Podcasts about alexander solzhenitsyn

PREVIEW: Conversation with Richard Reinsch, editor of Civitas Outlook of the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, comments on a new collection of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's public remarks after exile from Russia in 1974. More later. UNDATED, RUSSIA

Clint Lanier and Dave McArthur go back to where it all began and drink vodka while discussing The Gulag Archipelago, the epic tome that brought down the Soviet Union.

In this episode of Madison's Notes, host Laura Laurent sits down with historian Benjamin Nathans to explore his groundbreaking new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Nathans offers a deep dive into the history of Soviet dissent, tracing the courageous efforts of Soviet citizens who risked everything to challenge the system from within, spanning from Stalin's death to the collapse of communism. By invoking the very laws of the Kremlin, these dissidents exposed the regime's internal contradictions, playing a pivotal role in its eventual downfall. The discussion focuses on key figures in this movement, from well-known Nobel laureates like Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to lesser-known but equally vital contributors. Nathans also touches on the broader implications of their struggles for modern authoritarian societies today. Benjamin Nathans, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a distinguished expert in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, Jewish history, and the history of human rights. His previous acclaimed works include Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter With Late Imperial Russia. Nathans is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and is recognized for his expertise on Russian and Eastern European history. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode of Madison's Notes, host Laura Laurent sits down with historian Benjamin Nathans to explore his groundbreaking new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Nathans offers a deep dive into the history of Soviet dissent, tracing the courageous efforts of Soviet citizens who risked everything to challenge the system from within, spanning from Stalin's death to the collapse of communism. By invoking the very laws of the Kremlin, these dissidents exposed the regime's internal contradictions, playing a pivotal role in its eventual downfall. The discussion focuses on key figures in this movement, from well-known Nobel laureates like Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to lesser-known but equally vital contributors. Nathans also touches on the broader implications of their struggles for modern authoritarian societies today. Benjamin Nathans, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a distinguished expert in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, Jewish history, and the history of human rights. His previous acclaimed works include Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter With Late Imperial Russia. Nathans is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and is recognized for his expertise on Russian and Eastern European history. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In this episode of Madison's Notes, host Laura Laurent sits down with historian Benjamin Nathans to explore his groundbreaking new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Nathans offers a deep dive into the history of Soviet dissent, tracing the courageous efforts of Soviet citizens who risked everything to challenge the system from within, spanning from Stalin's death to the collapse of communism. By invoking the very laws of the Kremlin, these dissidents exposed the regime's internal contradictions, playing a pivotal role in its eventual downfall. The discussion focuses on key figures in this movement, from well-known Nobel laureates like Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to lesser-known but equally vital contributors. Nathans also touches on the broader implications of their struggles for modern authoritarian societies today. Benjamin Nathans, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a distinguished expert in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, Jewish history, and the history of human rights. His previous acclaimed works include Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter With Late Imperial Russia. Nathans is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and is recognized for his expertise on Russian and Eastern European history. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

In this episode of Madison's Notes, host Laura Laurent sits down with historian Benjamin Nathans to explore his groundbreaking new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Nathans offers a deep dive into the history of Soviet dissent, tracing the courageous efforts of Soviet citizens who risked everything to challenge the system from within, spanning from Stalin's death to the collapse of communism. By invoking the very laws of the Kremlin, these dissidents exposed the regime's internal contradictions, playing a pivotal role in its eventual downfall. The discussion focuses on key figures in this movement, from well-known Nobel laureates like Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to lesser-known but equally vital contributors. Nathans also touches on the broader implications of their struggles for modern authoritarian societies today. Benjamin Nathans, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a distinguished expert in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, Jewish history, and the history of human rights. His previous acclaimed works include Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter With Late Imperial Russia. Nathans is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and is recognized for his expertise on Russian and Eastern European history. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented.

In this episode of Madison's Notes, host Laura Laurent sits down with historian Benjamin Nathans to explore his groundbreaking new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Nathans offers a deep dive into the history of Soviet dissent, tracing the courageous efforts of Soviet citizens who risked everything to challenge the system from within, spanning from Stalin's death to the collapse of communism. By invoking the very laws of the Kremlin, these dissidents exposed the regime's internal contradictions, playing a pivotal role in its eventual downfall. The discussion focuses on key figures in this movement, from well-known Nobel laureates like Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to lesser-known but equally vital contributors. Nathans also touches on the broader implications of their struggles for modern authoritarian societies today. Benjamin Nathans, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a distinguished expert in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, Jewish history, and the history of human rights. His previous acclaimed works include Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter With Late Imperial Russia. Nathans is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and is recognized for his expertise on Russian and Eastern European history. Madison's Notes is the podcast of Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any speaker does not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

Editor: I have been amazed for several years at the apparent acceptance of Marxism by many of our young people, as a viable substitute for our free-enterprise economic system. I had thought Marxism would end up on the ash heap of history after the 70-year Soviet system collapsed and their secret archives were opened to the public. The “Evil Empire” claims made by Joseph McCarthy, Alexander Solzhenitsyn and later, Ronald Reagan were proven to be true. According to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, as many as 100 million men, women, and children were murdered or starved to death by the Bolsheviks in order...Article Link

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the “writer who took down an empire” His work, the Gulag Archipelago, detailed the horrors of life in the Soviet Union and made a global mockery of the evil regime. The Gulag Archipelago is a massive tome and can be challenging for many to digest. However, Sean Berube extracted helpful nuggets from the work and explored its themes. Those themes are relevant for Christians today, just as they were for Christians struggling under the Soviet Union. How can Christians destroy evil empires? Can individual believers make any impact at all when so much seems systematically designed to suppress truth, goodness and beauty? Listen to this episode and gain valuable insights into truths Solzhenitsyn dusted off all those years ago. You will be encouraged and reminded that there is more strength in Christians – and the Church – than you imagine. If you find this episode helpful, please give us a positive rating and review wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also share this episode with a friend so they too can be blessed by these insights. To learn more about resources mentioned in this episode, see the following. Sean Berube (Twitter/X): @SeanBerube4 How to Destroy an Evil Empire (Twitter/X Thread by Sean Berube): Thread Christian Emergency Podcast Episode 59 with Ignat Solzhenitsyn (Episode) Christian Emergency Podcast Episode with Juan Riesco, a Christian businessman targeted in Chicago (Episode) Christian Emergency Alliance (Website) Christian Emergency Alliance (Twitter / X): @ChristianEmerg1 Christian Emergency Alliance (Facebook): @ChristianEmergency Christian Emergency Alliance (Instagram) The Christian Emergency Podcast is a production of the Christian Emergency Alliance. Soli Deo Gloria

What if courage was the key to preserving our freedom in the face of modern challenges? Join us for an enlightening discussion with Dr. Marc Faber, a financial expert whose career journey spans from Switzerland to the bustling markets of New York and Asia. Together, we explore the significance of bravery, drawing inspiration from Alexander Solzhenitsyn and examining how it applies to contemporary issues like COVID-19 regulations. Dr. Faber also sheds light on the yen carry trade, debunking its overemphasized impact on global markets.This episode dives deep into the behavior of global investors, particularly the Chinese penchant for American tech stocks and cryptocurrencies. Drawing historical parallels to phenomena like the Nifty Fifty and the Nasdaq bubble, we discuss the pitfalls of concentrated investments. Through the lens of Thailand and Germany's political and economic climates, we uncover how these factors shape stock market performance and influence capital flows across continents.We also tackle the power of media in shaping global politics, with a critical eye on the portrayal of China. Dr. Faber and I discuss the cultural contrasts in free speech norms between the East and the West, and the political shifts in Europe. As we examine the economic implications of recent oil price drops and government policies, we emphasize the hidden tax of inflation on lower and middle classes. Finally, we reflect on the complex relationship between wealth, financial independence, and happiness, providing a thoughtful conclusion to an episode rich with insights and actionable advice.The content in this program is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any information or other material as investment, financial, tax, or other advice. The views expressed by the participants are solely their own. A participant may have taken or recommended any investment position discussed, but may close such position or alter its recommendation at any time without notice. Nothing contained in this program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in any jurisdiction. Please consult your own investment or financial advisor for advice related to all investment decisions. Sign up to The Lead-Lag Report on Substack and get 30% off the annual subscription today by visiting http://theleadlag.report/leadlaglive. Foodies unite…with HowUdish!It's social media with a secret sauce: FOOD! The world's first network for food enthusiasts. HowUdish connects foodies across the world!Share kitchen tips and recipe hacks. Discover hidden gem food joints and street food. Find foodies like you, connect, chat and organize meet-ups!HowUdish makes it simple to connect through food anywhere in the world.So, how do YOU dish? Download HowUdish on the Apple App Store today:

On June 8, 1978, Harvard University invited the Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn to deliver a major commencement address. Solzhenitsyn was, by this time, a world famous figure who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. Some two and a half decades earlier, while serving in the Soviet army during World War II, he was arrested and sent to the Gulag for criticizing the Soviet premier Joseph Stalin in a private letter. He was imprisoned there for nearly a decade, during which he underwent a profound spiritual, religious, philosophical reorientation and awakening, eventually reflecting on his experiences in a major study of Soviet Gulag system, The Gulag Archipelago. In time, he was freed from the camp but exiled from the Soviet Union. He settled in America, and there, was thought perhaps to be a valuable critic of the Soviet system. But the fact that he was a critic of Soviet repression and the soul-deforming debasement that Russians were forced to endure did not necessarily mean that he would endorse the American system in which he had found his freedom. When Harvard invited Solzhenitsyn to address their graduating classes that year, probably weren't expecting so thoroughgoing a critique civic, philosophical, and moral as the one he delivered, warning Americans about deep-seated tendencies of mind that could lead their nation into the very sort of societal sickness from which he had just escaped. This week, as students return to campus, Solzhenitsyn's analysis of America's vulnerabilities may still be relevant. To think about that, host Jonathan Silver here speaks with the literature scholar Gary Saul Morson, author of a recent essay called “Solzhenitsyn Warned Us".

A gripping history of the Soviet dissident movement, which hastened the end of the USSR--and still provides a model of opposition in Putin's Russia. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile--and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton UP, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Benjamin Nathans's vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents--from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was "simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people." An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR's totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin's Russia--and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A gripping history of the Soviet dissident movement, which hastened the end of the USSR--and still provides a model of opposition in Putin's Russia. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile--and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton UP, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Benjamin Nathans's vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents--from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was "simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people." An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR's totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin's Russia--and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

A gripping history of the Soviet dissident movement, which hastened the end of the USSR--and still provides a model of opposition in Putin's Russia. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile--and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton UP, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Benjamin Nathans's vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents--from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was "simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people." An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR's totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin's Russia--and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

A gripping history of the Soviet dissident movement, which hastened the end of the USSR--and still provides a model of opposition in Putin's Russia. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile--and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton UP, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Benjamin Nathans's vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents--from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was "simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people." An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR's totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin's Russia--and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today.

A gripping history of the Soviet dissident movement, which hastened the end of the USSR--and still provides a model of opposition in Putin's Russia. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile--and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton UP, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Benjamin Nathans's vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents--from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was "simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people." An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR's totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin's Russia--and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

A gripping history of the Soviet dissident movement, which hastened the end of the USSR--and still provides a model of opposition in Putin's Russia. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile--and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton UP, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Benjamin Nathans's vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents--from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was "simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people." An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR's totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin's Russia--and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A gripping history of the Soviet dissident movement, which hastened the end of the USSR--and still provides a model of opposition in Putin's Russia. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world's imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile--and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton UP, 2024) is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century. Benjamin Nathans's vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents--from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was "simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people." An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR's totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin's Russia--and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

Corrie ten Boom made a decision at the height of World War II. She would hide Jews from the Nazis in her Dutch home, and she was found out. Surviving the war, she told people for the rest of her life about God's grace. Though her sister, Betsy, died at the notorious camp called Ravensbrück, Corrie survived.   One night two years after the war, she found out just how meaningful grace really is. After she had spoken to a group of Germans, a man approached her. She then realized that he had been a guard at Ravensbrück. He told her that her talk was very meaningful to him, and that since the war he had become a Christian. He put his hand out and asked her for forgiveness.   Not so easy to acknowledge, Corrie realized. For an eternity of seconds, she couldn't make her hand move, but when she did and reached for his hand, she said it was like an electric current running through her arm. She told the former guard that she did forgive him, and that single act made all the difference.   Ephesians 4:7 says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”   In our lives we want grace, but we struggle when God gives that same grace to people we feel don't deserve it. But that's the point of grace as we've already discussed. God's grace is favor given that is not deserved. We can't do anything to receive it. The Lord offers it for free.   Maybe you haven't done anything in life as bad as that Nazi guard, but the Bible says that God hates sin, and sin comes in many forms and we're all sinners. It was Alexander Solzhenitsyn that said, “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”   In a sense, underneath it all, we're all that camp guard. His horrific sin was out in the open and the pain of that time still affects people, but a woman he persecuted decided to model the love of Christ in forgiveness and that was a moment of divine grace. The Bible is full of stories of God giving His grace freely to people who are broken in one way or another. Our loving Father gave it to them free of charge, the same way He gives it to you.    Let's pray.   Father God, sometimes we just don't understand. Injustice bothers us. Please help us to see that you look on all of us—everyone—with compassion. You gave your son to pay the penalty for the sins of people the world over. Help us to see others, God, the way that you see them. In Jesus' name, amen.   Change your shirt, and you can change the world! Save 15% Off your entire purchase of faith-based apparel + gifts at Kerusso.com with code KDD15.  

Guest Bios Show Transcript https://youtu.be/fFImYJWb2XUNancy French was once a darling of the GOP—and ghostwrote books, speeches, and articles for some of the leading conservative politicians. But then came Donald Trump's candidacy for president—something as both a Christian and a sex abuse survivor, Nancy says she could not support. Then, she was ghosted. In this edition of The Roys Report, Nancy French, a New York Times bestselling author and Christian conservative, recounts how she's been called some of the worst names in the book. Why? Simply because she and her husband, New York Times opinion columnist David French, refused to violate their convictions and promote Donald Trump. Even more egregious to some, Nancy published an article in the Washington Post explaining why, as a sex abuse survivor, she couldn't support a man who bragged about assaulting women. As a result, she lost every ghostwriting client she had. And she found herself unwelcome in her own tribe and her own church. But Nancy tells about much more in her book than just the events of the last few years. She tells about her humble beginnings, her sexual assault by a pastor who taught Vacation Bible School, and the dramatic change in her life when she met her husband, David French. Nancy French and her husband have been at the center of the major upheaval our nation has faced—as a new political paradigm invaded the church pews. As an abuse survivor and woman of conviction, Nancy courageously shares her story that has insights for every listener. Guests Nancy French Nancy French has collaborated on multiple books for celebrities - five of which made the New York Times best seller list. She has conducted a multi-year journalistic investigation, written commentary, and published for the nation's most prominent newspapers and magazines. She has written several books under her own name and tells her own story in Ghosted: An American Story. She lives in Franklin, Tennessee with her husband – journalist David French – and family. Learn more at NancyFrench.com. Show Transcript SPEAKERSJulie Roys, NANCY FRENCH Julie Roys  00:04Nancy French was once a darling of the GOP and ghostwrote books, speeches, and articles for some of the leading conservative politicians. But then came Donald Trump’s candidacy for president; something as both a Christian and a sex abuse survivor, Nancy couldn’t support. Then she was ghosted. Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys. And joining me today is Nancy French, a New York Times best-selling author, a Christian and a conservative who’s been called some of the worst names in the book. Why? Simply because she and her husband, New York Times opinion columnist David French, refused to violate their convictions and promote Donald Trump. Even more egregious to some, Nancy published an article in the Washington Post explaining why as a sex abuse survivor, she couldn’t support a man who bragged about assaulting women. As a result, she lost every ghostwriting client she had, and she found herself unwelcome in her own tribe and her own church. Nancy writes about all of this in her book Ghosted, which we’re offering this month to anyone who gives a gift of $50 or more to The Roys Report. And if you’d like to do that, just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE. But Nancy tells about much more in her book than just the events of the last few years. She tells us about her humble beginnings, her sexual assault by a pastor who taught Vacation Bible School, and the dramatic change in her life when she met her husband, David French. I’m so excited to share both the book and this podcast with you. But first, I’d like to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Talbot Seminary and Marquardt of Barrington. Are you passionate about impacting the world so it reflects biblical ideals of justice? The Talbot School of Theology Doctor of Ministry program is launching a new track exploring the theological, social, and practical dimensions of biblical justice today. The program equips students with the knowledge, skills and spiritual foundation needed to address social issues with wisdom and compassion. Justice has become a key issue in our culture. But more importantly, it’s an issue that’s close to God’s heart. While it’s clear the Bible calls God’s people to pursue justice, we must be guided by his word within that pursuit. Talbot has created this track to do just that. As part of this program, you’ll examine issues such as trafficking, race, immigration, and poverty. And I’ll be teaching a session as well focusing on the right use of power in our churches, so we can protect the vulnerable rather than harm them. So join me and a community of like-minded scholars committed to social change and ethical leadership. Apply now at TALBOT.EDU/DMIN. Also, if you’re looking for a quality new or used car, I highly recommend my friends at Marquardt of Barrington. Marquardt is a Buick GMC dealership where you can expect honesty, integrity, and transparency. That’s because the owners there Dan and Kurt Marquardt, are men of character. To check them out. Just go to BUYACAR123.COM. Well again joining me is New York Times best-selling author Nancy French. As a ghostwriter, she’s written for a variety of people, from well-known politicians to celebrities. She’s also investigated and exposed widespread sexual and spiritual abuse at Kanakuk camp, America’s largest Christian camp, and her latest book Ghosted, tells her remarkable story of growing up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, marrying David French, a New York Times opinion columnist, becoming a ghostwriter for conservative political leaders. And then when she and her husband opposed Trump, getting kicked out by their own tribe and then becoming the target of white nationalists and Trump supporters. So Nancy, welcome, and it’s just such a privilege to have you.   NANCY FRENCH  04:08 Thanks for having me on. This is fun.   Julie Roys  04:11 And I know that this is not the best time for you to be doing a book tour. You’ve been very public about your struggle with cancer. And I know you’re going through chemo. And I just feel honored that you’d be willing to take the time in the middle of something like that to talk about this. So thank you.   NANCY FRENCH  04:27 Yeah, no, thank you so much. Yes, I think I’ve done pretty well with all the interviews, even though I’m high as a kite on prednisone. And I haven’t said too many things that I maybe regretted later. But I’m very thankful to be able to have a book out. It just so happens, it’s in the middle of chemo. So this is gonna get real.   Julie Roys  04:45 Yeah. Well, absolutely. And I was surprised when I read your book. I mean, you and David are kind of like this powerhouse couple. And yet, you had very humble beginnings. In fact, your grandparents lived in the mountains of Appalachia; you lived in the foothills because your parents moved. But again, they were interesting sort of rough and tumble group of people. In fact, your dad used to joke that your family was famous or maybe infamous is a better word. Tell us a little bit about that and the background of your family.   NANCY FRENCH  05:19 Yeah, we get accused a lot of being like Washington, DC cocktail party elites or whatever. I don’t even go to Washington DC. I am from Tennessee. My parents are from Montego mountain. My grandfather was a coal miner. My dad did not graduate from high school. He got his GED. And he later in his 50s went back to college. But  he went to college, he got a degree and amazing man. But yeah, from self-described hillbillies, and all that entails. And yeah, I wanted to sort of describe my upbringing, just so that people could understand that many times people will say, Well, you just don’t understand what true Americans think or you don’t understand what true Tennesseans think. And I always sort of in my mind laugh at that because I’m like, you can’t out Tennessee me. You can be an American and a real Tennessean and hold the beliefs that I hold, you know, so that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to describe that upbringing. I love my family. They’re amazing. They’re fierce. And I think some of that ferocity has been passed on to me and I just I love my hillbilly family.   Julie Roys  06:32 And your part Cherokee Indian too?   NANCY FRENCH  06:35 Yeah, we have a lot of Indian blood. So my grandmother was I think was 1/4. And that was Cherokee. And then my grandfather also had a different type of Montana Indian in him, which is interesting. But yeah, it was all mixed together.   Julie Roys  06:52 So your dad broke from your family, moved to the foothills. Mayfield, Kentucky, which I know where that’s at. My dad actually lives near there now. But Mayfield, Kentucky, then eventually to Tennessee. Talk about the culture of the home that you grew up in, but also the town and sort of rural Tennessee and what that was like.   NANCY FRENCH  07:16 So Paris, Tennessee, has a 16-foot-tall Eiffel Tower,   Julie Roys  07:22 An Eiffel Tower.   NANCY FRENCH  07:25 There’s a huge battle between Paris, Texas and Paris, Tennessee over this Eiffel Tower business. But Paris, Tennessee is an amazing place. I grew up near the lake, Kentucky lake. We have a 60-foot Eiffel Tower. It’s just a great place to grow up very rural. We did not necessarily value education in the way that you would think a school might. For example, in seventh grade, I did not have science class, but instead they decided because none of us were going to go to college, to teach us about guns and so we had hunter safety classes and that culminated in skeet shooting contest. Which, I don’t like to brag, I don’t like to but sometimes you got to. I was the best shot in my seventh-grade class. Which is interesting and funny, but that’s how I grew up; just complete redneck hillbilly sort of existence and I loved it. Like I love Paris, Tennessee. I love Montego mountain and I love Mayfield, Kentucky.   Julie Roys  08:28 Well, it’s funny you say you lived in Paris, Kentucky. My parents for probably about 12 years lived in London, Kentucky, which you know, we didn’t know Kentucky at all. We grew up in Pennsylvania, but we thought it was kind of comical because it’s the least like London of any place I can think of in all of the United State.   NANCY FRENCH  08:47 There’s also Versailles.   Julie Roys  08:49 Versailles right. Not Versailles. But Versailles.   08:52 Yes. And there’s also a fence. Right. Yeah, it’s crazy. Love all these small towns.   Julie Roys  08:59 Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that your dad did differently than your growing up or his growing up, I mean, he came from sort of a superstitious, it sounded like background very sort of animated with maybe tribal kind of religion. But then he became a part of the Church of Christ, and describe what that church was like, I mean, seems from your description, very conservative, but also kind of leaning towards the legalistic side.   NANCY FRENCH  09:32 Yes, that is a very kind way of putting it, Julie. But I will say this, the church probably saved my dad. It’s like, saved his life saved his soul saved my, because he got off the mountain and he and my mother started going to church. They took us to church three times a week. It was just very wonderful and Norman Rockwell ish, you would think, but under the  facade of that sweet small town, Southern church experience, there was a lot of abuse happening at my church. So I was abused by, there was one guy who was like a predator. And he abused 15 people in my church. I didn’t know about the other 14, I only knew about me. I only now know this in the process of writing the book, I figured this out. But I grew up sort of feeling isolated spiritually. And it made me feel differently about God. Previously, church was a cushion, the warm blanket, a place to lay your head. And then all of that was ripped away from me because of that abuse. And I became isolated and smoked cigarettes and painted my fingernails black and skipped church, and it just set me on a bad path.   Julie Roys  10:43 And you were 12 years old when that happened? .   10:46 That’s right. And the preacher was 10 years older.   Julie Roys  10:51 I read your book soon after I read Krista Browns book who of course, was sexually abused in her church as a child. I was actually stunned by the similarities between your story and her story. But I think that the thing that really struck me was the way that both of you internalized it. She internalized it, she called it an affair. How can you have an affair with your youth pastor when you’re an underage teen. You, similarly, you kind of took the guilt and shame on yourself.   11:27 I did. And I think this is common. This is like sort of an embarrassing book to write because it’s so I don’t know, like, actually, I shouldn’t even say that. I’m saying words that are shame full. Like I’m saying this is embarrassing, but I didn’t do anything wrong, right?   Julie Roys  11:45 No, you didn’t.   NANCY FRENCH  11:46 That’s what you think. And in the church with the purity culture sometimes, very well meaning poorly conceived theology. Which is, if you have a sexual sin, which by the way, you don’t, if you’re being abused, that’s not a sin, you’re not the one sinning. But if you’ve been compromised sexually, you’re ruined for the rest of your life. And I internalized that, and I thought that was right. And I also thought that this pastor, preacher, Vacation Bible School person, I thought he loved me, because I was 12. I didn’t know, I didn’t know anything about this. I just didn’t perceive it correctly. So I told myself the wrong story about this abuse almost my whole life. And so this book, though, there’s a lot more to it than just the abuse, obviously. This is me correcting the record for myself. But I wanted to do it publicly for all the people out there who feel guilty over stuff that they shouldn’t feel guilty over. And also, I became a complete mess after my abuse, and I wanted to show people that. Because what happens is you get embarrassed because you make a series of bad decisions and you look unsophisticated, you look immoral, you look like trash. And people will, they’ll look at you and they’ll say, that’s just trash, why are you listening to her? When in actuality, they should look at the damage that has been done to people in the church and repent about the way they’ve been handling abuse. And so I sort of wanted to put myself out there and say, Okay, y’all esteem me now, when I’m almost 50, because I’ve gotten my life together to the degree that I have, which I haven’t, but people esteem me. They don’t know about any of this. So I wanted to say, Okay, this is what it looks like, this is what I looked like. And I looked ridiculous. I was flailing, I was terrible in a lot of ways. You know, let’s talk about it.   Julie Roys  13:45 I think that’s so helpful. Because especially now when we have as public figures, you have a curated image, and it’s often so different than the real image, right? Although I really appreciate it, you have been so real, I think, especially as you’ve been walking through your cancer, the treatments and everything. I’ve so appreciated that. I appreciate that today, you forgot your wig. And so you’re just wearing whatever, and a lot of people would be like, Oh, I can’t go on. But I love that because that’s where all of us are. We like to pretend we’re not. But that’s where all of us are, at least at different points in our life. And so I just, I appreciate that. And I’m sure there’s a lot of people listening, who appreciate that as well. It didn’t end with the violence and the abuse didn’t end with that Pastor whose name was Conrad as I recall, but you had a boyfriend then, Jacob, who unbelievable. I mean, who this man turned out to be and you were trying to break it off from him forever. That did remind me of boyfriends I’ve tried to break it off with and you couldn’t. But talk about what happened with Jacob  and how that impacted you.   NANCY FRENCH  15:03 So I tried to find solace outside the church, meaning in boyfriends, and I made a series of terrible mistakes. And I dated this one guy, who eventually, I actually, Julie, double crossed him. I was cheating on him to let the record show that I was not innocent in this. But it was like I could not break up with him, I didn’t have the backbone to break up with him. And every time I tried, he threatened to commit suicide. And I realize now how terrible that is. I didn’t know it at the time. But in one very terrible moment, he revealed that he knew I had been cheating on him, and he tried to kill me. And so that was a pretty dramatic moment, he tried to strangle me, and it was bad. And boy number two, the guy that I was dating, actually came and rescued me from the situation at the very last second, very wonderful. So that boyfriend number two realized that I was cheating on him. And that I was in duress in the same moment. And he immediately pivoted to try to help me, and he did. I’m very thankful for that. But all of that was the pre-David French romance, which you can imagine when I met David French, who is so levelheaded and calm and good and mora., I wanted that. And that’s what I got. So David French sort of helped put me back on track. And, yeah, I’ll be forever grateful to him over that.   Julie Roys  16:35 Yeah, I was really struck by how big of a difference he made in your life. I mean, at this point,  you’re a victim of two assaults. You’re just absolutely reeling. You’re going to Lipscomb University, which is a Church of Christ school. Although I thought it was interesting that you could not even go to chapel. You knew, if you didn’t go to chapel, you’re going to lose your scholarship. But you call it the positive theology that you couldn’t stomach at that point. I think this is actually good for Christians to hear. Because it’s still there in a lot of churches where it’s very, well just describe what that was, and how that struck you as somebody who’s been through the kind of abuse that you have been through.   NANCY FRENCH  17:30 Yeah, I just had experienced so much. And then my best friend died. And in the same time period, and I was full of grief, though, I wasn’t even really properly processing. I wasn’t grieving the way you’re supposed to grieve. But I knew when I go into chapel, I was actually seeking answers, like, what do you do when you’re completely decimated by life? And the chapel speakers would be like, Hey, guys, we should be humble. Let me tell you about my little league game where I was pitching, and this happened. And I was just like, what is happening? This is so vacuous. I could not listen to this one more syllable. This is going to kill me. It felt like they were trying to kill me. And the reason why is because they didn’t have a doctrine of suffering. Right? Like I was really suffering. Not to mention the fact now that I realized that the Church of Christ leaders knew that I was being abused by this preacher and didn’t do anything. That’s a whole different level of stuff. The people at Lipscomb weren’t guilty of any of that. They were just nice people. And Lipscomb is really amazing. Like David works there. Now, David has always had a great experience there. But my experience there was I could not get down with this theology that I thought was vacuous. And it did not help. I needed help, like I need to help. I was suicidal, or something close to suicidal. So I needed help. And so those chapel talks were not going to cut it. And so I got called into the Dean of Students called me in and he was like, if you don’t go back to chapel, you’re losing everything. And I was like, I’ve lost everything. I don’t care. I never went back. But there’s something about this toxic positivity that I noticed with cancer, and here’s why. So whenever people find out that you have cancer immediately, they want to pray for your healing and for the cure. You have people at McDonald's stop and pray for your healing, which is very kind and sweet. But when I first got my diagnosis, my son, who’s a philosophy major, said there’s going to be beauty in this. Like, you have to keep your eyes open to see the beauty in this. And there’s, I have like, that was such an interesting, salient thing to say, because there’s so much to learn through disease and disability. Like looking like this. Like, I have no makeup on. I have no hair. In 1 million years would not have taken a picture and posted it to Facebook, let alone been on an interview with you a year ago looking like this. And I am so happy because I feel like, I don’t know, Julie, have maybe this is just me. I’m completely insecure. But I’m insecure my whole life. I’m almost 50 I’m insecure over the way I look. I’m insecure over cellulite, I’m over insecure over my weight, I’m insecure over my teeth that are equine looking. Like whatever you know. But what I’ll do as a ghostwriter, I’ll move in and help people write books about confidence. And so I was talking to my friend, Kim Gravelle, who has her own makeup line and fashion line on QVC. She’s a queen, amazing businesswoman. And we wrote a book called, Collecting Confidence, and I was talking to her, and she was like, you’re so confident I love seeing you. And I was like I faked all that. I completely faked all that. I can’t even imagine people who are confident, like I don’t even get that. But the cancer thing. Oh my gosh, it’s like it removed the vanity or something. And I don’t want to say vanity like it’s negative because we all you know, care what we look like, and it’s important. But I am not going to criticize my body again. I’m so thankful for it. And thankful for the way I look. I’m thankful for being bald because it allows me to connect with people in the most beautiful ways. Women who have cancer will send me pictures of their bald heads and they’re afraid to do it publicly. Some of them don’t even let their husbands see their bald heads. And so what I’m trying to do is normalize this, like this is okay, it’s okay to look like this. I probably won’t look like this forever. But it’s okay to look like this. And so when I’m doing my normal life, that’s not book promotion, typically, I just go bald. And people come up to me and they’re like, is this a fashion choice? Is this you know, like, what’s going on? Because I also tattooed my eyebrows on, because I’m not completely free of vanity. But anyway, it just opens up so much conversation and so whenever you’re faced with lament and grief and loss and abuse and death and disease and disability, you better have a doctrine of suffering. And you have to know how your faith intersects with that. And the good news is it intersects in a very beautiful way. With Christianity, we get back what we lose. It’s a beautiful thing. And I just love the fact that there’s so much truth and beauty even when we look like this. There’s still truth and beauty that we can tap into that is so much greater than my tattooed eyebrows, although on fleek.   Julie Roys  23:05 Well, I think you look beautiful, even with a bald head. But I love that. I absolutely love that. And I love that sometimes when we go through, I was telling somebody this recently that sometimes when we go through really horrific things, the things that used to scare us, the things that used to be so daunting, now we’re like, now that I’ve gone through this, like, go ahead, make my day. I’m not afraid anymore. And I do think it’s a wonderful like, I’ve never been through cancer, so I don’t want to even pretend that I know what that’s like. But yeah, I do hear what you’re saying and suffering for believers is redemptive; it’s always redemptive in some way. And I think you’re right that we don’t talk about it nearly enough in the church. I want to get back to David, because again, he made this huge, huge difference in your life. And I just thought it was so beautiful how you wrote about him. But he really, I mean, here you are an absolute wreck. And I love how when you met him like you confronted him, because he’s the one who convinced you to go to Lipscomb. And you’re like, thanks a lot, you know, and you kind of laid into him. And yet he responded in such a gracious way and within. I mean, I don’t know if it was a few hours or days like he had led you to the Lord.   NANCY FRENCH  24:27 Yeah, we had a very truncated experience dating, romantically and spiritually. He was sick. He had an incurable disease, which is a totally different story. So he was sick. We started dating, the second date, I realized I could marry this person. And then I think we were engaged within three months. I didn’t know him. He was like a complete stranger. But during that very brief amount of time he told me about Jesus. He was like he was telling me about the Holy Spirit because David French, New York Times columnist, was cured of an incurable disease,  Okay? And that was in 95. And I got to see that happen. He weighed 100 pounds when we were dating, he was so sick. And maybe 120 I don’t know; he lost a ton of weight. But I got to see this miracle happen. And I didn’t believe in miracles. I didn’t believe in any of it. So he was telling me about that. And I was like, wow, I think I might need to know about whatever it is that you know about. And so he used CS Lewis to talk me through the Lord, lunatic or liar, those three options. And for those listening, CS Lewis was basically like, Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. Was he telling the truth? Was he insane? Or was he just lying? And I could not bring myself to say that Jesus Christ was lying. I just couldn’t. And so the only thing and I didn’t think he was a lunatic. So I was like, you know, I think Jesus was telling the truth. And that small thing changed my life, because I believed and David helped me believe, and it was very beautiful. So I write about that in the book.   Julie Roys  26:11 Yeah. Lord, liar, lunatic. It’s a powerful argument. So simple, but so powerful. And yet a lot of people just have never, they’ve never thought deeply about it. And then you guys got married, in Paris, which is great. I won’t go into it because we don’t have time. But that was a great, great story. You moved to Manhattan. And then you, this hit me in a probably a different way than it would normally because I kind of lean charismatic. So I’m open to charismatic things, even though I would say, I grew up, my dad was a surgeon. So we were always, if you thought you were sick, it was kind of like, prove it. It was everything a little bit skeptical. And, as a journalist, we tend to be pretty skeptical too. But I read this about your encounter with a prophet. It was I guess; it was like a reunion of the Harvard Christian group that David had been a part of. And well, you were skeptical too. So tell about that experience, because it really is pretty mind blowing.   NANCY FRENCH  27:23 Craziest story. I became a Christian. I have one inch of theological belief, which is I believe Jesus Christ is Lord, all in You. And the Harvard Law School Christian fellowship was having a reunion. And we went, and by the way, I don’t want to go hang out with a bunch of people who graduated from Harvard, right? Because, a three-time college dropout. I don’t want to hang out with these people. I’m intimidated. Everybody is so smart. And also, when you grow up in the way that I grew up, you’re taught that people who believe in the Holy Spirit and Pentecostals or charismatics are low class, they’re unsophisticated, they’re not smart. They’re given to emotion. So here I am going into the Harvard Law School Christian Fellowship. So they’re smarter than I am. They get paid a lot of money to evaluate documents, and the Bible is a document. And David was like, Yeah, I think they invited a prophet, and I was like, What is a prophet? Is this like a psychic? Like I don’t have a category for this. And so we go to the thing, and I was apprehensive because, Julie, I don’t know if this is a sign of a guilty conscience. 100% It is. But if you talk to a prophet, I was thinking that he would say, Well, you don’t read your Bible. You don’t pray, your main to whatever, you know, like whatever you kick the dog, whatever, like he could read my mail. So I didn’t want to talk to a prophet either. So anyway, we go to the thing. Gary has on a Hawaiian shirt. He’s smelly, he has a hairy belly, and I can see the bottom of it. It’s insane. I’m like, okay, so this is Gary the Prophet. Okay, whatever. So Gary the Prophet, y’all gotta read this, it’s the craziest thing that ever happened. But he goes to the people at the Harvard Law School Christian Fellowship, and I thought he would say to Harvard Law people, Oh, you struggle with pride? Or oh, I don’t know, you’ve got so much intelligence. I don’t know what you’d say to Harvard people. I’m not a Harvard person, as you can tell. But that’s not what he did. He went around the room and read to like, spoke into their lives. So for example, I don’t know if you know Shaunti Feldheim. She’s a Christian. Shaunti was there, and her husband Jack, and I use their names in the book. And later I was like, Hey, I used your name in the book with this crazy thing because they were there and they had this crappy car that Shaunti and Jeff, like, they were the only people in New York City who had the car of our friend group. So they were very nice to let us use the car, but it was a freaking jalopy, and they were always in fights over it. And so, but Gary looked at Jeff and Shaunti and spoke to them about this car. And I was like, what? So you got a chance to talk to a prophet. He’s giving you automobile advice, that’s weird. And then he went to other people, and he talked to another friend who secretly had written poetry and he said, “You know the poetry right secretly? It’s time to do this was like literary advice. I was like, what is happening, Gary the Prophet? So then Gary the prophet looked at me, and he was like you, and I was like, Oh, my gosh, this is gonna be so bad. And he called me up. And he told me, he said, you’re pregnant. And I was like, No, I’m not. Julie, this is TMI, but this is what’s happening. I was on my period, and I told him that, and he looked at me, I said, it is impossible, because I wanted everyone in this Harvard Law School Christian fellowship to realize they’ve been duped by a con man. And so I was like, defiant, like, No, I’m on my period. I’m not pregnant. And he just laughed at me. And he was like, with God, all things are possible. But this is what you need to know, you are pregnant, you are carrying a girl, she’s going to come this year, she’s going to have physical problems, here is five Bible verses that you need to know. When they tell you that you’re aborting, don’t believe it, you’re gonna have a healthy baby. And all is gonna be well just remember these words. And I was like, okay, Gary, the Prophet. This is weird because I wasn’t pregnant, right? But he scared me to death. So I go home, and my period stops. And I think, you know, this is weird. I think he’s scared me into not having a period. Gary the prophet is the worst prophet ever. And then later, though, like I took a pregnancy test, and I was pregnant. Apparently, the bleeding that I thought was my period was implantation. And Gary the prophet knew this. And lo and behold, a few months later, the doctor calls and he says, “You are miscarrying. You’re aborting call off the parties. But they gave me a due date in January. I knew that wasn’t the case, because he said that she was going to come this year, and I also knew the gender. So talking about gender reveal party, Gary the Prophet, you did not need that. And Camille was born. And she’s amazing. And right now this second, she’s 13 floors up. She’s got two of my grandchildren, that she’s given birth to; cute, wonderful, beautiful kids. And we’ve seen God’s hand in Camille’s life and all of our lives in such dramatic ways. And that cured me of being skeptical of the Holy Spirit. My book is called Ghosted, not just because I’m a celebrity ghostwriter, or because vast friend groups have ghosted me for my political decisions. But also I wanted it to encourage people to really consider the Holy Ghost, to consider God, because He will not let you down even though everyone else will.   Julie Roys  33:03 I never said why I’m a little more skeptical than I used to be. And it’s because of what’s happening at the International House of Prayer. Just, and of course, I mean, this is the umpteenth. I don’t know how many scandals I’ve covered since I’ve started The Roys Report. I mean, it’s just been one after another after another. But this particular one, I think is especially gross, because prophecy was used to manipulate and then abuse women. And then we have this prophetic history that now some of the key facts in it have been debunked. And it just seems like it was used in such a manipulative way. And so I’m trying to figure out why God? Like why do you even like, is that real? Like when people get because I remember, I used to be in the Vineyard, and I remember hearing stories, and I remember miraculous things happening. And then you go to a church where they don’t expect that to happen, and guess what? It doesn’t, you know, kind of like the Holy Spirit doesn’t work in ways that our faith doesn’t allow it to, sometimes, but it was good for me to hear it.   NANCY FRENCH  34:17 I think that’s a very interesting point. And it’s important to say it, because the charismatic church has really, really messed up with this Donald Trump prophecy stuff.   Julie Roys  34:29 Oh, my goodness, yeah.   NANCY FRENCH  34:31 They’ve gone off the rails. And so what do you do like if you’re a Christian person, and this is not just for charismatic people or Pentecostal people, but all white evangelicals who are going to church where the egregious evil is overlooked because of political positions? What do you do? And so that’s the thing I don’t I don’t even go to a Pentecostal church. I just really believe that there’s a lot of counterfeit stuff happening, with all these prophecies, political prophecies. But if it’s counterfeit, that indicates there’s something true. Right? So it’s a mimicry of something good. And so I would just encourage, I don’t know how to do it. I’m not doing church right. I’m completely a mess; I’m hanging on to Christianity by my freaking fingernails. And ever since I got the cancer diagnosis, I can’t really go to church, I’ve gone like twice in seven months. However, I feel so warmly towards God. And I feel like he’s got me. In spite of all of this, I just feel so thankful to God. And I don’t understand God. So when I wrote this book, one of my intentions was to never be invited by a church to come speak on the book at a church. And I think I probably pulled that off, the invitations are not rolling in Julie. And that’s because I don’t understand God. So I’m just telling you the truth. This is what happened to me, there was a guy named Gary, and he had a hairy belly, and a Hawaiian shirt. And he was completely right about the trajectory of my life. And we recorded it because he said, If I’m a false prophet, you’ll be able to say that I’m a false prophet. I’m recording everything I say to you. And there’s some things that haven’t happened yet that I 100% know are going to happen in our lives. Then David and I joke about it all the time because it’s just so crazy. But it feels crazy. But it happened, and I’ve got a kid upstairs, who is alive. And so many things like that happen. And sometimes things happen that you don’t get that aren’t as uplifting, that God acts in ways that are baffling and confusing. And I included those stories too. Because I just wanted the reader to be able to say, Okay, this is what my life looks like, because I wrangle with God and wrestle with God. What does yours look like? Is it as nuts as this? And I just think it is, I think we’re just too sophisticated to talk about it. But I think people have interactions with God all the time. And I want to normalize talking about that.   Julie Roys  37:10 And when I was in Vineyard, their tagline used to be to make the supernatural natural. And I did love tha.t I loved lots of things about my Vineyard experience. I know they’re going through some really, very difficult times right now. But yeah, it was very positive for me in many ways. And I appreciate that. And I appreciate just the fact that I read Scripture differently now, whereas I used to skip over oh my gosh, they raised the dead. You know, like that was normal for the disciples like what does that mean to us today? But it’s challenging.   NANCY FRENCH  37:42 Yeah. Or what does it mean when Paul says just eagerly seek these gifts of the Holy Spirit? Do it just do it, just believe the Bible and do it. And one of the things is church is so nuts right now. It makes you feel like you don’t have a spiritual home. Like, actually, like, I do not have a spiritual home, I’ve been projectile vomited out of like the church.   Julie Roys  38:05 I can relate to this. So yeah.   NANCY FRENCH  38:08 if you can just like divorce yourself from the people who are angry at you for whatever reasons, and just sort of settle into your relationship with God. I don’t think we should forsake the church or the gathering of our friends and saints and all that. I don’t know how to do it. It is a very difficult time. And so I wrote this book for other people who feel politically, culturally, or spiritually homeless. And I’m just sort of like reaching out my hand and saying, Hey, do y’all, this is weird, what’s going on? Do y’all feel weird about this? Anyway, we can be weird together, we can be alone together. And that’s what I hoped the book sort of encapsulated.   Julie Roys  38:47 I loved your story of how you became a ghost writer, which is kind of amazing. You’re a college dropout. And all of a sudden you’re writing for all these stars. A lot of people don’t know that you’re writing the book because you’re a ghost. But you end up writing and I didn’t realize you wrote this book Bristol Palin’s book when she got pregnant. For people, you know, who aren’t familiar with this, although most of us I would guess, that are listening. Or it wasn’t that long ago. Sarah Palin became the vice-presidential candidate. And of course, she’s a conservative, Christian conservative, very traditional values, and then it comes out uh-oh, her daughter Bristol is pregnant out of wedlock. Although it wasn’t really what I think everybody probably assumed at the time. Talk about that experience of writing that book with Bristol, but also of the reception that book got when you published it.   NANCY FRENCH  39:44 Yeah, so I grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that Democrats were sexual predators, or at least for pretty still with them. Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, give me a freaking break. So I was like, okay, So that’s the party. I do not want to have anything to do with. Democrats do not care about women. So I go to Alaska, I live with the Palins, I meet Bristol. Her story is told beautifully in her book. And I’ll let her tell her own story. But I was shocked when I got up there. Because what I thought was true was not true about the Palins. And I love Bristol Palin, she is courageous. She has a backbone, and she is a fighter for what is right. During that very tumultuous time when she got pregnant out of wedlock, she really rose to the occasion and she’s an amazing mother. And I love her so much. But what I learned when I got there, I said to her Bristol, we need to really talk about this baby shower that you had and she goes, I didn’t have a baby shower. And I was like, Yes, you did. I’ve got pictures. Look, your kid has this camouflage onesie. And she was like, Nancy, that is photoshopped. What is wrong with like, it’s so obviously photoshopped. I didn’t know because I was new to the world of lies and deception. But then when Bristol told me her story, how she lost her virginity. She goes, it wasn’t really lost. It was stolen. And I was like, oh, okay, what? I was completely floored by that because all of the media coverage was mocking her. And so when we published this in the book, I thought everybody would be like, my bad. I write for The Washington Post, or I write for the New York Times, or I write for this thing. And we mocked her for what essentially was a sex crime. She was a victim. And we’re sorry about that. That’s not what happened. People continue to mock her. They continue to make fun of her. And what that told me at the time was Democrats do not care about women, unless you’re a certain type of woman. Now, later, fast forward five freakin minutes, and here we are. The GOP standard bearer is someone who has been held criminally accountable for rape in court, much more so than Bill Clinton. And we’ve embraced this guy. So this is my trajectory. It has been one of confusion. I don’t feel like I’ve changed. I feel like you could believe that Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy were sexual predators or had sexual problems, obviously, without you can believe that and also look at people in your own tribe, can say the same things. You can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can just decide to be against sexual predation generally, across the board. It’s pretty easy if you make these decisions. But that’s not what we do. What we do is, oh, Harvey Weinstein. Yes. Well, that’s how Hollywood is, you know, Hollywood, they’re godless. Or the Catholics, for sure the Catholics have a problem. And then you find out oh, is the Baptist, oh it's the deacon Oh, it’s Kanakuk camps in Branson, Missouri. And it’s like, you don’t want to embrace that you’re just like, Nope. A part of my identity is that I’m a part of the good guys, I belong to the good tribe. And that was mine, too. I firmly believed that, that I was on the side of good, but then I wasn't, and I was guilty of mischaracterizing my liberal neighbor and trying to fight for my tribe over truth. And anyway, my book is sort of like unpacking that, it is not chastising the reader. It’s chastising myself because I got too much into the scoring of political points occupationally. And I realized that was not kind of me. God didn’t give me my writing talent for me to disparage my neighbor and to bear false witness. And so that’s what I was doing. And when I decided not to lie, or bear false witness, I was unemployable. I was as popular as head lice. So we used to be super popular in certain circles. And then, you know, nobody wants anything to do with us now.   Julie Roys  44:02 Yeah, yeah. It’s amazing. 2015 You guys were like the darlings of the GOP. I mean, David had gotten  awarded the Ronald Reagan award from CPAC, you know, the Conservative Political Action Conference. I mean, you guys were like, you were the quintessential Christian conservatives. And I think that’s when I was introduced to you. I was working at Moody at the time. And so I was doing a lot of commentaries and it’s amazing to me, I look back and I’m like, I had everything figured out then. Wow. It’s so funny, because I don’t now, but then I did. But I was very right. I was very conservative. And I could spout all of the political reasons why the Conservatives were right. And then all of a sudden, I couldn’t, I don’t think I changed. I don’t think I changed either. I was just absolutely shocked at who my Christian conservative neighbors were. Like, because I had supporters who were furious at me because I spoke out against Trump and stopped supporting me. And I’m like, Who did you think I was? Like, how can you support this man? I have not changed. I thought we were the party that cared about values. And they didn’t. Clearly we cared more about power, we cared more about position. But I have kind of thought, in my role as an investigative reporter in this space, where I call out Christians, and people often don’t want to hear, as you know, the scandals and what’s really going on. And so I thought, I got a lot of hate mail and pushback. Compared to what you and David have been through, I mean, that gave me like a whole new perspective, the personal nature of what was done to you. Especially regarding I know you have a daughter that you have adopted from Ethiopia. The amount of cruelty and this is where I’m like, that whole compassionate conservative thing. I was like, where are they? Talk about what happened to you when again, you simply stuck to your guns, and you spoke out, you spoke out what was true about Donald Trump. What happened?   NANCY FRENCH  46:28 So chaos. We’re big fans of Hamilton, and we are always like chaos and bloodshed. If you know that songs chaos and bloodshed are not the solution. But that’s what ensued. So I wrote a 2016 article in the Washington Post about my own sexual abuse and how I was begging the GOP to consider sexual abuse victims, because we were not about this. Imagine if you’re me, and you grow up believing Bill Clinton is rapist. The Democrats don’t care about women. The GOP is the party of family values. We care about children, all this stuff. Imagine if you’re that, and then they show up and they’re like, Hey, this is the guy that you can vote for. His name is Donald Trump, he grabs women by the genitals. It’s fine. Just, it’s great.   Julie Roys  47:17 Just locker room talk. Yeah.   47:19 And you’re just like, I don’t think I can do this. Is there a problem? So I wrote this article, I talked about my sex abuse for the first time. And I had not even told my counselor about my sexual abuse, I could not even articulate it. So it wasn’t like I had gotten to the point of spiritual maturity and emotional health, and I was finally deciding to make a case in the Washington Post. I had not even told my counselor; I could not even say it. But I went ahead and published this in the Washington Post, and it was a story of my abuse. And my counselor was like, Okay, I think we can work with this. But  this is potentially emotionally problematic, which it was, because I just laid my soul bare. I was like, guys, please. But then after I did that, there were some conservatives, prominent conservatives who were like, oh, Nancy French is just using her personal story to make a political point. And then later, when I would make any sort of statement about politics, these people would say things like, just because Nancy French seduced her pastor doesn’t mean that she should be able to speak about the Supreme Court or something like that.   Julie Roys  48:27 It’s infuriating. It’s infuriating, unbelievable.   NANCY FRENCH  48:30 I’ve never heard anything more evil than this; where you take the victim of pedophilia and say that they seduced a pastor. It’s so sinister. But these are people who y’all read, like, people read these writers, they’re associated with sort of legitimate magazines. I don’t know. I don’t read them. And they make fun of us. They make fun of our adopted daughter because she’s black. They say I had sex with men while my husband was deployed. And that’s how we got this baby. Not through adoption. And then for a time, they put fake-like photoshopped porn of me having sex with black men online and they would photoshop David’s face looking through the window at it, and they called him a cock-servative and obviously, he’s raising the enemy because we have a black child. So all black people are enemy. The evil that came at us with such a flood of evil. I could not even I still cannot even process it. That was all because we decided not to vote for Trump. So I mean, it’s like, I don’t wish it on my worst enemy.   Julie Roys  49:52 It’s unbelievable. It really is. And this is where, like you said, people continue to read some of these people. You call names in the book. You’re not doing it right now, that’s okay. But you can read the book. And you should.   NANCY FRENCH  50:03 Yeah, they’re so inconsequential to me. I was like, should I say their names or not? Because I don’t even like, I don’t even know what they look like. Like, I’m so not dialed in to whatever their thing is. So, you have this thing you’re like, should I elevate them by actually using their names? Or should I protect them? Because surely to goodness, in five minutes, they’re gonna realize they’re on the wrong side of this issue. You know, like, I feel bad for them. I don’t know what their deal is, or why they’re so obsessed with trying to attack victims of sex abuse. But it’s not like this is an anomaly. It’s not like the church otherwise really has it going on in terms of protecting children and women. So, anyway, yeah. So it’s hard to know what to do with these people. And I probably, I vacillated between wanting to name names and score settle. And I just decided not to do that generally, just because I think this story is important, the story is good in and of itself. And these people they’re not. They’re just tokens. They’re just indicative of the things that I wanted to talk about. And I wish them all the best. I hope all of us are progressing politically and spiritually and culturally, to the point where we get better. I feel like I’ve gotten better. And I know we all can, so I don’t even have animus toward them. But they really are on the wrong side of this.   Julie Roys  51:37 Yeah, absolutely. And I should say you name some names, but you do leave quite a few out. Although, if you put some things together, you can probably figure out who they are. But it is shocking what Christians are okay with and what I think this whole crazy political polarization has shown. And it’s been disorienting for a number of us Christians, I think, who are very surprised by it. For you, it cost you your job, your livelihood, essentially. I mean, you’re a ghostwriter, all of your clients were conservatives. We didn’t talk about it, but folks that you have to get the book and read the story about Mitt Romney and when you worked for Mitt Romney and the skiing story, I was laughing out loud. Oh, my gosh, I was laughing so hard.   NANCY FRENCH  52:33 I did include some anecdotes that do not reflect well on my virtue. There is a warning here.   Julie Roys  52:38 Oh that one! Yeah. Again, I’m just gonna tease that one. Because people have to read the book to read that one. And it’s hysterical. But  here you are. You’re basically an unemployed ghostwriter. And Gretchen Carlson comes to you and  tells you about an investigation you can do. It takes you like better part of a year, and you get paid like a big goose egg for it, like nothing. Which I have to, it reminds me of when I got fired at Moody, because that’s when I started investigating Harvest Bible Chapel and James McDonald. And I think that year, I did get paid for that article. But that’s like, the only thing that I wrote for any other publication because I wrote it for World Magazine. But I think I came out ahead when I did, the income minus like, expenses. I made $300 that year. I know. It was fantastic. But  it was that kind of years, I could really relate to all of a sudden, you get this story just dropped on your lap, you tried to get other people to write it, and nobody did. And so you’re faced with this responsibility. And I know this all too well, where you know, a story. You know, I went to journalism school, you didn’t even go to journalism school. You’re a very good writer, an excellent writer. And I think you have obviously excellent investigation skills. And although you had to develop some of I mean, you just went out and you just began investigating this. And you get yourself in so deep that you realize, oh, my goodness, I gotta publish this, right? I’ve got to do something. So talk about it. This was Kanakuk camp, the largest Christian camp, and you find out there is widespread, like over decades, sexual abuse going on. It’s known, and yet, nobody has been held responsible, other than the actual abuser.   NANCY FRENCH  53:34 That’s a lot! Yeah. And you’re being very kind in your description of this. So like, literally, I tried to get everybody to cover this. And I don’t even have a degree period, let alone a journalism degree. And when I realized that I had to be the one to do this because I’m almost 50 years old and I’m a grown person who knows about the abuse. When I realized that and this is after losing my job and being fired, either being fired by or quitting all of my gigs and no money.   Julie Roys  55:13 That’s how we become investigative journalists. We get fired and nothing else you can do.   NANCY FRENCH  55:18 Nothing else you can do. I Googled, what does off the record mean? I didn’t know that there were layers of that, you know this, you’re laughing. It’s so crazy. There’s like no background, anyway. So I googled that. That’s how I started my investigation. It was three years of just angst and agony. And I didn’t have anyone to help because I’m just myself. I really needed a team of like five people or something. But I worked around the clock for three years, and I proved everything that I wanted to prove basically. I only published like 3% of what I know. But yeah, there was a bad guy at Kanakuk camps. He was there. His name is Pete Newman, he abused an estimated hundreds of male campers, several of whom have died via suicide. We still get tips over these deaths. So anyway, awful. But the thing that I uncovered was that Kanakuk camps and its CEO Joe White, they received 10 years of Red Flag Warnings. So they knew for 10 years that this bad guy was convincing campers to disrobe and to be completely nude. He played basketball nude with them; he was on four wheelers nude with them. Which by the way, absolutely disgusting. Just that fact visualizing that they knew that. They knew that parents complained, one camper saw Pete Newman abusing another camper. And they told the Female Camper who was the witness that they didn’t think she was Christian enough to go to the camp. So Pete Newman is in jail. But all of the people who allowed this abuse to happen, they’re still running the camp to this day, nobody’s resigned, nobody’s been fired. The same people. And there’s 25,000 kids who go there per summer. So that’s why I’m so alarmed by it. If you Google Kanakuk, almost everything written about it is me, regrettably. It's  out there, and you can read about it. So I would encourage people and parents just to become aware of that. The reason I’m so sad and despondent over the issue is that I proved everything and the church, their reaction was laconic, is that the right word? I don’t even know what that means. They were not as alarmed as I thought they should be.   Julie Roys  57:38 Apathetic for sure. I mean, they just didn’t care. It’s callous. I mean, I have had investigations that turned out great. Like James McDonald, Harvest Bible Chapel. He got fired, all the elders stepped down. The Ravi Zacharias investigation, I think, pretty much it’s well established. But most of Christendom now realizes he was a sexual predator. John MacArthur, I don’t know what more I could have proved. I really don’t. And it’s been shocking to me that conservative, you know, pundits like Megan Basham still to this day, you know, will defend John MacArthur and I’m like, have you read this? I mean, we have so much documentation. We have video evidence. I mean, we have handwritten letters from him telling the teenage girl whose father molested her that she should forgive him and that he’ll stay on staff, and we know he stayed on staff three more years and then went on to pastor for decades more. And John MacArthur did nothing. It drives you absolutely insane. And you think what on earth is the matter with people? Like what is wrong with you? Nothing has been done to John MacArthur. Nothing has been done to Joe White. Christians continue to just send their kids to a camp where clearly they’re not being protected. How do you come to terms with this, Nancy?   NANCY FRENCH  59:01 I don’t. I’m so depressed. I’ve been in a bad mood for many years. To be completely honest, I don’t know how to resolve it. I’m so depressed over it. And then the Kanakuk investigation dropped like a few days after the SBC was revealed to have all these sexual predators in a database conveniently tracking all the sexual predators and keeping them from the cops. I have no answers and I have decided that I cannot be responsible for the church and their collective inaction on this. That I am not responsible. I cannot exact justice. I just can’t. I am standing on the side of the road with this giant sign over my head saying, justice is coming. Justice is important. One day this will be better. It is not today. But I’ve just decided I’m just going to talk about it. People make fun of me because I’m a one-note song. If you follow me on Twitter or on any of the social media channels, I’m like, Hey, guys, today in Kanakuk saga number 550 million, I’m talking about this, because I have so much information. I published, like 3% of what I know. And so I just want to warn parents and I have, and so I feel comfortable with that. I will not stop talking about it. Lawsuits have been filed based on my investigative work, what I was able to uncover, and I trust lawyers more than I trust the actions of the church in terms of holding people accountable, which, you know, is sad. But I am thankful for attorneys and for brave victims and survivors speaking out. So I’m very thankful. But it took me a long time to get to that point and, I’m not okay with it. I’m sad and depressed. I’m sad about the Christian celebrities who are associated with Kanakuk camps, who won’t speak out. I’m sad about the parents who send their kids to Kanakuk camps. And I’m sad just for all the grieving families who’ve lost family members because of this abuse, it’s awful. And I’m so inspired by the families who choose to say that their loved one who died via suicide,  was a victim at Kanakuk camps. A brave family in Texas did that first and that started all of it.   Julie Roys  1:01:26 Well, you’ve done a Herculean task by digging into that, and if you want a place to publish, you know, the other 97%. If you get well enough, we would love to publish it. I know we published. I mean, based on your research, really, we’ve sort of rewritten some of this stuff, but it’s really well done, really well documented, and you’ve done a service for the church. And you’ve warned people. I figure that’s all we can do, is we can warn people, and then what people do with it, at the end of the day, we have to you’re right, we have to let that go. Because that’s in God’s hands. And we did our job. We warned them, we told them the truth, but it is frustrating. You said, There’s a quote that I just want to read of yours. It’s so good. And I so related to it. You said throughout my life, I desperately wanted to identify the good people and the bad people. So I could walk more confidently among them. Befriending the good ones avoiding the bad ones. I categorized people into tribes, according to their political views, their church attendance, and their voting patterns. But this line was fuzzier than I’d originally believed. I feel that the people we thought were the good guys aren’t necessarily the good guys. I still hold on to my faith, I still have the same convictions. I hold them differently now. I hold them differently. And I think there’s an openness to people that I wouldn’t necessarily be open to before. But talk about where you’re at now with kind of maybe seeing a little more gray than you did before or good, where you made might have seen bad and how you’re processing that?   NANCY FRENCH  1:03:22 Well, I mean, probably the most interesting and honest answer is I realized how that the line separating good and evil runs through my own heart, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said. And I was guilty of a bunch of stuff. I was politically acrimonious; I was mean to my Democrat neighbors. Mean meaning in my rhetoric. Like I help people own the LIBS or whatever. But I think there’s something very beautiful about aging, I’m almost 50. I do not care about my brand management. For all of you listening, I am not one of the good guys on the good side of the line, and I do all this stuff right. I do some things right. Probably hold a lot of beliefs that I won’t hold in 10 years, hopefully, because you know, you change and you get better and you want to allow space for you to get better, for your party to get better, for your church to get better. I think it’s interesting how you say you hold your beliefs differently. I am just so thankful for being able to not protect your brand. To the church. You’re not God’s PR branch. He doesn’t need you. He doesn’t need you in terms of his marketing. You can embrace the truth of whatever is uncomfortable, and you can talk about it without damaging the gospel, without damaging the church. In fact, you’re protecting the church when you’re calling out evil, you’re protecting children. When you’re calling out evil, you’re protecting women when you’re calling out evil, you’re protecting men. And so you don’t have to say like, oh, well, I’m a Christian, so therefore, I cannot criticize anything that is happening in the church. In fact, that’s biblically the opposite of what we are actually commanded to do. And so I have been guilty of being politically acrimonious and uncharitable towards my neighbor, not protecting the reputations of my neighbor. And I changed. And so I fully believe all of us can change. But that’s not to say that I’m the arbiter of all that is good. And now these people are bad, but it’s just all mixed up. And I feel like we have such capacity for both good and evil. And there’s part of you that is sort of like sobered by that. And then part of me is like, liberated. It’s like, okay, well, that explains a lot. That’s why I’m so petty. That’s why I yell at the kids when I don’t mean to, that’s when I get frus

Editorial «El comunismo es en su núcleo ateísmo», afirma el Cardenal Gerhard Müller, prefecto emérito del Dicasterio para la Doctrina de la Fe, agregando que, esta condición atea, se desdobla en una triada de «sin Dios, sin gracia, sin amor», tal como lo describió Alexander Solzhenitsyn, un destacado crítico del comunismo. Noticias internacionales Colombia: Arzobispo consagrará Cali a Jesús Eucaristía Europa: Nueve países rechazan la promoción de políticas LGTBIQ Hispanoamérica: Opus Dei celebra 50 años de la visita de San Josemaría  Alemania: El clero joven es conservador y contrario al progresismo eclesial Noticias nacionales Presentado el cartel del Corpus Christi de La Laguna de Tenerife Exposición «Vivo» de Toledo, dedicada a la Eucaristía Se acerca la Feria del Libro de Madrid Noticias de la Santa Sede El Cardenal Parolin viajará a Ucrania en julio como representante del Papa El Papa otorga el culto litúrgico como Beato a Guido de Montpellier En la Audiencia General de este miércoles el Papa reflexionó sobre la humildad  

Welcome back to Gospel Conversations. So on with the Exodus journey as we 'cross the river and start to generate some new paradigms for the gospel. I like the term 'paradigm' as it does explain what we are trying to do rather well. A paradigm is a way of looking at something or a way of arranging it in our minds. So it is a 'pattern'. In a sense it is very different from 'content. It is much more a way of looking at the same content, but differently. In my experience, paradigms are the critical ways to grow and develop. Changing them seems not just intellectual but existential. Sometimes people only change paradigms when circumstances force them to do so. By that I mean, circumstances reveal the inadequacy of old paradigms, and demand we develop new ones. For lots of people this is just plain scary but I think it is the means of growth. So I am presenting Exodus as a 'paradigm' through which we can look at the same gospel in broader ways. In this talk I use literary features to the Exodus event - and how it is handled by the prophets much later in the OT. As I have often said, "bible as literature" is a new and widening approach to reading the Bible. In this talk I look at the way the motif of 'creation' is echoed, built on, and then extended through the lens of the Exodus account. So 'creation' is not just used as a one-off image, for salvation but it is an organising motif that recurs throughout the OT - and the NT. So we get a kind of reverberation of themes that echo back and forth; they reach back and they reach forward. The upshot is that the governing theme or image emerges as something much bigger than any of the events that it illuminates. It emerges as the architecture of what is happening. So that is what I am arguing in this talk that the 'creation/Genesis' framework does. In this talk, I mention how Alexander Solzhenitsyn did something very similar in his epic book, 'Cancer Ward'. If you have never read any Solzhenitsyn, and want to find a good - or great - novel to read, have a go at 'Cancer Ward'. It is mesmerising.  

OK Annabel is still OOO, so Emilie has roped in a friend of the pod, the marvellous Esther Coren to help. Esther has her own podcast, Giles Coren Has No Idea and a Substack called The Spike and she also gives excellent book recommendations. Given we're all feeling mad, bad and dangerous to know (not in a swashbuckling-Byronic-way but in a teetering on The-Brink-kind-of-way) perhaps books can soothe us tiny bit: little umbrellas for the mind. We talk about The Paleo Life by Clare Foges (out June 6), Quint by Robert Lautner, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (May 14), One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Egg & I by Betty MacDonald (out of print, but will be on World of Books, which, incidentally, is the preloved Amazon), Hugo Rifkind's Rabbits (also June 6), and In Memoriam by Alice Winn. Plus there's a cameo from Esther's cat Iris.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm joined by the one and only Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. If you want to be better informed without feeling overwhelmed, this is a conversation you should hear. Sometimes, it's reassuring to remember that the current systems of control and plunder cannot continue on like this forever. As James Howard Kunstler explains, it's the twilight of the blobs. It's hard to overstate the kind of moral clarity that Alexander Solzhenitsyn brought to the table. Joshua Hofford shares his thoughts on Solzhenitsyn and the economic lesson of Soviet gulags. Article of the Day: We are living in a time where trust in our public institutions is fading quickly. Charles Hugh Smith says a low-trust society is an impoverished society. Sponsors: Life Saving Food  TMCP Nation Iron Sight Brewing Co. Quilt & Sew

He was the Russian dissident who dared to call Vladimir Putin a criminal. We step inside Alexei Navalny's last days in an Arctic prison camp. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian's app. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet, and edited by Lia Tsamoglou. Original music is composed by Jasper Leak.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Lent ushers in a time of reflection and renewal, we stand at the precipice of an epic confrontation - one that will determine the course of our spiritual and societal destiny. Join me, Jack Rigert, as we navigate the complexities of this battle, drawing upon the profound insights of Saint John Paul II to illuminate the stark contrast between the city of God and the city of man. Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we'll explore the urgency of divine intervention in our post-COVID world, and the vital importance of fortifying our spiritual armor.The personal metamorphosis of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, from a Marxist to a Christian in the Siberian gulags, serves as a powerful testament to the individual's capability for change and the inherent struggle between good and evil within us all. This episode delves into the perils of ideologies that deny the truth of original sin and the critical role that the family and marriage play in the foundation of a robust society. We'll reflect on how John Paul II's teachings can empower us to confront these challenges, holding onto the promise of redemption through Christ's love.This Lenten season, we're called to enter into a sacred romance with God, opening our hearts to the transformative power of trust and detachment as modeled by Jesus in the Gospels. And as we journey through these forty days, don't miss the inspiring story of Nancy Charles, whose powerful testimony of healing and conversion serves as a beacon of hope. Her encounter with the unconditional love of Jesus Christ reminds us that our faith is much more than managing sin—it's a path to profound transformation."The future of humanity passes by way of the family"--John Paul II.Please send donations to support our work to:John Paul II Renewal Center902 S Randall RoadSTE C #296St. Charles, IL. 60174Support the show     Don't forget to sign up for our Newsletter!!  JPll Renewal Center email listFor more information please go to our website: jp2renew.orgSupport the show

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a name that every American should know.  But sadly, and unsurprisingly, few do. Solzhenitsyn grew up in the height of Soviet Russia and became disillusioned with the Soviet apparatus and published articles and books criticizing Josef Stalin and the regime.  To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Gulag Archipelago, Julie is joined by Spencer Klavan for this episode in the Thinker of the Month series to talk about why we should all know about the life of Solzhenitsyn and his insights about communism.  Spencer A. Klavan, editor of The American Mind, associate editor of the Claremont Review of Books, host of the Young Heretics podcast, is also the author of How to Save the West: Ancient Wisdom for 5 Modern Crises https://shorturl.at/zFR57 Spencer and his father Andew have started a new substack The New Jerusalem https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/archive Check out other Julie Hartman videos: https://www.youtube.com/@juliehartman Follow Julie Hartman on social media: Website: https://juliehartmanshow.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julierhartman/ X: https://twitter.com/JulieRHartman See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos joins me for another epic session of wrongthink. Eric always has a thoughtful take on what's happening and solid recommendations on how we can respond. What's the difference between the sheeple and we the people? Donald Jeffries has an interesting take on the love/hate relationship we all have with those who dare not push back. Could the 2024 election cause society to collapse? USA Today takes a blind swat at what prepping is and why we do it. If nothing else, you'll find it interesting how non-preppers perceive us. Article of the Day: If you're feeling the need for some authentic clarity, few writers can rekindle the sparks of the spirit like Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Daniel Mahoney explains why The Gulag Archipelago is relevant to our day. Sponsors: Life Saving Food  TMCP Nation Climbing Upward Quilt & Sew

Alright people, we made it. Six months, a few breaks, some uncontrollable laughter, some philosophy, many unhinged takes, a little bit of diarrhea and we're here, the last Ask Us Anything. After this we're never answering another God D*** question. Ever. We discuss Do you wish you could change your own interests? Methods of information ingestion Taking books off their pedestal bit Intellectual influences Veganism (why Ben is, why Vaden isn't) Anti-rational memes Fricken Andrew Huberman again Stoicism Are e-fuels the best of the best or the worst of the worst? Questions (Andrew) Any suggested methods of reading Popper (or others) and getting the most out of it? I'm not from a philosophy background, and although I get a lot out of the books, I think there's probably ways of reading them (notes etc?) where I could invest the same time and get more return. (Andrew) Any other books you'd say added to your personal philosophical development as DD, KP have? Who and why? (Alex) Are you aware of general types of insidious anti-rational memes which are hard to recognise as such? Any ideas on how we can go about recognising them in our own thinking? (I do realise that perhaps no general method exists, but still, if you have any thoughts on this...) (Lorcan) What do you think about efuels? Listen to this take (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egTCIyNBpQw&ab_channel=FullyChargedShow) by Fully Charged. References Lying (https://www.samharris.org/books/lying) and Free Will (https://www.samharris.org/books/free-will) by Sam Harris Doing Good Better (https://www.amazon.ca/Doing-Good-Better-Effective-Altruism/dp/1592409660) by MacAskill Animal Liberation (https://www.amazon.ca/Animal-Liberation-Definitive-Classic-Movement/dp/0061711306) by Peter Singer Mortal Questions (https://www.amazon.ca/Mortal-Questions-Thomas-Nagel/dp/1107604710#:~:text=Thomas%20Nagel's%20Mortal%20Questions%20explore,%2C%20consciousness%2C%20freedom%20and%20value.) by Thomas Nagel Death and Life of Great American Cities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_and_Life_of_Great_American_Cities) by Jane Jacobs Peace is Every Step (https://www.amazon.ca/Peace-Every-Step-Mindfulness-Everyday/dp/0553351397) and True Love (https://www.amazon.ca/True-Love-Practice-Awakening-Heart/dp/1590304047) by Thich Nhat Hanh Seeing like a State (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State#:~:text=Seeing%20Like%20a%20State%3A%20How,accordance%20with%20purported%20scientific%20laws.) by James Scott The Truth Behind Cage-Free and Free-Range | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foHv_MCBveA&ab_channel=StuffYouShouldKnow) People Producers of rational memes: - Everything: Christopher Hitchens, Vladimir Nabokov, Sam Harris, George Orwell, Scott Alexander, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Steven Pinker - Sex and Relationships: Dan Savage - Environment/Progress: Vaclav Smil, Matt Ridley, Steven Pinker, Hans Rosling, Bjorn Lomborg, Michael Shellenburger, Alex Epstein - Race: Glenn Loury, John Mcwhorter, Coleman Hughes, Kmele Foster, Chloe Valdery - Woke: John Mcwhorter, Yasha Mounk, Coleman Hughes, Sam Harris, Douglas Murrey, Jordan Peterson, Steven Hicks, James Lindsay, Ben Shapiro - Feminism: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Christina Hoff Summers, Camille Paglia (Note: Then follow each thinker's favorite thinker, and never stop. ) Producers of anti-rational memes: - Eric Weinstein - Bret Weinstein - Noam Chomsky (See A Potpourri Of Chomskyan Nonsense: https://lingbuzz.net/lingbuzz/001592/v6.pdf) - Glenn Greenwald - Reza Aslan - Medhi Hassan - Robin Diangelo - Ibraam x Kendi - George Galloway - Judith Butler Socials Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link Help us fund the anti-book campaign and get exclusive bonus content by becoming a patreon subscriber here (https://www.patreon.com/Increments). Or give us one-time cash donations to help therapy costs here (https://ko-fi.com/increments). Click dem like buttons on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4wZzQyoW4s4ZuE4FY9DQQ) What aren't you interested in, and how might you fix that? Tell us at incrementspodcast@gmail.com

Picture this: we live in a world where the presence of God is forgotten, and men grapple with the subsequent tyranny and oppression. Hard to imagine? Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn didn't think so. In fact, he forewarned us about the perils of atheism and the horrors of communism that he personally witnessed. In this episode, we bring that warning to life, discussing the consequences of godlessness and how it feeds into the narrative of good versus evil. As we delve deeper, we shift to the modern man's struggles, Jack shares the story of Craig, a man battling with chronic fatigue, anxiety, and his relationship with God. Reflecting on how the rejection of God leads to internal battles and how it shapes our realities. We also take a closer look at the timeless battle between good and evil, emphasizing the importance of prayer, sacraments, and understanding scripture. Please consider being a Sponsor! "The future of humanity passes by way of the family"--John Paul II.Please send donations to support our work to:John Paul II Renewal Center902 S Randall RoadSTE C #296St. Charles, IL. 60174Support the show     Don't forget to sign up for our Newsletter!!  JPll Renewal Center email listFor more information please go to our website: jp2renew.orgSupport the show

This week on First Liberty Live! you'll get to know our client Jace Yarbrough. This patriot's military career as a reservist in the United States Space Force is on the verge of ruin. He's being punished for something he said as a civilian at a small private retirement ceremony that he presided over for a close friend in his off-duty capacity. Motivated by his religious beliefs, Jace quoted prominent Christian Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, widely known for his powerful essay titled, “Live Not by Lies.” Jace's speech warned about dishonesty and a growing cancel culture in our country, including in the military. First Liberty's Danielle Runyan joins us to unpack this case. Don't miss hearing about Jace's story and what we're doing to stop censorship in the Space Force.

Show notes and Transcript Today we delve into grass-roots activism, we have all seen the yellow boards pop up at road junctions across the country, joined with a cacophony of car horns in support.  When online censorship tries to curtail the flow of information, it's time to go back to the traditional methods. Billboards.  Francis O'Neill has become known to many of us for his high profile involvement with this new/old medium. He joins Hearts of Oak to discuss why he got involved and what the response has been from the public. The concern has moved on from forced jabs to full covid tyranny and the threat of a cashless society, with control through surveillance now the biggest threat we face to our freedom. Connect with Francis and The Yellow Boards Movement... X:                        https://x.com/FrancisxONeill?s=20                            https://x.com/YellowBoards?s=20 SUBSTACK:       https://francisoneill.substack.com/ LINKS:                https://heylink.me/yellow_boards/ Interview recorded 26.9.23 *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art https://theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com/ and follow him on GETTR https://gettr.com/user/BoschFawstin and Twitter https://twitter.com/TheBoschFawstin?s=20  To sign up for our weekly email, find our social media, podcasts, video, livestreaming platforms and more... https://heartsofoak.org/connect/ Support Hearts of Oak by purchasing one of our fancy T-Shirts.... https://heartsofoak.org/shop/ Please subscribe, like and share! Transcript (Hearts of Oak) Francis O'Neill. It is wonderful to have you with us.Thanks so much for giving us your time today. (Francis O'Neill) Thank you, Peter. Thanks for having me.  Great. And obviously, wanted you on, seen many of the videos, pictures, the whole thing with yellow boards, trying to get a different narrative, I guess, to what the mainstream put out. But people can find you. There is your Twitter handle @FrancisXONeill. Also, the sub stack, the links are in the description and they're also on your Twitter page. Francis, maybe before we get into what's been happening, how you've been getting a message out, the response from the public, what are the issues which have become a freedom encompasses a lot and it's become much wider than anti-Covid tyranny. Do you just want to maybe introduce yourselves, because we have probably two-thirds US audience actually now, and they may not be aware of who you are. Do that first and then we'll jump onto the yellow boards. Well, I'm actually a self-employed artist and I was teaching just life drawing and portrait painting. I was living in Oxford and making a living doing that. I was teaching from a studio, which I rented as part of a complex with other artists. And that's how I was getting by. I was doing jobs, sometimes teaching in other locations, but I'd become aware that things weren't as presented in the mainstream media due to 9-11. I had questions on the day, but I wasn't really woken up on the day. I just thought that would be resolved by investigations and so on. But as you know, with the prevalence of the internet, I mean, you start to become aware that there are alternative theories out there. I started to look into that quite deeply. And once I became aware that the official story of 9-11 was not true, I started to question other aspects of our society, our history, the way we were being told things, the way information was being presented to us. And you start to question the sources. And so I became, I underwent the process that a lot of people have gone on since 2020. I underwent it probably around from 2003 onwards. And so when 2020 came, I was already aware that this wasn't going to be true. This was another ruse. This was another means of control. It was part of a larger agenda, which we now know is called Agenda 2030, or it's the World Economic Forum calls it The Great Reset, it is a means of removing our wealth and our, sovereignty to control us. From the very beginning in 2020, I thought something needs to be done about this. I also felt a sense of guilt that the 9-11 truth movement, which I had been a part of, had not done enough. I remember the first day, I was waiting for people to arrive for my class and they did not come. This was before the lockdown, a few days before it was officially announced. I thought, oh my gosh, they are all falling for it, we haven't done enough, I was in a classroom and there was nobody here. I was waiting for people to turn up. I thought this is going to be bad. I had a sense of dread and worry on that day. I was thinking they were really falling for it. I started to be very active very quickly. I emailed everybody I knew on my mailing list for my classes. Everybody, my peers who shared the studios with me. I made my position known, which may have been a mistake professionally and it cost me later because people thought you were spreading the plague, they knew you weren't going to be compliant and so I lost, I was actually forced out of the studio mid-2021 because I wasn't complying with any regulations. But I also got out on the street within about a month. I started making videos, I was making posts routinely anyway about the truth movement. But I'd say it was about April, we started to be, I started to do the first outreach in the streets. I started making videos more to wake up my friends and family and they did actually work, I did get through to my family, they didn't actually, I never like to speak about what they didn't do, but you know what, there was an element of success there, I felt. And so, but in short, I became active. I eventually left Oxford because I'd lost my place of work, which was where I was making my income from I lost that studio because I was forced out in 2021. So I ended up in London in 2022, and I became attached to the Yellow Boards, which is what you were referencing there. And this group, the yellow boards, actually I saw first happening in New Zealand. There was a group of people along a street, a video went round, probably around 2021, late 2021, of people questioning the vaccines and they had yellow boards with slogans on them, like every 50 yards along a stretch of road. And the questions would develop as the driver went past and someone had filmed it from a car. Now this took on in England and also with the rebels, we have a thing called rebels in roundabouts, which started in Stockport. One of the guys there actually said that he'd seen my videos from Oxford and it had helped sort of inspire or encourage him to get out and do that sort of thing. One of the guys who set up the Rebels and Roundabouts. But Yellow Boards is not my invention, it's something that I've, got involved with that was already ongoing by the time I arrived in London in 2022 and so what's happened is sort of, I'm not really an organiser or a maker of flyers and boards and things like like that. So there are very hardworking people who do this. And I seem to be the one who, like an unofficial spokesperson, I'll speak to the camera and I'll speak to people. If someone comes to ask a couple of questions, they'll say, go and speak to him. They'll talk to you. And so that's my role. I just talk to people and present the information as best I can. So your name keeps coming up. Francis O'Neill, you know, yellow boards. Oh, yes. So I want to, there are a couple of things I want to pick up on that, But let me just play some of the clips from around London, just to give the viewers and listeners an idea of what happens in case they have not seen it. So let me just, the first one is, the first one, actually, is Shepherds Bush, I think. Let me see. First one, Shepherds Bush, which I know very well, just around the corner in West London. Let me just play this little clip. And then there are two others from London. (cars beeping in support of yellow boards) So that was Shepherd. Let me do just another one up in Harrow. Shepherd Bush is West London. Harrow is kind of North West and it's the same thing and I want to ask you about kind of that response. You obviously hear the horns beeping on the cars, but here is North West London and Harrow. (Music and cars beeping in support of the yellow boards) We could go on, let me, we could show a lot of them. Can I ask you, when you went out, what were you expecting? We are, many people watching, they'll be engaged in trying to change opinion of those around them. You jump out and do something in the wide world with the public. Tell us about kind of the response you've got and obviously we hear the horns beeping. Is that a regular occurrence? When I first started going out in Oxford in 2020, the response was different. We are talking about lockdowns and people were very hostile. Oxford is like an academic town and has a lot of the research facilities like the Jenner Institute. With regard to that, initially it was very hostile but there were people who were very grateful. Thank God there is somebody who is out there on the street. I felt all alone and I didn't realise other people thought like me. You tend to get a range of those emotions. And we do different subjects obviously, so in London with the yellow boards, the ULEZ , obviously with car drivers, is almost universally unpopular. It is restricting car movement and so on. I think it is also serving to waken people up to the wider problems and agendas I mentioned earlier. With the ULEZ, when we put ULEZ boards up, you tend to get a good response. The good thing about it is, not there are some people who will disagree and they may drive cars because they still think it's in their best interest to have less pollution or whatever the tagline is it seems to vary which I think is very strange as well sometimes it's about an environmental emergency and sometimes it's about children with asthma and obviously it could be about both in theory if it's about clean air, but it's not about clean air because actually if you test the air in London in most places it's very very clean and where they do have hot spots they're not doing anything particular to to solve the pollution in those areas and also on the tube it's up to it's, different studies have said different things like it's 40 times dirtier and people tested maybe have made it higher in terms of the contaminants in the air on the tube so they don't do anything about the air on the tube which is where they're trying to push everybody to go into the public transport but they're concerned about the air where it's actually well within safety standards above ground. And I think people are wise to that. I think people in the cars, they've cottoned on to the fact that this isn't true. So when we go out now, particularly, and it has increased over the time I've been involved, and also obviously since the time it started, but as I say, I can speak from my experience from, 2022, probably mid-2022 in London, even the ULEZ, now it's deafening. You go out there, You get constant car horns. We are not always filming. Sometimes you miss the bits where it is ridiculous, the noise and the cacophony of cars going past. It depends on the location. Sometimes you go to a location that is more muted. And you get more conflicts of opinions where people think that... It is usually people... We are always a bit wary of the cyclists because they sometimes hurl abuse at you. You often get people going past on the bikes as well, tinkling bells going, as in because they don't have a horn obviously on the bicycle so they'll show their support tinkling the bell so so you just can never be sure who's going to say what to you, but the pedestrians... Can be interesting and say things to you. And then you get into dialogue. And sometimes people in the cars will say things like, or like they'll say you're crazy, or I had a guy waving his asthma inhaler at me today. You don't care about me. And I'm saying, well, it's not about air. And I try to explain the things I've just mentioned about how the air is worse on the tube. And when you test the air, it's fine. And it's about control. And I try and make them aware of that. But we all try to be as non-confrontational as possible, but sometimes we get told we're killing children, which is ironic if you actually look at what's going on in the world at the moment. So we're the ones killing children. So yeah, so mixed responses, but overwhelmingly positive about the ULEZ. And I'd actually say we went to the COVID inquiry and we, when Abi Roberts got arrested. And I was surprised given the varied reactions we'd had to COVID lockdown and vaccination outreach that we'd done before, the overwhelming-  Tell us about it, because obviously it started, all of this has started in a pushback towards restrictions under the COVID tyranny. And I know you were there, I know Abi was arrested. We had her on just after, and her talking about how you were waiting outside, waiting for her. And I think you realize who your friends are in situations like that, when you get arrested. Where's everyone gone? Oh, they've gone home, and you waited outside. And that camaraderie, that connection, that networking, that standing shoulder to shoulder has been something that I've seen turning develop over the last three years. I met Abi at one of the marches in London where they have these worldwide rallies for freedom and Abi is a regular at those and I had a mutual friend and said, Abi is going you need to say hello to her. So I said hello to her and you never know if you're going to hit it off with people or whatever. Abi and I were interviewed by somebody came up and interviewed us and we just had like a sort of rapport and it was funny, we were making a bit of a joke with the interviewer and things like this. And so we hit it off and we had a nice conversation and then stayed in touch and just said, like, I'm going down to the COVID inquiry. And I knew that she'd be interested because Matt Hancock, who was our health secretary during the lockdown, was gonna be there that day. And she said, okay, I'll come down. And so she came down to hold a yellow board and make her presence and her opinions known. And she only lasted half an hour.  I understand what you mean when you say Abi making her opinions known, it's beautiful. She wasn't actually that bad, I mean I know that she's very, as in from the police or the establishment perspective, she wasn't that bad, it was just kind of hilarious that she probably lasted about 23 minutes and we had a half-past eight in the morning or something like this in there. And anyway, so she, we walked behind a camera with the yellow board, and we'd been told not to encroach on this space where the camera's filmed. The previous time we'd been at the COVID inquiry, which was about a week before, a few days before. And Abi hadn't been there, so she didn't know, so she just marched in behind and held a board behind one of the reporter's heads. And actually it was a station that she'd previously worked for, the GB News one. So I followed her in and put a board up there and just thought we'll stay here until they move us on. And we did it with Sky TV as well. And then, uh... And she said a few things to the ranks of cameramen and photographers. What have you all been doing? Why are you not reporting anything? And she might have used the F word a couple of times, but nothing too severe, nothing they hadn't heard. And then this guy came out and she's told the story anyway. But yeah, it's on film, you can see. So when she started, when they came to arrest her, I just thought I need to keep my mouth shut because I'll speak over the dialogue and I'll just film it and get a really good footage of it. But then I didn't know whether to put the footage out in case they didn't have any incriminating evidence against her. So I had to sit on the footage until she was released. And then she, there was one moment where I thought the police reacted, I haven't mentioned this before, so in the footage you can see the police, one guy's already told her she's arrested and the others are trying to reason with her, so it didn't really make sense, and they seem to be trying to calm her down and she was saying, do you see this? And she showed one of the badges that she wears for Trudy and whose son committed suicide during lockdown and she was saying, you know, and they, the police, in my first impression of it seemed to recoil at that point. And I thought, oh, wow, that was powerful. Like I was filming it and then, and they seemed to, but when I watched the footage back, I think what actually happened though, he thought was, we can't reason with this woman. They gave up trying to like mollify her and settle it down and stuff. That, cause I thought at first it was the power cause that's what it affected me. And I thought, oh wow, that's got to have an effect. But actually I don't think that's what happened. I just thought that she's, we're going to have to, but they'd already arrested her. So, and then they arrested her and they took her away. And I felt a bit, because I'd invited her down, kind of knowing that she'd provide a bit of fireworks, right? So I felt a bit like, what's the guy? Fagin or something, getting her into trouble. And then she was in the cell. So I felt kind of a responsibility as well. And also thought that if I was in the cell and everyone just went home, I'd come out thinking that's not very nice. So I went down to wait. And also she told me it's only going to be a couple of hours because she'd been given that suggestion. And then as I started to wait and it started to get into the evening, she'd been there 12 hours, the police started to say to me, listen, mate, you're going to have a long wait. And they'd obviously changed the way in which they were going to process her because instead of it just being a basic, you know, you've done a minor misdemeanor, let's get you in and out. They just decided to be awkward and hold her in and charge her in a different way. And they let her out at three in the morning just to be, I think, just to make it unpleasant and uncomfortable for her. So the police became aware of this and rather kindly actually said to me, like, you'll be waiting a long time mate, you should probably go home, she's not going to be let out till the morning. So I had to go and that's what happened. Obviously the whole COVID, well COVID whitewash, not inquiry, but tell us how, because whenever you've been out with boards, it's one thing going with those big demos, where it's that spirit of togetherness and everyone is 100% awake, where you go out on the streets, you kind of expect it to be it to be different. I'm sure going to those demos, I'm sure you've got a lot of pat on the backs and a lot of kind of well done and realizing that people appreciate how you're putting the message out.  Well on the bigger demos, you're amongst a lot of people so there's the strength in numbers and as you say that you can have a chat with people who think the same as you, you still get some people even on the bigger ones if you're on the edges on the peripheries of a group of people marching down a street where people will pull faces or say get lost or shout some abuse at you. You occasionally get that, not normally though because of the numbers because they're slightly intimidated by the numbers. People tend to keep their opinions to themselves when they see thousands of people marching down. You are a little bit more exposed if you go out with a board but generally speaking it's okay. I mean, one of the, connected with the Yellow Boards, I should say, in Stockport, a thing called Rebels on Roundabouts started up at one of the roundabouts in Stockport near Manchester in the north of England. And I went down there a few times, because that's where I'm originally from. And we had eggs thrown at us from a passing car and things like that. And that occasionally happens. But to be honest, most of the time, I don't feel like I'm under threat. I know that sometimes people say nasty things to you and that might, other people might bother them more. I don't really, it doesn't really faze me, I don't think, I don't think it really fazes the people who do it. If people, a lot of the time people are not very brave when they confront you, for example, people will sit there in the car at the lights and when the lights change they'll shout something just as they're going, or the same with a cyclist, so, or if they're passing at speed, so sometimes it's quite funny when they say something to you and then the lights change and they have to stop and then they they sit there like that, or me, cause you can come and say something back then. So yeah, there's not, I don't know. It's not something that concerns me really. Like I think you are going to get people who disagree with you. And I would say my goal and the goal of people there is not to have a confrontation. So if somebody's, sometimes you get people really angry saying you're killing children, you know, it's disgusting. And because we say with ULEZ, they see that as saving children with asthma. Or that's what they've been primed to think. And we say, well, can you explain that? Like, or just, I just try and, or if someone's so in such a heightened state, I just let them carry on walking, or if I can, I'll try and reason with them and bring them down because I learned very quickly, that in 2020, if you go out there, if I go out there and I'm angry, which I was initially in 2020, and start shouting and raving. It's not gonna get anyone on your side. And that's the goal, really. So for the most part, we're there to have reasoned discussion and to share our views and to make people at the very, even if we can't change their minds, obviously, and sometimes you can't do that instantly, is just to make people think, realize that we're not crazy, that we are coming from a reasoned position. And I think that's very important. So we're not, because obviously, they'll say to you, you're a right wing conspiracy theorist, or Sadiq Khan said it. He said, like, you're COVID deniers, vaccine deniers, Tories, all this stuff, like, all the things could think of to say that might be words to lodge in people's brains but the interesting I think I've got a line that I always think of that people, everybody thinks that it's everybody else who falls for propaganda and that includes me so I'll think like oh someone else has fallen, has been brainwashed by the state propaganda but they'll think of me I've fallen for right wing propaganda it's always everybody else who falls for propaganda. It's never me or you know the person thinking so I think that if you can make people aware that there is a different way of looking at things and at least consider it even if you reject it. I think that's a that's all we can do with the yellow boards is to make that we're trying to circumvent mainstream, no mainstream media has censored our point of view so we're trying to find a route to introduce that other point of view in a respectable way to the public.  Yeah it is about making people think and not having that argument because that doesn't actually benefit you. But what about you because I mean it's like a political campaign, I mean I remember back in the days of UKIP, knocking doors, flyers, non-stop and it's about getting the message out and you'd see billboards about different political parties and what you're doing, it's kind of getting the message out, it's PR but it's kind of that field. I mean, how did you, are you, have you been involved politically? Are you a massively outgoing person? Because people think I wouldn't want to stand on a road junction with a huge sign. I mean, people want to keep their thoughts to themselves, not to display it to the world. What was that like. Did you have anything politically background that you had engaged a lot with people on different issues? Not all and I as I say, I started online with the 9-11 truth movement and I used to feel like an imperative. So once you become aware that that say for example, there's a great injustice going on like the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The removal of our freedoms as well, even if you want to be selfish about it with the in the United States it was the Patriot Act and here we had the terrorism act and you could see the trajectory of of the state machinations then you think well if I do nothing that's going to continue and this isn't going to end well even from a selfish point it's not going to end well for me but I also felt like if I was in Iraq or Afghanistan or any of the other countries affected by the 9-11 wars which have been raging for 20 years so it's like northern Pakistan there's places in Africa and every that being bombed and so and also you've got Syria, Libya, Yemen all these places that have been affected I thought well I'd want someone to at least make a few memes on my behalf in the country. So that's what I used to do. I used to try and make posts and raise awareness and use the internet as many of us are now doing since 2020. So that's what I saw as something that I could contribute. And also I saw myself as being someone who could translate some of the dense material into the language or into the format, like a meme that people would engage with. So I'm not like an academic or a scientist or anything like that. I can read that stuff and think what is the kernel of truth we need to pass on and put that into that format. That is what I thought I could contribute to that movement. In 2020 I tried to do the same thing. That would be the role that I was trying to fulfil. So in terms of getting in the street and presenting that thing, I also think I have done a bit of teaching with the art I was talking about. So you get used to presenting information in front of people and being questioned and you know I've taught in front of kids, I've on in front of pensioners and so I'm not that uncomfortable speaking if I feel like I'm informed, in front of people. So there's that side of it. So maybe I was prepared to do a bit of that. But even if we're just holding a board, I think that was, I read, I think, around 2020 about if you're doing a revolutionary movement, you have to have something that other people can do. So like when we were doing the gazebo, one of the mistakes we probably made is that we would speak to and challenge the police and argue with the police and argue with the public. But not everybody feels that they want to do that. Nobody wants a confrontation really in their life. If you can go through your morning without arguing with the police, you'll probably take that, right? So that's not something that everybody can do and engage what wants to do. But if you do it much simpler, it's more passive. It's just like, you can use a yellow board. Everybody can pretend to be a signpost for a couple of hours, right? Everyone can just be like, oh yeah, I'm just holding this in the street. And it's a more passive way. And the cars are going past. Usually you can stand in a place where the cars aren't gonna stop and they're just whizzed by you and they'll just read your placard. And then you don't actually have to have an argument or a fight, you can just say, there's my board. So it's something that everybody can do is hold a board. You don't have to have read the scientific papers. You don't have to have, you know, you're not like you're arguing with Dr. Fauci or Matt Hancock or something. You can just hold the board and say, where's my freedom going or something. So there's that side of it. And that's something that everyone can do. It's easily replicable. And so you can do that. So the yellow boards have been sprouting up. And I think that's the key. got to give something that everybody can do. So it's that kind of thing. It's just making sure that we get the message out, that's the key thing. And it's not about really presenting to an audience, like in the sense of verbally. And something I've certainly seen is nothing is from the top. I think that's why the police, government, the media are so concerned about free thinking because it's a grassroots thing. You see the yellow boards popping up everywhere, some are organized and some are not and you see the change but I'm intrigued with how people came together on the issue of, against COVID here and the issue of freedom but then you realize that encompasses so much and let me actually, let me play one of the videos of you speaking on, is this the use cash one or is this ULEZ? Let me play it and then we can touch on kind of those other issues which have come up and I think as people have thought more about issues over the last three years they're more open to this but let me play this first one.  (Video of Francis plays) Okay we're here today at Harrow Road and if we take things in reverse and just look at things slightly differently and wonder if there was, in the hypothetical situation, that there was a plan or an agenda to deprive us of our freedoms and to change the way we live. What would it look like and how would they encourage us to consent to it? So, if they can't do it by force because maybe there's a smaller number, they would have to get us to believe that it was for our own good and in our best interest. So, they might then tell us, I don't know, like the end of the world's coming unless you all do what we say, like, you know, like the sky is going to fall on your head or something along those lines. And then they might start to say, what we need for you to do is to use less resources and maybe, Maybe not have a car, maybe lock yourself in your home, maybe we'll bring about some measures so that all independent traders lose their small businesses, so that then you're in the sort of grasp of the state, whether it's because you're on the dole, on a universal credit or whether you're working for corporations which seem to have a lot of control in our country at the moment. So, with that in mind then, people often ask me what it is that they should do, like when, we talk to them about the ULEZ, they say, what should we do about it? Now, what guys say to me with their vans, they say, I'm losing my van, I'm going to have to give up my van and because I've not got my van, I won't be able to work, in which, case I'd be in that situation I've just described. So that's a real problem. So, if you then think about it, there's a guy called Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who ended up in a labour camp in Russia, and old Alexander said, I wish we'd have got out there quicker when they first came to us with iron bars and pots and pans and done something about it. Now, I'm not suggesting you do that, but if you're going to lose your van anyway, and you're going to lose your job anyway, and be in state control, what other options have you got? Some people are using the options of taking down the cameras, and some people are not paying the fines. In fact, millions of pounds apparently are unpaid. Now, if everybody who beeps the horn, as you hear there, did not pay and refused to pay, this scheme would not work and we have to consider that if we're all going to lose everything anyway. I think that's a good point, how people respond. That is on ULEZ, which is obviously the ultra low emission zone, which is in London and attacking the motorist. I think I saw a meme somewhere that someone said, we're told that cars, your older vehicle is going to kill children, but if you pay $12.50 it's okay, the child is saved. It's not about money. But tell us about, because there's been massive support for, against the ULEZ with people cutting down cameras. I didn't think I would see that in Britain, that level of opposition and anger and law breaking. I thought, wow, something's broken in the spirit. It's not just the British shrugging their shoulders, which we think we saw in lockdown, but actually people are doing something. I mean, tell us about that in the response and how you see that push back on the attack on the motorists. Okay, so I want to just say something that I should have said in response to your last question, but I forgot, but you're asking me about the yellow boards and what we're doing that is that what we're trying to do with the yellow boards is do what the government did to us from 2020 onwards. So they put signs everywhere, they put arrows on the floor, they put everywhere you went. So we're trying to make it, they made it ubiquitous. It was just everywhere, like the lockdown was everywhere, you were on a bus, it was on the radio, it was on a screen, it was on a post, everything, public transport, shops, everywhere. You couldn't escape it. If you engaged in life outside your house or even inside your house through the screen, you were made aware that it was this virus and this lockdown and all this stuff and that's what you were supposed to believe. So we have to use that sort of tactic against them and make it feel like, and also what they did is they made everybody feel like everybody believed the same thing. So with the yellow boards, what we're doing is we're presenting a constant stream of, like if you're driving past, you'll see not just one, you'll see 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 yellow boards with these messages and repetitive messages and you'll hear the horns which make you think if you don't agree with us why do all these other people agree? Why are all these horns going off? So it makes you feel like you're the minority which is the reverse of what happened in 2020 when you thought you were the minority if you if you didn't believe the government. So we're using the same sort of tactics there. And so there's that side of it. And also, I think what I'm suggesting in that video is that if you can get someone to blow their horn, then that's an act of defiance, like it's just a little act of defiance. But that's how they got you. First of all, it was like, just three weeks to flatten the curve. Just three weeks, okay, or two weeks in the States. And then it's like, okay, just another three weeks, just a mask. So we're starting off with, just blow your horn. Right? And then if you can hear everyone blowing the horn, then you can think, okay, what's the next step then? Okay, maybe everyone agrees with me, everyone else is blowing the horn, so like, then maybe, maybe, then they take the next act of defiance. Now, we can't volunteer that and suggest that people do that because on video or anything else like that, because it's illegal to encourage people to break the law. All we can do is point to the options, right? And so the response there that you're seeing about the defiance in London, people cutting down the cameras. There are some of us who know, some people say we think we know, but we have read the agenda and it is documented, what this plan is. As you said, it is not about money, they print the money anyway, they can print all the money they want. These people are not short of money, they are not short of control in a way. They are trying to change the nature of humanity, they are trying to control us to, the point where they make us into drones that service the elite class who still fly about, use private planes and cars and whatever else they want and have the dominion over the countryside while we live in smart cities and are boxed in like little rabbit hutches. So if you know that, then as I pointed out there, then you take the Solzhenitsyn idea of grabbing your iron poker or your pots and pans and beating them off in whatever way possible. So if you're still in a system where there is a police force and you can get locked in jail, so what are the small acts of defiance you can do? you can not pay your fine and you can spread crazy foam, you can spray crazy foam over the ULEZ camera. So if you actually know that you're going to lose everything, then spraying foam over a camera is not that big a rebellion. And I think the people who know are taking down the cameras. You know, they realize this is a pivotal moment. This is a bridge that we cannot cross. And so that is why you're seeing that. And whilst it's unusual for the British be so rebellious. We don't really have a history of revolution. If you understand what is happening, this is the time to stand up if there's ever been a time. So that is why the cameras are coming down. Now, not everybody is at that level, and which the people who are know something is not right, they know they can't afford it. And the people in the vans are saying I'm being crushed. And I can't, there's people just drive and say, I won't be able to visit my mom, like I need to get them in the car, or she needs a lift or whatever it is. And there's people who are losing their businesses, because they rely on their van for the business to take all their tools to work and so on. So they know they're losing something. So if we can just nudge them along to, you know, a nudge as in the nudge unit, if we can use that same psychological nudging, you're not alone. Loads of people agree with you. You can be defiant. You can stand up. There's solidarity and it's quite fun to blow your horn and hear the mad noise and it's like it's a kind of, it's a little act of freedom. It's kind of weird because most of the time you you drive your car, you have to obey the code of the road, and you have to be, there's speed restrictions which are coming down all the time to lower and lower speeds. And you are, you know, you don't get this, most people are not in a position where they can just rant and rave at work or at home and support, just you can whack your horn, it's a little moment of freedom, and that feels good. Okay, well, maybe I'll try, and there's loads of it. So we're just trying to get people to recognise the numbers and the strengths, and they have the power. And it might not be as, maybe I'm talking that up a little bit, but I think that somebody has to take some steps somewhere and the more rebellious are taking down the cameras and the less rebellious are blowing the horns and we're hoping they can meet in the middle and just throw the whole thing out. I love that a one-pound thing of silly string or shaving foam can shut down a network of cameras that cost billions. It's beautiful to see that. I think, obviously, whenever you've got a system set up there for taking pictures of cars, automatic number plate recognition, and then that's fed in, that then is a whole surveillance system that is set up. And I think that some people realize that can be used and repurposed for anything but many people don't and you're told oh it just takes a picture and then it disappears and no it's part of a gathering of information on all of us. Do you think people realize that and are wakening up to that?  Yeah I think the harder they push and the more extreme and illogical the measures seem to people, more people look for the reasons behind them. More and more often now, if there is a line of cars and you speak to someone and they say it is madness, he is an idiot, Khan, the mayor of London, they will say he is an idiot. It is not just him though, they're like, yeah I know. Its a bigger thing. They know it is a bigger picture. They have to look at the motive for why it is happening. It doesn't make sense to people. Why would they be crushing us in this way? People tend to understand it is not just about money. and they can also see it. I mean, the surveillance is everywhere. In Britain, we have in the supermarkets, they film your face. So it's, and if you ask, you say, oh, it's about shoplifting, but they're not filming your bag or your hands, they're filming your face. And there's, you know, there's, and to do, interact with, you know, buying tickets or anything like that, you have to give your details and, or to get into your bank account, you need a phone and a laptop or two devices, one to verify the other. So people can see the surveillance state coming in and people can see cash being phased out. So I think people have an awareness that there's something bigger than just they're trying to clean the air for kids with asthma, these guys who don't care about the excess deaths or that nobody makes a peep about wars that kill and displace millions, but they really care about your granny and they really care about the kids with asthma down the street. And also I think to some extent, obviously I don't know enough people to know, but my experience at the COVID inquiry when people responded very positively to our questioning of the COVID vaccines and made me think that the vaccines have woken people up because I think some people will, many people know people who have not had the same health since they took the vaccine. So there's a whole variety of things that are coming together where people think maybe that wasn't quite right that lockdown business and maybe those vaccines weren't quite right and maybe this ULEZ isn't quite right and maybe the phasing out of cash is not quite right and maybe there's a link between them all. So I think that people are coming around to that idea for sure.  Let me just finish off on that cash issue, because here's another clip. We'll play a two minute clip and just finish off just touching on that and the response from people. Because I think a lot of these issues, people maybe can feel that it's too big, it's beyond them. But what you're showing, I think, is each individual can play a part and it's that individuals come together as a mass movement, actually changing things. But let me just play this two minute clip and then we'll finish off just chatting over that. (Video of Francis plays) Okay, today we're here in Hampstead and we've just been giving out a few flyers and raising awareness about the dangers of a cashless economy. I had one woman come up to me and she was asking me about how, what's the point, what's the big deal about it, what's the problem with it, because you know carrying cash is a pain and using card is very convenient. And there is like a Benjamin Franklin quote about foregoing a little bit of liberty for safety, but in our generation we seem to be foregoing liberty for convenience almost. The other day when I was out doing, we were talking about ULEZ, people were saying to me about surveillance. They were saying, oh yeah, well, there's already surveillance everywhere. What difference does it make? And I would make the point to them that the surveillance that I have now, although in Britain we have more cameras per head of population than anywhere except China, is a lot. We have a lot of surveillance. But for the most part, the expense they were talking about was like your mobile phone, reading your emails, tracking you everywhere you go. You can put your mobile phone in the bin, but if you start to have like a smart TV monitor your house, you've got smart car which monitors how you travel and then when you step outside you have surveillance at every zone that they put in for the ULEZ and you then they can control whether or not you spend your money and already in this country you've had people's finances stopped for them saying the wrong things that starts to be a problem and I'm starting to realise a little bit I think that people don't actually know what freedom is or how to defend it I mean they're, talking like for example when we had the vaccines people say no you're still free to get the job but you just have to get the vaccine and they're saying you're still free to go where you want but you just have to you know pay a fine or change your car. These are erosions of freedoms, essential freedoms that we've had for a long time that people don't seem to even understand that what is happening while it's happening around them and there's almost like a complacency. You certainly feel it in some areas where people like maybe smirk at you for carrying a board like this or for talking to them about these kind of subjects that they just don't see the trajectory or the [40:54] fact that once these measures are in place it will be too late to contest them. If they don't go the way they want them to, if suddenly it's their money that's getting stopped, it's only their movements that's getting curtailed. And I think that's something very important that people should consider. But in this country, and I think in the West in general, people feel that their freedom is guaranteed for some reason. I think the thing is that, yeah, most people living in the West haven't lived under a communist system and therefore don't understand freedom as being straight. But that looked like a sunnier day in London. But on that, let's just finish off with this because a lot of these things are an act of change of thinking. We're lulled into something often because it is easier, it is simpler, it makes your life easier. So why you have to go and get cash when you can just touch your phone, soon touch your palm, soon you just walk in and it scans you. But it is people thinking actually intentionally how to push back but how kind of what has been the response from people as you've talked to them and highlighted actually maybe something that people have forgotten that actually it's just easier to have a card or a phone actually you really do need to use cash because as you said if you don't use it it'll be gone.  Well cash is a much more neutral issue for people than say what we talk about lockdown vaccines or ULEZ because the climate agenda and the vaccine or lockdown agendas are firmly lodged. People tend to have a preconceived idea before you reach them. But the cash idea, they're just going to think, well, I've not heard much about that. And then, or they'll say, why do you think that? Or the people who've already onto it, who find it difficult to make their transactions through life using online processes. So yeah, the cash is more neutral and people seem to be more willing to listen to you about that because they're curious or because they hadn't really thought about it. Because it is convenient not to have coins. And if we had a benevolent system and a benevolent government, you know, maybe I'd have no problem with it if you could trust the system. But the fact is that we live in a world where every potential misuse has to be factored in and the government will misuse it to the or somebody at some point will misuse it to the extent to which it's it's possible to misuse it and and that will be to our detriment if we don't have the freedom to spend our cash but I also wanted to say in terms of you mentioned the cameras before on on the ULEZ, introducing the surveillance. That that monitoring that is being brought in. I see a potential threat because you said that we've not had an experience of communism or totalitarianism in this country, but we had it the past three years. I mean, in the Derbyshire Hills, they had drones following people around who were going for a walk on their own, and ordering them home or giving them some kind of police notice for walking in the hills in the countryside. So if you bring in cameras that that can surveil your movement, that those can be, again, misused to the extent to which the state has the potential to misuse them. So if you link all, as I said before, if these things are all linked together, and World Health Organization has a treaty coming in, in which it can override national governments and say if there's the potential for a health emergency, they can impose measures like we've had before, like the quarantines, lockdowns, testing, tracking, tracing, the potential, not the reality of it, just a potential for a health crisis, then you have these zones that are surveilled. If we saw the technology that they had with drones that they use for people in the countryside, if they've got the technology to shut down zones, we already know in this country that they shut down what they call tiers. No, they shut down areas into what they call tiers. Then what would stop them from shutting down an area where they said, oh, this area's had an outbreak because the PCR test, which is not fit for purpose, said that one person, two people had a nosebleed already had a, you know, a cold, they could use the surveillance to shut that down. So I think that the experience of totalitarianism over the past three years has made people more alive, to the fact that these powers can be misused. So when we go out and sort of speak about these things like ULEZ or cash, and you say to them, you might need your freedom sometime, you know, you might need to be able to get into that shopping centre. I mean, in some of the shops, they started to use the one-way arrows on the floor, and some of them had doors with traffic lights on them. So you could go in this door and not this door. It's only one step away from locking you out if they see you as a plague carrying vermin, which is kind of the way they characterize you anyway, because both these schemes, the COVID scheme and the ULEZ scheme, characterized, first of all, they make the air out to be poisoned, as in it's dangerous for you to breathe the air, whether it's ULEZ with cars, and both of them, the people, The agent poisoning the air is the human being. So you are the vermin that is the blight upon the earth and essentially when they say they need to stop the spread, they're talking about people, they need to stop the spread of people, we need to stop them driving around, we need to stay in their homes, we need to stay in the smart cities and all these things. Now people might not have it crystallized in that way in their head but they're aware that something happened over the past three years that was a bit weird and they're aware that they would, that they will remember that it wasn't nice to be locked in their homes or, or prevented from going to shops and supermarkets and nightclubs and pubs and clubs and doing all the normal pleasures of life. So if you start to say to them, the cash could be used in a way, or sorry, the absence of cash could be used in a way to control your purchases or your movements. And would you, I say to them a simple question as well, would you like it if I had control over how you spent your money? Or any other person, like an abusive husband or a wife or a father or whatever, just some third party could say whether or not you spend your money or where and when you spend your money. They can connect with that. They don't want a third party involved with their money. Some people think you're mad, obviously there's still always that range of opinions, but I think that's something that people can very easily identify with. And it's not laden with the same belief system that like belief in the global warming is or in the magic cold that didn't exist for some protests. And did for others or that kind of thing. So it's not laden with that kind of propaganda onslaught. You can just say to them, there's something, cash is your freedom, you need to have control over how you spend your money and they'll go, all right, I hadn't thought of that. Francis, I appreciate you coming on and it's a whole range of issues which have sprung up, COVID tyranny, cash, ULEZ, net zero surveillance, huge issues but love what you do with the yellow boards and I've be looking forward to getting you on. I love having people on who I don't know, I don't never met before and have them on chat so thanks so much for coming on today and sharing what you're doing with the yellow boards. Thank you for having me, Peter. It's been a pleasure.

When legendary Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn delivered Harvard's commencement address in 1978, the school's leaders expected a stirring celebration on the West. Instead, they got a warning that their own countries were headed toward the same grim fate already suffered by Russia. Forty-five years later, Charlie lays out how Solzhenitsyn has been vindicated. As he foretold: "Men have forgotten God. That is why all these terrible things have happened."Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tucker Carlson is absolutely unstoppable! And he just dropped some truth bombs that are going to inspire you like never before!  Highlights: “The purveyors of wokeness, in their twisted morality, demand a hypernormative world where wokeness IS the only alternative! There is no basis for dissent! And so what Tucker is saying here is that the ultimate expression of dissent in a world built on lies is courageously speaking the truth!” “The great Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said that ‘The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world!' Simply put, speaking the truth is our greatest weapon!”   Timestamps: [01:43] Tucker speaking in Utica, Michigan [03:06] What is our ultimate weapon in a system that operates totally and completely by lies [09:29] On the issue of fair election; how truth brought down a Soviet system built on lies Resources:  Reward yourself with the best hand-crafted natural soap bars. A far better alternative to store soaps. Use Promo Code: TURLEY (20% Discount). Your skin will thank you! http://www.OldeCountrySoup.com. Learn how to protect your life savings from inflation and an irresponsible government, with Gold and Silver. Go to https://www.gcjdjhs3e.com/TurleyTalks_digital_dollar=Podcast The Courageous Patriot Community is inviting YOU! Join the movement now and build the parallel economy at https://join.turleytalks.com/insiders-club=podcast HE'LL BE BACK! Get your limited edition TRUMPINATOR 2024 Bobblehead HERE: https://offers.proudpatriots.com/ Start trading like an Insider today and sign up for the free training on September 28th at 3PM EST HERE: https://turleytalksinsidertrading.com/registration/?tambid=18762    Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and/or leave a review. Sick and tired of Big Tech, censorship, and endless propaganda? Join my Insiders Club with a FREE TRIAL today at: https://insidersclub.turleytalks.com Make sure to FOLLOW me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrTurleyTalks BOLDLY stand up for TRUTH in Turley Merch! Browse our new designs right now at: https://store.turleytalks.com/ Do you want to be a part of the podcast and be our sponsor? Click here to partner with us and defy liberal culture! If you would like to get lots of articles on conservative trends make sure to sign-up for the 'New Conservative Age Rising' Email Alerts.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says the Biden Administration is a "historic administration." John Tierney's piece "No Masks, Please, We're Rational" in the City Journal. A Colorado elementary student is ejected from a classroom for wearing a 'Don't Tread On Me' Gadsden flag. A quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the world's need to defend freedom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Hopecast, David and Marilynn Chadwick join Jenn Houston as David breaks down the work of Alexander Solzhenitzyn, a Russian writer who warned of the perils of Marxism. 

In this episode, we talk about the iconic mugshot of Donald Trump that resonates with millions of Patriots. We draw parallels between the mugshots of historical figures such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. and Donald Trump's iconic mugshot. This compelling imagery represents the fight against corruption, weaponized legalism, and the establishment's fraud and deceit.   Resources:  ●     Get over 60% OFF with my Code TURLEY and get the best sleep of your life at: https://www.mypillow.com/turley ●     HE'LL BE BACK! Get your limited edition TRUMPINATOR 2024 Bobblehead HERE: https://offers.proudpatriots.com/ ●     Learn how to protect your life savings from inflation and an irresponsible government, with Gold and Silver. Go to http://www.turleytalkslikesgold.com/ ●     Nature's Morphine? Dr. Turley and scientist Clint Winters discuss the incredible pain relief effects of 100% Drug-Free Conolidine. This changes pain relief: https://www.bh3ktrk.com/2DDD1J/2CTPL/?source_id=pc&sub1=82523 ●     The Courageous Patriot Community is inviting YOU! Join the movement now and build the parallel economy at https://join.turleytalks.com/insiders-club-evergreen/?utm_medium=podcast   Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode.  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and/or leave a review. Sick and tired of Big Tech, censorship, and endless propaganda? Join my Insiders Club with a FREE TRIAL today at: https://insidersclub.turleytalks.com Make sure to FOLLOW me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrTurleyTalks BOLDLY stand up for TRUTH in Turley Merch! Browse our new designs right now at: https://store.turleytalks.com/ Do you want to be a part of the podcast and be our sponsor? Click here to partner with us and defy liberal culture! If you would like to get lots of articles on conservative trends make sure to sign-up for the 'New Conservative Age Rising' Email Alerts.

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow February Revolition 1917 #Londinium90AD: Gaius & Germanicus weigh Alexander Solzhenitsyn's opinion (1998) that Southern and Eastern Ukraine are Russia and belong to Russia.  Gaius & Germanicus weigh Alexander Solzhenitsyn;Michael Vlahos. Friends of History Debating Society. @Michalis_Vlahos

Liberty Dispatch ~ July 13, 2023LIVE NOT BY LIES, FRIENDS! On this episode of the Dispatch, hosts Andrew and Matty take a look at the standoff between Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and the Canadian Federal Government, the practice of IVF, and the increasingly more evident reality that lockdowns did much more harm than good.MUST READS: "Live Not By Lies" by ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220408537357;"Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents" | Rod Dreher: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Not-Lies-Christian-Dissidents-ebook/dp/B088F2ZYTV;[Segment 1] - Liberal Government Pulls Meta Advertising Funds:"Rodriguez Pulls Government Ads" | True North Canada: https://tnc.news/2023/07/05/rodriguez-pulls-government-ads;[Segment 2] - Interview ft. Laura Klassen & Jon Speed:MUST WATCH: "Build-a-Baby" | Choice42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6VYza7JE6s&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.choice42.com%2F&feature=emb_imp_woyt;LOOR.TV: https://www.loor.tv;Choice42: https://www.choice42.com;[Segment 3] - Lockdowns Did MORE HARM THAN GOOD:"Nudge Unit Chief Says UK Will Obey Future Lockdowns, Citizens Have Learnt the Behaviour" | Breitbart: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/07/06/nudge-unit-chief-says-uk-will-obey-future-lockdowns-citizens-have-learnt-the-behaviour;"Lockdowns: The Self-Inflicted Disaster" | City Journal: https://www.city-journal.org/article/lockdowns-the-self-inflicted-disaster#disqus_thread; JOIN PASTORS, CHURCHES, AND CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES ACROSS CANADA WITH LCC'S NEWEST INITIATIVE, "TRUE READINGS FROM TRUE ROYALTY." Sign up today: https://libertycoalitioncanada.com/storyhour/ Support Josh's Stand and Help Us Defend His Liberties! Sign Our Petition Here: https://libertycoalitioncanada.com/i-stand-with-josh-alexander/;SHOW SPONSORS:Join Red Balloon Today!: https://www.redballoon.work/lcc; Invest with Rocklinc: info@rocklinc.com or call them at 905-631-546; Diversify Your Money with Bull Bitcoin: https://mission.bullbitcoin.com/lcc;BarterPay: https://barterpay.ca/; Barter It: https://vip.barterit.ca/launch; Carpe Fide - "Seize the Faith": Store: https://carpe-fide.myshopify.com/, use Promo Code LCC10 for 10% off (US Store Only), or shop Canadian @ https://canadacarpefide.myshopify.com/ | Podcast: https://www.carpefide.com/episodes;Sick of Mainstream Media Lies? Help Support Independent Media! DONATE TO LCC TODAY!: https://libertycoalitioncanada.com/donate/ Please Support us in bringing you honest, truthful reporting and analysis from a Christian perspective.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR SHOWS/CHANNELS:LIBERTY DISPATCH PODCAST: https://libertydispatch.podbean.com; https://rumble.com/LDshow; OPEN MIKE WITH MICHAEL THIESSEN: https://openmikewithmichaelthiessen.podbean.com; https://rumble.com/openmike;THE OTHER CLUB: https://rumble.com/c/c-2541984; THE LIBERTY LOUNGE WITH TIM TYSOE: https://rumble.com/LLwTT;CONTACT US:Questions/comments about podcasts/news/analysis: mailbag@libertycoalitioncanada.com;Questions/comments about donations: give@libertycoalitioncanada.com;Questions/comments that are church-related: churches@libertycoalitioncanada.com;General Inquiries: info@libertycoalitioncanada.com. STAY UP-TO-DATE ON ALL THINGS LCC:Gab: https://gab.com/libertycoalitioncanada Telegram: https://t.me/libertycoalitioncanadanews Instagram: https://instagram.com/libertycoalitioncanada Facebook: https://facebook.com/LibertyCoalitionCanada Twitter: @LibertyCCanada - https://twitter.com/LibertyCCanada Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/LibertyCoalitionCanada YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@liberty4canada - WE GOT CANCELLED AGAIN!!! Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW and SHARE it with others!

Liberty Dispatch ~ July 13, 2023 LIVE NOT BY LIES, FRIENDS! On this episode of the Dispatch, hosts Andrew and Matty take a look at the standoff between Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and the Canadian Federal Government, the practice of IVF, and the increasingly more evident reality that lockdowns did much more harm than good. MUST READS:  "Live Not By Lies" by ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220408537357; "Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents" | Rod Dreher: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Not-Lies-Christian-Dissidents-ebook/dp/B088F2ZYTV; [Segment 1] -  Liberal Government Pulls Meta Advertising Funds: "Rodriguez Pulls Government Ads" | True North Canada: https://tnc.news/2023/07/05/rodriguez-pulls-government-ads; [Segment 2] -  Interview ft. Laura Klassen & Jon Speed: MUST WATCH: "Build-a-Baby" | Choice42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6VYza7JE6s&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.choice42.com%2F&feature=emb_imp_woyt; LOOR.TV: https://www.loor.tv; Choice42: https://www.choice42.com; [Segment 3] -  Lockdowns Did MORE HARM THAN GOOD: "Nudge Unit Chief Says UK Will Obey Future Lockdowns, Citizens Have Learnt the Behaviour" | Breitbart: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/07/06/nudge-unit-chief-says-uk-will-obey-future-lockdowns-citizens-have-learnt-the-behaviour; "Lockdowns: The Self-Inflicted Disaster" | City Journal: https://www.city-journal.org/article/lockdowns-the-self-inflicted-disaster#disqus_thread; JOIN PASTORS, CHURCHES, AND CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES ACROSS CANADA WITH LCC'S NEWEST INITIATIVE, "TRUE READINGS FROM TRUE ROYALTY."  Sign up today: https://libertycoalitioncanada.com/storyhour/  Support Josh's Stand and Help Us Defend His Liberties! Sign Our Petition Here: https://libertycoalitioncanada.com/i-stand-with-josh-alexander/; SHOW SPONSORS: Join Red Balloon Today!: https://www.redballoon.work/lcc;  Invest with Rocklinc: info@rocklinc.com or call them at 905-631-546;  Diversify Your Money with Bull Bitcoin: https://mission.bullbitcoin.com/lcc; BarterPay: https://barterpay.ca/;  Barter It: https://vip.barterit.ca/launch; Carpe Fide - "Seize the Faith": Store: https://carpe-fide.myshopify.com/, use Promo Code LCC10 for 10% off (US Store Only), or shop Canadian @ https://canadacarpefide.myshopify.com/ | Podcast: https://www.carpefide.com/episodes; Sick of Mainstream Media Lies? Help Support Independent Media! DONATE TO LCC TODAY!: https://libertycoalitioncanada.com/donate/   Please Support us in bringing you honest, truthful reporting and analysis from a Christian perspective. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR SHOWS/CHANNELS: LIBERTY DISPATCH PODCAST: https://libertydispatch.podbean.com; https://rumble.com/LDshow;  OPEN MIKE WITH MICHAEL THIESSEN: https://openmikewithmichaelthiessen.podbean.com; https://rumble.com/openmike; THE OTHER CLUB: https://rumble.com/c/c-2541984;  THE LIBERTY LOUNGE WITH TIM TYSOE: https://rumble.com/LLwTT; CONTACT US: Questions/comments about podcasts/news/analysis: mailbag@libertycoalitioncanada.com; Questions/comments about donations: give@libertycoalitioncanada.com; Questions/comments that are church-related: churches@libertycoalitioncanada.com; General Inquiries: info@libertycoalitioncanada.com.  STAY UP-TO-DATE ON ALL THINGS LCC: Gab: https://gab.com/libertycoalitioncanada  Telegram: https://t.me/libertycoalitioncanadanews  Instagram: https://instagram.com/libertycoalitioncanada  Facebook: https://facebook.com/LibertyCoalitionCanada  Twitter: @LibertyCCanada - https://twitter.com/LibertyCCanada  Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/LibertyCoalitionCanada  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@liberty4canada - WE GOT CANCELLED AGAIN!!! Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW and SHARE it with others!

Coach finishes up his review of the book "How to Raise an Anti-Racist" by Dr. Kendi discussing problems that the view Kendi offers not only has for the classroom but how it can be detrimental for Coach's multi racial family as well. Coach encourages the listener to take in diverse views that are more than skin deep in considering such views as Anti-Racism, Culturally Responsive Teaching, or Critical Race Theory and considering thoughts by other thinkers such as Thomas Sowell, Thomas Chatterton Williams, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn in drawing your own conclusions. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ptcpodcast/message

What if the major crimes of the 20th century could be traced back to one simple cause: "Men have forgotten God"? Join us as we explore Alexander Solzhenitsyn's powerful words upon accepting the Templeton Prize in 1983, reflecting on the Russian Revolution and the horrors that ensued when human consciousness was deprived of its divine dimension. Despite the Soviet's attempts to erase religion, millions of believers persevered - a testament to the resilience and power of faith. Key Points from the Episode:We  discuss the insights of Princeton law professor Robert George, who attended Solzhenitsyn's 1978 Harvard commencement address. Together, we challenge ourselves to rise above our own worst selves and the vices of materialism, consumerism, self-indulgence, and narcissism by seeking what is good because it is good and what is right because it is right. Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes as we delve deeper into the philosophies of Augustine and Aquinas, opening our minds to truth, goodness, and righteousness.Other resources: Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 1983 Acceptance Speech for the Templeton PrizeRobert George's reflections on the 1978 Harvard commencement address given by Alexander SolzhenitsynMore goodnessGet our top book recommendations listWant to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly, thank you so much!Because we care what you think about what we think and our website, please email David@teammojoacademy.com, or if you want to leave us a quick FREE, painless voicemail, we would appreciate that as well. Be sure to check out our very affordable Academy Review membership program at http:www.teammojoacademy.com/support

In this episode, we discuss the essay A World Split Apart, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Usually on this podcast we cover hot topic cultural issues and news events… but episodes like this give us a foundation for doing those. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was, in our opinions, one of the greatest thinkers, and while he may no longer be living, his thoughts and convictions fit the moment we're living in. I'm fact… if he was around to see today's culture, all he'd have to say is… I. TOLD. YOU. SO. https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/a-world-split-apart LIVE NOT BY LIES EPISODE: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-boom-clap-podcast/id1558282990?i=1000535119127 SPONSORS: Pretty Little Light Candle co. offers beautiful, non-toxic candles. Use code BOOMCLAP to save 20% https://prettylittlelightcandleco.com/ Lux and the Moon is a family-owned clothing company with unique and comfortable pieces for any body type in any season. Use the code BOOMCLAP to save! https://luxandthemoon.com/ FIND US : www.theboomclapcommunity.com Join the Coom Clap Community to support our podcast, get extended show-notes delivered to your inbox each week, join us monthly for deeper discussion and a quarterly literary review! www.instagram.com/boomclappodcast www.instagram.com/cecily.dickey www.instagram.com/ritarogersco

In our podcast episodes, we like to answer questions we're asked or to discuss topics that impact — or fire — us up. Lately, we've been discussing together the most recent school shooting in the United States (and the resulting usual public discussion about the need for gun control). As American citizens, we also have a unique viewpoint because of the near decade or more we've spent living outside of the United States (in more than 50 countries). It's allowed us to gain a unique perspective of the problems plaguing nations — and to compare and contrast their similarities and differences.  School shootings are an almost uniquely U.S. problem. While violence and terrorism do occur in other countries — including genocide — a single shooter whose goal is to take out innocent lives (children) is a crime that is nearly exclusive to the United States.  What's going on here? Why is it happening? Of course, it makes complete logical sense at first glance to blame it on the guns. We did about nine years ago while living in Costa Rica — a country with no military and no guns. But as we've thought, discussed, analyzed, and researched further, we've come to believe that the problem — and solution — may include more gun control, but it's also far more complex than that. There is an "underlying cause to the underlying cause" of the problem, and until it's resolved things won't change -- even if all guns were magically removed from the nation. Whether you're pro-2nd Amendment or pro-gun control, listen now to this interesting episode to add awareness and understanding to your viewpoint — a key step in having healthy dialogue and debate which are absolutely essential for creating change. And perhaps gain insight into how each of us individually has contributed to the instability and terrifying challenges facing our nations and communities. Because as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of the Gulag Archipelago said: “A society with unlimited rights is incapable of standing to adversity… A stable society is achieved not by balancing opposing forces but by conscious self-limitation [responsibility].” Listen now! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/extraordinary-family-life/message

This week Rich discusses the legacy of famed Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Then the International Criminal Court reveals they have their sights set on Russian President Vladimir Putin issuing a warrant for his arrest. Meanwhile US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defends shameless spending, says she is not responsible for inflation, and she wants more debt. Subscribe to this podcast. Comment and follow @RichValdes on Facebook, Twitter, GETTR, and Truth Social. You can also visit us at RichValdes.com or RichValdesAmericaAtNight.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jóhann Jóhannsson was one of contemporary cinema's greatest score composers when he passed away in 2018 at the young age of 48. Last and First Men, his enigmatic directorial debut, was released shortly after in 2020. Based on a novel by the same name by the British science fiction writer Olaf Stapleton, the film offers a sustained meditation on the prospect of extinction, the eventuality of humanity's disappearance from the comos. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the images and sounds of the film as they flicker and swell against the backdrop of nonbeing that envelops us all. The conversation touches on the idea of beauty, Brutalist architecture, modernism, and futurity. Preorder Pierre-Yves Martel's album Mer bleue (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/mer-bleue). Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies) and gain access to Phil's ongoing podcast on Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. Listen to volume 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and volume 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2) of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel (https://www.pymartel.com) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u) (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) REFERENCES Jóhann Jóhannsson, Last and First Men (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8015444/) Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfrozen_Caveman_Lawyer), SNL character Spomeniks (https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/what-are-spomeniks), Yugoslavian monuments Olaf Stapleton, The Last and First Men (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781604443578) Woody Allen, Hannah and Her Sisters (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091167/) The Last of Us (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3581920/), television show Ray Brassier, [Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction](https://books.google.com/books/about/NihilUnbound.html?id=zN7WAAAAMAAJ&source=kpbookdescription)_ Weird Studies, Episode 2 on Garmonbozia (https://www.weirdstudies.com/2) Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize Speech (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1970/solzhenitsyn/lecture/) Weird Studies Episode 139 on Art Power (https://www.weirdstudies.com/139) Numenius (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/numenius/), Platonist philosopher Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, What is Philosophy? (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780231079891) Jia Tolentino, “The Overwhelming Emotion of Hearing Toto's “Africa” (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-overwhelming-emotion-of-hearing-totos-africa-remixed-to-sound-like-its-playing-in-an-empty-mall) Weird Studies, Episode 110 on “The Glass Bead Game” (https://www.weirdstudies.com/110) D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780141192482)

Today, we discuss the life and times of the great Soviet writer and dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The author of The Gulag Archipelago, went from being a loyal Soviet citizen to one of its harshest critics. 

Today, we begin our three-part series on some of the giants of Russian literature, Ivan Bunin, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Maxim Gorky. Listen to the tale of Russia's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Oddity Poddity: A Paranormal PodcastTerrifying tales of the supernatural! Love a good haunt? A spine-tingling urban legend?...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Highlights:     “In the face of our ridiculous façade of moral superiority, Peterson reminds us of a profound observation made by the great Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn: ‘the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties, but right through every human heart'.” “Peterson pointed directly to the horrific lie, the evil of cancel culture. Cancel culture reveals that WE, ALL OF US are just as prone to evil and lies as the supposed Stalinist monsters we point our fingers at!” “China can NOT be intimidated. They're a civilization that's at least 2 thousand years old, they're not going anywhere and therefore they cannot be intimidated by Western powers that in the end have no power over them. That is precisely what's going on with Russia right now.” “What the breakout of the war in Ukraine has proven is that that Davos-based globalist political and economic model is an utter fraud. It's a fraud!” Timestamps:        [02:39] Peterson's assessment of Putin as a man and how he does not differ from us [06:43] On Peterson's observation that Putin controls the gas [09:45] How Russia like China cannot be intimidated [13:40] Putin as a master grand strategist and how Peterson expects all of this to end Resources:  See how much your small business can get back from Big Gov (up to $26k per employee!) at https://ercspecialists.com/initial-survey?fpr=turley 1163 Putin's Annexation Has Just DESTROYED The Liberal World Order!!! Watch my new movie The Return of The American Patriot: The Rise of Pennsylvania Now at https://drsteveturley.locals.com/post/2594436/the-return-of-the-american-patriot-the-rise-of-pennsylvania Learn how to protect your life savings from inflation and an irresponsible government, with Gold and Silver. Go to http://www.turleytalkslikesgold.com/ Get Over 66% OFF All of Mike Lindell's Products using code TURLEY: https://www.mypillow.com/turley Get 25% off Patriotic Coffee with Code TURLEY at https://mystore.com/turley Join Dr. Steve's Exclusive Membership in the Insiders Club and watch content he can't discuss on YouTube during his weekly Monday night show!: https://insidersclub.turleytalks.com/welcome Get Your Brand-New PATRIOT T-Shirts and Merch Here: https://store.turleytalks.com/ It's time to CHANGE AMERICA and Here's YOUR OPPORTUNITY To Do Just That! https://change.turleytalks.com/ Fight Back Against Big Tech Censorship! Sign-up here to discover Dr. Steve's different social media options …. but without censorship! https://www.turleytalks.com/en/alternative-media.com Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode.  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and/or leave a review. Do you want to be a part of the podcast and be our sponsor? Click here to partner with us and defy liberal culture! If you would like to get lots of articles on conservative trends make sure to sign-up for the 'New Conservative Age Rising' Email Alerts.

As an alternative for those who would rather listen ad-free, sign up for a premium subscription to receive the following:• All JBP Podcast episodes ad-free• Monthly Ask-Me-Anything• Presale access to events• Premium, detailed deep-dive show notes on future episodes.episodes (and the ability to ask questions)Sign up here: https://jordanbpeterson.supercast.com/Mikhail Avdeev interviews Jordan Peterson in this episode.Jordan Peterson has as strong of an international following as ever with his lectures translated into fourteen languages. On his last speaking tour, he visited thirty plus number of countries speaking on the twelve rules and continues to foster relationships and connections with thinkers, speakers, and fans from around the globe.Shownotes:[00:00] Jordan Petersons is interviewed in this episode by Mikhail Avdeev, a member of his foreign translations team. The interview focuses on the impact of Petersons work beyond the western world on the international community as a whole. They begin the discussion by talking about the forming of the international translation teams.[02:00] The healing effect of Jordan's lectures on people's personal life. The outcry for new material from jordans catalog of books, lectures, and podcasts has been overwhelming. [05:20] Peterson comments on another personal favorite author of his Mircea Eliade and his history of Religious Ideas. It's an anthropological and sociological assessment of religion but it's also deeply psychological.[06:40] How do Russian views respond to Jordan's affinity for Alexander Solzhenitsyn? Mikail details the feelings of the Russian people by their portrayal after the fall of communism.[10:00] How we deal with the guilt of the things our ancestors or society has done is a very difficult question because as humans we are very historical creatures. The best thing for us is to try to understand what happened and therefore try not to do it again in the future because all of us are living with this to some degree.[13:30] examining the trope that all white people are racist or white supremacist and this stems from the existential guilt of history.[20:00] Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett seem to equate that religious belief is a set of propositions about the material world, in a way a direct competitor to scientific theory, and that's just not fully accurate. There is something outside of strictly rationality in the human experience.[34:20] Fragmentation of the value structure necessarily leads to an increased level of constant anxiety in all experience[36:30] What parts of modern society are contributing to the integrity of consciousness, and what things are degrading that. A hatred for real success and striving for personal gain will tear us apart if it continues unchecked.[43:30] There is no doubt that economic exploitation occurs and that some wealth is gained in an unethical manner, but that is not the rule.[45:45] - Asking about the importance of beauty in all of our personal experiences as well as our collective experience as humans.[51:00] interesting to consider the differences in Fyodor Dostoevsky and Friedrich Nietzsche closeness to the ideal of beauty[56:30] The complexity of the language of Beyond Order:12 More Rules for Life. What is Jordan's process for increasing the precision of his speech and writing? [1:03:30] The divinity of the true word and the way this has been translated through Jordan's book Beyond Order. Peterson's philosophy behind good writing and text structure of a truly complete work.[1:13:40] Mikhaila Peterson has had to choose to be strong because she has had so much suffering to overcome in her life. It's wonderful to see her succeeding in her personal endeavors like her weekly podcast.[1:20:15] How do we best teach our children in a way that fosters their individual growth and a love of learning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices