Podcasts about american cia

Watch every episode ad-free & uncensored on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dannyjones Lawrence Wright is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of multiple books including "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief", and "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11". His newest book "The Human Scale" tells a story of an Israeli cop and a Palestinian-American FBI agent who join forces to solve the murder of an Israeli police chief in the West Bank. SPONSORS https://cash.app - Download Cash App today & use code DANNY10 http://evening.ver.so/danny - Use code DANNY for 15% off your first order. https://whiterabbitenergy.com/?ref=DJP - Use code DJP for 20% off EPISODE LINKS The Human Scale - https://a.co/d/62tQUig Going Clear - https://a.co/d/d6csGr9 The Looming Tower - https://a.co/d/dfySVIo FOLLOW DANNY JONES https://www.instagram.com/dannyjones https://twitter.com/jonesdanny OUTLINE 00:00 - Scientology's Sea Org 19:04 - L. Ron Hubbard's deathbed confession 30:16 - How has Scientology survived? 34:26 - Jim Jones & the Jonestown Cult 43:36 - The Sisters of Mary Morning Star 52:39 - Fighting the death penalty 01:01:38 - Satanic ritual abuse 01:17:26 - Whitley Streiber's childhood experiments 01:22:58 - Jack parsons 01:26:34 - Why Lawrence gave up religion 01:36:40 - The new Silicon Valley ideology 01:44:37 - The Looming Tower 01:54:13 - Did the FBI allow 9/11? 02:06:32 - Where Bin Laden got his money 02:16:52 - 9/11 alternate theories 02:25:02 - The Human Scale 02:37:30 - American CIA vs. Israel's Mossad 02:44:58 - Israel's troubled history 03:03:47 - How Lawrence chooses projects Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the story of America's longest held prisoner of war. John 'Jack' Downey, an American CIA operative, was imprisoned by the Chinese for 21 years during the Cold War.Don speaks to Barry Wirth, author of 'Prisoner of Lies: Jack Downey's Cold War.' They explore why the CIA were in Asia in the 1950s, Downey's capture and imprisonment, and why it took so long for him to be released.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  You can take part in our listener survey here.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

The Diplomat A second season of the excellent American thriller starring Keri Russell, who plays a career diplomat who must juggle her new high-profile job as ambassador to the United Kingdom and her turbulent marriage to a political star (Netflix). A Remarkable Place to Die Detective Anais Mallory returns to hometown Queenstown, New Zealand and faces startling homicides. She cracks cases while confronting personal ghosts from her past (TVNZ+, from Sunday). Special Ops: Lioness A new season of the American CIA thriller starring Zoe Saldana as an undercover agent fighting against the war on terror. Joe attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA's spear in the war on terror. The Lioness Program enlists Cruz to operate undercover alongside Joe among the power brokers of State terrorism (Prime Video). LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Find me and the show on social media. Click the following links or search @DrWilmerLeon on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube! Our guest this week, Steve Poikenon can be found at his website here.  FULL TRANSCRIPT: Dr Leon (00:00): Now, usually I start this part of the show with a question or a few questions, but today I have to make a statement. After 13 years of either being held up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in Britain, or being in Belmar Prison in solitary confinement, Julian Assange walks free. Why does this matter what led the Biden administration to finally come to its senses and accept a deal? Why should this matter to you? Announcer (00:42): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Dr Leon (00:49): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon. I'm Wilmer Leon. We have a tendency to view current events as though they happen in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historical context in which most events take place. During each episode, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between the events and the broader historical context in which they take place. This enables you to gain a better understanding and to analyze events that impact the global village in which we live. On today's episode. The issue before us is what's the significance of WikiLeaks and what's the impact on the freedom of the press? My guest for today's conversation is the host of AM Wake Up and Slow Newsday, which you can watch live on Rock Fin and Rumble, and you can listen anywhere. Podcasts are served. Steve Poin and Steve, welcome. Steve Poikenon (01:51): Thank you very much, Wilmer. It's good to see you not on the radio, Dr Leon (01:57): Man. Well, I have the perfect face for radio from what they tell me, and it's great to see you to be able to put a face with a voice. We've been talking for a couple years now, and it's finally great to be able to put a face with a voice. So footage tweeted by WikiLeaks, I think Julian Assange's wife showed him walking up the stairs onto an aircraft bound for Sipan in the US administered Mariana Islands. He has agreed to plead guilty to one count under the espionage act of conspiracy to disseminate national defense information. Steve, what were your thoughts when you first heard the news that Julian Assange was free? Steve Poikenon (02:44): I was a little stunned. This is something that we've discussed on and off over the last couple of years, and certainly in the last couple of months there have been substantiated rumors that the Biden Justice Department was preparing some sort of plea deal, whether or not the Assange team was going to accept it. That was the thing that we didn't have any certainty about whatsoever. They obviously have gone forward with accepting the deal. He should be, at this point, touching down or walking into the courtroom in the Marianas Islands says a lot about the state of the US empire that we even have a district courthouse in the Mariana Islands. That's just wild to me to begin with, but from the best that I can tell, and Wilmer, you may correct me if I'm wrong, from the best that I can tell, there's nothing in the initial plea agreement that says Julian won't be allowed near a computer or won't be able to access the internet. (03:51) Can't give speeches or interviews or can't have documentaries made about a situation. So by all accounts, up to this point, it appears that when he walks out of the courtroom later in the next couple of hours, he will be a legitimately free human being, and that is a win in and of itself. I'm a father. I can't imagine being taken away from my kids for making the US government angry and then having to know that they're growing up without me. And so the ability for him to take part in raising his own children, I think is the biggest godsend out of all of this. And then we can get into the implications and the impact that this is going to have on press freedom and citizen journalism and everything else going forward. But the huge win here is that he's no longer an inmate in the Guantanamo Bay of the United Kingdom where he was being held with the worst criminals on the island, having never once committed any crime of any sort of significance that would warrant that cell. Dr Leon (05:12): Do you have any idea in terms of why the Mariana Islands other than is the closest space that will enable him then to go from there to his home of Australia? Steve Poikenon (05:25): I think that was the ultimate deciding factor was proximity to Australia. It's not like the US can't construct a kangaroo court anywhere, and it's not like if they didn't have a different provisional, different courthouse, they wouldn't be going through the same sort of performative motions in the eyes of the Biden administration. I think the guilty plea is the thing that they were looking for, something that they could make at least a political, if not a legal for, and then also to not have it be an election issue going forward. Dr Leon (06:04): And from what I understand, this is not precedent setting because this was the result. This is the outcome of a plea deal. This did not actually come as the result of a trial. Steve Poikenon (06:17): If they would've gone to trial and evidence presented and a conviction was rendered and then upheld by a judge, then it would establish a legal precedent because he pled and pled out to time served for what he'd already done. The only thing that it can be used to set a precedent for is politically, or I guess emotionally or spiritually, where people are more hesitant to approach national security reporting or classified information, talk about it, disseminate any of that. And that is I think the real ultimate goal of not just the Biden administration, but the Trump administration and ultimately the Obama administration from where all of this stems is to redefine journalism in the future. Dr Leon (07:10): I want to read from the paragraph from the Washington Post as they reported out this story, Julian Assange's plea deal, sparks global celebration and condemnation reactions were divided as WikiLeaks. Julian Assange heads to a US Pacific territory to cement a plea deal that could soon set him free. WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange's tentative plea deal with the United States, which could soon bring an end to his years long international legal legal saga, drew celebration and criticism reflecting the divisive nature of his role in obtaining and publishing classified military and diplomatic documents. A couple of things. One is the condemnation side of this. The only folks that I can see that would be condemning this deal are people that are tied to the Trump administration, people that are tied to the Biden administration. I don't understand where they get this idea that there's all this divisiveness and condemnation. Steve Poikenon (08:23): There were the usual, the people you just spoke of, but Mike Pence was one of the loudest. There have been a number of former Trump administration officials and a number of former Obama administration intelligence apparatus and national security apparatus officials who have expressed distaste. This now and again, realize that to be opposed to this means you wanted to see a 50-year-old man, 51-year-old man get effectively tortured to death in a US prison for the rest of his life. That's what being in opposition to this effectively means. The reasoning behind it though is because information is currency. Assange and WikiLeaks were a broker of this information that wasn't part of the sanctioned club, and so Pompeo called them a hostile rogue intelligence agency, non-state intelligence agency. If you are viewed like that amongst the apparatus that's making the national security decisions, it doesn't matter what the end result is, if it's not your wholesale destruction, they're going to be displeased. Dr Leon (09:43): There's another paragraph. While Assange supporters saw him as a courageous whistleblower of government misdeeds, his critics saw him as a self-promoter oblivious to the harm that his leaks might cause, oblivious to the harm that his leaks might cause. There has not been one shred of evidence presented to show that any harm other than embarrassment by Hillary Clinton and some of the other government officials who were identified through these WikiLeaks releases, maybe their egos were damaged. But short of that, there's been no harm. WikiLeaks publication of the Afghan War logs did not obscure the names of Afghan civilians who provided information to the US military and omission that dismayed human rights groups and national security officials. Who are they talking about? Steve? Steve Poikenon (10:49): Okay, so when they say that the harm that they're talking about, it's not just their ego, it's their ability to continue to spy on their friends and allies that was harmed. It was the harm that was done by letting people know what the US government is doing with our tax dollars and our names. But Wim Dr Leon (11:07): Steve, it's not as though the allies did not know that they were being spied on. Remember what happened with Bill Clinton and Angela Merkel's? I think it was the Clinton administration and Angela Merkel's cell phone. I mean, it's not as though we don't know. We don't know Israel. It's not as though we don't know that Israel is spying on us. I mean, it's the game that they play. Steve Poikenon (11:31): It is the game that they play, but we're not supposed to know. And the rest of the diplomatic core is all that operates on the pretense and the fiction that it's not happening. That everybody's there to politely try to sort out the ills of the world and that all of the espionage going on in the background is never to be brought up. It doesn't have to stop. You just can't talk about it. If you bring it to light, then the whole operation gets blown up. And that's why WikiLeaks is parent company is called the Sunshine Press. The whole point of it is to bring it into the daylight, that kind of stance from a political point of view, from a journalistic point of view that's going to get you targeted, which is as we saw exactly what happened leading to 13 years of illegal and arbitrary detention. (12:29) Just one quick point to what you were talking about though, when you see major press outlets come out now in defensive Assange, these are, and you had mentioned it, I think even this morning, some of these instant outlets that are reporting on it are outlets that shared the same information. Are these guys then going to look at the plea agreement and go, golly, if Julian Assange isn't being charged as a journalist, does that mean that everyone who has ever shared a piece of classified information can be charged under the Espionage Act? Because Wilmer, I don't know about you. When I read the plea, when I read the plea deal, they're charging Assange as a private citizen. They're not charging 'em as a publisher. They're not charging 'em as a government contractor or a government employee. And those are prior to this, the only people that could get a charge for conspiring to disseminate classified information in this manner. So is that saying that Nick, the janitor or Dan the trucker or whoever your English teacher is now susceptible to Espionage Act charges? Dr Leon (13:48): Well, I think one of the reasons why they're not charging him as a journalist, because that was one of the issues that was being presented in his defense, is that as a journalist, he has the right to disseminate this information. So if they charged him as a journalist, then I think that would probably throw a wrench in their own argument. But to your point, one of the ironies here is when you read the Washington Poll story and the New York Times reporting out on this is that they were complicit in disseminating the information that he made available. Hence during the Obama administration, they called it the New York Times conundrum, and many say that the reason the Obama administration didn't charge him is because Barack Obama didn't want to open up that can of worms. Steve Poikenon (14:45): Well, certainly the idea that the Biden administration would try to with less competent people than were in the Obama administration is somewhat ridiculous. The only reason they could get a plea deal out of the guy is because they'd been torturing him for five years on top of the seven and a half, eight, almost eight years of being confined to one and a half rooms in the most spied on building in London, which is saying a lot because London has more cameras per capita than any other major city. But more cameras were pointed at the Ecuadorian Embassy than anywhere else in London for a very long time. That kind of constant surveillance is going to wreak havoc on an individual. And I got to tell you, Wilmer, it really did surprise me seeing the video, the very brief videos that we have seen of Julian, the last I had heard, he had been in very poor health. He had suffered a stroke or a mini stroke 18 months ago, 20 months ago, something like that. So to see him moving that rapidly, being able to stand walking Dr Leon (15:59): Up the stairs to the plane, Steve Poikenon (16:01): Being able to stand that upright when we had all been told that his back was wrecked and stuff like that, I'm really, really taken away by that. And I can only hope that he remains in that good of health or gets a little bit better shape from here on out because I was imagining the worst I was. And we haven't seen that. So that's very heartening. Dr Leon (16:32): This some will say is a very obvious question, but I think it still needs to be asked and answered Why this deal? Why now? Because when I look at, when I read the plea, when I see what the Biden administration got out of this, could have done this five years ago, he's out on bond. They could have allowed bond five years ago. He could have, instead of being tortured in solitary confinement in Belmar prison, he could have been walking the streets of Piccadilly Circus. So why now? Steve Poikenon (17:14): There's a number of different factors, and one is that it does get eliminated as an election year issue. Trump, regardless of the reality that he's the guy who had Julian arrested was able to successfully run on, we love the WikiLeaks. Have you seen the WikiLeaks? Can't get enough of the WikiLeaks. He was able to gain a lot of ground with that. So it is popular among Americans to want to at least think you have some sort of transparency with your government or think you might be able to have some sort of citizen accountability with your government, which is one of the benefits that WikiLeaks provided. So that's off the table, the Biden administration, because people have goldfish, brain can try to spin it as well. Donald Trump's the guy who had 'em thrown in jail and we're the guys who let him out. Well, you didn't let him out. (18:11) You made him plead guilty to something he didn't do after torturing him for five years and threatening every one and everything that he held dear, that's coercion. That's not a liberation. That's coercion. That's not a victory in any way, shape or form. And I've seen some on the progressive left already try to be like, Hey, man, Trump locked him up, bite him, let him out because he forced him to plead guilty to something that he didn't do. I think we all just need to keep circulating that last part until it sinks in. But we discussed for a number of years on the critical hour how it is a huge problem for the Biden administration or any administration to have Julian Assange on American soil even if the trial takes place behind closed doors in the Eastern District of Virginia, because then you are really putting the press on trial in America for everyone to be forced to pay attention to. And that's something that not Joe Biden, not Donald Trump, definitely not Merrick Garland is capable of dealing with or quelling in a manner that doesn't look like a total brutal dictatorship. And that's what it was going to turn into. Dr Leon (19:35): We have been saying for a couple of years, the one thing, the Biden, for all of the discussion about extradition and all these appeals and the United States sending attorneys to London and going through the barrister and all of that stuff that they were doing, we kept saying, they do not want this man on American soil. They were trying to kill him through the process. Let's drag this thing out for as long as we possibly can and hope the man dies in Belmar prison. We were saying the last, in fact, I remember having a very extensive conversation with you where I was saying, I think the time has come for the Assange Camp to flip the script and take the deal. Tell Merrick Garland, we want to come to the United States. Please extradite us. We want to be on American soil. And we kicked that around for a while. Steve Poikenon (20:41): Yeah, you're absolutely right. And the last thing that any government wants to deal with is having all of its media suddenly turn against it. And in the US, even though the mainstream media is a wholly owned subsidiary of the state, there are people who are allowed to operate with a little bit more freedom. And those are the people who usually command the largest audiences because they're allowed to show a little bit of authenticity on mainstream airwaves, and people are desperate for that. So they don't want their press turning on 'em. They don't want free Assange banners every time they pan into the crowd at a sporting event. They don't want free Assange banners signs every time they go do a man on the street interview. They were in the worst possible position you could be having to make up your case entirely. And having a still somewhat engaged public to where they could mount not just a resistance, but a real jury nullification campaign and a real on the ground, real time education of exactly what their government is trying to do. Via the prosecution of Julian Assange, again, under the Espionage Act of 1917, we're going to take an Australian citizen with a publishing company, publishing outlet, registered in Iceland, give him fake charges in Sweden, imprison him in London and have a Icelandic FBI snitch, make up a whole bunch of stories about him, then recant his testimony. I think Aile, because that's the thing that happened. Pedophile. Yeah, a convicted, convicted pedophile. Dr Leon (22:40): And you haven't even gone through what we did as it relates to Ecuador and what we did in terms of the Ecuadorian election to be, now I'm drawing a blank on the president. Steve Poikenon (22:51): Lennon Moreno was more Moreno. Yeah. Dr Leon (22:55): We didn't even go through what the machinations that the United States went through to get Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy. Steve Poikenon (23:05): Yeah. Or touch on the security company that was there at the embassy, uc Global, which was hired first by the Ecuadorian government to provide security then by the CIA via a spook convention effectively at one of Sheldon Adelson's casinos, who was one of Trump's biggest donors at the time, where the head of the security company wound up getting arrested, trying to flee the country after it was discovered that he had had this double dealing with the CIA. And then it was revealed that because of the illegal spying equipment morales's company had placed in assange's rooms at the embassy that led to a planning session with the American CIA where they were plotting out how to kidnap and murder Julian Assange. That was Mike. Dr Leon (23:56): They Steve Poikenon (23:56): Came to, Dr Leon (23:57): That was Mike Ell at the time. And so what folks, and you laying this out, what folks really need to understand is this is not some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory. All you got to do folks is Google it. It's there in mainstream press that this is what the United States went through trying. These are the illegal machinations that the United States government went through in order to try to get this guy. Steve Poikenon (24:28): Absolutely. And people feel certain ways about the gray zone or what, you don't have to read the initial reporting that Max Blumenthal did based off of the reporting that the Spanish outlet El Pais did. Michael Isikoff, two years later, 18 months later, Michael Isikoff through Yahoo News, did the same story, picked it up and took out some of the more poignant points so that he could fit it into a Yahoo story and put out that version of it. But it's there in several mainstream outlets everybody should know. Mike Pompeo tried to have a journalist and publisher assassinated or kidnapped and then assassinated just to prevent him from being able to testify in his own defense is all you can really assume at that point. You're trying to take him out while you have him basically captured. You want to make sure he never works a day in his life again, and you damn sure want to make sure that he doesn't testify because then it becomes part of a court record and then somebody can sue to have that court record or it'll be public Dr Leon (25:40): As a wrap up to this part of the conversation. So I never thought I'd see, this day I thought Julian Sal was going to die in Bell Marsh. What do you see as being the more immediate impacts to this as it relates to press freedom and journalism and some of the longer term impacts? And some of that, I know we won't really know until we hear from him, but your thoughts, Steve Poikenon (26:10): I hope it inspires people to kind of see where the new limits are, because most journalists have just been not necessarily holding back, but the amount of leak based journalism has basically vanished the amount of journalists truly going out there and trying to bring to light some major problems. Boeing comes to Dr Leon (26:35): Mind. Investigative journalism. Steve Poikenon (26:37): Yeah. I want to believe that Julian Assange breathing air again will be a beacon to people to do investigative journalism more often, better than they have been, however you want to frame it. I want that to be a spark that pushes the current boundaries and hopefully pushes 'em back a little bit because it's been relatively restrictive over the last several years. Dr Leon (27:08): There's another issue related to this. It was in consortium news, help us fight theocracy Psychological operations or PSYOPs are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations and groups and individuals. William Casey, the CIA director under Ronald Reagan said, we'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false. And what happened with Julian Assange, I think is a perfect example of this type of behavior by the American government. Steve Poikenon (28:02): It is. And if you look at the amount of government shenanigans that have occurred in the last four, five years since they yanked Julian out of the embassy, there we're seeing more and more lawsuits being brought against major pharmaceutical companies for vital information that they withheld during the last several years were we found out that a lot of what we were originally told about the January 6th incident, and a lot of what happened then was not necessarily true. There's been multiple court cases that have kept political parties from taking part in the American political process. They've kept, Lawfare has been levied against everyone from the aru, the Aru fellas, Dr Leon (29:07): Mali. Yes. Steve Poikenon (29:09): Yeah, I can never, I know, yes. Ella is something that is just not chambered for me. It's not. But from those guys to, like Alex Jones has been a victim of lawfare. Donald Trump has been a victim of Lawfare, and the entire time there hasn't been a really adversarial reporting outlet with the international foundation that WikiLeaks has with the international audience, that WikiLeaks has to mount a citizen and open source intelligence challenge to any of this and the myriad ways, not just through the restrict Act or the new antisemitism bill or a number of the different laws in Europe and Europe, has the internet been shrunk down significantly? But Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter stating that he wants to turn it into WeChat where your entire internet based existence is on through this one app. I would imagine that Julian Assange would have a lot to say about what Elon Musk has been up to. (30:24) He'd have a lot to say about what happened with the WHO or the NIH over the last several years, but we haven't had that opportunity. And that to me is something that the US government can put as a Big W in their column. That's something that MI six could put as a Big W in their column and really goes right back to those forward documents where they were outlining the plan for what they wanted to do with WikiLeaks. They didn't get to scatter the organization to the winds the way they necessarily described 14 years ago. But when's the last time we got a WikiLeaks drop? Dr Leon (31:07): Well, and for folks that may not understand the significance of this, of course, it was the shooting of the civilians, the murder of the civilians in Iraq and the journalists in Iraq that were shot during the war. And WikiLeaks put that footage out for everybody to see the war crimes that were being committed. So if WikiLeaks had been allowed to continue to operate, I would think our understanding of Ukraine would be different. Our understanding of what's being done in Taiwan would be different. Our understanding of what's being done or trying to be done in North Korea would be different. We would have a lot more insight and information into the illegalities, whether they be international law, whether they be American law, whether they be war crimes, that the United States and its allies have been engaging in these various engagements around the world. Steve Poikenon (32:15): You're correct. And let's also recall that WikiLeaks and WikiLeaks alone disclosed the transpacific partnership. They were the outlet that that agreement came to. They published it, people looked at it and went, no, you want to do what? No, no. And those kinds of trade agreements being disclosed that were done in the dark, away from the eyes of the American public with zero opportunity for public comment or any sort of pushback that made WikiLeaks more dangerous in my opinion, then disclosing video of something that according to even the guys in the helicopter was like a three times a day event in Iraq. And it's something that people in the military kind of shrugged off like, well, yeah, that's what we do. But to the average citizen, it's shocking and horrifying, but not as shocking and horrifying as the United States government wants to set up a corporate court, and it will be a couple of CEOs that determine your future. And if you say something untoward about them on the internet, then they're appointed magistrates from the corporation will decide your faith. That's what the TPP was promising. And any outlet that is going to disclose information like that is suddenly become the most dangerous organization on the planet. Dr Leon (33:49): And when you said that, that I'm drawing a blank on his name, the attorney that sued ExxonMobil in Brazil, Steve Poikenon (33:58): Steven Inger, Dr Leon (33:59): Steven Inger, and how Mobil ExxonMobil was able to use a judge. I mean, they just flipped that whole thing. Don Zinger on behalf of the Indians in Brazil, sues ExxonMobil wins an ungodly amount of money, and he winds up going to jail and ExxonMobil because of what they were able to do with the judicial system in New York, it was criminal. So when you talk about a corporate magistrate, Don Zinger is what popped into my head. Steve Poikenon (34:42): And it was because of an agreement that happened during the Trump administration that that was even possible. And they basically dismantled the TPP, they put certain parts of it into different trade agreements and provisions, and then they got the quasi corporate court because the judge, I believe had been a former Chevron attorney. Correct. And that's how that may even be how he got his judgeship was Chevron bought his way into the judgeship. And that is kind of ordinary corruption, but it's ordinary corruption that also has multinational trade agreements codifying it. And again, in the absence of a WikiLeaks or an organization like it, disclosing these kinds of agreements on the regular, you're not going to get the rapid dissemination of that information amount, a successful pushback in time to stop it. You're not going to be able to get people on the same page understanding it because there's no trust with a number of these. (35:48) All of these other outlets are so disparate, nobody's really consolidated in a way that will lend the immediate mass public trust in what you're doing. Like Lit WikiLeaks had built up over a number of years to the point that when 2015, they disclosed the tpp, people from all over the world held rallies immediately, and there were people out in the streets immediately, and it became an election year issue and it wasn't. And people had to change their tone on it and say to the point where Donald Trump even won a lot of people over by saying, it's a bad deal. It's bad. I don't want to be any part of it. Hillary Clinton had to answer for it. They all had to answer for it. On that debate stage back in 2016, it became a real issue. And so if we don't have these kinds of things moving forward, we're going to be in a significantly less informed spot than we were a decade ago. And in the internet age, that should not be how information is progressing. Dr Leon (36:51): And final point here, and I want to go back to this William Casey quote, and this is the former director of the ccia A and Ronald Reagan will know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false. And that takes me, you've heard me say this too many times, Edward Bernas and the book Propaganda folks, you need to get a copy and you need to read Propaganda by Edward Bernas because that's to a great degree what Bill Casey was talking about. And this whole idea, the whole idea of psychological operations, PSYOPs and the PS ocracy. Steve Poikenon (37:47): Yeah. And fifth generation warfare is an asymmetrical warfare conducted on the citizenry, and that's conducted via all elements of propaganda. We're 12 years into living in a reality, a post Smith month modernization act reality. When the Smith Modernization Act passed and went into effect, government propaganda, military propaganda, and government analysts and experts became part and parcel of the media the better part of a halfway through a generation's worth of 24 hour, seven day a week asymmetrical warfare where the vast majority of the people walking around don't even know that they're at war, let alone with their own government, nor that their own government openly declared war on them. That's how good the propaganda is. Everybody should study Bnes. Everybody needs to internalize that the United States is the most propagandized country on the planet. And the only way that we can get out of that is if we understand the landscape that we're standing on and we start to look at how not necessarily individual people that make up that landscape operate, but the institutions that allow for those people to move freely on that landscape operate. And those institutions, we've been shown over and over and over again to be untrustworthy, to be acting not in our interest, to be acting at the behest of not even people in their own country. And yet for some reason, we still get Berna back into thinking that you can vote your way out of an oligarchy Dr Leon (39:44): And so quickly am wake up slow news day. Where do people go? What do they get when they listen to it? Steve Poikenon (39:50): You can go to am wakeup show.com for absolutely everything. We are live Monday through Thursday from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM Pacific us. There's content on the channel pretty much all the time. We stream out live on Rock fin and Rumble, and then you can catch them pretty much anywhere and everywhere else. And yeah, just thank you so much for having me on. I really have always enjoyed our conversations. Very glad to do your show. Dr Leon (40:22): Well, I got to thank you my guest, Steve Kin, for joining me today. I greatly, greatly appreciate you giving me time out of your schedule, and I always look forward to the conversations that we have and look forward to having many more with you here on Connecting the Dots. Thank you, Steve. Steve Poikenon (40:37): Thank you, Wilmer. Dr Leon (40:39): And thank you so much for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wilmer Leon, and Steve mentioned the Smith Mut Act, M-U-N-D-T Act. You all can Google that. Look it up. But simply put, for about 60 years that act prohibited the United States Department of State and the broadcasting Board of Governors from disseminating government produced programming within the United States over fear that these agencies would propagandize the American people. However, in around 2013, Congress abolished the domestic dissemination ban, which now has led to this big heated debate about the role of the federal government in free public discourse. Folks, stay tuned for new episodes every week and follow and subscribe. Leave a review, share the show, make a contribution. We would greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate it. Doing this every week is not an inexpensive venture. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Follow us on social media. You can find all the links below to the show. And remember that this is where the analysis of politics and culture and history converge talk without analysis is just chatter, and we don't chatter here on connecting the dots. See you again next time. Until then, I'm Dr. Woman Leon. Have a great one. Peace. I'm out Announcer (42:20): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.

ชมวิดีโอ EP นี้ใน YouTube เพื่อประสบการณ์การรับชมที่ดีที่สุด https://youtu.be/fJ5bHimVowQ ทั้งขนลุก! ทั้งหลอน! แต่ก็ทึ่งในความฉลาด!   ต้นกล้า ‘คืนพุธ มุดผ้าห่ม' เล่าเรื่องผี Urban Legends ตำนานผีพื้นบ้านญี่ปุ่น เป็นภาษาอังกฤษ ทั้งสนุก ได้ภาษา และได้สาระ

ชมวิดีโอ EP นี้ใน YouTube เพื่อประสบการณ์การรับชมที่ดีที่สุด https://youtu.be/fJ5bHimVowQ ทั้งขนลุก! ทั้งหลอน! แต่ก็ทึ่งในความฉลาด! ต้นกล้า ‘คืนพุธ มุดผ้าห่ม' เล่าเรื่องผี Urban Legends ตำนานผีพื้นบ้านญี่ปุ่น เป็นภาษาอังกฤษ ทั้งสนุก ได้ภาษา และได้สาระ

Always a pleasure to chat to John Michell about his latest book 'The Wind From New Jersey', this one's a real hit for sure!  John explains what's behind the book, including why he has included a storyline about stress and mental illness. John has excellent advice for anyone thinking about writing a book themselves, invaluable words from an Australian expert! About the book:Framed against the Allied occupation of postwar Germany, the emerging Cold War and a classic English poem, The Wind From New Jersey is a story set in an era when mental illness was considered a sign of weakness. It traces the lives of two young Englishmen, the emotionally disturbed spy Daniel Lincoln and the narcissistic criminal Ronald Hunt.The Berlin Wall of 1961 has curtailed Western espionage in East Germany. In 1964 Britain's MI6 and the American CIA plot to rectify this. But MI6 has a secret agenda.Daniel and Ronald become embroiled in separate but interdependent games of no-win Cold War cat and mouse. While all the while, as Daniel's untreated illness rages, friend battles friend as much as foe. A taut, stealthily seductive psychological tale of intrigue and human frailty, The Wind From New Jersey is a book perfect for lovers of gritty, edge of your seat espionage thrillers. Available on Amazon - search for 'The Wind from New Jersey' by John Michell Let me know what you thought of this episode and send a text here-----------------------------------------------------------------Podcasting is an increasingly brilliant way to reach your audience as more and more people are listening to podcasts world wide. Promotional Interviews can also be arranged on camera, these give even better publicity. Details at https://www.tonylloydradio.com/backstage-tony Get in touch if you have a story to tell on 'Music Stories'!Email: Hello@tonylloydradio.com

Very excited to have Norman Ohler on The Lonely Podcast.Norman Ohler is a German Novelist, screenwriter, and a New York Times Bestselling author of the Book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany. Norman had just released his brand new book Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic AgeIn this conversation, we discuss how and why he started investigating the issue of drugs in the Third Reich. The prevalence of drugs in Germany during the war, the birth of LSD, how it was misused and experimented by the American CIA, the origins of The War on Drugs, what are the medicinal advantages of LSD and psilocybin, how micro-dosing of LSD helped Norman's mother to treat her Alzheimer disease, the current state of research on psychedelics, and much more.I really enjoyed speaking with Norman and believe that his books are a must-read. Personally, I can say that as someone who has avoided using any kind of drug throughout my life, I have become very curious to at least try micro-dosing after reading Tripped.To support us please share this podcast with your friends and family to help spread the word...................................................................................................................................................TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) - Introduction(03:55) - Drugs in Nazi Germany(06:15) - The Role of Methamphetamine in Germany During WWII(07:53) - The Role of Methamphetamine in the German Army(10:34) - The Deteriorating Effects of Pervitin(14:00) - Is Adderall the New Pervitin?  (17:15) - Why Performance-Enhancing Drugs Are a Vehicle For Success in Capitalist Societies?(20:55) - The Unintended Results of Legalizations(27:35) - How Should We Introduce Drugs Into Society?(28:50) - The Birth of LSD(40:30) - The Prohibition of Psychedelics(42:45) - The Truth Behind The CIA's Mind-Control Program(47:00) - The Impact of LSD(50:25) - Western Discovery of The Magic Mushroom(56:45) - The Current State of Research on Psychedelics(58:15) - LSD For Mom - The Impact of Micro-dosing on Norman's Mother Who Suffers From Alzheimer..................................................................................................................................................LINKS TO NORMAN'S BOOKS:Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich - https://www.amazon.com/Blitzed-Drugs-Third-Norman-Ohler/dp/1328663795Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age - https://www.amazon.com/Tripped-Nazi-Germany-Dawn-Psychedelic/dp/0358646502/ref=sr_1_4?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.UH4U8FknRlqBWMauOVjzBiagdC5oTnBSg5jctwhLnJm8FVIHV5Veuj226ZjDncOaC5rkqH2-kIP9C4I9sEzlamFymeH3gmsi-Pwp0EXQT16ZaCKghjDXNgHDQ4JKs6wgMBTDJ73hB19onQXnmewCHKlxY7xhwPPfi45bjMpKpHLBYkOmukA1Hy6aeKvnmjP8BVzSSaaVJGU2uIVEvTcuvQ.gZ4VrZTW_x9Ykd2ZA9x5UHLzFTT0-eCpGrevF7mIXsw&dib_tag=se&hvadid=580696009408&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9028787&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=1341579547687034599&hvtargid=kwd-307468164419&hydadcr=22563_13493224&keywords=blitzed+by+norman+ohler&qid=1713213229&s=books&sr=1-4

From the frontlines of the Israel-Hamas War, Lt. Col. (res.) Avital Leibovich, director of AJC Jerusalem, joins us to discuss the current pause in fighting between Israel and the terror group Hamas, the release of hostages, the significance of international support for Israel, and the challenges the Jewish state faces in the West Bank. Leibovich also provides insights into the humanitarian conditions of the hostages and the broader implications of the conflict.  Take action to bring all hostages home now. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Lt. Col. (res.) Avital Leibovich Show Notes: Listen – People of the Pod on the Israel-Hamas War: What Would You Do If Your Son Was Kidnapped by Hamas? The Good, the Bad, and the Death Threats: What It's Like to Be a Jewish College Student Right Now Mai Gutman Was Supposed to Be at the Music Festival: IDF Lone Soldier Recounts Harrowing Week Responding to Hamas Terror: IsraAID CEO on How You Can Help Israelis Right Now Watch – Lt. Col. (res.) Avital Leibovich's War Diary How All Israelis are Affected by the Israel-Hamas War How October 7 "Changed the DNA" of Israelis Forever How Volunteers are Stepping up to Support the IDF Learn: Debunking the False Equivalency Between Israeli Hostages and Palestinian Prisoners What is Known About Israeli Hostages Taken by Hamas How much do you know about Hamas? Try to ace our quiz and expose the truth about the terror group today. Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Avital Leibovich: Manya Brachear Pashman:   As the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists nears its expiration on Thursday, Hamas continues to hold hostage 160 people. 80, including 61 women and children have been released during the pause. In exchange, Israel has freed 180 Palestinian prisoners. Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, Director of AJC Jerusalem joins us from Israel now for an update. Avital, welcome to People of the Pod and how are you? Avital Leibovich:   Thank you for having me. I am doing well, considering the fact that we are in a war here in Israel. My biggest concern at this time is the well being of my family. My son is in the army, my daughter is on reserve duty. So that's my number one concern. And of course, the well being of Israel, the safety and security of Israel.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   So Avital, what does this pause mean? What is being accomplished during this time? Avital Leibovich:   So the pause is something that Hamas pressured Israel. It pressured Israel because the military pressure was quite significant. The pause allows a few things to happen. Number one, we, Israel will receive hostages, and in return, Israel will free from prison, women and youth that were involved in different planning of terror attacks or executed themselves terror attacks. And that's one thing. The second thing I would say, is time for Hamas to regroup. That's for their benefit. This pause allows them to regroup, rearm, reposition themselves. The third thing and I'm going back to Israel also allows Israeli army to better prepare to rearm to place itself in the right positioning and then be ready for the next stage, which is resumption of the fighting. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And do you expect that fighting to resume right away? Or do you think that Israel would like to extend the pause as long as possible in order to get as many hostages back as possible?  Avital Leibovich:   Yesterday, there were meetings between, actually was a very interesting meeting in Qatar. In the meeting, we had the head of the Egyptian intelligence, the head of the Israeli Mossad, and the Qatari representative, and the American head of the CIA, the American CIA. And in this meeting, the discussion evolved on a few more days of pause, and in return, Hamas will release a few more hostages.  So right now Israel has said that it agrees to a few more days of a pause. But we're only talking about a few more days. The ultimate goal of this war is to eliminate Hamas government in Gaza. And in order to change that government, in order to bring some sort of a new future to this region, to Israel, to Gaza, to the Palestinians living in Gaza, this takes time.  So the fighting I assume will take a long time. It's going to be a long time because Gaza has been built underground and above the ground in such a way that requires inch by inch, very careful work a lot of the time other facilities are booby trapped. There is a huge array of tunnels underground, which are very long. With junctions. Some of the tunnels can even have cars inside. So this has to be a very, very careful job. We have a lot of soldiers inside Gaza right now. And so this pause I would say is temporary. Manya Brachear Pashman:   What are we learning from the hostages who are being released? Avital Leibovich:   That's the most heartbreaking issue. We're learning a few things. The first thing is they had to speak very, very quietly among themselves. Of course, I'm referring to those who had other hostages with them. But those who had other hostages with them had to whisper. And how do we know this because some of the kids are still whispering today, some of the kids that have been held as hostages and just returned from captivity, they're still whispering. Another thing we know is that they had very little food, very little quantities of food, which also brings a lot of worries here in Israel, because there are many elderly people held. There's still a baby inside the toddlers and a few other children. And so the nutrition issue obviously is quite critical.  The third thing we learned is that some of them were held in complete seclusion. One of the children that returned two days ago is a 12 year old boy, by the name of Eitan Yahalomi. His father was murdered, his mother is still alive. And he actually was in a room by himself for at least two weeks. And imagine for a 12 year old to be in this kind of hostile environment, on his own without anybody to communicate, underground, most of the time, that's quite scary.  We also know that they had very poor hygiene conditions, no running water, very, very minimal toilet facilities. We also know they never received any medical care and attention, no medicine, no doctors, nothing of that sort. And the last thing we know is that most of the time they were held underground, in an underground facility, different sizes of rooms. And all of these things are just a small indication of the cruelty of this terror organization called Hamas. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Congress is debating whether to send aid to Israel to support Israel in the war. How important is it at this point? Avital Leibovich:   I think it's very important. First of all, I do want to say that the support that Israel received from the US until now, it's unbelievable. The fact that there are, on the military side the fact that there are our aircraft carriers here in the region, and planes filled with different kinds of ammunition. That sends a very strong message of both deterrence and strength to the enemies in the region. And second, on the political, more strategic level. The voting, the vetoing of the different proposals on the Security Council in the UN, the multiple visits starting from President Biden to Secretary of State Blinken, which he's supposed to arrive here tomorrow. And also appointing a special envoy to this specific situation that we have here in the region.  So all of these things speak volumes. So yes, I think it's very significant to Israel, and also the future decisions will be significant. Look, being at war for such a long time and 53 days have passed already has serious precautions on different issues. Economy is one of them. Obviously, tourism has stopped, small businesses have been affected and many other sectors as well. So aid would be very, very significant to Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I'm also curious about the security situation in the West Bank. We were so focused on terrorism coming from the West Bank before this happened. What is the situation there now, especially as hostages are being released? Avital Leibovich:   It's a good question, because from where I'm sitting, the West Bank at this point of time is another front that Israel has to deal with at this specific moment. We have a serious challenge with the fact that the Palestinian Authority does not really have governance in many areas in the West Bank. And as a result of that, there are different kinds of terror groups, Hamas is one of them. But it's not the only one, trying to recruit Palestinians to commit different terror attacks. The second side of it is a lot of incitement, which is really flooding the social media platforms, and also has an effect on the mood on the streets on the mood of young people and others as well. So the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, actually almost on a daily basis, needs to enter certain areas where there is no prisons, unfortunately, have any Palestinian policemen, and actually arrest those terrorists on the ground. And I think in the last 50 days or so the IDF has arrested more than 1000 people that have been suspicious and with some kind of planning or plotting terror attacks against Israelis. And this does not seem to quiet down I have to say so I am concerned of this front.  At this point of time Hamas is though, by the way, investing a lot of time and effort because Hamas is interest is of course, to create lack of stability here in Israel. So part of that is the instability is trying to influence what's going on in the West Bank and trying to get people out to the streets, either protesting against idea for committing some sort of terror acts against Israelis so that's really an issue of concern for us. Manya Brachear Pashman:   We talked about the importance of American aid, are there other countries that are showing significant support that have been really vital in this war? Avital Leibovich:   I think that we've seen some very important gestures of support by European leaders from the Czech Republic, from Bulgaria, from, from the UK, from France, from Japan, from other countries. But I think the number one country in Europe that really stood up and is still standing up supporting Israel very, very strongly, is maybe Germany. And yesterday, the President of Germany visited Israel and visited one of the kibbutzes, a kibbutz called Be'eri. And a lot of the houses there were burned and dozens of people were murdered and others were kidnapped. And he was so touched and moved. And he said that the government of Germany intends to donate 7 million euros just for the rebuilding and renovating of this community.  But there are other countries as well, and I think Israel has been well supported by the international community. However, the challenge still lays ahead, because we are not at the end of this war. And in order to eliminate Hamas, we need more time. And as this time progresses, there will be a lot more pictures which are not pleasant because pictures from wars are not pleasant pictures. And this may have an impact on different kinds of world leaders. So we have to continue and explain and gain that legitimization so that Israel could complete its goal and continue to defend itself. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I know in conversations with AJC's, Berlin's director Remko Leemhuis, he brought delegations of German officials to Israel. And that has made quite a difference, I think, to see it firsthand. Have there been other delegations from other countries? Avital Leibovich:   So we have hosted here in Israel four delegations with very short notice. I have a great staff in the office, and they were able to create an itinerary, which I think is very experiential on one hand, but on the other hand, is also quite touching. Because how many people in such leadership positions really have the opportunity to really be on the ground and see the situation as it is. So we had here three parliamentary delegations from European countries, East and Western Europe. And we also had here the head of the, the chair of the Foreign Affairs security committee of the German parliament. And I met those three parliamentary delegations, and I briefed them.  And I have to say that with all the information that is out there today in 2023, via the internet and platforms and social media, still there is not a full understanding of the situation. So taking these participants on the ground, showing them those areas, those communities that have been affected, and taking them to a base that has been turned into a morgue. Where, even today, more than 80 bodies and body parts still remain unidentified because of the terrible condition that they came with. And I explained to them the extent of the atrocities. You can only really get it when you're on the ground.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Avital, once this pause expires, and I know it's unclear when that will be, but you've made it clear that it's inevitable – what comes next? Avital Leibovich:   I think we are heading into a very difficult time ahead. Because once we finish the hostage exchange kind of agreements, then Israel will have to return to the actual fighting part. And Hamas, which is a very bitter psychological warfare enemy will continue and try to stop this fighting in different psychological ways. Israeli leadership will have to make here tough decisions, whether the country agrees, for example, just I'll give you just one idea of such a dilemma.  Let's say Hamas tomorrow morning, or in three days time says, complete and finish the fighting altogether. Stop for the next five years, hold your fire for the next five fears, and in return, we will return all the hostages. Then what, then what do you do as a country? What kind of decision will the government take? Will it still continue with the fighting to eliminate Hamas? Or will it say okay, the life of the hostages are more important and therefore, we are canceling the original goal and stopping the fighting. I don't think that will happen.  But those kinds of dilemmas, I think will escort Israeli leaders in the next couple of days. I think they will be tough, very tough questions ahead that Israel will need to deal with. Another issue that we haven't discussed, is the northern arena. Hamas is a tough enemy. is a cruel enemy. It possesses something like 20,000 rockets, which they used more or less half, maybe a bit more. Because Hezbollah is a totally different ballgame in terms of capabilities in terms of military capabilities in terms of ammunition, precise ammunition and so on. And what will be the policy visa vie Hezbollah. And this is also a question Israel will need to ask itself and I'm sure that the next week or two will have an indication where this country is heading. There's one thing that it's clear to all of us here in Israel, that we cannot go back to the same situation that existed here on October 6–53 days ago. That situation must be changed. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Avital thank you so much for joining us and giving us an update.  Avital Leibovich:   Thank you for the opportunity.

In 1972, in the middle of the Cold War, the Soviet military sent a team of all-stars to Kampala to compete in three goodwill basketball games against Uganda's top players. But the Soviets, who were hoping to curry favor with the leader of the new regime, Idi Amin, didn't know that the Ugandan national team was being coached by an undercover American CIA operative named Jay Mullen. Sent to Uganda earlier that year to spy on the Soviets, the well-meaning history teacher from Oregon ends up courtside with one of the most notorious dictators in history. Reporter Shaun Raviv brings us close to the story in The Real Jay Mullen. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One year after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, Vladislav Davidzon, European culture correspondent for Tablet Magazine, shares what he's witnessed as a war correspondent on the frontlines, and predicts the future for his beloved country and the Jewish community he's proud to call home.  We last spoke to Davidzon hours before the Russia-Ukraine war began, when he was on the ground in Kyiv – listen now to his dispatch a year on, as he joins us live from our New York studio. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. ___ Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Vladislav Davidzon ____ Show Notes:   Read: What You Need to Know About the Wagner Group's Role in Russia's War Against Ukraine Preorder: Jewish-Ukrainian Relations and the Birth of a Political Nation    Watch: Kiyv Jewish Forum: Ted Deutch, AJC CEO, Addresses Kyiv Jewish Forum 2023 Panel: Ukraine as the Israel of Europe with Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, Managing Director of AJC Europe, Bernard Henry Levi, philosopher, and Josef Joffe, Stanford University   Listen:  Podcast episode with Vladislav Davidzon, recorded February 23, 2022:  Live from Kyiv: The Future of Ukraine and its Large Jewish Community Our most recent podcast episode: How Rising Antisemitism Impacts Jews on College Campuses   Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod   You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org   If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us. ______ Transcript of Interview with Vladislav Davidzon: Manya: On February 24th, 2022, just hours before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Vladislav Davidzon, founding editor of The Odessa Review and contributor to Tablet Magazine, joined us live from Kiyv to share the mood on the ground as Russian forces were closing in. Now, one year later, Vladislav joins us again, this time in person, in our studio to share what he has seen, heard, and experienced this past year since the Russian invasion of his home. Vladislav, it is so good to see you alive and well and in person. Vladislav: Thank you so much. This is so surreal. I'm so grateful, first of all, for your interest, for your affection, for your graciousness, for your respect. But I'm grateful to be here exactly one year later. It was the last thing that I did in the workday before the war began, before the old world ended. And I went off to dinner with my friend, now of blessed memory, Dan Rappaport, who was an American Latvian born Jewish financier. It was also the last time I saw him. He died under very suspicious circumstances. He died falling out of a window in Washington, DC, or of a roof, on the seventh floor, three months later. I just have extremely intense emotions about that six hour period because…I was talking to my wife, my wife's French Ukrainian, she was back in Paris. I said, if anything happens tonight, I'll call you in the morning. Things are gonna go down tonight. And then I did this podcast with you. And so, it's really amazing to be back with you a year later. Manya: Yes. I mean, I  am so grateful to see you because I really was very worried. I worried that that was going to be our last conversation, and that I would not get a chance to meet you in person after that. And in addition to everything, you've been working on a book, The Birth of a Political Nation, which we'll talk a little bit more about shortly. But, first tell me, tell our listeners how you have managed to survive and tell the stories that need to be told. Vladislav: It's not pretty. I mean, it's just, it's not elegant. I'm a Ukrainian Russian Jew, so I kind of went into primordial, bestial mode, like Russian Ukrainian, Jewish survival mode, like my grandfathers and great-grandfathers during World War II. I just, you know, something clicked and your your training and your skillset and your deep cultural characteristics click in and you just go full on Hemingway, Lord Byron, and then you just go to war. Like a lot of other people, I went to war. I burned out after about six months and I needed some months off. I was just rnning around like a madman, reporting, getting my own relatives out, helping whatever way I could, helping my family close down their businesses, helping run guns, going on t radio, you know, just collecting money, going to the front, just, going off on an adrenaline rush. And it's admixture of rage, testosterone. Adrenaline, survival, rage,  all the cocktail of horrific, let's say toxic masculine character [laughs]. I know you can't, I I know. I'm ironic about that. I live in Eastern Europe, so you can, you can still make fun of all that stuff in Eastern Europe. I don't know if you can here, but, you know, jokes aside. I just went into this deeply primordial state of Ukrainian Russian civilizational structures of brutal survival and fighting. And that went on for about six months, at which point I just crashed and collapsed and needed some off time. Manya: How much of your journalistic instincts also fueled your push on, your forging ahead and surviving just to tell the story, or was it more a familial connection? Vladislav: I have skin in the game. I'm from there. I mean, my ancestors are from there, two of my grandparents were born there. My family lived there for hundreds of years. I'm married to a Ukrainian Jewish girl. I have family there. My friends are, these are my people. I'm deeply tribal. Obviously you take the opportunity as a journalist reporting on a country for 10 years and almost no one cares about it. And you're an expert on it. You know all the politicians and you know all the, all the stories and you know all the storylines. And you, you have contacts everywhere. You know, of a country like the back of your hand. And suddenly it becomes the focal point of the world's attention and it becomes the greatest story in the entire world. And of course, you're prepared in a way that all, all these other people who paratroop in are not prepared, and you have to make the best of it. And you have to tell stories from people who wouldn't otherwise have access to the media. And you have to explain, there's so much bad stuff in terms of quality of reporting coming out of Ukraine because so many amateurs went in. In any given situation, there are lots of people who come to a war zone. You know, in wars, people, they make their bones, they become rich, they become famous, they get good looking lovers. Everyone gets paid in the currency that they want. Right? But this is my country. I've been at this for 10, 12 years. I don't begrudge anyone coming to want to tell the story. Some people are opportunists in life and some people are extraordinarily generous and gracious. And it almost doesn't matter what people's motivations are. I don't care about why you came here. I care about the quality of the work. And a lot of the work was pretty bad because people didn't have local political context, didn't have language skills. And a lot of that reporting was so-so. I made the most of it, being an area expert. And also being a local, I did what I had to do. I wish I'd done more. I wish I went 500% as opposed to 250%. But everyone has their limits. Manya: What got lost? With the poor reporting, what do you think with the stories that you captured, or what do you wish you had captured, giving that additional 250%? Vladislav: Yeah. It's a great question. I wish that I had known now what I know a year ago, but that's life in general. About where the battles would be and what kinds of people and what kinds of frontline pounds would have particular problems getting out to particular places. For example, I know now a lot more about the evacuation of certain ethnic communities. The Gagauz, the Greeks. Ukraine is full of different kinds of people. It's a mosaic. I know now a lot about the way that things happened in March and April. Particular communities went in to help their own people. Which is great. It's fine. a lot of very interesting characters wound up in different places. Much of Ukrainian intelligentsia, they wound up outside the country. A lot stayed, but a lot did wind up in different places like Berlin and the Baltics. Uh, amazing stories from, uh, the volunteers like the Chechens and the Georgians and the Lithuanians and the Belarus who came to fight for Ukraine. Just, you know, I wish I'd kept up with the guys that I was drinking with the night before. I was drinking with like six officers the night before, and two of 'em are alive. Mm or three alive now. I was with the head of a Georgian Legion two nights before the war. Hang out with some American CIA guys and people from the guys from the American, actually a couple of girls, also hardcore American girls from the US Army who were operatives and people at our embassy in Kyiv who didn't get pulled out. These are our hardcore people who after the embassy left, told whoever wanted to stay on the ground to stay. I met some very interesting people. I wish I'd kept up with them. I don't, I don't know what happened with them or what, what their war experiences were like. So, you know. Yeah. Life is full of regrets. Manya: You talked a little bit about the ethnic communities coming in to save people and to get them out. How did the Jewish communities efforts to save Ukrainian Jews compare to those efforts? Did you keep tabs on that? Movement as well. Vladislav: Oh, yeah. Oh, in fact, I worked on that actually,  to certainly to a smaller extent than other people or whatever. I certainly helped whatever I could. It was such a mad scramble and it was so chaotic in the beginning of a war. The first two weeks I would be getting calls from all over the world. They would call me and they would say this and this and this person, I know this person needs to get out. There were signal groups of volunteers, exfiltration organizations, special services people, my people in the Ukrainian Jewish community who were all doing different things to get Jews out. Tens of thousands of people were on these lists. And I would figure out to the extent possible with about 50 people, 40 to 50 people,  what their risk level was. And I would give 'em advice. I have a gay friend, one of my wife's business partners, who was the head of a major television station. And he would, he would've been on the Kill list because he was in part of intelligentsia and he was gay. I gave him particular advice on where to go.  I said, go to this village–and men aren't allowed of the country, and he wasn't the kind of guy who was gonna fight. I said, go to a particular place. I told him, go to this village and sit here and don't go anywhere for two months. And he did this. Other people needed to be gotten out. Holocaust survivors, especially. We have horrific incidents of people who survived Stalin's war and Hitler's war and who died of heart attacks under their beds, hiding from Russian missiles. There were many stories of Holocaust survivors. Typically, it's old women by this point. It's not it's not gentleman. Women do live longer. Older women in their nineties expiring in a bunker, in an underground metro station or under their bed hiding from missiles, you know. Horrific stories. but people who survived Auschwitz did get killed by the missiles. We have stories like that. And so to continue, there were many people working on getting elderly Jews out. Getting Jewish women out. Jewish kids out. There were, in fact, there were people working on getting all sorts of people out. And that's still going on. And I met a Jewish member of the Ukrainian parliament last night who did this for two months. Uh, I saw, I saw my acquaintance who I hadn't seen in two years. Yeah. There are a lot of people I haven't seen in a year, obviously, for the obvious reasons. I saw an acquaintance who's an Israeli educated Ukrainian member of parliament. He spent the first three months just evacuating Jews, driving convoys of special forces guys, former Mossad guys, special operatives into cities like Mariupol, Chernigev to get Jews out. Literally driving through minefields at a certain point with buses full of elderly Jews. And he told me last night that they got 26,000 Jews out. Just in his organization, which was Special Forces guys, Ukrainian police volunteers, Ukrainian Jewish guys who came back from Israel with IDF training, a motley collection of people. But they set up an organization and they went in, and they got people out. Manya: That's amazing. So I know before, when we spoke before you were splitting your time between Ukraine  and France, because your wife is of French descent as well. For your most recent piece for Tablet, the most recent one that I've read, you were in Tel Aviv doing an interview. So where have you spent most of your time, in this past year? Vladislav: In my head. Manya: Yeah. Understandable. Vladislav: I've spent, if I had to count up the dates of my passport, 40 to 50% of my time in Ukraine, over the last, less than the last three months for various family reasons and, you know, working on my book But half the time in Ukraine, in and out. I've been all over, spent a lot of time on the front. That was intense. That was really intense. Manya: You mean as a war correspondent on the front lines? Vladislav: Yeah,I was in Sievierodonetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Lysychansk, Mykolaiv. I was all over the front. I was with the commanding general of the Southern front in a car, driving back from the battle of  Kherson, and we got stripped by a Russian sniper three times and they hit our car. They just missed by like a couple of centimeters, side of a thing. And the guy actually usually drove around in an armored Hummer. But the armored Hummer was actually in the shop getting repaired that day and was the one day he had an unarmored Hummer. And we were just in an unarmed car, in an unarmed command car, black Mercedes, leaving the war zone a couple of kilometers out, just a Russian reconnaissance sniper advanced group just, you know, ambushed us. They were waiting for us to, maybe they were just taking pot shots at a command car, but they were waiting for us as we were leaving. Took three shots at us and the car behind us with our bodyguards radioed, they're shooting, they're shooting. I heard three whooshes and three pings behind it. Ping, ping, ping. And we all thought in the car that it was just rocks popping off the the wheels. But actually it was a sniper. So, you know, there, there was a lot of that. It was very intense. Manya: Did you wear flak jackets? Vladislav: Yeah, well, we took 'em off in the car. When, when you're on the front line, you wear everything, but when you get out of the front line, and you're just driving back, you don't wanna drive around with it, so you just take it off in the car. And that's exactly when they started shooting us. Yeah. They would've gotten us, if they'd been a little bit luckier. Manya: Well, you moderated a panel at the Kiev Jewish Forum last week. Our CEO, Ted Deutch and AJC Europe Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, were also there. Your panel focused on the new Ukraine. What does that mean, the new Ukraine? What does that look like? Vladislav: Thank you for asking about that. Let me start with talking a little bit about that conference. Along with Mr. Boris Lozhkin, the head of Ukrainian Jewish Confederation. I put together with Tablet where I'm the European culture correspondent, wonderful, wonderful conference. It is the fourth annual Kiyv Jewish Forum. It took place in Kiyv for the last three years, but today, obviously this year, it won't be for the obvious reason and we put together a conference so that people understand the issues at stake, understand the position of Ukrainian Jewish community, understand the myriad issues involved with this war. Just a wonderful, wonderful conference that I really enjoyed working on with remarkable speakers. Running the gamut from Leon Panetta, Boris Johnson. Your own Mr. Deutch. Just wonderful, wonderful speakers. And, six really great panels, and 20 wonderful one-on-one interviews with really interesting people. So please go to the website of the Kiev Jewish Forum or Tablet Magazine and/or YouTube, and you'll find some really interesting content, some really interesting conversations, dialogues about the state of war, the state of Ukrainian Jewry, the state of Ukrainian political identity and the new Ukraine. Manya: I should tell our listeners, we'll put a link to the Kiyv Jewish Forum in our show notes so that they can easily access it. But yeah, if you don't mind just kinda elaborating a little bit about what, what does the new Ukraine look like? Vladislav: Well, we're gonna see what the new Ukraine will look like after the Russians are driven out of the country. It's gonna look completely different. The demographic changes, the political changes, the cultural changes will play out for decades and maybe a hundred years. These are historical events, which will have created traumatic changes to the country and to Eastern Europe, not just to Ukraine, but all of eastern Europe. From along the entire crescent, from Baltics to Poland, down to Hungary, through Moldova, Belarus. Everything will be changed by this war. This is a world historical situation that will have radically, radically changed everything. And so Ukraine as a political nation has changed dramatically over the last seven years since the Maidan revolution. And it's obviously changed a lot since the start of the war a year ago. It's a completely different country in many ways. Now, the seeds of that change were put into place by the political process of the last couple of years, by civil society, by a deep desire of the resilient Ukrainian political nation to change, to become better, to transform the country. But for the most part, the war is the thing that will change everything. And that means creating a new political nation. What that will look like at the end of this, that's hard to say. A lot of these values are deeply embedded. I know it's unfashionably essentialist to talk about national character traits, but you know, again, I'm an Eastern European, so I can get away with a lot of things that people can't here. And there are such things as national character traits. A nation is a collection of people who live together in a particular way and have particular ways of life and particular values. Different countries live in different ways and different nations, different people have different traits. Just like every person has a different trait and some are good and some are bad, and some are good in certain situations, bad in other situations. And everyone has positive traits and negative traits. And you know, Ukraine like everyone else, every other nation has positive traits. Those traits of: loving freedom, being resilient, wanting to survive, coming together in the times of war are incredibly generative in the middle of this conflict. One of the interesting things about this conflict that is shown, the way that all the different minorities in the country, and it's a country full of all kinds of people, all sorts of minorities. Not just Jews, but Greeks and Crimean Tatars, Muslims, Gagauz, Turkish speaking Christians in my own Odessa region, Poles on the Polish border, Lithuanian Belarus speakers on the Belarusian border. People who are of German descent, though there are a lot fewer of them since World War II. All sorts of different people live in Ukraine and they've come together as a political nation in order to fight together, in a liberal and democratic way. Whereas Russia's also an empire of many different kinds of people, And it's also been brought together through autocratic violence and authoritarian, centralized control. This is a war of minorities in many ways, and so a lot of the men dying from the Russian side are taken from the minority regions like Dagestan, Borodyanka, Chechnya. Disproportionate number of the men dying from the Russian side are also minorities, disproportionate to their share of the Russian Federation's population. In some circles it's a well known fact, one of the military hospitals on the Russian side, at a certain point, the most popular name amongst wounded soldiers, was Mohammed. They were Muslim minorities, from Dagestan, other places. There are a lot of Muslims in Russia. Manya: That is truly a heartbreaking detail. Vladislav: And they're the ones that are the poorest and they're the ones who are being mobilized to fight Ukrainians. Manya: So you're saying that literally the face of Ukraine, and the personality, the priorities of the nation have been changed by this war. Ukrainians have become, what, more patriotic, more militant? Militant sounds … I'm afraid that has a bad connotation. Vladislav: No, militant's great. You know, Marshall virtues. . . that's good. Militant is, you know, that's an aggressive word. Marshall virtues is a good word. Surviving virtues. It's amazing the way Ukrainian flags have encapsulated a kind of patriotism in the western world, which was in many ways unthinkable for large swaths of the advanced population. I mean, you see people who would never in a million years wave an American or British or French flag in Paris, London, and New York and Washington, wave around Ukrainian flags. Patriotism, nationalism have very bad connotations now in our decadent post-industrial West, and, Ukrainians have somehow threaded that needle of standing up for remarkable values, for our civilization, for our security alliances after the war, for the democratic world order that we, that we as Americans and Western Europeans have brought large swaths of the world, while also not becoming really unpleasantly, jingoistic. While not going into,  racism for the most part, while not going into, for the most part into unnecessary prejudices. They fight and they have the best of traditional conservative values, but they're also quite liberal in a way that no one else in eastern Europe is. It's very attractive. Manya: They really are unified for one cause.  You mentioned being shot at on the front lines of this war. This war has not only changed the nation, it has changed you. You've become a war correspondent in addition to the arts and culture correspondent you've been for so many years. And you've continued to report on the arts throughout this horrific year.  How has this war shaped Ukrainian artists, its literary community, its performing arts, sports?   Vladislav: First of all, unlike in the west, in, in Eastern Europe. I mean, these are broad statements, but for the most part, in advanced western democracies, the ruling classes have developed different lifestyles and value systems from much of the population. We're not gonna get into why that is the case, but I, as a insider-outsider, I see that. It's not the case in Eastern Europe yet, and certainly not in Ukraine. The people who rule the country and are its elites, they are the same culturally, identity wise as the people that they rule over. So the entire, let's say ruling elite and intelligentsia, artistic class. They have kids or sons or husbands or nephews at war. If we went to war now in America, much of the urban population would not have a relative who died. If a hundred thousand Americans died right now would not be, you would probably not know 10 people who died, or 15 people who died. Manya: It's not the same class system. Vladislav: Correct. America and the western world, let's say western European world from Canada down to the old, let's say Soviet borders or Polish borders, they have developed a class system, a caste system that we don't have. You could be a billionaire, and still hang out with your best friend from high school who was a worker or a bus driver. That doesn't happen here so often, for various reasons. And so a larger proportion of the intelligentsia and the artistic classes went to fight than you would expect. I know so many writers and artists and painters, filmmakers who have gone off to fight. A lot, in fact, I'd say swabs of the artist elite went off to fight. And that's very different from here. And this will shape the arts when they come back. Already you have some really remarkable, interesting things happening in, in painting. Not cinema because cinema's expensive and they're not really making movies in the middle of a war. Certain minor exceptions. There's going to be a lot, a lot of influence on the arts for a very long time. A lot of very interesting art will come out of it and the intelligentsia will be strengthened in some ways, but the country's losing some of its best people. Some of its very, very, very best people across the professions are being killed. You know, dozens of athletes who would've been competing next year in the ‘24 Olympics in Paris are dead on the front lines. Every week I open up my Twitter on my Facebook or my social media and I see another athlete, you know, pro skater or a skier or  Cross Country runner or someone who is this brilliant 19, 20 year old athlete who's supposed to compete next year, has just been killed outside of Bakhmut or just been killed outside of Kherson or just been killed outside of Sloviansk or something like this. You read continuously and there's a picture of this beautiful, lovely, young person. who will never compete next year for a gold medal at the Olympics. You see continuously people with economics degrees, people who went to art school being killed at the front. So just as the army, as the Ukrainian army has lost a lot of its best men, a lot of its most experienced soldiers have been killed recently in Bakhmut and in other places, the intelligentsia is taking a wide scale hit. Imagine like 20-30% of America's writers, artists, people who went to art school getting killed at the front or something like that. I don't have statistics, but 10 to 15, 20%. Can you imagine that? What would that do to the society over the long term, If some of its best writers, people who won Pulitzer prizes, people who won national book awards wound up going to the army and getting killed? Manya: When this war ends… Vladislav: When we win, when we win. Manya: When you win, will there be a Ukrainian Jewish community like there was before? What do you see as the future of the Ukrainian Jewish community and how do you think the trauma of this conflict will impact that community? Vladislav: There will be a Jewish Ukrainian community, whether there will be a Russian Jewish community remains to be seen. There will be survivors of the community. A lot of people will go back, we'll rebuild. We will get our demographics back. A lot of people in Ukraine will have already stayed where they're going. There are already a lot of people who have left and after a year their kids got into a school somewhere in the Czech Republic or France or Germany. They're not coming back. There will be a lot of people who will have roots somewhere else. Within the community, certain cities, Jewish life will die out. What was left of the Lugansk, Donetsk Jewish communities is gone now. What was left of Donetsk Jewry is gone. There were a lot of Jews in Mariupol, thousands of Jews. Many of them who survived World War II. Certainly the Mariupol Jewish community has no future. None. Absolutely none. For the obvious reasons. The demographics of the Jewish communities have all changed and we're gonna see over time how all this plays out and sorts itself out. A lot of Jews from Odessa went into Moldova and they will come back. A lot of Jews from Dnipro have been displaced, although the city has not been touched. And they had the biggest Jewish community of like 65-70,000 Jews in Dnipro, and the wealthiest Jewish community and the best financed, the most synagogues. I actually went, before the battle of Sievierodonetsk, I went and I asked the rabbi of Dnipro for his blessing, cause I knew it was going to be a bloodbath. I didn't really want to die, so, you know, I'll try anything once. and it worked. Proofs in the pudding. I'm still here. He's done tremendous work in order to help Jewish communities there. One of the interesting parts of this is that little Jewish communities that had been ethnically cleansed by the Holocaust, which were on their way to dying, which did not have enough Jews in order to reproduce on a long timeline in Western Ukraine. Now because of the influx of Jews from other parts of the country, from the south especially and from the east, now have enough Jews in order for them to continue on. I don't know if anyone knows the numbers and it's too early to say. Places like Lviv had a couple of hundred Jews. They now have several thousand. There are at least three or four minor towns that I can think of in Western Ukraine, which were historically Jewish towns. which did not after the Holocaust, after, Soviet and Post-soviet immigration have enough of a Jewish population in order to have a robust community a hundred years from now, they now do. Now that is a mixed blessing. But the demographics of Jews inside Ukraine have changed tremendously. Just that the demographics of everything in Ukraine has changed tremendously when 40% of a population have moved from one place to another. 8 million refugees, something like 25- 40% of the country are IDPs. Lots of Jews from my part of Ukraine, from the South, have moved to West Ukraine. And those communities, now they're temporary, but nothing is permanent as a temporary solution, as the saying goes. I think Chernowitz, which never had the opportunity, I really love their Jewish community and they're great. And the rabbi and the head of community is a wonderful man. It did not seem to me, the three or four times that I'd visited before the war, Chernowitz, where my family's from, that this is a city that has enough Jews or Jewish institutional life to continue in 50 years. It does now. Is that a good thing, I don't know. That's a different question, but it's certainly changed some things, for those cities. Manya: Vladislav, thank you. Thank you for your moving reports and for joining us here in the studio. It has been such a privilege to speak with you. Please stay safe. Vladislav: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. It's really great to check in with you again one year after the last time we spoke. 

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE with Host & Transformational Success Coach Lori Anne Casdia chats with Guest Chef Charles J. DraytonChef Charles J. Drayton of Exquisite Healthy Eats an Exquisite Catering Cuisine LLC brand has a passion for great food and the art of cooking. His passion for food began under the tutelage of his father, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of American (CIA) who became a celebrity chef and well regarded in the profession. Chef Charles has worked in many aspects of the culinary field including corporate sales, restaurant consulting, and menu building. His early career was spent at the Snapper Inn as the Chef de Cuisine, and while attending College he was the Executive Chef at Courtyard Cafe. Chef Charles gained experience and knowledge throughout his career by learning from some very talented Chef throughout Long Island and the 5 Boroughs. Exquisite Catering Cuisine, Exquisite Healthy Eats and Chef Charles Private Chef Events were created to appeal to all people wanting to have a High End Fine Dining event to a simple BBQ.To Contact: www.exquisitecateringcuisine.com@Exquisite Healthy Eats (FB)@exquisitehealthyeats (IG)@Exquisite Catering Cuisine (FB)@Exquisitecateringcuisineli (IG)@Chef Charles J Drayton (FB)@ChefCharlesJDrayton (IG) TikTok Chef_Charles_J_DraytonFree Offer: All new Exquisite Healthy Eats Customers receives a dollar off each meal. 10 meal minimum.Free or Special Offer: ➡️ 3 Steps To Cleaning Up Your Messes & Incomplete's Our Goal at Healthy Lifestyle is to inspire, educate and empower you to fulfilling a healthy, emotional, spiritual and physical life, so you can feel empowered to live the life you have always wanted and dreamed. We are here to lift each other up with encouragement and positivity. To serve one another.About Our HostLori Anne De Iulio Casdia is an award winning International Transformational Success Coach & Strategist; Speaker; #1 International Best Selling Author of “Women Who Dream”; Radio Personality; Empire Builder; Visionary; Business Woman & recognized expert. Lori Anne's discovery of Super Ball Syndrome led her to find and create her program TAKE ACTION WITH JET PROPULSION - empowering, and igniting people to take action, monetize their message and Soar to Success.Activating behavioral changes, Lori Anne will show you exactly how to define who you are in order to reach your personal and professional goals. From disrupting limiting beliefs to cultivating confidence, to mastering communication skills, to architecting actionable plans. Lori Anne guides people from confusion to clarity in their lives while aligning to their vision, perfecting their message and achieving their Dreams.Lori Anne Quotes:"Play a Higher Role, Serve a Higher Purpose Show Up for You And Show Up Big!" ~ Lori Anne"All of our Success Codes are already within us when we are born. We need to tap into ourselves and that success code to achieve our fullest potential. Let's work together so you can Soar to Success!" ~Lori Anne Please email us at HealthyLifestylewithLA@gmail.com Follow us on social media @healthylifestylewithLALinkswww.LDCStrategies.com@LDCStrategies (FB/IG))@Healthylifestylewithla (FB/IG)Our Goal at Healthy Lifestyle is to inspire, educate and empower you to fulfilling a healthy, emotional, spiritual and physical life, so you can feel empowered to live the life you have always wanted and dreamed. We are here to lift each other up with encouragement and positivity. To serve one another.ABOUT OUR HOST:Lori Anne De Iulio CasdiaLife & Business Transformational Success Coach & StrategistPersonal Development Coach#1 International Best Selling AuthorBusiness & Marketing Strategist & PositionerMotivational Speaker/Inspirational Speaker Founder of LDC StrategiesFounder of Monarch LuminariesFounder of Soar to Success ProgramMotivational Speaker/Inspirational SpeakerEmcee/ModeratorMaster Mindset MentorLaw of Attraction PractitionerCertified Herbalist Certified Aromatherapist Certified Life CoachCertified Kundalini Meditation Yoga CoachCertified H'oponopono PractitionerCertified Canfield Train the TrainerYoung Living Brand PartnerAwarded the 50 Top Most Influential Women in 2018Awarded Mentor of the Year 2020 Awarded Power Women of the East End 2022Nominated Bethpage Best of LI Best Business Coach 2021 & 2022Nominated Bethpage Best of LI Best Business Coach 2021, 2022 & 2023Who's Who of Professionals & Executives 2022Awarded Ones to Watch 2021 & 20222022 Women in Professional ServicesLet's talk! Book your appointment here: Chat with Lori AnneYou can also Listen to Healthy Lifestyle with Lori Anne on your favorite app: I Heart Media | iTunes (Apple Podcasts) | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Spreaker | Sound Cloud | TuneIn | YouTube

During the early days of the Cold War, the CIA became convinced that the Soviets had discovered how to control the human mind. In response, the American CIA began its own secret program, called MK-ULTRA, to search for a drug that could weaponize the human mind against America and capitalism's enemies.MK-ULTRA, in operation from the 1950s until the early '60s, was created and run by a chemist named Sidney Gottlieb. Today's guest journalist and author Stephen Kinzer, who spent several years investigating the program for his book “Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control”, calls the operation the "most sustained search in history for techniques of mind control." Stephen Kinzer is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has covered more than 50 countries on five continents. His articles and books have led the Washington Post to place him "among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling."Kinzer spent more than 20 years working for the New York Times, most of it as a foreign correspondent. His foreign postings placed him at the center of historic events and, at times, in the line of fire.From 1983 to 1989, Kinzer was the New York Times bureau chief in Nicaragua. In that post he covered war and upheaval in Central America. He also wrote two books about the region. One of them, co-authored with Stephen Schlesinger, is Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala. The other one, Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua, is a social and political portrait that the New Yorker called "impressive for the refinement of its writing and also the breadth of its subject matter." Columbia University awarded Kinzer its Maria Moors Cabot prize for outstanding coverage of Latin America.From 1990 to 1996 Kinzer was posted in Germany. He was chief of the New York Times bureau in Bonn, and after German unification became chief of the Berlin bureau. From there he covered the emergence of post-Communist Europe, including wars in the former Yugoslavia.In 1996 Kinzer was named chief of the newly opened New York Times bureau in Istanbul, Turkey. He spent four years there, traveling widely in Turkey and in the new nations of Central Asia and the Caucasus. After completing this assignment, Kinzer published Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds.In 2006 Kinzer published Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. It recounts the 14 times the United States has overthrown foreign governments. Kinzer seeks to explain why these interventions were carried out and what their long-term effects have been. He has made several trips to Iran, and is the author of All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. It tells how the CIA overthrew Iran's nationalist government in 1953.Kinzer wrote about Africa in his book A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa called it "a fascinating account of a near-miracle unfolding before our very eyes.”In 2010 Kinzer published Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America's Future, which Huffington Post called “a bold exercise in reimagining the United States' big links in the Middle East.”Kinzer's next book, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War, was widely praised. Reviewers called it sparkling, riveting, gripping, bracing, and disturbing. The Wall Street Journal called it a “fluently written, ingeniously researched, thrillerish work of popular history.”In 2017 Kinzer published The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire. His newest book, published in 2019, is "Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control." After leaving the Times in 2005, Kinzer taught journalism, political science, and international relations at Northwestern University and Boston University. He is now a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, and writes a world affairs column for The Boston Globe.While posted in Turkey, Kinzer hosted the country's first radio show devoted to blues music. He is the author of the entry on Jelly Roll Morton in The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge.In 2008 Kinzer was awarded an honorary doctorate by Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. The citation said that "those of us who have had the pleasure of hearing his lectures or talking to him informally will probably never see the world in the same way again."The University of Scranton awarded Kinzer an honorary doctorate in 2010. “Where there has been turmoil in the world and history has shifted, Stephen Kinzer has been there,” the citation said. “Neither bullets, bombs nor beating could dull his sharp determination to bring injustice and strife to light.”You can find more about Stephen and his work on his official website stephenkinzer.com or on twitter @stephenkinzerLike and subscribe to us on Youtube for more fun and exclusive content!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuM080VqVCe0gAns9V9WK9wSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/00gCjGhq8qrAEkraZnMwGR?go=1&sp_cid=ce203d55369588581151ec13011b84ac&utm_source=embed_player_pGoogle Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/u/1/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmlrc21pbmQuY29tL2xpc3Rlbj9mb3JtYXQ9cnNz?Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riks-mind-podcast/id1460215365Show Notes:Stephen Kinzer | Official WebsiteStephen Kinzer | TwitterWatson Institute for International & Public Affairs | Brown University The most important lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Stephen Kinzer | The Boston GlobeThe protests in Iran could be a turning point by Stephen Kinzer | The Boston GlobePoisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer | MacMillan PublishersSidney Gottlieb obituary: The real Manchurian Candidate by Godfrey Hodgson | The GuardianThe Coldest by Ted Gup (2001) | The Washington Post​Human Experimentation at Unit 731​ | Pacific Atrocities Education In 1950, the U.S. Released a Bioweapon in San Francisco by Helen Thompson | Smithsonian MagazineOf Microbes and Mock Attacks: Years Ago, The Military Sprayed Germs on U.S. Cities by Jim Carlton | The Wall Street JournalSerratia has dark history in region / Army test in 1950 may have changed microbial ecology by Bernadette Tansey | SFGateJohn Foster Dulles, United States statesman | Britannica Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer | MacMillan Publishers

INSERT SNARKY "FUNNY" LINE HERE! Because we have a lot of them to get through in the 1992 "action" "Comedy" "Celebration of American CIA puppet governments" Cannon classic, "Fifty/Fifty". Open up a pack of Bing Bongs with the Cannon Bros (Frank and Geoff) as they discuss Peter Weller and Robert Hays just trying their best in this mess of a movie. Going through the complicated production history, the complicated politics of this movie, the complicated abundance of "soft jokes" and the real complicatedness of just WANTING to get on board but thinking..."Why is Robert Hays swearing SO MUCH?". Look, it's a complicated movie and if you're unsure, "lick your finger and touch the sucker". And who knows, maybe the coin at the end will move you like no other movie in cinematic history. "Frenchie, for a piece of a** you'd start World War III." - Robocop Banzai OUR PATREON: patreon.com/thecannoncanon Follow us on the socials: Twitter: @thecannoncanon Instagram: @thecannoncanon Please rate and review us!

Based on the popular Tom Clancy novel, this suspenseful movie tracks Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) as he abandons his orders and heads for the east coast of the United States. Equipped with innovative stealth technology, Ramius' submarine, "Red October," is virtually invisible. However, when an American sub briefly detects the Russians' presence, CIA agent Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) sets out to determine Ramius' motives, fearing he may launch an attack on the U.S. Release Year: 1990Genre: ThrillerStarring: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, and Scott Glenn.TrailerSummary: In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain, in a new undetectable sub, violates orders and heads for the U.S. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect, or to start a war? Join Our Community Sign Up for Email Updates | Patreon | Facebook | Twitter | Reddit Visit our online shop! https://shop.screenriot.net

Facing intimidation of reviewing one of cinemas greatest Submarine films to date, Zach and Mitch dive head first into 1990's action-thriller The Hunt for Red October, starring Sir Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin, and decide what food the movie embodies.    IMDB Description:  In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain, in a new undetectable sub, violates orders and heads for the U.S. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect, or to start a war?

The campaign begins! A quartet of investigators work for Global Solutions Group, a company who looks into the various problems caused by the after effects of the Broken Sky. They are called in by a multinational corporation and the Mexican government to look into an island specializing in salt production. The last five ships and their shipments have gone missing. As with everything in the current state of the world, things are likely not what they seem as they begin their investigation...Whit - GMAdam - Basile Rainer Duval, a Swiss logistics professionalDan - Fortuna Sands, an American technology specialistEthan - "James Smith", an American CIA operative counter-operating in this company.Greg - Slade Nash, an American ex-soldier

MK Ultra survivor and award winning author, Ann Diamond, joins the program to discuss her journey as a victim and survivor of MK Ultra. How she sees it in todays world and how she has learned to enjoy life. We learn that the globalist cult have been perfecting mind manipulation methods to control humanity for at least 7 decades. You can see more of her work on her blog at Ann's Blog Did you get the jab? Please keep from getting sick. See proven methods here to stay healthy Support the show by signing up SarahWestall.TV or Ebener (what is Ebener??)! Sign up at SarahWestall.com/Subscribe C60Complete Black Seed Oil & Curcumin Gel Capsules - World Best Immunity Builder! Censorship is serious. To stay informed of all the latest episodes, sign up for my weekly newsletter @ SarahWestall.com/Subscribe Learn more or get your bottle of Z-Stack, Dr. Zelenko's Vitamin Pack specifically for building your immune system and protecting you from getting sick (a weapon to protect you from the "vaccine" weapon): Get Z-Stack Now Learn more about C60 Complete at Get C-60 Complete Now - be sure to use code "DrJoe15" to save 15%. Coupon code is good until 8-31-21 MUSIC CREDITS: "Do You Trust Me" by Michael Vignola, licensed for broad internet media use, including video and audio       See on Bitchute | Odysee | Rumble | Freedom.Social | SarahWestall.TV   Ann Diamond Biography (from the Canadian Encyclopedia) Ann Diamond, poet, short-story writer, novelist (b at Montréal, Qué 11 April 1951). Ann Diamond earned a BA at Concordia University and studied created writing at Goddard College. She published her first book of poems, Lil, in 1977. Her other poetry collections include A Nun's Diary (1984), a series of prose poems that explore a nun's marriage to God and the relationship between sexuality and spirituality. Robert Lepage wrote a stage adaptation of A Nun's Diary, titled Echo, which premiered in Montréal in 1989. The poems in Diamond's Terrorist Letters (1992) offer a wide-ranging critique of Western society. Ann Diamond also writes fiction. Mona's Dance (1988), a novel narrated by a female writer, fantastically recounts the picaresque adventures of a group of eccentrics living in a Montréal neighbourhood. Her distinctive narrative blurring of realism and surrealism is also evident in her short stories, collected in Snakebite (1989) and Evil Eye (1994), which often feature female characters burdened by painful relationships. Evil Eye won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. Diamond's 2000 novel, Dead White Males, is a surreal detective story. A mysterious atmosphere also pervades in Static Control (2005), in which the young protagonist searches for her estranged father and answers to her mother's death. In her 2006 memoir, My Cold War (republished in 2008 under the title A Certain Girl), Ann Diamond recounts her childhood experiences in Montréal as an unwitting participant in MK Ultra secret mind-control experiments, allegedly sponsored by the American CIA.   See more information on great products, including the C60 BlackSeed Oil Gel Caps, Telomere Lengthening, Zeolite Detox, and much more @ http://SarahWestall.com/Shop

This week we discuss a weekly roundup of apocalyptic hellworld news items including magpie formations, south American CIA gay ops and vaccine mental gymnastics. We're also very briefly joined by jacked, shirtless Tony Tudor. This full episode can be found on our PREMIUM Rokfin channel at www.rokfin.com/historyhomos Follow us across social media on twitter and IG @historyhomospod and follow Scott @Scottlizardabrams . We IMPLORE you to follow our Telegram channel at T.me/historyhomos and to join our group chat at T.me/historyhomoschat Any questions comments concerns or sticker requests can be leveled at historyhomos@gmail.com Later homos. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/historyhomos/support

Jonathan de Potter is the founder and CEO of Behold Retreats, and advocates for self-improvement and elevating consciousness as the most meaningful way to better the world.   Jonathan's priority is to raise education and awareness about plant medicines like Ayahuasca and Psilocybin, and guide others to maximize the potential benefits - ultimately leading him to launch Behold Retreats.   Questions   Could you share with us a little bit about what your company does, Behold Retreats and just a little bit about your journey? How is it that you got to where you are today? What were some of the things that may be catalyst that led you into the path that you're currently on? Plants in our introduction, Ayahuasca and Psilocybin, I'm sure like our listeners, I have no clue what it does and how it impacts your life. So could you just enlighten us on those two? So as you know, this podcast is all about navigating your customers experience. So I would love to tie this into how is it that this particular approach or strategy in terms of integrating plant medicine into your life will allow individuals to improve on their customer experience? Could you maybe share one, two or three things that you've seen? Do you work with corporate entities; do you mostly work with individuals? How does this really tap back into the primary reason of our work show? Maybe could you share with us maybe one or two things that from this type of strategy and approach on an individual level, the person was able to manifest better things in their lives, not just remove barriers, but there were results that were on a higher level, maybe with their business, whether it was a one man shop, or they were a manager in a business, or maybe even enhance the quality of their family, maybe they had better relationships or just to see what are some of the results that an individual can really supremely achieve if they really commit to this process? Could you share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read recently, or a book that you've read a very long time ago, but it still has had a great impact on? Could you share with us maybe one thing that's going on in your life right now, something that you're really excited about - it could be something that you're working on to develop yourself or your people. Where can listeners find you online? Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge you'll tend to revert to this quote? It kind of helps to refocus you or get you back on track if for whatever reason you get derailed. Do you have one of those?   Highlights   Jonathan's Journey   Jonathan shared that it all started for him personally, about 5 years ago, when he was living in Hong Kong. He was working as a Strategy and Management Consultant for Accenture, one of the big, big giant consulting firms, there 5 years in Hong Kong and he was working really long hours, usually about 12 to 16 hours a day and chasing big deals and chasing new clients and he was on a bit of a treadmill, and chasing the next promotion. And after about 5 years of that, he thought to himself, there must be more to life and he was an atheist at the time, and didn't really believe in anything spiritual. And so, he decided to take a year off and as part of that year, he travelled through South America and wound his way to a Ayahuasca retreat with two friends of his in Peru. And fundamentally, that just opened the door to spirituality, taught him so many humbling lessons and over the past 5 years he kind of been learning about plant medicine and preparing for launching Behold Retreats, which is really focused on guiding people towards really high quality, psychedelic or plant medicine experiences, so that they can really get the most out of them and improve the quality of everyday life.   What is Ayahuasca and Psilocybin and the Impacts They Have?   Me: So I pronounced two mouthful of plants in our introduction, Ayahuasca and Psilocybin, could you share with us, I'm sure like our listeners, I have no clue what I just said and what it does, and how it impacts your life. So could you just enlighten us on those two?   Jonathan shared that Ayahuasca is a combination of two plants that are often found in Central and South America and brought together they combine in a powerful Ayahuasca brew that is very highly hallucinogenic.   And it can facilitate very powerful healing on the level of the mind, on the level of emotions and on the level of the spirit. And so, what we're looking to achieve through this work is to harmonize the subconscious mind with the conscious mind.   And so, what these powerful medicines do, for example, Ayahuasca or Psilocybin, which is the active compound in magic mushrooms, or psilocybe mushrooms. So what these powerful medicines do is they amplify what's happening in our subconscious mind and they give us greater access to what's happening in our subconscious minds.   And so, through that we're able to come face to face with some of the skeletons that you may say might be lying around in our closet and to begin to process the associated emotions in the approach associated limiting beliefs and limiting thought patterns that we have hanging out there in our subconscious minds. And as we do so then we can really make significant improvements to ourselves.    Approach or Strategy in Terms of Integrating Plant Medicine to Improve Customer Experience   Me: So as you know, this podcast is all about navigating your customer's experience. So I would love to tie this into how is it that this particular approach or strategy in terms of integrating plant medicine into your life will allow individuals to improve on their customer experience? Could you maybe share one, two or three things that you've seen? Do you work with corporate entities; do you mostly work with individuals? How does this really tap back into the primary reason of our show?   Jonathan shared that there's probably a couple of layers to this that we could explore. So he'll share a few thoughts, and then you can guide the conversation and the direction that you think your audience will find most helpful.   He shared that the first is really in relation to our experience, so any customer experience that we might imagine, or design or develop, is a function of our own thinking. And so, these powerful medicines have highly creative potential to them because they really remove constraints from the way that we think, often we've been so programmed, or we've been so conditioned through our parents, through society, culture, etc. to think in a very particular way.   And so, when we think about and speak about things like customer experience, then those influences do find their way into the ways that we define design, any set of customer experiences. So he thinks as and when we peel away those layers of programming, then there's an opportunity there to enhance our creativity and be able to see significantly new ways to think about customer and think about design and think about the customer experience. So he thinks that's one.   And then the second that he would mention would be, he thinks honestly speaking, it's a little bit early for the B2B aspect of this work, he thinks it's still rapidly gaining in popularity on the level of the individual. And so, they always say about their clients that the soul needs to be calling this is very deep and can be quite challenging work.   And so it's important that people individually feel ready to do the work. But there are certainly companies that are taking that next step and leadership teams coming together to try to re envisage their own strategy, their own vision for the company to really kind of set a very bold 10x or 100x vision for what the customer experience might be or what the outcomes that they're looking for, for the organization, and then using the plant medicine as a bit of an accelerator to just to removing the barriers to thinking, changing the paradigm to removing the ego, as often a limiter in terms of what's stopping a leadership team from working most efficiently together to achieve the vision that they're passionate about achieving together.   Using this Strategy or Approach to Manifest Better Things   Me: So, a few things popped in my mind just know when you were sharing those two points. One was, because I'm sure you have clients already that you've worked with, I'm sure there are some success stories out there. Maybe could you share with us maybe one or two things that from this type of strategy and approach on an individual level, the person was able to manifest better things in their lives, not just remove barriers, but there were results that were on a higher level, maybe with their business, whether it was a one man shop, or they were a manager in a business, or maybe even enhance the quality of their family life, maybe they had better relationships or just to see what are some of the results that an individual can really supremely achieve if they really commit to this process?   Jonathan stated that he should probably caveat his answer here by stating that plant medicine is a very powerful tool. So, a powerful tool can help you achieve the thing that you're trying to achieve but in of itself, it's not necessarily the answer, if that makes sense. So, it's the person that builds the house, the hammer just helps us get it done is an analogy that comes to mind. And so, what he might share here, he believes that everything that's possible with plant medicine is otherwise possible say through meditation and through other means. So, he just wants to caveat that, he's not saying this is some sort of a silver bullet in any way, shape, or form, it's a powerful tool. So yes, as Yanique alluded to, step one, he guesses, in relation to this work is often removing those limiting beliefs, kind of letting go of the past.   But step two, and kind of much more interesting and exciting than that is, “Okay, great, fantastic. But what are we bringing into our world?” And so, what is possible in relation to this is really up to the individual in terms of what they are? What is in alignment with what they can manifest it into the world?   There's is a very interesting paper that he came across about six months ago which is by the American CIA and what the paper describes is that the nature of the universe is a hologram of consciousness or a matrix of consciousness. And so, when we hear about books like The Secret, or when we hear about things like The Law of Attraction, the reason that that stuff works is that the nature of the universe is consciousness and so obviously, we are highly conscious beings. And so there's a relationship between the nature of the universe itself, and this very powerful tool that we have which is our consciousness and our imagination. And so, when you speak about what we're able to manifest, what we're able to attract into our lives, then virtually, he doesn't think that there's any limitation for anyone in terms of what they can manifest and attract into their lives.   Now, of course, there's a part of our brain, there's a part of our rational mind that immediately thinks, “Well, hang on. Well, that's not my experience of the world, I've got this 3D existence, and I've got taxes, and I've got people who depend upon me and a job and these other things. And so, I'd love to just be able to manifest whatever I want into my experience.” But it doesn't quite work like that.   But actually, it does and so what becomes very exciting is that as we begin to remove these limiting beliefs and negative thought patterns and dot, dot, dot, and I'm not good enough, and all of that, that we really can manifest whatever it is that we want in our life. So whether that means a new job, whether that means improvements of the quality of our health, whether that means great relationships, a loved one, more free time, whatever it is that we'd like to manifest into our experience, if we're very clear on that and we're very determined in the way that we approach that then his genuine, honest opinion is that we can manifest virtually anything into our experience.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Jonathan   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Jonathan stated that he'll share two books. The first is Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by Dr. David Hawkins. And that's a very simple book but it's such a powerful book and so what he teaches is the various levels of consciousness. So, from the lowest level emotions like shame, guilt, fear, apathy, grief, and then up to the higher level, but still negative emotions like desire, anger, pride, etc, up into the very higher states of consciousness, like peace, love, and joy. And so, he's mapped out these various stages of consciousness and also provides tools for people to, number one, understand where they are in relation to these levels of consciousness. But number two, also to begin to make steps towards letting go which is the key to being able to move to higher levels of consciousness. So, that's number one.   And then number two is very much in relation to what they were just talking about, which is manifestation. And it's a wonderful book by Kidest OM, she's a great author. She's got a bunch of books out there and as you might imagine, the book is about how to manifest Anything You Want.   What Jonathan is Really Excited About Now!   Jonathan shared that the first one that he's excited about is they've just adopted two stray cats. And their existing cat is not particularly happy about that. So there's energetic dynamics in the house, as everything kind of evens out. But more broadly than that, there's two things that they're involved in that he's super excited about.   The first is bringing more spiritual knowledge into some of the psychedelic science. So they've got some really impressive science that's happening at Johns Hopkins University, at NYU, at Harvard, Yale, Imperial College in London, some of the leading academic institutions out there. But they're taking a very deterministic and science based approach to this work. And so, some of the spiritual mentors that exists within Behold Retreats are bringing some more of this knowledge into the scientific world, which he thinks is very exciting and will prove its value and its ability to accelerate some of the scientific understanding. So, that's one piece that he's very excited about besides the cats.   And then the second is, he's just speaking to a couple of governments in the region, he's based in Thailand. And they're trying to establish the first legal option for plant medicine in the region, because, as you may be aware that this work is illegal in the overwhelming majority of countries, which is why they do a lot of this work in Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Netherlands, and in soon Jamaica.   Me: Yes, I'm sure you'll get good support from Jamaica, because we do believe in natural approaches to dealing with our health in Jamaica, that's part of our culture and our history. So, I think once you can provide justification as to how this will help you, if it's going to renew cells, cause rejuvenation, as I was mentioning earlier in the conversation, show results, people will definitely embrace it because it's a way better option than swallowing pills on a daily basis, which can't be helpful for you.   Jonathan agreed and shared that what's interesting about this medicine compared to our Western paradigm, in our Western understanding of medicine, is that this medicine really requires a very highly capable practitioner alongside it, it's not that you can just take a couple of mushrooms or take some Ayahuasca and that your life improves, that's really not it, these, these plant medicines, or these psychedelics, in of themselves are not necessarily positive, it's how we use them and who were guided by that makes fundamentally the difference between a very high quality healing or growth experience and just, honestly, just taking some psychedelics, taking some drugs, if that makes sense.   Where Can We Find Jonathan Online   Instagram – @behold_retreats Website – www.behold-retreats.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Jonathan Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Jonathan stated that he does, a quote he really loves is “A ship is safe in harbour but that's not what ships are for.” He applied to both the context of the individual as well as what a group of individuals may be achieved, trying to achieve together. And so, in relation to that, we are all here individually to evolve ourselves and so it's very easy to stay at home and watch Netflix on a Friday night, but there's much more interesting and better things that we might be doing with our time and with our energy. And so, the way that he always interpreted that quote is, yeah, you can stay at home or you can limit yourself or there's many ways to be comfortable in life. But when you put yourself out there as a ship out of harbour then good things happen.   And yes, there are challenges but that's what this life is all about. It's about facing those challenges that we may encounter and seeing if we have it within ourselves to meet those challenges and potentially even to overcome those challenges.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners    Links Anything You Want by Kidest OM Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by Dr. David Hawkins   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.”   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

In this episode of the podcast the truth is laid bare for all to see. Unbeknownst to most of the public, a satanic hierarchical structure has been running our world for thousands of years. Satan is of course at the top of this dark structure. Below him are other demons who direct the world's elite like puppet masters. This elite are known as the Illuminati. They are evil Freemasonic political, financial, and religious/spiritual leaders. The American CIA, British MI6, Israeli Mossad, and other nations' intelligence agencies are all subgroups who operate as arms of the Illuminati. They in turn control the mainstream media and entertainment industry. As we all know, Satan is the ultimate liar. He and his secretive international network have deceived and continue to deceive the majority of the world's population. They refuse to embrace veritas, because it is a threat to the concealment of their lies and crimes. People are finally waking up to the elites' rejection of veritas. We can see this Great Awakening going on all around us in the present moment. We are all called to be veritas men and women. This means that it is important we open our eyes to the signs of our times to know veritas and identify those who are liars and deceivers.

Jerwayne Cook was an Operations Manager who worked at the CIA for over a decade during the height of the War on Terror. He has seen nations fall into civil war, experienced radical terror first hand, and dismantled networks aiming to destabilize governments. And that’s why he’s worried about America. Host Terrell Starr talks to Cook about what kind of assessments the Agency would be making if another country had a dictator who wouldn’t recognize the results of a free and fair election. Cook also talks about some of the well known successes and failures of American intelligence, including the decision to go into Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, but not Saudi Arabia. After nearly 13 years in the CIA during the height of the War on Terror, Jerwayne Cook has a remarkable resumé that is very light on detail. Since leaving the Agency in 2016 he has been in demand as an intelligence specialist and operations consultant for clients he lists as “confidential”. Describing his time in the CIA as “a season in life”, Cook has an expansive mind and keen insight that he’s using to help demystify American foreign policy for the rest of us.

Watergate 'Plumber' James McCord was an American CIA officer, later involved as an electronics expert in the burglaries which precipitated the Watergate scandal. Also Alfred Baldwin testimony, the so-called "shadow man" in the Watergate break-in and the ensuing scandal. paypal.com/historyconspiracy.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/art-mcdermott/support

If you enjoy the true stories told in Dictators, check out this episode from our series Kingpins: How did Manuel Noriega rise from nothing to become the drug-smuggling, secret-selling, military dictator of Panama in the 1980s? He had a great deal of help from the American CIA.

He rose from nothing to become the drug-smuggling, secret-selling, military dictator of Panama throughout the 1980s. However, it turns out he had a great deal of help from the American CIA. Sponsors! Audible - Get 3 months of Audible for just $6.95 a month by going to Audible.com/KINGPINS or text KINGPINS to 500 500.

How did Manuel Noriega rise from nothing to become the drug-smuggling, secret-selling, military dictator of Panama? He had a great deal of help from the American CIA.

This week, Charlotte is setting up a very secretive Film Club by choosing the theme of 'Spies'. The first pick of the week is 2004 thriller "The Bourne Supremacy".This second installment of the Bourne action-spy series sees Matt Damon take on the role of Amnesiac assassin "Jason Bourne"once more. While hiding in India Bourne is framed for stealing millions of dollars from the American CIA, and an attempt is made on his life which kills his girlfriend instead. Vowing revenge, Bourne sets out to prove his innocence and bring the culprits to justice, but has to evade CIA head Pamela Landry who is pursuing him relentlessly.Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, Karl Urban and Brian Cox also star. 

HIGHLIGHT of the hour - MORE with Daneen Borelli has MORE on radical division and the pot stirred by Obama. Guests this hour include - Tony Perry (The L.A. Times), and Mike Reagan (Reagan World). -Dianne Feinstein speaks on the release of the report on American CIA torture procedures. What will the implications be? -Tony Perry joins Mark to talk the very "definition" of torture. Is there just one answer? Regardless was CIA procedure effective in getting information? PLUS Mark wants to know who knew what, and when. -AND Mike Reagan talks about bearing all American secrets to the world, is it a wise idea? Are world issues truly the fault of the US? And what does the rest of the world think about us releasing this information? LIVE, LOCAL, and answering all your questions - The Mark Larson Show with - Mark Larson!

Canada’s Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) operates on a very different model from the American CIA, being neither strictly a foreign intelligence agency nor a domestic intelligence agency. Today SPY Historian Mark Stout discusses CSIS with Ray Boisvert, who was one of the founding members of the Service in 1984 and rose to become its Assistant Director, Intelligence, a position from which he retired in 2012. Hear them talk about the concept of “security intelligence” in a democratic society and explore the dilemmas which the Service faces in an era of terrorism emanating from groups such as al Qaeda and foreign covert influence from nation states.

The latest podcast I’ve produced for Faber has just gone up on their site. In it I talk to novelists Paul Auster and Nadeem Aslam about the books they published this autumn. You can find the podcast here. In Auster’s book, Man in the Dark, an ageing literary critic, August Brill, spends a night imagining a dystopian future in which America is embroiled in a civil war as a way of distracting him from the ghosts that trouble his sleep, not least of which is the death of his granddaughter’s boyfriend in Iraq. And Aslam’s Wasted Vigil brings an American CIA man, a Russian woman seeking her soldier brother, and a young Muslim fundamentalist to the home of an English doctor in the shadow of the Tora Bora mountains. This conjunction of characters enables Aslam to tell the story of Afghanistan’s recent past in a way that is by turns richly poetic and shockingly violent. There’s a longer version of the Auster interview here. And the full version of the Aslam interview is here.