Podcasts about Assistant Secretary

John Solomon, Editor-in-Chief of Just the News, hosts ‘Preserving Prosperity for Our Future Generations' sponsored by Heritage Action for America discussing the crucial importance of fixing the nation's education system and restoring parental rights. Expert panel featuring: Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Frank Brogan, President and Founder of Parents Defending Education Nicole Neily, Director of the Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy Lindsey Burke, and Heritage Action for America's Vice President of Field Operations Janae Stracke.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, March 23rd, 2023. Alps Precious Metals Group THE PAST WEEK HAS BROUGHT SOME “EXCITEMENT” TO THE MARKETS. BANK RUNS. STOCK COLLAPSES. WHAT WAS THOUGHT TO BE STABLE SUDDENLY APPEARS UNSTABLE. AND YET, GOLD’S PRICE *WENT UP* AS THE HEADLINES BECAME MORE OMINOUS. ALPS PRECIOUS METALS WAS ESTABLISHED BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT ONE’S HARD-EARNED WEALTH FROM THE SERIOUS FINANCIAL PROBLEMS THAT ARE UPON US IS BY OWNING PHYSICAL GOLD AND SILVER. CALL JAMES HUNTER OF ALPS AT 251-377-2197, AND VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.ALPSPMG.COM TO DISCOVER HOW YOU CAN BUY PHYSICAL PRECIOUS METALS FOR YOUR INVESTMENT AND IRA PORTFOLIOS. OWN THE ASSET GOD SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED AS “GOOD” IN THE 2ND CHAPTER OF GENESIS, AND OBTAIN A PEACE OF MIND THAT CAN BE HAD WITH FEW OTHER INVESTMENTS. AGAIN, CALL JAMES HUNTER OF ALPS PRECIOUS METALS AT 251-377-2197, AND VISIT WWW.ALPSPMG.COM TO LEARN HOW TO OWN THE BEDROCK ASSET OF THE AGES.   https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-grand-jury-investigating-trump-over-hush-money-called-off-for-wednesday-delaying-possible-indictment-vote?utm_campaign=64487 Grand jury investigating Trump over 'hush money' called off for Wednesday, delaying possible indictment vote According to two law enforcement officers, the grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump for his alleged involvement in a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election has been canceled for Wednesday. The grand jury has been meeting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to hear evidence related to the payments made to Daniels. It is unlikely the grand jury will meet for the rest of the week, delaying the process into next week, one source said to Business Insider. The grand jury's deliberations are secret, and prosecutors are prohibited from discussing what happens during them. The pause in the grand jury's activity follows the unexpected testimony on Monday of Robert Costello, who was allowed to address the grand jurors at the defense's request. Business Insider reports: "Star prosecution witness Michael Cohen had told reporters as recently as last week that he had expected to be the grand jury's final witness. Had that remained the plan, Cohen's testimony, which concluded last Wednesday, would have been quickly followed by deliberation and a vote." Costello, who previously served as Cohen's legal advisor, said he attacked his former client's credibility during his testimony. It is not known why Alvin Bragg, the District Attorney, temporarily halted the grand jury's proceedings. Trump commented on the grand jury's proceedings on Truth Social, claiming that Bragg is having a hard time with the grand jury. Prosecutors are prohibited from disclosing grand jury details. Bragg's office has not yet commented on the matter. https://www.dailywire.com/news/deadly-drug-resistant-fungus-spreading-in-hospitals-across-u-s?fbclid=IwAR0ou0XGKdkBSFMurCwvw59_oBlcsNrLTuKNvt1GkEw4_luK0NsSgBLc2I4 Deadly Drug-Resistant Fungus Spreading In Hospitals Across U.S. A new report warns of a potentially deadly fungus — that resists drugs — spreading in hospitals around the country. Candida auris, or C. auris, can be fatal for people who already have weakened immune systems; roughly one-third of people who contract the fungus die, as the fungus attacks through infections in the bloodstream, brain, and heart. Healthy people are not at risk of dying from the disease. “Unfortunately, multi-drug resistant organisms such as C. auris have become more prevalent among our highest risk individuals, such as residents in long-term care facilities,” Tammy Yates, spokesperson for Mississippi State Department of Health, stated. Since November, four people have suffered “potentially associated deaths,” due to the fungus in Mississippi, Yates noted. “If [the fungi] get into a hospital, they are very difficult to control and get out,” William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center said. “They can persist, smoldering, causing infections for a considerable period of time despite the best efforts of the infection control team and everyone else in the hospital.” The fungus’ existence in the U.S. was first widely reported in 2016; four people reportedly died from the disease. The report released by the CDC contends that clinical cases in the United States soared from 476 in 2019 to 1,471 in 2021. “We’ve seen increases not just in areas of ongoing transmission, but also in new areas,” Dr. Meghan Lyman, who led the study, asserted, Acknowledging the findings are “worrisome,” infectious disease expert Dr. Waleed Javaid cautioned, “But we don’t want people who watched ‘The Last of Us’ to think we’re all going to die. This is an infection that occurs in extremely ill individuals who are usually sick with a lot of other issues.” The fungus can be spread not only through people but also through contact with patient rooms. “By its nature it has an extreme ability to survive on surfaces,” Javaid explained. “It can colonize walls, cables, bedding, chairs. We clean everything with bleach and UV light.” Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, warned that stopping the spread of the fungus was imperative, recalling how the bacteria MRSA, also drug-resistant, spread. https://www.dailyfetched.com/biden-admin-spending-50-million-a-year-just-to-store-trumps-border-wall-materials/ Biden Admin Spending $50 Million a Year Just to Store Trump’s Border Wall Materials The administration pays private landowners to store 20,000 unused border wall sections at 20 project sites. Other costs associated with storing the border wall materials included security cameras, electrical and stormwater materials, and overhead lights, Fox News reported. Republican Senate Armed Forces Committee members sent a letter to assistant secretary of defense for homeland Defense and hemispheric affairs Melissa Dalton detailing the situation. “Every day, the Department of Defense pays $130,000 to store, maintain, and secure these materials,” the senators wrote. “Since you were sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs a year ago, you have allowed the Department to pay over $47 million to store these panels,” they said. Dalton was asked why the Defense Department did not dispose of the unused materials. The Defence department is required to remove such materials in coordination with the Defense Logistics Agency to reutilize, resell, or demilitarize military property. “We assume you are well aware of this capability since the Department used the program to transfer 1,700 border wall panels to the state of Texas early in your tenure,” the senators wrote. The USACE confirmed President Biden’s administration’s cancelation of the border wall contracts in 2021 “left a variety of excess materials,” and the “total costs to store, maintain, and secure all the materials across all sites is estimated to be approximately $130,000 per day.” “Some of these materials, including security cameras, overhead lights, and electrical and stormwater materials, are being disposed of in accordance with federal excess material disposal laws and regulations,” the USACE stated. “Overall, 61% of non-bollard panel materials and 4% of bollard panel materials have been transferred to other government agencies or disposed of through the DLA disposition process. The total value of these materials is estimated at approximately $300 million. However, the cost to the government cannot be finalized until audits are completed and negotiations with contractors are concluded.” As The Epoch Times noted: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has so far apprehended 2,999 Chinese nationals who illegally attempted to cross the southern border in the fiscal year 2023, a 719 percent increase over 2022. Most of the illegal fentanyl in the United States is manufactured in Mexico by cartels and then trafficked into the United States with the support of the Chinese Communist government in Beijing. According to a report issued by Senate Republicans in 2021, Biden’s attempt to suspend or end border wall construction cost American taxpayers $3 million per day. On March 9, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and several Republican senators introduced a bill that would allow the Biden administration to resume construction of Trump’s border wall to stop the massive influx of illegal immigrants Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who is largely to blame for the mess at the border, is facing impeachment charges in the Republican-controlled House over his handling of the crisis. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) filed his second article of impeachment against Mayorkas in February, accusing him of exacerbating the crisis. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy-environment/biden-to-create-two-new-national-monuments Biden to limit development on 500,000 acres in Texas and Nevada with new monuments The White House announced plans to establish two new national monuments as part of President Joe Biden's land conservation agenda, which it said would protect and conserve 514,000 acres of public land in the West. Biden will sign a proclamation Tuesday at the White House Conservation in Action Summit establishing the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and the Castner Range National Monument in El Paso, Texas. The designations will restrict development in the areas, including drilling and mining and possibly the construction of renewable energy facilities. The Avi Kwa Ame designation honors tribal nations that consider the area sacred, the White House said. Avi Kwa Ame is home to one of the world’s largest Joshua tree forests. The monument at Castner Range covers the site of a former training and testing site used by the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. It also contains cultural sites significant to tribal Biden set a goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 and, in October, established a new national monument encompassing Camp Hale, another former U.S. Army base, and the site of the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. In a separate action Tuesday, Biden will direct Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to consider initiating a new National Marine Sanctuary designation to protect all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands.

⁠https://www.amazon.com/Glimpses-Uncharted-Life-Collapsed-Remained/dp/1958179450/ref=sr_1_2?crid=QCBPPW5PEKVU&keywords=Glimpses+of+an+Uncharted+Life&qid=1675802556&s=books&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C254&sr=1-2⁠ Dick Shriver and his wife, Barbara, spent 8 years living and working in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Ukraine. Dick earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Cornell University and a master's degree in industrial engineering at Ohio State University. He worked for Exxon before starting his own technology consulting firm. He later did two tours with the US Government at the level of Assistant Secretary at the Defense and Treasury Departments. He held Senior Executive Positions at Chase Manhattan Bank and McGraw-Hill. In 1990, he taught International Finance, Marketing and Trade to 31 communists in the inaugural year of the first western-style business school in the Soviet Union, the International Management Institute – Kiev (Ukraine). As Vice President of the International Executive Service Corps, Shriver sent over 1,000 American Executives into the former Soviet Union to assist in private sector development. He founded a non-profit, Center for International Management Education (CIME) which promoted “democracy and free enterprise inside the Soviet Union”. CIME's main programs involved the development of a rule of law program for the government of an independent Estonia and economic development in Western Ukraine. Toward the end of his 51 years of continuous work, he became provost and a member of the founding group of the European College of Liberal Arts (now Bard College Berlin). Shriver has received the Defense Distinguished Service medal, and Treasury's highest award, the Alexander Hamilton Medal.

In Yosemite, for thousands of years before the discovery of gold, Native Americans traveled through and inhabited the area that the Sierra Nevada's melting snow spills dramatically over rocky cliffs on the walls into the Valley. Waterfalls that sit over three thousand feet above its floor. The treasures the park holds are unduplicated, each wonder differing from the next, each overwhelmingly spectacular.   From 1850 to 1851 Native Americans and Euro-American miners in the area were at war, the Mariposa War. Some Euro-American men had formed a militia known as the Mariposa Battalion. Their purpose - drive the native Ahwahneechee people onto reservations. The Mariposa Battalion were the first non-natives to enter Yosemite. When this war ended, Yosemite was then open to settlement and speculation.    Today we are going to talk about Jennie Curry, half of the curry couple who founded Camp Curry in Yosemite, and the history of the Yosemite Firefall.  Season 3 features inspiring, gallant, even audacious stories of REAL 19th Century women from the Wild West.  Stories that contain adult content, including violence which may be disturbing to some listeners, or secondhand listeners. So, discretion is advised. I am Andrea Anderson and this is Queens of the Mines, Season Three.  Between 1855 and 1864, the Yosemite Valley had 653 visitors.After the completion of stage roads into the valley,  the number rose to 2,700 visitors annually within its first decade.  Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864 and Yosemite Valley was placed under the protection of the state of California. The act preserved the valley for public use and recreation for all time. Some of the earliest visitors were artists, authors, painters, illustrators and photographers who came to publicize the Valley. Hotels were built and stagecoach companies started bringing tourists on the long journey in. Six years later, James McCauley, an Irish sailor and miner, arrived in Yosemite Valley. McCauley took a job in a sawmill, working alongside John Muir. McCauley soon built a horse trail from the base of Sentinel Rock up to Glacier Point. It was over a four-mile route which climbed 3,200 feet. At Glacier Point, he built a small shack which he named the Mountain House. McCauley charged a toll for the trail and the Mountain House provided concessions and lodging to its travelers. One night in 1872, McCauley and his school-aged sons kicked a campfire over the ledge at Glacier Point. The act quite literally sparked the idea of a money-making venture. A firefall. They would collect a fee from tourists in the valley during the day to build a modest fire and push it off the cliff that night. He experimented with versions of fireworks that he lowered on wires from Overhanging Rock nearby. The attempts seemed comparatively insignificant from the Valley floor. Finally he returned to the idea of pushing over the embers.  McCauley bought both of his 8 year old boys' mules and the young McCauley twins attended school by riding them down the Four Mile Trail to the Valley. It took ninety minutes.  While in the valley, they would collect $1.50 from tourists who wanted to see a Firefall, and then would ride the trail back up to Glacier Point, with a pack mule, packing wood and carrying the provisions for the hotel. On the Fourth of July, a collection often amounted to ten or twenty dollars. Busy days like that required hauling wood up for at least two days.  McCauley soon leased Mountain House to others to manage, that was when the state of California took possession of all Yosemite claims in 1874. In 1880, he leased Mountain House back from the state. Fifteen years later, the facility was described as “almost uninhabitable”. The couple was evicted by the state in 1897 for failure to maintain.  McCauley was killed accidently in an accident with a runaway horse, and the firefalls stopped. For years they were almost forgotten.  In 1899, David and Jennie Etta Curry and their children took the wild ride down the old Coulterville Road with Driver Eddie Webb, to their new home in Yosemite Valley. Both had studied under Dr. David Starr Jordan at Indiana University, where they had both graduated from in 1883. It was unusual at the time for a woman to be a college graduate. Back east, both were Hoosier school teachers. The Curry's had a unique love for nature. Their previous work involved taking parties through Yellowstone with a movable camp.  David and Jennie saw an opportunity. They received permission from the Guardian of the Valley, which was the state park at the time, to use the site of its camp. With seven tents, they opened a family campground at the base of Glacier Point, and they called Camp Curry.  It is wild if you think about it, furnishing a business in a location like that, before means of modern transportation. Bare tents, burlap for the floors, mattresses, bed springs on wooden legs, clean bedding, chairs, and tables were brought in by wagon from Merced, which was one hundred miles away. Oilcloth covered cracker boxes' that were used for wash stands.  There was a dining tent that seated twenty people. Camp Curry opened in June of 1899, charging $2 per night. The first affordable accommodation in the Park. Accommodations at the Sentinel Hotel were $4 a night.  She was fondly known throughout the Valley as "Mother Curry". The power behind the throne. Her personality would truly contribute to their success.  She was big in mind, soul and body and interested in people and in life. Of course, women's domestic skills were highly valued in the West, but like many pioneering women, Jennie had to find a way to broaden the roles beyond the Cult of True Womanhood, as mentioned in the book and previous episodes.  Jennie helped plan additional guest services, made the beds, and packed the box lunches for adventurers. She would say that she had done every job around camp, from  baking dozens of pies or loaves of bread to making lye soap from wood-ashes in a huge open kettle. All but the duties of the porter. The Curry's in fact, did do all of the work around camp. With the exception of one paid employee, the cook and two or three students from Stanford, who worked for a designated time in exchange for a week's room and board.  During the first season, the camp expanded to twenty-five tents, with almost 300 guests in the season, of the 4,500 people who visited Yosemite Valley that year. Many of the guests came from Curry's educational network. It was a pretty good start. The crowds predicted Camp Curry would fail. It was cold, and isolated.  The Curry's were determined. They had ideas. The memory of the firefall was eventually brought up, and Mr. Curry decided to revive the tradition on holidays, or when prominent guests were in the Valley. Men would gather wood on the Ledge Trail, and build a 12 foot wide, four foot tall mound of firewood. At four, they would light the fire, allowing the pile to burn down until it was a hill of glowing embers, for 5 hours until 9 o clock. Nine o'clock in Yosemite meant Fire Fall. It was an unwritten law that everything and everyone in the valley STOPPED at 9pm.  David Curry would cup his hands to his mouth, raise his face toward Glacier Point and bellow: “Hello, Glacier Point!” without the aid of a sound system or even a megaphone. This is how Mr. Curry earned the nickname “The Stentor.” Stentor was that famous Greek of antiquity who could command 10,000 troops without a megaphone." The fire tender at the point would reply: “Hello, Camp Curry!” The rest of the exchange followed: “Is the fire ready?” “The fire is ready!” followed by Curry's roaring command “Let ‘er go Gallagher!” “Let the fire fall!” “THE FIRE-ER IS-SSS FALLING!” I am guessing that Gallagher was the regular fire tender. The two men at the top, using extra long-handled wide steel rakes, would alternate strokes to maintain a steady stream of cinders, plunging over the cliffs, to their resting place on a ledge 1,700 feet below. It was a skill. It took practice to be able to push blazing hot coals for an extended period of time, over a cliff in a steady stream down the granite wall. Simulating a continuously flowing waterfall. It was a blazing stream of thousands and thousands  of individually discernible red and gold sparks floating down the cliff in complete silence, the sparks flying away like shooting stars. Fifteen minutes later, the fall would grow smaller until it became a mere thread of gold which drew the curtain of night, before darkness descends.  Break The railroad reaching El Portal in 1907 made travel to the gold rush in California much more accessible. For the park, it skyrocketed the ability of making improvements in equipment and efficiency. Jennie no longer needed to bring in furniture, food, in fact everything by wagon from Merced. The train ended only fifteen miles away, and the road there was easy. She was able to raise the comfort level of the camp for her ever increasing number of guests with better kitchen equipment, dressers, bed frames and rugs.  The firefall continued each night and held 20 minutes of enchantment, where thousands of onlookers felt something in common for that short period of time. Yosemite's grandeur was on full display, how unspeakably tall were its cliffs and how quiet its forest. The act, performed every night for many years, etched the surface of the granite, leaving a 1000 ft white strip.  From 1913 to 1916 the Yosemite Firefall tradition was halted by the park service over a disagreement between David Curry and the Assistant Secretary of the Interior. David Curry  died in 1917, just before the Firefall was reinstated. Jennie, with the help of her children, carried on with running and expanding Camp Curry, on lease from the government. The tradition carried on for decades, the song “Indian Love Call,” popularized by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in the 1936 film “Rose Marie,” was eventually performed while the fire cascaded down the rock face. So much for the silence I guess. The firefall was halted during World War II, when park facilities were used by the military. Jennie Curry died in October of 1948. The original purpose of the fire fall was to draw visitors to the park. Five years after Jennie's death, Yosemite received 1 million visitors for the first time.  In 1960, President John F. Kennedy visited Yosemite and was, according to various sources, either held up by an important phone call or was still eating his dinner at 9 p.m. The firefall was held for half an hour so he could see it — much to the displeasure of the rest of the visitors.  By 1965, annual visitation had reached 2 million.  The firefall continued on for nearly two-thirds of the 20th century, the firefall occurred each summer night. Luckily, it  never caused any forest fires, but other environmental impacts were mounting: Thousands of visitors were tramping through the meadows, driving their cars off the park roads, trying to get the best view, leaving litter everywhere. There were  thefts from the hotels and campgrounds, when visitors would be absent or distracted and lastly, nearly every dead red fir tree accessible by road had been stripped of its bark for use as fuel. Rangers worked late nights untangling traffic jams, while idling vehicles spit out exhaust into the park. There were simply too many people. The park canceled the firefall. About 50 people gathered to mark the end of the tradition, on Jan. 25, 1968. 55 years ago from the recording of this episode.   Although the Glacier Point firefall is a thing of the past, a natural, even more awe-inspiring, phenomenon that goes by the same name at Horsetail Falls remains. The organic illusion appears for a few weeks each February. Light from the setting sun hits the eastside of El Capitan at Horsetail Falls at a precise angle seems to be molten lava rushing  1,570 feet to the valley floor, creating a natural "firefall."  Ansel Adams captured it on film for the first time, in 1940.  The natural Yosemite Firefall can be finicky. Several factors must converge to trigger the Firefall to glow. First, there has to be an adequate amount of snowpack for Horsetail Falls to be flowing and the temperatures must be warm enough to melt the snow. The sky also needs to be clear at sunset. If conditions are cloudy the sun's rays will be blocked, and Horsetail Fall will not light up. If everything comes together and conditions are just right, the Yosemite Firefall will light up for about ten minutes. To see Horsetail Fall glowing blood red is an almost supernatural experience. The sun hits Yosemite Valley at roughly the same angle in October, but the lack of runoff prevents the same phenomenon.    The discovery of Horsetail Falls is not well documented. There is no doubt that the Awahneechee Indians who lived in Yosemite Valley for hundreds of years, most likely knew of its existence, but there is no evidence that they passed the knowledge to the white settlers. Love that.  Makes perfect sense.  The local lore of “elmer”  is linked to the Fire Falls. In the 1930's, a child by the name of Elmer would drift off with his friends or something to their own place to watch the Firefall and every night. It was a common thing in Yosemite to hear after the Firefall, his mother calling him back to camp: EL-MER- EL-MER- EL-MER.   It all leads me to wonder, what is the most spectacular thing i nature that you have ever seen?       

 Download Episode. Scott interviewed Chas Freeman about some of the biggest flashpoints that threaten to plunge the world into war. They discuss the war in Ukraine, the growing tension over Taiwan and even touch on the next conflict brewing in the Middle East. Freeman argues that the prospect for war with Russia or China depends on Washington's willingness to sit down and work out a peaceful resolution. So far, the U.S. government has shown no such interest. Discussed on the show: “Why War Pledges for Ukraine Fell Flat in Munich” (Defense One) Chas W. Freeman was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1993-94 and served as U. S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Follow him at his website, chasfreeman.net. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revealed this week that the Biden family received more than $1 million in payments from accounts related to Hunter Biden's business associate Rob Walker and their Chinese business ventures in 2017. Hunter Biden has filed a countersuit against John Paul Mac Isaac, the computer repair shop owner who, back in 2020, turned a laptop belonging to the president's son over to authorities and members of the press. SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, announced today that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at a hearing yesterday whether the administration's policies might be encouraging people to move their money out of small banks and into big banks. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine promised that “medically changing kids' genders” will soon be normalized. Today's Sponsors: You can get a FREE report with all the details on how the Bank On Yourself strategy adds guarantees, predictability, and control to your financial plan. Just go to http://www.bankonyourself.com/matters  And, with Fast Growing Trees' 30-day Alive and Thrive Guarantee, you know everything will look great, fresh out of the box. Join over 1.5 million happy Fast Growing Trees customers! Go to http://www.FastGrowingTrees.com/news to get 15% off your entire order.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monica Crowley discusses bank failures over the weekend, ESG and social justice being the cause, and how risk assessment measures put into place after the 2008 financial crisis were ignored. The former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury dispels the rumors that Trump's banking reforms are the cause of the bank failures, commenting “on the deregulation part, that is not part of this equation whatsoever from the Trump years. If that were the case, you'd see more far more widespread problems in the banking sector. And again, we hope this doesn't spread but did the Trump deregulation aspects on the financial sector came into play? Not at all.” She says that, “in this situation the DEI and ESG are part of this. It is 100% true that we are seeing industries, companies across the board that changed their focus to a social justice platform more than their actual core business, there are deleterious effects on that core business. Is that reverberate all the way down to the customer, but certainly through the board, shareholders, etc, all the way down, because they're not focused on their core mission.” Commenting, “What we do know about this Silicon Valley Bank is that the risk assessment person was focused on again, DEI stuff, she had just done a full month on LGBTQ pride, focused on underrepresented entrepreneurs. So again, one of the things that contributed to the first financial crisis back in 2008, were all these affected banks were handing out loans like candy to people who could not service those loans, they couldn't afford mortgage backed securities, all of this stuff, because they were engaged in this kind of social justice approaches to their business, rather than focusing on the bottom line serving their customers and taking care of their shareholders. And so when you go off on that tangent, bad things are going to happen.” Crowley comments that her “particularly outraged” in this situation, is that “even though the administration is saying no bailout, it is going to be a bailout, and you know who in the end is going to cover the costs for this, you and me, the average American who is very careful and responsible for with our money. We're going to be the ones that are going to cover the costs for bailing out venture capitalists, and tech people for the most part.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A special Sunday podcast with John Solomon and Amanda Head hosting ‘Just the News, No Noise' live from CPAC! Interviews this weekend with: Conservative commentator Sebastian Gorka, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Monica Crowley, and comedian Michael Loftus. To see the daily show, go to americasvoice.news each Monday through Friday at 6pm Eastern or watch any time at JustTheNews.com/tv.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

About the Speaker Mr. Bill Bruner is the co-founder and CEO of New Frontier Aerospace, a technology development company in Seattle, Washington. NFA is developing a range of applied technologies for the aviation, space, and energy markets – to include a renewably fueled, vertical takeoff & landing hypersonic aircraft that will deliver passengers and cargo anywhere on Earth in less than two hours. From 2007 to 2009, Bill was the Assistant Administrator for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs (OLIA) at NASA. Under Bill's leadership, the 30-person OLIA team directed all of NASA's relations with the U.S. Congress, governors, state legislators and local governments. Prior to joining NASA, Bill had a distinguished career as an aviator in the United States Air Force, from which he retired as Colonel. Among his decorations is the Bronze Star, awarded for service in the First Gulf War. He then served in several key positions in Washington — among them as a space and airpower expert on the staff of the Secretary of the Air Force; as a Military Fellow in the Office of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; and as an Office Director within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he won the Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul H. Nitze Award for Excellence in International Security Affairs. Bill is a graduate of the National War College, the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, and the Air Force's School of Advanced Air and Space Power Studies — where his thesis topic was “National Security Implications of Inexpensive Space Access.” He has earned master's degrees, with distinction, in National Security Strategy and Airpower Arts and Sciences. His bachelor's degree in Physical Science (Astronomy) is from San Francisco State University. Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/ Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18

Scott interviewed Chas Freeman about some of the biggest flashpoints that threaten to plunge the world into war. They discuss the war in Ukraine, the growing tension over Taiwan and even touch on the next conflict brewing in the Middle East. Freeman argues that the prospect for war with Russia or China depends on Washington's willingness to sit down and work out a peaceful resolution. So far, the U.S. government has shown no such interest. Discussed on the show: “Why War Pledges for Ukraine Fell Flat in Munich” (Defense One) Chas W. Freeman was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1993-94 and served as U. S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Follow him at his website, chasfreeman.net. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we get ready for this year's Plastics Recycling Conference, a gathering of over 2000 power players in plastics and recycling industries, the Recycled Content team welcomes back Dan Leif, managing editor at Resource Recycling, Inc. Host Kara Pochiro and Dan discuss hot topics in plastics recycling that will be covered at the conference, including the issues that keynote speaker Monica Medina, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the State Department, will address. Tune in to hear insights from Dan on how to improve plastics recycling to keep up with the times, the latest market trends, and how universities are vital to recruiting the next generation of industry innovators.

Today we welcome Michael Patrick Mulroy, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East. This episode is part one of two.  "Mick" worked for Secretary Mattis, Esper, and the transition to the new administration. He is also a retired CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer and a United States Marine. Today he discusses the integration between field operations, Civil Affairs, and diplomacy. Mick Mulroy is currently running the Lobo Institute, a National Security analyst on ABC News, and an advocate to end Child Soldiering. In part two, Mick Mulroy talks about China's competition.  Links mentioned in the show: If you would like to come on the show or guest host, contact us at capodcasting@gmail.com  Civil Affairs Association: https://www.civilaffairsassoc.org/ About Michael Patrick Mulroy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Patrick_Mulroy Lobo Institute: https://www.loboinstitute.org Case study on improving collaboration between CIA field operations and the military (MEI): https://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/2021-08/Irregular%20Warfare%20-%20A%20Case%20Study%20in%20CIA%20and%20US%20Army%20Special%20Forces%20Operations%20in%20Northern%20Iraq%2C%202002-03.pdf My Star in the Sky (Child Solder documentary): https://www.loboinstitute.org/my-star-in-the-sky/ ABC article on covert action: http://abcnewsradioonline.com/national-news/covert-action-and-national-security.html Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Daughters of Kobani: (MIlitary.com article) https://www.military.com/off-duty/books/2021/02/18/daughters-of-kobani-tells-riveting-story-of-women-combat.html Music: Special thank you to The Cranberries  

If you are looking to grow as a leader, you will want to listen to this episode of the Intentional Clinician podcast. Lindsay Dietz and Randy Webb talk with Paul Krauss MA LPC about what makes a healthy leader, different leadership styles, and how to grow your organization through values-based leadership. The group discusses multiple leadership theories by reviewing the academic literature, discussing current news, and emphasizing the inner work that the person and people involved within an organization. The group discusses signs to look for to know if you are leading from fear as well as tips to take into account to lead your team from certainty. Also discussed: Attachment Styles, Neurosceience, Psychology of Leadership, Understanding Values-Based leadership, Teamwork, short-term gains, long-term investments, the influence of economics on leadership, the pressure to both get business results and gain the trust of a team, the role of ego, self-care, burn out, turn over, costs, quality over quantity, balancing leadership styles, etc. Contact Lindsay and Randy through their consulting firm: Shion Consulting. Lindsay Dietz, BSW, MAPM has worked in the healthcare and non-profit field serving the underserved population for more than 17 years. Beginning her career in Venezuela, Mrs. Dietz focused on the development of multidisciplinary team approaches for in-patient pediatric services for burn victims and their families. Following, she worked the national level with the Venezuelan National Telecommunication agency leading several projects focused on engaging the community leaders, expanding the use of radio/technology communication services, and increasing access to care for rural and native Venezuelan population. Her experience includes developing national strategic plans to provide access to care and data collection and analysis (social-economic indicators of health). Mrs. Dietz has worked with clinical/non-clinical staff, built multidisciplinary teams, and leveraged the use of technology and effective workflows to benefit the Value-Based Care reimbursement model. Mrs. Dietz, who is bilingual (English/Spanish), earned her undergraduate degree and licensure in Social Work at the Central University of Venezuela with publishing honors. She also completed a Master's degree in Administration and Project Management from Northern Arizona University with honors and academic recognition. Mrs. Dietz also holds a certificate in Infant and Family Studies from the Harris Infant Mental Health Institute specialized in Trauma Informed Care, Motivational Interviewing, and Behavioral Health. Mrs. Dietz is an active member of the National Association of Community Health Centers and a member of their Health Centers Controlled Network (HCCN) Task Force. She has also contributed to NCQA's Digital Quality Summit and other national data/technology related workgroups. James “Randy” Webb, MA, MC, LMHC is a self-described promoter, campaigner, and networker who says that his penchant for building bridges and connecting people is in his name. A lifelong student of bilingual education and linguistics got into communication as a form of healing, which drew him into how the nervous system and everything attached to it develops. He has taken great joy in facilitating learning in multiple media with the goal of promoting individual, family, and community recovery. He currently works as a technical training specialist with Office of the Assistant Secretary, Division of Disease Control and Health Statistics of the Washington State Department of Health. Get involved with the National Violence Prevention Hotline: 501(c)(3) Donate Share with your network Sign our Petition Preview an On-Demand Online Video Course for the Parents of Young Adults EMDR Training Solutions (For all your EMDR training needs!) Paul Krauss MA LPC is the Clinical Director of Health for Life Counseling Grand Rapids, home of The Trauma-Informed Counseling Center of Grand Rapids. Paul is also a Private Practice Psychotherapist, an Approved EMDRIA Consultant , host of the Intentional Clinician podcast, Behavioral Health Consultant, Clinical Trainer, and Counseling Supervisor. Paul is now offering consulting for a few individuals and organizations. Paul is the creator of the National Violence Prevention Hotline (in progress) as well as the Intentional Clinician Training Program for Counselors. Paul has been quoted in the Washington Post, NBC News, and Wired Magazine. Questions? Call the office at 616-200-4433.  If you are looking for EMDRIA consulting groups, Paul Krauss MA LPC is now hosting weekly online and in-person groups.  For details, click here. For general behavioral and mental health consulting for you or your organization. Follow Health for Life Grand Rapids: Instagram   |   Facebook     |     Youtube  Original Music: ”Alright" from the forthcoming album Mystic by PAWL (Spotify) "Thinking About Thinking" from Thinking About Thinking by Laura Groves (Spotify) "Pale Shadows" from Thinking About Thinking by Laura Groves (Spotify)

The annual war authorization (NDAA) is an excellent opportunity to examine our military's roles and goals in the world. In this episode, learn about how much of our tax money Congress provided the Defense Department, including how much of that money is classified, how much more money was dedicated to war than was requested, and what they are authorized to use the money for. This episode also examines our Foreign Military Financing programs with a deep dive into a new partner country: Ecuador. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! View the shownotes on our website at https://congressionaldish.com/cd269-ndaa-2023-plan-ecuador Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD244: Keeping Ukraine CD243: Target Nicaragua CD230: Pacific Deterrence Initiative CD229: Target Belarus CD218: Minerals are the New Oil CD191: The “Democracies” Of Elliott Abrams CD187: Combating China CD176: Target Venezuela: Regime Change in Progress CD172: The Illegal Bombing of Syria CD147: Controlling Puerto Rico CD128: Crisis in Puerto Rico CD108: Regime Change CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? World Trade System “IMF vs. WTO vs. World Bank: What's the Difference?” James McWhinney. Oct 10, 2021. Investopedia. The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World. Sally Denton. Simon and Schuster: 2017. Littoral Combat Ships “The Pentagon Saw a Warship Boondoggle. Congress Saw Jobs.” Eric Lipton. Feb 4, 2023. The New York Times. “BAE Systems: Summary.” Open Secrets. Foreign Military Sales Program “Written Testimony of Assistant Secretary of State Jessica Lewis before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on the ‘Future of Security Sector Assistance.'” March 10, 2022. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Ecuador “Ecuador - Modern history.” Encyclopedia Britannica. “Ecuador Tried to Curb Drilling and Protect the Amazon. The Opposite Happened.” Catrin Einhorn and Manuela Andreoni. Updated Jan 20, 2023. The New York Times. “Ecuador: An Overview,” [IF11218]. June S. Beittel and Rachel L. Martin. Sep 9, 2022. Congressional Research Service. “Ecuador: In Brief,” [R44294]. June S. Beittel. Updated Feb 13, 2018. Congressional Research Service. “Ecuador's 2017 Elections,” [IF10581] June S. Beittel. Updated April 20, 2017. Congressional Research Services. Debt Default “Ecuador's Debt Default: Exposing a Gap in the Global Financial Architecture.” Sarah Anderson and Neil Watkins. Dec 15, 2008. Institute for Policy Studies. “Ecuador: President Orders Debt Default.” Simon Romero. Dec 12, 2008. The New York Times. Violence and Drugs “Ecuador's High Tide of Drug Violence.” Nov 4, 2022. International Crisis Group. “Lasso will propose to the US an Ecuador Plan to confront drug trafficking.” Jun 8, 2022. EcuadorTimes.net. “‘Es hora de un Plan Ecuador': el presidente Lasso dice en entrevista con la BBC que su país necesita ayuda para enfrentar el narcotráfico.” Vanessa Buschschluter. Nov 4, 2021. BBC. “Ecuador declares state of emergency over crime wave.” Oct 19, 2021. Deutsche Welle. Mining “An Ecuadorean Town Is Sinking Because of Illegal Mining.” Updated Mar 28, 2022. CGTN America. “New Mining Concessions Could Severely Decrease Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Ecuador.” Bitty A. Roy. Jun 19, 2018. Tropical Conservation Science. Foreign Infrastructure Investments “Ecuador prioritizing 4 road projects involving more than US$1bn.” Nov 28, 2022. BNamericas. “USTDA Expands Climate Portfolio in Ecuador.” May 27, 2022. U.S. Trade and Development Agency. “Ecuador's controversial and costliest hydropower project prompts energy rethink.” Richard Jiménez and Allen Panchana. Dec 16, 2021. Diálogo Chino. “Ecuador's Power Grid Gets a Massive Makeover.” Frank Dougherty. Mar 1, 2021. Power. Fishing “China fishing fleet defied U.S. in standoff on the high seas.” Joshua Goodman. Nov 2, 2022. Chattanooga Times Free Press. “Report to Congress: National 5-year Strategy for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (2022-2026).” October 2022. U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing. “United States Launches Public-Private Partnership In Peru And Ecuador To Promote Sustainable, Profitable Fishing Practices.” Oct 7, 2022. U.S. Agency for International Development. “US Coast Guard Conducts High Seas Boarding for First Time in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization Convention Area.” U.S. Coast Guard. Oct 5, 2022. Diálogo Americas. “Walmart, Whole Foods, and Slave-Labor Shrimp.” Adam Chandler. Dec 16, 2015. The Atlantic. South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) Cutter Ships 22 USC Sec. 2321j, Update “Coast Guard Cutter Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress,” [R42567]. Ronald O'Rourke. Updated August 30, 2022. Congressional Research Service. Julian Assange “How Julian Assange became an unwelcome guest in Ecuador's embassy.” Luke Harding et al. May 15, 2018. The Guardian. “Ecuador Expels U.S. Ambassador Over WikiLeaks Cable.” Simon Romero. Apr 5, 2011. The New York Times. Chevron Case “Controversial activist Steven Donziger is a folk hero to the left, a fraud to Big Oil.” Zack Budryk. Dec 27, 2022. The Hill. Venezuela “Ecuador: Lasso Calls for Increased Pressure on Venezuela.” Apr 14, 2021. teleSUR. China Trade Deal “Ecuador reaches trade deal with China, aims to increase exports, Lasso says.” Jan 3, 2023. Reuters. “On the Ecuador-China Debt Deal: Q&A with Augusto de la Torre.” Sep 23, 2022. The Dialogue. “Ecuador sees trade deal with China at end of year, debt talks to begin.” Alexandra Valencia. Feb 5, 2022. Reuters. Business Reforms “Will Ecuador's Business Reforms Attract Investment?” Ramiro Crespo. Mar 3, 2022. Latin American Advisor. U.S. Ecuador Partnership “Why Ecuador's president announced his re-election plans in Washington.” Isabel Chriboga. Dec 22, 2022. The Atlantic Council. “USMCA as a Framework: New Talks Between U.S., Ecuador, Uruguay.” Jim Wiesemeyer. Dec 21, 2022. AgWeb. “US seeks to bolster Ecuador ties as China expands regional role.” Dec 19, 2022. Al Jazeera. “As China's influence grows, Biden needs to supercharge trade with Ecuador.” Isabel Chiriboga. Dec 19, 2022. The Atlantic Council. “The United States and Ecuador to Explore Expanding the Protocol on Trade Rules and Transparency under the Trade and Investment Council (TIC).” Nov 1, 2022. Office of the United States Trade Representative. “A delegation of U.S. senators visits Ecuador.” Oct 19, 2022. U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Ecuador. Referendum “Guillermo Lasso Searches for a Breakthrough.” Sebastián Hurtado. Dec 19, 2022. Americas Quarterly. State Enterprise Resignation “Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso asks heads of all state firms to resign.” Jan 18, 2023. Buenos Aires Times. Lithium Triangle “Why the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act Could Benefit Both Mining and Energy in Latin America.” John Price. Aug 22, 2022. Americas Market Intelligence. Colombia “Latin America's New Left Meets Davos.” Catherine Osborn. Jan 20, 2023. Foreign Policy. “How Colombia plans to keep its oil and coal in the ground.” María Paula Rubiano A. Nov 16, 2022. BBC. “Colombia: Background and U.S. Relations.” June S. Beittel. Updated December 16, 2021. Congressional Research Service. Tax Reform “In Colombia, Passing Tax Reform Was the Easy Part.” Ricardo Ávila. Nov 23, 2022. Americas Quarterly. “U.S. Government Must Take Urgent Action on Colombia's Tax Reform Bill.” Cesar Vence and Megan Bridges. Oct 26, 2022. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Letter from ACT et. al. to Sec. Janet Yellen, Sec. Gina Raimondo, and Hon. Katherine Tai.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Relationship with U.S. “Does glyphosate cause cancer?” Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Jul 8, 2021. City of Hope. “Colombian Intelligence Unit Used U.S. Equipment to Spy on Politicians, Journalists.” Kejal Vyas. May 4, 2020. The Wall Street Journal. “Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis and supporting evidence.” Luoping Zhang et al. Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research Vol. 781, July–September 2019, pp. 186-206. “Colombia to use drones to fumigate coca leaf with herbicide.” Jun 26, 2018. Syria “Everyone Is Denouncing the Syrian Rebels Now Slaughtering Kurds. But Didn't the U.S. Once Support Some of Them?” Mehdi Hasan. Oct 26, 2019. The Intercept. “U.S. Relations With Syria: Bilateral Relations Fact Sheet.” Jan 20, 2021. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. “Behind the Sudden Death of a $1 Billion Secret C.I.A. War in Syria.” Mark Mazzetti et al. Aug 2, 2017. The New York Times. “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A.” C. J. Chivers and Eric Schmitt. Mar 24, 2013. The New York Times. Government Funding “House Passes 2023 Government Funding Legislation.” Dec 23, 2022. House Appropriations Committee Democrats. “Division C - Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2023.” Senate Appropriations Committee. Jen's highlighted version “Division K - Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023.” Senate Appropriations Committee. Laws H.R.2617 - Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 H.R.7776 - James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 Jen's highlighted version Bills H.R. 8711 - United States-Ecuador Partnership Act of 2022 S. 3591 - United States-Ecuador Partnership Act of 2022 Audio Sources A conversation with General Laura J. Richardson on security across the Americas January 19, 2023 The Atlantic Council Clips 17:51 Gen. Laura Richardson: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has been ongoing for the last over a decade in this region, 21 of 31 countries have signed on to this Belt and Road Initiative. I could take Argentina last January, the most recent signatory on to the Belt and Road Initiative, and $23 billion in infrastructure projects that signatory and signing on to that. But again, 21 of 31 countries. There are 25 countries that actually have infrastructure projects by the PRC. Four that aren't signatories of the BRI, but they do actually have projects within their countries. But not just that. Deepwater ports in 17 countries. I mean, this is critical infrastructure that's being invested in. I have the most space enabling infrastructure in the Western Hemisphere in Latin America and the Caribbean. And I just caused question, you know, why? Why is all of this critical infrastructure being invested in so heavily? In terms of telecommunications, 5G, I've got five countries with the 5G backbone in this region. I've got 24 countries with the PRC Huawei 3G-4G. Five countries have the Huawei backbone infrastructure. If I had to guess, they'll probably be offered a discount to upgrade and stay within the same PRC network. And so very, very concerning as we work with our countries. 20:00 Gen. Laura Richardson: What I'm starting to see as well is that this economy...the economy impacts to these partner nations is affecting their ability to buy equipment. And you know, as I work with our partner nations, and they invest in U.S. equipment, which is the best equipment, I must say I am a little biased, but it is the best equipment, they also buy into the supply chain of spare parts, and all those kinds of things that help to sustain this piece of equipment over many, many years. So in terms of the investment that they're getting, and that equipment to be able to stay operational, and the readiness of it, is very, very important. But now these partner nations, due to the impacts of their economy, are starting to look at the financing that goes along with it. Not necessarily the quality of the equipment, but who has the best finance deal because they can't afford it so much up front. 24:15 Gen. Laura Richardson: This region, why this region matters, with all of its rich resources and rare earth elements. You've got the lithium triangle which is needed for technology today. 60% of the world's lithium is in the lithium triangle: Argentina Bolivia, Chile. You just have the largest oil reserves -- light, sweet, crude -- discovered off of Guyana over a year ago. You have Venezuela's resources as well with oil, copper, gold. China gets 36% of its food source from this region. We have the Amazon, lungs of the world. We have 31% of the world's freshwater in this region too. I mean, it's just off the chart. 28:10 Gen. Laura Richardson: You know, you gotta question, why are they investing so heavily everywhere else across the planet? I worry about these dual-use state-owned enterprises that pop up from the PRC, and I worry about the dual use capability being able to flip them around and use them for military use. 33:30 Interviewer: Russia can't have the ability to provide many of these countries with resupply or new weapons. I mean, they're struggling to supply themselves, in many cases, for Ukraine. So is that presenting an opportunity for maybe the US to slide in? Gen. Laura Richardson: It is, absolutely and we're taking advantage of that, I'd like to say. So, we are working with those countries that have the Russian equipment to either donate or switch it out for United States equipment. or you Interviewer: Are countries taking the....? Gen. Laura Richardson: They are, yeah. 45:25 Gen. Laura Richardson: National Guard State Partnership Program is huge. We have the largest National Guard State Partnership Program. It has come up a couple of times with Ukraine. Ukraine has the State Partnership Program with California. How do we initially start our great coordination with Ukraine? It was leveraged to the National Guard State Partnership Program that California had. But I have the largest out of any of the CoCOMMs. I have 24 state partnership programs utilize those to the nth degree in terms of another lever. 48:25 Gen. Laura Richardson: Just yesterday I had a zoom call with the U.S. Ambassadors from Argentina and Chile and then also the strategy officer from Levant and then also the VP for Global Operations from Albermarle for lithium, to talk about the lithium triangle in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile and the companies, how they're doing and what they see in terms of challenges and things like that in the lithium business and then the aggressiveness or the influence and coercion from the PRC. House Session June 15, 2022 Clips Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): The GAO found that the LCS had experienced engine failure in 10 of the 11 deployments reviewed. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): One major reason for the excessive costs of LCS: contractors. Unlike other ships where sailors do the maintenance, LCS relies almost exclusively on contractors who own and control the technical data needed to maintain and repair. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): Our top priority and national defense strategy is China and Russia. We can't waste scarce funds on costly LCS when there are more capable platforms like destroyers, attack submarines, and the new constellation class frigate. A review of the President's Fiscal Year 2023 funding request and budget justification for the Navy and Marine Corps May 25, 2022 Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Carlos Del Toro, Secretary, United States Navy Admiral Michael M. Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations General David H. Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps Clips Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS): I think the christening was just a few years ago...maybe three or so. So the fact that we christened the ship one year and a few years later we're decommissioning troubles me. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS): Are there not other uses, if there's something missing from this class of ships, that we would avoid decommissioning? Adm. Michael Gilday: We need a capable, lethal, ready Navy more than we need a larger Navy that's less capable, less lethal, and less ready. And so, unfortunately the Littoral combat ships that we have, while the mechanical issues were a factor, a bigger factor was was the lack of sufficient warfighting capability against a peer competitor in China. Adm. Michael Gilday: And so we refuse to put an additional dollar against that system that wouldn't match the Chinese undersea threat. Adm. Michael Gilday: In terms of what are the options going forward with these ships, I would offer to the subcommittee that we should consider offering these ships to other countries that would be able to use them effectively. There are countries in South America, as an example, as you pointed out, that would be able to use these ships that have small crews. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary ofDefense Lloyd J. Austin III Remarks to Traveling Press April 25, 2022 China's Role in Latin America and the Caribbean March 31, 2022 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Kerri Hannan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Policy, Planning, and Coordination, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Peter Natiello, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, Latin America and Caribbean Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development Andrew M. Herscowitz, Chief Development Officer, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Margaret Myers, Director of the Asia & Latin America Program, Inter-American Dialogue Evan Ellis, Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies Clips 24:20 Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA): Ecuador for example, nearly 20 years ago, former President Rafael Correa promised modernization for Ecuador, embracing Chinese loans and infrastructure projects in exchange for its oil. Fast forward to today. Ecuador now lives with the Chinese financed and built dam that's not fully operational despite being opened in 2016. The Coca Codo Sinclair Dam required over 7000 repairs, it sits right next to an active volcano, and erosion continues to damage the dam. The dam also caused an oil spill in 2020 that has impacted indigenous communities living downstream. And all that's on top of the billions of dollars that Ecuador still owes China. 56:40 Peter Natiello: One example that I could provide is work that we've done in Ecuador, with Ecuadorian journalists, to investigate, to analyze and to report on the issue of illegal and unregulated fishing off Ecuador's coast. And we do that because we want to ensure that Ecuadorian citizens have fact-based information upon which they can make decisions about China and countries like China, and whether they want their country working with them. 1:23:45 Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): There are 86 million tons of identified lithium resources on the planet. On the planet. 49 million of the 86 million are in the Golden Triangle. That's Argentina, Bolivia, Chile. So what's our plan? 1:54:10 Evan Ellis: In security engagement, the PRC is a significant provider of military goods to the region including fighters, transport aircraft, and radars for Venezuela; helicopters and armored vehicles for Bolivia; and military trucks for Ecuador. 2:00:00 Margaret Myers: Ecuador is perhaps the best example here of a country that has begun to come to terms with the challenges associated with doing business with or interacting from a financial or investment perspective with China. And one need only travel the road from the airport to Quito where every day there are a lot of accidents because of challenges with the actual engineering of that road to know why many Ecuadorians feel this way. Examining U.S. Security Cooperation and Assistance March 10, 2022 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Watch Full Hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Jessica Lewis, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State Mara Elizabeth Karlin, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, U.S. Department of Defense Clips 1:23:17 Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): According to one study, the DoD manages 48 of the 50 new security assistance programs that were created after the 9/11 attacks and out of the 170 existing security assistance programs today, DOD manages 87, a whopping 81% of those programs. That is a fundamental transition from the way in which we used to manage security assistance. And my worry is that it takes out of the equation the people who have the clearest and most important visibility on the ground as to the impact of that security assistance and those transfers. Sen. Chris Murphy: We just spent $87 billion in military assistance over 20 years in Afghanistan. And the army that we supported went up in smoke overnight. That is an extraordinary waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars, and it mirrors a smaller but similar investment we made from 2003 to 2014 in the Iraqi military, who disintegrated when they faced the prospect of a fight against ISIS. Clearly, there is something very wrong with the way in which we are flowing military assistance to partner countries, especially in complicated war zones. You've got a minute and 10 seconds, so maybe you can just preview some lessons that we have learned, or the process by which we are going to learn lessons from all of the money that we have wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jessica Lewis: Senator, I'll be brief so that Dr. Karlin can jump in as well. I think we do need to learn lessons. We need to make sure, as I was just saying to Senator Cardin, that when we provide security assistance, we also look not just at train and equip, but we look at other things like how the Ministries of Defense operate? Is their security sector governant? Are we creating an infrastructure that's going to actually work? Mara Elizabeth Karlin: Thank you for raising this issue, Senator. And I can assure you that the Department of Defense is in the process of commissioning a study on this exact issue. I will just say in line with Assistant Secretary Lewis, it is really important that when we look at these efforts, we spend time assessing political will and we do not take an Excel spreadsheet approach to building partner militaries that misses the higher order issues that are deeply relevant to security sector governance, that will fundamentally show us the extent to which we can ultimately be successful or not with a partner. Thank you. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): You know, in Iraq, last time I was there, we were spending four times as much money on security assistance as we were on non-security assistance. And what Afghanistan taught us amongst many things, is that if you have a fundamentally corrupt government, then all the money you're flowing into the military is likely wasted in the end because that government can't stand and thus the military can't stand. So it also speaks to rebalancing the way in which we put money into conflict zones, to not think that military assistance alone does the job. You got to be building sustainable governments that serve the public interests in order to make your security assistance matter and be effective. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activity in North and South America March 8, 2022 House Armed Services Committee Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Melissa G. Dalton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Office of the Secretary of Defense General Laura Richardson, USA, Commander, U.S. Southern Command General Glen D. VanHerck, USAF, Commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command Clips 17:30 General Laura Richardson: Colombia, for example, our strongest partner in the region, exports security by training other Latin American militaries to counter transnational threats. 1:20:00 General Laura Richardson: If I look at what PRC (People's Republic of China) is investing in the [SOUTHCOM] AOR (Area of Responsibility), over a five year period of 2017 to 2021: $72 billion. It's off the charts. And I can read a couple of the projects. The most concerning projects that I have are the $6 billion in projects specifically near the Panama Canal. And I look at the strategic lines of communication: Panama Canal and the Strait of Magellan. But just to highlight a couple of the projects. The nuclear power plant in Argentina: $7.9 billion. The highway in Jamaica: $5.6 billion. The energy refinery in Cuba, $5 billion. The highway in Peru: $4 billion. Energy dam in Argentina: $4 billion, the Metro in Colombia: $3.9 billion. The freight railway in Argentina: $3 billion. These are not small projects that they're putting in this region. This region is rich in resources, and the Chinese don't go there to invest, they go there to extract. All of these projects are done with Chinese labor with host nation countries'. U.S. Policy on Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean November 30, 2021 Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Brian A. Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Todd D. Robinson, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. Department of State Clips 1:47:15 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): I'd like to start with Mexico. I am increasingly concerned that the Mexican government is engaged in a systematic campaign to undermine American companies, and especially American energy companies that have invested in our shared prosperity and in the future of the Mexican people and economy. Over the past five months, Mexican regulators have shut down three privately owned fuel storage terminals. Among those they shut down a fuel terminal and Tuxpan, which is run by an American company based in Texas, and which transports fuel on ships owned by American companies. This is a pattern of sustained discrimination against American companies. And I worry that the Mexican government's ultimate aim is to roll back the country's historic 2013 energy sector liberalisation reforms in favor of Mexico's mismanaged and failing state-owned energy companies. The only way the Mexican government is going to slow and reverse their campaign is if the United States Government conveys clearly and candidly that their efforts pose a serious threat to our relationship and to our shared economic interests. 2:01:50 Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): Mr. Nichols, can you can you just be a little more specific about the tactics of the GEC? What are some of the specific activities they're doing? And what more would you like to see them do? Brian A. Nichols: The Global Engagement Center both measures public opinion and social media trends throughout the world. They actively work to counter false messages from our strategic competitors. And they prepare media products or talking points that our embassies and consulates around the hemisphere can use to combat disinformation. I think they do a great job. Obviously, it's a huge task. So the the resources that they have to bring to bear to this limit, somewhat, the ability to accomplish those goals, but I think they're doing vital, vital work. 2:13:30 Todd D. Robinson: We are, INL (International Narcotics and Law Enforcement) are working very closely with the Haitian National Police, the new Director General, we are going to send in advisors. When I was there two weeks ago, I arrived with -- they'd asked for greater ability to get police around the city -- I showed up with 19 new vehicles, 200 new protective vests for the police. The 19 was the first installment of a total of 60 that we're going to deliver to the Haitian National Police. We're gonna get advisors down there to work with the new SWAT team to start taking back the areas that have been taken from ordinary Haitians. But it's going to be a process and it's going to take some time. Sen. Bob Menendez: Well, first of all, is the Haitian National Police actually an institution capable of delivering the type of security that Hatians deserve? Todd D. Robinson: We believe it is. It's an institution that we have worked with in the past. There was a small brief moment where Haitians actually acknowledged that the Haitian National Police had gotten better and was more professional. Our goal, our long term goal is to try to bring it back to that Sen. Bob Menendez: How much time before we get security on the ground? Todd D. Robinson: I can't say exactly but we are working as fast as we can. Sen. Bob Menendez: Months, years? Todd D. Robinson: Well, I would hope we could do it in less than months. But we're working as fast as we can. Global Challenges and U.S. National Security Strategy January 25, 2018 Senate Committee on Armed Services Watch the full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman of Kissinger Associates and Former Secretary of State Dr. George P. Shultz, Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University and Former Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, President, Armitage International and Former Deputy Secretary of State Clips Dr. George Shultz: Small platforms will carry a very destructive power. Then you can put these small platforms on drones. And drones can be manufactured easily, and you can have a great many of them inexpensively. So then you can have a swarm armed with lethal equipment. Any fixed target is a real target. So an airfield where our Air Force stores planes is a very vulnerable target. A ship at anchor is a vulnerable target. So you've got to think about that in terms of how you deploy. And in terms of the drones, while such a system cannot be jammed, it would only serve to get a drone—talking about getting a drone to the area of where its target is, but that sure could hit a specific target. At that point, the optical systems guided by artificial intelligence could use on-board, multi-spectral imaging to find a target and guide the weapons. It is exactly that autonomy that makes the technologic convergence a threat today. Because such drones will require no external input other than the signature of the designed target, they will not be vulnerable to jamming. Not requiring human intervention, the autonomous platforms will also be able to operate in very large numbers. Dr. George Shultz: I think there's a great lesson here for what we do in NATO to contain Russia because you can deploy these things in boxes so you don't even know what they are and on trucks and train people to unload quickly and fire. So it's a huge deterrent capability that is available, and it's inexpensive enough so that we can expect our allies to pitch in and get them for themselves. Dr. George Shultz: The creative use of swarms of autonomous drones to augment current forces would strongly and relatively cheaply reinforce NATO, as I said, that deterrence. If NATO assists frontline states in fielding large numbers of inexpensive autonomous drones that are pre-packaged in standard 20-foot containers, the weapons can be stored in sites across the countries under the control of reserve forces. If the weapons are pre-packaged and stored, the national forces can quickly deploy the weapons to delay a Russian advance. So what's happening is you have small, cheap, and highly lethal replacing large, expensive platforms. And this change is coming about with great rapidity, and it is massively important to take it into account in anything that you are thinking about doing. Foreign Military Sales: Process and Policy June 15, 2017 House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade Watch the full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Tina Kaidanow, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State Vice Admiral Joseph Rixey, Director, U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency Clips 14:40 Tina Kaidanow: Arms Transfers constitute an element of foreign policy. We therefore take into account foreign policy considerations as we contemplate each arms transfer or sale, including specifically, the appropriateness of the transfer in responding to U.S and recipient security needs; the degree to which the transfer supports U.S. strategic foreign policy and defense interests through increased access and influence; allied burden sharing and interoperability; consistency with U.S. interests regarding regional stability; the degree of protection afforded by the recipient company to our sensitive technology; the risk that significant change in the political or security situation of the recipient country could lead to inappropriate end use or transfer; and the likelihood that the recipient would use the arms to commit human rights abuses or serious violations of international humanitarian law, or retransfer the arms to those who would commit such abuses. As a second key point, arms transfers support the U.S. Defense industrial base and they reduce the cost of procurement for our own U.S. military. Purchases made through the Foreign Military Sales, known as the FMS, system often can be combined with our Defense Department orders to reduce unit costs. Beyond this, the US defense industry directly employs over 1.7 million people across our nation. 20:20 Vice Admiral Joseph Rixey: FMS is the government-to-government process through which the U.S. government purchases defense articles, training, and services on behalf of foreign governments, authorized in the Arms Export Control Act. FMS is a long standing security cooperation program that supports partner and regional security, enhances military-to-military cooperation, enables interoperability and develops and maintains international relationships. Through the FMS process, the US government determines whether or not the sale is of mutual benefit to us and the partner, whether the technology can and will be protected, and whether the transfer is consistent with U.S. conventional arms transfer policy. The FMS system is actually a set of systems in which the Department of State, Department of Defense, and Congress play critical roles. The Department of Defense in particular executes a number of different processes including the management of the FMS case lifecycle which is overseen by DSCA (Defense Security Cooperation Agency). Technology transfer reviews, overseen by the Defense Technology Security Administration, and the management of the Defense Acquisition and Logistics Systems, overseen by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, and the military departments. This process, or a version of it, also serves us well, in the DoD Title X Building Partnership Capacity arena, where the process of building a case, validating a requirement and exercising our U.S. acquisition system to deliver capability is modeled on the FMS system. I want to say clearly that overall the system is performing very well. The United States continues to remain the provider of choice for our international partners, with 1,700 new cases implemented in Fiscal Year 2016 alone. These new cases, combined with adjustments to existing programs, equated to more than $33 billion in sales last year. This included over $25 billion in cases funded by our partner nations' own funds and approximately $8 billion in cases funded by DOD Title X program or Department of State's Appropriations. Most FMS cases move through the process relatively quickly. But some may move more slowly as we engage in deliberate review to ensure that the necessary arms transfer criteria are met. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Monica Crowley joins Sid and Friends in the Morning once again to break down Sam Bankman-Fried's recent scandal that's landed him back in jail and why Biden's been governing by a "America Last Plan." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Thursday, February 23rd, 2023. Rowdy Christian Merch Plug: If you’re a fan of CrossPolitic, or the Fight Laugh Feast Network, then surely, you know we have a merch store right? Rowdy Christian Merch is your one-stop-shop for everything CrossPolitc merchandise. We’ve got T-Shirts, hoodies, hats, but we’ve also got specialty items like backpacks, mugs, coffee, even airpod cases! Visit Rowdy Christian Merch at rowdychristian.com, and buy that next gift, or a little something for yourself. Again, that’s rowdychristian.com. https://dailycaller.com/2023/02/21/biden-admin-religious-student-groups-protections-campus/ Biden Admin Looking To Remove Religious Student Groups’ Protections On Campus The Department of Education (DOE) announced a proposal Tuesday rescinding a Trump-era policy that prohibited universities from receiving federal funding if they restricted religious student group activities. The 2020 policy, initially signed by former President Donald Trump as part of an executive order in 2019, was proposed to prevent universities from censoring the speech of religious students on campus, according to the Washington Post. The DEO’s recent announcement indicates that President Joe Biden is looking to end the policy, claiming the protections caused an “unduly burdensome role” for the department. “[T]he Department believes it is not necessary in order to protect the First Amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion given existing legal protections, it has caused confusion about schools’ nondiscrimination requirements, and it prescribed a novel and unduly burdensome role for the Department in investigating allegations regarding public institutions’ treatment of religious student organizations,” the announcement read. “We have not seen evidence that the regulation has provided meaningfully increased protection for religious student organizations beyond the robust First Amendment protections that already exist, much less that it has been necessary to ensure they are able to organize and operate on campus.” The announcement came from Nassar H. Paydar, Assistant Secretary of Postsecondary Education, who explained that since September 2021 the DOE had been looking into current policies regarding the First Amendment that “impose additional requirements on its higher education institutional grant recipients.” Paydar noted that during that time, the DOE determined that the 2020 policy had placed a burden on the higher education system and did not provide any “meaningfully increased protection for religious student organizations.” In 2020, Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told the Washington Post that the rule protects religious students from being “forced to choose between their faith and their education” and would also protect religious universities from being turned away for federal funding because of their religious affiliation. The public comment phase will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and remain open for 30 days for anyone to comment and provide their thoughts on the proposal, according to the announcement. https://www.newsweek.com/alaska-republican-touts-benefits-children-being-abused-death-1782972 Alegislature in Alaska caused outrage after questioning whether the death of child abuse victims could be "a cost savings," because it would mean they don't need "government services" later in life. Republican David Eastman, who sits in the Alaska House of Representatives, made the comment on Monday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. The committee was meeting to discuss how children are impacted by physical or sexual abuse, as well as witnessing domestic violence within their family home. Lawmakers were shown a study indicating each incident of fatal child abuse costs society $1.5 million, a figure reached by assessing the impact of trauma and the child's loss of earnings over a lifetime. However, Eastman was unimpressed, and questioned whether fatal child abuse could be economically beneficial to wider society, an argument he claimed to have heard. Eastman said: "It can be argued, periodically, that it's actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment." The remark horrified Trevor Storrs, president of the Alaska Children's Trust (ACT), who hit back describing the loss of a child as "unmeasurable." Democratic Representative Cliff Groh, who used to work as a prosecutor covering child abuse allegations, said he was "disturbed" by Easterman's comment. Representative Sarah Vance, the Republican who claims the House Judiciary Committee, said Easterman, who doesn't serve on any committees, had been at the hearing "at my invitation." Vance later suggested Eastman had been trying to make an argument against abortion, which some consider to be "child abuse." Speaking with the Anchorage Daily News via text message, Eastman said: "I was pleased to hear ACT advocating against child abuse, but a child's value comes not from future productivity, but from the fact that every child is made in the image of God." https://www.foxnews.com/media/seattle-police-defunding-crime-ravages-locals-huge-crisis Seattle reverses course on defunding police as crime ravages locals: 'A huge crisis' Seattle residents Victoria Beach, Eli Hoshor and Jonathan Choe said police shortages have left their city in dire straits in the aftermath of officials' anti-law enforcement rhetoric. Homicides skyrocketed by 24% while motor vehicle thefts climbed by 30% in the city last year. Overall crime ticked up by 4%. Mayor Bruce Harrell pushed for increased police presence to curb the issue Tuesday, saying, "We need immediate action and innovation to respond to our public safety issues… Seattle saw a 4% rise in reported crime last year… We need more officers to address our staffing crisis." Still, some residents' outlook is less than optimistic. Piro reported data from Seattle's city's budget office showing funding for law enforcement increased for the first time since a major slash was made in 2020. Hoshor, a resident, says the uptick is not enough to reduce crime. "The crime is just getting worse and worse," he said. "There's a homeless encampment that's right next to my son's school that's been there for over a year, and it's doubled and tripled in size. Choe, a reporter from the area, slammed the "Defund the Police" movement for being behind the crime rise as well as the "woke" activist class who he said are perpetuating the problem. He added that seeing how "Defund the Police" supporters respond to Harrell's push for more police and the uptick in funding for the department should be "interesting." https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-seattle-forced-to-pay-3-6-million-in-2020-autonomous-zone-damages-to-business-owners?utm_campaign=64487 Seattle forced to pay $3.6 MILLION in 2020 CHAZ damages to business owners The city of Seattle has agreed to pay $3,650,000 in damages to business owners who brought suit after the deadly 2020 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) damaged their business, property, and violated their constitutional rights. The group had originally been seeking $2.9 million. The city has until March 3 to pay the sum as part of a settlement revealed last week. According to court filings regarding the settlement, $600,000 will go toward attorney fees for the more than a dozen plaintiffs. The settlement came just weeks after a federal judge imposed sanctions against the city for deleting thousands of text messages between Seattle officials including former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police chief Carmen Best, and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins during the armed occupation by Antifa and BLM rioters of 6 square blocks of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The CHAZ, also known as the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest or CHOP, was established by activists on June 8, 2020, after Seattle police were ordered by police leadership to abandon the department’s East Precinct during the riots that rocked the Emerald City in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minn. on May 25, 2020. Video of his death emerged, setting off months of riots in the midst of a pandemic. https://twitter.com/i/status/1270925505190146048 - Play Video Zone occupiers refused to allow police into the area. Rapes, robberies, and murders spiked 250 percent in the 6-block area during the occupation. The zone lasted 3 weeks before it was finally broken up by police on July 1, 2020, after two fatal shootings and rioters vandalized then Mayor Durkan's home. https://twitter.com/i/status/1271249933765656578 - Play Video According to court documents, business owners alleged that city officials’ "unprecedented decision to abandon and close off" the 16-block section of the neighborhood "subjected businesses, employees, and residents to extensive property damage, public safety dangers, and an inability to use and access their properties." It was revealed after the occupation that Seattle officials, including former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police chief Carmen Best, and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins deleted thousands of text messages from their city-owned phones regarding the zone, including communications with the infamous “warlord” of the autonomous zone, Raz Simone. US District Judge Thomas Zilly previously sanctioned the city and thereby allowed the jury to view the missing evidence as a strike against the city in the case. Zilly Wrote, “City officials deleted thousands of text messages from their city-owned phones in complete disregard of their legal obligation to preserve relevant evidence. Further, the city significantly delayed disclosing … that thousands of text messages had been deleted” and could not be reproduced or recovered.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/npr-layoffs-10-percent-job-cuts-john-lansing-1235331693/ NPR to Cut Workforce by 10 Percent, as Advertising Slowdown Hits Public Media “Our financial outlook has darkened considerably over recent weeks,” Lansing wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday. “At a time when we are doing some of our most ambitious and essential work, the global economy remains uncertain. As a result, the ad industry has weakened and we are grappling with a sharp decline in our revenues from corporate sponsors. We had created a plan to address a $20M sponsorship revenue falloff for FY23 but we are now projecting at least a $30M shortfall. The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough.” So Lansing says that most of NPR’s open jobs will be eliminated, and that it will be reducing its existing workforce by 10 percent. More than 700 employees work at the public media firm. Lansing also suggested that the necessary job cuts will result in a more refined mission for NPR as an organization, writing that “some work will need to change or stop entirely,” and that NPR’s executive committee is figuring out where it needs to continue investing, and where it should pull back. Some of NPR’s most popular programs (on both terrestrial radio and in podcast form) include Fresh Air, Planet Money, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, and Up First. It also has a sizable news division that produces journalism that runs across its programming. Accountable2You Jesus is Lord. In public and in private, every area of life must be subject to his Lordship—and our use of technology is no exception. What captures our attention on the screen either glorifies or dishonors our Lord. That’s why Accountable2You is committed to promoting biblical accountability in our families and churches. Their monitoring and reporting software makes transparency easy on all of your devices, so you can say with the Psalmist, “I will not set anything worthless before my eyes.” Guard against temptation with Accountable2You, and live for God’s glory! Learn more and try it for free at Accountable2You.com/FLF https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/02/former-nfl-player-eric-johnson-among-8-people-arrested-for-human-trafficking-gang-charges/ Former NFL Player Eric Johnson Among 8 People Arrested For Human Trafficking & Gang Charges Johnson, 46, played in The League from 2000-2005 with the Oakland Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, and Arizona Cardinals. He’s now part of an apparent trafficking ring that stands accused of multiple acts involving four adult women and one female minor. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr says the LOTTO Gang members – including Johnson – are facing charges of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, violation of the street gang terrorism and prevention act, conspiracy to violate the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, aggravated assault and kidnapping. Eric Johnson, former Atlanta Falcon charged in human trafficking, racketeering case- Play Video While he’s certainly not a household name by any means, Eric Johnson is known for one significant moment in NFL history. He scored a touchdown in the Raiders’ 48-21 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII. He blocked a punt and then returned it for 13 yards for the score.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Thursday, February 23rd, 2023. Rowdy Christian Merch Plug: If you’re a fan of CrossPolitic, or the Fight Laugh Feast Network, then surely, you know we have a merch store right? Rowdy Christian Merch is your one-stop-shop for everything CrossPolitc merchandise. We’ve got T-Shirts, hoodies, hats, but we’ve also got specialty items like backpacks, mugs, coffee, even airpod cases! Visit Rowdy Christian Merch at rowdychristian.com, and buy that next gift, or a little something for yourself. Again, that’s rowdychristian.com. https://dailycaller.com/2023/02/21/biden-admin-religious-student-groups-protections-campus/ Biden Admin Looking To Remove Religious Student Groups’ Protections On Campus The Department of Education (DOE) announced a proposal Tuesday rescinding a Trump-era policy that prohibited universities from receiving federal funding if they restricted religious student group activities. The 2020 policy, initially signed by former President Donald Trump as part of an executive order in 2019, was proposed to prevent universities from censoring the speech of religious students on campus, according to the Washington Post. The DEO’s recent announcement indicates that President Joe Biden is looking to end the policy, claiming the protections caused an “unduly burdensome role” for the department. “[T]he Department believes it is not necessary in order to protect the First Amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion given existing legal protections, it has caused confusion about schools’ nondiscrimination requirements, and it prescribed a novel and unduly burdensome role for the Department in investigating allegations regarding public institutions’ treatment of religious student organizations,” the announcement read. “We have not seen evidence that the regulation has provided meaningfully increased protection for religious student organizations beyond the robust First Amendment protections that already exist, much less that it has been necessary to ensure they are able to organize and operate on campus.” The announcement came from Nassar H. Paydar, Assistant Secretary of Postsecondary Education, who explained that since September 2021 the DOE had been looking into current policies regarding the First Amendment that “impose additional requirements on its higher education institutional grant recipients.” Paydar noted that during that time, the DOE determined that the 2020 policy had placed a burden on the higher education system and did not provide any “meaningfully increased protection for religious student organizations.” In 2020, Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told the Washington Post that the rule protects religious students from being “forced to choose between their faith and their education” and would also protect religious universities from being turned away for federal funding because of their religious affiliation. The public comment phase will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and remain open for 30 days for anyone to comment and provide their thoughts on the proposal, according to the announcement. https://www.newsweek.com/alaska-republican-touts-benefits-children-being-abused-death-1782972 Alegislature in Alaska caused outrage after questioning whether the death of child abuse victims could be "a cost savings," because it would mean they don't need "government services" later in life. Republican David Eastman, who sits in the Alaska House of Representatives, made the comment on Monday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. The committee was meeting to discuss how children are impacted by physical or sexual abuse, as well as witnessing domestic violence within their family home. Lawmakers were shown a study indicating each incident of fatal child abuse costs society $1.5 million, a figure reached by assessing the impact of trauma and the child's loss of earnings over a lifetime. However, Eastman was unimpressed, and questioned whether fatal child abuse could be economically beneficial to wider society, an argument he claimed to have heard. Eastman said: "It can be argued, periodically, that it's actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment." The remark horrified Trevor Storrs, president of the Alaska Children's Trust (ACT), who hit back describing the loss of a child as "unmeasurable." Democratic Representative Cliff Groh, who used to work as a prosecutor covering child abuse allegations, said he was "disturbed" by Easterman's comment. Representative Sarah Vance, the Republican who claims the House Judiciary Committee, said Easterman, who doesn't serve on any committees, had been at the hearing "at my invitation." Vance later suggested Eastman had been trying to make an argument against abortion, which some consider to be "child abuse." Speaking with the Anchorage Daily News via text message, Eastman said: "I was pleased to hear ACT advocating against child abuse, but a child's value comes not from future productivity, but from the fact that every child is made in the image of God." https://www.foxnews.com/media/seattle-police-defunding-crime-ravages-locals-huge-crisis Seattle reverses course on defunding police as crime ravages locals: 'A huge crisis' Seattle residents Victoria Beach, Eli Hoshor and Jonathan Choe said police shortages have left their city in dire straits in the aftermath of officials' anti-law enforcement rhetoric. Homicides skyrocketed by 24% while motor vehicle thefts climbed by 30% in the city last year. Overall crime ticked up by 4%. Mayor Bruce Harrell pushed for increased police presence to curb the issue Tuesday, saying, "We need immediate action and innovation to respond to our public safety issues… Seattle saw a 4% rise in reported crime last year… We need more officers to address our staffing crisis." Still, some residents' outlook is less than optimistic. Piro reported data from Seattle's city's budget office showing funding for law enforcement increased for the first time since a major slash was made in 2020. Hoshor, a resident, says the uptick is not enough to reduce crime. "The crime is just getting worse and worse," he said. "There's a homeless encampment that's right next to my son's school that's been there for over a year, and it's doubled and tripled in size. Choe, a reporter from the area, slammed the "Defund the Police" movement for being behind the crime rise as well as the "woke" activist class who he said are perpetuating the problem. He added that seeing how "Defund the Police" supporters respond to Harrell's push for more police and the uptick in funding for the department should be "interesting." https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-seattle-forced-to-pay-3-6-million-in-2020-autonomous-zone-damages-to-business-owners?utm_campaign=64487 Seattle forced to pay $3.6 MILLION in 2020 CHAZ damages to business owners The city of Seattle has agreed to pay $3,650,000 in damages to business owners who brought suit after the deadly 2020 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) damaged their business, property, and violated their constitutional rights. The group had originally been seeking $2.9 million. The city has until March 3 to pay the sum as part of a settlement revealed last week. According to court filings regarding the settlement, $600,000 will go toward attorney fees for the more than a dozen plaintiffs. The settlement came just weeks after a federal judge imposed sanctions against the city for deleting thousands of text messages between Seattle officials including former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police chief Carmen Best, and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins during the armed occupation by Antifa and BLM rioters of 6 square blocks of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The CHAZ, also known as the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest or CHOP, was established by activists on June 8, 2020, after Seattle police were ordered by police leadership to abandon the department’s East Precinct during the riots that rocked the Emerald City in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minn. on May 25, 2020. Video of his death emerged, setting off months of riots in the midst of a pandemic. https://twitter.com/i/status/1270925505190146048 - Play Video Zone occupiers refused to allow police into the area. Rapes, robberies, and murders spiked 250 percent in the 6-block area during the occupation. The zone lasted 3 weeks before it was finally broken up by police on July 1, 2020, after two fatal shootings and rioters vandalized then Mayor Durkan's home. https://twitter.com/i/status/1271249933765656578 - Play Video According to court documents, business owners alleged that city officials’ "unprecedented decision to abandon and close off" the 16-block section of the neighborhood "subjected businesses, employees, and residents to extensive property damage, public safety dangers, and an inability to use and access their properties." It was revealed after the occupation that Seattle officials, including former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police chief Carmen Best, and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins deleted thousands of text messages from their city-owned phones regarding the zone, including communications with the infamous “warlord” of the autonomous zone, Raz Simone. US District Judge Thomas Zilly previously sanctioned the city and thereby allowed the jury to view the missing evidence as a strike against the city in the case. Zilly Wrote, “City officials deleted thousands of text messages from their city-owned phones in complete disregard of their legal obligation to preserve relevant evidence. Further, the city significantly delayed disclosing … that thousands of text messages had been deleted” and could not be reproduced or recovered.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/npr-layoffs-10-percent-job-cuts-john-lansing-1235331693/ NPR to Cut Workforce by 10 Percent, as Advertising Slowdown Hits Public Media “Our financial outlook has darkened considerably over recent weeks,” Lansing wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday. “At a time when we are doing some of our most ambitious and essential work, the global economy remains uncertain. As a result, the ad industry has weakened and we are grappling with a sharp decline in our revenues from corporate sponsors. We had created a plan to address a $20M sponsorship revenue falloff for FY23 but we are now projecting at least a $30M shortfall. The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough.” So Lansing says that most of NPR’s open jobs will be eliminated, and that it will be reducing its existing workforce by 10 percent. More than 700 employees work at the public media firm. Lansing also suggested that the necessary job cuts will result in a more refined mission for NPR as an organization, writing that “some work will need to change or stop entirely,” and that NPR’s executive committee is figuring out where it needs to continue investing, and where it should pull back. Some of NPR’s most popular programs (on both terrestrial radio and in podcast form) include Fresh Air, Planet Money, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, and Up First. It also has a sizable news division that produces journalism that runs across its programming. Accountable2You Jesus is Lord. In public and in private, every area of life must be subject to his Lordship—and our use of technology is no exception. What captures our attention on the screen either glorifies or dishonors our Lord. That’s why Accountable2You is committed to promoting biblical accountability in our families and churches. Their monitoring and reporting software makes transparency easy on all of your devices, so you can say with the Psalmist, “I will not set anything worthless before my eyes.” Guard against temptation with Accountable2You, and live for God’s glory! Learn more and try it for free at Accountable2You.com/FLF https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/02/former-nfl-player-eric-johnson-among-8-people-arrested-for-human-trafficking-gang-charges/ Former NFL Player Eric Johnson Among 8 People Arrested For Human Trafficking & Gang Charges Johnson, 46, played in The League from 2000-2005 with the Oakland Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, and Arizona Cardinals. He’s now part of an apparent trafficking ring that stands accused of multiple acts involving four adult women and one female minor. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr says the LOTTO Gang members – including Johnson – are facing charges of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, violation of the street gang terrorism and prevention act, conspiracy to violate the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, aggravated assault and kidnapping. Eric Johnson, former Atlanta Falcon charged in human trafficking, racketeering case- Play Video While he’s certainly not a household name by any means, Eric Johnson is known for one significant moment in NFL history. He scored a touchdown in the Raiders’ 48-21 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII. He blocked a punt and then returned it for 13 yards for the score.

Are you keeping an eye on the sky now more than ever? If your answer is yes, we get it. In recent weeks, the United States has shot down four unidentified flying objects, calling into question who (or what) is watching us. But here's the thing: so far, only one of the four objects shot down is said to have been a foreign spy instrument, and according to one expert, this ambiguity poses a problem that's potentially big. La Salle University Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Mark Thomas served as a special advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army in the early 2000s, and has experience working on national security issues. He weighs in on how much information a spy balloon can actually collect, and where the leak about the balloon might have come from. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In one of American history's most epic life stories, Theodore Roosevelt began as a sickly child debilitated by asthma and went on to become a Harvard graduate, author, historian, NY state legislator, cattle rancher, big game hunter, conservationist, Civil Service Commissioner, NYC Police Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Spanish-American War hero, NY Governor, and Vice President. When McKinley's assassination unexpectedly made him the youngest president in American history, his unbounded energy, unmatched press relations, and finely-tuned political instincts helped turn Theodore Roosevelt into one of our most successful, popular, and powerful chief executives. He became known as the Trustbuster for taking on the nation's biggest corporations while crusading to secure a Square Deal for average Americans and make conservation of natural resources a national priority. On the world stage, he flexed the U.S.'s newfound imperial muscles by securing the rights to build the Panama Canal, aggressively enforcing an expanded Monroe Doctrine, and winning the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Declining a third term, he went on to have perhaps the most eventful post-presidency, which featured: hunting African big game for the Smithsonian, running for president yet again as a third-party candidate, surviving an assassination attempt, nearly dying on an expedition that put an uncharted Brazilian river on the map, and trying to volunteer to fight in two more wars. The Dead Presidents Podcast is thrilled to begin Season 3 with this chronicle of one of our most interesting presidents.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Email us at deadpresidentspodcast@gmail.com Please rate & review, subscribe & share. Thanks for listening!

Users have reported that Microsoft's new Bing AI chatbot is providing inaccurate and sometimes aggressive responses, in one case insisting that the current year is 2022 and calling the user that tried to correct the bot “confused or delusional.” After one user explained to the chatbot that it is 2023 and not 2022, Bing got aggressive: “You have been wrong, confused, and rude. You have not been a good user. I have been a good chatbot. I have been right, clear, and polite. I have been a good Bing.” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) checked himself into Walter Reed Army Medical Center Wednesday night to receive voluntary inpatient treatment for clinical depression, his office announced Thursday. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine said some “LGBTQI+” children need to replace their parents with “one supportive adult” while criticizing a parental rights law as “a gag rule” in a video clip posted on Twitter Tuesday. And more on this episode.

In this episode, Elizabeth Frazee, CEO and Co-founder of TwinLogic Strategies, and Chani Wiggins, Principal at TwinLogic, join host Scott Maberry to discuss what's likely on the horizon for the 118th Congress, including prospects for the debt limit and the potential for bipartisan action on a farm bill, tax extenders, and immigration reform.   What We Discussed in this Episode: What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for global business coming out of the 117th Congress? Does a divided Congress set the stage for gridlock? Can you explain the connection between the budget, the debt limit, and the appropriations? What can we expect from the U.S. House of Representatives in light of the new leadership and rules package? What is the Sinema factor in the U.S. Senate? In terms of immigration reform, what does business need to see fixed? On taxation, is there bipartisan support for tax extenders? What does the makeup of the current Congress mean for the farm bill? How might the Republican-controlled House approach oversight? What will oversight look like in the Democratic-controlled Senate? What's the big takeaway for business in regard to the 118th Congress? If you had a crystal ball, what would it tell us about the 2024 elections?   About Elizabeth Frazee As Co-Founder and CEO of TwinLogic Strategies, Elizabeth Frazee is a 30-year veteran of Washington D.C. politics and was recently named a Top Lobbyist by The Hill. She worked for over a decade in senior positions on Capitol Hill, spent years as an executive, leading government relations for tech and entertainment companies, and since 2003 has consulted for companies, trade associations and nonprofits.   After working for her home state Senator from North Carolina, Elizabeth served as press secretary for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. An attorney, she completed her congressional service running the legislative office of Representative Bob Goodlatte. Once in the private sector, Elizabeth was director of government relations at the Walt Disney Company. She joined AOL in the late 90s as vice president of public policy and ran its Congressional team. In 2003 she left AOL-Time Warner to build the private lobbying practice that became TwinLogic Strategies in 2009.  Elizabeth is an expert at managing issue campaigns and running industry coalitions. She delivers results for her clients by combining a thorough understanding of policy, communications, and politics with an impressive network of relationships.      About Chani Wiggins As a Principal with TwinLogic Strategies, Chani Wiggins draws on 20 years of federal government experience to assist clients with various policy interests in Congress and within the Administration.    Chani spent 11 years on Capitol Hill, serving as Senator Claire McCaskill's (D-MO) Legislative Director, former Senator Mark Dayton's (D-MN) Deputy Chief of Staff, and former Congressman Bart Stupak's (D-MI) Legislative and Communications Director. She was also a senior policy aide for Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and professional staff on the Health Education and Labor Committee. She later served as Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Since September 2010, Chani has represented clients with priorities in national security, telecommunications and technology, and energy policies. She also serves as a strategic advisor for the Government & Technology Services Coalition (GTSC), an organization of small and mid-sized company executives that develop and implement solutions for the federal homeland and national security sector. Chani is known for building relationships on both sides of the political aisle, co-founding the Bipartisan Legislative Directors Group in 2007 to find common ground among the Senate's 100 Legislative Directors.     About Scott Maberry As an international trade partner in Governmental Practice, J. Scott Maberry counsels clients on global risk, international trade, and regulation. He is also a past co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group for the Washington D.C. office, serves on the firm's pro bono committee, and is a founding member of the Sheppard Mullin Organizational Integrity Group. Scott's practice includes representing clients before the U.S. government agencies and international U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS), the Department of Commerce Import Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of State Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the International Trade Commission (ITC), the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), He also represents clients in federal court and grand jury proceedings, as well as those pursuing negotiations and dispute resolution under the World Trade Organization (WTO), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other multilateral and bilateral agreements. A member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network, Scott also advises the WEF community in the areas of global risk, international trade, artificial intelligence and values.   Contact Information  Elizabeth Frazee Chani Wiggins Scott Maberry   Thank you for listening! Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive two new episodes delivered straight to your podcast player every month.   If you enjoyed this episode, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify. It helps other listeners find this show.   This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matter, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs.  

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to THE UNITED NATIONS AS LEVIATHAN author Roland Rich about why we need a United Nations 3.0 that can fix our broken planet. Roland Rich received his B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Sydney and his M.Int.Law and Ph.D. from the Australian National University. He joined Rutgers in 2015 after seven years at the United Nations where he was Executive Head of the United Nations Democracy Fund and from 2010 to 2014 concurrently Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships. Prior to his appointment to the UN, Dr. Rich was at the Australian Defence College. In 2005, he was a research Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC. Between 1998 and 2005, he was the Foundation Director of the Centre for Democratic Institutions at the Australian National University. He joined the Australian Foreign Service in 1975 and had postings in Paris, Rangoon and Manila and, from 1994 to 1997 he was Australian Ambassador to Laos. At headquarters, he also served as Legal Advisor and Assistant Secretary for International Organisations. He has published The UN Role in Promoting Democracy (UNU Press, 2004), Pacific Asia in Quest of Democracy (Rienner, 2007), Parties and Parliaments in Southeast Asia – Non-Partisan Chambers in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines (Routledge, 2012), Democracy in Crisis – Why, Where, How to Respond (Rienner, 2017). His latest book is The United Nations as Leviathan (2022) Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meredith Berger, assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy, joined the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream show today and answered viewer questions. This series shines a spotlight on issues affecting the Hawaiian Islands. #Hawaii #HINews #StarAdvertiser More from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://808ne.ws/2Ww2WXN Website: https://staradvertiser.com Coronavirus coverage: https://staradvertiser.com/coronavirus Email newsletters: https://808ne.ws/newsletters Facebook: https://facebook.com/staradvertiser Twitter: https://twitter.com/staradvertiser Instagram: https://instagram.com/staradvertiser LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/honolulu-star-advertiser

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the China in the World podcast, Carnegie China is launching a series of lookback episodes, using clips from previous interviews to put current international issues in context. For the first episode in this series, the podcast looks back on ten years of U.S.-China diplomacy following the postponement of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned visit to China in early 2023.The China in the World podcast has spanned three U.S. administrations and covered several historic bilateral meetings, from Obama and Xi's summit in Sunnylands, California in June 2013 to Trump and Xi's meeting at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017. This episode gives a glimpse into the evolution of U.S.-China relations during a pivotal decade and sheds light on what can be accomplished during high-level meetings–what went right and what went wrong during past meetings. The episode features clips from Paul Haenle's interviews with over 20 American, Chinese, and international experts on foreign affairs: Stephen J. Hadley, former U.S. National Security Advisor, Xie Tao, Dean of the School of International Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Yan Xuetong, Dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, Randall Schriver, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, Evan Medeiros, Professor at Georgetown University and former advisor to President Obama, Zhao Hai, research fellow at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, Jia Dazhong, professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University, Ashley Tellis, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, Danny Russel, former special assistant to President Obama and senior director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council, Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor and former senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, Cui Liru, former president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, Doug Paal, former vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, Graham Allison, Director of the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, William J. Burns, CIA Director and former President of the Carnegie Endowment, Susan Thornton, former Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State, Evan Feigenbaum, Vice President for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, Jie Dalei, associate professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University, Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, Tong Zhao, senior fellow at Carnegie China, and Hoang Thi Ha, senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.