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Episode 303-NFA “No F’ing Approval” Also Available OnSearchable Podcast Transcript Gun Lawyer — Episode Transcript Page – 1 – of 12 Gun Lawyer — Episode 303 Transcript SUMMARY KEYWORDS NFA, Silencers, Lawsuit, Injunction, Taxation, Firearms, Suppressors, AOWs, New Jersey, Gun rights, Second Amendment, Luger, Confiscation, Safety, Litigation SPEAKERS Evan Nappen, Teddy Nappen, Speaker 2 Evan Nappen 00:17 I’m Evan Nappen. Teddy Nappen 00:19 and I’m Teddy Nappen. Evan Nappen 00:21 And welcome to Gun Lawyer. So, we are right on the breaking news as we record this show, and that is the spectacular win on the National Firearms Act. It is the outcome of the Big Beautiful Bill removing the taxes on silencers, short barrel rifles, short barrel shotguns, and AOWs that translated into the Big Beautiful Lawsuit. There were actually two lawsuits, which essentially put forward that if there is no tax, there can be no law, because the NFA is based on tax law as the jurisdictional basis for the federal government. If there’s no tax, then you can’t have a tax law, and hence the silliness, which is really just kind of funny, is the tax stamp says zero. So, how you get a tax stamp that says zero when there’s no tax? Leave it to the Government to create a tax stamp of zero. But now that’s changed. Evan Nappen 01:37 This is the most exciting change in, what is it? Ninety-six (96) years, to a challenge to the NFA. And it has very exciting ramifications. I’ll talk about how those specifically relate to New Jersey in a moment, but there’s lots of questions and lots of speculation and issues surrounding what this decision means. So, what happened was we had two lawsuits that were brought. One is the Silencer Shop Foundation versus ATF. There were other plaintiffs as well. The parties in the SSF lawsuit included B&T USA, Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of America, Palmetto State Armory, Silencerco Weapons Research, Silencer Shop Foundation, the state of Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming, and several individuals. Evan Nappen 02:56 Then there is Jensen versus ATF. In Jensen, the parties were the Texas State Rifle Association, which is NRA’s Texas affiliate, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, FPC Action Foundation, Hot Shots Custom, and several individuals. The court in these cases applied an injunction to the parties, quote, where applicable, the parties, agencies, political subdivisions, members, and Page – 2 – of 12 customers, both current and future. This means that the protections of the injunction generally flow downstream in that chain of commerce. And by the way, I am gleaning this information from the NRA-ILA in their article, “What Does the Texas NFA Decision Mean for You?”(https://www.nraila.org/articles/20260812/what-does-the-texas-nfa-decision-mean-for-you) They’ve done a good job of essentially the preliminary breakdown here. NRA partnered with the TSRA to provide joint membership for those that are interested. Evan Nappen 04:02 So, what got enjoined? What statutes themselves got enjoined? Well, it was the NFA’s registration and approval requirements. Those were what were enjoined, and they were enjoined as to silencers, short barrel rifles, short barrel shotguns for covered parties. The injunction also includes AOWs, Any Other Weapons for the SSF parties only. o, as far as AOWs are concerned, only parties, people that are parties to the SSF, which is going to mean members essentially of GOA and such, and the companies that joined in it, and possibly as well, including those states. Certain marking requirements are enjoined with respect to the Jensen case, while the effect of this portion of the injunction is going to take clarification from the Government. So, we’re going to have to wait and see on that. Evan Nappen 05:11 The further impact is that, which is perhaps more important than the statutes that are covered, are those that are not covered. So, under Title 18, it makes it unlawful for licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, licensed collector to sell or deliver to any person any short barrel shotgun, short barrel rifle, except as specifically authorized by the Attorney General, consistent with public safety and necessity. Now, in the past, that compliance was considered authorized or was considered authorization when there was an NFA compliance done itself. o, without further action by the Government, compliance with the former NFA procedures will likely still be required before transferring a short-barreled shotgun or short-barreled rifle. Then it goes on to explain that the analogous requirement for transportation of short-barreled rifles, short-barrel shotguns, was also not enjoined. So, authorization for interstate travel is still required. That’s where you have to get permission from ATF before you move with any of those firearms. Evan Nappen 06:31 However, ATF has proposed streamlining this process by currently pending regulations. Those are the regulations that we’ve discussed in the past that are looking to change by changing it in the CFR, which is the Code of Federal Regulations. The injunction also does not apply to existing SOTs, which is the Special Occupational Tax for dealers in NFA firearms. Now, it’s technically possible for non-SOT dealers to receive firearms from a distributor or manufacturer on an ATF Form Four. ATF will need to clarify if an SOT is required for dealers who engage in the business of dealing in these firearms. So there are still to be considered state laws, and that’s going to be an individual basis of each state’s laws about how they individually view these NFA items. And we’re going to talk about New Jersey specifically in a moment. Evan Nappen 07:33 NRA says moving forward, the Jensen case is one of three supported by NRA in their litigation partners with American Suppressor Association, the FPC, which is Foreign Policy Coalition, and Second Page – 3 – of 12 Amendment Foundation. Those cases, by the way, are Brown versus ATF and Roberts versus ATF. Judge Clark in Missouri heard motion for summary judgment in Brown, and they remain committed to expanding the injunction secured in Jensen. In those other cases, as NRA says, taking action under an injunction is not without risk. An injunction can be dissolved or stayed with very little notice. Please check regularly back for updates. While much remains uncertain with the injunction, the monumental nature of this cannot be overstated. This is the biggest win against the unconstitutional NFA in its 92 sorry math was off 92 year history, and it serves as a great example that the fight for our rights is never over. So, if we want to see some practical applications as to what’s going on when it comes to suppressors, it’s really fascinating. Evan Nappen 08:54 Now, of course, suppressors, silencers, are banned in New Jersey by state law. We are currently looking at challenges to New Jersey’s state suppressor ban, constitutional challenges to that. But for now, unfortunately, New Jersey citizens cannot take advantage of the changes if they are residents of New Jersey because of the state law prohibition that New Jersey still maintains. However, if you live in a free state, if you live in a state that is covered by this injunction, specifically through Silencer Shop, you can look at Silencer Shop’s website, (silencershop.com), which is very good, and it lays out the states that are good to go. Evan Nappen 08:55 If you live in a good to go state that is now covered by this injunction, for example, if you live in New Hampshire or if you live in Alabama, there’s the whole list of states that respect and understand this. If you live in any of those states, you can now order your suppressor and pick it up from the dealer locally, and when you go to the dealer to pick it up, there’s no form four. There’s no federal registration that needs approval anymore. There is no fingerprinting. There’s no notice given to local police of your acquisition. All that’s gone. All that gets done is a 4473. You know the same form you fill out for the federal government to buy a gun, and a NICS check gets done, an instant check. So, what it means is you’ll be able to go to your dealer, do the 4473, just like you’re buying a gun, and the NICS check gets done, the instant check. You get your approval, ad you walk out the door with your suppressor that easily. That is great, and it’s paving the way to finally get a full legal change to suppressors to make that, of course, eventually the nationwide standard. But for now, there is a boom, an explosion of silencer purchases. This will make it even easier, more convenient, more private, less of a hassle than ever before. This is extremely exciting. Teddy Nappen 11:17 There’s something very important to this fact. Going back to the, and I’m kind of extrapolating it to the assault firearm cases. One of the biggest things that is winning, that helped us fight, win that fight was the idea of common use. Where the AR-15 and all forms of their “assault firearms” were so popular that it was so much common use that it fell under the grounds of the Second Amendment. Evan Nappen 11:45 Right. This is going to explode even more common use, even though there’s millions of suppressors already, but it will absolutely aid to that. Now, interestingly, in New Jersey, sawed-off shotguns are a problem. Same with rifles; they’re a problem. However, Any Other Weapon, there are Any Other Page – 4 – of 12 Weapons, what we call AOWs, that are technically New Jersey legal, and this will change the game in New Jersey on AOWs. But we still need more clarification on how the feds are going to work it on AOWs. We don’t have that right now, but let me explain AOWs. Evan Nappen 12:32 Let me show you some common examples of AOWs. For example, pistol grip only shotguns. Now, don’t confuse AOW, which is Any Other Weapon, as an “Other”. Some of you may have Shockwaves in New Jersey, which are “Others”. Shockwaves are not AOWs. They’re Shock Waves. They’re “Others”. Others are different. But a pistol grip only shotgun is a short, non-face style scatter gun, right? But is reduced in overall length under 26 inches. Now, as you know, or should know, with a Shockwave, it’s not under the 26 inches. If it’s under 26 inches with only a grip, such as a custom compact 12 gauge, then we’re looking at that now. How those applied to New Jersey law become model specific. Of course, you still can have sort of shotgun, but State Police have approved for others. Vertical four grip pistols are also considered AOWs. So, a standard semi-automatic handgun or pistol format firearm equipped with a vertical front hand grip is considered an AOW. And AOWs have coverage under this, but how that’s going to apply now so that you don’t have to do the NFA and can simply operate under the injunction. We’re going to fill you in with more information as we get it. Evan Nappen 14:08 Smooth bore handguns. Those are AOWs. Classic examples of that, such as the H&R handy gun or the Ithaca auto and burglar gun. So, those custom smooth bores, it may very well now open up that category. Certain smooth bore pistols can, depending on their configuration, be New Jersey legal still. And if they’re even though they’re AOWs, if the injunction has its due effect, that’ll be easier in New Jersey on those. Also coming under AOWs are disguised or improvised firearms, concealable multi-projectile or single-shot devices disguised as everyday items like cane guns, pen guns, flashlights, or wallet guns, and of course those. Are all banned under New Jersey state law as covert firearms. So, even though you may seek relief federally in terms of the AOWs under the NFA, you’re not going to be able to acquire those because New Jersey has a specific ban on those in state law. Then there’s combination guns, certain compact over and under firearms with rifle and shotgun barrels, between 12 and 18 inches long, intended for single shots without reloading. These two can fall under categories of AOWs, specific models with specific determinations, and how this victory will apply, we’re still going to have to iron out the details since this is so fresh and so new. But there is going to be some relief that Jerseyans will be able to take advantage of, and in the long run, this is great for everybody as we keep the fight going on, battling the NFA. It’s a great victory, and it is definitely going to shake things up. Evan Nappen 16:10 And it has, though, some things to keep in mind that really require us to change this law permanently forever, and what I’m talking about is how we got to this point is something that still has a vulnerability to be changed back. Let me explain why. The reason for the injunction is because there is no tax, and because there’s no tax, then the legal logic opinion is with no tax, then a law based, premised, on the power of taxation can’t exist anymore or have its effect. This was used as a vehicle in the ’30s for the National Firearms Act. That’s what it was jurisdictioned upon. That’s what has been now eviscerated by the Big Beautiful Bill removing the tax on these four categories. he tax on machine guns still exists. We’ll get to that in a moment. Page – 5 – of 12 Evan Nappen 17:12 So, that’s what was the victory, but that was passed legislatively by what? By way of a reconciliation bill. A reconciliation bill deals with taxation and finance. Those bills can pass Congress with simple majorities. That is how the Republicans got it through, and by removing the tax on the NFA items with simple majorities, they did not face the challenge of a filibuster. Because they couldn’t filibuster. They being the communists. Oh, I’m sorry, the Democrats. Well, it’s the same thing. They couldn’t stop it. Teddy Nappen 17:51 Democrat Socialists. Evan Nappen 17:53 Right! Communist authoritarian nutbags could not stop this because of the filibuster being inapplicable to a reconciliation bill. That’s how we got to this point. But keep in mind, should the commies take power again, and you can substitute Democrats, socialists, whatever for commies, they’re interchangeable anyway. When and if that happens, then it would be at the moment within their power to reinstitute in a reconciliation bill that they do, assuming they have power through the Congress and the Executive who would sign such a thing. Keep in mind. If the Democrat, Socialist, Communists control both houses, and even with a Republican president, but a reconciliation bill that’s chock full of other things financially needed, they might even force the hand of an otherwise friendly executive. You know, President Trump, to still sign a reconciliation bill. A reconciliation bill that does what? Reimplements the tax. They may make the tax not $200, but maybe $200,000 or $5,000, or even if they just make it $200 again, or even $1 again, guess what? Now we’re back to a jurisdictional argument that the NFA is now applicable again. So, it matters who you vote for. Elections matter. They matter. They make a difference. Teddy Nappen 19:42 On the off chance, just on the extreme end, let’s say, you know, the pendulum swings, the Socialists take over and run it. Could they do what the ATF was doing prior with what was it the when going after people with like the forced restart trigger? Evan Nappen 19:59 We don’t know. We don’t know. They could do it. They could. Depending on what are they going to go and then try to round up suppressors that may have been acquired when there was no tax. If the law is suddenly back, or does it make it so that there’s an ex post facto argument to argue that it was legal at the time, but now any of these new ones need tax stamps, but old ones don’t. And then they’re going to be kind of like the way they ran magazines. It was before a certain period of time, and will they then be grandfathered or not? Because NFA didn’t grandfather. It had a new period of registration. But there is no new period ability unless the Secretary has the power to have a new registration period. So, I would assume if they do it, the Secretary would say, “Okay, there’s now an open registration period of ones you previously purchased. You’re going to have to register and pay the tax.” Remember that. So, this all can happen in the future. Page – 6 – of 12 Evan Nappen 20:57 But look, it doesn’t mean our behavior has to be based upon, especially you live in a free state, worrying about what communists might do in the future. But keep in mind, it still could happen. This is a great victory, but we need to take it further, and this will empower us to take it further, because it can help on the Second Amendment argument to knock these laws out. It can assist in that greatly. It can assist in legislative change once it’s done and out there, and people are purchasing them in this way. It makes it easier to pass federal laws to just make it the law and not just rely on the judicial action. So, there’s also potential future consequences that can run for us, not just against us. Regardless, it’s a great victory, but keep in mind these potential dangers that lurk. And unfortunately, if you live in New Jersey, there isn’t much here for you to take advantage of at the moment, but in the big picture, it’s working to protect our rights. Teddy Nappen 22:06 This is just a side note. I was thinking. I heard this term where just because you put a word in front of the other word, it doesn’t always change the definition. So, if I say Democrat murderer, that doesn’t change the definition of murderer. So, for them trying to rebrand the Socialists, like no, no, no, we’re not like that. We’re Democrat Socialists, not to every other socialist government that has failed. No, no, we’re different. We just want to abolish prisons and abolish police. Evan Nappen 22:35 Well, I love when they talk about ow communism, look communism just wasn’t done right, you know. It just hasn’t been done right. Well, I guess they’ll probably make the same argument for Nazism. Oh, Nazism just hasn’t been done right yet. Okay, so that’s all. That’s all. Just hasn’t been done right. I mean, no. We’ve experienced and seen what history has to say about these stupid ideas of Socialism and Communism and Nazism. We’ve seen it, and it doesn’t fly. As a matter of fact, look at what’s going on in Central America right now with the enormous economic change. They’ve been getting rid of their Socialist systems. Teddy Nappen 23:21 So, maybe that’s what happens when you defund USAID. Evan Nappen 23:23 Yeah, isn’t that amazing how these countries are suddenly doing great? I mean, you think about USAID. We were actually promoting Socialism to our central and southern Central American neighbors. It’s just nuts. It’s nuts that we would be doing this. Not to mention that the Democrat Party suddenly, coincidentally, is now 2 million in debt after USAID was folded up and shuttered. Teddy Nappen 23:52 The one I always laugh at is, I think it was the like it’s like something crazy, like $7 million to LGBTQAI plus in Serbia, which I guess worked because they’re like a lesbian, but it’s like it’s so oh my god, like and then well like it was like Sesame Street in Afghanistan, which okay. Page – 7 – of 12 Evan Nappen 24:14 Right and promoting DEI everywhere, which just is hardly a national interest, or for our national security, or what America’s founding principles are all about. But let me tell you about our friends at WeShoot. his week WeShoot is offering OA Defense 2311 Pro Elite, and that is a modern focus platform that blends the familiar 1911 style characteristics with contemporary design, premium construction, and competition-inspired features. There’s also the Special Ops Tactical STX 15. Now that’s an AR platform rifle with unmistakable SOT attitude, combining distinctive styling with purpose-built modern sporting rifle platform. Then there’s the Mossberg 990 Aftershock. Mossberg takes that unmistakable Aftershock concept into semi-auto territory, thereby creating a bold new addition to its defensive lineup. WeShoot has cutting-edge guns. They’re there for you. Make sure you check out WeShoot, which is an indoor range and phenomenal pro shop with great training. Located in Lakewood, New Jersey. Very easily accessible off the Parkway. They are a fantastic resource. It’s where Teddy and I both shoot. It’s where we got our training. It’s where we got our certifications. And if you go on the website, you can check out WeShoot. They have fantastic photos and just great photography. You can check out the latest from the father-daughter shoot and other great events that they’re running. And what is their many faces of two-way, where you know two ways for everybody, and they are pushing as well some really cool stuff, including being part of their photo shoots. You can reach out to social media at weshootusa.com for that. For any of the photo shoots that you do, this is a great place. They love their customers, and their customers love them. Go to weshootusa.com. WeShootUSA.com. And check out WeShoot right there in Lakewood. It’s a phenomenal research resource, and you’ll be glad that you did. Evan Nappen 26:53 Hey, let me also shamelessly promote my book, which is New Jersey Gun Law. The Bible of Jersey gun law. It’s over 500 pages, 120 topics, all question and answer. It’ll help you from becoming a GOFU. You want to avoid that at all costs in New Jersey. They are there to oppress our rights and turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals. Beware, protect yourself. Get a copy of New Jersey Gun Law. Go to EvanNappen.com today. EvanNappen.com. You’ll be able to get your copy of New Jersey Gun Law. And by the way, while you’re on my website, you can also check out the latest link to The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs newsletter. They have featured yours truly, and my dear colleague Dan Schmutter and Scott Bach on the cover, and they have hilariously called us Second Amendment Heroes. And I’m assuming they’re talking about like submarine sandwiches when they did that. But regardless, you can check out their newsletter and check out the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs. (anjrpc.org) You all should be a member of association. It is our state affiliate of the NRA by tied in with the great fights that NRA, as we’re talking about in Jensen, the NRA is like the new NRA, and they’re out in the forefront doing what NRA has done brilliantly in the past. They’re doing it again, and they’re working hand in hand with the other great gun rights organizations in our country. And it’s great to see the unity in these cases of us banding together to fight the good fight for what we all know and love and believe in, and that’s the Second Amendment. Teddy, what do you have for us in Press Checks? Teddy Nappen 29:16 Well, as everyone knows, Press Checks are always free. I thought I’d do something a little different, where I find, you know, a crazy article that I just could not pass up. It was too funny. This was coming Page – 8 – of 12 right out of the New York Post. Adolf Hitler’s $42 million Luger, the most valuable pistol in the world is at the center of a sensational court battle. Well, that’s one hell of a grabber of a title. Evan Nappen 29:49 And what do they say it’s worth? Teddy Nappen 29:51 $42 million. Evan Nappen 29:54 I wonder how they came up with that number. Teddy Nappen 29:56 So, this involves a court battle between an appliance repairman and a cop in Argentina. Evan Nappen 30:01 Arrrgentina. Teddy Nappen 30:04 Yeah, I know. You know, one of them said he was from the boys of Brazil, and I’m just joking. Evan Nappen 30:11 Uh huh. Well, it would make sense that it would end up in Argentina, wouldn’t it? Teddy Nappen 30:16 Yeah. The what is it? The what was the one guy they caught in Argentina? Evan Nappen 30:22 There’s been number of Nazis found there. Teddy Nappen 30:26 The famous one is the two Mossad agents scooped him up, got him drunk and put him on a plane. Then they ended up just hanging him. Evan Nappen 30:35 Right. Teddy Nappen 30:36 It was the, but it was one of if you go through it. It’s actually kind of crazy. So, it began where, if you caught the previous article of Adolf Hitler’s former home transformed into police station. Evan Nappen 30:39 How do they know? Oh, that was his former home when he visited. Page – 9 – of 12 Teddy Nappen 30:55 No, this is this is this is Australia. Evan Nappen 30:58 Austria. Austria. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that’s his former home in Austria. Yeah, well, he was from Austria originally. Teddy Nappen 31:06 So, going to that was Austrian authorities Wednesday open police station building where Adolf Hitler was born amid years of controversies. This is a renovation to send a message that they will not appeal to extremist groups. Yes. Evan Nappen 31:21 So, you can visit Hitler’s birthplace if you chose to? Teddy Nappen 31:24 If you ever get arrested in Austria. But to get to the it going off of that, where it was the weapon that described the holy grail of firearms was allegedly swiped during a SWAT style raid by a masked officer at repairman Juan Pablo Rupel’s home in Buenos Aires province in 2016. To go into more details, he inherited the haunting historic ghost of the Third Reich from his German great uncle and former Hitler bodyguard Hans Rupel, who is accused of stealing minor items such as plate, glasses, cutlery at the time of the raid. Evan Nappen 32:09 So, the claim is that this guy stole it from Hitler. Teddy Nappen 32:14 No, the claim is that he had committed some minor stealing in Argentina, but he had that was his pistol. So, he was never charged the over the allegations, mind you. But still, the gun that is a Luger Parabellum .45 ACP caliber. Number five of only five. Evan Nappen 32:37 It’s a .45 caliber Luger? Teddy Nappen 32:39 Yeah, yes. Only five in existence of the 1907 prototype forged by the late famed George Luger. Evan Nappen 32:48 Yeah, George Luger. So, Hitler’s Luger was one of the rare .45 caliber Lugers. Teddy Nappen 32:56 Correct. And this was only for Hitler’s provinces. That would make them invaluable. The guns there’s 1979 firearm owner license in Argentina National Registry, so they register firearms. It was marked as Nazi Angel of Death who lived for more than two years before fleeing the so the 1905. Page – 10 – of 12 Evan Nappen 33:25 So, what happened to the gun now? It got seized by the police? Teddy Nappen 33:30 Correct. How did that happen? So, from what it was said that Hans it said now again this is not Hans says it belonged to Hitler and he was taken when he and he took it when he went to Argentina in 1948. So, from when from that point where it was stolen after the quote unquote raid, it is now gone “missing”. Evan Nappen 33:53 Okay. Who stole it in the raid? What police raid? Teddy Nappen 33:57 One of the police. One of the police officers. Evan Nappen 33:59 So, this is essentially gun confiscation by police, and supposedly the most valuable handgun in the world is missing once the police got their hands on it. Right? Teddy Nappen 34:09 Buenos Aires Ministry of Security for and has demanding lawsuit for the compensation for the firearm. The court held by the agency liable for 15,000 plus interest, which also 15,000 just for the raid itself, for the actual unjustified raid. However, the lawsuit also adds in the 42 million where two cops who had led the raid on the home due to the quote-unquote trial prior. Rupert told the post of great uncles that the Luger was taken from him. Evan Nappen 34:48 Well, I’ll tell you what. This is a common thing in New Jersey. I’ve had many gun confiscations by law enforcement in which it always seemed that the most valuable firearm that the client possessed. I had a case where one was a rifle given by Theodore Roosevelt to a cabinet member that disappeared. I had another case where there was a trapdoor Springfield trapdoor carbine that was documented to Custer’s last stand, and was an Indian capture gun that oh that that that was sent to the crusher supposedly and destroyed. You see, and I’ve had many different gun seizures that have taken place, and for some crazy reason, it’s that really valuable gun that ends up not being accounted for, and I don’t know why I seem to see that pattern. Teddy Nappen 35:58 Yeah, and then just for clarification on the individual Hans Zurpel, he was the SS Division Labest Start. He was Hitler’s personal bodyguard unit during the Second World War, to which he later fled to Argentina in 1945. This has been confirmed. So it is confirmed that this guy was a bodyguard, and he was a pistol to Hitler and registered the gun under it, so it shows proof of documentation to the actual firearm that existed. So we know the gun existed. We know the guy has the credentials, so that proved that point as to who swiped it. Well, it’s one of the members of the ministry, as what the suit is being led to. Again, that’s what they’re alleging in their suit. Page – 11 – of 12 Evan Nappen 36:40 Yeah. Well, like I said, I’ve seen this done Jersey side where folks, what you want to do with your guns is make sure you have photos, and you have recorded your information about your guns. Do not keep your data with the guns. Because if they seize your guns, they’re going to seize your books and data. And it’s not unusual as well for them to take computers and such as well. So, if you’re going to have this and recordings of it and photos and all, you know, keep it on a thumb drive hidden somewhere, so you can access it. So, you can prove and document the guns that you had and what they were, because I’ve had the missing guns after a seizure more times than I can count. It is common. Teddy Nappen 37:38 I also recall wasn’t one of these pistols also had like the early idea of a tactical light, like where if you held the pistol, it was. Evan Nappen 37:46 Yeah, that was a very special Luger. They made too that had early lighting attached to the gun. Yeah, that was a German invention, so to speak. You know, they did have those way back. Yep, yep. So, these are, yeah. Well, there’s a lot of valuable firearms out there, and a lot that have providence to make them even more valuable. And I don’t know if this truly is worth $42 million for a handgun, but it’s definitely way up there as a very valuable historic piece. It is something where you need to take steps if you have any firearms at all to make sure that you’ve documented so you can prove ownership. And if guns do get stolen, either by criminals or police or both, then you need to know and be able to have that information to try to recover them. Teddy Nappen 38:52 If anyone is related to anybody who served as a Soviet Union soldier who hit the Berlin and may or may not have picked up a Walter PPK next to a dead Hitler, call us. Evan Nappen 39:07 Yeah, I think that gun is not accounted for. This so-called Hitler suicide gun. If, in fact, he did kill himself, which now there’s speculation that the skull they thought was his was actually a woman’s. There’s all kinds of who knows, and did he actually escape? And, you know, we could find about as many theories about whether Hitler’s alive as whether you know Elvis is alive and whether Bigfoot exists. I mean, this is one of the favorite topics of conspiracy theorists and what have you. But bottom line is, folks, you need to protect yourselves. Protect your property. Don’t be a GOFU. As a matter of fact, Teddy, what do you have this week for us for GOFUs? Teddy Nappen 39:49 Well, this comes from Not the Bee. Influencer shoots self in leg while filming instructional video outside a gun shop. Evan Nappen 39:57 Oh, an instructional video on how to shoot yourself in the leg. Page – 12 – of 12 Teddy Nappen 40:01 Well, how to properly, properly rack the slide, and while doing so, when he was going through showing it off, he racked it. He broke every rule – from treat every gun like it’s loaded, know where you’re pointing, keep your finger off the trigger. And bang! Shot the artery in his leg and almost died. Always a good idea. Evan Nappen 40:25 Oh, yeah. He came close to bleeding out because it hit the key artery there. And that’s because he wanted to do an instructional video on how to properly handle a firearm, where he proceeded to utterly and completely improperly handle a firearm. Similar to the law enforcement guy way back, you know, lecturing to the students how he’s the only one trained and safe enough to handle this gun properly. And right after he said that, he had an AD into his foot. I believe it was. Teddy Nappen 40:58 Yeah. He was a DEA agent, if I remember. Evan Nappen 41:02 Yeah, right. A DEA agent. Teddy Nappen 41:03 Yeah, and then he picks up the gun. Evan Nappen 41:04 So, this GOFU is a very practical and fundamental one, folks. Don’t forget the basic rules of gun safety. They’re there for a reason. They’re proven. Obey those rules. Don’t take it for granted. Follow the gun safety rules. If you don’t know guns and don’t know gun safety, you need to take a gun safety course. Let this hit home. You don’t want to be a GOFU, a Gun Owner Fuck Up. This has not only almost cost him his life. And in New Jersey, it would cost you your gun rights at a minimum under their Accidental Discharge law, because it was done without lawful purpose. You didn’t intend to fire it. It was in the 100 yards of a dwelling, which even a car constitutes as a dwelling. Leave it to New Jersey to do that. You’d be looking at a felony charge for shooting yourself in the leg. So, don’t be a GOFU. Be extra conscientious. We want you to be safe. You need to always be safe using the number one safety device ever invented, your brain. Keep that safety engaged at all times. Evan Nappen 42:30 This is Evan Nappen and Teddy Nappen reminding you that gun laws don’t protect honest citizens from criminals. They protect criminals from honest citizens. Speaker 2 42:41 Gun Lawyer is a CounterThink Media production. The music used in this broadcast was managed by Cosmo Music, New York, New York. Reach us by emailing Evan@gun.lawyer. The information and opinions in this broadcast do not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your state. Downloadable PDF TranscriptGun Lawyer S5 E303_Transcript About The HostEvan Nappen, Esq.Known as “America's Gun Lawyer,” Evan Nappen is above all a tireless defender of justice. Author of eight bestselling books and countless articles on firearms, knives, and weapons history and the law, a certified Firearms Instructor, and avid weapons collector and historian with a vast collection that spans almost five decades — it's no wonder he's become the trusted, go-to expert for local, industry and national media outlets. Regularly called on by radio, television and online news media for his commentary and expertise on breaking news Evan has appeared countless shows including Fox News – Judge Jeanine, CNN – Lou Dobbs, Court TV, Real Talk on WOR, It's Your Call with Lyn Doyle, Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, and Cam & Company/NRA News. As a creative arts consultant, he also lends his weapons law and historical expertise to an elite, discerning cadre of movie and television producers and directors, and novelists. He also provides expert testimony and consultations for defense attorneys across America. Email Evan Your Comments and Questions  talkback@gun.lawyer Join Evan's InnerCircleHere's your chance to join an elite group of the Savviest gun and knife owners in America.  Membership is totally FREE and Strictly CONFIDENTIAL.  Just enter your email to start receiving insider news, tips, and other valuable membership benefits.   Email (required) *First Name *Select list(s) to subscribe toInnerCircle Membership Yes, I would like to receive emails from Gun Lawyer Podcast. (You can unsubscribe anytime)Constant Contact Use. Please leave this field blank.var ajaxurl = "https://gun.lawyer/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php";

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We’re excited to have Will Loux, senior vice president of global economic affairs for the U.S. Dairy Export Council, join us to share his presentation of the future of U.S. dairy exports. For years, the U.S. dairy export portfolio has leaned heavily on nonfat dry milk, skim milk powder, lactose and lower-protein whey products. But our exports are changing. In the latest episode of The Milk Check, host Ted Jacoby sits down with Will Loux to break down the changing U.S. export picture. In this episode, we cover: Why U.S. dairy exports are moving toward cheese, fats and higher-value proteins How domestic protein demand is pulling skim solids away from dryers Why more cheese may be produced partly to create additional whey protein How exports are absorbing a larger share of new U.S. cheese production Where Latin America offers room for additional cheese growth What it will take for U.S. butter exports to become more consistent and profitable The U.S. has the milk. It has new processing capacity. And it is capturing a growing share of international cheese demand. But growth creates new challenges. Are you ready to meet them? Listen to The Milk Check episode 104: Can the U.S. Keep Its Dairy Export Advantage? Also available on: Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Got questions? We'd love to hear them. Submit below, and we might answer it on the show. Ask The Milk Check Transcript: Ted Jacoby III: [00:00:00] Coming up on the Milk Check. Will Loux: What I’ve heard from folks in Europe and elsewhere is how do they manage the U.S. tsunami of exports that’s coming? And I think that, at the Export Council, it makes me excited, but it does mean we need to keep our strategies current. Ted Jacoby III: Welcome to the Milk Check from T.C. Jacoby & Co., your complete guide to dairy markets, from the milking parlor to the supermarket shelf. I’m Ted Jacoby. Let’s dive in. Ted Jacoby III: Today, we are very excited to have Will Loux, Senior Vice President of Global Economic Affairs for the U.S. Dairy Export Council joining us.  A few weeks ago I saw a presentation that Will gave that talked about where the U.S. dairy industry is going, especially from an international perspective. It was an absolutely fantastic presentation, and I couldn’t help but think that just this presentation alone would be an absolutely fantastic topic for our podcast.  I have a bunch of our traders joining us, many of our usual suspects, including: Ted Jacoby III: Diego Carvallo, Joe Maixner, Miguel Aragon, Mike Brown, all from our trading team. Guys, thanks for joining us. Will, thank you so much for joining us. It’s great to see you again. Will Loux: Good to see you, Ted. Thanks for having me on. Ted Jacoby III: Excited to have all of our listeners listen to this. Will, the floor is yours. Will Loux: Perfect. Well, thank you for having me, Ted, and glad to have so many people on here and another audience for this presentation. I’ve got some slides. For those of you like me who will listen to this podcast usually while driving, feel free to go check it out on YouTube. I am also gonna do my best to reference what is in those slides as best I can remember to do so. But what is the future of U.S. dairy exports? What we’ve seen, really over the last twenty-five years, has been this tremendous, consistent growth, in aggregate U.S. dairy exports. We just got May data, and what we saw was on an annualized basis over the last twelve months, the U.S. actually set a new record again. So our exports have never been higher than they are today. But that said, our exports look fundamentally different than what they did 20 years ago. Before, when we were getting started with exports, 75, 80% of our exports were really driven by nonfat dry milk, and low-protein whey products, and lactose. That’s been the vast majority of our portfolio for much of this time, and we’ve had a few different eras where we’ve seen U.S. cheese exports picked up, especially around 2014 when the world was short of milk and we saw U.S. cheese and butter go overseas. But then we saw that stagnate for a few years. Now, what we’ve seen since COVID has been this tremendous growth of these more value-add products, these specialty products. I believe the U.S. is moving towards a portfolio in the export market that looks a lot like cheese, fats, and proteins. And that’s gonna be the core of our exports, I think, going forward because the U.S. dairy industry is really kind of, I consider it an evolution rather than, like, a true revolution. But this is one of those facets that I think is really interesting to see is the U.S. has consistently been growing its exports, unlike a [00:03:00] lot of other supply origins. But this is one that I think as we go forward I’m really excited about. But it’s gonna change how we need to think about exports over the next few years. Ted Jacoby III: Will, it sounds like what you’re saying is not only are we seeing the total volume of exports go up, but the dollar per pound value is even going up faster because we’re switching away from that low-cost carb portfolio to a much higher-value protein, fat, et cetera portfolio. Fair to say? Will Loux: I think that’s exactly right. I think there are implications for that, too.  That if the U.S. is moving out of perhaps exporting as much skim milk powder or sweet whey because we’re instead making UF milk or cottage cheese or yogurt or high-protein whey, well, there’s still demand overseas for that sweet whey and for that skim milk powder. But now, it’s actually getting supplied by a few other countries, too. So, we do have to keep all of these things in mind. But to me, I think we’re moving up the value chain as the U.S., and what I’ve heard from folks in Europe and elsewhere is how do they manage the U.S. tsunami of exports that’s coming? And I think that, at the Export Council, it makes me excited, but it does mean we need to keep our strategies current with where we’re gonna go in the future. One of the things that I’ve noticed here over the last really few months but even going back to last year has been a real shift in how the U.S. dairy market is balancing itself. I would argue that for the last really 20 years, to be frank, but at least for the last 15 years, the U.S. dairy market has largely been balanced to domestic fat demand. Yes, we did see, certainly, exports of cheese grow over this time, so I don’t want to discount that as a butterfat-heavy product, but for the most part, what we’ve seen has been the U.S. has consistently balanced with where domestic demand for butterfat has grown, and then we’ve exported the skim solids largely in the form of nonfat dry milk and sweet whey overseas. What we’ve seen here over the last several years has been the U.S. switching from a traditionally balancing to domestic milkfat demand, where we’ve seen butter consumption grow, whole milk consumption grow. U.S. milk production, U.S. dairy production grew with that. And then, we exported the additional skim solids in the form of nonfat dry milk, sweet whey, high protein whey, lactose. Those products were the ones that we were really exporting. Now, what I think is happening is the U.S. is no longer really balancing to fat anymore. We’re in this precarious balance right now. We’re not quite balanced to protein yet, and we’re not quite balanced to the beef market yet because we still have high prices for protein. We don’t have enough of it to go around. We don’t have enough beef for the beef market to go around, but we also have more milk fat than the domestic market can consume. And so we’ve seen these exports really rise. So, I think what we’re seeing right now is the U.S. being pulled in different directions, and the U.S. exports as we go forward here over the next few years is in some ways at a crossroad as to which of these routes do we go. Do we swing back to balancing to milk fat, which would mean we’re probably short of protein, or do we start balancing more to protein, which means we’re gonna need to find homes for a heck of a lot more cheese and butter in the next few years. [00:06:00] Because to me, at least, if you look at the beef market, from a dairy farmer’s perspective, you are still seeing that incentive to add additional cows just based on the returns on the beef side of things. And because of that incentive to hold the dairy cows longer to get the additional black calf, also with that breeding the best of the best in the young stock, we are just seeing the largest milking herd since the 1990s and the lowest replacement herd since the 1970s. And everything we’re seeing on the beef cattle side of things would suggest this isn’t slowing down anytime soon. But from the U.S. perspective, I think what this means is we’re gonna continue to see more milking cows around, and those cows are getting more productive than ever before. And even as we’re seeing this surge in milk production, I think on a component basis, last year in in 2025 we were up 3.8%. This year we’re up not quite at 3%, but still pretty darn close. Even as we see this growth of milk, these additional black calves coming on the market, we actually still don’t see enough protein hitting the dairy markets right now. And so, what we’re seeing is even as we see this huge surge in cottage cheese production and yogurt production, my personal opinion is yogurt doesn’t get enough credit for this protein rally. It’s like 10X the volume of cottage cheese, but what we’re seeing right now is this pull of protein. I think this pull of protein is predominantly domestic. We’re seeing UF beverages, we’re seeing yogurts, we’re seeing cottage cheese, we’re seeing everything that whey protein can go into from cereals to snacks to beverages. All of that protein pull is basically sucking protein and skim solids that had been going to the export market back into the U.S. By virtue of that, we’re also seeing U.S. cheese production need to increase, not so much for the cheese demand that we’re seeing here in the United States, but rather for the whey demand that we’re seeing here as well. The cheese has really become that co-product of the whey stream. I think even conversations that I’ve had with U.S. manufacturers of, “How can I get more whey protein without building a new cheese plant” is part of the consideration. One of the things that we’ve looked at over this time has really been where is this protein in the United States going? Because we’ve seen U.S. milk production rise, U.S. milk protein production rise in the sense of protein out of the cow, but we still have less nonfat dry milk and skim milk powder than we had a year ago. What I’ve noticed over this time has been certainly the cheese vat continues to get first dibs on most of that protein. Even in the May data that we got out of USDA, you saw cheese production was up, even when nonfat dry milk was sitting at sky-high levels north of $2.00. What we’re really seeing right now is we’re pulling milk out of the dryers and either putting it into the cheese vat or putting it into these other high-protein products and the like. What that is doing is that’s shifting our export mix. So far this year, our exports of skim milk powder, amazingly, are flat somehow. But if [00:09:00] you look at our May exports of nonfat dry milk and skim milk powder, they were down 20%, and I think that’s reflective of that, and we were down last year. What we’re seeing has been the U.S. is moving out of some of these carb-heavy, as you talked about, Ted, to these more higher value uses for these products. And even nonfat dry milk production picked up in May, but it’s not that we pulled milk out of the yogurts or out of the cottage cheese or out of the natural cheese itself, it’s that we stopped making skim milk powder and instead made nonfat dry milk. This is really where we’re seeing this pull of protein, either in the form of beef necessitating more cows or necessitating more capacity to make whey proteins, milk proteins, UF products, or just high-protein dairy products. All of that pulled together is sending a, “Let’s go make more milk.” Contrasting that, you have cheese and fats, which at this point right now, and historically this isn’t too unusual, but it is something different than we’ve really seen over the last few years, has been this export push of cheese and dairy fats in the form of predominantly butter, AMF, and to a lesser extent whole milk powder. What we’re seeing here has really been this shift where right now I think we’re growing our milk production as fast as the international market can absorb our cheese and fats. Because if you look here, since COVID, what we’ve seen is about 36%, over a third of the new cheese that’s been manufactured in the United States, has gone to export. If you think about that historically, about 5% of the new cheese in the previous decade went to exports. And now we’re at 35%. And if you look at the last two years, it’s north of 65% has gone to exports. As we’re building these new cheese plants, in part for the whey, there is that eye towards, “Okay, where are we going with this cheese?” And it’s gotta be overseas. Within that, too, the United States is actually the one capturing what is a growing global market. It’s not just that the U.S. is flooding the market with less expensive cheese, it’s that global cheese demand is growing, and the U.S. is the one capturing that. Because if you look, since COVID, the U.S. has captured about 60% of that new cheese demand that’s happening overseas, and that’s really been coming from the United States. Europe’s grown their cheese exports too, so has New Zealand. Australia’s basically flat, but the rest of the world evens up. The difference here is that the United States is really the one capturing this demand growth because we have the milk, we have the cheese, and that’s really where I think the U.S. has managed to expand its footprint, be a more consistent exporter, and really break into new markets that it hasn’t before. But we’ve been in cheese for a while. Granted, it’s at a different scale today than what it has been. We were up 20% last year in cheese exports. This year we’re up about 25% so far this year. We continue to surge in our cheese exports. The difference that is new this time around is, fundamentally, that we’re seeing this expansion come not [00:12:00] just in cheese as our primary vehicle to export the fat and casein, but also in fat-heavy products, predominantly butter, but also AMF and whole milk powder, too. That you’re seeing the United States now, for every, load of high-protein beverages, you’re gonna have a load of cream that you’re gonna need to deal with, or multiple loads of cream that you’re gonna have to deal with, and that’s now going overseas. Domestic demand for butter is still going strong. Domestic demand for whole milk continues to grow. The difference is we’ve just grown production faster than that domestic demand. And so, you pull this all together, and I really think we’re seeing an evolution in our portfolio for exports. Cheese by value is now our biggest export product, and you’ve seen fats and proteins continue to grow within that portfolio, as well, from a value perspective. While we’ve seen nonfat dry milk, low protein whey, lactose, those have really been flat to declining over this timeframe. And so, if you look at that incremental growth that we’ve seen in our U.S. dairy exports since COVID, again, what we’ve seen is our two biggest stars during this period have been cheese and fats, and I think protein in the long run is still really optimistic to me. But you pull this all together, the U.S. is still gonna be a major player in skim milk powder, sweet whey, whey permeate, lactose. But if you look at where our exports are gonna grow in the future, those are really some of the key products. What do you all think about this as kind of a argument here for where our U.S. dairy exports are going? Joe Maixner: That’s been exactly what we’ve been discussing for the past six plus months, that our supply is going to continue to outpace the domestic demand. So 100% agree with everything you said in this, Will. I think that butter will continue to become a major player in the export market. Miguel Aragón: In my case, being out there in the trenches, I see this day in, day out. The penetration of U.S. cheese and butter, especially right now. We know the soaring ingredients, but cheese and butter especially, every day you could see it more and more in the marketplace. Something really interesting that you said at the beginning: If we’re gonna produce more cheese, we’re gonna have to find a place for it. We know the numbers, we see the numbers. It’s an amazing story. But right now, as we speak, that is replicating in Central America. You guys see it at the U.S. DEC. And I just came back from Colombia. The opportunity is there for us, as long as we keep doing what we’re doing now and looking at the market, adapting to the market, adapting to what the market is asking us for, and also replacing some of the product that is coming from Europe and New Zealand. But I agree with what you’re saying here 100%. Ted Jacoby III: Will, I’m gonna turn the question around on you a little bit. Is the global demand for butterfat there for us to continue to increase how much butter we’re exporting? And is the global demand for cheese there? Will that global demand keep increasing for those two products? Will Loux: From my perspective, it’s yes. What I find interesting over the last couple years has been that [00:15:00] cheese demand held up exceptionally well even during high inflation periods. Where we saw other dairy products actually feel a lot of the pressure internationally, cheese demand kept growing pretty much right on track. What we’ve seen here on the cheese side over the last couple of years internationally has been this acceleration in cheese demand, and I think some of that has to do with, as Miguel was saying, tremendous growth from our partners in Latin America. That’s been a key engine for U.S. dairy exports here over the last couple of years and, frankly, since the Export Council was founded about 30 years ago. But when we look at the opportunities abroad, I think that we still have a lot of untapped potential on the cheese side. I remain pretty optimistic about that. The other thing I’ll say, too, here is: I don’t think European milk production’s gonna keep growing at 3% a year. I don’t think you’re seeing the same investment in new cheese capacity. I think we’re seeing investment in Europe and New Zealand in new protein capacity, and that’s maybe another conversation. But I think the U.S., one, has the opportunity to capture what is a growing global market on the cheese side, and also capture market share on the cheese side. The butter standpoint has been interesting. Butter has typically been, internationally, one of the more price-elastic products. It’s one that we’ve seen when butter prices really skyrocketed, some of that may be allocation, but when butter prices were high, we did see international demand struggle. Conversely, when butter prices were low, like they are today in many ways, we’ve seen butter demand grow. And butter demand internationally is growing, not just out of the U.S., but globally. I think the question I have here with butter is less about can the U.S. compete in this market, but more, what is our price point relative to Europe and New Zealand. Because I think if you look at our butter exports, for much of last year we were probably a buck a pound below Europe. A lot of that butter was going into Europe, where coincidentally the tariff into Europe is about a buck a pound. I think my question is more crucially than can the U.S. capture growing demand for butter, it’s where do we grow our butter exports. And I, personally, think the U.S. should never be exporting really butter to Europe unless we get additional market access. I think the U.S. should be exporting butter to its higher value markets and partners, places like Mexico, like Central America, North Asia and Korea, Australia, the Middle East, assuming we can keep the strait open for a little while. But I still remain pretty optimistic that the U.S. can keep growing in those products. Some of it will be market share, and some of it will be new demand, particularly on the cheese side. Ted Jacoby III: Will, looking at this graph where it’s talking about, U.S. dairy exports by destination, there’s a big increase into Latin America since 2021. Will Loux: Yep. Ted Jacoby III: Is that fair to say most of that is cheese? Will Loux: It’s fair to say most of it is cheese. We have seen increases also in nonfat dry milk and skim milk powder exports to Latin America over this timeframe, too, but the big driver, I think especially post-COVID in Latin America, was, [00:18:00] one, that region was the first major region, I should say, where tourism increased to levels higher than what it was before COVID, and we continue to see pretty good economic performance in the region. The other thing I don’t wanna discount here, too, has also been the full implementation of CAFTA-DR, our trade agreement with many of the Central American countries came into full effect, and you’ve seen this real surge in demand from the region and collaboration with our local partners there, that we’ve really seen this growth in Central American demand and Caribbean demand. Most of that is cheese. More recently, there are also butter and AMF and so going there too, but cheese has been the engine on the Latin American side most recently. Mike Brown: Will, I’ve got a question. Anything in particular we in the dairy industry, and of course you at U.S. DEC, are watching as far as improving opportunities, but also possible disadvantages we may gain through trade. Will Loux: Yeah. Great question, Mike. I have a mix of optimism, and then probably a couple notes of caution on this. So from my optimistic take, a lot of these new agreements on reciprocal trade that we’ve signed with key partners around the world, some of these are incredibly exciting because these are markets we’ve wanted to have agreements with for a long time. In particular, Indonesia makes me very excited. I think if we are able to see that actually be implemented here soon, I would be even more excited. I think there’s still a question on when that gets fully implemented. Taiwan is another one. We are getting access into markets that we never had access to before. We’ll see when those are fully implemented but again, I am still pretty optimistic on where those have opportunities for the U.S. to build upon and get on an equal footing with our competitors in Oceania and in Europe. However, our competitors are not staying static. We see a new agreement here between the European Union and Mexico. We have an agreement between the European Union and Mercosur that gets them additional access, particularly in proteins. I think the U.S. cannot take its customers for granted. Especially as we look at places like Mexico, that’s one where competition is not going to go away. And when we’ve seen nonfat dry milk sit 75 cents plus above Europe, you’re gonna see customers start calling Europe and New Zealand and looking for alternative sources. Or when we have high-protein whey products that are in such demand domestically, are we making sure we’re contacting our customers abroad? Because what we’re seeing now is Europe is heavily investing in additional whey protein capacity. Even as the U.S. is the largest exporter of high-protein whey in the world, I think there are other origins that are coming for that. And so, when I look optimistically, it’s like, “Great, we get more market access.” But to some of the key questions that I have around like is the U.S. ready for the future of dairy exports, one of them is gonna be: How do we actually meet this international demand on the protein side, and are we gonna have the market access that we need to be able [00:21:00] to capture sales? As I look at the world market today, I have a ton of optimism for where the U.S. can really be the supplier of choice, but it’s not gonna be a straight line from here to there, even on the fats or even on the cheese. I think the last couple years, milk production’s been up so much, it’s allowed us to capture a lot of demand, but even those I think will bounce around. Mike, I don’t know if that answered your question, but that was where my head’s at these days. Ted Jacoby III: Everybody, we will be right back after these messages. Diego Carvallo: I’m Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co.. T.C. Jacoby & Co. specializes in international dairy markets. For new customers that haven’t done business with Jacoby, I would tell them that we can provide them with many of the powders, dairy products that they consume, not only with the physical product, but we can also help them mitigate their risk. We know dairy. We know the main players. We know the main providers for the whole value chain. We are one of the strongest players in the U.S. market because we have contact all the way from the farmer moving the liquid milk all the way to the end users that buy the end products. I am Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co., and we bring dairy to the world. Will Loux: Ted, maybe what do you think if we go through a couple of these questions and have a little debate? Ted Jacoby III: All right. We’ll ask our team. Number one, does the U.S. have the necessary market access and global reach to capture sales opportunities in a multipolar world? Will Loux: And maybe I’ll clarify what I mean by multi-polar world. Ted Jacoby III: Great idea. Will Loux: Cause what I mean by that is if you look at global dairy trade leading up to COVID especially, from 2010 to 2020, China was the engine of that global dairy import demand growth. They accounted for 40% of that growth. These days, I’m not particularly optimistic China’s gonna be the engine. I think China will be an important import market, for sure. And I think they’re still gonna need fats, they’re still gonna need proteins, but they’re growing their own domestic supply, particularly of commodities. So, what I think the future looks like from a demand perspective is collective growth. Latin America, Southeast Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa even, I think there will be a lot of countries growing that collectively equal what China was doing before. But we’re gonna have to play in a lot of markets. So, the question to you guys then is: Do we have the reach and access to be able to compete in a lot of different places, or what does that look like for the U.S.? Because China is not gonna be the engine of global dairy demand here over the next decade, we’re gonna have to compete in a lot of different markets. In the previous decade leading up to COVID, you saw a lot of the New Zealand milk production, an increasing percentage was going to China, which opened up opportunities for us in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and others.  As we look at this next era of dairy exports, do we have the market access? Do we have the global reach and infrastructure to be able to capture sales in a lot of different markets [00:24:00] around the world? Diego Carvallo: That’s a good question. If we start with the premise that the U.S. is not gonna desperately need to export nonfat, I would say that it’s not gonna be that difficult to find new markets. The U.S. is not gonna have to fight to move additional volumes like they need to do for products like butter. Where do we take the skim milk powder that we’re currently making if China is not a huge buyer anymore? There’s plenty of demand still to be covered in other regions of Southeast Asia in other regions in Latin America, where we should have a good footprint and where we should have some advantages when it comes to freight. I would say the main markets where we have to gain market share are gonna be definitely Central America, the Caribbean and Latin America because of all of the advantages when it comes to freight and the relationship and other factors. The market where we’re gonna fight with the rest of the origins is gonna be Southeast Asia, we may need to go there and fight with price, with aggressive pricing, and we may need to compete even with China, ’cause we’re hearing that even China has been exporting product to that region in the past year. There’s gonna be some markets where we are positioned to gain market share and others where we’re gonna have to compete in price. Ted Jacoby III: Miguel, what do you think? With cheese and butter, do we have the necessary market access and global reach? Miguel Aragón: We do have the necessary market access. Our products are welcome where we are taking them. Our issue is more like, the cheeses that we produce at scale, cheddar and color cheddar, are not necessarily the cheeses that our markets are asking for. We need Gouda, we need Monterey Jack, we need Sadero, we need Manchego. We need the help of our partners, our plant partners, to adapt and to see the opportunity of the cheeses that those markets ask for. And I’m in particular about Latin America. But then again, that’s a big market.  U.S. cheeses are well-received. We do have places to go with it. We just have to get better at exporting. U.S. DEC does a really good job at helping us get into those markets, vet the customers and teach about the products. We are doing the right things. We just need to do it a little bit better. We do have places to go with that extra cheese. Ted Jacoby III: Miguel, do you think there’s a lot of underserved regions in Central and South America? In other words, are there a lot of customers who the only reason they’re not buying and importing more U.S. cheese is because they don’t know who to buy it from, they don’t have the contacts? Miguel Aragón: I do. In the last trips that I made, especially to the northern part of South America, colombia, Peru, Ecuador, there is demand. It just reminds me of Mexico 15, 20 years ago. They don’t know who to buy it from. They don’t know that we make it. They don’t know that we have the variety that we have. It’s an education. We have to work, harder at marketing our products down there. But there is a place. There is definitely a place. There is a market. Ted Jacoby III: Thanks, Miguel. All right, Joe, I got a question for you. Can the U.S. export butterfat products consistently and in a [00:27:00] profitable manner? Joe Maixner: I think we’ve started showing that we can export consistently. Numbers have been pretty consistent and have been growing throughout the year. A profitable portion probably remains to be seen. We’ll always have to be aggressive as we’re entering into new markets ‘ cause we’re gonna have to find a way to penetrate into markets that have been historically dominated by Europe or Oceania with a product that does not look like Europe or Oceania’s product. The easiest way to do that, obviously, is to, for lack of a better term, buy our way into the market to people to try the product. But once our product is in there and they realize it’s a consistent quality butter, I think that we certainly have the opportunity to be profitable long-term. Realistically, exporting butterfat consistently makes everybody more profitable in the U.S. because it pushes fat offshore, which helps our butter price, ultimately, domestically. Will Loux: When I look at exporting butterfat profitably, for us, especially at the Export Council, it’s been one of those things that the U.S. for the longest time hasn’t had butter basically to export. When we’ve gotten long, we’ve found places to clear it. I think what’s changed this time around has been that it seems like with the pull of protein, that we’re gonna have at least some butter available long-term. The question that I still have is where are the best places for us to invest? And even as an Export Council, where are the best places for us to invest our resources into trying to make sure that customers even know that the U.S. has butter available to export, while also trying to find ways of helping U.S. exporters navigate different tariffs than they’ve traditionally had to export, making sure the product specs meet it, and then also trying to get new market access in places that, for a while we’ve seen a lot of trade agreements that thankfully got the U.S. access in cheese and in milk powders, and sometimes butter was in there, sometimes it wasn’t. And so how do we get additional access into that? I look at the U.S.-Japan phase one, that we got additional cheese access, I think we could use some additional butter access into Japan. I’m pretty optimistic on this one. I don’t know if we’re there yet, but I think it’s gonna be isolating which markets are going to be the most profitable for us. I’m probably less optimistic that we’re gonna be consistent in exporting butter here in the next couple of years. But long-term, I think it’s undeniable that the U.S. is gonna have to go in this direction eventually. Ted Jacoby III: Why are you less optimistic in the short-term? Will Loux: I’m a little optimistic in the short-term because we have been exporting effectively double the butter exports we have been. We’ve seen that gap between the U.S. and international markets close quite a bit. Inventories are pretty low. The milk fat test, until May, which surprised me a little bit, had been slowing down as farmers adjusted rations. If we get to the point where butter is $1.40, $1.50, I’m not sure it always makes sense for the farmers to pay for the incremental increase in feed inputs to boost the butterfat test to the [00:30:00] extent that would boost our exports. We may find ourselves tighter in butter in the fourth quarter because we’ve exported our way back to balance. And to me, it looks like where cheese was 15 years ago: That we are on the path towards being a consistent exporter, but we’re often still going to prioritize our domestic market. From the U.S. perspective, I think our butter looks like cheese did 15 years ago, where we’re often export competitive, but not always. Joe Maixner: Will, basically, you have summed up exactly what I’ve been saying for a while, where the butter export opportunity will be cyclical because we will get super competitive, which will drive our domestic price up, which will take us out of the market, and then in turn, cause a surplus of domestic butter to show up in the market, which will then collapse the price and make us super competitive again in the export market. We’re still early enough in the phase that we’re trying to figure out those cycles. I do think it’s cyclical. Overall, though, I do think we will be a consistent exporter. There’ll be a base, and it will ebb and flow, but I do think we will be a consistent exporter moving forward because as we’ve gained market share, we are getting loyal end-use customers in export markets that will consistently pay for our product. Will Loux: I 100% agree with that. I think it’s gonna be, where do we keep our consistent customers, and where are the opportunistic sales that maybe ebb and flow? That’s gonna be a multi-year process as that all shakes out as to where are our stickiest markets within all this? Mike Brown: You want those consistent customers. Jacoby, one of our jobs is helping people with those opportunities. So, they’re both important, but you still need that core base demand and respect for the product. And so, I have a question for you on this, Will. Let’s take butter. Butter’s a great example because the world is unsalted 82, we’re salted 80. I think Joe would attest: We’re seeing suppliers trying to be more flexible in making the product that meets that demand, yet on the other hand, if you’re gonna store a commodity, you gotta make the commodity that is the market product. What are you seeing as far as our adaptability to be that flexible supplier in the world market? What else do we need to do that maybe we aren’t currently doing? Will Loux: There certainly has been a lot of progress made. From my perspective, you have a few different things. One is, of course, the salted and the fat content in the U.S. is different. It’s rare that we’re gonna be exporting from our inventories of 80 salted unless it’s just purely a price play. But what I think about when I think long-term export opportunities is really targeting the key channels that the U.S. is likely to win in first. And some of that’s food manufacturing. I think that’s where the U.S. can be really good, especially making bulk butter for export. I think it’s the first channel. But then it’s also making sure our formats meet the expectations of the customers. Because food manufacturing, I think, will only get us so far. The next phase where the U.S. can really excel in a couple markets is in the foodservice space and in the bakery space, in particular. We have next to no [00:33:00] capacity in the U.S. to make butter sheets, basically the stuff that you would use for croissants or bakery applications. Those are things we know we’ve heard from customers on how we can make products that are specifically geared towards that. In the long run, those are some of the issues. Some of it’s also from an Export Council perspective, educating customers on why U.S. butter is a different color, helping them understand how to utilize it. And even if they choose to use 80%, how to adjust their formulations to that to help understand, “Hey, this is a simple difference of 2% fat difference.” We can work in that space here, too. Long term, I think the U.S. needs to be sure, and this is something we’ve seen in all the other export products that we’ve seen over the years, is not solely trying to sell what we make here in the U.S. and say, “Hey, you should try this instead.” But instead figuring out what our customers are asking for and really making that product. And a lot of that goes down to also the formats and trying to move beyond just bulk butter for further processing into really targeted markets with those specific products. Ted Jacoby III: Joe, do you think the butter industry will invest in those things to increase our capabilities to deliver what the customer wants? Joe Maixner: I think eventually they may have to if our fat components continue the direction that they’re going. Some of the forward thinkers will be the first to adapt, and they’ll be the beneficiaries of investing in some further processing type manufacturing to be able to account for that. Cause at the end of the day, the profit’s in the value add. It’s not in selling bulk.  If there’s production capacity, and there’s space to do the addition, and somebody has the foresight to take the chance on it, I think that the payoff is there. Because if you get into that food service type packaging or laminated butter sheets or you get into a product that nobody else is making, that makes you very sticky in that market. You own that market. Will Loux: Even as we’re talking about butter here, we’ve got to think of other, fat-heavy products that could actually play really well in the international market. I tend to think whether it’s, like a UHT cream product, I know there’s always interest in like a frozen cream product. That’s a hard thing for the U.S. to make in some ways. I think UHT creams, we continue to see grow even as we see UHT milk itself actually decline globally. But we’re seeing real interest in that food service sector of, “Hey, let’s get whipping creams that are really targeted towards some of these international markets.” As much as for the U.S. it’s geared around, “Okay, what’s the most storable form of fat?” I think that’s step one, to find a way to export it. But step two is really what are these value-add fat-containing products that we can actually be targeting and competing in as well. And then I think balancing to like an AMF or a whole milk powder, but then using our butter and creams for the value add opportunities. Ted Jacoby III: I agree. Joe Maixner: Let’s not forget cream cheese, either. Cream cheese internationally has been phenomenal. That has plenty of trajectory to keep going. Miguel Aragón: I [00:36:00] must agree 100% with what Joe was saying on cream cheese. We are seeing phenomenal requests for cream cheese throughout Latin America, now in Asia. As what you were saying about channels, Will, we are now working with retailers in Central America with butter. Right now, it’s food service packaging going into retailers, but I think that’s a very interesting thing happening because once those brands of U.S. manufacturers start showing up in the retailers, I think we’re gonna have a better pool of U.S. butter. Ted Jacoby III: I agree, Miguel. Will, I think we should move on to the next couple of questions.  – I’m gonna read them both out because I think they’re very related. The first question is, can the U.S. grow cheese exports fast enough to keep up with whey protein demand. And then the second question is, will the U.S. have the protein to supply both the rising domestic and international consumption? I’ll answer the Second question first, which is, my dad, one of the things he drove into us as traders was, at the end of the day, everything’s a matter of price. Which means supply and demand will be regulated by what the price of protein is in the global market. I think it’s fair to say Europe has a much greater ability to add whey protein processing than the U.S. does because a smaller percentage of the whey offtake from cheese plants in Europe is currently being processed into whey protein. So, we will see some pushback there. But in the end of the day, that’s simply gonna self-regulate over what that global price is. My prediction is, can the U.S. grow cheese exports fast enough to keep up with that whey protein demand? I think we are reaching a point where the U.S. is consistently priced where the world market is priced for cheese, and I think that is going to change the way new cheese plants get built because we have had pushback for for 40 years. It’s exactly what Miguel has been talking about, is you don’t make the cheese that we want. Well, if we’re consistently now priced properly into the international market, my challenge for the cheese industry is someone needs to build a plant that supplies the international market with what they want, because we’ve arrived at the point where we’re gonna be consistently competitive now, and that risk becomes worth it. Miguel, do you agree? Miguel Aragón: Totally. I couldn’t have said it better. The market is there; it’s waiting for us to take more of it, but we need the right product now. Ted Jacoby III: And I think that whey protein demand may actually drive someone to do it.  What do you think? Will Loux: I agree with everything you’re saying. I think these are two inextricably linked pieces. Right now the signals are such: “Make more whey protein capacity” is clear. There’s also an element of “make more MPC capacity” or “make more capacity with the skim stream targeting proteins” as well. I think what’s holding back some of this capacity to date is probably much more the profitability on the cheese and on the fat side, and where those prices are at. From the dairy farmer perspective of if they’re investing is, the dairy farmer getting the price signals on the protein side? Because right now they’re getting the [00:39:00] price signals on the cheese side and on the fat side, and those are saying not as much to grow. These all need to be put into the spectrum of like, if we successfully grow our cheese exports and keep that international price relatively firm and grow demand abroad for cheese, and grow demand abroad for fats, it’s clear to me the protein demand seems pretty much insatiable here in the U.S. I think there’s a ton of untapped demand internationally, especially as GLP-1s start launching internationally. Like, there is a lot of international demand that I don’t think the U.S. should lose sight of, particularly with regards to whey proteins and milk proteins and all these other products. But it comes down to: can we grow our exports of cheese and butter, not just where we’re setting the global price for those products, but finding ways to make that stream profitable internationally, just as we’ve made the protein stream now incredibly profitable from a whey protein perspective. Folks are gonna come, particularly in Europe, as you said, I think they’re manufacturing over a million metric tons right now of sweet whey in Europe. Some of that’s gonna go to high-protein whey products. We’re gonna have more competition in that space. We’ll see what the price ends up being. All of these things are inextricably linked. And when I think about the mandate here at the Export Council, it’s like, how do we grow those cheese, those fat, and those protein exports, to keep that profitably moving and continue that investment? Because demand’s there for protein, and we’re seeing good demand internationally for cheese. We’re moving the fat overseas. But how do we do that in the most valuable way possible, I think is really what’s gonna be that next era of U.S. dairy exports. Joe Maixner: Will, I’m gonna ask you a question, ‘ cause I’m gonna push back a little bit. You said that farmers aren’t seeing the signals because of cheese and fat. You don’t think a $17 plus Class III and an $18 Class IV basically for the next year, plus your return on beef, plus your cheap inputs on feed is not enough to get the farmers to expand? Will Loux: Oh, I think they will continue to expand. When the nonfat dry milk price shot up, I think that was a reflection that we were short on protein. That we pulled so much out of the dryer, that was that reflection. But I think as Mike even said on one of your previous podcasts, that it was really shown in the PPD rather than necessarily in the protein price. I don’t mean necessarily they’re not getting the signal, it’s just some of it’s our pricing system is a convoluted signal. Ted Jacoby III: Will, you’re speaking to the choir. Mike Brown: I’m gonna have to quote you on that one. Ted Jacoby III: I’m gonna take this opportunity to say, Will, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a fantastic discussion. I hope you come back soon and join us again, because we always love having you on our podcast. Will Loux: Always fun being with you guys. Thanks for having me on. Miguel Aragón: Bye, guys. [00:42:00] End Commercial: Mike Brown: For one part of the supply chain to be successful, everyone has to be. My superpower is practical application of data and analysis. I believe firmly that Jacoby’s success is because we help our suppliers and our buyers be successful. I’m Mike Brown, and I love working for T.C. Jacoby & Co. because I get to help people make their businesses more successful.

So much to celebrate when our friend Andrea Lopez enters the chat live from New Jersey, where the topics truly range from the responsibilities of being an "Aunt on the Side," to baby neighbors who literally never grow up? Michelle may have been swindled by a Groupon but she's willing to sacrifice her money and happiness for content. Andrea is back from Colombia covered in Central American bugbites and now sees Wendy Williams anywhere she goes, while Michelle is fairly sure she sat behind Queen Elle Fanning at the opening night of Cat Cohen's incredible Broad Strokes. A Toxic Love Story is lightly discussed, and while it's not great, it is a great reminder that tech can be used for good (catching criminals). Mich correctly some of her mistakes but somehow makes new ones. This and MORE if you can imagine.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

About James HaydenI've generated over $1B in revenue across SaaS, marketplaces, and enterprise services — and built first revenues for companies from zero across 140+ engagements.Book a Free 30-Min GTM Diagnostic →I build go-to-market engines for B2B companies that drive lasting revenue. Over 38 years, I've transformed sales teams, opened new markets, and created new revenue streams for more than 140 companies. I serve as a multi-company advisor to US enterprises, the government of New Zealand, and several Central American governments.My client and employer roster spans enterprise technology, SaaS, hospitality, automotive, and government sectors across four continents:Enterprise & Technology: Microsoft, Oracle, Cendant, TravelClick (acquired by Amadeus), Zipwhip (acquired by Twilio for $850M), Zumobi, Uniken, RESAAS, LodgIQ, FingermarkAutomotive: Ford, GM, Stellantis, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Lexus, KiaMedia & Partnerships: MSNBC, StarbucksGovernment & Trade: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), Government of Costa Rica, Government of GuatemalaStartups & Ventures: Hotelscan (successful exit), Ortega Expansion Consulting, Hayden Marketing Inc., Dignity For DivasWhen I took over TravelClick's lowest-performing division, it ranked last out of four. Within a year, I turned it into the company's top-performing unit — a turnaround that directly contributed to the company's successful exit. If your sales org needs a reset, this is the kind of result I deliver.I was a founding member of Hotelscan, where I built over 140 partnerships from scratch. That groundwork drove the company to a successful exit in 2019. I know what it takes to build revenue from zero — because I've done it repeatedly.I learned to sell young — door-to-door as a kid — and never stopped refining the craft. My methodology is built on decades of real-world results, not theory. I wrote Adapt or DIE to share the approach that has driven my results, available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook.Don't forget to check our Expert Content Society LinkedIn Content Community here:https://www.thetimetogrow.com/expert-content-society

It's Tuesday, July 28th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Kevin Swanson, Timothy Reed and Adam McManus U.S. condemns Nigerian Islamic massacre of Christian family The U.S. government is condemning the Islamic massacre of a Nigerian pastor's family in northern Nigeria that occurred earlier this month.   Nine family members of Pastor Ezekiel Dachomo were killed in the recent attack. Pastor Dachomo was known throughout the country for his assigning blame to the Nigerian government for escalating violence against Nigerian Christians.   According to TruthNigeria, which first reported the killings, dozens of others were killed by radical Islamist groups in northern Nigeria on July 11th. President Trump himself had re-posted Pastor Dachomo's recent video where he was crying out for international help, while he stood in a mass grave of dead Christians. Some now suspect the Nigerian government as complicit in the murder of Pastor Dachomo's family as punishment for the video. And now, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has criticized the Nigerian government. On an X post, he wrote, “Nigerian officials have created an environment that facilitates mass violence against Christians and religious minorities by imposing blasphemy and Sharia laws and looking the other way at jihadist atrocities. The U.S. government knows the Nigerian officials responsible for these policies, I have been pushing my bill to sanction them.” Let us remember this sober spiritual lesson from Psalm 9:17: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Are Europe's worst fires connected to perversion and hostility to homeschoolers? Meantime, Spain and France are suffering through the worst fires of the century as 300,000 people have been evacuated so far. That's the largest evacuation since World War II, reports ABC News. Specifically, 13,566 fires have swept across 448 square miles in France. And in Spain, 591 square miles have burned this year which is six times the amount that burned through the first half of 2025. It has resulted in the displacement of 250,000 French and 50,000 Spaniards. Spain approved of faux-homosexual marriage in 2005. And France approved of sexually perverted marriages in 2013. Plus, homeschooling was also recently banned in France. Micah 3 speaks of this tyranny: “And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil . . . Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them;. . . Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but He will not hear them:” Sweden, Germany and Netherlands oppose homeschooling The same has occurred in Sweden, Germany, and now the Netherlands. Two months ago, the Netherlands' highest court ruled that parents can only claim the homeschool exemption if there is no suitable school nearby, virtually making it impossible to homeschool. And now, England has also adopted a new restrictive homeschool law, signed by King Charles III in April. According to the U.S.-based Homeschool Legal Defense Association, the new law “grants local authorities the power to prevent families from homeschooling if officials believe a proposed home education program is unsuitable.” Micah 3:2-4 speaks of this tyranny: “And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and you princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know judgment? You who hate the good, and love the evil. … who also eat the flesh of My people, and flay their skin from off them. … Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but He will not hear them.” Nuclear power coming to the Islamic world Nuclear power is coming to the Islamic world. The United States has signed an agreement with the Islamic state of Saudi Arabia, providing a legal framework for U.S. companies to participate in Saudi Arabia's civilian nuclear power program. The Muslim countries of Pakistan and Iran have already built a nuclear program. The Muslim-dominated countries of Turkey and Egypt are also in the process of building a nuclear program. Iran and South Korea began their nuclear program in the 1970s, Pakistan in the 1960s, and now, Turkey in 2018, and Egypt in 2022.  Nicaraguan communist president suspended elections Nicaragua's communist president, Daniel Ortega, has suspended his country's elections indefinitely.  The Central American country continues to suffer under the iron grip of communism, and conservative outlet Human Events notes that, “Nicaragua's last election in 2021 was widely disputed after Ortega's government arrested opposition candidates, activists, and members of the business community ahead of the vote.” Of the 43 nations in Latin America, Nicaragua has the second worst Gross Domestic Product per capita — right next to the other communist country — Cuba, and also, Haiti. Forest fires in Northwest America California, Washington, and Oregon are already lit up in forest fires this season. That's well ahead of last year.  In California, there are 3,338 wildfires which have burned 195,000 acres. And in Oregon, 34 major blazes have burned 1.3 million acres, reports The Statesman-Journal. Oregon has burned more acreage than last year and the season's not over. Mostly the fires have been started by an act of God — that is, lightning strikes, reports FoxWeather.com. America ready to deport hundreds of thousands of Haitians The temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in America is expected to end this week, according to CBS News.  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is preparing to launch operations to deport these immigrants, though there is still an option for immigrants to leave on their own.  The Department of Homeland Security explained, “What we would say now is it's closing time which means you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."  Inflation plagues America Inflation fears have saddled the U.S. economy. Thirty-year U.S. bond yields are up to 5.2%. It's been 20 years since the yields have been in that territory.  Thirty-year mortgage rates hit 6.77% --the highest rate in about a year. MoneyLion.com analyzed pay increases versus cost-of-living increases over the last five years across the U.S. and found 30 states are losing ground. This is impacting the middle class more than anybody else.   Folks in Massachusetts and New Jersey have lost 23% to inflation while Louisiana and Mississippi gained a little ground with a 10-11% bump.  Worldwide government debt increased by 6% In other economic news, government debt for the developed nations of the world has popped up another 6% overall this year.   Fitch Ratings is forecasting a $4.2 trillion bump this year, of which the United States is at the forefront.  Top debtor nations are the United States with a forecasted deficit of 7.8% of our Gross Domestic Product, which is the total market value of goods and services produced within America in a year. The United States is followed by France at 5% of their Gross Domestic Product, Britain at 4.8% of their GDP, Germany at 3.7% of their GDP, and Japan at 3.1% of their Gross Domestic Product. For the first nine months of this fiscal year, President Donald Trump's spendy government exceeded the 9-month average of deficits for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 — the four years for which President Joe Biden was responsible.  The U.S. deficit topped $1.4 trillion for the first nine months, and now is on track for a $2 trillion deficit this year. That compares to the Biden four-year average of $1.67 trillion. That's a 20% increase on the deficit now, in this first year of the Trump administration's fiscal action in his second term.  New York Worldview listener inspired to give $347 Here at The Worldview newscast, Frances in Beacon, New York wrote, “Adam, I was very touched by the story of the McVeda Family in Great Falls, Montana whose kids contributed $347 through their fundraisers on their dairy farm by making chocolate chip cookies, iced tea and hand-crocheted puppets. "What an absolutely beautiful family. I already have a recurring donation for The Worldview, but felt the need to do more to keep you going for another year.  So, I gave another $347. Happy to be one of the 108 listeners you challenged to step up to the plate last week.” Iowan kids raised money for The Worldview with a lemonade stand And Rachel Noland in Ames, Iowa wrote and said, “Adam, last week, there was a massive bike ride across Iowa with 20,000 bicyclists who rode past our house. Our kids set up a lemonade, banana, and hardboiled egg stand for the bikers. They are sending a gift from their earnings to The Worldview in 5 Minutes.  “As a homeschool family, we listen to the newscast almost every morning at breakfast. We listen all the way through to the end and always say loudly with you together, ‘Seize the day for Jesus Christ!' “It's a great start to our day, reminds us to pray for the persecuted church, opens up conversations about world events, and keeps us informed about news from a Biblical perspective.  “Thank you for what you are doing. My son Henry said, ‘Mr. McManus, Keep up the good fight!'” 23 Worldview listeners gave $9,364 And finally, by Monday night at 7:45pm Central, 23 Worldview listeners stepped up to the plate and invested their treasure to fund the 6-member team behind The Worldview for another year. Our thanks to Abraham in Ames, Iowa who gave $10, Jason in Cypress, Texas and Lauren in Lititz, Pennsylvania – both of whom gave $25 as well as Henry in Ames, Iowa who gave $30, and Ruth in Ames, Iowa who gave $40. We appreciate Mary in Chaska, Minnesota and Charles in Waxhaw, North Carolina – both of whom gave $50 as well as Rachel in Ames, Iowa, James in Kennewick, Washington, and LeAnn in Zeeland, North Dakota – each of whom gave $100. We're grateful to God for an anonymous donor in St. Luverne, Minnesota who pledged $12/month for 12 months for a gift of $144, Mark in Eagle, Idaho who gave $150, Richard in Arlington, Washington and April in Post Falls, Idaho – both of whom gave $200 as well as VinDetta in Pound, Virginia who renewed her monthly pledge of $20/month for 12 months for a gift of $240, and Forrest in Coarsegold, California who gave $300. And we were touched by the generosity of Michael in Santee, California who gave $500, our anonymous matching donor in Naples, Florida who gave another $500, Susan in San Antonio, Texas who gave $1,000, Bill in Middleboro, Massachusetts who gave $1,000, Don in Calgary, Alberta, Canada who gave $1,000, Larry and Sue in Crooked Creek, Alberta, Canada who increased their monthly pledge to $100/month for a gift of $1,200, and Megan in Elizabethtown, Kentucky who pledged $200/month for 12 months for a gift of $2,400. Wow! Those 23 gifts add up to $9,364. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please. (drum roll sound effect) $71,747 (sound effect of people cheering) We need to raise $51,753 by midnight on Friday, July 31! That means in order to hit our final goal of $123,500 by this Friday, July 31st, God needs to prompt folks to give an astounding $51,753 in order for the 6-member Worldview newscast team to be fully funded for another year. So, if you have been waiting until the last minute, this … is … it!  We could really use your help.  The finish line is in just 4 days! Count ‘em. Four! Would you consider being one of 20 people to pledge $100/month for 12 months or give a one-time gift of $1,200, one of 26 people to pledge $50/month for 12 months or give a one-time gift of $600, or one of 52 people to pledge $25/month for 12 months or give a one-time gift of $300? Remember the next 8 people who give a one-time gift of $500 will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, by our friend in Naples, Florida. Just go to TheWorldview.com, click on Give, select the dollar amount, and make sure to click on the “recurring” button if that's your wish.  And remember, if you want to continue your monthly pledge to The Worldview that you started in a previous year, please let me know so we can count your generous ongoing gift toward our total. This newscast team champions the truth and uses the Bible as our plumbline.  And we actually cite relevant Bible verses that come alive as we look at the news of the day.  Plus, we report on the persecuted church, the battles for life and a godly perspective on sexuality, often including action steps on how you can make a difference as a believer. What does God want you to give to sustain this one-of-a-kind newscast? Go to TheWorldview.com and click on Give. Close And that's The Worldview on this Tuesday, July 28th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ. Extra print stories Shooter in Seattle killed three people A mass shooter in Seattle, Washington, killed three people and wounded several more on Sunday, CNN reported.  A suspect has been taken into custody, two weapons have been recovered,  and one report indicated that there was a firefight between more than one shooter.  In a statement the night of the shooting, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson promised, “In the days ahead, we will establish what happened and be transparent with the public about what we have learned. Tonight, our attention belongs to the people whose lives were taken, those fighting to recover, and the families beside them.”  Genesis 6:11 reminds us, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Minnesota GOP candidate Mike Lindell gets backlash over amnesty plan Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow and GOP gubernatorial candidate in the state of Minnesota, has come under backlash for his amnesty plan for illegal aliens. Lindell suggested ending deportations in Minnesota for six months, and per the Dallas Express, “Lindell proposed giving illegal aliens six months to register with the government, submit fingerprints, undergo background checks, and receive a conditional work visa. Applicants would not receive citizenship or voting rights.” However, under Lindell's plan, these conditional visas would not expire, and the immigrants would “never have to leave.”  Immigration continues to be a major issue in conservative circles, and many have seen Lindell's views as a betrayal.

Guatemala is the beating heart of the Maya world – a small, mountainous Central American country where volcanoes loom over colonial towns, jungle swallows ancient pyramids, and market colour spills into every corner. It's a place people arrive at for a few days and leave a year later, seduced by Lake Atitlán's spiritual calm, Antigua's café culture, and some of the most spectacular archaeological sites on Earth. Love the pod? Get the guide! Out with each new podcast, we publish a guide to the country. Buy the TrodPod guide to Guatemala for just $3: https://www.patreon.com/c/trodpod/shop. Better yet, become a TrodPod member for just $5 a month and access TrodPod guides to every country in the world, released weekly with each new podcast episode! Sign up now: https://www.patreon.com/trodpod/membershipThanks for all your support!TrodPod is Murray Garrard and Elle Keymer. Sound editing by Leo Audio Productions. Design and marketing by GPS: Garrard Powell Solutions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your Day 4 results from the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.A victorious return home as Cayman's Girls Under-15 National Team win the inaugural Goombay Cup in Nassau, Bahamas.Plus - the low down on how Team Cayman is doing in Beach Volleyball at the Central American and Caribbean Games.#rcsports #radiocaymansports #caymansports #caymansislands

Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega announced that his Central American country will no longer hold elections, effectively making him the president form decades to come. Ortega has remained in power since 2007 after previously governing during the 1980s. The Trump administration views the Ortega-Murillo government as a dictatorship and has imposed sanctions and travel restrictions on members of the government and their allies. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Andrés Martínez-Fernández, Senior Policy Analyst on Latin America in the Heritage Foundation's Allison Center for National Security, who says Nicaragua has been heading in this direction for awhile, and its Ortega's reaction to a wave of United States supported Latin American leaders being elected. Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega announced that his Central American country will no longer hold elections, effectively making him the president form decades to come. Ortega has remained in power since 2007 after previously governing during the 1980s. The Trump administration views the Ortega-Murillo government as a dictatorship and has imposed sanctions and travel restrictions on members of the government and their allies. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Andrés Martínez-Fernández, Senior Policy Analyst on Latin America in the Heritage Foundation's Allison Center for National Security, who says Nicaragua has been heading in this direction for awhile, and its Ortega's reaction to a wave of United States supported Latin American leaders being elected. Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega announced that his Central American country will no longer hold elections, effectively making him the president form decades to come. Ortega has remained in power since 2007 after previously governing during the 1980s. The Trump administration views the Ortega-Murillo government as a dictatorship and has imposed sanctions and travel restrictions on members of the government and their allies. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Andrés Martínez-Fernández, Senior Policy Analyst on Latin America in the Heritage Foundation's Allison Center for National Security, who says Nicaragua has been heading in this direction for awhile, and its Ortega's reaction to a wave of United States supported Latin American leaders being elected. Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gregor MacGregor pulled off one of history's most audacious scams when he convinced investors and settlers that he was the rightful ruler of a lush, prosperous Central American paradise called Poyais. In reality, the “kingdom” was nothing more than swampy, uninhabitable land he didn't own. Hundreds bought bonds, supplies, and even passage to this imaginary nation—only to arrive and discover there were no cities, no government, and no hope of survival. This episode dives into MacGregor's outrageous confidence game, the tragic fallout, and how one man's charisma nearly built an empire out of thin air.Sources:https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/finding/?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://library.concordia.ca/help/finding/primary-sources.php?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://memoriavirtualguatemala.org/archivo-general-de-centro-america-agca/?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyre_Festival?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://archive.org/details/crimesaparisarch0000lemo?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/books/remediating-the-1820s/truth-fiction-and-breaking-news-theodore-hook-and-the-poyais-speculation/062E1AE3B219AC9D28AD6BC90B071C84?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://www.history.com/articles/the-con-man-who-invented-his-own-country?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://archive.org/details/sketchofmosquito00stra?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/mac/gregormacgregor.html?utm_source=copilot.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drama on a TuesdayFirst, a look at the events of the day.Then, Dragnet starring Jack Webb, originally broadcast  July 14, 1949, 77 years ago, The Red Light Bandit.  A malicious robber is impersonating a police officer, usually striking when there's a red traffic light. Followed by Escape, originally broadcast July 14, 1950, 76 years ago, Shark Bait starring William Conrad.   A good story about gun runners during a Central American revolution, with a surprise ending.Then, Wanted, originally broadcast July 14, 1950, 76 years ago, State Senator Hooper.   Senator Hooper is found dead in a car in Michigan. "One of the filthiest (stories) smashed through the newspapers of the nation." The January 11, 1945 story of the "Purple Gang" is told by narration, statements, tape recordings of the participants in the case, as well as actors. "The Voice Of The Underworld" sums up the case. A fascinating radio format, audibly edited on tape (one music cue is late, tape is being heard cued on the air). Where is Myron Selik, "the man with small feet?".Followed by The Stan Freberg Show, originally broadcast July 14, 1957, 69 years ago, Incident at Los Varoces. The El Sodom vs. The Rancho Gomorrah.  Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast July 14, 1948, 78 years ago,  Walking the baby...without the baby.  Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star.Thanks to Debbie B. for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamIf you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old-time radio shows 24 hours a day

The Legends of the Wild Turkey and the Imperial Eagle Guest: Stephen Moss Book Title: Ten Birds That Changed the World Stephen Moss discusses the wild turkey, a bird rediscovered by Europeans in the Americas that was vital to the survival of the pilgrims. Moss argues that the turkey's plumpness and taste led to its domestication from a single line in southern Mexico, where it was originally worshipped by Central American civilizations. Interestingly, its name stems from 16th-century confusion where exotic items were often attributed to Turkish merchants. Beyond the turkey, the conversation explores the symbolic power of the eagle. While the turkey is a "smart" bird favored by Benjamin Franklin, the eagle became a definitive symbol of predatory power for the Romans and later the Nazis, who famously altered its depiction to look toward Russia. Despite the eagle's associations with conquest, it remains a pervasive symbol of American authority on the Great Seal and currency. (1)1838 CORMORANTS

7/7/26, Co-Host Amilcar Shabazz Sen Paul Mark, Commission Chair of America 250 in Mass, on how and why we are celebrating the Declaration of Independence; also, freeing children from social media exploiters. Amilcar Shabazz on freedom in our history, celebrating Juneteenth, & “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Tom Weiner on “In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School.” Monica Cage, owner of Crown by Cage & Sec of Black Business Assoc of Amherst Area on Black entrepreneurship in western Mass, community support & the road ahead. Noah Bullock, Ex Dir, Cristosal, the Central American human rts org, on human rts abuses & the death of the rule of law in El Salvador & the tight friendship between Pres Trump &, El Salvador's authoritarian right-wing President, Nayib Bukele.

7/7/26, Co-Host Amilcar Shabazz Sen Paul Mark, Commission Chair of America 250 in Mass, on how and why we are celebrating the Declaration of Independence; also, freeing children from social media exploiters. Amilcar Shabazz on freedom in our history, celebrating Juneteenth, & “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Tom Weiner on “In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School.” Monica Cage, owner of Crown by Cage & Sec of Black Business Assoc of Amherst Area on Black entrepreneurship in western Mass, community support & the road ahead. Noah Bullock, Ex Dir, Cristosal, the Central American human rts org, on human rts abuses & the death of the rule of law in El Salvador & the tight friendship between Pres Trump &, El Salvador's authoritarian right-wing President, Nayib Bukele.

7/7/26, Co-Host Amilcar Shabazz Sen Paul Mark, Commission Chair of America 250 in Mass, on how and why we are celebrating the Declaration of Independence; also, freeing children from social media exploiters. Amilcar Shabazz on freedom in our history, celebrating Juneteenth, & “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Tom Weiner on “In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School.” Monica Cage, owner of Crown by Cage & Sec of Black Business Assoc of Amherst Area on Black entrepreneurship in western Mass, community support & the road ahead. Noah Bullock, Ex Dir, Cristosal, the Central American human rts org, on human rts abuses & the death of the rule of law in El Salvador & the tight friendship between Pres Trump &, El Salvador's authoritarian right-wing President, Nayib Bukele.

7/7/26, Co-Host Amilcar Shabazz Sen Paul Mark, Commission Chair of America 250 in Mass, on how and why we are celebrating the Declaration of Independence; also, freeing children from social media exploiters. Amilcar Shabazz on freedom in our history, celebrating Juneteenth, & “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Tom Weiner on “In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School.” Monica Cage, owner of Crown by Cage & Sec of Black Business Assoc of Amherst Area on Black entrepreneurship in western Mass, community support & the road ahead. Noah Bullock, Ex Dir, Cristosal, the Central American human rts org, on human rts abuses & the death of the rule of law in El Salvador & the tight friendship between Pres Trump &, El Salvador's authoritarian right-wing President, Nayib Bukele.

7/7/26, Co-Host Amilcar Shabazz Sen Paul Mark, Commission Chair of America 250 in Mass, on how and why we are celebrating the Declaration of Independence; also, freeing children from social media exploiters. Amilcar Shabazz on freedom in our history, celebrating Juneteenth, & “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Tom Weiner on “In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School.” Monica Cage, owner of Crown by Cage & Sec of Black Business Assoc of Amherst Area on Black entrepreneurship in western Mass, community support & the road ahead. Noah Bullock, Ex Dir, Cristosal, the Central American human rts org, on human rts abuses & the death of the rule of law in El Salvador & the tight friendship between Pres Trump &, El Salvador's authoritarian right-wing President, Nayib Bukele.

Nicole Solano, CEO of the Belize Ministry of Tourism, talks with James Shillinglaw of Insider Travel Report at this month's Caribbean Week in New York, about what's new in her small Central American country on the Caribbean. Solano gives an update on visitor numbers, new and upcoming hotels, how to get to Belize and tourism infrastructure. Belize continues to be a great destination for diving, snorkeling, fishing, Mayan historical sites and small boutique resort stays. For more information on Belize, visit www.travelbelize.org.  All our Insider Travel Report video interviews are archived and available on our Youtube channel  (youtube.com/insidertravelreport), and as podcasts with the same title on: Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, TuneIn + Alexa, Podbean,  iHeartRadio,  Google, Amazon Music/Audible, Deezer, Podcast Addict, and iTunes Apple Podcasts, which supports Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro and Castbox. 

Send us Fan MailEpisode 458 — Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There (Part 39)A Bonus Show: A Couple of Stories by Bob DoleAs our journey through the life and career of Bob Dole continues, we take a brief detour from the main narrative to share a collection of fascinating stories that simply deserved to be heard.Over the course of researching this series, we encountered a number of memorable moments from Dole's oral history interviews that, while not essential to the chronological story, offered unique insights into his experiences, personality, and remarkable career. Rather than leave them on the cutting room floor, we've gathered them together for this special bonus episode.We begin with reflections on Dole's life and legacy from Karl Rove, recorded during FOX News coverage of Dole's funeral, providing context for how his colleagues and admirers remembered him after his passing.From there, Dole takes center stage, telling stories in his own words, including:• His meeting with Saddam Hussein and the impressions he took away from the encounter • His experiences meeting Daniel Ortega during a turbulent period in Central American politics • A fascinating story involving Slobodan Milošević during the conflicts that reshaped the Balkans • His work with Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the effort to preserve and strengthen Social SecurityThese stories highlight a side of Bob Dole that often gets overlooked — the diplomat, the negotiator, the observer of world events, and the Senate dealmaker who built relationships across party lines and around the globe.Some are humorous.Some are revealing.And all of them provide a deeper appreciation for a man whose public career spanned some of the most consequential decades of the twentieth century.Not every story fits neatly into history's timeline.But sometimes the stories left over are among the most interesting of all. Questions or comments at  , Randalrgw1@aol.com ,  https://twitter.com/randal_wallace   , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

CannCon and Zak Paine open GART week with a Monday show full of political fireworks before Deadwood. Trump called it on Truth Social over the weekend and it happened: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigns, becoming the seventh British leader in ten years. Zak connects Starmer's tenure to the Jimmy Savile prosecution he buried and the Pakistani rape gang cases he never brought. Colombia elects Trump-backed political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella in a razor-thin vote, and CannCon flags the remarkable connection: de la Espriella was the attorney for Alex Saab, the Maduro associate who briefed the Trump administration on Central American cartel corruption, making his election look like the Venezuela playbook in one more country. Chuck Schumer goes on MSNBC and inadvertently confirms 25 to 30 million people would come off the voter rolls under the SAVE America Act. Politico drops a hit piece on Ruben Gallego's PAC spending covering Disney trips, a St. Barts birthday, an au pair, and Super Bowl attendance with Eric Swalwell, and CannCon says something big is coming. Ilhan Omar's husband goes from a $30M net worth to negative $95,000 in one year. A federal judge clears the DOJ to hand Biden's audio tapes to the Heritage Foundation. And the Iran deal continues its on-again-off-again cycle as Trump threatens to take over the Strait of Hormuz entirely.

This week is a Q&A episode in two parts. In Part 1, I give you the honest, real-numbers breakdown of the four Central American countries we keep weighing for our family: Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Mexico. Rent, nannies, food, healthcare, schools, and flights from Canada. In Part 2, I answer three of the peptide questions you sent me: the Wolverine blend for an ACL tear, Selank vs psilocybin microdosing, and whether GHK-Cu actually works in a body cream.  Join The LongHer Life for women-specific guidance on peptides, hormones, and longevity.   Timestamps: 04:00 - The four-country comparison framework 08:00 - Nicaragua, San Juan del Sur 13:00 - Costa Rica, Guanacaste (Tamarindo, Nosara) 19:00 - Panama, the underrated dark horse 24:00 - Mexico, Riviera Maya (Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras) 30:00 - Side-by-side comparison: rent, nanny, healthcare, schools, food, flights 36:00 - Wolverine blend for ACL tear (BPC-157 + TB-500, blends vs. singles) 47:00 - Selank vs. psilocybin microdosing 58:00 - GHK-Cu body cream: does it actually work? 01:12:00 - Recap and where to go from here   Resources: My trusted Peptide Source Guide. Work with me one-on-one. The Her Stack Planner. Join The LongHer Life.   Let's connect: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook Shop my favorite health products Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music   Disclaimer: I am a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and educator, not your physician, nothing here is medical advice.

A roundup of Interwar US imperialism in four Central American countries

Send us Fan MailAndrea Mendoza is  top event rider who lives in Guatemala and is preparing for the Central American Games. S7 E11

New rules released by the Trump administration earlier this month will require Medicaid recipients with cancer and other conditions to prove they're too sick to work. The rule is part of new Medicaid eligibility requirements that take effect next year.  Colorado Medicaid director Adela Flores-Brennan explains how his state is preparing. Then, after decades of containment in the Central American tropics, the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating cattle parasite, has been detected in Texas and New Mexico. Veterinary entomologist Edwin Burgess explains what this means for U.S. livestock. And, a judge has temporarily restored the eligibility of Texas Tech University quarterback Brendan Sorsby after he acknowledged making thousands of impermissible bets worth at least $90,000 on college and professional sports. Front Office Sports reporter Amanda Christovich discusses the fallout from this decision.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In what I can only describe as a fantastic but slightly chaotic podcast episode it was great to be joined by 2x Symetra Tour winner, Former LPGA Tour player, 2016 Olympian for Mexico & current LET Access Series pro Alejandra Llaneza who phoned in from Madrid after competing in Santander Golf Tour event in preparation for getting her LET Access Series season for 2026 up and running this week in Czechia after finishing last season in the top 25 in the order of Merit standings which included a win at Santander Golf Tour Avila.  Ale is from the beautiful city of Mexico City and began the game at 6 years old before winning the first of her 7 Mexican Junior Championships at the age of 11. Ale would go to University of Arizona and would win Rookie of the Year for 2007-08 season before winning on Cactus Tour in 2011 as an amateur then turning pro in 2012.  There has been many pro highlights from Llaneza as she comes into her 14th season on tour as a pro with milestones such as winning Silver Medal at 2014 Central American & Caribbean Games in Veracruz, finishing 4th at 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, winning twice on Symetra Tour at 2015 Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Charity Classic & 2019 Garden City Charity Classic, competing on LPGA Tour for 4 years between 2013-17. Also playing in 5 Major Championship events at 3x KMPG PGA Championships, 1x US Women's Open & 1x Evian Championship but nothing I'm sure will compare to the sense of pride of being selected in 2016 to represent Mexico at Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro a truly memorable experience for Ale. Come for the great career journey and stay for the Fruity Taco, dancing to the Macarena & Tequila chat. Not laughed so much in an episode in a long long time Ale was an iconic guest and can't thank her enough! Download via Podbean, Apple Podcasts & Spotify, also on YouTube.

Episode 234Series: On the Mission Field - 29We are going back on the Mission field, this time with Missionary Bree Wiley. Bree believes God has called her to work with season missionaries to open and run a Christian school in the Central American country of Belize. Once deputation is compete and she has amassed full support, establishing the school will be her sole purpose and effort. Join us as we learn about her salvation testimony, God's call on her life as an educator, and her conviction to share the gospel with the Belizean people. Belize has a rich history of the mixing of cultures through colonization, but more stark than that is the spiritual darkness that has persisted in the area for centuries, even. Who will go and tell them of the Savior? Bree has answered the call, seeking to minister not just to school children, but also to their families.Listen to the Removing Barriers Podcast here:Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cutt.ly/Ega8YeI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cutt.ly/Vga2SVd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edifi: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cutt.ly/Meec7nsv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cutt.ly/mga8A77⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podnews: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podnews.net/podcast/i4jxo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠See all our platforms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://removingbarriers.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact us:Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://removingbarriers.net/contact⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Financially support the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://removingbarriers.net/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Affiliates:Book Shop: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bookshop.org/shop/removingbarriers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Books.com: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/home?event=AFF&p=1236574⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fastmail: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://join.fastmail.com/8e23c12b⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠See all our affiliates: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://removingbarriers.net/affiliates⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Notes:Help with School supplies: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1B2ZLPUCNVKHD?ref_=wl_share Bree's Website: http://breetobelize.com/Beacon Belize Missions Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beaconbelize.missions"Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585071690888

A Praxis of Persistence: Central American Feminist Testimony and Sustainable Activism (SUNY Press, 2026) by Dr. Kenna Neitch establishes persistence as a framework for understanding methods of feminist activism in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Blending literary and ethnographic approaches, Dr. Neitch analyzes texts produced by activist movements from the 1980s to 2020—from collective testimonio to institutional publications (encuentros) to social media—and connects them to the movements' cultural impact and organizing practices, such as generative conflict, horizontal cross-border networks, and what she terms strategic adaptability. What these texts and practices have in common, Dr. Neitch argues, is feminist persistence—a balance of action, preservation, and creation adaptable across contexts. A Praxis of Persistence provides one of the first scholarly accounts of #MeToo in Central America while remaining grounded in the region's lineage of activism against sexual violence. Through the framework of persistence, this book highlights the vitality of Central American women's activism and offers a repertoire of methods for reckoning with the realities of uneven progress in feminist struggle. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A Praxis of Persistence: Central American Feminist Testimony and Sustainable Activism (SUNY Press, 2026) by Dr. Kenna Neitch establishes persistence as a framework for understanding methods of feminist activism in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Blending literary and ethnographic approaches, Dr. Neitch analyzes texts produced by activist movements from the 1980s to 2020—from collective testimonio to institutional publications (encuentros) to social media—and connects them to the movements' cultural impact and organizing practices, such as generative conflict, horizontal cross-border networks, and what she terms strategic adaptability. What these texts and practices have in common, Dr. Neitch argues, is feminist persistence—a balance of action, preservation, and creation adaptable across contexts. A Praxis of Persistence provides one of the first scholarly accounts of #MeToo in Central America while remaining grounded in the region's lineage of activism against sexual violence. Through the framework of persistence, this book highlights the vitality of Central American women's activism and offers a repertoire of methods for reckoning with the realities of uneven progress in feminist struggle. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

A Praxis of Persistence: Central American Feminist Testimony and Sustainable Activism (SUNY Press, 2026) by Dr. Kenna Neitch establishes persistence as a framework for understanding methods of feminist activism in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Blending literary and ethnographic approaches, Dr. Neitch analyzes texts produced by activist movements from the 1980s to 2020—from collective testimonio to institutional publications (encuentros) to social media—and connects them to the movements' cultural impact and organizing practices, such as generative conflict, horizontal cross-border networks, and what she terms strategic adaptability. What these texts and practices have in common, Dr. Neitch argues, is feminist persistence—a balance of action, preservation, and creation adaptable across contexts. A Praxis of Persistence provides one of the first scholarly accounts of #MeToo in Central America while remaining grounded in the region's lineage of activism against sexual violence. Through the framework of persistence, this book highlights the vitality of Central American women's activism and offers a repertoire of methods for reckoning with the realities of uneven progress in feminist struggle. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies

A Praxis of Persistence: Central American Feminist Testimony and Sustainable Activism (SUNY Press, 2026) by Dr. Kenna Neitch establishes persistence as a framework for understanding methods of feminist activism in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Blending literary and ethnographic approaches, Dr. Neitch analyzes texts produced by activist movements from the 1980s to 2020—from collective testimonio to institutional publications (encuentros) to social media—and connects them to the movements' cultural impact and organizing practices, such as generative conflict, horizontal cross-border networks, and what she terms strategic adaptability. What these texts and practices have in common, Dr. Neitch argues, is feminist persistence—a balance of action, preservation, and creation adaptable across contexts. A Praxis of Persistence provides one of the first scholarly accounts of #MeToo in Central America while remaining grounded in the region's lineage of activism against sexual violence. Through the framework of persistence, this book highlights the vitality of Central American women's activism and offers a repertoire of methods for reckoning with the realities of uneven progress in feminist struggle. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

A Praxis of Persistence: Central American Feminist Testimony and Sustainable Activism (SUNY Press, 2026) by Dr. Kenna Neitch establishes persistence as a framework for understanding methods of feminist activism in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Blending literary and ethnographic approaches, Dr. Neitch analyzes texts produced by activist movements from the 1980s to 2020—from collective testimonio to institutional publications (encuentros) to social media—and connects them to the movements' cultural impact and organizing practices, such as generative conflict, horizontal cross-border networks, and what she terms strategic adaptability. What these texts and practices have in common, Dr. Neitch argues, is feminist persistence—a balance of action, preservation, and creation adaptable across contexts. A Praxis of Persistence provides one of the first scholarly accounts of #MeToo in Central America while remaining grounded in the region's lineage of activism against sexual violence. Through the framework of persistence, this book highlights the vitality of Central American women's activism and offers a repertoire of methods for reckoning with the realities of uneven progress in feminist struggle. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

A Praxis of Persistence: Central American Feminist Testimony and Sustainable Activism (SUNY Press, 2026) by Dr. Kenna Neitch establishes persistence as a framework for understanding methods of feminist activism in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Blending literary and ethnographic approaches, Dr. Neitch analyzes texts produced by activist movements from the 1980s to 2020—from collective testimonio to institutional publications (encuentros) to social media—and connects them to the movements' cultural impact and organizing practices, such as generative conflict, horizontal cross-border networks, and what she terms strategic adaptability. What these texts and practices have in common, Dr. Neitch argues, is feminist persistence—a balance of action, preservation, and creation adaptable across contexts. A Praxis of Persistence provides one of the first scholarly accounts of #MeToo in Central America while remaining grounded in the region's lineage of activism against sexual violence. Through the framework of persistence, this book highlights the vitality of Central American women's activism and offers a repertoire of methods for reckoning with the realities of uneven progress in feminist struggle. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Interwar years America invaded many Central American and Caribbean countries. The major ones included Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. We start with the DR, 1916-1924, who nonetheless managed to get the Americans to withdraw.

Florida man orchestrated one of history's most audacious frauds in the 1820s by inventing "Poyais," a fictional Central American nation. On this episode, Josh Mills and Wayne McCarty are joined by the host of FMOFM's children's show, "The Sunny Coast Clubhouse," Payton Ward! The crew covers wild Florida Man headlines, blind presentations, and a direct sequel to last week's story. Headlines include: Florida woman drives big truck over Lamborghini and doesn't notice; Florida woman gets arrested for telling cops her name is Donald Duck. On mic: Josh Mills, Wayne McCarty, Payton Ward Each week, the Florida Men on Florida Man podcast blends comedy with the fascinating legends, lore, and history of the wildest state in the Union: Florida. Learn more at www.fmofm.com Support the show at www.patreon.com/fmofmpodcast

A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion w/Tom Libby & Jesan Sorrells---Delving into Joan Didion's A Book of Common Prayer, Jesan Sorrells and guest Tom Libby analyze the intersections of perception, privilege, and empathy within leadership. They discuss the pitfalls of solipsism, the evolving role of journalistic language, and how understanding regional and cultural context is essential for authentic engagement. The conversation expands to address practical empathy in business, the impact of technology on communication, and the necessity of fostering grounded values at home and in organizations.Book Title: A Book of Common PrayerAuthor: Joan DidionGuest: Jesan Sorrells (Host), Tom Libby (Co-Host)---Time-Stamped Overview---00:00 Introducing A Book of Common Prayer07:44 A challenging day so far12:28 Winning a Vogue essay contest19:28 Discussing an underrated author26:48 Discussing editors and literary history30:45 Discussing LLMs and word precision36:26 Charlotte at Boca Grande airport39:28 Joan Didion and Central American conflicts44:03 Objective reporting in conflict zones53:59 WNBA pay and revenue discussion58:28 Nature versus nurture discussion01:01:57 Self-improvement and career inspiration01:05:51 Money's Impact on Boca Grande01:14:35 Discussing sympathy versus empathy01:21:43 Discussion on failed assassination attempt01:25:31 Business lessons from the book01:27:57 Ending the conversation---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This episode marks the 50th anniversary of Operation Condor's assassination program, codenamed "Teseo" (Theseus). Condor was the coordinated campaign of state-sponsored terror carried out by U.S.-backed military dictatorships in South America during the 1970s and early 1980s. Our guest is Peter Kornbluh, director of the Cuba and Chile documentation projects at the National Security Archive, who has spent decades uncovering declassified documents and accounts about this dark chapter. Kornbluh explains that Operation Condor was a transnational collaboration among the secret police forces of Southern Cone military regimes to share intelligence, track, kidnap, and assassinate their political opponents across borders and even around the world. The operation was formally established in November 1975, with Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's secret police chief Manuel Contreras serving as the principal organizer. A particularly sinister component was Project Teseo, the assassination program established at a second meeting in Santiago in May 1976. Kornbluh describes declassified documents revealing the bureaucratic nature of this killing apparatus: monthly dues, membership fees, and detailed protocols for locating targets, carrying out assassinations, and escaping afterward. The most notorious Condor operation occurred on September 21, 1976, when a car bomb killed Orlando Letelier, Chile's former foreign minister under Salvador Allende, and his colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt in Washington, D.C.'s Sheridan Circle—the worst act of foreign terrorism in Washington until September 11, 2001. Kornbluh details the complicated U.S. role in these events. The CIA helped create and train intelligence services like Chile's DINA. However, agency officials grew concerned about Condor's blowback potential. Nonetheless, Ford administration officials, particularly Henry Kissinger, pulled back diplomatic efforts that might have prevented the Letelier-Moffitt attack. The conversation traces how accountability eventually came—partially. The Carter administration's response was "demonstrably weak," undermined by bureaucracies protecting their relationships with Southern Cone security forces. Under Reagan, Pinochet initially served as an ally in Central American counterinsurgency, though some distancing came later. Kornbluh reflects on how this history was uncovered through FOIA requests, congressional investigations, and special declassifications ordered under Clinton and later Obama. The Teseo documents only emerged in 2018—more than forty years after the program's creation. The episode concludes with sobering parallels to today: Daniel Ortega's regime sending assassins to kill opponents, Venezuelan agents murdering a military officer in Chile, and the current U.S. administration's killings on the high seas. Kornbluh expresses hope that those committing current human rights atrocities will eventually face accountability, just as Contreras spent his final years in prison and Pinochet faced arrest in London and Santiago.

Gary Dorrien came to organizing the hard way — canvassing for McGovern in Alma, Michigan in 1972, where people didn't just oppose the candidate, they despised him, and where two doorstep encounters came close enough to violence that he learned the hard way to pair up. He didn't come out of that thinking he'd found his calling. What he found instead was Michael Harrington at a Harvard Divinity School lecture two years later — corduroy jacket, blue work shirt, gently correcting his own introduction — and joined DSOC on the spot. This week's session gave us Gary's full origin story as an organizer: from the McGovern campaign to the Albany years where he co-founded a DSOC chapter, led Central American solidarity work through C-SPACE, and discovered firsthand the cultural chasm between two wings of the left that could barely stand to share a building. Then Aaron took over and introduced three extraordinary guests — Joe Strife,Colleen Wessel-McCoy, and Carolyn Baker — who brought the history of the National Welfare Rights Organization, Beulah Sanders, and the General Baker Institute directly into the room, and turned the question of who should lead into a live theological reckoning. Carolyn did the interview sitting on her mother's childhood porch steps in Dallas, recording oral history from a woman who is still organizing through dementia, which tells you everything you need to know about where this tradition lives and who carries it. If you haven't joined yet, come find us at www.HomebrewedClasses.com — donation-based, including zero. You get Gary's full lecture series, Aaron's supplemental interviews with scholars and organizers, curated readings, discussion guides, and the online community. Next week: James Cone with Charlene Sinclair.  You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube Previous Episodes with Gary or Aaron ⁠the Niebuhr You Thought You Knew⁠ ⁠What Would a New Abolition Be? Gary Dorrien on the Black Social Gospel, Ida B. Wells & Reverdy Ransom⁠ ⁠Social Ethics for This Moment⁠ ⁠What God Do They Worship In There? The Black Social Gospel and the Crisis of American Christianity⁠ ⁠Theological Ethics & Liberal Protestantism⁠ ⁠James Cone and the Emergence of Black Theology⁠ ⁠The Future of Faith & Justice ⁠ ⁠Theology for Action⁠ ⁠The Sacred, The Political, and Why We're All Vulnerable⁠ Come keep thinking with us — ⁠⁠Theology Beer Camp 2026⁠⁠ This is exactly what we will be sitting with at ⁠⁠Theology Beer Camp this October 8–10 in Kansas City⁠⁠. Our theme this year is the God-podcalypse. Cornell West is coming. So are a lot of your favorite theologians and podcasters and six hundred of your soon-to-be-favorite people. We are going to think together about what it means to be a people of faith in catastrophic times — without deodorizing the catastrophe, and without giving despair the last word. Don't wait. → ⁠⁠TheologyBeer.Camp⁠ JOIN ⁠⁠⁠THE CLASS - Theology for Troublemakers: Christian Social Ethics from the Margins⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ This 6-week online course, led by Dr. Gary Dorrien and Dr. Aaron Stauffer, recovers the radical tradition of Christian social ethics — from Reverdy Ransom and Reinhold Niebuhr to James Cone and the Welfare Rights Movement — and asks what faithfulness demands of us right now. Weekly lectures, live Q&A conversations, guest lecturers, and an online community included.

It's the 35th anniversary of the protests that rocked D.C.'s Mount Pleasant neighborhood after the police shooting of El Salvadoran immigrant Daniel Gomez. Ellie Walton and Quique Aviles, creators of the documentary ‘La Manplesa: An Uprising Remembered', are here to explain what happened and why they think it was a turning point for D.C.'s Central American communities. The documentary is showing for free at Lamont plaza in Mount Pleasant this Friday May 8. Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter Hey DC. You can also become a member, with ad-free listening, for as little as $8 a month.  Learn more about the sponsors of this May 5th episode: TodayTix Window Nation Alliance Française Washington DC Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE

Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders (U Arizona Press, 2026) reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement to the post–civil war era, Arely M. Zimmerman offers a powerful ethnographic account of how migrants challenge exclusionary state practices and redefine citizenship on their own terms using transnational networks and revolutionary politics that transcend borders.Drawing on nearly fifty interviews with activists who fled El Salvador, Zimmerman traces how political refugees carried with them strategies of resistance and community organizing that shaped social justice movements in the United States. The book addresses the political turmoil and grassroots mobilizations in El Salvador, the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, contemporary activism, and the impact of women's strategies and forms of resistance.Essential reading for scholars and students of migration, Central American studies, and political movements, Contentious Citizenship is a bold intervention into contemporary debates on identity, legality, and resistance. Zimmerman's work honors the ingenuity and resilience of Salvadoran activists and invites readers to consider what it means to belong. This interview was conducted by Mary Reynolds, publicity manager for the University of Arizona Press. Her book, The Quake That Drained the Desert (forthcoming in 2026) investigates the 1887 borderlands earthquake that changed surface water and groundwater in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latino-studies

Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders (U Arizona Press, 2026) reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement to the post–civil war era, Arely M. Zimmerman offers a powerful ethnographic account of how migrants challenge exclusionary state practices and redefine citizenship on their own terms using transnational networks and revolutionary politics that transcend borders.Drawing on nearly fifty interviews with activists who fled El Salvador, Zimmerman traces how political refugees carried with them strategies of resistance and community organizing that shaped social justice movements in the United States. The book addresses the political turmoil and grassroots mobilizations in El Salvador, the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, contemporary activism, and the impact of women's strategies and forms of resistance.Essential reading for scholars and students of migration, Central American studies, and political movements, Contentious Citizenship is a bold intervention into contemporary debates on identity, legality, and resistance. Zimmerman's work honors the ingenuity and resilience of Salvadoran activists and invites readers to consider what it means to belong. This interview was conducted by Mary Reynolds, publicity manager for the University of Arizona Press. Her book, The Quake That Drained the Desert (forthcoming in 2026) investigates the 1887 borderlands earthquake that changed surface water and groundwater in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders (U Arizona Press, 2026) reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement to the post–civil war era, Arely M. Zimmerman offers a powerful ethnographic account of how migrants challenge exclusionary state practices and redefine citizenship on their own terms using transnational networks and revolutionary politics that transcend borders.Drawing on nearly fifty interviews with activists who fled El Salvador, Zimmerman traces how political refugees carried with them strategies of resistance and community organizing that shaped social justice movements in the United States. The book addresses the political turmoil and grassroots mobilizations in El Salvador, the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, contemporary activism, and the impact of women's strategies and forms of resistance.Essential reading for scholars and students of migration, Central American studies, and political movements, Contentious Citizenship is a bold intervention into contemporary debates on identity, legality, and resistance. Zimmerman's work honors the ingenuity and resilience of Salvadoran activists and invites readers to consider what it means to belong. This interview was conducted by Mary Reynolds, publicity manager for the University of Arizona Press. Her book, The Quake That Drained the Desert (forthcoming in 2026) investigates the 1887 borderlands earthquake that changed surface water and groundwater in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders (U Arizona Press, 2026) reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement to the post–civil war era, Arely M. Zimmerman offers a powerful ethnographic account of how migrants challenge exclusionary state practices and redefine citizenship on their own terms using transnational networks and revolutionary politics that transcend borders.Drawing on nearly fifty interviews with activists who fled El Salvador, Zimmerman traces how political refugees carried with them strategies of resistance and community organizing that shaped social justice movements in the United States. The book addresses the political turmoil and grassroots mobilizations in El Salvador, the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, contemporary activism, and the impact of women's strategies and forms of resistance.Essential reading for scholars and students of migration, Central American studies, and political movements, Contentious Citizenship is a bold intervention into contemporary debates on identity, legality, and resistance. Zimmerman's work honors the ingenuity and resilience of Salvadoran activists and invites readers to consider what it means to belong. This interview was conducted by Mary Reynolds, publicity manager for the University of Arizona Press. Her book, The Quake That Drained the Desert (forthcoming in 2026) investigates the 1887 borderlands earthquake that changed surface water and groundwater in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders (U Arizona Press, 2026) reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement to the post–civil war era, Arely M. Zimmerman offers a powerful ethnographic account of how migrants challenge exclusionary state practices and redefine citizenship on their own terms using transnational networks and revolutionary politics that transcend borders.Drawing on nearly fifty interviews with activists who fled El Salvador, Zimmerman traces how political refugees carried with them strategies of resistance and community organizing that shaped social justice movements in the United States. The book addresses the political turmoil and grassroots mobilizations in El Salvador, the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, contemporary activism, and the impact of women's strategies and forms of resistance.Essential reading for scholars and students of migration, Central American studies, and political movements, Contentious Citizenship is a bold intervention into contemporary debates on identity, legality, and resistance. Zimmerman's work honors the ingenuity and resilience of Salvadoran activists and invites readers to consider what it means to belong. This interview was conducted by Mary Reynolds, publicity manager for the University of Arizona Press. Her book, The Quake That Drained the Desert (forthcoming in 2026) investigates the 1887 borderlands earthquake that changed surface water and groundwater in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Join us today for another re-mastered classic Mormon Stories episode! This interview with Dr. Michael Coe is one of the most important Mormon Stories episodes to date. In order to introduce this significant conversation to our newer audiences, we have compiled it into a single episode and re-broadcasting it. The original description for this episode reads,"Dr. Michael Coe is the Charles J. MacCurdy professor emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University and curator emeritus of the Division of Anthropology at the school's Peabody Museum of Natural History. He is an expert on the Maya, who inhabited the same part of Mexico and Central American where Mormon scholars say the events of the Book of Mormon took place. In this interview, Coe discusses the challenges facing Mormon archaeologists attempting to prove the historical truth of their central scripture and his own views on Joseph Smith."This episode originally aired in August 2011, and was titled "Dr. Michael Coe – An Outsider's View of Book of Mormon Archaeology" (episodes 268-270). A follow-up conversation was filmed and released in April 2018, which will be re-broadcasted this week as well.___________________YouTubeAt Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals.  Our overall mission is to: 1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions

Full Text of Readings Fourth Sunday of Easter Lectionary: 49 The Saint of the day is Saint Pedro de San José Betancur Saint Pedro de San José Betancur's Story Central America claimed its first saint with the canonization of Pedro de San José Betancur. Known as the “Saint Francis of the Americas,” Pedro de Betancur is the first saint to have worked and died in Guatemala. Saint Pedro de San José Betancur very much wanted to become a priest, but God had other plans for the young man born into a poor family on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Pedro was a shepherd until age 24, when he began to make his way to Guatemala, hoping to connect with a relative engaged in government service there. By the time he reached Thavana, he was out of money. After working there to earn more, he got to Guatemala City the following year. When he arrived, he was so destitute that he joined the breadline that the Franciscans had established. Soon, Saint Pedro de San José Betancur enrolled in the local Jesuit college in hopes of studying for the priesthood. No matter how hard he tried, however, he could not master the material; he withdrew from school. In 1655, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order. Three years later, he opened a hospital for the convalescent poor; a shelter for the homeless, and a school for the poor soon followed. Not wanting to neglect the rich of Guatemala City, Pedro began walking through their part of town ringing a bell and inviting them to repent. Other men came to share in Pedro's work. Out of this group came the Bethlehemite Congregation, which won papal approval after Pedro's death. A Bethlehemite sisters' community, similarly founded after Pedro's death, was inspired by his life of prayer and compassion. He is sometimes credited with originating the Christmas Eve posadas procession in which people representing Mary and Joseph seek a night's lodging from their neighbors. The custom soon spread to Mexico and other Central American countries. Saint Pedro de San José Betancur died in 1667, and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in Guatemala City on July 30, 2002. Calling the new saint an “outstanding example” of Christian mercy, the Holy Father noted that Saint Pedro practiced mercy “heroically with the lowliest and the most deprived.” Speaking to the estimated 500,000 Guatemalans in attendance, the Holy Father spoke of the social ills that plague the country today and of the need for change. “Let us think of the children and young people who are homeless or deprived of an education; of abandoned women with their many needs; of the hordes of social outcasts who live in the cities; of the victims of organized crime, of prostitution or of drugs; of the sick who are neglected and the elderly who live in loneliness,” he said in his homily during the three-hour liturgy. The liturgical feast of Saint Pedro de San José Betancur is celebrated on April 25. Reflection As humans, we often pride ourselves on our ability to reason. We believe we can always find an explanation for everything. But as Pedro's life shows, other skills may be an even more crucial element of our humanity than a clever mind: compassion, imagination, love. Unable to master studies for the priesthood despite his ardent efforts, Pedro responded to the needs of homeless and sick people; he provided education to the poor and salvation to the rich. He became holy—as fully human as any of us can ever be.Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Costa Rican star Debi Nova joins field biologist and Re:wild's Mesoamerica Director Esteban Brenes-Mora for our first-ever Central American taping. Recorded in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, the conversation centers on Debi's album Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción (“Everything Can Become a Song”), exploring the challenges and gifts of rewilding, what drives Costa Rica's remarkable biodiversity, Debi's impression of the Judas bird—the Cristofué (“it was Christ”)—the bathroom habits of tapirs, and what it means to find balance and coexistence between humans, animals, and the ecosystems we share. Read the transcript of this episode:https://www.singforscience.org/transcripts/debi-nova-todo-puede-convertirse-en-cancinFor further reading and listening:Improving Health and Well-Being Through Nature - W.H.O.https://www.who.int/europe/activities/improving-health-and-well-being-through-natureCosta Rica's Tapir Resurgence Sparks Hope for ‘Gardeners of the Forest' - thegef.orghttps://www.thegef.org/newsroom/feature-stories/costa-ricas-tapir-resurgence-sparks-hope-gardeners-forestDebi Nova: Todo Puede Convertirse en Canciónhttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5OUSPO2MSCouIXwisPnaMjCs_4Gl7LhhAbout the Guests:Debi NovaSinger, songwriter, dancer, and multi-instrumentalist from San Jose, Costa Rica. She's considered the most successful Costa Rican artist in history, and the most streamed Costa Rican artist on Spotify.debinova.comEsteban Brenes-MoraConservation biologist specializing in wildlife management, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable development across Mesoamerica.https://www.rewild.org/team/esteban-brenes-mora

Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠ In this segment, Analytic Dreamz provides an in-depth analysis of Aitana's “Superestrella,” the fourth and final single from her album Cuarto Azul. Born Aitana Ocaña Morales on June 27, 1999, in Barcelona, Spain, Aitana rose to fame as runner-up on Operación Triunfo 2017. Signed to Universal Music Spain, she has secured five Spanish #1 singles including “Lo Malo” and “Teléfono,” with albums such as Spoiler (2019, Latin Grammy-nominated), 11 Razones (2020), Alpha (2023), and Cuarto Azul (2025), the latter earning a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Pop Album and a win for packaging.Clocking in at 3 minutes and 3 seconds, “Superestrella” was released on October 31, 2025, approximately five months after the album dropped on May 30, 2025. Produced by Nicolás Cotton and co-written by Aitana, Carolina Colón, and Cotton, the track centers on themes of confidence, nightlife, and self-worth. It has been described as an explosion of confidence by Los 40, while receiving some critique for feeling less fun than it pretends and touching on fame.In Spain, the song debuted at #22, peaked at #2, and reached #1 on airplay charts. It finished 2025 at #26 on the year-end chart and earned 3× Platinum certification for 300,000 units. Internationally, it reached #13 on the US Hot Latin Pop Songs chart, #58 on the Argentina Hot 100, and placed between #2 and #6 on airplay charts in Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, and other Central American markets.Streaming metrics show impressive longevity with over 113 million Spotify streams by late March 2026, a peak daily high of 951,000 streams, and a #1 position on Spain Spotify achieved months after the album release. The 3× Platinum certification was driven primarily by streaming equivalents with minimal reliance on physical sales. Additional boosts came from the album visualizer, the delayed single release, and multiple remixes including a techno version and a DAVIRU collaboration.Analytic Dreamz examines how “Superestrella” exemplifies a slow-burn streaming success model. Rather than immediate chart dominance, the track built organic momentum through sustained airplay dominance in Spain and strong regional performance across Latin America. This delayed viral effect, combined with the album's Latin Grammy momentum, extended its lifecycle well into 2026. The song reinforces Aitana's status as a top-tier Spanish and Latin pop artist with dominant regional presence, though it has not yet achieved major global crossover beyond Spanish-speaking markets.This segment breaks down the strategic timing, consumption patterns, and commercial impact that made “Superestrella” a standout example of modern pop success in the streaming era.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week we talk about the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and decapitation attacks.We also discuss Venezuela, Iran, and the Platt Amendment.Recommended Book: The Will of the Many by James IslingtonTranscriptCuba is a large island nation, about the same size as the US state of Tennessee, which formally gained its independence from Spain in late 1898, following three wars of independence, the last of which brought the US, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines into play against the Spanish when the Spanish military sunk the USS Maine in Havana Harbor, triggering the Spanish-American War.That conflict, which Spain lost, led to the US's acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and it led to a piece of US legislation called the Platt Amendment, which redefined the relationship between the US and Cuba, following the war, making Cuba a protectorate of the United States, the US promising to leave, withdrawing its troops from Cuban soil, only if seven conditions were met, and an additional provision that Cuba sign a treaty indicating they would continue to adhere to these conditions moving forward—making them permanent.Most of these conditions relate to Cuba's ability to enter into relationships with other nations, but provision three also says the US can intervene if doing so will preserve Cuban independence, and that Cuba will sell or lease to the US the land it needs to base its naval vessels in the area, so that it can intervene, militarily if necessary, to keep Cuba independent.The other provisions are largely related to ensuring Cuba stays financially solvent and clean, the former meant to help maintain that independence, so Cuba doesn't make deals with other nations, perhaps US enemies, in order to bail itself out when financially in trouble, and the latter meant to help prevent the bubbling up of diseases in a not well-maintained Cuba, that might then spread to the US.These concerns were concerns for the US government because Cuba is very, very close to the US. It's just over 90 miles away from Key West, Florida, and that means in the mind of those tasked with defending the US against foreign incursion, Cuba has long represented an uncontrolled variable where enemies could conceivably base all sorts of military assets, including but not limited to nuclear weapons.That makes Cuba, again, in the minds of defense strategists looking to help the US secure its borders, long-term, something like an aircraft carrier slash nuclear submarine the size of Tennessee, located so close to the US that it could take out all sorts of major assets in a flash, long before the US could respond, getting the same sorts of strike craft and missiles to the Soviet Union.This framing of the situation, and this collection of concerns, is what led to the Cuban Missile Crisis back in 1962, when the US deployed nuclear weapons in the UK, Italy, and Turkey, all of which were closer to major Soviet hubs than the US, and that led to a tit-for-tat move by the Soviets to deploy nuclear missiles to Cuba, both to get their own weapons closer to the US, just as the US did to them with those new deployments, but also to deter a potential US invasion of Cuba, which was a staunch ally of the Soviet Union.The crisis lasted 13 days, and though then US President Kennedy was advised to launch an air strike against Soviet missile supplies, and to then invade the Cuban mainland to prevent the basing of Soviet nuclear weapons there, he instead opted for a naval blockade of Cuba, hoping to keep more missile supplies from arriving, and to thus avoid a strike on a Soviet ally that could accidentally spark a shooting war.After this nearly two-week standoff, the US and Soviet leaders agreed that the Soviets would dismantle the offensive weapons they were building in Cuba in exchange for a public declaration by the US to not invade Cuba. The US also secretly pledged to dismantle its own offensive weapons that it had recently deployed to Italy and Turkey, and the weapons they deployed to the UK were also disbanded the following year.This sequence of events is generally seen as a minor victory for the US during an especially fraught portion of the Cold War, as that secret agreement between Kennedy and Soviet leader Khrushchev meant that the Soviet people and leadership perceived this agreement as an embarrassing loss, and an example of Soviet weakness on the international stage—they blinked and the US got what they wanted without giving much of anything, though of course, again, the US gave a fair bit too, just in secret.What I'd like to talk about today is a recent escalation in the US's posture toward Cuba, and what might happen next, as a result of that change.—In early January 2026, the US military, ostensibly as part of a larger effort aimed at disrupting a network of watercraft that carry drugs from mostly South and Central American drugmakers across the border, into US markets, called Operation Southern Spear, the United States implemented a new blockade aimed at sanctioned oil tankers carrying fuel from Venezuela to, among other destinations, Cuban ports.Shortly before this blockade was declared, the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, then harassed, boarded, and intimidated other tankers, including one from Russia, that were also dealing in Venezuelan oil—something that US sanctions disallowed, and which the Trump administration had decided to focus on, ostensibly as part of that anti-drug effort, but also seemingly as part of a then-impending mission to kidnap Venezuelan President Maduro, who was then secreted away to the US to face trial, which is where he is, today.These seizures hit Cuba especially hard because the country is highly reliant on all sorts of imports, much of its income derived from tourism, not manufacturing or raw materials, and fuel coming from Venezuela was especially vital—about 72% of Cuba's electricity generation comes from oil-fueled power plants, and basically its entire transportation section is reliant on the same.Venezuela under Maduro also provided oil to Cuba at a discount, subsidizing it because those US sanctions didn't allow Venezuela to have many other reliable customers, and because the authoritarian governments of these two nations saw each other as fellow-travelers in the region, and thus wanted to keep each other propped up against constant pressure from the US and other democracies in the Americas.As of March 2026, Cuba has gone without crude oil deliveries for three months, and this has led to waves of flight cancellations and a depletion of tourism, which again, is the country's most vital income source. As of mid-March, Cuba's energy grid has also collapsed, which has left about 10 million people without power most of the time, amplifying existing problems caused by the country's antiquated energy generation and distribution systems.All of which seems to be according to plan for the second US Trump administration, which announced, as far back as January of this year, that it was seeking regime change in Cuba, and these blackouts have triggered exceedingly rare violent protests against that regime by Cuban citizens; these protests haven't led to any real change or consequences yet, but they could, with time.For their part, the Cuban government has said they've entered diplomatic talks with the US, and they've already agreed to release 51 political prisoners, just as an up-front, good will gesture. But they've also said changes to the Cuban political system or government—which is an authoritarian regime with absolute power, and which, like most such regimes, is openly corrupt, those in charge enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else, while keeping control via state-sanctioned violence against its own citizens—they've said changing that is non-negotiable, also noting that if there is direct aggression against Cuba by the US, they'll fight and offer up “impenetrable resistance.'The change that the US government seeks is reportedly similar to what was accomplished in Venezuela: booting the current leader, but keeping the existing regime, the power behind the publicly visible throne, intact, and then the US government influencing that existing regime from afar.This deviates from the assumed model, attempted by previous US and other governments throughout history, to boot the leaders of opposing government types and then replace them, and the local system, with something closer to their own. This new approach is possibly what the Trump administration is aiming for in Iran, as well, though it's difficult to say how well the model will work even in Venezuela, where it's still early days after the US's seemingly successful decapitation attack, much less in places like Cuba, where there's no single central power in the public-facing government, much of that power spread between Communist Party leaders, rather than hoarded by a single individual—a far cry from how things were under Castro during the Cold War.As of the day I'm recording this, there's a new wrinkle in this blockade: a Russian oil tanker has been tracked heading along a trajectory that would seem to lead to Cuba, which, if accurate, could put the US and Russia at odds over deliveries to the island once more—though in this case it would be oil instead of offensive nuclear weapons that are on board the incursionary vessel.This ship may veer off that current course and head elsewhere, or it could be meant to test the US oil blockade, intentionally poking at what seems to be an impenetrable barrier, to see if it's all just talk. Even if just that one tanker makes it through, it's carrying enough oil to provide about a week's worth of energy to the Cuban people, which could serve as a sort of release valve on the pressure-cooker stress that has led to the aforementioned protests against the government.Most analysts expect this and future vessels will turn off when formally confronted, though, and this isn't the first ship that's attempted to break this new blockade of Cuba; and previous attempters have indeed pulled off before a shot was fired by the blockading fleet.Trump has in recent weeks said that he believes he'll be able to take Cuba, and/or do whatever he wants to the island and its people, and that could just be talk, or it could be that, like in Venezuela, and to some degree Iran, many of the locals would welcome that kind of change, despite the violence and suffering that would no doubt come with it.In the meantime, though, millions of Cubans are going without reliable energy, food, medical care, and other modern necessities, which could push them to take the risk of revolutionary action, but it could also turn them against the outside enemy, reinforcing support for the tyrannical Cuban government against the harmful and oppressive actions of the American military, rather than nudging them into government overthrow.Show Noteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platt_Amendmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cubahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Cuban_crisishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisishttps://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cubas-national-electric-grid-collapses-says-grid-operator-2026-03-16https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/world/americas/cuba-fuel-blockade-aid-convoy.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/travel/cuba-flights-travel-advice-power-oil.htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-says-its-presidents-term-not-subject-negotiation-talks-with-us-2026-03-20/https://www.dw.com/en/cuba-faces-economic-collapse-as-us-oil-blockade-hits-tourism/video-76398387 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe