decade and a half ago--wow, time happens--there, like you said, Israel has had these moments of being deeply concerned with their public image and then these moments of just the veil coming off and being like, which is happening there, it's happening here in the United States, it's happening everywhere, just fascistic forces becoming less concerned with what their public images are and just owning being terrible and fucked up. Being like, "Who's gonna stop us?" **Maria ** 28:39 Yeah, I mean, you know, it's, like I said, Israeli domestic politics are a total mess, but there is definitely a stronger and stronger faction that feels that way. And just thinking about it also, to bring it back to sort of the actual mission of the Flotilla, which is to deliver aid, and.... Well, it's twofold, right? It's to deliver aid and it's to break the siege and highlight the injustice--and not just injustice but absolute insanity--of the fox guarding the hen house here, so that all aid flowing...coming into Gaza has to be searched and is being monitored by Israel, and the sort of intentional, as I spoke to in the beginning, of the intentional famine that is being constructed there. And, you know, we saw in the news in March, that we were on the...we're at a tipping point of mass starvation. And that tipping point has been tipped. We are seeing unprecedented famine happening in Gaza. And I wanted to bring it back to that because I also want to just think a little bit about contextualizing what famine means. You know, I mentioned before that people often treat--like the media often treats this as a natural disaster or something or tries to paint it as a natural disaster-- **Inmn ** 29:53 Yeah, it "just happened" **Maria ** 29:54 --as an intentional act of war and genocide. And I think that we have to frame it that way and we have to both make sure that aid is getting in immediately, and to recognize that this is political, that no matter how much money we send to the Red Cross, if aid isn't being allowed to cross isn't helpful, which is not to say don't donate. Donate. And donate, specifically, to Palestinian mutual aid funds, which are the most grassroots opportunities, the most direct way to get funding, and you can find that...I can direct you, at the end, towards different places to donate The Middle East Children's Alliance has been able to get a lot of aid directly in. There's also a lot of, there's a group called Bay to Gaza Mutual Aid, which has collected a bunch of on the ground places to help people in Gaza. So just to be clear, I'm not saying not to donate. You definitely should. And we have to recognize that without an end to this, to the siege and to the bombardment, and the occupation, aid can only go so far. And I think it's important to contextualize that, to remember that this isn't...this phenomena also isn't unique to Palestine, right, this ideathat the global media treats famine as somehow a "natural phenomenon," when in reality, it's politically constructed. It's not just for Palestine, It's true all over the world. And we're seeing that especially in..... I think you can't actually talk about Gaza right now without also talking about Darfur and Sudan and what's happening there. And I think even more than in Gaza, famine--the politically constructed famine--that affects Africa, and specifically, that affects Black people in Africa, is often treated as "inevitable," and "natural," when it is very much politically constructed. And what we're seeing in Sudan, and the genocide that is taking place in Sudan right now, and the famine that is gripping Sudan right now, is every bit as politically constructed, is every bit as entwined with resource wars with the UAE and Saudis, race for controlling natural gas and resources, and for having a monopoly over those things. And this is this genocide is being directly funded by the UAE, which the United States will not challenge because of our strategic alliances there. And the people being targeted by this genocide are overwhelmingly African agriculturalists who have continued to keep that land fertile and producing food when it is more within the interest of the imperialist powers, and particularly the UAE, to have the land become arid so that it can become extraction sites for minerals and fossil fuels. So all that to say, a big part of the goal of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla is to politicize famine itself, because it is political. **Inmn ** 32:53 Yeah. Yeah, I know, it's hard to actually think of a famine, like a historical famine, that is actually not a political tool, or like an act of genocide. It's like we...when we...when we think of it, even like the word that we have, it's like when we think of famine, we think of there being a lack of something, we think of there being some kind of disaster that is just like, "Oh, the conditions just made it so that food couldn't be produced." And it's...it's never that. And, at least in English, like we don't really have a word for enacted famine that I can think of that isn't just genocide or that isn't just like purposeful starvation. It's like this entire language lacks a word for this tool that is used. **Maria ** 33:51 Caloric warfare. **Inmn ** 33:54 Yeah, um, I guess like kind of change tack a little bit, I feel like I'm using you as my filter for trying to learn about things on the internet and like running into so many weird like blocks that I'm like, I have no idea what's going on because the global media apparatus is horrible. But what.... I guess like what's going on with world government efforts to like get like food and aid into Gaza? Like I know there's been like a lot of back and forth with what like the UN is doing to get in food and it seems like that's not happening anymore? **Inmn ** 34:40 Where was the pier being built? And, like, what, like there weren't other peirs? **Maria ** 34:40 Right. I mean, one of the most bizarre things that's been happening that has been a lot of the efforts right now is airdrops. So people are like, "There's no way to get aid into Gaza. We have to literally drop it from the air," which is not only unhelpful, but has actually been dangerous and had has caused injury and the destruction of the aid being delivered and has been, shockingly, both ineffective and unsafe. Meanwhile, you could just cross the border, right? We shouldn't even have to be going in through the sea. There's not even.... Like we're going through the flotilla because we feel like that is our best chance of getting in. But there are... like, Egypt shares a border with Gaza. The Rafah crossing a should be open, and people should be able to bring in aid by land. And there's some aid that is crossing there. But as we've seen, to the extent that Israel will let anything in there, which has been very limited, there are settler...civilian--so-called civilians--although, they're not civilian, because they're armed to the teeth with AK--well not AK-47s but M-16s--actively blocking and looting and destroying trucks that are delivering aid to Gaza. I'm just like, can you even imagine? Like, could you imagine? It's hard like.... Like, what goes through your mind? What lives in your heart to destroy food, going to starving children? You know, I.... Whatever. But like, that's actively happening, you know. And so yeah, the airdrops have been a lot of like, you know, this whole US pier that I think I spoke to earlier that they're trying to construct this peir, they constructed this peir. It was pseudo operational for a minute. Now, it's non-operational, again, spending millions of dollars for this basically theater, when the US could, in a heartbeat stop sending aid to Israel and end this whole thing. **Maria ** 36:45 Off the coast of Gaza. It's a floating pier. So yeah, it's whatever.... It's a floating pier off the coast of Gaza. No, it's...I mean, it's honestly, like it's a whole charade. To be honest. Like the United States could, tomorrow, stop this but they won't. **Inmn ** 37:08 Yeah. And it's like the excuses are always these like strange logistical, bureaucratic excuses. Of like, "Oh, I don't know, the pier, the pier didn't work out. Or like, if only we could secure the border crossings, then aid could flow freely through." [Said sarcastically] **Maria ** 37:29 Right, exactly. Which, you know, is a common thing that we see globally too. We see it in this country to some degree like the crisis at the US-Mexico border, which I believe you're at right now. Like, they treat it like..... They treat so much of the humanitarian crisis that's happening there as if it were an impossible problem to solve when it's a very similar situation. It's a intentionally constructed political crisis. **Inmn ** 37:55 Yeah. And it's like, you know, there's a kind of, I guess, famous zine--or maybe people haven't read that one in a while because it's been a long time. But there's a scene called Designed To Kill, which is exactly how the US-Mexico border works. It's like the way that you hear government talk about it, they talk about it as if like, "Oh, we just can't do literally a single thing about it. We have billions of dollars, but we just can't solve this problem." And it's like--this is gonna sound weird--but it's like when you hear Border Patrol talk about like, like, "If only we could figure out how to stop people from coming in," which is not anything that I would ever want, but is what the government talks about. And it's like, you're not trying to do that. If you were trying to do that, it would be quite easy to do that. Like you have designed a system to funnel people in, to exploit them through private prisons, to psychologically terrify, and kill people. **Maria ** 39:06 Absolutely. **Inmn ** 39:06 It is a sick and twisted thing. It is a disaster of your own creation that you then LARP as being the humanitarian actors for, for like public image. Like Border Patrol has a.... Border Patrol has a search and rescue unit. They have like a helicopter that they tote around. [Affirmative sounds from Maria] Fucking absurd. 39:32 I know. I know. Yeah. I mean, I think that you know, I believe you were involved with No More Deaths at the US-Mexico border for a long time, and I think that there's a very similar principle as with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, that the people who created this crisis are not going to be the ones to stop it. And if anyone's going to do something, it has to be us. We have to do something. Because, yeah, the colonizer isn't going to stop colonizing unless we do something about it. **Inmn ** 40:03 No. And it's like we can't count on.... It's like, we.... Like a lot of people, I think have this, like this myth or hope or whatever that like, "Oh, well, if things ever get really weird, like the UN will step in," or something. And it's like the UN has proceeded to literally fucking nothing. Or it's like the...like, what is it? The I forget the acronym for that court, the UN court, the world.... **Inmn ** 40:31 Yeah. Yeah, the ICJ making rulings towards Israel about, "We want you to stop the genocide." And they're like, "Well, we're not going to do it." And it's like the ICJ does literally fucking nothing. **Maria ** 40:31 The ICJ 40:47 I mean, I believe that ICJ is interesting. The ICJ did issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, which, as far as I can tell, only means that there's like, certain countries he maybe can't go to or like, if he loses this war, which inshallah, he will, that there could be potentially be consequences for him. But that really, like, you know, it's all about real politics. That really just depends on how the war itself goes, you know? Like the international arrest warrants issued in Nazi Germany only were meaningful because Germany lost the war. I just wanted to, I mentioned No More Deaths early and I realized that probably not all the listeners know what that is. So I just thought I'd say No More Deaths is mutual aid project at the US-Mexico border. Grassroots, mostly anarchist lead from what I understand, project. Once upon a time, at least. **Inmn ** 41:45 Let's say anarchistic. **Maria ** 41:48 There we go, there we go. That [NMD] provides mutual aid that both has like emergency medical care and food and also like hikes the desert searching for people who are lost and helping evacuate people who are in need and giving direct aid at the Border despite the Border Patrol's attempt to criminalize those efforts. Which I know a lot of our listeners have probably been involved in. I believe you were. I went out there for...a long time ago. I went out there to do that. But I do think that there's powerful mutual aid projects like that happening here in Turtle Island, too. So it's worth shouting them out. **Inmn ** 42:29 Yeah, and it's like there's a lot of really interesting parallels between all of these mutual aid projects, and also the systems that create the need for them. Where, I don't know, there's so many Israeli defense contractors that got hired to build the virtual--like Elbit Systems got hired to build the virtual wall in the Border and it's like, the similar systems that get used in Palestine. And there's.... It's freaky. There's this, in Arizona, there's this company trying to build like a water pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico to Scottsdale or something. And it's the same Israeli company that builds pipelines through...or like distillation centers in Palestine. 43:28 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we see similar collaborations with Cop City in Atlanta. It's all, it's a global war machine. And we see it functioning exactly the way it's intended to function. But you know, we also have a power to be a cog in that machine. And I am weirdly optimistic a lot. I actually have a lot of faith that we can, you know, this machine can't operate without us, especially us here in the heart of Empire. Like this is in so many ways the veins of empire where so much of it is plotted and executed right here on Turtle Island. And we're uniquely positioned in a lot of ways to clog those arteries. We just have to find the courage and the confidence and the organization to make it happen. And I have so much faith in our ability to do that. Yeah, before, before we run out of time--I don't know if we're coming up on time or not. But I wanted to just also make sure that there's--and I mentioned this, but I just want to give it enough space that this crisis did not start in October. And it also didn't start with the siege of Gaza 18 years ago. This has been a crisis that has been exhibiting in its current form since 1948, since the creation of the State of Israel and the Nakba, which is the genocide of the Palestinian people in order to create the State of Israel and really for longer than that, since Zionist immigration began in the 1880s. And this crisis didn't start now and it's not going to stop when the bombs stop falling on Gaza. This crisis will not end until the settler, ethnic national...the settler, nationalist ethno state of Israel is dismantled. And really until the whole global system of settler colonialism--and all of the national states--are dismantled. But to look specifically at Palestine, like there is no...this is not over until Zionism is over. Zionism needs to be ended, and that the settler ethno state of Israel needs to be ended. And that until all Palestinians have a right to return to their homelands, until all Palestinians have a right to move freely in their homelands, until all Palestinians have a right to autonomy and self governance within their homelands. And by self-governments, I don't just mean to have a State, but to be able to have agency over their own lives and their own decisions. And until that, the struggle isn't over, and it can't be. And, you know, I think I'm actually very hopeful about this moment, I think that there is...that there is an incredible not, just an outpouring of support for the Palestinians, but incredible recognition of the state of global colonialism in the 21st century and its relationship to resource extraction and what we can do to stop it and I know that the Palestinian.... Like part of the reason that people around the world have responded to what's happening in Palestine the way they do is because this really resonates with so many indigenous people's struggles everywhere. Indigenous people all over the world see their struggle in the struggle with Palestinians and are rising up all over the world and it is very much a global struggle and very much that to free Palestine is in so many ways to free the world. **Maria ** 43:28 Yeah, yeah. Um, I know that you're...you've been part of some...part of this larger project...movement...coalition? I don't know words. But are there...are there ways that people can plug into this? Like if someone's like, "Yo, I got a boat. I want to join the flotilla." Can they do that? 47:25 I don't know about a boat. Well, I mean, if you've got a big boat. These are big boats we're talking Yeah, these are these are big boats. But um, I would say in general, yes. So the website is freedomflotilla.org. You can also find it on all the social medias, but especially you can find it on you know, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram. Also, specifically for those in the so-called San Francisco Bay area, we have our Bay to Gaza contingent that is...we are currently growing and expanding and getting ready to sail, so you can follow us on Instagram @Bay2Gaza. We're also on TikTok and Twitter, and you can reach out to us there if you're interested in supporting or getting involved. My Instagram is @lchaimIntifada. You can also message me there. I check that a little bit more. And, yeah, reach out. We're definitely still recruiting. We don't know exactly when we're going to sail yet. But we need all types of support. And especially, you know, in a lot of ways, this is a media project. This is about shedding light on a phenomenon. So especially folks who have skills in media are very much needed right now. Both legacy media but also social media. **Inmn ** 48:41 Yeah, yeah. Cool. Um, as we get...I guess, get to the end of time--our time, not the end of all time--are there any other things that you wanted to talk about? Any questions that I didn't ask you that you wanted to just touch on? I feel like I had 100 more questions that I will never remember until we stop the recording. And then I'll remember them. 49:11 Happy to keep talking after we stop the recording. But um, no. I mean, I think yeah, like I said, please, the best way to follow us is on social media. And please reach out if you are interested. And I would say other than that, taking the principle of the Flotilla, the principle that nobody is going to do this if we don't, and that we cannot depend on governments or higher powers to make change. We have to make it ourselves, and apply that to all of your organizing. Apply that to the ways, the strategic ways that you're thinking about challenging genocide and occupation and colonialism everywhere that you are, you know. I think that most of our organizing does need to be done at home where we live. And the message that I want people to take away, personally, from the Flotilla is that if we want change, we have to make it ourselves. And to use that framework, and I think...I think what that really is, is the framework of direct action, personally. I think that the word "direct action" has really lost its meaning. And a lot of activists spaces on Turtle Island in particular, people kind of think that direct action just means chaining yourself to something. And I am firmly of the belief that direct action means...it can mean three things. It can mean destroying something that needs to be destroyed, interfering with something that needs to be interfered with, and creating something that needs to be created. And you're doing it directly as opposed to protest, which is when you're asking power to do it for you. And I think there's a role for both. I think there's a role for protests and there's a role for direct action. But we should know what the difference is when we're framing our strategy, and encourage people to look to a framework of direct action and of destroying what needs to be destroyed, creating what needs to be created, and interfering with what needs to be interfered with. So I'd say that other than getting involved with the Flotilla, just holding those principles and all of our organizing, **Inmn ** 51:05 Yeah. And, can I add a little suggestion to that? **Maria ** 51:12 Please. **Inmn ** 51:13 Also in the realm of when thinking about taking direct action, when thinking about protesting, like whenever, it's like making sure that these things that we're doing are community driven and not relying on, I don't know, political parties, or even nonprofits to guide us through taking action. Like, the only ways that we're going to make it through this is if we do it and can't wait for people with more power to just hand it over. **Maria ** 51:55 Absolutely. And I think that's true on the micro sale scale of mutual aid, which is why we do mutual aid projects and it's also true on the macro scale of how this world will change. And, you know, to me, that's what anarchism is. So... **Inmn ** 52:07 Yeah, well, thank you so much for coming on again. And yeah, listeners, if you want to hear more from Maria, then you can find her on social media or you can go and listen to the Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness podcast and you can listen to us talk--honestly, a lot...mostly more about Gaza and the fuckery that is Zionism but through poetry and Maria's beautiful poetry collection, Escape Plan, which you can go check out on the Strangers in a Tangle Wilderness podcast. 52:47 And more about the West Bank, which I didn't get to talk about in this interview. And I'm realizing that was something I missed. But I do talk about that in the other one. 52:53 Do you wanna talk about it now? **Maria ** 52:54 I don't want to add that as like a little side note, but I do just want to say that speaking of like distractions, while this genocide in Gaza has been taking place, Israel has been annexing land in the West Bank at an unprecedented rate, and that the violence, but also the land loss happening right now, is a crisis that needs to be confronted directly. I do talk about that more in the other podcast. **Inmn ** 53:16 Yeah. Cool. Well, we'll see you next time. And I hope that.... **Maria ** 53:26 Free Palestine! **Inmn ** 53:27 Great. Yes. Happen. Free Palestine. I got all the words. At least 10 of them. **Inmn ** 53:40 Thank you so much for listening to Live Like the World is Dying. If you enjoy this podcast, then go do mutual aid. Break the siege of Gaza by any means necessary. But also, if you enjoyed this podcast and you want us to continue to put it on and do other cool stuff, then you can support the podcast and the best way to support the podcast is by talking about it. Tell people about it. If the people that you want to learn more about the weird myths, political myths, constructed to keep us not doing things, then tell them about Like Like the World is Dying. You can also support the show by supporting it financially. And you can do that by supporting our publisher Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. You can go to our website, tangledwilderness.org and find cool things like books and games and other stuff that we sell and make there. Or you can find us on Patreon and at patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. And yeah, you can get all sorts of fun things--we're gonna call them fun things--through the Patreon. You can get a zine mailed to you every month, like Maria's poetry collection--well, I guess you missed out on getting that one mailed to you, but you can get other future ones mailed to you-and also you can get us to thank or acknowledge things on your behalf. And we would like to thank these wonderful people and organizations. Thank you Reese, Jason, aiden, alium, Amber, Ephemeral, Appalachian Liberation Library, Portland's Hedron Hackerspace, Boldfield, E, Patoli, Eric, Buck, Julia, Catgut, Marm, Carson, Lord Harken, Trixter, Princess Miranda, Ben Ben, anonymous, Janice & O'dell, Aly, paparouna, Milica, Boise Mutual Aid, theo, Hunter, SJ, Paige, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea. Staro, Jenipher, Kirk, Chris, Micaiah. And a special shout out to one of our Patreon subscribers who told us that when they have more money, they're going to get the $20 a month tier so that they can get Hoss the dog another acknowledgement, we're just going to thank Hoss the dog like 20 times. Thank you, Hoss the dog. [Chanting] Hoss the Dog, Hoss the dog, Hoss the dog, Hoss the dog, Hoss the dog times 20. Times a million. Thanks all of y'all. Maria, is there anyone you would like to thank in particular today? **Inmn ** 56:34 Oh, I wasn't ready for that question. I'm sorry. That's fine. The people of Palestine, the Palestinian resistance. **Inmn ** 56:44 Hell yeah. Thanks for all and we'll see you next time. freedomflotilla.org, palsolidarity.org, and ijan.org Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

Today, we sit down with author and senior fellow at the Claremont Institute Jeremy Carl to discuss his new book, "The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism Is Tearing America Apart." How is anti-white racism invading American workplaces and the evangelical church? How does anti-white discrimination impact high-risk career paths, including pilots and doctors? And what should conservative Christians do to combat white guilt masked as humility? Get Jeremy's book, "The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism Is Destroying America," at https://www.regnery.com/9781684514588/the-unprotected-class/ Get your tickets for Share the Arrows: https://www.sharethearrows.com/ --- Timecodes: (01:28) Introduction to Jeremy's work (05:27) Response to George Floyd & racial rhetoric (14:09) In groups and out groups (18:29) Anti-white descrimination in civil rights laws (22:15) Affirmative action & disparities (41:35) Representation in media (49:31) Anti-white racism in Evangelicalism (55:45) Immigration (01:03:24) Social Justice (01:16:14) Workplace Discrimination (01:19:00) Where do we go from here? --- Today's Sponsors: Jase Medical — get up to a year's worth of many of your prescription medications delivered in advance. Go to JaseMedical.com today and use promo code “ALLIE". Carly Jean Los Angeles — use promo code ALLIE50 for $50 off your order of $100+ at carlyjeanlosangeles.com. Patriot Mobile — go to PatriotMobile.com/ALLIE or call 972-PATRIOT and use promo code 'ALLIE' for free activation! Cozy Earth - go to COZYEARTH.COM/RELATABLE to enjoy 30% off using the code RELATABLE. --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 282 | Exposing & Opposing Social Justice Theology | Guest: Dr. Voddie Baucham https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000486696085 Ep 878 | Why Does Social Justice Divide the Church? | Guest: Voddie Baucham https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000629116107 Ep 985 | Why DEI Always Leads to LGBTQ | Guest: Delano Squires https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-985-why-dei-always-leads-to-lgbtq-guest-delano-squires/id1359249098?i=1000652534041 Ep 792 | What's to Blame for the Chicago 'Teen Takeover'? | Guest: Heather MacDonald https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-792-whats-to-blame-for-the-chicago-teen-takeover/id1359249098?i=1000609986059 Ep 460 | How Social Justice Activism is Infecting the Church | Guest: Dr. Voddie Baucham https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000530206985 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices