Podcasts about czarist russia

Robert Bruce Lockhart was at various times in his life a diplomat, a conspirator, an gatherer of intelligence, and a propagandist. He was always a maverick, a charmer, a bit of a cad with a touch of the bounder, and a devotee of the high life when he could afford it, and often when he could not.  In his busy life he ran a Malaya rubber plantation; served as a diplomat in Czarist Russia; and was first an interlocutor with and then a conspirator against the Bolshevik leaders of the early Soviet Union. After imprisonment and expulsion from the Soviet Union, he ricocheted about Europe as a journalist and memoirist, before ending up as head of the shadowy and creative Political Warfare Executive. Throughout his life he seemed to be an escapee from a John Buchan novel like The Thirty-Nine Steps, or Greemantle, albeit one with a much higher sex drive.  With me to talk about Robert Bruce Lockhart is James Crossland, Professor of International History at Liverpool John Moores University, where he is co-director of the Centre for Modern and Contemporary History. His interests are in—among other things—terrorism, propaganda, the International Red Cross and the history of international humanitarian law. He was last on the podcast in Episode 353 to talk about his book The Rise of the Devils: Fear and the Origins of Modern Terrorism. His newest book is Rogue Agent: From Secret Plots to Psychological Warfare, the Untold Story of Robert Bruce Lockhart. Some related podcasts in the archive are Jonathan Schneer on the Lockhart Plot; Anna Reid on the Russian Civil War; and–well, I mentioned it, oddly enough–Ben Jones on the Jedburghs.

Why does Vladimir Putin often say that the West is conspiring to weaken Russia? Historian James Crossland traces this narrative back to a British intelligence officer and a failed assassination attempt on Vladimir Lenin in 1918. The story is featured in his new book, Rogue Agent, from Secret Plots to Psychological Warfare, the Untold Story of Robert Bruce Lockhart. James takes us into Lockhart's psyche and lays out how a single moment in the dying days of Czarist Russia helped fuel a century of paranoia and rifts. SPY Artifact Highlight: Trotsky Ice Axe  If you liked this episode, check out these links: Sidney Reilly: Master Spy with Benny Morris Accessory to a Mission - Gadgets and Gear For The Well-Dressed Spy SpyCast | Rise of Devils - The Origin of Modern Terrorism with James Crossland Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts.   Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/  And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at SpyCast@Spymuseum.org.  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just in time for Hanukkah, comes a century-old-tale of a young Jewish boy's courage to take on an adult's responsibilities as chief light keeper in his Russian shtetl. It's the true story of Ottawa's Samuel Saslove, who stepped up to keep his community's brand new electric street lights working, at the tender age of ten. Saslove arrived in Canada in the 1920s and while he didn't divulge much about his experiences growing up in “the old country”, his daughter, Sheila Baslaw, preserved those memories for decades. Now, at 92, Baslaw has found a whole new audience for her father's inspiring tale of bravery and resilience. Her debut children's book “The Light Keeper”, co-written with Karen Levine of “Hana's Suitcase” fame, has just been published by Second Story Press and is already a Heather's Pick at Indigo. While Baslaw's father did have to overcome antisemitism–and the persecution of Jews in Czarist Russia that sparked mass emigration to this country in the 1900s–her book's message deliberately highlights the universal challenges many of her young readers could face. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Sheila Baslaw joins along with her co-author to explain why it's never too late to learn a new skill. What we talked about: Learn more and buy 'The Light Keeper' book at Second Story Press. Read more about Hana's Suitcase, the true story of the Brady family, on The CJN Daily. Hear more stories about the author's family in her oral history with the Ottawa Jewish Archives from 2001. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Brethren, this Short Talk Bulletin Podcast episode was written by Bro Robert Morris, GL of MA, and is brought to us by Bro Colin Britton, Freeport #23, ME. Born Israel Beilin to Jewish parents in Czarist Russia in 1888, the family escaped persecution and emigrated to America when he was still a child. His father […]

Mark Galeotti is a historian, an essayist, a podcaster, and the author of many books including "A Short History of Russia: How the World's Largest Country Invented Itself, from the Pagans to Putin."------------Book Dan to do an interview or a meeting------------Keep Talking SubstackSpotifyApple PodcastsSocial media and all episodes------------Support via VenmoSupport on SubstackSupport on Patreon------------(00:00) Intro(01:00) Czarist Russia at the beginning of the 20th century(03:50) The Russian Revolution(08:00) World War I and The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk(11:52) Lenin and Stalin(17:00) The Great Terror(21:02) Russia during World War II(28:15) How close were the Nazis to taking over the Soviet Union?(29:50) Russia and The Cold War(37:05) Why Soviets no longer believed in Marxism(39:35) The life and rise of Vladimir Putin(45:35) Putin, Yeltsin, and the turn of the century(51:56) How do we misunderstand the modern Russian government?(55:05) Alexei Navalny(59:20) The war with Ukraine

Following the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, there were several attempts of the Polish people to revolt against Czarist Russia or Austria during the 19th century. An interesting component of this story is the Polish patriotic position adopted by one of the most prominent Polish rabbis of the 19th century, Rav Dov Ber Meizlish (1798-1870). As a wealthy businessman and learned scholar, Rav Meizlish emerged as a public activist and leading spokesman on behalf of the Jewish community, successively serving in the rabbinate of the two largest and most prominent communities in all of Poland – Krakow & Warsaw. Following a contentious tenure at the helm of the Krakow rabbinate in which his leadership wasn't accepted by the entire community, and where he served as a Jewish representative in the Austrian parliament, he was appointed chief rabbi of Warsaw in 1857. During the 1863 Polish revolt against Czarist Russia, he took a prominent and public position in support of Polish independence. Following his passing in 1870 he was remembered not only by the Jewish community, but across Poland as an ardent patriot.   Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/   Subscribe to Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ or your favorite podcast platform Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history or feedback contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  

Today we talk with Mike Berliner and Anu Seppala about their book, Russia to America: A Guide to Ayn Rand Homes and Sites. We cover Miss Rand's journey from Czarist Russia to the United States and the homes and business offices she lived in/used during her remarkable life.Call-to-Action: After you have listened to this episode, add your $0.02 (two cents) to the conversation, by joining (for free) The Secular Foxhole Town Hall. Feel free to introduce yourself to the other members, discuss the different episodes, give us constructive feedback, or check out the virtual room, Speakers' Corner, and step up on the digital soapbox. Welcome to our new place in cyberspace!Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:Russia to America: A Guide to Ayn Rand Homes and Sites100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn RandNight of January 16thSeptember 2 (Change Your Life. Read Atlas Shrugged)Bosch Fawstin's drawing (print), September 2GreenhornRichard NeutraHollywood Studio ClubCecil B. DeMilleOuray, ColoradoPodcasting 2.0TrueFansFrank Lloyd WrightThe FountainheadPerfect 3636-24-36 (measurement)"Why I like Stamp Collecting"Ayn Rand: A Sense of LifeThe Music of We the LivingHow Music Saved a Life: Ayn Rand and OperettaEmmerich Kálmán

The Jewish enlightenment movement – known as the Haskala, endeavored to implement changes within the Jewish communal structure in the modern era. Though the haskala in its many manifestations existed in many countries in the modern era, this episode will focus on the haskala in 19th century Czarist Russia. Throughout the 19th century, the haskala grew into somewhat of a movement, and promulgated initiatives to integrate Russian Jewry into surrounding society, through changes in communal infrastructure, education, economy, rabbinate and culture. Often working with the governmental authorities, the haskala faced much opposition from the traditional establishment. The story of the haskala, its limited impact, the response of the traditional community and the legacy of the haskala, reverberates down to this very day.   Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/   Subscribe to Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ or your favorite podcast platform Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history or feedback contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  

The Jewish enlightenment movement – known as the Haskala, endeavored to implement changes within the Jewish communal structure in the modern era. Though the haskala in its many manifestations existed in many countries in the modern era, this episode will focus on the haskala in 19th century Czarist Russia. Throughout the 19th century, the haskala grew into somewhat of a movement, and promulgated initiatives to integrate Russian Jewry into surrounding society, through changes in communal infrastructure, education, economy, rabbinate and culture. Often working with the governmental authorities, the haskala faced much opposition from the traditional establishment. The story of the haskala, its limited impact, the response of the traditional community and the legacy of the haskala, reverberates down to this very day.   Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/   Subscribe to Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ or your favorite podcast platform Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history or feedback contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  

Though never large in number, the Karaite communities of Russia are an interesting side chapter in Russian Jewish history. Residing primarily in the Crimean Peninsula, with communities in Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, the Czarist government recognized the Karaites as distinct from Rabbinic Jews. Due to this recognition and intense lobbying efforts, the Karaite community was gradually absolved from the many restrictions pertinent to the Jews of the empire, including permission to reside outside the Pale of Settlement. Karaite scholars from Lutzk flourished in Crimea during the 19th century, and one of their endeavors was to write a new history of Karaites of the region. The most famous of these was Avraham Firkovich, whose research and collections played a large role in forming the new Karaite identity as ethnically distant from the Jewish People. Though much of his work was proven to be based on forgeries, the Karaite community of Russia was overall successful in remaining a distinct ethnic tribe from the Jewish People, and therefore not susceptible to Czarist discrimination.   Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/   Subscribe to Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ or your favorite podcast platform Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history or feedback contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  

Through the medium of Boris Pasternak's novel, Dr Zhivago, Peter takes us on a nostalgic journey through the political upheavals that occurred within Russian society a little over a century ago, as Communists wrestled power from Czarist Russia. Peter's address focuses on the despair caused when ideals for a better, fairer, more equitable society fall short of expectations. Peter uses the plots and sub-plots within Dr Zhivago, and the life of its author, Nobel Laureate - Boris Pasternak, to dramatise how Czarist hegemony was replaced with one under the guise of "Communism" - but falling well short of the Marxist ideal. Alas, poor Russia! The nightmare of Zhivago continues, much to Russia's, its neighbours' - and the rest of the World's cost. Perhaps Russia's greatest fear has always been its fear of itself: our greatest enemy is always the "enemy within". The exercise of power must also come with liberties: checks and balances that allow dissent to be heard and injustices resolved peacefully and fairly. Peter's address closes with Janet's reading of Pasternak's hope that "The Power of the darkness, will - in time - be crushed by the Spirit of Light". And today we are bathed in the light of Barry and Brendan's playing of three of Dvorak's short romantic sonatas for violin and piano. And Boris smiled!

Starting another Brand-New Hour— of The Steve Gruber Show—Coming to you Live from Studio G in the heart of AMERICA—I'm Steve Gruber—Fighting for you from the Foxhole of Freedom— AND revealing the real Deep Fake of the Deep State every. single. Day!   AND HERE ARE YOUR THREE BIG STORIES TO START THIS HOUR AMERICA!   Number One— It was 85 degrees on Saturday—and I was getting warnings on my phone about heat advisories—seriously? Have all the adults decided to throw in the towel? How about a heat advisory from June thru early September—Whatever, I still call it Summer—   Number Two— Republicans are getting massive infusions of Cash these days—so much in fact that the GOP is rolling out massive spending on advertising—and that includes places like Minnesota—WOW!   Number Three— This could very well be the calm before the storm—and the storm is coming—that I can guarantee—but much like the weatherman—I am still working out the final details in my forecast—   So, Let's start this show out today with a new vocabulary word;   "P-O-G-R-O-M"     It's pronounced "PUH-GRUM"    It means a violent riot against Jewish people, a scary tactic perfected in Czarist Russia, which is why "PUH-GRUM" is a Russian word, but it's now part of the English language too.    It's a word worth knowing these days... SADLY... because it sure looks like a big PUH-GRUM is brewing in New York City this week—and the fuse has been lit—   You'd be hard pressed to think any differently after the wild and scary rally for squad member Jamal Bowman in the Bronx Saturday—   You remember Jamal, he's the Congressman from a district in New York that combines the Bronx and suburban Westchester County, who pulled that fire alarm in the Capitol Building last October in order to delay a vote—then lied about it—   No, HE wasn't seriously charged with an insurrection or even a felony for that... OF COURSE— Democrats don't generally go to jail in America anymore... remember?    Well, it turns out that Bowman is way behind in all of the polls in New York's congressional primary coming up tomorrow—He's expected to get crushed by the only slightly more moderate George Latimer, who is still a big Biden supporter, Trump-hater, America last socialist etc.    But Bowman and his fellow squad members aren't going down without a fight... A NASTY fight— And it got REALLY nasty at that Bronx rally Saturday where fellow squad member Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Squad-master Bernie Sanders also showed up to entertain the crowd—   Bowman was the wildest of them all— Here is how a sitting member of Congress spoke at that rally and apparently thought this was appropriate:   Well, we already know who you are Mr. Bowman— A total fraud, who was never qualified to be a teacher, let alone a school principal, let alone a U.S. Congressman—But again, you won't be one for much longer—thank God for small miracles—   Maybe AOC will be the next to go, God willing,  though probably not this election cycle— This is how she de-based herself at that rally, but we warn you... this jibberish you're about to hear won't be easy to decipher: Yeah, I couldn't really understand much of that either... and the crowd didn't as well. But who cares? They were in a frenzy, a hate-filled frenzy and things got even worse from there—    Bowman and AOC started jumping around like kids on speed at a rave... By the way, who *DIDN'T* know the video of THAT embarrassing jumping visual wasn't going to go viral... because it did—   But DON'T WORRY, in a few days, I'm sure "reliable fact-checking outfits" like ‘CBS NEWS CONFIRMED' will tell us that video is a "deep fake" or a "cheap fake." They'll SAVE US from all that mis-information—   Bernie Sanders also showed he's still the king of stupid when it comes to the hordes of hateful mobs he's unleashed— He actually said Israel has a right to defend itself during that hate rally on Saturday.... gee THANKS Bernie!... but he was dumb enough to think those haters would be okay with that. Just listen:   Bite #3   Sounds like Bernie isn't such a good student of Soviet history after all— Doesn't he KNOW what happened to the Jews who were originally part of the Bolshevik revolution?    Yep, they were purged by Lenin and Stalin— Trotsky was Jewish—and he got an icepick in the back of his head—   Bernie will NOT be spared by this anti-semitic mob just because he created the monster and he's the Dr. Frankenstein—   Maybe he's betting on dying of old age before that mob gets to him— That's a risk he's taking while probably planning to hide out in one of his four opulent houses— He's the best kind of communist, isn't he?    To be clear, there were only TWO HUNDRED people at that rally Saturday— The reason it was so LOUD was because the crowd was livid— Hate makes you stupid and do stupid things— But hate also makes you LOUD—VERY LOUD—   It's that hatred and that VOLUME that has some of the more wisely vigilant New Yorkers on edge today…   They know that if Bowman goes down Tuesday, the chances are high that those 200 people and more will *suddenly* be mobilized to attack Jewish synagogues, community centers, schools, and even private homes… HATE is loose— In short, a PUH-GRUM.   Some Jewish groups in New York are trying to prepare for this... but this could spill over nationwide.    Sound familiar?    That's right, defeating an African American, Jew-hating Congressman who *denies* the rapes by Hamas of Jewish women on October 7th & uses demonic phrases to describe Israel, could very likely be used to try to set off George Floyd-like street riots across the country…   The dates are almost in line with the exact moment the George Floyd riots started in 2020… They started at the end of May four years ago and this could tip off at the end of June… close enough for government work—    Most of you know George Floyd was no hero, but just in case you think Jewish voters are WRONG to target Bowman… Check out what he had to say about October 7th:    There is NO evidence of rape? It's on the VIDEO Hamas members took of THEMSELVES committing the rapes! My God!    Oh, and Jamal... the word is "PROPAGANDA" not "PROPER-gander," you are a complete imbecile—    Some of New York's Jewish groups get this—   You've heard some of my guests on this program— and will hear more— some who have already begun training their New York Jewish communities in self-defense, first aid, firearms defense, and that movement is growing fast—   But is the NYPD ready for this? Has Mayor Eric Adams issued any pre-emptive warnings to the violent hordes set to pounce?    No, not really.    AND just you wait, America... it may only start in New York, but the chances of violence spreading to "avenge" a likely election loss by this ignorant bigot Bowman could easily spill out to other cities.    Because this isn't just about Bowman…    It's about how since October 7th, the Democrat Party has been waging an internal Holy War for the soul of its soulless party.    It's trying to balance the concerns of many of its more old school liberal Jewish and non-Jewish voters and donors, with the rising hordes of blood thirsty "progressives" who are quite RE-GRESSIVELY cheering on the old school murders of Jews by Hamas.    Fighting this holy war for Democrats in power in Congress and the White House is like tap dancing down a razor blade.    That's why President Joe Biden keeps ping ponging us with comments about how he's a "Zionist" one day and then falsely accuses Israel of "indiscriminately" bombing Palestinian civilians the next.    Joe KNOWS that part about indiscriminate bombing isn't true... the Pentagon is monitoring all the painstaking efforts Israel takes to avoid civilian deaths and has been using it in its own training programs! Joe knows this.... But he's just trying to placate his Democratic Party mob—   Here's the other story unfolding before us: That leftist mob is fully prepared to take the credit if Biden is re-elected. AND fully prepared to use a Biden loss as an excuse to wage a violent war on more traditional Democrats they will blame for the defeat—yes it really is a Holy War—    And if you don't think so—   The remaining 75 days or so of the summer of 2024 could well be defined by that War in the Democrat Party… It won't be pretty, because this is the same party that's okay with illegal migrants killing and raping Americans…    The same Democrat Party that's okay with grown men in your young girl's locker rooms… The same Democrat Party that's okay with violent shop-lifting frenzies and releasing mass numbers of criminals onto the streets with no bail or ever facing any charges at all—   They've shown us their M.O. Which is why the emotions and shouting at that Bowman rally in the Bronx Saturday MUST elicit a defensive response from all of us.    So here is one key response to issue and BACK UP with actions and preparations right NOW:   If any group in America comes into a peaceful neighborhood and begins to physically attack its people...    Be prepared for some of those supposedly weak-looking ordinary people to be ready THIS TIME AROUND... they might just fight back, they might know you are coming and they might just kill YOU— so be careful what you wish for—   You have been warned!    

Far from the Pale of Settlement, the Jews of Georgia, Bukhara, the Caucasus (Mountain) Jews, and other Jewish communities of Central Asia, found themselves under the jurisdiction of the Russian Empire over the course of the 19th century. These ancient Jewish communities had been under the influence of their Muslim surroundings for centuries, when through a series of conquests, they now found themselves confronting the Czarist regime. Unlike the majority of their brethren in Russia, they were not required to reside in the Pale, and as a result weren't restricted by much of the legislative limitations applicable to the overwhelming majority of Russian Jewry. The story of Central Asian Jewry, is a lesser known narrative of Russian Jewry under the Czars.   Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/   Subscribe to Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ or your favorite podcast platform Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history or feedback contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  

A dominant feature of religious life of the 20th century has been the centrality of the Yeshiva institution for intensive Torah study. The modern yeshiva is a direct byproduct of its antecedents in the Russian Empire of the 19th century. The old oligarchy which controlled Jewish communal life in Eastern Europe for centuries, was a combination of the rabbinical and financial elite. The personality of the Vilna Gaon and his legacy among Lithuanian Jews cemented the scholarly ideal of total dedication to Torah study and knowledge. His prime student established the first modern yeshiva in Volozhin, but it took decades until the idea really spread. Torah study for the most part continued as it always had in the Lithuanian region, in local yeshivos and batei medrash. Due to a confluence of external factors facing Russian Jewry in the closing decades of the 19th century, the Volozhin style yeshiva finally caught on and began to spread. The story of how the scholarly elite of Lithuania studied Torah and institutionalized the idea of the yeshiva, is an important chapter in the story of Jewish life in Czarist Russia of the 19th century. Enjoy earlier related episodes on this topic: 1. https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/the-legacy-of-the-vilna-gaon/ https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/the-history-of-the-volozhin-yeshiva-part-i-the-mother-of-all-yeshivas/ https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/the-history-of-the-volozhin-yeshiva-part-ii-the-rise-to-fame/ https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/the-history-of-the-volozhin-yeshiva-part-iii-the-war-of-succession/ https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/the-history-of-volozhin-yeshiva-part-iv-talmudists-zionists-and-the-golden-age/ https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/the-history-of-the-volozhin-yeshiva-part-5-closing-time/ Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/   Subscribe to Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ or your favorite podcast platform Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history or feedback contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  

The Czarist government implemented a policy of censorship of all published material in the empire, whether it was imported or printed locally. Though this was a general policy, there were unique particularities regarding the censorship of Jewish works. In the early years following the partitions of Poland, there wasn't an effective mechanism of censoring in place, and it was only in 1826 when censorship for Jewish works was implemented in a systematic fashion. The government utilized the tool of censorship in order to assist in solving what they termed ‘the Jewish question'. Censorship of religious texts, especially those relating to Chassidic thought, mysticism and Kabbalah, was thought to distance them from sectarianism, integrate the Jews into Russian society, ‘improve' them and make them more ‘productive'. An outsized role was played by the censors themselves, who were generally prominent maskilim or even apostates. Later in the century, the government shifted away from censorship of religious works, and focused on secular literature and the emerging media of newspapers and periodicals in Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish. These were considered a greater threat from the Czarist perspective as they encouraged Jewish nationalism, socialism, aspirations of emancipation and revolutionary activity.   Cross River, a leading financial institution committed to supporting its communities, is proud to sponsor Jewish History Soundbites. As a trusted partner for individuals and businesses, Cross River understands the importance of preserving and celebrating our heritage. By sponsoring this podcast, they demonstrate their unwavering dedication to enriching the lives of the communities in which they serve. Visit Cross River at https://www.crossriver.com/   Subscribe to Jewish History Soundbites Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ or your favorite podcast platform Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history or feedback contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  

In this episode, Brian Shapiro, the owner of Shapiro's Deli in Indianapolis, recounts tales of his family's journey from Czarist Russia to Indiana, their dedication to providing delicious food for the Indianapolis community and beyond, and their relentless endeavors to keep Jewish traditions alive through food. Shapiros Deli is the last remnant of the once flourishing Jewish Immigrant Enclave on the South Side of Indianapolis and symbolizes a past era of Jewish Culinary Traditions. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/injewishhistory/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/injewishhistory/support

A dazzling adaptation of the masterpiece. In the twilight of Czarist Russia, Vanya and his niece, Sonya, work tirelessly to manage the rural estate. Their quiet routine is shattered when Sonya's father, Alexandre, a renowned professor, arrives with his glamorous young wife, Yelena. The household succumbs to waves of fury, jealousy, and intoxicated yearning with the presence of the new guests. Amidst the turmoil, the country doctor Astrov arrives to attend to the ailing professor. Sonya confides in Yelena about her profound feelings for the enigmatic doctor. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov, Adapted by Liisa Repo-Martell.

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down in-person with author and podcaster, Michael Malice. They discuss his latest book, “The White Pill.” From this they explore the philosophy of Ayn Rand, anarchism, the history and rebranded atrocities of Czarist Russia, and why utopian visions cyclically entice generations of people, despite leaving each one devastated for their commitment. Michael Malice is the author of “Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il” and The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics,” “The White Pill,” and organizer of “The Anarchist Handbook.” He is also the subject of the graphic novel “Ego & Hubris,” written by the late Harvey Pekar of American Splendor fame. He is the host of “YOUR WELCOME” with Michael Malice. Malice has co-authored books with several prominent personalities, including “Made in America” (the New York Times best selling autobiography of UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes), “Concierge Confidential” (one of NPR's top 5 celebrity books of the year), and “Black Man, White House” (comedian D. L. Hughley's satirical look at the Obama years, a New York Times best seller). He is also the founding editor of “Overheard in New York.”  - Links - For Michael Malice: The White Pill (Book) https://www.amazon.com/White-Pill-Tale-Good-Evil/dp/B0BNZ7XZ5T/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1703176917&sr=1-1 On X twitter.com/michaelmalice On Locals Malice.locals.com On Youtube https://www.youtube.com/michaelmaliceofficial 

Dimitri and Khalid embark on a multi-episode journey into the actually existing history of the geographic region known for millennia as Palestine, and the actually existing people who inhabited it under (mostly) uninterrupted Ottoman rule from 1516 to 1918. PART ONE: Ontologies of Ottoman Palestine, 1776-1839 Swirling eschatological issues around the Holy Land, centuries of European obsession with Jerusalem, “the marriage of geopolitics and religion”, erming the “it wasn't even a countryyy” crowd, psychedelic intellectual Daniel Pinchbeck's psychotic Substack post about forcefeeding Palestinians MDMA until they abandon their religion and projecting a 3D blue beam Temple over Al-Aqsa to fulfill ancient prophecies and achieve peace, a brief speedrun of Palestinian history from Ancient Egypt to the 16th century Ottoman conquest, Napoleon's 1799 invasion of Egypt and Ottoman Syria, the surprising ethnic/religious demographics of the early 19th century, Palestine's significance in the Great Game struggle between Britain and Czarist Russia, European attitudes towards the continued survival of the Ottoman Empire, soft power penetration of the Holy Land via European religious groups and NGOs, the Albanian Muhammad Ali's conquest of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the 1830s, Bedouin conceptions of “land ownership”, Sir Moses Montefiore's early attempts to purchase land, and more. For access to full-length premium episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara' Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Fears are growing of a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia as Baku ratchets up its rhetoric against Yerevan, reiterating calls for a corridor through Armenian territory. The move comes as Azerbaijani forces prepare joint military exercises with Turkey, which backs the idea of the passage. Turkish and Azerbaijani forces are to hold three days of military exercises next week across Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, an Azeri enclave that borders Turkey.Baku and Ankara are calling for a 40km corridor through Armenia to connect the Azeri territories. The passage, dubbed the Zangezur corridor, would also create a land route between Turkey and Azerbaijan, a long-term goal of the two allies."God willing, we will implement the Zangezur corridor as soon as possible and thereby make our land road and railroad connection with friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan uninterrupted over Nakhchivan," said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a ceremony with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilhan Aliyev in Nakhchivan last month.Yerevan is strongly opposed to the corridor, but Baku insists it will not use force to achieve its goal."Azerbaijan doesn't have any military goals or objectives on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia," said Hikmet Hajiyev, a foreign policy advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a recent interview with Reuters news agency.But the Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercise is interpreted as a strategy to put pressure on Yerevan, suggesting a conflict could be looming."Turkey does not necessarily want a militarised solution, but the nature of the relationship between Azerbaijan and Turkey and between President Aliyev and President Erdogan is more or less a blank cheque," said Asli Aydintasbas, an analyst with the US-based Brookings Institution.She believes that the Turkish government would prefer to establish a trade route by peaceful means, "but if Azerbaijan chooses to do it through military means, it does seem like it can count on Turkish support".Nagorno-KarabakhThe prospect of conflict comes as Yerevan is still reeling from Azerbaijan recapturing the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave held by ethnic Armenians.Despite over 100,000 residents fleeing to Armenia, Yerevan is trying to secure a peace agreement with Baku, which the Armenian government sees as vital to its long-term goal of breaking away from Russian influence."You know, the economy's moving in the right direction. The Western pivot is moving in the right direction. Democratisation is moving in the right direction. The only thing interfering with that is the threat of war," says Armenian political analyst Eric Hacopian."So you take away the threat of war, all of this becomes easier, and any kind of a peaceful situation will quicken and hasten the de-Russification of Armenian politics, economy and other things – and by the way, it has broad popular support."However an opportunity for a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia brokered by the European Union at a summit in Spain this month fell victim to diplomatic infighting between EU leaders and Turkey."The Azeris said that Turkey ought to be in the talks. The Germans and the French said Turkey cannot be in the talks," says Soli Ozel, professor of international relations at Istanbul's Kadir Has University."You really wonder which world they're living in. I would have expected that the Europeans, particularly the French, would work with Turkey and get Azerbaijan and Armenia out of the orbit of Russia." Can Turkey tip the balance of power in the Caucasus conflict?Russian tacticsSince the failed EU peace effort, Baku has been hardening its stance against Yerevan. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of undermining the peace process with "aggressive rhetoric".Baku's harsh language comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Azerbaijan President Aliyev to a regional summit in Kyrgyzstan. Experts suspect Putin is using centuries-old Russian diplomatic tactics to maintain hegemony in the region. West looks on as Turkey-Russia relations deepen following Sochi summit"Russia was always playing on these contradictions and mutual dissatisfaction," says Russian expert Tatiana Mitrova, a visiting professor at the Paris School of International Affairs."It is a typical divide-and-rule policy starting from Czarist Russia before the Soviet Union, so it has very, very long historical roots. Moreover, I would say my impression is that these days Moscow would do everything to create instability everywhere."US 'distracted'With growing international turmoil, Baku could be eyeing an opportunity to pursue its agenda."Washington is too distracted right now to think about the Caucasus," predicts analyst Aydintasbas, noting the ongoing war in Ukraine, domestic political turmoil and the conflict between Israel and Hamas."The US has long prided itself on being able to chew gum and walk, but at this moment, the geopolitical pressures, whether it's Taiwan or Ukraine or the Middle East, are so crushing that there is a sense that they do not have the bandwidth to deal with other regional issues."Baku insists it is not seeking another conflict with Armenia. But analysts warn Armenia's pro-Western government would likely be at risk if it suffered a further military defeat to a Turkey-backed Azerbaijan attack.And Putin would probably welcome such an outcome as he seeks to maintain his grip on the Caucasus.

From Volozhin to the JTS of Breslau to the Great Synagogue of St. Petersburg, Reform Russian style

One of the enduring antisemitic tropes has been the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion' forgery. Fabricated in Czarist Russia in the early 20th century, it was later exported to Western Europe and the United States. Jews have responded to Antisemitism in a variety of ways, including humor, emigration and Jewish nationalism. The early 20th century saw the rise of racial Antisemitism which had evolved in the nationalistic environment of Europe of the late 19th century. The culmination of racial theory and racial Antisemitism was through the Nazi racial ideology which formed the ideological basis of the Holocaust and Final Solution. Antisemitism didn't disappear following the war, and it manifested itself in the Soviet Union, Europe, United States and the Moslem world.   This series on the history of Antisemitism has been sponsored by the Touro Graduate School of Jewish Studies, a leading academic program in Jewish Studies that equips students with the tools to search out their own unique path into the study of Jewish history and scholarship. For more information on admission to the Touro Graduate School of Jewish Studies, including scholarship opportunities, please visit https://gsjs.touro.edu/ or call 212-463-0400, ext. 55580   For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at:  yehuda@yehudageberer.com  Subscribe To Our Podcast on: PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/ Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites  You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com 

In the previous episode of Severed Conscience - History of Manipulation O, Kelly and Zee discussed the British East India Company and what they learned from the Caste system in India and how this shaped techniques of mass manipulation via education and slavery back in the West. This included fostering a state sponsored education system in Prussia, which had been so soundly defeated by France that the Prussian rulers were driven to ensure the population would be sufficiently inculcated to fight in defense of their country. We also learned of the manual for slavery titled How To Make A Slave by William Lynch that described creating an environment where enslaved human beings could be held in captivity by mere psychological means. Fear, distrust and envy were the key weapons.In this episode you are about to hear, we turn our attention to the mass manipulation techniques in the Soviet Union. While exiles occurred prior to the October Revolution, we learn that the Czar allowed several socialist parties to remain and even publish their literature. Czarist Russia was the wealthiest nation in Europe, yet the disparities between classes were targeted and further amplified by Lenin and others. Ultimately Lenin created the Cheka, the secret police that carried out the Red Terror and instituted blood campaigns of terror, imprisonment and death.We have been manipulated. Severed Conscience is a prison of the mind.This is the audio version of our full video documentary.To access our documentary, join our community on https://severedconscience.com.

Publisher R. A. “Kris” Millegan and Dr. Richard B. Spence discuss the following.Dr. Spence is a Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Idaho. His academic specialties include Russian history, espionage, secret societies and occultism. His major published works are BORIS SAVINKOV: Renegade on the Left; TRUST NO ONE: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly; SECRET AGENT 666: Aleister Crowley; BRITISH INTELLIGENCE AND THE OCCULT, and WALL STREET AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, 1905-1925. And he is the author and presenter of three video series: THE REAL HISTORY OF SECRET SOCIETIES; CRIMES OF THE CENTURY; and SECRETS OF THE OCCULT, which can be found at wondrium.com/collections/the-great-courses.Discovering secret societies; teaching about them in a college course.Kris was told by his father that, “The Vietnam War is all about drugs. There are these secret societies behind it all. And communism is just a sham. To them it's all just a big game.”KING KILL 33 = author James Shelby Downard's depiction of President Kennedy's public slaughter as a mass ritual, traumatizing, mind-controlling piece of psychological warfare against the people; THE LOST WRITINGS OF JAMES SHELBY DOWNARD, which discusses the twining of the Southern Masons and the police, even the Ku Klux Klan, in many states and jurisdictions.Another author reported about kids taken to Florida to be trafficked into basically slavery and to be used “in certain rituals you might say.”Freemasonry in Czarist Russia (which seems to have driven the Russian Revolution). How members help each other (while acting as adversaries in public life).History is just a narrative. Reality is in many ways this barely controlled chaos (of which we try to make sense).Kris looked at “CIA-drugs/narcotics” and “CIA, the dark side,” which is mind control, the first level of which is trance, which effects everybody differently. And then you have ritual. (The nature of occult rituals is to bend reality in your favor; energy must be exchanged; something has to be transformed.) And then trauma (to split someone's personality).The Kennedy assassination was a psychological hit on the mind of the whole nation. It was obviously done by people in the shadows who got away with it, which told the nation, “You aren't important. We're the people in control.” The Kennedy assassination has affected the psyche of America very, very strongly.

In 1850, an unusual edition of Rambam's Mishneh Torah was published in czarist Russia. A perusal of this work reveals that it was censored in a peculiar and unprecedented fashion. But what lies behind this story of suppression? Who was responsible for this censorship? And what does it reveal about the tensions in Jewish life at that time? Through a nuanced analysis of the key players and their motivations, we gain a deeper understanding of the internal and external challenges faced by the Jewish community in Czarist Russia in the mid-19th century. Censoring Rambam's Mishneh Torah in Czarist Russia

Episode Summary Brooke, Casandra, and Margaret talk about the war in Ukraine and how Russia is not doing great, the train derailment in East Palestine, anti trans bills, Adderall shortages and meth, the return of Big Chicken, long covid as potential auto immune disease, further bans on abortion drugs, drought, floods, earthquakes and the US's top priority: shooting million dollar missiles at balloons. Host Info Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Casandra is just great and can be found at Strangers doing awesome layouts, and Brooke can be found on Twitter or Mastodon @ogemakweBrooke. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Next Episode A special episode will come out next week on March 17th on Surviving the Justice System. Transcript This Month in the Apocalypse: Feb. 2023 Brooke 00:15 Hello and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. This is the February-March installment of our segment, This Month in the Apocalypse and I'm calling it the February-March episode because we're recording in February and we're talking about February but you're going to be listening to it in March, most likely. I'm Brooke Jackson, and with me today, as usual are the quick thinking Casandra and the fast acting Margaret Killjoy. Casandra 00:38 I don't know if that's accurate. Margaret 00:42 Or at least fast talking sometimes, especially when I'm hyper. And today I'm hyper Casandra 00:46 half of what I'm going to talk about today is brain fog and how it impacts me. Brooke 00:51 Nice. Well, before we get into today's episode, we'd like to share a little something something from another one of the swiftly streaming podcasts on the Channel Zero network of anarchist podcasts. Casandra 01:17 And we're back. Cas, Margaret, how are you feeling today? Casandra 01:51 I just had my first sip of tea. Margaret 01:55 I have been doom scrolling so hard that I didn't sleep last night because of all the anti trans legislation. So I didn't sleep enough and then I ate a protein cookie and pretended like it was food. So I'm great. Casandra 02:07 And you don't do caffeine at all. Not even tea. Margaret 02:09 No, yeah, a bunch of sugar and protein in a cookie form is my equivalent of like making me immediately hyper. Casandra 02:18 Alright. Margaret 02:19 Because I don't fuck with caffeine. I'm straight edge, except for alcohol. Brooke 02:24 Well good, you should take all that energy and tell us some things. Margaret 02:29 Oh, okay, right. I'm first. Okay, February has been a big month for the apocalypse. The Apocalypse is coming in hard with a bunch of mostly really bad shit. I think that the biggest story, or whatever, the earthquake that happened in Turkey and Syria was really fucking bad. Everyone probably already knows this. As of when I'm recording it, the death toll stands at about 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria. Those numbers are still expected to go up. And a lot of it has to do with poverty and with buildings that are not built to withstand earthquakes. This is happening in a poor region. And that is absolutely affecting everything. I don't have as much information about that to relay, but I just feel like it's like the single most...like now I'm going to talk about the fucking balloons and I hate the fucking balloons. And I want people to know that like the earthquake is more important. But on February 14th, I think, I don't remember, I wrote on February 14, but you think I'd remember that was Valentine's Day. A surveillance balloon, there's a Chinese balloon and the US shot it down. It was a really actually big balloon and it probably included some surveillance equipment. China was like, "It's civilian." The US is like, "No, it was military." I'm not stressed about it because I expect the US government is surveilling me and I don't really give a shit if some other country...whatever, I don't fucking care. It may have been capturing cell transmissions and shit over the US. But then, of course, this sets off this like massive paranoia, where everyone's like, "Balloons are trying to get us. Those Chinese balloons." And the US like scrambled.... Brooke 04:20 I always knew it was going to be balloons. I've always said it, the balloons are coming for us. Casandra 04:22 Doomsday mechanism. Margaret 04:26 I mean... Brooke 04:27 it's the balloons. Clearly. Margaret 04:30 They are creepy. Actually. This is funny, my my dad is phobic of hot air balloons. I'm sorry to reveal this about you, dad. And because he was always like, "No, they're just there. They're on the horizon. They're creepy." Like he's not afraid of being in that. He's afraid of them like on the horizon. Casandra 04:46 One of my most traumatizing childhood moments was this hot air balloon show was like going over the neighborhood and I was spinning in circles staring upward watching them as one does and forgot that my mom had a whole like row of rose bushes. And then spent the whole afternoon having like rose thorns picked out of my ass. So, that's all to say that I don't think your dad's insane. Margaret 05:10 Yeah, so the US government scrambled a bunch of fighter jets to shoot down a whole bunch of other balloons, all of which, like the government is like, "We do not believe that they are surveillance balloons, but we don't know." And the reason that they're saying we don't know is because, well one they obliterated tiny balloons with missiles. So there's like, not a lot left. There's like like half a million dollar missiles being shot at these fucking things, one of which missed. They missed a fucking balloon over Lake Huron, and then it like, fell into the lake. And they're like, "No one was harmed." And I'm like, great, I feel so fucking good that the government is shooting missiles at the US. That makes sense. And so probably those balloons are like amateur weather balloons, like people like do this, where you're like, I'm gonna get a balloon and like, put a bunch of equipment on it and send it up into the sky. And it's cool, right? And because you can like see the stuff. And so fortunately, the US government is there to protect us against amateur weather and radio fans. Brooke 06:11 You know, you know, our friends over that other podcast have been saying we should nuke the Great Lakes. So I think this was just a trial run to... Margaret 06:20 Fuck, Robert Evans is like actually the one that got them to shoot missiles. Casandra 06:24 Cancel Robert Evans. Margaret 06:25 Yep. All right. Yeah. Or he's a prophet. Brooke 06:32 That's what I was gonna say, Margaret 06:34 Speaking of Prophets, but actually, in both mench versions of that word, there was a massive disaster on February 3, in East Palestine [rhymes with Springsteen], Ohio, because it's not pronounced Palestine [rhymes with Stein], in which a train carrying a bunch of toxic shit had overheated wheel bearings, and derailed. It passed like a bunch of sensors that were like, detect overheated stuff. And then like on the last one, it was like, "Hey, you're overheating," and then it crashed. This overturned 11 Toxic cars at a...a bunch of more cars overturned, but 11 of them were full of toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, but also a bunch of other shit. 115,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, were let loose. And then they were like, "Slright, well, we better set the shutter on fire," I'm not actually even going to like talk shit on the fact that they set on fire. It might have been the best thing that they could do in that circumstances. There is a lot of stuff that is implying that the government and you know, Norfolk Southern and all that are like downplaying the degree to this disaster. It is a massive disaster, it is a big fucking deal. And the people involved should be held accountable. And there's like, all kinds of stuff about how a lot of the deregulation and of course, you know, the fact doesn't help that Biden like stopped a railroad strike for better safety conditions, because that's mostly huge part of what people are striking for. And they absolutely are like, the numbers are trending upwards. They're like, "It's not a big deal." And they were like, "Hey, there's a bunch of dead fish." And people were like, "There are 4000 dead fish." And they had a very specific number. It might not have been that number was like 300, 800, 3,850, or something. As of this morning, when I double checked, they're up to 43,000 dead aquatic animals. That's 10 times the previous claim. I understand why people are skeptical of these claims. They're probably not forever chemicals. These are the sorts of chemicals that will break down. However, no one knows the long term effects of the exposure that people have already had to these chemicals. And it's fucked up. Norfolk Southern stock has dropped, but not as precipitously as you would might like. It's not even as low as it was last October, just like took a dip. So buy the dip, everyone go out and buy....don't do this. Don't go out and buy stock. Okay, that's what I know about that. Other people might know more about it. Casandra 08:56 Oh, I was just gonna say that.... Margaret 08:57 Next. Okay go ahead. Casandra 08:58 I was just gonan say that the EPA seemed pretty like, firm with them, which I appreciated. It wasn't the response I expected. Oh, were you wagging your finger at me? Or like...they were like. Brooke 09:12 I was being the EPA. Yeah. Because we're in a point of visual medium here, right with a podcast. So, everyone can see me doing that. Casandra 09:19 I watched the recording and the guy was like, "If y'all don't do this up to our standards, we will do it and then bill you and not just like, you'll get the bill, but we'll bill you a certain number of times the amount that it actually cost us as a penalty." Yeah, it's something I don't know. Margaret 09:37 I mean, that's good. Yeah. Oh and then the other thing, when I when I lead with the transition of Prophets in both sense of the word. About a week before this disaster, I watched the Netflix movie "White Noise" based on the 1980s novel called "White Noise," in which a toxic chemical train spill it In East Palestine, Ohio happens and fucks everything up. And it fucks with my head, just straight up. It fucks with my head that I watched a movie about a natural disaster and then... not a natural disaster, a manmade disaster. And then a week later, it happened in the same town of 5000 Fucking people. Or 4000 people. Casandra 10:20 Maybe, you're not a prophet, maybe actually. Your brain just determines all of reality. Margaret 10:29 Oh, no, I'm not a prophet. No, no, no, no, I don't think this is me. Casandra 10:31 I think that what happens in your head is then what happens in the outside world. That's more plausible. Brooke 10:39 Yeah, that seems right. Casandra 10:40 So, don't think anything.... Margaret 10:42 This is a really good thing to tell someone who lives alone. Brooke 10:46 I mean, it clearly anyone who reaches a certain level of podcasting, fame then develops a power to cause things to happen. Yeah, that's what we're saying here. Margaret 10:57 Good to know. And then everyone lived in a happy anarchist society for all times in which everyone was equal, except Margaret was a little bit more equal and got like twice as much tea in the morning. Casandra 11:06 You don't like tea. We just went over this. Margaret 11:10 Yeah, well, I shouldn't have more of something I want. That would be fucked up. Casandra 11:14 This is the like weirdest Catholic version of anarchist Utopia I've ever heard of. Margaret 11:23 Hi, I'm Margaret Killjoy. Alright, so it's speaking of other bad shit that happened this year, or actually, well, okay. The thing that happened in February is is the one year anniversary of the Ukraine war. As currently stands, it's fallen out of the news, which means that no one is dying anymore, and everything is fine. Except that... Brooke 11:47 PBS still does it. So to just throw a tiny amount of credit over there. But yeah... Margaret 11:54 Yeah, well actually it's funny because people will talk mad shit about mainstream news and for good reason. But like, overall, I think mainstream news is a little bit better of a job than like Twitter at like, staying attached to stories over time, rather than just like chasing the clicks, which is fucking saying something because that is what mainstream news was notoriously bad at. I just think social media is even worse at it. On the other hand, it's not the job of the random Twitter person to....Okay, so, the Ukraine war is largely out of stalemate. As stands Russia holds 17% of Ukraine, an area twice the size of Italy. It's less than they controlled at the beginning of the war by a decent amount, and specifically, almost all their holdings are in the east. And it's been like slowly being chipped away at overall is kind of the general thing. Most foreign fighters left after a few months, it went down, there's 20,000 foreign fighters, mostly like vets of various other countries who are like, "Well fuck an invasion." And a lot of people were like, I think actually a lot of people were like, "Well, I fought in all of these like evil US wars, because they have like worked for the US government. Here's a just war," and people went like chasing a just war, right. It's down from about 20,000 foreign fighters to 2000 foreign fighters as the war drags on. China is calling for peace talks right now. And more might have happened by the time you hear this, like this is like news from yesterday and today, and their position is...like I mean overall they're trying to present themselves as neutral, but like overall they're like, "This is a war of Western aggression." You know? "This is a war of you know a Ukraine shouldn't dress like that if it didn't want to get attacked." They've four times abstained....Thank you for laughing at my off color joke. And yeah, I mean, because that is what it comes down to this idea of like, we had to invade you because you are getting too close to our borders with your power or whatever. Like, you can't fucking justify invading another country for that reason. Casandra 14:03 They're opposing US imperialism, Margaret. Margaret 14:06 Yeah, they do. Casandra 14:07 NATO! Margaret 14:10 Yeah. Yeah. And that's China's position. They're with the US tankies. Or rather US tankies are with them. They have four times abstained from voting in the UN votes to ask Russia to withdraw its troops it's possible also that China's like trying to get in....and this is like everyone. This is the actual imperialism from my point of view about all this is everyone calling for these peace talks a lot of it is that they're like they want in on the economic reconstruction aka they want like their economic interest in the capitalism to to do their thing just to China it's slightly more state capitalism in the US it's slightly more.. Casandra 14:46 China's not capitalist Margaret What are you talking about? Margaret 14:48 Oh, right. Sorry. I Forgot. They want to bring their peoples army... and I Love that It's like the tankies pretending that Russia is fucking commie...anyway. The number of Russian soldiers Ukraine is killing is going up, which, you know, whatever, fuck them. 824 Such Russian soldiers a day are dying in Ukraine in February, which is the highest rate since the invasion started. Between 180,000 and 270,000 Russians have died in the war in the past year. And for comparison, Russia is this huge place. And we think about like how Russia just like, bled people during World War II, you know. Russia is only half the population of the United States. And so this is...so when you think about percentage wise, if you think about, it's like, you know, the equivalent of half a million people dying in one year in a dumb fucking war. About 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died. They claim that 13,000 of their soldiers have died. Vaguely neutral observers from the outside of claims that 100,000 have died, which is like, their, their like, kill rate, oh, God, I'm not even going to pretend to put this in video game terms. That's fucked up. And also another 30,000 or so civilians, Ukrainian civilians have died. Like directly, tons more displace. Everything's fucked up. It's war. I haven't been able to get a recent number for the total number of arrests in Russia. But, it's like worth really understanding how much a lot of Russians do fucking not want this to happen. There were 15,000 people arrested protesting against the war and like the first month of the war alone, and there's thousands more at various other times, but I wasn't able to find a total count. And, you know, in case anyone needs any reminding that nationalism is garbage. between half a million and a million Russians have fled, rather than be conscripted and fight in this stupid fucking bullshit. And 200 or so Russians are actively fighting for Ukraine. There is no out good outside guests. That is a guess from one of these Russian fighters. And they all have different reasons. I am aware of their being Russian anarchists. I was not able to find more information about that. Most of the anarchists that I know from other countries I think are more involved in directing solidarity goods, except for Belarus.. A lot of anarchists fighters in Ukraine. Anyway, of the 200 or so fighters, the the one I was able to find the specific motive for he's is doing as his Christian duty to stop invasions. And let's see, okay, almost done with the Russian war thing. Dutch intelligence reports that Russia is mapping power and gas infrastructure in the North Sea for potential attack. This came out like yesterday. So who knows what will happen with that. And then it's also kind of worth knowing there's like all of these, like anti war rallies happening around the war around the world. And most of them are like about trying to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine, right? They're like, "Hey, this war is fucked up, aka Russia is fucked up." But in the US, we get a different kind of anti war movement, we get an anti war movement that's a weird collection of tankies and Nazis... Casandra 18:20 Margaret, that never happened! Margaret 18:21 ...coming together like a Molotov-Ribbontrop Pact to say stop the war machine. Casandra 18:28 Stalin is the whole reason..... Margaret 18:34 Yeah, no, I know. Casandra 18:38 The reason the Nazis were defeated soley was because of Stalin, therefore, you know, the Soviet Union never never ever could have allied with the Nazis, even though we have historical records that it did blah, blah. Margaret 18:53 Yeah, like at the beginning, Russia was like, "Hey, allies, can we hang out with you, Germany's looking real weird." And the allies were like, "I'm not sure." And so then Russia was like or USSR was like, "Hey, Nazis, can we hang out with you? We know bad shits about to happen," and they were like, "Yeah, but totally," and the USSR sent them tons of aid, just literal material, tons of aid. And collectively, they mapped out which countries they were going to invade together and they invaded Poland together...It's Poland. Am I getting that right? And then, Germany was like "JK, surprise attack." And then the USSR was like, "Okay, we're against you." And then fucking millions of Russians died to defeat the Nazis and that needs to be understood and respected. But like Stalin was like making them...there's like, reports from survivors...This is totally what this episode is about. There's like reports from survivors who were like forced to charge Nazi tanks bare handed. And so like, the high numbers of Russian dead wasn't because Stalin ruled. The high numbers is because Stalin fucking sucks. Anyway. Casandra 20:08 And there's also the whole like, the line that like the USSR saved with the Jews or whatever, when, which was just like totally. Anyway, we won't talk about how Jews were treated in the USSR. Margaret 20:23 When they signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact....Yeah. Anyway, USSR is not modern Russia, but there's an anti war movement. So that's okay. That's Ukraine. Now, the trans laws, the thing that has me up all night. Yesterday, I believe the Tennessee House passed a bill. And now this was misrepresented. And I accidentally misrepresented this too, because I trusted a Twitterer who trusted a news article from a mainstream source that, okay, a Tennessee House did pass this bill. And by the time you're listening to this, probably their fucking Senate and Governor have signed off on it. But the article was like, "And now it goes up to the governor." It doesn't it goes to the Senate first. And a lot of really shitty laws passed the House, but not the Senate in like, any given place. So there's like, still hope. But I'm not full of fucking hope because a lot of these types of laws are passing right now. The type of law I'm talking about, this is an anti drag law. And these anti drag laws are similar ones proposed around the country and all the details are a little bit different. But the overall idea is that if anyone who is a male or female impersonator, AKA a crossdresser, aka, me living my fucking life, or a drag performer, if they perform, and if it's like, in any way, like...some places it's just like literally if they perform, or exist in public, and another one's the Tennessee laws a little bit like, and they perform in a way that has any kind of like, sexual titillation, or whatever then that has to be the venue that is now a strip club legally, or like, needs to be a like 18+ adult entertainment, cabaret or whatever the fuck Casandra 22:15 Like who's deciding if something's sexual? Margaret 22:19 Uh huh. And it is. First cops, then judges, Two groups I trust to the bottom of my....nothing. Margaret 22:35 Or the parents who call the cops. Brooke 22:41 Don't forget about he mob. Margaret 22:42 Yeah, no, totally. They're the first step in it. So that is the literal criminal criminalization of being trans in public. Casandra 22:45 Yeah, there are nine anti trans laws on the books right now in Oregon. Yeah. Margaret 22:52 Yeah. There's 14 other states with similar anti drag laws in the works, including Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Idaho. And I just didn't find the full list, I found people like a couple different places giving like short versions of the list. South Dakota did just pass a law like not just the house or whatever, but like it's fucking signed, that forces trans youth to detransition. And Utah passed a law against trans youth also, very recently, or against allowing trans youth to transition. But, I don't believe it forcibly detransitioned. I believe that this one in South Dakota is the first one to force detransition, which from my point of view, pretty much means that trans...families with trans children who can't afford to move are going to have their trans kids run away or kill themselves. Just like, frankly, I am not recommending. I am recommending if you're a trans youth to in a place that is affected by this to get in touch with community to try and help you and your family get out of that situation. That is what I'm directly recommending. But, the the reason that doctors believe in gender affirming care for trans youth is that it lowers the rates of death substantially. Oklahoma is currently considering a bill to ban gender affirming care to adults, anyone under the age of 26. Brooke 24:22 Fucking Oklahoma. Casandra 24:22 I can't remember which bill i was reading, but I was reading about one that was worded in such a way where gender affirming care also ended up including things like hormones for ciswomen dealing with menopause, like it was so broad sweeping that like, I just don't think people consider the broader implications. You know what I mean? Margaret 24:41 I don't know whether this one was that one, but I...it wouldn't surprise me and I feel like people pass laws like that all the time. And then just like, no one's going to actually stop cis women from accessing hormones from menopause, you know, or like, you know, people dealing with prostate cancer often take hormones and you know, testosterone blockers and things like that, and like...All the shit is overbroad, like crazy, but not in a way where I feel like oh, it's overbroad, and it gets struck down like no, it's gonna get targetedly used against trans people against, the Left. And 5% of US people in the US who are under the age of 25 identify as trans or like nonbinary in some way, compared to point .5% of the rest of the population as a whole. And I would like to...don't make me tap of the sign of the that graph of chart of left handedness as a chart of left handedness. Like once they stopeed. Once they started letting people be left handed, it goes up and caps itself, you know. And every major medical association in America recognizes that gender affirming care for youth saves lives. That is not a...I assume everyone listening to this already knows the shit, but it's like worth fucking knowing. This is not a like, medically contested issue. You know, this is like, and I'm not like, "Man, you know, who I trust immediately, the medical institution, they always have our backs." But, they do in this case, because they're not fucking... Oh, God. That's what I've got to talk about this week. Brooke 26:20 Jon Stewart did a good piece that was on gender affirming care that maybe everyone's already seen, because it was a little while ago, but was, you know, citing those...Just what you're exactly what you're saying, Margaret about every every major medical organization in the US. Margaret 26:38 And honestly has been one of the only cispeople I've seen talking about it in public. The silence from cispeople has been deafening. And if your cis and listening to this, I'm hoping that if you've been silent about it, I'm hoping that the reason you've been silent about it, is because you're afraid of taking up too much of the conversation. Because we do have this way of talking about social issues right now, where people are afraid to talk about issues that don't directly affect them. And I think that that is a misstep. And that it will take cis people talking about this angrily, before anything will change. Because, when it's just trans people, and sometimes their immediate families who are showing up to protest, everyone's going to be like, "Well, fuck those pedo whatever," fuck, whatever. Fucking bullshit, you know. So from my point of view, part of the reason this keeps me up at night is not because the Nazis want to kill me, they've wanted to kill me for a long time, they've sent me letters to this effect, with like, my parents address in it, you know, it's that when I don't feel supported, is when I feel the most lost about all of this stuff, just frankly. And so sometimes like that support is like, like, "Margaret's guide to being supportive to your trans friends," is like, like, sometimes, like random people messaging me to be like, "I see you, you're valid." I'm like, that's great. I don't I don't need that from strangers. What I need from strangers is for people to talk to the people, they're around and say shit about this, you know, I have a, I know I'm valid. I have a supportive family. And I have a supportive network of friends and all of that, you know? Yeah, sorry, this is...I mean, all of these things that we're going to talk about are big deals. But you know, this one affects me very directly. Brooke 28:45 Oh, no, I appreciate you saying more about it, because I was gonna ask follow up questions about like, you know, showing support and good ways to do that. So thanks for talking about that. Margaret 28:55 Be fucking angry. Like, you know, and it's like, and this stuff like, it's also all part of misogyny. Like, because people want to control people's bodies. And so transmen are affected by this because they're, like, leaving womanhood behind and that's bad or whatever. And then of course, transwomen are like, the reason that people don't want us to exist is a weird protect the women thing, right? And so like, when cis women are loudly like, "No, I would rather have this transwoman in the bathroom with me then like I don't know someone who's like peeking under stalls to make sure no one has a penis." Like people being loud about that kind of support. There's this brilliant video of thus person who I believe is a cis woman who's like getting gender policed by a Karen in a bathroom. Casandra 29:47 I saw that Margaret 29:48 And refuses to answer whether or not she has a dick. Yeah, it fucking...that gives me hope. So, I like. Casandra 30:00 That's like reverse Karen. Brooke 30:02 I just bookmarked that so I can watch it after Casandra 30:05 We should start a Nazis know our parents' address club. Margaret 30:17 And then like...it's funny I try not to talk too much about my family on this podcast, I guess, but then again the Nazis already know where they live. Like my dad's fucking ex marine with anger management issue who loves this trans daughter? How's do they think this is gonnna go? Casandra 30:35 I mean, my situation, my parent's would've been like "Whatever." Margaret 30:41 Yeah, okay, fair. I'm sorry. Casandra 30:43 Okay, who's next? Brooke 30:48 Okay. Can we talk about happier things? Margaret 30:54 What podcast are on? Casandra 30:57 I genuinely can't remember who's next. Is it you, Brooke? Brooke 31:03 Allegedly. Although, if it's something you have segues better for, I'm all for it. I had a good segue from the war thing. But then we then we start talking about the trans issue and I don't know where to go from there. Casandra 31:13 I think the world is shit. There are lots of them. They're diverse, shitty things to talk about, you know? Margaret 31:18 Well, and even the war thing, it's like, you know, what, Ukraine is fucking holding on a year later. That is a fucking positive story. It is a terrible, horrible story. But they're still fucking there. You know, like people thought Ukraine wasn't going to be a country by last summer. Brooke 31:36 That's a really good point. Well, speaking of war, wars, the war on drugs. Drugs. Adderall. I did it you're welcome. We did a, I think our August episode or something like that we did a roundup on like shortages, things that were in shortages. And I know we talked about Adderall at one point and being in shortage and why. And that started like last summer sometime I think August or so it was when people started talking about it. The FDA or DEA, I can't remember which one it was that came out with the announcement. I think the the FDA came out like late October and said, "Hey, we have an Adderall shortage." And everyone said, "We fucking know we've been dealing with with this for two or three months now." And it's gotten worse than it's been in the news again, recently, because of just how much worse it has gotten. We talked about it previously, we talked about some of the reasons why the shortage was happening. And part of it is a production issue. It's a very controlled substance. So, it's not like manufacturers can just start pumping out a whole bunch more. And not just like the creation of the Adderall. But the ingredients that go into it are controlled substances as well, so they can only make so much of that. Allegedly, there's enough supply of the base ingredients that we shouldn't have this shortage. So.... Casandra 33:10 Sorry, I'm stupid about Adderall, is it it because meth. Is that the....? Okay, sorry. Brooke 33:18 That's where I'm going with this, but yeah, that's that is that. That is part of the reason it's such a controlled substance, because Amphetamine is, you know, main ingredient, it's it's people often refer to Adderall as being, you know, legal meth, or prescribed meth. Casandra 33:33 I know nothing. Wow. That's wild. Brooke 33:42 So, there have been some reports of folks that haven't been able to get their Adderall and have, in fact, turned to meth in order to get the substance they need, and there's not a good sense of how like widespread this is, versus, you know, a couple of instances that hit the news, you know, there's at least one story of somebody who died in an ER, because of meth. And they said they were taking the math because they couldn't get their Adderall prescription. And, you know, meth, you know, historically causes no problems to the brain and doesn't make people say things that are wacky and untrue. So we can trust that story. But, that's what's happening. But, the fun conspiracy theorh where I'm going with this that's floating around is that the government is purposely restricting the manufacture of Adderall to force people to turn to meth to perpetuate the war on drugs. So there you go. Conspiracy theories are fun. Margaret 34:43 Wait, So this is a new conspiracy. Okay. How the balloons tie in? Casandra 34:48 Yeah. Margaret 34:49 Is that where moving it? They're getting the Adderall out of the country? Casandra 34:52 They're delivering it. If we would have let them come in farther, they would have just released it because everyone wants Adderall. Margaret 34:58 Oh, yeah. That's sort of true...the part where everyone wants Adderal. Casandra 35:03 I do not. Margaret 35:06 Yeah. No, I don't want Adderall. I'm hyper off a cookie. Brooke 35:12 That's part of the issue is that the prescriptions for Adderall increased 27%. From 2019 to 2022. There were like 35 million prescriptions in the US, which is a fuck ton, in 2019. And then it went up to like 45 million by 2021 or 22. And I mean, shocker. Everybody's stuck inside with a pandemic. Like we overprescribed, that are all for sure. And I and that is not to say there's not people who genuinely need it out there. And I don't mean to bash anybody's use of of that prescription. But you know, one of the articles that I was reading they, you know how news reports like to pick a human interest story to tell their story, they were talking about this 16 year old female in Utah, who's like in all of the AP classes, honors classes is getting ready for college and how stressed out she was and obsessed with perfection, and she couldn't get all her stuff done. And then she got an Adderall prescription. And, and now she's able to get all her homework done, and she's acing all their classes, and it's ready for college and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, well, yeah, I mean, you just gave her gave her amphetamines. Casandra 36:36 I feel like there's a misuse potential. Like, the people I know, who have ADHD and take Adderall, it doesn't impact their system that way, you know. And I also think there's a certain, I see this with autism as well, there's a certain amount of like, like the left handed thing that Margaret brought up, you know? Like, it might seem like, it might seem like an undue spike, but I'm sure a large percentage of that is people who are finally getting care they need. Margaret 37:12 And then also, like, I think about it because I came closer to seeking medication for ADHD than I ever have. And what it was for me is that I built my entire life around the fact that I have ADHD, there's a reason that I'm a freelancer, there's a reason that I, you know, I travel, there's a reason I work for myself. Like, there's all these things that I've done, that have made ADHD not a problem in my life, right. But actually, the beginning of the pandemic, it made it more of a problem. It made it harder for me because like, I had to sit in my cabin and work on a computer in order to eat food, and stuff, you know, and so like, and I don't thrive in certain environments, and so I was like, "Man, if I had something that helped me thrive in this environment." So. Casandra 37:56 Which then makes me wonder, like, how much of that need is attached to Capitalism, you know, lthe ike productivity. So? Yeah. Margaret 38:04 Oh, yeah. No, totally. I mean. Totally. I had a day job for a minute. Casandra 38:10 Sitting in a cabin alone with....That sounds like my dream. Margaret 38:16 I know. Well, I was fine until the day job. Awesome. Margaret 38:24 Okay, so, Brooke 38:25 Again, I don't want to like bash anybody that's taking it. I don't know. I don't want to say that there aren't legitimate reasons that some of those people didn't need it. But, we we do know that it's overprescribed, that you take you know, young people who are high achieving, and we've got them overscheduled and fucking Capitalism. Casandra 38:41 Oh, everyone, I knew in college was....Adderall all the time. Brooke 38:46 Yeah, just give them drugs. So, that's part of the problem. Anyway, the DEA is trying to get you addicted to meth. x Casandra 38:59 I thought it was the FDA. Margaret 39:02 And that's why they're shooting down balloons. Brooke 39:06 No, it's the DEA because that's the Drug Enforcement Agency. They're the ones trying to perpetuate the war on drugs and they have something to do. Casandra 39:14 I hope people know when we are and aren't being sarcastic. Margaret 39:22 I hope so too. But I'm not optimistic. Brooke 39:27 Never take me seriously. That's my answer. I have one other fun conspiracy theory thing. Okay, it actually came up right after the end of our last recording and it was kind of a bummer. We didn't get it in there. But, it's about chicken feed. Casandra 39:46 Big Chicken! Brooke 39:47 And chicken feed conspiracy, that something is....Yep, Big Chicken. Not and not Tyson. Not that evil chicken, but it's actually a big big fooder you may have heard of this brand called Purina? Casandra 40:01 Dog food. Brooke 40:02 Are pretty well known for creating pet food. Yeah. Margaret 40:05 They feed cats. Brooke 40:06 But they also make more industrial feeds like chicken feed and guinea pigs and goats and I don't even know the full extent of their thing, but they make feed for a lot of different kinds of animals. And people started reporting in July last year that their chickens and this is industrial level and you know, household people chicken in the backyard kind of people, crazies like me that their their egg laying productions seem to be going down. And then going through the winter, a lot of a lot of people have talked about their eggs production from their chickens being at or very near zero, which I also have been in this boat for a while my my four girls were not laying any eggs. And it wasn't an old chicken issue, like they're, they're young, and they just started laying this last summer. And yes, production goes down in the winter, that's normal, but doesn't usually just completely drop off. So, people were posting about it on social medias and talking about it and started forming this conspiracy that there's something wrong with chicken feed, Purina mainly because they're one of the biggest suppliers not just under their name brand, but their sub brands as well. And that something is missing in the chicken feed that's causing them not to lay as well. And then lots people saying "I switched to another brand, I started mixing my own," blah, blah, blah. "And suddenly my my chickens are laying again." And as much as I hate conspiracy theories and don't want to feed into it, I have to say that I also was having the same issue of zero egg production. And then I grabbed a protein blend from a different brand and started mixing that into their feed and getting eggs. Margaret 41:49 That doesn't have to be a conspiracy. They could have just fucked up. Casandra 41:51 Honestly, people have reported that they've had their feet tested. They've had their Purina tested and it contains the appropriate amount of protein. So there's like, at this point a month later....I'm sorry, I was the one who brought this up because I was I raise quail. And so I'm on, I don't know, poultry, social media. Yeah. Anyway. But yeah, so apparently people have gotten their feed tested, and it has the appropriate components, so now they're like, "Is there something added to it?" That's the new conspiracy. Margaret 42:27 Well, I know what, I know what the problem is. Brooke 42:29 Morgaret has the answer. Casandra 42:32 Okay, good. Margaret 42:32 Yeah, I watched this....No, it's not gonna be the answer. No, I watched this documentary called All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix last night. And in it, the Imperial German soldiers, while they're occupied France during World War One, there's they're breaking into farmers yards and stealing the eggs. And so it's actually. It's actually Imperial German soldiers are breaking into everyone's yards and stealing quail eggs and chicken eggs. Brooke 43:10 Oh, okay. Casandra 43:12 Obvious. Brooke 43:12 There are a lot of other factors that genuinely influence chicken, like production, like the amount of light and the temperature. And, you know, our light levels are not particularly off. They're low this time of year, like always, but it definitely has been a little bit colder on average this winter here for us, though. My mother...Hi, Mom, I love you was like you need to put a heating light on your chickens and they'll lay more which I did for a month and it didn't affect anything. Although that was also after one of those snows that we had too. Casandra 43:44 Can I telll you one of the more wingnut versions of this I've heard? Brooke 43:47 Yes, please. Casandra 43:48 And who knows. But, the most like, you know, puppet master version of all of this I've heard is that Purina partnered with some giant egg company that I can't remember the name of right now, who just opened a whole bunch of, starting last fall open several massive like egg production facilities. So, it's in Purina's best interest to add something to the feed so that our chickens can't lay eggs. And that's why egg prices are through the roof. And now you have to buy the eggs and it's just ohhhh. Yeah. Brooke 44:26 Yeah, that's the other thing that's feeding into the conspiracy theories I was gonna wrap this up with. Brooke 44:29 Sorry. I'm taking... Brooke 44:30 No, you're fine. It's perfect. Perfect segue. Excellent. Yeah. Is the prices going up on eggs is all feeding into conspiracy and you know, people not thinking about food prices in general have gone up and we feed chickens food things. And yeah, anyway, what Margaret? Margaret 44:48 Oh, just there's some, I was reading today, that there's some guesses that we might have hit peak food inflation, specifically around eggs and meat. Because basically, no one can get enough money...because you can't sell eggs at a certain...the way cap, the market works, you know, you can't sell it at a certain amount, so fewer sell or whatever. And so wholesale egg prices have started dropping. And as of when the article I read came out this had not yet hit retail egg prices. Because people probably are like, Well, alright, I can buy them for cheap and sell them for just as much Fuck yeah. But wholesale egg prices are starting to drop and meat prices are also starting to drop on a wholesale level, because inflation reduced the profit. Brooke 45:39 Okay. Well, the one upside, so that's sorry..... Casandra 45:48 I think there's something about Purina feed, and we don't know what and that's fine. And that people seem to be switching feeds or making their own and it's fine. I mean, there might be but like, I don't really care personally, I'm like, I just want my quails to lay eggs. Margaret 46:07 And it's just not a conspiracy. They're just fucked up their food. Brooke 46:09 Right. Yeah, there's other complicating factors. It's not maybe not just this one thing. Like, yeah, you know, we hear where Cas and I live have had a colder little bit colder winter than average and that'll slow down production. I don't know for the US as an entirety but you know, just an example. Margaret 46:25 Well, there's there's that saying "Never never attribute to incompetence. What can be understood..." No, wait. I know something isn't...It's Goddamnit "It's not malice. It's incompetence." It's more likely that it is incompetence than malice at any given thing that's happening. Casandra 46:49 I mean, yeah, it's like very experienced people who are having this issue, like there's something, there's something wrong, right? Margaret 47:05 Oh, that's what I mean about...sorry, I don't mean incompetence of the chicken keepers. The chicken lords. Brooke 47:10 That is what we call ourselves, Margaret, chicken lords. Margaret 47:12 I mean, the incompetence of Purina. The...like Purina fucking up the feed is probably because they fucked up the feed, not cause they're like, "hahaha." Brooke 47:25 I mean, it's entirely possible Purina switched to cheaper, lower quality components to create their feeds because of inflation. Casandra 47:31 It's not incompetence if it's a giant company. Yeah. Brooke 47:35 There's something in that. The one upside of.... Casandra 47:40 Root cause. Okay. Yeah. Brooke 47:42 There you go. Nice. Margaret 47:44 Yeah, it might be greed instead of malice. Brooke 47:45 Let me just say the happy thing. Margaret 47:46 What's the happy thing? What's the happy thing? Brooke 47:50 Is that people have turned to other feed sources. So, instead of supporting the big giant mega Corp, they're supporting smaller ones, like I reached out to a local person who's making their own blends. And I'm going to start using some of that. People have learned how to create their own blends and feed their things, which I think it's always great to get away from the industrial manufacturers. So... Casandra 48:11 I don't know how to jump from chickens to this.... Brooke 48:17 Chickens. Avian Flu. Flu. Sickness. Bad. Long COVID. Casandra 48:24 I raised quail because I'm allergic to chicken eggs, cause autoimmune disease. Did you know long COVID is kind of like an autoimmune disease? Brooke 48:32 Nice. Casandra 48:35 Do either of you know anyone with long covid? Brooke 48:37 Yes. Margaret 48:39 Yeah, part of the reason I don't leave the house, not because I have it, but because I'm terrified. I mean, I'm making rational decisions around safety. Brooke 48:48 I'm worried I'm having it. Casandra 48:52 Oh, well, maybe maybe this will be easier. When I when I first heard about it. So, some of the symptoms I've heard include fatigue, brain fog, difficulty breathing, joint pain, chest pain, general like lower quality of life, gut issues. When I hear that list, I'm like, oh, that's, that sounds like my autoimmune disease. And sure enough, they're realizing that long COVID does have a lot in common with an autoimmune disease. I don't think they're classifying it that way. At this point, like the research is ongoing, but it's just really interesting to me. So apparently, something like 11% of people who get COVID-19 will have long COVID, which lets you one study in "Nature," I read said up to 65 million people are suffering from on COVID, which is apparently a 10th of the number of people worldwide who have had COVID. So , 1 in 10 people is kind of a lot. Yeah. And suddenly, you know, folks at the beginning of COVID, who were calling it, a mass disabling event make a lot more sense. Brooke 50:01 Yeah. Casandra 50:05 This is terrible and funny. I read a tweet where someone said "People went on about herd immunity. But now we have heard autoimmunity." Brooke 50:12 Oh, it's funny and awful Casandra 50:17 It is. Sorry, I'm laughing at that because I have an autoimmune disease. I think I should offer that context. So, populations impacted: Apparently 4% of folks with long COVID are under 12. Aside from that about a third are people under 50. Another third are 50 to 60. And then another third are people above 65. So it is impacting people who are our age. Brooke 50:44 You can't have three thirds and four percent. Casandra 50:47 I said, in addition to that. Or after that. Brooke 50:51 Okay, sorry. Math. Just slap me. Casandra 50:53 I read so many studies to cobble this all together. Don't judge my numbers. It's more...I say that to bookkeeper. It's more predominant in transgender folks and women, which is also true of autoimmune diseases. 75% of people with long COVID where never hospitalized. 75% of those people have not sought medical help for long COVID. And there's also an assumption that a lot of these numbers are actually higher, because we all know how reporting has gone down in and how healthcare is expensive. And if people don't have to go to a hospital or a doctor, they won't, you know. Brooke 51:35 Is there anyone out there that still saying long COVID doesn't exist? Not like the you know, extremists but like, mainstream for a while was like long COVID is made up? It's not actually happening. Is that still a common thought? Or is that finally going away? Casandra 51:50 I don't know how common it...so this is all really curious to me because I have an autoimmune disease and because last month, January 2023, two different studies came out about Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which I also have, and how it increases the likelihood of long COVID. And when that study came out, I started to see a bunch of people talking about long COVID and low dose Naltrexone being a useful approach, which is a medication I take, which I cannot get prescribed by a regular doctor. Because they deny that it's a useful immunomodulator. Like remedy. And that's all to say that like, I think I'm hypersensitive to the disbelief around these things. And one of the reasons this if fascinating to me. Yeah, one of the reasons this is fascinating to me, is because it's opening up these conversations about these diseases that patients have been talking about for years, and have not historically been believed. Margaret 52:56 Often as a symptom of misogyny, right? Casandra 53:01 Yeah, Totally. I don't know anyone who has, you know, something in the spectrum of chronic illness who hasn't gone through, like literally years of doctor saying it "Doesn't exist," or "You don't have it." Or "It's not that bad." Like, I had to call my doctor and inform her of what I had, like, based on my labs, because she didn't tell me. And so now there's this like, sped up process around long COVID, right, where like, so many people are getting sick all at once that like, there was the disbelief and other people downplaying it. But like, research is catching up at a faster rate, it seems like, which has implications for the broader community, which could be positive. Even though it sucks that how many, how many millions. 65 million people.... Margaret 53:52 Well, it's like mRNA caccines, like, it's fucking cool, that we're suddenly able to get vaccinated for so many more things than we used to. And it is absolutely fucked that it took this...It took so many people getting this before people were like, "Oh, maybe it's just not like the modern version of hysteria," the whiny woman disease or whatever, you know. Casandra 54:20 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think there's....up until very recently, if you walked into a doctor and were like, even if you had a what's the word I'm looking for, not a prescription when they tell you what your... a diagnosis, from a previous doctor saying "I have chronic fatigue," or whatever. It's highly likely that your new doctor will say that doesn't exist. But now, suddenly, the only word...it's like the only words that they have to describe long COVID are these words like chronic fatigue and autoimmune disease? So, suddenly they have to like view them as legitimate. But studies are coming out in these like, major scientific journals like "Nature." "JANA," what's the other one? I was reading? Whatever, science. So people are taking it seriously. And that's, not exciting because I wish it didn't exist at all, but is good. Brooke 55:27 Yeah, the friend that I have. Casandra 55:28 I have a whole. Oh, go ahead. Brooke 55:30 Oh, just the friend that I have that has long COVID he has faced a lot of that struggle with this belief. I think he got COVID earlier on, or at least not recently. And yeah, definitely has faced a lot of like disbelief and extra hurdles and trying to advocate for himself and get the kind of care that he needs. Casandra 55:54 Yeah. And it's, it's I think maybe people need to understand how severe it can be. Because the umbrella of long COVID, my understanding, like, you know, they're still actively defining this term, but my understanding is that it's people who have at least two symptoms, at least, I think it's two months after the acute infection goes away. But for some people that can be so debilitating that like, they need walkers, or they need you know, it's life altering. Yeah. And I read one study that said that, as many as 4 million people are unemployed, because of long covid, which is a whole other conversation around, like, what counts as a disability in this country? And what doesn't? Like I remember when I was first diagnosed with my autoimmune disease, and was way less functional than I am now. I was like, "Why? Why would I not qualify for disability?" And the answer is that there are a lot of bureaucratic reasons, apparently. But yeah, who knows, maybe that will change too. Brooke 57:04 Part of it's because...part of the bureaucracy is that they can't take away the designation once they've given it. So, they don't want to make it too easy to label you disabled, because then you don't, you don't get to go back from being disabled. Margaret 57:22 Or we could just not means test care. And anyone who needs care, could just have care. Casandra 57:31 We don't think you're sick enough. Do you want to hear some more interesting statistics? Brooke 57:39 Always. Give me numbers. Casandra 57:42 Yeah, I know Brooks excited. So, a study in Germany recently found that people who get COVID have a 30% or had a 30% increase in risk of autoimmune diseases up to a year after their acute infection. So, there's active comorbidity there. And the people who go into COVID having an autoimmune disease, have a 25% increase in their chance of contracting additional autoimmune diseases. But that's all significantly lowered if patients are vaccinated. There's a like crunchy version of autoimmune communities where people are antivax. Margaret 58:26 Oh, that's why you're making angry eyes as soon as you.... Casandra 58:30 Well, so these statistics are particularly important, right? Margaret 58:35 I'm mad that there's been a Lyme vaccine that they just didn't finish studying. I could be wrong about this. I don't remember all the details. I read a pop science article about it. But there's like a...there's been a Lyme disease [vaccine] that they can give to dogs, but they just didn't finish studying it and people. And it's been around for like 20 years. Brooke 58:54 That's infuriating. Casandra 58:55 I don't live in Lyme country. So it's not like as big an issue here. But that's wild. Margaret 59:00 I got Lyme in Oregon. Like, where you live. But, and I and I live in fucking Lyme country and I've never gotten Lyme over here. Brooke 59:11 Wow. Yeah. Got some anyway, family in Idaho that, about 15 years ago, were battling Lyme and one of them had it since he was a teenager. Margaret 59:23 I want to fucking Lyme vaccine. It's like, I think people who play D&D are going to be smarter around risk analysis, because anyone who's played D&D knows that 5% chance of something happens means it's gonna happen. Like... Casandra 59:37 Yeah, eventually. Margaret 59:39 Yeah, exactly. And because you've had that happen over and over again, when you play this, and you also realize that anything that you get, that's like, a plus 5% safer, you always take it, right, like, and the vaccine is like a 90% safer, and people are like, "Ah, people still get sick, so therefore it's bullshit," but Like, if the vaccine made you 5% safer, and you play Dungeons and Dragons, you'll take it. Casandra 1:00:05 It's actually, it's 10%. It's 10% safer. Margaret 1:00:09 Wait, what is? Casandra 1:00:11 If you're vaccinated.... Margaret 1:00:13 Oh, about the autoimmune stuff. Okay. Casandra 1:00:15 Yeah. Margaret 1:00:15 I was thinking about like COVID itself, but yeah. Yeah. Casandra 1:00:21 I just like kind of fantasy of my high school stats class actually being taught through D&D and like, maybe I would have understood math. Margaret 1:00:27 Yeah, it like, it's, yeah, you understand probability a lot better if you like, regularly.... Casandra 1:00:33 You're actively practicing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what else do you want to know? Margaret 1:00:43 About long COVID? Casandra 1:00:45 Yeah. Margaret 1:00:46 I was hearing that....It...For most people does taper off. Is that being understood? Or is that like, like not to be like, therefore it's fine, but just like, less of a like, "Oh, God, my life is over. This thing has happened," or whatever. Like, I was under the impression that people....not that it should...people should feel like their life is over, even if they get it bad. But like, not that it's... Casandra 1:01:17 It's not debilitating? Brooke 1:01:18 It's not permanent. Margaret 1:01:19 It's not necessarily...it's not necessarily permanently debilitating to everyone who gets it and that it like a lot of people it's about a way slower getting better, but not everyone some people it's about a permanent effect. But that other people are like recovering just very slowly. Is that? Am I completely off? I've no idea. Casandra 1:01:40 I've heard that empirically. But I didn't find a study that like....I found studies acknowledging that for some people after a few months, they get better. Like even if they started out with long COVID, symptoms will get better, but I didn't actually see numbers about...and I think part of that is that it hasn't been long enough. Margaret 1:01:57 Yeah, totally. Casandra 1:01:58 And even if...so, so I keep comparing this to an autoimmune disease, but they haven't actually said like "This is in fact an autoimmune disease," you know, there are people who say it's because of mast cell activation there are people who say it's actually a neurological issue, like they're still figuring it out. But if in fact it it does function like an autoimmune disease you would need years to see how it actually impacts people because people might have a slower recovery and feel better and then you know, their immune system could be triggered by something and they'll get sick again. So yeah, we just don't know. Casandra 1:02:33 That makes sense. Brooke 1:02:36 So I might not be fatigued and coughing forever is what you're saying? Maybe. Casandra 1:02:42 Yeah. Brooke 1:02:45 Okay, that's good. Casandra 1:02:46 But if you are people are researching the efficacy of low dose Naltrexone Brooke 1:02:51 And I'll get my brain back. Maybe. Casandra 1:02:54 I'd say some percentage of it. Margaret 1:02:57 Have you tried yoga? Casandra 1:03:02 You're actually not supposed to do stretching flexibility things with Ehlers Danlos, that's the antithesis of what you're supposed to do. So, no. Margaret 1:03:14 I hope that as we talked about, people not being able to tell when people are being sarcastic, I hope that I manage that tone. Brooke 1:03:22 Okay, but I need yoga for my PTSD. Now I'm lost. Casandra 1:03:27 You could just try the breathing exercises. Brooke 1:03:30 Okay. Meditation that's the one universal good. Casandra 1:03:32 Yeah. Brooke 1:03:33 Maybe. We'll see the sleep disorder. Casandra 1:03:38 I feel I feel like what we're doing right now is like a small encapsulated version of what these like, chronic illness communities do on a larger scale. And at a certain point, I just, like, have to detach myself because I'm like, everything will harm you. Casandra 1:03:52 How about we talk about other headlines. Casandra 1:03:58 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, I found some fun ones. So, I don't remember exactly what she said. I'm sure anyone on Twitter saw, but Marjorie Taylor Greene was basically like "The country should get a divorce." Like, in my mind is civil war. That's a fun one. Margaret 1:04:19 Yeah, and I, I like that one also, because it's like people talk about like, red states, blue states, and people are like, "Oh, well, you know, Oklahoma is banning trans people. Fortunately, no trans people live there." Like, that's not fucking true. And like, and even from a like, Democrat--Republican binary, the difference between a red state and a blue state is usually about 60/40 one way or the other. Yeah, you know, and like, and that's what people aren't acknowledging. Well, there's a million things people aren't acknowledging. Casandra 1:04:50 Sort of what she wanted, she wanted to...part of that comment she made was about proposing that if people move to a red state from a blue state, they should have a period where they can't vote. which would in fact make it so that they were purely red states. Margaret 1:05:05 That's true. As a....I am not a Democrat, but I live in a red state and I am far worse than what they're afraid of with the Democrats. Yeah. Okay, my fun headline. Are we just doing like one headline back and forth for a moment? Casandra 1:05:23 Yeah. Margaret 1:05:25 Massive floods and mudslides in Brazil killed 36 people leaving 800 people homeless, displacing thousands of people, hitting multiple cities. Just massive fuck off disaster that didn't even make it to my social media headlines. Casandra 1:05:41 That makes me want to message Mena. Margaret 1:05:43 Yeah, not a bad idea to check in with her. Friends. I mean, sometimes it's like, Brazil is a very large country, right, and so like, you know, like, if someone something happens in the Pacific Northwest, and someone, my friend from another country is like, "Are you okay?" Then again, I wouldn't actually be sad at someone for checking in, even if something...whatever, anyway. Casandra 1:06:09 Federal Emergency SNAP benefits are ending March 1. Thanks, Biden. Yeah, for some people, that means the difference between like, $270 a month and $20 a month. It's like, a huge amount of money. Brooke 1:06:24 Yeah, for me, it's the difference between like, being able to just buy the foods I need and knowing there's gonna be enough versus like, having to really pay attention and budget of things to make sure I don't run out by the end of the month. Like it's not it's not even a huge amount of difference for me, but it's enough of like the difference between having to pay close attention and just being able to just buy food like normal. Casandra 1:06:49 Yeah. I've seen a few different posts by food pantry volunteers who are like, "It's already like wild in food pantries. And it's not even March 1 yet." Margaret 1:07:01 Floods in New Zealand killed for at least four people and displace 9000 people. All these headlines, it's like things show up in the head in the news when it happens. And then like this one in New Zealand, it's like, killed at least four people and there's 1300 people unaccounted for. And that article is from a while ago and so I didn't find an updated article. The fact that I didn't find it updated article probably means that 1000 More people didn't die, but was really fucking bad. Brooke 1:07:32 And then there's 9000 people that got displaced and you probably don't know what happened to them and where they went. Margaret 1:07:41 Are we still ping-ponging or should I just go with the rest of mine. Casandra 1:07:45 Oh no, I'll go Walgreens recently caved to Conservative pressure and agreed to stop selling Mifo...I get the full names of miso and mife confused but it's one of them. Margaret 1:07:59 One of the main abortion drugs. Casandra 1:08:01 Yeah, in a pro choice state. Margaret 1:08:06 Wow, in a pro choice? I didn't. Casandra 1:08:08 Oh, yes, it's Kansas, which is a pro choice state, and the you know, in case you needed the added kicker, Mifo is also used for completing miscarriages, so people will not be able to access that drug if they have a miscarriage. At least not in Walgreens. So, you know, change pharmacies if you want. Margaret 1:08:31 Legally Walgreens. Brooke 1:08:34 In Minecraft. Margaret 1:08:35 Ah, in Czarist Russia, that's what I'm pushing for is the new 'In Minecraft'. They cracked Minecraft. Now it's all about Czarist Russia. Warming oceans are cutting into the world's widest glacier. They're cutting like big trenches from the bottom into the world's widest glacier, the Thwaites, ultimately these melting glaciers over the next couple 100 years will likely raise global sea level by 10 feet. Brooke 1:09:04 Is that an Antarctic glacier? Margaret 1:09:07 I don't know. Casandra 1:09:12 I'm assured by a friend who's like a right wing researcher, who isn't right wing but does research into right wing hate groups, that this is probably going to be a non issue, but apparently and Idaho hate group on Telegram has been calling for an 'Antisemitic Day of Hate,' this Shabbat and I have friends in the areas where this is happening who have said that their synagogues are canceling services. Margaret 1:09:37 That fucking bums me out. Economic Research firm Moody's looked at US cities most at risk for combined heat, drought and sea level rise over the next 30 years,, basically like what US cities are going to be most impacted by climate change over the next couple of decades. And the losers are the Bay Area, a whole bunch of Florida, N

In this episode we look at the well known statement that Chassidus had better response to Haskala than Hisnagdus. How many factors were there in Czarist Russia that contributed to a toxic sociological atmosphere? How do we understand the effects of the cultural milieu of Eastern European Jewry on basic levels of observance in the nineteenth century?  Nach Yomi: Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi on WhatsApp. We learn a perek a day five days a week, with a nine minute shiur covering the key issues. We are currently learning MISHLEY Click here to join!  For tours, speaking engagements, or sponsorships contact us at jewishhistoryuncensored@gmail.com PRODUCED BY: CEDAR MEDIA STUDIOS  

Originally Aired: February 22, 2022 President Biden just spoke about Russia moving its troops into Eastern Ukraine and the U.S. response. David Rothkopf spoke with Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute, Angela Stent of the Brookings Institution, and Michael Weiss of New Lines Magazine about where we are in the Ukrainian crisis and what might comes next. What sanctions will actually hurt Putin? Is Putin attempting to rebuild the Soviet Union or Czarist Russia? Are we about to see the largest land war in Europe since World War Two? Find out the answers to these and other vital questions at this pivot moment in history in this timely conversation. Join us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Originally Aired: February 22, 2022 President Biden just spoke about Russia moving its troops into Eastern Ukraine and the U.S. response. David Rothkopf spoke with Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute, Angela Stent of the Brookings Institution, and Michael Weiss of New Lines Magazine about where we are in the Ukrainian crisis and what might comes next. What sanctions will actually hurt Putin? Is Putin attempting to rebuild the Soviet Union or Czarist Russia? Are we about to see the largest land war in Europe since World War Two? Find out the answers to these and other vital questions at this pivot moment in history in this timely conversation. Join us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

98. Reform, Czarist Russia

Episode Summary Brooke and Casandra talk with Why We Fight author, Shane Burley about conspiracy theories, false consciousness amongst the right, and how mythos get built to influence how people think. Guest Info Shane Burley can be found on Twitter @Shane_Burley1, on Instagram @ShaneBurley, on Mastodon @Shane_Burley, and on Patreon at www.patreon.com/ShaneBurley Host Info Casandra can be found on Twitter @hey_casandra or Instagram @House.Of.Hands. Brooke can be found at Strangers helping up keep our finances intact and on Twitter @ogemakweBrooke Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Next Episode This Year in the Apocalypse on 12/30/22 and every two weeks there after. Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: Shane Burley on Conspiracy Theor Brooke 00:18 Hello and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcasts for what feels like the end times. I'm Brooke Jackson, one of your hosts today, along with Casandra. Today we have the honor of talking with the author, researcher, and journalist Shane Burley. We're going to discuss conspiracy theories or whatever rabbit holes that topic takes us into. But first we'd like to celebrate being a member of the Channel Zero network of anarchist podcasts by playing a little jingle for one of the other podcasts on the network. Here it goes. Brooke 01:29 And we're back. Shane, thanks for joining us today to talk about conspiracy theories. Would you tell us a little bit about yourself, including sharing your pronouns? Shane Burley 01:36 Sure. Thanks so much for having me on. My name is Shane Burley, my pronouns are he/him or they/them. I research the far right amongst other things. I've written a few books on it, Why We Fight from back in 2021 and Fascism Today from 2017. And most recently edited this big anti fascism anthology called an No Pasaran: Anti Fascist Dispatches From a World in Crisis. And right now I am working on a book with my co-author Ben Lorber for Melville House books, on anti semitism. Brooke 02:06 Nice, thank you. Yeah, the one you wrote back in 2017 - Casandra has a copy of that book. And when I realized that my beliefs align with anarchism, I was like, I should learn about what this is. And, you know, learn more about fascism, too. And I was like, Casandra, do you have a good, like, primer book on this for me? And she just went to the bookshelf and pulled that one out. It was yours! Handed it over. Shane Burley 02:33 Oh, awesome. That's what I was hoping for, when we wrote it because there wasn't a lot that was good and straightforward at the time, at least from our side. Casandra Johns 02:40 Spreading the good news about anti-fascism. Brooke 02:46 That was, it was a good piece for, for getting started and learning there. So thank you for writing that. And for your continued work. Shane Burley 02:53 Yeah, thanks so much for saying that, it's really kind. Brooke 02:56 So we wanted to talk today about conspiracy theories, and I'm just gonna start with a real basic question just to make sure we're all kind of on the same page as we're having this conversation, of what is a conspiracy theory? Shane Burley 03:08 And conspiracy theory is a theory about a conspiracy that is not true. More appropriately, it's one that could not be true. So I think it's distinguishing from actual conspiracies because there are conspiracies in the world. So, you know, a good comparison about this would be the killing of JFK. There's conspiracy theories that range from three people did it to 10,000 people did it. But no matter what one person had to engage in some kind of collaboration, so some kind of conspiracy is possible, which is separate from conspiracy theory. So I think we separate it from like the various kind of quote unquote "conspiracies" that lots of organizations and governments engage in just in day to day work, versus ones that basically come up against the basic laws of physics and how we understand the world to work, and specifically divert our understanding of how complex issues work by sort-of putting an element of fantasy into them. Brooke 04:03 So that kind of answers one of the questions that I've been pondering, maybe we can talk about it more? Casandra has been wondering about, you know, why conspiracy theories have become so mainstream. And my sort of corollary thought was, it seems like they're so appealing to people, you know? Those two things are kind of tied together - the mainstreaming and the fact that they seem to really appeal to people for some reason. Casandra Johns 04:28 Not even just mainstream, as in the rest of society mainstream, but mainstream on the Left. Shane Burley 04:37 I was interviewing a friend, Brendan O'Connor, who wrote a book, Blood Red Lines, about anti-immigrant kind of nativism and border politics. And he made a comment that I thought a lot about which was that he's kind of unsure about where the line between conspiracy theories and quote unquote, "false consciousness" lies. What's the difference between conspiracy theory, and what's the differencce between misunderstanding sources of oppression and how systems work, which is a common thing? Shane Burley 05:06 I think one of the realities about a conspiracy theory is that it is an attempt to liberate oneself; it is actually an attempt to do that. It's an attempt to explain people in power and explain your own disempowerment. And so in situations in which lots of instability or feelings of loss of status - whatever they are, real and imagined - when those things start to sort of percolate, conspiracy theories are the easier answer. They don't require a ton of political education they don't depend on a lot of shared reality, even. And our society depends really heavily both on false consciousness and conspiracy theories. Depending on how you put those lines. Shane Burley 05:48 Take the entire Republican Party: [it] has built a mythos on working class people, specifically, not elites, right? That's the language used. And their policy is entirely based around basically inculcating the rich and the people who own capital. So how do you explain both of those things? It has to be institutionalized false consciousness, which in itself engages a certain amount of conspiracy theories. How can you understand empowering the rich and empowering the working class at the same time? Those things don't comiserate. Except millions and of millions of people assume that they can. And so I think there's an institutionalization of that kind of thinking. Conspirarcy theories, the wild ones, actually aren't that far afield from that, you know? Because if you think about the way that things - just basic [things], like taxes and social services - versus the kind of benefits of the rich, it seems pretty obvious that when those who own capital are enriched that that money comes from us. I mean, it doesn't require a master's thesis to explain that. So you have to get millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people to basically avoid thinking about that, or to believe it's untrue. And so that, I think, is foundational to the way that we think about conspiracy theories because we all - not all of us, hopefully - but huge portions of us engage in some level of conspiracy thinking, Casandra Johns 07:03 You can tell me if you think this is accurate: it seems like conspiracy theories often try to blame individuals, rather than looking at systems for instance, it sort of frustrates me when people are like, you know, eat the rich. Which yeah, eat the rich. But like, "If Jeff Bezos would just, you know, redistribute his wealth, everything would be fine." But it wouldn't be because capitalism would still exist, and there would just be someone else super rich. You know what I mean? Shane Burley 07:32 Yeah, I think the kind of classic line on this is that conspiracy theories - and particularly anti semitic conspiracy theories, just as like the archetype for it - are one of the most effective defenders of capital because what it does is divert your attention away from a system and places it on supposedly corrupt individuals. And there's a couple of reasons I think this is really attractive to people. I think one is that it actually plays on bigotries really well, and validates them in a certain sense. So there's certain stories that people tell right? So one is that they're aggrieved and legitimately so. I would say that most members of the working class are having a problem, right? They're being exploited at work. They're not being paid, obviously, what they're worth; paying bills is hard. It's miserable. It's very upsetting, the things that we go through, even people who are reasonably affluent but not ruling class, it's actually quite difficult. And so that's a legitimate grievance. And I think that grievance has a lot of anger built up with it. And that anger inside people's bodies and minds is often indistinguishable from bigotry. I think it's actually those things intermix a lot. So it's the impulse that if someone is actually legitimately your oppresser in a dynamic, you know, your boss, there's an impulse to actually want to say something bigger to them. Shane Burley 08:45 There's a lot of research about people being pushed, and saying things and doing things they never thought they would in the direction of bigotry, simply as a way of harming those they think are harming them. And so what a lot of these conspiracy theories do - and populists conspiracy theories in general - is allow you to sort of indulge in that a bit. So it's not uncommon to focus on the effeminacy of the ruling class. So you'll see this a lot: "Jeff Bezos, look at his soft hands. He can never do the hard work like us." There's a certain kind of 'let's make them look effeminate. Let's make them look queer, code them as queer.' Casandra Johns 09:18 Also, the lizard thing, like talking about how they look like lizards Shane Burley 09:24 Very much about their appearance. I mean, if you look at... early 20th century socialist literature, the inordinate focus on making the capitalist class look fat, just absolutely rotund, as if they're consuming things that, you know, they're eating so much that you can't eat. You become small and they become big. So I think that allows, it gives us a twofer, right? That says, okay, yeah, they're the capitalist class, they're oppressing in that way. And also that discomfort you feel of fat people, those are now one and the same, and one actually mobilizes the other, like one becomes a weapon for the other. So I think that's an easy way to focus on that personalization. Shane Burley 10:01 And the other thing is, if getting rid of Jeff Bezos doesn't solve the problem, what the fuck would solve the problem? That's really scary. I think this idea that there are certainly targets in terms of the kind of super rich and stuff. But it's not, that's not enough. Like, what does it mean to go after a system of capital? What does that even mean? I think that's a really confusing prospect. And it's one that is really emotionally unsatisfying, when it gets right down to it. Casandra Johns 10:30 Yeah, cuz we haven't. We haven't imagined alternatives. Or, you know, the average person hasn't imagined alternatives to that. Shane Burley 10:37 Or how will you even get there? Like, what's the pathway to alternative? I think the idea of getting rid of Jeff Bezos, whether or not it's realistic, at least you kind of understand the physicality of what that would be. But what does it mean to communize the entire economy? I mean, what does it mean to actually look at your life and say, "How can I fix these really deeply laid traumas and undo them, and replace it?" That is just such a mammoth task that it's, I think, it's hard to build up a consciousness that's really easy, has a quick fix mentality that's easy to communicate to another person. It's a lot easier to say, you know - I've worked for unions, I've been a union organizer - to say like, "It's that boss, look what he's doing, look at what the car is driving, he couldn't do your job." Those things are easy. And they are true in most of those cases, but they're not the end of the story. And so I think we end up with that really foreshortened perspective because the other stuff is just so big. Casandra Johns 11:32 Yeah. And I wonder if... when we explore the big stuff we also have to look at the ways that we participated, which is difficult. Yeah. Shane Burley 11:42 Yeah. I mean... capital's really complicated now. And the way we, our lives, are intertwined in it is really difficult. Huge portions of the economy are made up of people that would have previously been considered petty bourgeois: freelancers, contract workers, you know. Is an Uber driver a business owner? I mean, there's these things that don't really make sense in the traditional kind of Marxist sense, are the ways we talk about activism and capitalism and wealth. And so it ends up being really complicated. And then when you add the dimensions of being, you know, white folks or in the Global North, that's sort of hyper exploited, under other countries, it's like, well, how does that relationship work? You know, does it? Do I see, am I doing that? Do I benefit from it? What does it mean to benefit from it? You know, I think that actually adds those layers of complexity to it. I think that's why this is the new story. I mean, that's why conspiracy theories are the story that we tell - it's a really important story. And like you said, it's not just the Right, it's the Left, too. Brooke 12:44 So why do you think that they have become so much more mainstream? Because they've always had that quality of being simpler explanation or an easy thing to point to, but now we're seeing them becoming more common. And as Casandra said, you know, more common on the Left as well. Like, what's the rise about? Why is that happening? Shane Burley 13:07 I think that it comes partially from the destabilization of kind of Western economies. The the center has collapsed out, so you're not having as much as moderate politics in general. The radical version of right wing politics is conspiratorial, it's necessarily conspiratorial, so the more radical it gets, the more conspiratorial it's gonna get. That's really, really important for how it builds up sort of an enthusiastic base of supporters, is built on conspiracy theories. Shane Burley 13:36 Again, the Left and the Right will build their energy on similar impulses, right? The impulse to liberate oneself. Well, if we're talking about, quote, unquote, "white working class" - which is a kind of an artificial category - but if we're going to talk about that in the kind of MAGA/Trump sense, they are people, like all people, who have diminishing 401ks and have, you know, rent they can't afford and stuff. Even though they're not disproportionately poor or anything, it's a general feeling of decline, right? So there is decline generally happening. And so that radicalization is going to be in the direction of conspiracy theories because if you were straightforward about right wing politics, no working class person would ever accept such a thing. I say, "So you're going to keep taxing me and then and then give tax breaks to rich people?" Which makes no sense when you think about it. "You're going to bust my union, I won't have as good of a pension?" You have to have conspiracy theories, and bigotries underlying that. So those simply just radicalized more. And they give a narrative, a mythology, to the real emotional turmoil people are living with. Stop the Steal makes a lot of sense if you feel like everyone's stealing everything from you. Like, you're always being stolen from, of course they can steal this election; "This election told me they were gonna fix problems and they stole it from me, just like they stole my pension, just like they stole my home in foreclosure." So I think those things are transpiring. Shane Burley 14:50 I think on the Left there is an increase in conspiracy theories because of the decline in political education and us talking things out. There's not a really good sense about systems. And there's also just a rapidly increasing sort of social network of sharing information that shortens it a lot. So instead of sort of talking about complex issues, it's a lot easier to package them in bite-sized bits. And those things become a lot more viral. Shane Burley 15:13 People also really enjoy thinking that they are participating in secret knowledge of some kind. Like they've been smart. They're ahead of the curve, they're ahead of the official information. I mean, Google search, you know, "Epstein didn't kill himself," and see all the people that have decided that they know something that the rest - everyone else - doesn't know... There's an effort to step past uncertainty, and confusion and complexity, and just kind of claim knowledge. And so that's, I think, an important part of how those discourses happen, and then they just happen so rapidly. Now, they just they progress so quickly. Casandra Johns 15:46 Yeah. I know deep down that conspiracy theories on the Right are ultimately more dangerous. But I get so much more frustrated when I see it on the Left because I feel like we should know better. You know, I was thinking about the, like, to the Right, Jews are dirty communists, and to the Left Jews are dirty capitalists. And one makes me more angry than the other. Shane Burley 16:14 It's interesting because we associate the Jew as the communist with the Right, and actually the Right use the "Jew as the capitalist" more. So for example, the second generation Klan would focus on Jewish capitalists. Part of it is that most likely a lot of the people in the Klan base hadn't met Jewish communists, and people in other countries might have met Jewish communists, you know? But this is one of the things I think is interesting is that there is just a rhetorical crossover that happens here, and actually, when you see - and this does happen, it's not it's not nearly the level that the Right or liberals want to make it sound - but there is moments of crossover when people from the Left take on really far-right ideas or can move to the far right, it has happened. And anti-semitic conspiracy theories is one of the primary ways that happens. Shane Burley 17:04 This sort of anti capitalism - I use the term fetishized anti capitalism, but you know, basically any enemies of capitalism are therefore my friends. And so even these kind of radical traditionalist forms of anti capitalism - these ultra conservative, nationalistic or fascistic forms anti capitalism - sort of start to feel like, well, they're opposed to the same systems, they must be the same thing. And that happens with with anti semitism. And I think we allow for this in all kinds of ways on the Left. Shane Burley 17:32 I mean, the amount of times I've been at international solidarity rallies where really despotic regimes are being - kind of like with signs and flags - simply because they're enemies of our enemy, either the US or the West, or Israel or something, or far right groups, are propped up because they supposedly are against the banksters... Their theory about it involves all kinds of like Rothschild conspiracy theories, and you know, they want a certain kind of Christian nationalism. So we overlook those really commonly when they are our enemies, or when they are ourselves. People are very soft on each other's conspiracy theories. Shane Burley 18:11 I mean, how many 911 Truth folks have you known in your life, you know? And those are fundamentally anti-semitic conspiracy theories, they depend on them. That's how they function. And this is true in the environmental movement. This is true, obviously, in feminist circles. It has different targets, different constituencies, but it's what we see with the kind of growth of turf-ism and that, these use of conspiracy theories to explain. So it's something that we're not prepared to sort of deal with. And we don't, I think, always communicate why it's a problem. I don't think there's a general consensus on the Left that it really is a problem. Shane Burley 18:51 I'll go back to the Epstein thing, you know, the Epstein case. It's really suspicious. People should probably look at that, but I don't know what happened. And I have no reason to believe it was conspiracy. I just don't, and the assumption by everyone jumping immediately into it sort of communicates to me that people feel totally fine, and engage in conspiracy theories when they have gaps of information, and everyone's pretty gentle on this. And that's not the most serious conspiracy theory. I'm not gonna put my stake in the wall in that. But I think we need to start talking to each other about that. Shane Burley 19:19 The other thing about this is that it's a losing strategy. You know, this, it's one of the worst ways of liberating yourself is to do it in accordance with a conspiracy theory because you will necessarily lose. We will always necessarily lose. There is no conspiracy theory that has ever led someone to an effective social movement to change anything. Casandra Johns 19:39 Ugh. Yeah. That's all I have to say. Amen. Brooke 19:49 Yeah, so you guys started getting into the the ties between conspiracy theories and anti-semitism. And there was a whole bunch that went on in that conversation that was just over my head here, that I did not pick up on. Casandra Johns 20:02 You can ask for clarifying statements. Brooke 20:08 I know, but you're on a roll, I don't want to interrupt. Casandra Johns 20:12 We try to make this digestible to someone who's not familiar with the topic. So you know. Brooke 20:22 But I am definitely curious to talk more about the ties between conspiracy theories and anti-semitism. I brought that up the other day and Casandra made the point of, I think you said something like, "All conspiracy theories eventually lead back to anti semitism" or something like that? If I'm totally misquoting you, please correct me. It is not a thing I've ever heard before. And I wanted to dive into that statement that you made and understand it. So I want to talk more about the links between conspiracy theories and anti semitism. Shane Burley 21:00 Anti-semitism has always held a conspiratorial element - a conspiratorial core even - before it engaged in what we would know as conspiracy theories today. So anti semitism, historic anti Judaism in Christianity - and when we say anti semitism, we're specifically talking about the type that was formed in Christianity, we're not talking about broad xenophobia against Jews. So for example, in the classical Muslim world, Jews were far from equal in Muslim dominated countries, but they [Muslims] didn't engage in the kind of like vicious, conspiratorial, genocidal anti semitism that you see in Europe. That's very much a European-Christian invention. But what they essentially did was, in the development of their theological differentiation they had to build on earlier libels around Jews as a sort of conspiratorial cabal of people that engage in really nefarious practices for misanthropic or even demonic reasons. And part of this has to do with the Jews' resistance to assimilation. Jews of 3000 years ago are not the same as Jews today, but there is a certain amount of, like, "We don't change according to societies that we're enbetted in or engaged with." There's a certain amount, for example, with Holika Jewish law things do have a certain continuity to them. And that's sort of threatening to people who want to remake entire populations of people. It's kind of inherently anti assimilationist. And it's very easy then to paint them as an outsider, ones who aren't playing by our rules and not part of our society. Christianity, in an effort to differentiate itself as a breakaway religion from the Jews, and focus really heavily on Jews sort of failing to understand the real spiritual message of their own scriptures, failing to live up to the promise that their religion. Like, "Christians are the new Israel" right? Then eventually develop that into open hostility, and then the suspicion that Jews are engaged in something really nefarious. Shane Burley 23:00 So the blood libel is an example of this: the idea that Jews are secretly kidnapping and killing Christian children to use their blood in different rituals. "Host desecration" is one; after the Catholic church decided that the the wafer - the host - is literally the body of Christ, they then started accusing Jews of stealing that host and stabbing it because they're so cruel. They have, you know, accused them of having pacts with the devil, engaging in all kinds of horrific things. And then at the same time: Jews, they weren't disproportionately moneylenders, but a number of Jews were involved in money lending because of their prohibitions in other industries. And then, of course, Christians used that as a propaganda tool, and basically kind of trumped up the charge. And so that populist anger was starting to intermix with the stories about Jews, and you get incredibly violent hostility. Shane Burley 23:46 I was talking with my co-author, Ben: I don't think at this point in history it's good to luxuriate in all the terrible stories of things that happened to Jews, I think that's almost, like, pornographic in a sense. But if you read pogroms that are kind of a mix of this theological anti Judaism and the reaction to the monarch, basically, they're targeting the Jews, instead of targeting the people who actually hold power. There's this kind of guttural rage, and the kind of cruelty that they're engaged in is totally off the map, it has no productive function other than just as much kind of creative violence as possible. And that's kind of a very particular impulse. And this is one, I think, is the flip side of the impulse to liberate yourself: to engage in oppression of others has some of that element to it. And it's very ephemeral. It's very kind of gut driven. Shane Burley 24:37 But those stories about Jews went through a lot of versions. A lot of ideas about Jews - Jews as moneylenders, Jews as people who steal from Christians, inherently dishonest people - those were secularized into what became known as anti semitism, opposition to Semitism. It was a kind of pseudo scientific idea that Jews had a particular ideology almost in their genes, and they were affecting society in particular ways. So the movement against them, the movement against semetic influence, was sort of productive movement to stop them from kind of degenerating society. The idea of how they're influencing society is that they're engaged in these cabals, either banking cabals, cabals involved in the media, you know, they're changing public perception, they're involved in legal professions, obviously, again, money lending, all forms of like banking and finance, in particular, all these kind of new industries and early capitalist environment. And so these are what we know as the most popular conspiracy theories - about secret societies, about Rothschild bankers, things like that - emerge out of that period. And that's the beginning of what we know today as a conspiracy theory. Shane Burley 25:39 A really coherent secular conspiracy theory, you know, it might have some religious overtones, certainly, but it doesn't argue itself necessarily in purely religious terms. All conspiracies that come later basically have the same format that was developed around this. They all have the same basic structure. And most conspiracy theories have lineages that you can trace back - one came from another one which came from an earlier one, and so on and so forth. They always come back to Jews. And most conspiracy theorists today hold that same anti semitic structure. So Q-Anon is a really great example of this. You know, Q-Anon rarely, quote unquote, "names the Jew." Names the Jew is something that open white nationalists do, right? They'll say, "Okay, this is typically the Jews." But instead, what Q-Anon does, is they'll use the figures of the cabal, they'll take all the structures of this earlier anti semitic conspiracy theory, they'll use verifiably Jewish names, or stereotypes associated with Jews, they'll take older pieces of those conspiracy theories, theologic pieces, and secularize them. So for example, they believe that a cabal of satanic Democrats with curious R last names are taking children and sacrificing their adrenal glands to extract this substance that they use then in rituals to intoxicate themselves. Right? It's familiar, uses a lot of sciency sounding words - Adrenochrome, which is not a real thing - but it sounds like... Casandra Johns 27:01 They were making the forbidden matzah or whatever, right? Shane Burley 27:04 Exactly. What they're doing is basically capturing Christian children and using them for their evil Hebraic rituals. But again, they don't always say - some of them do, increasingly, they do say Jews, but it takes just a tiny scratch on this. 911 Truth is a really good example, you know, where cabals of bankers - or you know, Israel, whatever it is, that's verifiably not involved - are accused of being involved. And the pattern for how this works has an earlier anti semitic conspiracy theory to it. So these are generally how those kinds of work. Casandra Johns 27:06 Can you can you really quickly explain what you mean by "ur" something? Shane Burley 28:40 Ur would mean the kind of universal base form. So the most origin point. So it's saying that ur conspiracy theory maybe means like the first conspiracy theory, or the kind of conspiracy theory that established the format for it, so you can look back and say, okay, it started here. What's the thing that these all hold in common? Then I think you'll see that in the blood libel is that they all hold those basic structural points in common layer. Shane Burley 28:48 In my book I interviewed David Newark, who wrote Alt America and other books about the far right and conspiracy theories. And he, you know, says that basically, the blood libel is the "ur" conspiracy theory. It's like the basic source of all conspiracy theories because the idea that small cabal of people are engaged in this really nefarious work of extracting goodness and turning it into something evil. So anytime you have a conspiracy theory, it's going to have this DNA. Is there any conspiracy theory that engages in a way that's not anti semitic? I think part of the problem is that we live in a globalized world. So other cultures have had conspiracy thinking in them, but the West has really exported anti semitism as a subtle cultural code. Shane Burley 28:48 So I mentioned earlier Muslim anti-semitism, obviously, there is anti semitism in Muslim-majority countries and some Muslim communities, but when you look at it, it actually looks much more like exported Christian anti semitism with some Islamic kind of branding, or like some opportunistic use of Muslim sources. It very much looks like a Western export. And I think that's what we're seeing now globally on conspiracy theories is that even if there was versions of these - and other cultures had conspiracy theories against diasporic people, you know, there's conspiracy theories about Chinese immigrants in Malaysia and there's conspiracy theories about Koreans in Japan, there are those - nowadays, the exporting and universalization of the anti semitic conspiracy theorists, the"ur" conspiracy theory, has affected all peoples sense of how they build those. So you're gonna find spray paint in Japan, that says, "The Jews did 911" in a place where those people likely had never met a Jew, and maybe no one in their ancestry line has ever met a Jew, right? So this isn't about Jews. So in that way, we globalized so effectively and exported our own bigotry so much that there is really no place in this conspiracy thinking that doesn't involve Jews. Brooke 30:06 You might say the genesis of conspiracy theories? (Laughter.) I learned so much in the last 10 minutes. I feel like when I go back and listen to this episode, I'm gonna play it at three-quarters speed and pause to ponder things. No, seriously, I really did. Thank you for the deep historical context there because a lot of that that was unknown to me, that I went, you know, "What, what?" Shane Burley 30:36 I also know it's a lot, too. And I think this is part of the problem is that in any given situation, particularly in situations of anger, how useful is it for me to explain to them what host desecration is, you know? I think it's actually hard to intervene in these spaces. And it's especially hard to intervene when there's really contentious stuff, like Israeli colonization of Palestine and stuff. So it's actually really hard with this very justified anger. And the targets of those angers are actually are coded as Jews. I think it's actually really hard to then intervene and say, "Hey, hold up, you're actually doing a thing. And it has a history and it's a problem." Casandra Johns 31:15 It also makes it difficult to talk about anti semitism in simple terms. I feel like sometimes when people ask me questions about it, that should be simple questions, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of information I'd have to transmit to give them proper context. You know what I mean? Brooke 31:32 I have literally been that person to Casandra. Casandra Johns 31:37 I was interviewing him and I was like, we should do an interview about this. Shane Burley 31:41 We transmute American racial taxonomies on to anti semitism that don't really fit, you know. The couple of interviewees that I had for the book that made this interesting point, they phrased it in an interesting way. And I think JFRCJ, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, had framed it this way, as well: Only sometimes does anti semitism make Jews poor. It doesn't make us poor all the time. And in fact sometimes it stabilizes Jewish income. So for example, in areas when Jews would have been a hyper exploited population, they're allowed to have certain amounts of wealth as a way of defecting anger from peasant classes away from the actual rich people and onto the Jews. So they might not actually interact with a noble person, but they would interact with a Jew, and they might see the Jew having stable money, and there might be nice things in their home, and that would communicate to them: "This is the person that's exploiting me, rather than the Noble who I've never come across." And there's a certain kind of positioning of Jews in a lot of those situations. Shane Burley 32:40 You know, one thing we talk about in the book is this phenomenon of Jews, and the relationship of white Jews to whiteness, is that when white Jews were very openly accepted as white folks in the US, particularly after the Second World War, there was a kind of class jumping that took place. But what happened was that a lot of Jews - particularly what we call a kind of second wave Jews moving here in the 1920s - were very poor, a lot of them socialists, a lot of working in garment factories, union organizers. But basically, in these dense urban areas, they started to leave those urban areas as they were kind of coded as white, became middle class, and in a lot of ways conservatized, right? Israel was formed in 1948. There's other things that kind of made more conservative. And who moved into those areas? It was a lot of black folks, it's a lot of Puerto Rican folks, lots of communities of color, where Jews now might be the business owner. They might be the landlord because they kind of class jump. They might own the grocery store that all the folks in the community use, and have maybe jacked up prices, or they work and they're not being treated really well. And so again, that dynamic is continued of them being sort of the middle agent, you know? The Jewish shop owner does not control capitalism, but they are the person you might see. And so again, you kind of repeat that dynamic. Shane Burley 33:55 So it's not always that Jews are going to experience anti semitism in the way that black folks experience anti blackness in the same kind of structural way. And also the US is not foundationally built on anti semitism in the way that it's built on anti blackness and colonialism. So it works fundamentally differently. There are some cases in which it looks more similar. So for the Orthodox Jews, they are more likely to be, you know, hurt by police, they are more likely to be poor. There's a recent study that came out that if someone is coded as Jewish in employment, they're much, much less likely to hire them. There's usually other things that kind of go along with it... There's limited data on this, but it's not with someone who's coded as a secular Jew, it's more like if they're coded as Orthodox, where someone's different, seems like it might cause you a problem, or it might make you uncomfortable. Or if it feels like they hold Jewish qualities that are associated with unsavory-ness, you know, like large noses or weird ways of speaking. Or maybe they bring weird food into the office, stuff like that. So those things do actually happen, but in general, it works differently. Shane Burley 35:04 And so there's a certain kind of structural unsafety for Jews, they're always kind of worrying about whether the other shoe was going to drop because anytime there's instability Jews often get targeted in that. But that doesn't mean in the day to day they usually, you know, can't find a job, or [get] pulled over at disproportionate rates. So it works differently. It's hard for people to identify that. Shane Burley 35:24 This is kind of true in general when we're talking about oppression outside of really narrow terms, people generally have learned to understand things in a certain way, and dominant hegemonic discourses, and then learning new ways is really, really tough. I think it really, it's really clear, for example, in the way that the Left just seemed totally unwilling to understand trends and issues for decades, just totally looked like they couldn't compute how little they understand sex work issues, or body issues, fat issues. It's an unwillingness to see that oppression is actually different for different folks, either individually or as groups, and to sort of accommodate for that, and to think through how these things are complicated. And so we can't assume that one thing tracks with another, that you can talk about oppression in one situation and have it be the same for another. So I think that creates that problem you're talking about. So what are you going to do, you know? Sit down and say, "Look, we need to have a conversation about, you know, second century Egypt, BC, and how Jews are coded as this." I mean, it's, it's a hard proposition. Casandra Johns 36:32 We have to talk, we have to go back to 1905. Talk about Czarist Russia. (laughter.) Yeah. I'm wondering, so I'm trying to remember exactly how you phrased it. But when there's, when there's instability, that's when people tend to target Jews. And when there's instability, that's when conspiracy theories also seem to, like, foment as well as fascism. And I'm wondering if you can talk about how those things are related, especially because you write books about fascism and anti semitism. Shane Burley 37:07 I mean, fascism is also an attempt to liberate oneself, right? It's to liberate oneself by inculcating more oppression, like an auto immune response, right? We're gonna attack the immune system, as if that's actually what's harming us. We're gonna attack, you know, the movement to undo white supremacy because that may be what's harming us, rather than, obviously, the reverse. So it's tenfold by two things: One is a sort of a centralized identity, and one is a sort of social stratification. So the idea is that your identity is fixed and must be preserved. And that's an essential piece, usually racial identity, but sometimes it's others. And then the other thing is that all of humanity has to be stratified in this hierarchy, you... are white, because you are not black, and that whiteness is above blackness, for example. And this is a way of taking a privileged part of the class and telling them that their oppression is the cause of the progress of other parts of the class. So it's specifically about splitting the class. So in a way, it's very clear what it's doing, it's disallowing you the ability to organize amongst working people or non-rich people, to change the society that is better for all of you. Right? So it's very specific in that way. Shane Burley 37:42 Anti semitism and conspiracy theories are a story about your oppression that never get to the structural roots, that are usually factually untrue, and are able to kind of break potential solidarity. So I think where the immediate hardships of actual organizing are onerous, confusing, and frightening: conspiracy theories actually disallow that. So for example, if I really want to change the world, it's going to require things of me, right? I'm going to need to figure out how I'm participating in white supremacy so that I can actually collaborate with non white folks. And once we do that, it actually changes the world for all of us, right? This makes it much better for us, like I personally benefit from that. But getting there, it's a little bit hard sometimes. It's also confusing, I don't quite see it, I've never seen it before, right? And I'm actually running into this movement. It's telling me that my whiteness is actually the thing that would make me happy, that whiteness is actually the thing that historically kept me safe, that whiteness is actually what I'm trying to protect. It's not all this class conflict stuff. That's the lies that they tell you, you know, those cabals that actually want to take from you, they're all socialist movements. And I think, so, people are out there and confused. Shane Burley 38:19 And remember, bigotry, it's really interesting because it speaks to people almost like their conscience, it's impulsive. It felt really emotionally... it feels true to people. I can tell you what doesn't feel true is Marxist jargon... That's what feels true. A lot of times when someone speaks of it they're trying, you're searching for a way to liberate yourself. You're looking for a revolutionary story about it. And then someone comes in and tells you something that actually tracks with a lot of the impulses you felt historically because being raised in the society we are that teaches people to understand the world in a certain way. So I think those movements come up in that way. Shane Burley 40:12 You know, fascism is just a particularly modern and revolutionary version of something that happens all the time. It has historically happened for centuries, you know, this kind of impulse to actually, to barrel down into a hierarchy, to basically reestablish tradition and immobile social roles, and to focus on identity at the cost of all others. So, instability simply radicalized this people to change their lot. And that is what's happening at such a systemic level. Now, because capitalism is imploding, the environment is collapsing, the stasis of the 20th century cannot continue any longer. And so that necessitates radicalism of all types. Which is also why, in a sense, stay anti fascism, because if you want any kind of revolutionary movement that's positive, you're gonna have to reckon with the revolutionary movement that's not positive. Casandra Johns 40:58 Right? Seems simple enough. Brooke 41:06 So you're working in some real toxic material, they're dealing with fascism with anti semitism with conspiracy theories, and that's got to, you know, take a toll on you on your mental health and well being. And I'm wondering what you do for yourself to help take care of yourself? And spoiler: this leads into, you know, a deeper question, which is what we always try to get to in Live Like the World is Dying, is talking about how we help others, and then we help our communities with this. But what do you do for yourself? Shane Burley 41:38 Having Andy Ngo sub tweet you, or whatever. Shane Burley 41:38 I don't, I think the reality is that I don't have a good, solid answer to that question. I don't, think that I formed health in my life in a very perfect way. But there's a couple of things I kind of thought about. I mean, I think one is that I think researching the far right is actually sort of empowering to people. I think, you know, if I kind of tried to figure out what it is I'm doing here, like, why am I here, it's not just for productive work, it's not just that I want to produce something that will stop it, I think, is productive. I mean, that's certainly a part of it. But there's also a certain part of it about looking at something that seems frightening and confusing, and sort of under the illusion that if I keep listening, and I keep reading it, it will somehow make sense to me. And that gives me sort of control over my life in a way. And I feel like I can sort of manage it, even though it actually brings instability into my life, you know, putting my name on an article about it, and you know, get threats from proud boys or white nationalists, that brings instability and - Shane Burley 41:49 Totally, I mean, that is actually unstable. But there is a sense that looking at stuff, I think, brings a certain stability. You know, in doing this book, I was interviewing a rabbi from Chabad-Lubavitch which is like a Hasidic. He's kind of particularly like, left leaning. Hot Seat. But, you know, I was talking to him about anti semitism, particularly in Orthodox communities, which often gets discussed as being the more, sort of facing it more frequently because of their visibility, you know, an Orthodox Jew is very visible. And a Herati, or ultra-orthodox view is even more visible than that, you know, black hats, suits, people kind of know what they're looking at. And he was telling me about, you know, "I don't really concern myself much with anti semitism." And I was like, "Well why not?" He's like, "Well, it's not very Jewish." And he was like, "I actually fill my life with Jewish things. And this is particularly not Jewish." And so, you know, part of me is sort of like, the opposite to this is to engage, is to deny engage with things that aren't Jewish, is to basically say, "Actually, I am going to be really purposely involved in the antithesis to these." You know? Casandra Johns 43:58 There's also something very Jewish about deconstructing something like down into its tiniest parts. Shane Burley 44:07 No, yeah, they had all the quotes from from the rabbi about this, which I thought was great... We forget, I think, what we're doing here all the time, being involved in organizing, being involved in work of any kind is meant to create a joyous life. It's meant to actually do something, perform something in your life. And I think we get so obsessed with functionality, and we don't actually live those lives. And the answer to that is actually living those lives. It's building strong relationships with other people. It's engauging art and spiritual life, the things that give your life meaning. I think engaging in that as openly and sort of like flagrantly as possible is is what you do there. And it's interesting because what the far right does is it sort of shows you the vulnerable empathetic parts of yourself, right? Because it it appears in those cracks, it appears in the things that they target. So those in a way are how you come to learn about what's meaningful about yourself, you know. Jewishness is targeted. That's exactly what I find meaningful. Those are the things that I bond with other people about. That's how I find a path forward in my life. And so I think all those sorts of things, engaging as much as possible with that. And I think it's perhaps on us to think less about what we can produce and give to people, as much as we can be with them. I mean, this happens all the time in organizing spaces. I used to be the worst offender about this, you know? "No, that's bad organizing. No, that's just cultural production. No, that's navel gazing." No, I think we should engage in cultural production and navel gazing, like, we should make us happy. I think that there needs to be a lot more of that. And any kind of organizing work that people are engaged in, or when any kind of work needs to be in the service of that, and that's how it should be measured. And not like reproducing the same metrics or bosses do about how productive we should be and what that's about. Casandra Johns 46:03 We shouldn't just reproduce capitalism in our anarchist spaces? Shane Burley 46:07 I mean, this happens all the time, right? It happens all the time. We are ritually unkind with each other, unloving, unwelcoming. It's the absolute worst. And I think it's interesting because we used to talk about, statistically for example, abuse, domestic abuse, and sexual assault are commiserate in activist spaces as they are in the rest of the world. There's no actual difference. So like, all the people that are doing these workshops on consent, and addressing abuse and stuff, tend to reproduce those dynamics as much as anywhere else. I would say that unkindness and a lack of community is even worse in active spaces; they are not particularly joyous places to be. I find them very hard in a lot of ways to be in those anymore. And I think that's sort of what we have to do, we have to look really carefully about how we build those relationships in authentic ways. That's how I think you survived doing hard, kind of trying work, putting yourself in vulnerability. Vulnerable spaces only works if you can live in a comfortable, vulnerable way. So I think when I say I'm not really there yet, I feel like I that's the direction I would like to go. That's how I would stay sort of healthy in a way, if that makes sense. Brooke 47:27 Yeah, so part of our community response to conspiracy theories and conspiracy theory thinking, and fascism and anti semitism, is kindness and compassion for others. And when they show up with their vulnerabilities, accepting those? Shane Burley 47:44 Absolutely. I mean, there's this old IWW poster, it says something like, "If you're not talking to your co workers, somebody else is," and it has a picture of the Klan. Brooke 47:57 Hardcore. Shane Burley 47:58 You know, like, if you're in rural America, we aren't talking to folks, but someone is talking to them. And they are validating their experiences. And they're saying, "Yeah, that's really fucking hard." They're not going to someone who's losing their farm and a foreclosure and saying, like, "Just to be real, have you checked your privilege, and like, you're not the most marginalized person in this situation." That's a hard thing to throw at people, people are actually having a really tough time most of the time. And we have to find a way to connect with them, and also not put up with their bullshit and actually talk to them about conditions of settler colonialism, white supremacy, but we need to actually invest in people. They will not care about us unless we care about them. And conspiracy theories very much are people's attempt to make sense of their lives. And so participating with them and making that sense, I think, is useful. You know, I'm Anti Fascist first, which means I'm defense first, defense always comes first. We protect communities before we do anything else. I don't think that's the same though is addressing cconspiracy theories all over the place, and figuring out how we address them with compassion with people. We care about how we address them institutionally. How we stop them when they need to be stopped, like how do we create barriers and borders, all those things are important. But I think in our communities, in general, a lot of conspiracy theories emerge out of dispossession. And we have to choose whether or not to possess those people basically, do we want to create that? Margaret says this too. I mean, the best way to confront conspiracy theories is to give someone a life that matters. I mean, that's what we're actually doing here. So I think focusing on that underlying fertile soil, figuring out how to change that dynamic, give people real tools, give them real relationships and friendship. I think that's really important. Casandra Johns 49:42 Do you have any favorite tools or resources? So my preface to this is that I've had people ask me this question and the reality is that my favorite resources on anti semitism and conspiracy theories are really dense, and most people will not read them. So I'm wondering if you have any favorite tools or resources that are more digestible? Shane Burley 50:03 Yeah, I think there's a few good pamphlets right now that exist that are useful on this. Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, which has been around for decades, it's this progressive left-leaning Jewish group, has a pamphlet on anti semitism that's particularly good. April Rosenbloom has a pamphlet called The Past Didn't Go Anywhere. That's also really good on this. There's a pamphlet put out by, I think it was a group called Unity and Struggle, called How to Overthrow the Illuminati. It's specifically about conspiracy theories and black communities. That's a really good resource. And there's a few others. Again, I think what, you know, one thing you're pointing out is that one of the issues around anti semitism is that the Right has sort of captured the rhetoric on it because they use it to defend Israel. They use accusations of anti semitism to defend Israel. And they over shoot the claims that the Left is anti semitic. So a lot of these groups just simply don't share a worldview with us enough that their analysis I find particularly compelling. But there are some versions of the Left that have done it, and they tend to be particularly academic. So Critical Theory, and Frankfurt School of Marxism, you know, there's a lot of that stuff, right. And that's good, but gobbly gook most of the time. There's a basically lost, forgotten world of Jewish feminism from the 70s and 80s that is actually quite interesting. But it's like next to impossible to find. So the anti fascist stuff, because anti fascists are kind of ahead of the curve on the anti semitism question. But I think those pamphlets are particularly good to hand someone, and hopefully Ben and my book will be will be like that. I'm hoping it will be. Casandra Johns 51:45 Yeah. Yeah. Maybe this is just part of anti semitism, and also conspiracy theorism, because critical thinking is difficult and can't always be, you know, handed to someone in a tiny package. But it just feels someone has to actually be invested in learning about it. It's difficult to explain. Shane Burley 52:13 David Renton, who's he's this great author and an attorney in Britain - and he writes a lot about the history of anti fascism - he wrote this book on the Labour Party's anti semitism, controversy. So people who don't know: the Labour Party in Britain has been embroiled in this big anti semitism controversy for the past several years. It has been cynically employed by the Tories as a way of attacking the party. And it's pretty obvious that that's what's happening. But it's also obvious that there has been some instances of anti semitism in the party. It's not nearly what the Right says of this, but it does happen. And, you know, David's sort of relitigated this and kind of pointed out that it's, you know, the party is turned towards populism and everyone's turned towards populism. A few years ago, populism became kind of the thing that had a weak point, and basically kind of didn't call out conspiracy theories, so they started making their way in, or kind of crude anti semitic ideas. And it's like the answer to that is actually if you look at the what works for the Labour Party, it's actually class war is the answer to that, actually talking to people about class ends up being the antidote to that and having political education. Daniel Randall, another friend of mine, from Britain, had talked about, wrote about this. And I get political education is something that feels really dorky, and not fun to do, and not what people want to do in a lot of spaces, but it was an essential piece of radical movements that aren't there anymore. So actually talking to people about these things, and getting involved people to read some things. I think, you know, people do this in really overblown ways. Lord knows there's a million Marxist groups that make you sit in reading groups all day, and no one wants to be a part of that. But like having some progress on stuff and explaining what kind of anti capitalism we actually mean, I think is a useful thing. And it's one of the better ways intervene on that. Casandra Johns 54:01 That book, Daniel's book, what is it? Confronting Anti Semitism on the Left? He's the one who wrote that, right? Shane Burley 54:10 Yeah, yeah. Casandra Johns 54:11 That sounds right? That book was incredible. Shane Burley 54:14 Yeah. He's really incredible. Yeah, I think I think, you know, one thing is when it comes to anti semitism, specifically, most people don't know Jews and don't know much about Judaism. So I think just letting people know. I mean, the amount of times I've heard things repeated that are just bombastically untrue - like, for example, I was a Student for Justice in Palestine, and we had this event and someone asked the speaker where Zionism came from, and he said, "It's in the Talmud." Just like bonkers stuff, you know? Casandra Johns 54:52 Which is a think that, like, a Zionist might say. Ironically. Shane Burley 54:58 I interviewed Sean Magee when doing my book, and he made a point that a lot of the worst corners of anti Zionism tend to agree with the settlers. And so I think it's just getting people that kind of understanding. I think if people understand conspiracy theories and why they're toxic and what the consequences of them are, I think that's more useful. And then again, getting people in verifiable forms of community that actually meet their needs, I think that actually is more useful. I think when people get involved, for example, in the labor union, that tends to actually decline because they're like, "Okay, I could actually do this thing, I improve my wages this way, I actually have all this tactile control over my life." And then when people are in community with others they have these vulnerable, caring relationships, and they don't... have the same impulse to build the kind of alienating, almost cosmic-level, theories about the world. You know, believing in Q Anon is a really lonely thing, breaks up families or breaks up relationships. So I think all that kind of stuff is really alienating for people. Shane Burley 56:02 But you know, there's this thing called the wave, and SEIU - SEIU is a big labor union - and they have this model of what they call a union conversation, they call it the wave. It's eight steps of how to have a conversation. It's very dorky. But in the conversation, you do a few things, right? You introduce yourself. You listen to what people are saying, you agitate on their issues, you call questions, you know, you do a number of stages to get someone thinking about their issue, why it upsets them and what they can do about it. But you do two things: One, you always plan that when you talk to them, how can we win on this issue? How can we fix it? Is it possible? And then you inoculate them against what the boss will say. What will the boss say when you try and do that? What do they say to you? How is that bullshit? And we don't 'plan the win' with people. And we certainly don't inoculate them. People need to see how they can win. They have to know how it's possible. If someone's having issues in their lives, they have to see how it can win. And if we don't have a sense of that, we're not gonna be able to help with that. And we need to work that out with folks. Shane Burley 57:08 And also talk to them about, like, people are gonna give you other messages about this. Like, what do you think about that? What would you say back to that? Because I think particularly conspiracy thinking, a lot of people get trapped in not understanding the systems and saying, "Well, fuck, I guess that's the deal. I guess the Rothschilds do own it, I don't know." And so I think planning the win and inoculation are really important in that. And that's true in general. There's this assumption that if such a situation gets so bad, that the working class will rise up and overthrow it, but there's no evidence to suggest that. None. What does statistically show people, or what simply pushes people to taking that kind of action, is seeing that they can win. So small victories in their life or in organizing leads to big victories. You have to show people they can win. The pathway to winning using multiracial, you know, community organizing of whatever it is that base building that's, I think, the most important piece because that will then totally push away the sort of false answers. Casandra Johns 58:08 That seems important in terms of motivating people to care as well. You know, like, no, strategically, this is very important in all of our best interests. Shane Burley 58:18 I had this conversation with a member of the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee, which is an anti-fascist group from the 80s, and I was talking to them - I'll just withhold their name for the sake of this conversation - but I was asking him like, how do you commute? Because, you know, John Brown was essentially a white organization, it recruited white leftist folks in support of a kind of anti-white supremacy platform in support of black nationalism and some other things. In a lot of ways kind of divisive, a kind of divisive organization, their politics are a little divisive. And asked, like, "Well, how do you communicate to white working class people why eradicating white supremacy is in their interest?" And she said, she kind of paused and said, "I don't know that it is in their interest." She's like, "I don't communicate with him on that. I communicate with them about what kind of world do you want to live with?" And I told her, I was like, I just disagree with that entirely. I think it is in their interest, and you have to tell them why it's in their interest. And you have to plan out why it's in their interest. I do believe it's in my interest. And when it comes to conspiracy, there's anti semitism, it's super clear why it's in their interest because anti semitism will stop you from winning. It's just so point blank, right? Like George Soros is not the reason you can't pay your mortgage, it's simply not that... Casandra Johns 59:34 Anti semitism, however. Brooke 59:36 Is also not the reason, just to be clear. Not the reason. Shane Burley 59:40 Yeah, that's really great. So Shane, you've mentioned your books, you've got one that just came out right? No Pasaran. Shane Burley 59:40 There are people doing this and they have names and addresses, but... what you're saying is a false pathway. It's totally to direct you the wrong way. And we should talk to people about what happens when they don't just double down on privilege. They don't just double down on those sorts of things. What happens when they reach across communities and build large committees? They become infinitely more powerful. I mean, it's just so overwhelming the kind of change that you can have and not just in the long term, in the immediate term. You can see that with a labor movement. You see that with any social movemnet, that's one serious gain that happened by doing that. It never happened by doubling down on their privilege. So I think talking to people about their interests is essential. And that also shows that you actually give a shit about them because of their interests are your interests, that shows that there's an actual shared bond there, and you can build something. Shane Burley 1:00:38 It was a phrase used particularly during the Spanish Civil War, about blocking fascist access to space and movement into communities. So it's about blocking them, their ability to, to arrive. Brooke 1:00:51 Nice. Okay, so No Pasaran, that just came out. I've got a friend who picked it up at Powell's when you were there doing a book event or reading recently. He said it's really good, and is gonna loan me his copy. So I'm excited to get to read that too. I know you're working on another one - we've talked about it here - on anti semitism. Does that one have a name yet? Do you know when it's coming out? Shane Burley 1:01:11 Yeah, it's called Safety Through Solidarity. Casandra Johns 1:01:15 Nice. Brooke 1:01:15 Beautiful. Shane Burley 1:01:16 Yeah. And I think it'll come out like this time next year. I think that's what it is. So we're sort ofstarting to wrap it up now, like in the writing of it. Brooke 1:01:27 So in the meantime, people can pick up No Pasaran, and then look forward to that. Anything else that you want to plug today, Shane? Shane Burley 1:01:36 Actually, yes, I will be doing more book events in Jan

Celebrating the liberation of Rabbi Schneur Zalman from prison in Czarist Russia (1798). Gut Yom Tov

Welcome to Freedom Friday w/guest Dr. Steve Turley, join us as we discuss the attempted cancel culture attack on Steve's new Documentary "The Rise of the American Patriot.  How a Remnant church stepped up and saved the premier and why its important to stand with others in times of censorship.https://www.turleytalks.com/https://www.facebook.com/turleytalks/https://twitter.com/DrTurleyTalkshttps://www.instagram.com/turleytalks/https://rumble.com/c/DrSteveTurleyhttps://insidersclub.turleytalks.com/welcome  Welcome to freedom Fridays. This is Dr. Steve Turley. And he is a well, you're an author, you're a movie maker, you have a podcast, you've got a YouTube channel, if you've if you've been on YouTube, I mean, which I haven't you see this guy, and I love. I love your demeanor, your care, your kind of your, your style of commentary, because it's very, it's funny, it's light hearted, you know, because we're looking at some dark subjects. And you bring such a good, just uplifting and entertaining way of looking at some of these things. So I appreciate you coming on the program. Steve  6:17  Oh, thanks, Gary. It's it's, it's my honor, we were just talking earlier, you know, you are in a bluer area and a very, very red state. So I'm in a very, very blue state. And so I guess on the little red dot and that blue state. So we have, we see we see comparable challenges in our own backyards. And I think we can encourage each other a lot through it. Gary Duncan  6:41  Yeah, thank you. Let's talk about your new document that you just came out on the 15th, I believe. And I'll read a little bit about some pushback you got as soon as it came out before it came out. Your your documentary is called the return of the American patriot. Because you're the page you're the professor, patriot, right? Patriot, Professor, Steve  7:00  Patriot professor, that's Gary Duncan  7:02  you, I was thinking, if I had you as a professor, when I was in college, I probably would have stayed awake during history class. Because I mean, your the way you bring about the news and and things that are happening in our culture and in the church and things like that, is it just keeps you it keeps you focused, but entertained enough to to not walk away really ticked off. You know what I'm saying? And you bring a great perspective to it. So talk a little bit about the documentary you've got out, and you're kind of some of the things you've run against, you know, producing Oh, Steve  7:41  yeah, well, so this movie really tries to present that our 20 minute documentary, that kind of hopeful optimism that Ronald Reagan gave to us any great movement is going to have to be optimistic at its very core also ends up eating itself and dies or just look at woke leftism, and just the resentment that killing their movement. Yeah, this returning the American patriot is actually a it's a, it's a documentary on the rise of the Pennsylvania Magga movement. It really is the story of how ordinary Americans who never before involved in politics rose up in mass and mobilized to successfully take on unconstitutional COVID mandates, election integrity issues, woke school boards all across their state. It's a very inspirational story of the people effectively pushing back against the permanent political class. And you would think that anyone who openly supported democracy would be interested in a film like this, you know, it's as democratic as it gets. But little did we know that the very drama we captured on film would actually play itself out in real time for the premiere we had. We had scheduled a live premiere on July 16th, at a local IMAX theater in Lancaster, Pennsylvania called Penn cinemas and they had a 400 seat capacity. We opened up the tickets and we sold out literally in hours. We sold out in 24 hours, those 400 tickets. And then we learned just days before the premiere that a group of woke activists called Stand Up Lancaster cry bullied the movie theater to cancel our premiere. Remember, these are people who actually believe you can work try to wrap your mind around this. These are people actually believe that censorship is a form of free speech. They literally believe that right? They defend big tech and all sorts of censoring us because they say that's their right to their own freedom of speech. That's their Gary Duncan  9:58  free speech. Ah, that's their nobody else's. Steve  10:02  Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Well, sad. Right? Exactly. Again, it's a square circle. It's just, it's beyond absurd. They cry bullied this movie theater to canceled premiere and unfortunately the owner of the theater was a coward and he caved and canceled our contract just days before the scheduled viewing. So there we were without a venue for tickets sold. No venue. So we went to another venue. And it was the Wyndham hotel in Lancaster. And they gave us a contract to rent out their theater venue there. They had hosted the republican party a few months prior to that the state Republican Party, so we thought we were pretty safe with them. And they there was they had an 800 seat capacity. So we doubled our ticket sales again. So it was really like, Oh, this is great. This is awesome. And then the same thing happened. They were they were they weren't just cried bullied, I was told there was even threats of mob violence if they didn't shut us down. And and so there we were two venues canceled. We were being mocked and ridiculed by the local Lancaster paper, which is a total left wing rag. It's the most Whoa, it's called LNP. It is pathetic, their board of editors actually came out and defended these practices. So again, now we have a medium major media outlet local media outlet defending censorship. It's absolutely astonishing. And keep in mind, Gary, keep in mind for a movie no one had ever even seen. This, this was this was the most dangerous movie, no one saw. I mean, literally no one. I hadn't even sat through the whole thing by this time, right? They were getting my staff was gonna surprise me with the whole edited version. So there we were no venue. And that is and this is why I'm so honored to talk with you. That is when the pastors of Christ Community Church and Camphill godly men stepped in, they have a 1200 seat auditorium, replete with a full movie theater quality sound system, massive movie theater size screen, and they offered it to us and their 1200 seat auditorium. We ended up selling all 1200 tickets. Okay, so we went from 400 to 1200. Talk about three fold increase, right? Yeah, God Gary Duncan  12:28  had better plans for you than you thought it and Steve  12:31  that there's no way we could have planned this. We would never have planned our brains don't think that way. Let's plan for a 1200 seat, you know, Premier with Doug Mastriano there and all that sort of stuff, kind of stuff who's running for governor there? They offered to us and the moment these leftists heard about that, they started threatening the church. Okay. Again, this tells you who these people really are. They started threatening the church they were going to contact the IRS which they did. Again, there was an the same media outlets did the exact same thing. You know, violating separation between church and state bringing Doug Mastriani was campaigning for Governor there in person and blah, blah, blah, violating the Johnson Amendment all this nonsense. And and so when it ended up having all of this you know, proverbial dung hitting the fan. Even the lawyer of the church told the pastors you need to drop this, right, because lawyers are risk averse. That's what do you need to drop this? We're getting, we don't want the IRS breathing down our neck and so forth. Those two pastors stood firm. They told their lawyer take a hike. We're standing for liberty and truth. And, and, and they hosted us. We came in 1200 People Doug mastriano, huge premiere, it was absolutely amazing. Electric standing ovation at the end. And in the end, Gary, in the end, seven protesters showed up they weren't even allowed on to the vicinity. They had to hang out on the street across from the church seven protesters with their little arts and crafts, you know, signs document separation between church and state. I think even one guy said I worship Satan something ridiculous right? And, and just to show you that God, God does have a very wonderful sense of humor for his children. Gary, it was raining. So they had to stand out there in the rain, with their masks on looking repulsively ridiculous as people who love faith, family and freedom were all gathered together in an astonishing fellowship. It was absolutely beautiful. You know, Doug master on game got up gave a very great It's just and, and beautiful talk. And it was an amazing testimony to what patriots can do when we all stick together. Gary Duncan  15:09  Wow, that's awesome. As you were talking about that I was getting this picture of this little, tiny weeny little mouse and this huge elephant. And, and it gives me encouragement because I've really focused a lot on where's the church, and I could see how the left and the small 1% or half a percent of a population controls the whole country and my church. And so we really that's encouraging to hear. And and it's who's the church again, is you need to you need to give that name out again, because the people that hosted you and those pastors because they really that's a there and a thing goes for that. Yeah, Steve  15:51  absolutely. Christ Community Church in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, Camp Hill, two words, Pennsylvania, Gary Duncan  15:58  they if you're looking for a church in that in that city, then this is the one to go to, because they that's what you that, to me, that's Ephesians six, you know, when you stand and they're willing to stand against all odds, and that's, that's awesome. Steve  16:13  And just just to drive this home, the pastor when he got up to give the prayer before the whole event, invited everyone of course, if you're looking for churches to come here, and by the way, next week, we're showing another movie 2000 mules. So these guys, are they these guys are the real deal. Gary Duncan  16:32  They are the remnant church. Steve  16:34  They are so bold, it's beautiful. Gary Duncan  16:38  That that is great. What would you so that was the one way churches and the community to you know, leadership in church could get involved? Get your get your documentary and have it hosted at their church? I mean, are you are you pursuing that at all or looking? Steve  17:00  Oh, yeah, no, we've had we had the documentary going around all over the place now at this point. So it just last Thursday. It went live live streaming. So now you can actually stream it live. If you go to the return of the American patriot.com You can get your own copy. And, and absolutely, I think we even have a situation. We have a protocol from where you can you can show it in a mass viewing. Okay. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Gary Duncan  17:31  And I'll put the links in the show notes and all that for a site and all that. What's tell us a little bit about some of the stories or the things that are in the movie are a couple of them just kind of thesis. Steve  17:43  Yeah, well so what it centers on so Pennsylvania is interesting because it is probably the single most Rhino infested state in the nation a lot of people don't know that so when we think of like you know, Republicans in name only write your Neo cons just just PETE Yeah their note well I prefer Diablo Democrat and all but label or you know if they're part of the unit party the Lindsey Graham's the Mitt Romney's the middle Lincoln project, right to Lincoln Lane candy project. Exactly. Liz Cheney. They're there. They're part of the permanent political class. It's radically secularized, radically globalist that hates our culture's customs traditions, hate family, faith, family and freedom. Those things get in the way of their their globalist projects and so forth Gary Duncan  18:34  are wolves in sheep's clothing. Steve  18:36  They really are because they because they campaign is patriots but then they Governor governor's permanent political class members. And when we tend to think of states like that, I mean up until recently, we tend to think of some a place like Arizona where you know, John McCain had such an inordinate effect effects and influence well that's gone now Carrie Lake and Blake masters and Mark Finch him have all crushed that it's now Maga country and Carrie Lake is going to win by the way she's definitely on track and I think like masters gonna have no mark Finch up to he's almost 10 over his opponent. So the these people he's going for Secretary of State so the, you know, you tend to think that these people these rhinos are in places like Arizona or even most recently, like Utah with Mitt Romney and their crazy Governor given his pronouns out and all this sort of nonsense. Okay, keep in mind these are Republicans, but but Pennsylvania is actually the worst Pennsylvania the Republican Party is no different, literally than the Democratic Party when Doug Mastriano one who's a dear Christian brother, amaze me. He's He's literally now the poster boy for Christian nationalism, as they call it today. The big boogeyman we could talk about that, which is a lot of fun, you know, but nevertheless, he, when he got the nomination was almost 50% of the vote with a Guys in that race for the Republican nomination, the top five Republicans in the Senate, his suppose it colleagues, he's a state senator, they all turned around and endorsed the Democrat Josh Shapiro. And keep in mind, Gary, Josh Shapiro is all for unfettered abortion. Right. He's all for, you know transgenderism is all for CRT in our, in our classrooms. I mean, this is full blown woke nonsense and Republicans are endorsing it. This movie is all about moms and dads and grandparents and people who've never been involved at Amish Pennsylvania dodge, all rising up together, mobilizing and organizing and taking back the Republican Party with Doug Mastriano has nomination being sort of the crown jewel of this project, taking back the Republican Party away from these rhinos, these Diablos and giving it back to the people so that the values of faith, family and freedom become the values of the party they want all they want. In the end. It's a process, the technical processes known as re territorialization. Yeah, it's a fancy schmancy word. But what it just simply means what we're seeing today, and this is what I think Christian nationalism actually is. It's if globalism, de territorial losses of globalism, dis embeds and dislodge his political life away from the local and to the trans local to this managerial class that oversees the entire political and economic complex, if globalism, D territory alized his political involvement, what the what the collapse of globalism is basically is a re territorial loss. And it's bringing politics back to the people back to the local back to the county and the community. And what you're seeing in Pennsylvania in particular, but you're seeing it all over Pennsylvania is a microcosm, what you're seeing is these communities, all organizing all across their counties to create a single party, that is once again, upholding the values, interests, concerns of those who love faith, family and freedom. That's all they want. They just want their leaders to represent their values rather than despise them. And that's the movie takes you through the journey of how they did that through the COVID mandate and sanity through the CRT and sanity and through the election. You know, shenanigans in 2020. Gary Duncan  22:43  With would this be sound like a great movie that I need to show in our Davidson County Republican Party group to see how it's done? Because, you know, as we talked earlier, I was I'm in a red state, you know, super majority of Republicans in the state. But in my county, which is the state capital of the Davidson County, which were the state capitalism. It's full blown blue, communist. I mean, those school board is full on communist liberal. I mean, they voted down the Nash, the Republican National Committee come into town for the convention. Yeah, we're, we're, we're going to be paying for people to go across our state employees to go across the state lines to get abortions. I mean, it's just bizarre. And, you know, how do how does a small well, not a small county, but the main county in the state had, how do we fight against this? I mean, were those small, local areas, were they blue? Or were they more red, and people just came together? I know, it's a groundswell of grassroots effort. Steve  23:54  It is so Pennsylvania's can be a little different, because Pennsylvania, so if anything, like we're talking about earlier that the the Republican Party is a bit complacent in Tennessee from from what I'm hearing, or to say, whereas whereas in Pennsylvania, that complacency, characterized the last three decades, and and now there's kind of a reawakening going on. And, yeah, it applying it to your particular locality would be interesting that that's going to involve, I think, some some, you know, creative inventiveness on your part. How do you awaken the population, your own locality, one thing that seems to be doing it and this there's a section in this movie that touches on it, one thing that seems to be doing it is wokeness wokeness is freaking out, even the left. That's something we've got some studies on that now. So we're finding that anything woke will actually tend to split the left. So think of people like Bill Maher, or peers Morgan or a Dave Rubin, either even even even a Jordan Peterson would have said he would have been considered center left. Five years ago, you would have considered himself center left five years ago. They, they they abhor wokeness every bit as much as any conservative wokeness is, is a pourraient to most people. And so the more we push culture wars, and this is what Mastriano is doing. It's what Glenn Younkin did. So well so ingeniously in, in Virginia, back in the 2021 election, where he's pushing CRT CRT soon, and he made Terry McAuliffe actually defend teachers, unions, school boards, and CRT and that split the last half of Macola Fs constituents went back, I don't want that. Whereas the other half were ravenously, eating it up like zombies, you know, eating up a body or something like that. So that's one side of it. But the other side of it is as it's splitting and laugh, woke issues, unite the right woke issue for and again, for lack of better terms left and right, right. But it unites the right unites the Republicans. In other words, if you ask Democrats, do you support this work issue? 50% Say yes. 50% say no, you ask Republicans to support this work is you 100% basically say, No. So Republicans are more likely to come out and vote against a woke issue than Democrats are to come out and vote for it. So pushing the culture wars, from the vantage point of the woke left exposing the woke left, that seems to have a very powerful animating capacity. Gary Duncan  26:48  So how going back to churches again, because that's my thing is Yeah, is because they've got the biggest voice, because they've got people in front of them. And what you just said there is pushing the culture because the church should be the one that changes culture, not the culture, change the church, of course, and we need those pastors and those leaders that will take that very thing and push that narrative of the culture in a biblical way that educates and motivates the people sitting in the pews. And, and I'm not seeing that I'm starting to see a lot around the country happen. And I'm seeing one or two or three maybe churches here in town that do that. But it's not, I don't see it as and that's why I like you, because you're very positive. I'm usually a positive guy. But after 2020, I just went downhill. Yeah, positiveness. Because it saw assault. 2020 is is the dividing point within the church of woke and realism. There because we're in a spiritual war, we're in our spiritual war that I don't think people really get. It's a biblical revelational. In times spiritual war, we've always been in war. But this one takes a different to me, this one takes on a different connotation, because what we're doing to the children, what we're allowing to be done to the children in the name of not offending other people, you know, with masks and all the stuff and then the wokeness in the schools. And I've been to several school board meetings, and I think I've yet to see a pastor stand up, and shame and, and, and preach to the school boards, right about what they're doing. I've seen regular people. And I think that it has to actually some a lot of the movement is coming from the people sitting in the pews that are sick and tired. Yes, what's going on? And there's nothing in the pulpit that says, This is how we deal with transgenderism. This is how we deal with because they don't want to get yelled at. They don't want to leave the church because we had a church split. Pastor left, but he's a very, I'm telling you, Steve burger. I mean, if you ever heard him, right, he's on fire about what we should be doing. Ryan. Steve  29:13  It is it is. It is a a very chilling testimony, that the person who has done more for Christianity and has just recently delivered, perhaps the single best message to the church is from a Canadian psychologist who doesn't even go to church. Gary Duncan  29:35  Jordan Peterson? Oh, yes. Okay. Okay. Right. Steve  29:38  Right. I mean, that's it. That's a testimony to either Well, I should say it's a judgment. I mean, that's, I mean, if you think about how, what he has been able to say, I mean, I don't know if you saw his message to Christian churches. I like to Well, yeah, it's very good. It's very good. I've got on my channel. I did a little commentary. on it, but it was absolutely brilliant. Woke I mean, he he made he didn't he didn't mince words, woke ism is a crippled religion. It is an it is a it is a pernicious violent ideology that wants to erase the church. And so the only way the church is going to push back against woke ism is by not being woke. But being the opposite. And and you cannot be more opposite woke than to speak into the hearts and minds of the men of your congregation. You've got to speak to the men. And you've got to let men all over the nation know that if they want to be men. And if they want a place where they're allowed to be men without being disparaged. The only place is the Christian church. That's when you see revival. When you see men come because you know the old saying if you if you when children and your evangelistic efforts if you win children, you win children, okay? If you if you if you win, wives, you know, you win wives, but if you win, husbands, you win the husbands, you win the wives and you win the children, there's a right there's, there's an order to which God created the world a creational order. And woke ism is just throwing it all into utter chaos, as did Satan and Genesis chapter three, the serpent, turn the world upside down, right? It's supposed to be God, man, woman animals, and we're just not in that, that kind of order. And Satan that the serpent turns around and makes it animal woman man and God's not even there. Right. So that's the great inversion that we've seen. So woke ism is very, it's just, it's just in line with that. So what we entered understand what's really going on big picture seems to me is that for the last 100 years or so that's those were when the seeds were being sold sown, but it really came to fore in the 1940s, as I understand it. Before 1940, the Supreme Court saw religion as a public good, as did all of our founding fathers. They all believed in what's called an accommodationist conception of religion. And the accommodations, conceptual religion is church and state work together in partnership for the betterment of human society, to create a republic of virtue of free men, because they knew the founding fathers knew that the only way we could be free, is if we were self governing, but the only way we could be self governing is if we had if we we tapped into a virtue tradition of some kind. And for them, of course, 98% of them that's going to be Christian and formed fruits of the Spirit, you name it, right Sermon on the Mountain, like 10 commandments, but the only way you can really tap into a faith tradition genuinely, is if you're free. Right? So and the only way you're ultimately free, is if you're if you're cultivating some kind of virtue, but the only way you're cultivating virtue is by tapping into some kind of faith. And the only way you're tapping to real true faith is through freedom which grows virtue which God has faith with God is free. That's called the Golden Triangle of freedom. And so they understood the church is indispensable to a free people. You have to have a sacred vision of the good to which we can all aspire, in order for us to be a people living in Liberty walking in Liberty, right? The Galatians passage barks a lot. For liberty, you have been set free. After 1940 For whatever reason, it's hard to pinpoint why but obviously, it seems to be something in the legal the law schools in the universities, the Supreme Court started instituting a separation test doctrine between church and state. So while the accommodations doctrine always made a clear distinction between church and state, the state's not the church, the church, not the state, Christ's humanity and divinity, right. They're not commingled in the lie. By Gary Duncan  34:24  grant. That's why they came to America, one of the reasons they got away from England, Steve  34:28  because it was a state church. Exactly. Right. Exactly. Right. So so the church and the state are different, and yet they work together. And that's what made our experiments so powerful, so amazing, because freedom is what holds it all together, in that sense. And so then, after 1940, the Supreme Court started instituting more of a separations for you and we know that because they started quoting from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote rode to the Danbury, Baptists, Danbury, Connecticut, I'm not born not too far away from there, where he used this phrase against, not even in the Constitution, Jefferson didn't even write the constitution is not even in the Constitution, you know the phrase, the separation between church and state. And before 1940. That phrase was only used as I understand about a handful of times in Supreme Court decisions and deliberations in the light after 1940. It's been used 1000s of times. So something happened there. And what that did in effect is it drove the church from the public square, and consigned it solely into the private sphere of life care. You see it in our urban planning, you know, think of your New England Commonwealth, what was the most prominent building on the town green, the steeple, the church, absolutes, the church, you go into the medieval towns of Europe, the most prominent building that you see in the center of this beautiful medieval city, it's the church, right, and the castle is right across from often in the shadow of the church. So in our urban planning, we can see the the role the place that the church played in a flourishing human society today in modern urban planning, where's the church? Gary Duncan  36:25  Not it's beside the coffee shop, Steve  36:28  you got it. That's it, you got it. It's in the place of consumption, and consumerism. So you've got your, you've got your pizza hut, you know, you've got your dry cleaners, and you've got first Methodist, you've got it, it's push, it's pushed into the periphery, the private sphere of life. And here's how we tie it all together, Gary, there is no way that the church can proclaim truth, social truth, cultural truth, in that position, any more than Pizza Hut can. That's what happened to us. We got privatize, we were talking about it. Earlier in the break. You said it perfectly belonged to the church today, in most people's minds, even inside the church, thank God for the Holy Spirit, converting our hearts. But even inside the church, our social conditions have trained us to believe that being part of the church is being part of a club. It's being part of you might as well be part of weightwatchers right or what our yoga club or whatever it is, it has no objective moral truth to its proclamation anymore. So it's now ridiculed and laughed at and dismissed, and the like, what pastors are going to have to rediscover. And by the way, the Maga movement is right there to help them with this. What they're going to have to rediscover is a voice that can speak publicly. Again, this is not personal, private truth. Christ is truth, the law galls holds the universe together. And when we proclaim God's truth, that's true for everyone, regardless of whether you believe it or not, because that's public and a private, I get it personal, private, Subjective Truth. That's your deal. That's my deal. You like pistachio? I like chocolate. No problem, I got it. But when you're dealing with public, social life, truth is objective. It applies to all not just some, it's objective. It's not just subjective, it's obligatory. It's not just optional. Now, of course, we're free to respond. But that freedom of response is predicated on the objectivity of that truth. And that's what our pastors have to rediscover, when they rediscover it. They were discovered this that we're on fire. Gary Duncan  38:50  Yeah, I think, like you're saying, we've lost the identity or am I'm really about waking up the leadership, because the leaders are what leads the people, not the people lead the leader, but that's kind of where it's going. But we've lost our identity and our authority in our power. I mean, I'm reading the Bible, and it's saying, you know, these signs shall follow those who believe you will cast out demons you will heal the sick, right? speak in new tongues, and I'm looking around I'm going well, when's the last time I cast out a demon? Or anybody's cast out a demon and healed the sick and it's like, that's our heritage. God gave us through the Holy Spirit these abilities when he chooses to do those things. And if if leadership is not telling us and helping us, it's because that's the purpose. The purpose of these gifts are to edify the church so we can go out and do these things. And it just it just and that's why 2020 blew me away so bad is because the deception that came about And it's like, who are we anymore? And no wonder young people in the Millennials don't want to get involved in a church unless it's happy clappy and coffee and smoke machines and fog machines and all that kind of stuff. You know, it's a country club again. So and the one thing I'm, and here's my negative, so help me out here. I think when we get to the when we do wake up the left, and the evil that's behind the globalists and all the things, they're not going to let it go too long. I mean, you're talking about, it's getting time to where we're going to sacrifice more than just our good name, our lives, our livelihood, there's people out there now doing that and praise God to those that are standing and fighting. But I think that what the the leadership of the church needs to really get ready, is to gird up, because I see the coming age of the church not being happy clappy, but it's gonna be persecuted beyond belief where we're at coming. You see what they did in 2020? What's What are they willing to do if they're willing to kill children? And they're willing to euthanize the older and they're willing to, to propagate a bio weapon across the whole world? What are they willing to do? Ya know, it's scary when the church does stand up, what are they willing to do and we got to be ready for it. We got to know how to fight back. And that's my whole thing. We're not fighting. We've raised a bunch of in the last 50 years, we've raised a bunch of chocolate soldiers. You're in the first moment of any heat, we melt like, like little statues of a bunny rabbit. Steve  41:42  But that's what privatized faith does it right. It has it has no backbone, you know, it's like, you know, you renounce pistachio ice cream, I'm gonna punch you okay, I pronounced that. Right. That's that. That's what privatize faith does? It is it is. There's no I mean, when Alexander Solzhenitsyn came over to the United States, and gave his Harvard address in 1979, that amazing address called the world split apart. One of the first things he did it, I mean, everybody thought he was gonna go rah, rah West, he actually said no, Soviet Union is pretty horrible, pretty terrible. But the West is just a secular, it's just as atheistic and you're gonna go in the same direction, you're just you're doing it with four car garages, you know, you make it a little bit more tolerable. And he said, the one thing he noticed about the West, the principal characteristic that caught his eyes, we've lost courage. And in the classical world, the Four Virtues, wisdom, moderation, justice, and courage of those four, and that, you know, corresponds to the four elements of the cosmos. Right, that's all held together by the law girl. So we've got our four gospels, right, that all held together by Christ, the logos themselves, and then we have the additional faith, hope and love virtues and all that sort of stuff. It's all part of this amazing world, this identity would belong to 2000 years old, and even stretching before that with these, these pagan traditions that end up getting transfigured and, and by Christ himself. I mean, Solzhenitsyn pointed out, you know, of those Four Virtues, all the ancients recognize courage was the most important one, because without courage, you don't have the fortitude to defend the other three. Without courage, you can't defend, in this case, faith, hope and love. You can't defend it. You can't defend faith, family and freedom requires. It requires courage. So I think, look, I think the good news in this is, again, you look around the world and what's happened. You had 70 years of Soviet communism ravaged land. That was the jewel of Byzantium. Okay, so you're talking Czarist Russia, 60,000, ornate, gorgeous churches. Some of the biog some of the historical biographies you'll read, I mean, they weren't incredibly Pieta stick people, extraordinarily so Bolsheviks come in, and literally ravaged it so that by the end of that 70 year period, interesting, interesting number of by the way, at the end of that 70 year period, there were only 2000 functioning churches left they were gone, that it was going through 1000 monasteries during the Czar's period. Not a single monastery was an operation when the when the Soviet Union fell. And by the way, keep in mind, keep in mind, the very day the Soviet Union officially fell the most atheistic regime on the planet. Of course, it was December 25. It was Christmas Day, right. So a new birth happened because now here we are 30 years later. And by the way, this is this is true for much of eastern Europe as a whole 30 years later, a Russia is now approaching upwards of five 50,000 churches, they are on track by the year 2050, to be in full restoration of that czarist orthodox glory and the book by John Burgess, a theological historian at Pittsburgh seminary, where he went out to study the role of Christianity in Russia right now, what happened in Russia, in effect was communism got replaced by orthodoxy. So the vacuum that communism left was filled by going back to their identity by going back to their civilization, their cultures, a customs, and traditions. So for right or wrong, all that sort of stuff, you're not getting it all that what we have to understand is, that was after 70 years of the single most incessant atheistic regime on the planet that was literally killing millions upon millions upon millions of people. And here we are 30 years after it's collapsed. And the church is on fire. They're like never before there was a 2012 study done by the journal for the scientific study of religion. And they they had a marker of religious revivals, they had about seven different gauges for determining the level of religious revival. And they concluded there's no way around it. Christianity is on fire. So is Soviet Union falls and 1992. Only about 3019 91 Sorry, 30% of the population because themselves Christian, today. 70% does, it's hot. It's cool to be a Christian, and we're like we were talking about earlier today, what they were able to do is they were able to rediscover it and re weave Christianity into their culture into their, into their life. We they could do that with with, you know, their Russian Orthodox resources. And imagine what we can do with our evangelical resources. The way we can reawaken the church and weave it into every aspect of life. So yeah, it's gonna be dark. No question. Yeah, there's a Friday upon us. But you know what day follows Friday. Darkness of Friday is always followed by Sunday. Always. That's the Christian gospel all ways guaranteed. And when we have that faith, when we have that confidence, we cannot be intimidated. And when we cannot be intimidated, we like an axe, we begin turning the world upside down. Gary Duncan  47:40  Oh, great. I feel better already. No, that's good. That's good. I know you gotta run. One last question. We're gonna take it. See real quick. I'll edit this out. Sure. Okay. And you may have already answered but so where do you see us going from here in our culture? I know you're involved with reawakening tour. You've been involved with that. So with the church, do you? Where do you Well, let me ask you this. Where do you see England going? Now that we've got this new monarchy? That Well, Queen Elizabeth, she died? Okay. Sure. Sure. 70 years in reign? That's an interesting historical marker right there. Steve  48:35  Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Which? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Cuz in many ways, she really was the last monarch of Christendom, of real genuine Christian emerge, she was, she was anointed, she was literally anointed with the Holy oil as Queen back in her and throne, their coronation 1953 It was the same coronation ceremony that goes all the way back to the 10th century to their very first king. And, and she did she I think she she held that position brilliantly, as only she could is sort of the last, you know, Elizabeth and member of the Elizabethan era, as it were, where we go from here is very difficult to see because England has again like we do they have a choice and but England? Well, no, it's going to be the same to be the same. In many respects. The choice is, are you going to continue down this futile road of flippant leftist skepticism and doubt and secularism? Or are you going to rediscover in many ways, like Her funeral was a call to do? And this by the way goes for Anglican clergy, who were probably even worse than most lay people on this woke nonsense stuff. I know I went to school with them. in Durham University, are they going to re embrace truth as understood in 2000 years of the Christian tradition unbroken? Or are they going to go the way of secular leftist liberalism? If they go back to truth that is going to be the most unifying, powerful, socially revivifying choice they could possibly make. If they go down the road of secular flippant you know, liberalism, the UK will dismember you can write that down. The UK will dismember it will fall and we're talking was we're talking first all of its abroad territories, you know, in the, in the, in the Caribbean area and so forth and Pacific and it's, it's going to dismember there and then you'll start to see the Scottish referendums come out, you're gonna start seeing United Ireland movements come out like never before, you're gonna start seeing Welsh nationalism come out, like you're gonna see English nationalism come out like never before we start breaking apart what it'll break apart and and it'll start tribal laws, and there's no way and I think we're going that's inevitably what's gonna happen with us. Because that's, we're already there. The 35 nations have been added to the world map since 1991. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, we're already there. Write a text that today is more popular than it's ever been, right, the Texas independence movement. I mean, it doesn't matter what we're looking at. Everywhere we look whether it's the breakaway republics and Donetsk and Lugansk, in the, in the Donbass region in Ukraine, whether it's Transnistria Transnistria, is a breakaway Republic from Moldova that wants to hook up back with with Russia, or Burundi and Rwanda or Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the two Sudan's, you name it everywhere we look, the world is breaking up. And the question is, what can hold it together? What holds the nation together and you said, you use the word culture, and the church being at the center of culture, we have to remember what the word is at the heart of the word culture. And that's the Latin cult cult us. We're not talking about people knocking on your doors, giving you tracks and I had to lead us to worship or something like that. Right? Right. We're talking the old old word cultist, meaning worship, the place of worship, your culture always comes out of, it flows out of the font of what you worship. And if we are going to worship, if we're gonna go back to worship God, in the way that has sustained Western civilization now, for 2000 years, we're gonna have another 2000 years, no problem, if we're gonna go and embrace this brave new world, things will break up. There's no way the brave new world of secular liberalism, gloves, and so forth is going to shatter, it's going to collapse. And we're going to break up into all of our own different regional loyalties or, or ideological loyalties or religious worlds, whatever it is, or increasing like BLM and so forth. Racial loyalties, we're going to try belies breakup and there's nothing that will stop that apart from returning to our Christian faith, the Christian faith alone will hold the UK together, the Christian faith alone will hold the United States together, I am very optimistic about the United States. I have to be honest, I'm not particularly optimistic with the UK. Gary Duncan  53:49  So the church is the glue that holds it all together, our Christian faith, and so that if we can regain our identity, which I think that's kind of the grassroots the move that that's coming along is regaining our roots in our belief, and in America, the church, and what are our power and authority is in the culture, I think you're right, if we can regain that back and take it back from the darkness, we do still have some time we are the salt and the law. And so ultimately, that's, that's our job is to, to, to push back evil, and to you know, continue to have freedom in this country. So the return of the American patriot, your documentary, that's a good place to start to getting encouraged and I'm gonna get a hold of that and watch it and get encouraged to to just stand and fight and like Ephesians six says to stand and that's what we're doing and I appreciate you very much for what you're doing and, and all the work that you're doing through YouTube and just getting the word out because every little bit counts. You know, and you're doing a big part. So I want to encourage the little guys out there as well. You know if you've got a voice to stand and fight against this, do it. But Dr. Steve Turley appreciate your time very much. And thank you so much for, for what you're doing in our culture. Steve  55:20  Thank you, Garrett. God bless you. God bless everything you're doing God bless Tennessee in that little blue pot a little blue patcher in the Nashville area. Little God bless and you are you're doing God's work and calling the church his people and particularly the leaders to embrace who we've been called to be. We are We are more than conquerors through Him who called us Yeah, Gary Duncan  55:44  very good. Thank you so much. You appreciate God bless. Appreciate it very much. It was pleasure meet you. Steve  55:51  Oh, right back at you, man. Yeah, right back. atcha Yeah, I saw I saw the probe. Transcribed by https://otter.ai 

Synopsis On today's date in 1909, “The Golden Cockerel,” the last opera of the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, had its premiere in Moscow. Rimsky-Korsakov had died the previous year, after a bitter battle with government censors who objected to the opera's thinly disguised satire against the bumbling administration of Czarist Russia. For the premiere, the censors won – the opera was performed with all the changes that Rimsky-Korsakov had so stubbornly resisted while alive. The original text was not restored until after the Russian revolution of 1917. Closer to our own time, in October of 1987, American composer John Adam's “Nixon in China,” debuted at Houston Grand Opera. Alice Goodman's libretto depicts the historic visit to Red China of President Nixon and then Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. Adams says he was completely indifferent to what the real-life personages in his opera might have thought of it. No government censors objected, in any case, but Adams said that Richard Nixon's lawyer, Leonard Garment, did attend a performance of “Nixon in China,” and probably reported back to the former President. Nixon's reaction is not known – nor that of Henry Kissinger. We're happy to report, however, that according to John Adams, Leonard Garment did subsequently became something of a fan of his music. Music Played in Today's Program Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): The Golden Cockerel Suite –Russian National Orchestra; Mikhail Pletnev, cond. (DG 447 084) John Adams (b. 1947): The Chairman Dances –San Francisco Symphony; Edo de Waart, cond. (Nonesuch 79453)

In episode #93, our guest is John Koenig, he is a Board Certified Hypnotist, Past-Life Facilitator, and author of My Autobiographies: An Introduction to Past Life Exploration for Personal and Spiritual Growth. Today we will be talking about his journeys as a past life explorer. What you will learnHis first regression experience was of a past life in the First Continental DragoonsHis book,  My Autobiographies: An Introduction to Past Life Exploration for Personal and Spiritual Growth recalls 14 past livesin chronological orderWhy he tends to  discourage anyone from doing regression therapy who thinks they were famous in a past lifeHow his wife shared a past life with him in Czarist Russia; he as the wife, she as his husband!Some people want to explore past lives to bring forth a skill or talentWhat happens in-between incarnationsWhy he feels he "picked up" karma from his last lifetimeFor more Info: https://possibilities.nu/

Synopsis Under the old Julian calendar in use in Czarist Russia, on today's date in 1861, the Romantic composer Anton Arensky was born in Novgorod. If you prefer, you can also celebrate Arensky's birthday on July 12 – the same date under the modern Gregorian calendar, but Arensky was such a Romantic that the Old Style date seems, well, more appropriate somehow. Arensky studied with Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov, and admired the music of Tchaikovsky. Arensky taught at the Moscow Conservatory and published two books: a “Manual of Harmony” and “A Handbook of Musical Forms.” His own students included a number of famous Russian composers, including Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, and Glière. Arensky wrote three operas, two symphonies, concertos, chamber works, and suites for two pianos – but it's his Piano Trio in D minor that gets performed and recorded more often than any of his other works. A victim of tuberculosis, Arensky spent the last years of his life in a Finnish sanatorium. He died young – just 44 years old – in 1906. Music Played in Today's Program Anton Arensky (1861 – 1906) –Piano Trio No. 1 (Rembrandt Trio) Dorian 90146

Episode Notes Episode summary Margaret talks with Elle an anarchist and security professional about different threat modeling approaches and analyzing different kinds of threats. They explore physical threats, digital security, communications, surveillance,and general OpSec mentalities for how to navigate the panopticon and do stuff in the world without people knowing about it...if you're in Czarist Russia of course. Guest Info Elle can be found on twitter @ellearmageddon. Host and Publisher The host Margaret Killjoy can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Show Links Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: Elle on Threat Modeling Margaret 00:15 Hello, and welcome to Live Like The World Is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host, Margaret killjoy. And with me at the exact moment is my dog, who has just jumped up to try and talk into the microphone and bite my arm. And, I use 'she' and 'they' pronouns. And this week, I'm going to be talking to my friend Elle, who is a, an anarchist security professional. And we're going to be talking about threat modeling. And we're going to be talking about how to figure out what people are trying to do to you and who's trying to do it and how to deal with different people trying to do different things. Like, what is the threat model around the fact that while I'm trying to record a podcast, my dog is biting my arm? And I am currently choosing to respond by trying to play it for humor and leaving it in rather than cutting it out and re recording. This podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero network of anarchists podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show on the network. Jingle Margaret 02:00 Okay, if you could introduce yourself, I guess, with your name and your pronouns, and then maybe what you do as relates to the stuff that we're going to be talking about today. Elle 02:10 Yeah, cool. Hi, I'm Elle. My pronouns are they/them. I am a queer, autistic, anarchist security practitioner. I do security for a living now that I've spent over the last decade, working with activist groups and NGOs, just kind of anybody who's got an interesting threat model to help them figure out what they can do to make themselves a little a little safer and a little more secure. Margaret 02:43 So that word threat model. That's actually kind of what I want to have you on today to talk about is, it's this word that we we hear a lot, and sometimes we throw into sentences when we want to sound really smart, or maybe I do that. But what does it mean, what is threat modeling? And why is it relevant? Elle 03:02 Yeah, I actually, I really love that question. Because I think that we a lot of people do use the term threat modeling without really knowing what they mean by it. And so to me, threat modeling is having an understanding of your own life in your own context, and who poses a realistic risk to you, and what you can do to keep yourself safe from them. So whether that's, you know, protecting communications that you have from, you know, state surveillance, or whether it's keeping yourself safe from an abusive ex, your threat model is going to vary based on your own life experiences and what you need to protect yourself from and who those people actually are and what they're capable of doing. Margaret 03:52 Are you trying to say there's not like one solution to all problems that we would just apply? Elle 03:58 You know, I love... Margaret 03:58 I don't understand. Elle 04:00 I know that everybody really, really loves the phrase "Use signal. Use TOR," and you know, thinks that that is the solution to all of life's problems. But it actually turns out that, no, you do have to have both an idea of what it is that you're trying to protect, whether it's yourself or something like your communications and who you're trying to protect it from, and how they can how they can actually start working towards gaining access to whatever it is that you're trying to defend. Margaret 04:31 One of the things that when I think about threat modeling that I think about is this idea of...because the levels of security that you take for something often limit your ability to accomplish different things. Like in Dungeons and Dragons, if you were plate armor, you're less able to be a dexterous rogue and stealth around. And so I think about threat modeling, maybe as like learning to balance....I'm kind of asking this, am I correct in this? Balancing what you're trying to accomplish with who's trying to stop you? Because like, you could just use TOR, for everything. And then also like use links the little like Lynx [misspoke "Tails"] USB keychain and never use a regular computer and never communicate with anyone and then never accomplish anything. But, it seems like that might not work. Elle 05:17 Yeah, I mean, the idea, the idea is to prevent whoever your adversaries are from keeping you from doing whatever you're trying to accomplish. Right? So if the security precautions that you're taking to prevent your adversaries from preventing you from doing a thing are also preventing you from doing the thing, then it doesn't matter, because your adversaries have just won, right? So there, there definitely is a need, you know, to be aware of risks that you're taking and decide which ones make sense, which ones don't make sense. And kind of look at it from from a dynamic of "Okay, is this something that is in my, you know, acceptable risk model? Is this a risk I'm willing to take? Are there things that I can do to, you know, do harm reduction and minimize the risk? Or at least like, make it less? Where are those trade offs? What, what is the maximum amount of safety or security that I can do for myself, while still achieving whatever it is that I'm trying to achieve?" Margaret 06:26 Do you actually ever like, chart it out on like, an X,Y axis where you get like, this is the point where you start getting diminishing returns? I'm just imagining it. I've never done that. Elle 06:37 In, in the abstract, yes, because that's part of how autism brain works for me. But in a, like actually taking pen to paper context, not really. But that's, you know, at least partially, because of that's something that autism brain just does for me. So I think it could actually be a super reasonable thing to do, for people whose brains don't auto filter that for them. But but I'm, I guess, lucky enough to be neurodivergent, and have like, you know, like, we always we joke in tech, "It's not a bug, it's a feature." And I feel like, you know, autism is kind of both sometimes. In some cases, it's totally a bug and and others, it's absolutely a feature. And this is one of the areas where it happens to be a feature, at least for me. Margaret 07:35 That makes sense. I, I kind of view my ADHD as a feature, in that, it allows me to hyper focus on topics and then move on and then not come back to them. Or also, which is what I do now for work with podcasting, and a lot of my writing. It makes it hard to write long books, I gotta admit, Elle 07:56 Yeah, I work with a bunch of people with varying neuro types. And it's really interesting, like, at least at least in my own team, I think that you know, the, the folks who are more towards the autism spectrum disorder side of of the house are more focused on things like application security, and kind of things that require sort of sustained hyper focus. And then folks with ADHD make just absolutely amazing, like incident responders and do really, really well in interrupt driven are interrupts heavy contexts, Margaret 08:38 Or sprinters. Elle 08:40 It's wild to me, because I'm just like, yes, this makes perfect sense. And obviously, like, these different tasks are better suited to different neuro types. But I've also never worked with a manager who actually thought about things in that way before. Margaret 08:53 Right. Elle 08:54 And so it's actually kind of cool to be to be in a position where I can be like, "Hey, like, Does this sound interesting to you? Would you rather focus on this kind of work?" And kind of get that that with people. Margaret 09:06 That makes sense that's.... i I'm glad that you're able to do that. I'm glad that people that you work with are able to have that you know, experience because it is it's hard to it's hard to work within....obviously the topic of today is...to working in the workplace is a neurodivergent person, but it I mean it affects so many of us you know, like almost whatever you do for work the the different ways your brain work are always struggling against it. So. Elle 09:32 Yeah, I don't know. It just it makes sense to me to like do your best to structure your life in a way that is more conducive to your neurotype. Margaret 09:44 Yeah. Elle 09:45 You know, if you can. Margaret 09:49 I don't even realize exactly how age ADHD I was until I tried to work within a normal workforce. I built my entire life around, not needing to live in one place or do one thing for sustained periods of time. But okay, but back to the threat modeling. Margaret 10:07 The first time I heard of, I don't know if it's the first time I heard a threat modeling or not, I don't actually know when I first started hearing that word. But the first time I heard about you, in the context of it was a couple years back, you had some kind of maybe it was tweets or something about how people were assuming that they should use, for example, the more activist focused email service Rise Up, versus whether they should just use Gmail. And I believe that you were making the case that for a lot of things, Gmail would actually be safer, because even though they don't care about you, they have a lot more resources to throw at the problem of keeping governments from reading their emails. That might be a terrible paraphrasing of what you said. But this, this is how I was introduced to this concept of threat modeling. If you wanted to talk about that example, and tell me how I got it all wrong. Elle 10:07 Yeah. Elle 10:58 Yeah. Um, so you didn't actually get it all wrong. And I think that the thing that I would add to that is that if you are engaging in some form of hypersensitive communication, email is not the mechanism that you want to do that. And so when I say things like, "Oh, you know, it probably actually makes sense to use Gmail instead of Rise Up," I mean, you know, contexts where you're maybe communicating with a lawyer and your communications are privileged, right?it's a lot harder to crack Gmail security than it is to crack something like Rise Up security, just by virtue of the volume of resources available to each of those organizations. And so where you specifically have this case where, you know, there's, there's some degree of legal protection for whatever that means, making sure that you're not leveraging something where your communications can be accessed without your knowledge or consent by a third party, and then used in a way that is conducive to parallel construction. Margaret 12:19 So what is parallel construction? Elle 12:20 Parallel construction is a legal term where you obtain information in a way that is not admissible in court, and then use that information to reconstruct a timeline or reconstruct a mechanism of access to get to that information in an admissible way. Margaret 12:39 So like every cop show Elle 12:41 Right, so like, with parallel construction around emails, for example, if you're emailing back and forth with your lawyer, and your lawyer is like, "Alright, like, be straight with me. Because I need to know if you've actually done this crime so that I can understand how best to defend you." And you're like, "Yeah, dude, I totally did that crime," which you should never admit to in writing anyway, because, again, email is not the format that you want to have this conversation in. But like, if you're gonna admit to having done crimes in email, for some reason, how easy it is for someone else to access that admission is important. Because if somebody can access this email admission of you having done the crimes where you're, you know, describing in detail, what crimes you did, when with who, then it starts, like, it gets a lot easier to be like, "Oh, well, obviously, we need to subpoena this person's phone records. And we should see, you know, we should use geolocation tracking of their device to figure out who they were in proximity to and who else was involved in this," and it can, it can be really easy to like, establish a timeline and get kind of the roadmap to all of the evidence that they would need to, to put you in jail. So it's, it's probably worth kind of thinking about how easy it is to access that that information. And again, don't don't admit to doing crimes in email, email is not the format that you want to use for admitting to having done crimes. But if you're going to, it's probably worth making sure that, you know, the the email providers that you are choosing are equipped with both robust security controls, and probably also like a really good legal team. Right? So if...like Rise Up isn't going to comply with the subpoena to the like, to the best of their ability, they're not going to do that, but it's a lot easier to sue Rise Up than it is to sue Google. Margaret 14:51 Right. Elle 14:51 And it's a lot easier to to break Rise Up's security mechanisms than it is to break Google's, just by virtue of how much time and effort each of those entities is able to commit to securing email. Please don't commit to doing crimes in email, just please just don't. Don't do it in writing. Don't do it. Margaret 15:15 Okay, let me change my evening plans. Hold on let me finish sending this email.. Elle 15:23 No! Margaret 15:25 Well, I mean, I guess like the one of the reasons that I thought so much about that example, and why it kind of stuck with me years later was just thinking about what people decide they're safe, because they did some basic security stuff. And I don't know if that counts under threat modeling. But it's like something I think about a lot is about people being like, "I don't understand, we left our cell phones at home and went on a walk in the woods," which is one of the safest ways anyone could possibly have a conversation. "How could anyone possibly have known this thing?" And I'm like, wait, you, you told someone you know, or like, like, not to make people more paranoid, but like... Elle 16:06 Or maybe, maybe you left your cell phone at home, but kept your smartwatch on you, because you wanted to close, you know, you wanted to get your steps for the day while you were having this conversation, right? Margaret 16:19 Because otherwise, does it even count if I'm not wearing my [smartwatch]. Elle 16:21 Right, exactly. And like, we joke, and we laugh, but like, it is actually something that people don't think about. And like, maybe you left your phones at home, and you went for a walk in the woods, but you took public transit together to get there and were captured on a bunch of surveillance cameras. Like there's, there's a lot of, especially if you've actually been targeted for surveillance, which is very rare, because it's very resource intensive. But you know, there there are alternate ways to track people. And it does depend on things like whether or not you've got additional tech on you, whether or not you were captured on cameras. And you know, whether whether or not your voices were picked up by ShotSpotter, as you were walking to wherever the woods were like, there's just there's we live in a panopticon. I don't say that so that people are paranoid about it, I say it because it's a lot easier to think about, where, when and how you want to phrase things. Margaret 17:27 Yeah. Elle 17:28 In a way that you know, still facilitates communications still facilitates achieving whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, but sets you sets you up to be as safe as possible in doing it. And I think that especially in anarchist circles, just... and honestly also in security circles, there's a lot of of like, dogmatic adherence to security ritual, that may or may not actually make sense based on both, you, who your actual adversaries are, and what their realistic capabilities are. Margaret 18:06 And what they're trying to actually accomplish I feel like is...Okay, one of the threat models that I like...I encourage people sometimes to carry firearms, right in very specific contexts. And it feels like a security... Oh, you had a good word for it that you just used...ritual of security theater, I don't remember...a firearm often feels like that, Elle 18:30 Right. Margaret 18:31 In a way where you're like," Oh, I'm safe now, right, because I'm carrying a firearm." And, for example, I didn't carry a firearm for a very long time. Because for a long time, my threat model, the people who messed with me, were cops. And if a cop is going to mess with me, I do not want to have a firearm on me, because it will potentially escalate a situation in a very bad way. Whereas when I came out and started, you know, when I started getting harassed more for being a scary transwoman, and less for being an anarchist, or a hitchhiker, or whatever, you know, now my threat model is transphobes, who wants to do me harm. And in a civilian-civilian context, I prefer I feel safer. And I believe I am safer in most situations armed in that case. But every time I leave the house, I have to think about "What is my threat model?" And then in a similar way, sorry, it's just me thinking about the threat model of firearms, but it's the main example that I think of, is that often people's threat model in terms of firearms and safety as themselves, right? And so you just actually need to do the soul searching where you're like,"What's more likely to happen to me today? Am I likely to get really sad, or am I likely to get attacked by fascists?" Elle 19:57 Yeah. And I think that there is there's an additional question, especially when you're talking about arming yourself, whether it's firearms, or carrying a knife, or whatever, because like, I don't own any firearms, but I do carry a knife a lot of the time. And so like some questions, some additional questions that you have to ask yourself are, "How confident am I in my own ability to use this to harm another person?" Because if you're going to hesitate, you're gonna get fucked up. Margaret 20:28 Yeah. Elle 20:28 Like, if you are carrying a weapon, and you pull it out and hesitate in using it, it's gonna get taken away from you, and it's going to be used against you. So that's actually one of the biggest questions that I would say people should be asking themselves when developing a threat model around arming themselves is, "Will I actually use this? How confident am I?" if you're not confident, then it's okay to leave it at home. It's okay to practice more. It's okay to like develop that familiarity before you start using it as an EDC. Sorry an Every Day Carry. And then the you know, the other question is, "How likely am I to get arrested here?" I carry, I carry a knife that I absolutely do know how to use most of the time when I leave the house. But when I'm going to go to a demonstration, because the way that I usually engage in protests or in demonstrations is in an emergency medical response capacity, I carry a medic kit instead. And my medic kit is a clean bag that does not have any sharp objects in it. It doesn't have anything that you know could be construed as a weapon it doesn't have...it doesn't...I don't even have weed gummies which are totally like recreationally legal here, right? I won't even put weed in the medic kit. It's it is very much a... Margaret 21:52 Well, if you got a federally arrested you'd be in trouble with that maybe. Elle 21:55 Yeah, sure, I guess. But, like the medic bag is very...nothing goes in this kit ever that I wouldn't want to get arrested carrying. And so there's like EMT shears in there. Margaret 22:12 Right. Elle 22:13 But that's that's it in terms of like... Margaret 22:16 Those are scary you know...the blunted tips. Elle 22:21 I know, the blunted tips and the like safety, whatever on them. It's just...it's it is something to think about is "Where am I going...What...Who am I likely to encounter? And like what are the trade offs here?" Margaret 22:37 I remember once going to a demonstration a very long time ago where our like, big plan was to get in through all of the crazy militarized downtown in this one city and, and the big plan is we're gonna set up a Food Not Bombs inside the security line of the police, you know. And so we picked one person, I think I was the sacrificial person, who had to carry a knife, because we had to get the folding tables that we're gonna put the food on off of the top of the minivan. And we had to do it very quickly, and they were tied on. And so I think I brought the knife and then left it in the car and the car sped off. And then we fed people and they had spent ten million dollars protecting the city from 30 people feeding people Food Not Bombs. Elle 23:20 Amazing. Margaret 23:22 But, but yeah, I mean, whereas every other day in my life, especially back then when I was a hitchhiker, I absolutely carried a knife. Elle 23:30 Yeah. Margaret 23:31 You know, for multiple purposes. Yeah, okay, so then it feels like...I like rooting it in the self defense stuff because I think about that a lot and for me it maybe then makes sense to sort of build up and out from there as to say like...you know, if someone's threat model is my ex-partner's new partner is trying to hack me or my abusive ex is trying to hack me or something, that's just such a different threat model than... Elle 24:04 Yeah, it is. Margaret 24:05 Than the local police are trying to get me versus the federal police are trying to get me versus a foreign country is trying to get me you know, and I and it feels like sometimes those things are like contradictory to each other about what isn't isn't the best maybe. Elle 24:19 They are, because each of those each of those entities is going to have different mechanisms for getting to you and so you know, an abusive partner or abusive ex is more likely to have physical access to you, and your devices, than you know, a foreign entity is, right? Because there's there's proximity to think about, and so you know, you might want to have....Actually the....Okay, so the abusive ex versus the cops, right. A lot of us now have have phones where the mechanism for accessing them is either a password, or some kind of biometric identifier. So like a fingerprint, or you know, face ID or whatever. And there's this very dogmatic adherence to "Oh, well, passwords are better." But passwords might actually not be better. Because if somebody has regular proximity to you, they may be able to watch you enter your password and get enough information to guess it. And if you're, if you're not using a biometric identifier, in those use cases, then what can happen is they can guess your password, or watch, you type it in enough time so that they get a good feeling for what it is. And they can then access your phone without your knowledge while you're sleeping. Right? Margaret 25:46 Right. Elle 25:47 And sometimes just knowing whether or not your your adversary has access to your phone is actually a really useful thing. Because you know how much information they do or don't have. Margaret 26:01 Yeah. No that's... Elle 26:03 And so it really is just about about trade offs and harm reduction. Margaret 26:08 That never would have occurred to me before. I mean, it would occur to me if someone's trying to break into my devices, but I have also fallen into the all Biometrics is bad, right? Because it's the password, you can't change because the police can compel you to open things with biometrics, but they can't necessarily compel you...is more complicated to be compelled to enter a password. Elle 26:31 I mean, like, it's only as complicated as a baton. Margaret 26:34 Yeah, there's that XKCD comic about this. Have you seen it? Elle 26:37 Yes. Yes, I have. And it is it is an accurate....We like in security, we call it you know, the Rubber Hose method, right? It we.... Margaret 26:46 The implication here for anyone hasn't read it is that they can beat you up and get you to give them their [password]. Elle 26:50 Right people, people will usually if they're hit enough times give up their password. So you know, I would say yeah, you should disable biometric locks, if you're going to go out to a demonstration, right? Which is something that I do. I actually do disable face ID if I'm taking my phone to a demo. But it...you may want to use it as your everyday mechanism, especially if you're living in a situation where knowing whether or not your abuser has access to your device is likely to make a difference in whether you have enough time to escape. Margaret 27:30 Right. These axioms or these these beliefs we all have about this as the way to do security,the you know...I mean, it's funny, because you brought up earlier like use Signal use Tor, I am a big advocate of like, I just use Signal for all my communication, but I also don't talk about crime pretty much it in general anyway. You know. So it's more like just like bonus that it can't be read. I don't know. Elle 27:57 Yeah. I mean, again, it depends, right? Because Signal...Signal has gotten way more usable. I've been, I've been using Signal for a decade, you know, since it was still Redphone and TextSecure. And in the early days, I used to joke that it was so secure, sometimes your intended recipients don't even get the messages. Margaret 28:21 That's how I feel about GPG or PGP or whatever the fuck. Elle 28:24 Oh, those those.... Margaret 28:27 Sorry, didn't mean to derail you. Elle 28:27 Let's not even get started there. But so like Signal again, has gotten much better, and is way more reliable in terms of delivery than it used to be. But I used to, I used to say like, "Hey, if it's if it's really, really critical that your message reach your recipient, Signal actually might not be the way to do it." Because if you need if you if you're trying to send a time sensitive message with you know guarantee that it actually gets received, because Signal used to be, you know, kind of sketchy on or unreliable on on delivery, it might not have been the best choice at the time. One of the other things that I think that people, you know, think...don't think about necessarily is that Signal is still widely viewed as a specific security tool. And that's, that's good in a lot of cases. But if you live somewhere, for example, like Belarus, where it's not generally considered legal to encrypt things, then the presence of Signal on your device is enough in and of itself to get you thrown in prison. Margaret 29:53 Right. Elle 29:53 And so sometimes having a mechanism like, you know, Facebook secret messages might seem like a really, really sketchy thing to do. But if your threat model is you can't have security tools on your phone, but you still want to be able to send encrypted messages or ephemeral messages, then that actually might be the best way to kind of fly under the radar. So yeah, it again just really comes down to thinking about what it is that you're trying to protect? From who? And under what circumstances? Margaret 30:32 Yeah, I know, I like this. I mean, obviously, of course, you've thought about this thing that you think about. I'm like, I'm just like, kind of like, blown away thinking about these things. Although, okay, one of these, like security things that I kind of want to push back on, and actually, this is a little bit sketchy to push back on, the knife thing. To go back to a knife. I am. I have talked to a lot of people who have gotten themselves out of very bad situations by drawing a weapon without then using it, which is illegal. It is totally illegal. Elle 31:03 Yes Margaret 31:03 I would never advocate that anyone threaten anyone with a weapon. But, I know people who have committed this crime in order to...even I mean, sometimes it's in situations where it'd be legal to stab somebody,like... Elle 31:16 Sure. Margaret 31:16 One of the strangest laws in the United States is that, theoretically, if I fear for my life, I can draw a gun.... And not if I fear for my life, if I am, if my life is literally being threatened, physically, if I'm being attacked, I can I can legally draw a firearm and shoot someone, I can legally pull a knife and stab someone to defend myself. I cannot pull a gun and say "Back the fuck off." And not only is it illegal, but it also is a security axiom, I guess that you would never want to do that. Because as you pointed out, if you hesitate now the person has the advantage, they have more information than they used to. But I still know a lot of hitchhikers who have gotten out of really bad situations by saying, "Let me the fuck out of the car." Elle 32:05 Sure. Margaret 32:06 Ya know?. Elle 32:06 Absolutely. It's not....Sometimes escalating tactically can be a de-escalation. Right? Margaret 32:17 Right. Elle 32:18 Sometimes pulling out a weapon or revealing that you have one is enough to make you no longer worth attacking. But you never know how someone's going to respond when you do that, right? Margaret 32:33 Totally Elle 32:33 So you never know whether it's going to cause them to go "Oh shit, I don't want to get stabbed or I don't want to get shot," and stop or whether it's going to trigger you know a more aggressive response. So it doesn't mean that you know, you, if you pull a weapon you have to use it. Margaret 32:52 Right. Elle 32:53 But if you're going to carry one then you do need to be confident that you will use it. Margaret 32:58 No, that that I do agree with that. Absolutely. Elle 33:00 And I think that is an important distinction, and I you know I also think that...not 'I think', using a gun and using a knife are two very different things. For a lot of people, pulling the trigger on a gun is going to be easier than stabbing someone. Margaret 33:20 Yeah that's true. Elle 33:21 Because of the proximity to the person and because of how deeply personal stabbing someone actually is versus how detached you can be and still pull the trigger. Margaret 33:35 Yeah. Elle 33:36 Like I would...it sounds...it feels weird to say but I would actually advocate most people carry a gun instead of a knife for that reason, and also because if you're, if you're worried about being physically attacked, you know you have more range of distance where you can use something like a gun than you do with a knife. You have to be, you have to be in close quarters to to effectively use a knife unless you're like really good at throwing them for some reason and even I wouldn't, cause if you miss...now your adversary has a knife. Margaret 34:14 I know yeah. Unless you miss by a lot. I mean actually I guess if you hit they have a knife now too. Elle 34:22 True. Margaret 34:23 I have never really considered whether or not throwing knives are effective self-defense weapons and I don't want to opine too hard on this show. Elle 34:31 I advise against it. Margaret 34:32 Yeah. Okay, so to go back to threat modeling about more operational security type stuff. You're clearly not saying these are best practices, but you're instead it seems like you're advocating of "This as the means by which you might determine your best practices." Elle 34:49 Yes. Margaret 34:49 Do you have a...do you have a a tool or do you have like a like, "Hey, here's some steps you can take." I mean, we all know you've said like, "Think about your enemy," and such like that, but Is there a more...Can you can you walk me through that? Elle 35:04 I mean, like, gosh, it really depends on who your adversary is, right? Elle 35:10 Like, if you're if you're thinking about an abusive partner, that's obviously going to vary based on things like, you know, is your abusive partner, someone who has access to weapons? Are they someone who is really tech savvy? Or are they not. At...The things that you have to think about are going to just depend on the skills and tools that they have access to? Is your abusive partner or your abusive ex a cop? Because that changes some things. Margaret 35:10 Yeah, fair enough. Margaret 35:20 Yeah. Elle 35:27 So like, most people, if they actually have a real and present kind of persistent threat in their life, also have a pretty good idea of what that threat is capable of, or what that threat actor or is capable of. And so it, it's it, I think, it winds up being fairly easy to start thinking about things in terms of like, "Okay, how is this person going to come after me? How, what, what tools do they have? What skills do they have? What ability do they have to kind of attack me or harm me?" But I think that, you know, as we start getting away from that really, really, personal threat model of like the intimate partner violence threat model, for example, and start thinking about more abstract threat models, like "I'm an anarchist living in a state," because no state is particularly fond of us. Margaret 36:50 Whaaaat?! Elle 36:51 I know it's wild, because like, you know, we just want to abolish the State and States, like want to not be abolished, and I just don't understand how, how they would dislike us for any reason.. Margaret 37:03 Yeah, it's like when I meet someone new, and I'm like, "Hey, have you ever thought about being abolished?" They're usually like, "Yeah, totally have a beer." Elle 37:10 Right. No, it's... Margaret 37:11 Yes. Elle 37:11 For sure. Um, but when it comes to when it comes to thinking about, you know, the anarchist threat model, I think that a lot of us have this idea of like, "Oh, the FBI is spying on me personally." And the likelihood of the FBI specifically spying on 'you' personally is like, actually pretty slim. But... Margaret 37:34 Me? Elle 37:35 Well... Margaret 37:37 No, no, I want to go back to thinking about it's slim, it's totally slim. Elle 37:41 Look...But like, there's there is a lot like, we know that, you know, State surveillance dragnet exists, right, we know that, you know, plaintext text messages, for example, are likely to be caught both by, you know, Cell Site Simulators, which are in really, really popular use by law enforcement agencies. Margaret 38:08 Which is something that sets up and pretends to be a cell tower. So it takes all the data that is transmitted over it. And it's sometimes used set up at demonstrations. Elle 38:16 Yes. So they, they both kind of convinced your phone into thinking that they are the nearest cell tower, and then actually pass your communications on to the next, like the nearest cell tower. So your communications do go through, they're just being logged by this entity in the middle. That's, you know, not great. But using something... Margaret 38:38 Unless you're the Feds. Elle 38:39 I mean, even if you... Margaret 38:41 You just have to think about it from their point of. Hahah. Elle 38:42 Even if you are the Feds, that's actually too much data for you to do anything useful with, you know? Margaret 38:50 Okay, I'll stop interuppting you. Haha. Elle 38:51 Like, it's just...but if you're if you are a person who is a person of interest who's in this group, where a cell site simulator has been deployed or whatever, then then that you know, is something that you do have to be concerned about and you know, even if you're not a person of interest if you're like texting your friend about like, "All right, we do crime in 15 minutes," like I don't know, it's maybe not a great idea. Don't write it down if you're doing crime. Don't do crime. But more importantly don't don't create evidence that you're planning to do crime, because now you've done two crimes which is the crime itself and conspiracy to commit a crime Margaret 39:31 Be straight. Follow the law. That's the motto here. Elle 39:35 Yes. Oh, sorry. I just like I don't know, autism brain involuntarily pictured, like an alternate universe in which in where which I am straight, and law abiding. And I'm just I'm very... Margaret 39:52 Sounds terrible. I'm sorry. Elle 39:53 Right. Sounds like a very boring.... Margaret 39:55 Sorry to put that image in your head. Elle 39:56 I mean, I would never break laws. Margaret 39:58 No. Elle 39:59 Ever Never ever. I have not broken any laws I will not break any laws. No, I think that... Margaret 40:08 The new "In Minecraft" is "In Czarist Russia." Instead of saying "In Minecraft," because it's totally blown. It's only okay to commit crimes "In Czarist Russia." Elle 40:19 Interesting. Margaret 40:23 All right. We don't have to go with that. I don't know why i got really goofy. Elle 40:27 I might be to Eastern European Jewish for that one. Margaret 40:31 Oh God. Oh, my God, now I just feel terrible. Elle 40:34 It's It's fine. It's fine. Margaret 40:36 Well, that was barely a crime by east... Elle 40:40 I mean it wasn't necessarily a crime, but like my family actually emigrated to the US during the first set of pogroms. Margaret 40:51 Yeah. Elle 40:52 So like, pre Bolshevik Revolution. Margaret 40:57 Yeah. Elle 40:59 But yeah, anyway. Margaret 41:02 Okay, well, I meant taking crimes like, I basically think that, you know, attacking the authorities in Czarist Russia is a more acceptable action is what I'm trying to say, I really don't have to try and sell you on this plan. Elle 41:16 I'm willing to trust your judgment here. Margaret 41:19 That's a terrible plan, but I appreciate you, okay. Either way, we shouldn't text people about the crimes that we're doing. Elle 41:26 We should not text people about the crimes that we're planning on doing. But, if you are going to try to coordinate timelines, you might want to do that using some form of encrypted messenger so that whatever is logged by a cell site simulator, if it is in existence is not possible by the people who are then retrieving those logs. And you know, and another reason to use encrypted messengers, where you can is that you don't necessarily want your cell provider to have that unencrypted message block. And so if you're sending SMS, then your cell, your cell provider, as the processor of that data has access to an unencrypted or plain text version of whatever text message you're sending, where if you're using something like Signal or WhatsApp, or Wicker, or Wire or any of the other, like, multitude of encrypted messengers that you could theoretically be using, then it's it's also not going directly through your your provider, which I think is an interesting distinction. Because, you know, we we know, from, I mean, we kind of sort of already knew, but we know for a fact, from the Snowden Papers, that cell providers will absolutely turn over your data to the government if they're asked for it. And so minimizing the amount of data that they have about you to turn over to the government is generally a good practice. Especially if you can do it in a way that isn't going to be a bunch of red flags. Margaret 43:05 Right, like being in Belarus and using Signal. Elle 43:08 Right. Exactly. Margaret 43:10 Okay. Also, there's the Russian General who used an unencrypted phone where he then got geo located and blowed up. Elle 43:23 Yeah. Margaret 43:24 Also bad threat modeling on that that guy's part, it seems like Elle 43:28 I it, it certainly seems to...that person certainly seems to have made several poor life choices, not the least of which was being a General in the Russian army. Margaret 43:41 Yeah, yeah. That, that tracks. So one of the things that we talked about, while we were talking about having this conversation, our pre-conversation conversation was about...I think you brought up this idea that something that feels secret, doesn't mean it is, and Elle 43:59 Yeah! Margaret 44:00 I'm wondering if you had more thoughts about that concept? It's not a very good prompt. Elle 44:05 So like, it's it's a totally reasonable prompt, we say a lot that, you know, security and safety are a feeling. And I think that that actually is true for a lot of us. But there's this idea that, Oh, if you use coded language, for example, then like, you can't get caught. I don't actually think that's true, because we tend to use coded language that's like, pretty easily understandable by other people. Because the purpose of communicating is to communicate. Margaret 44:42 Yeah. Elle 44:43 And so usually, if you're like, code language is easy enough to be understood by whoever it is you're trying to communicate with, like, someone else can probably figure it the fuck out too. Especially if you're like, "Hey, man, did you bring the cupcakes," and your friend is like, "Yeah!" And then an explosion goes off shortly thereafter, right? It's like, "Oh, by cupcakes, they meant dynamite." So I, you know, I think that rather than then kind of like relying on this, you know, idea of how spies work or how, how anarchists communicated secretly, you know, pre WTO it's, it's worth thinking about how the surveillance landscape has adapted over time, and thinking a little bit more about what it means to engage in, in the modern panopticon, or the contemporary panopticon, because those capabilities have changed over time. And things like burner phones are a completely different prospect now than they used to be. Actually... Margaret 45:47 In that they're easier or wose? Elle 45:49 Oh, there's so much harder to obtain now. Margaret 45:51 Yeah, okay. Elle 45:52 It's it is so much easier to correlate devices that have been used in proximity to each other than it used to be. And it's so much easier to, you know, capture people on surveillance cameras than it used to be. I actually wrote a piece for Crimethinc about this some years ago, that that I think kind of still holds up in terms of how difficult it really, really is to procure a burner phone. And in order to do to do that safely, you would have to pay cash somewhere that couldn't capture you on camera doing it, and then make sure that it was never turned on in proximity with your own phone anywhere. And you would have to make sure that it only communicated with other burner phones, because the second it communicates with a phone that's associated to another person, there's a connection between your like theoretical burner phone and that person. And so you can be kind of triangulated back to, especially if you've communicated with multiple people. It just it is so hard to actually obtain a device that is not in any way affiliated with your identity or the identity of any of your comrades. But, we have to start thinking about alternative mechanisms for synchronous communication. Margaret 47:18 Okay. Elle 47:18 And, realistically speaking, taking a walk in the woods is still going to be the best way to do it. Another reasonable way to go about having a conversation that needs to remain private is actually to go somewhere that is too loud and too crowded to...for anyone to reasonably overhear or to have your communication recorded. So using using the kind of like, signal to noise ratio in your favor. Margaret 47:51 Yeah. Elle 47:52 To help drown out your own signal can be really, really useful. And I think that that's also true of things like using Gmail, right? The signal to noise ratio, if you're not using a tool that's specifically for activists can be very helpful, because there is just so much more traffic happening, that it's easier to blend in. Margaret 48:18 I mean, that's one reason why I mean, years ago, people were saying that's why non activists should use GPG, the encrypted email service that is terrible, was so attempt to try and be like, if you only ever use it, for the stuff you don't want to be known, then it like flags it as "This stuff you don't want to be known." And so that was like, kind of an argument for my early adoption Signal, because I don't break laws was, you know, just be like," Oh, here's more people using Signal," it's more regularized, and, you know, my my family talks on Signal and like, it helps that like, you know, there's a lot of different very normal legal professions that someone might have that are require encrypted communication. Yeah, no book, like accountants, lawyers. But go ahead. Elle 49:06 No, no, I was gonna say that, like, it's, it's very common in my field of work for people to prefer to use Signal to communicate, especially if there is, you know, a diversity of phone operating systems in the mix. Margaret 49:21 Oh, yeah, totally. I mean, it's actually now it's more convenient. You know, when I when I'm on my like, family's SMS loop, it's like, I constantly get messages to say, like, "Brother liked such and such comment," and then it's like, three texts of that comment and...anyway, but okay, one of the things that you're talking about, "Security as a feeling," right? That actually gets to something that's like, there is a value in like, like, part of the reason to carry a knife is to feel better. Like, and so part of like, like anti-anxiety, like anxiety is my biggest threat most most days, personally. Right? Elle 50:00 Have you ever considered a career in the security field, because I, my, my, my former manager, like the person who hired me into the role that I'm in right now was like, "What made you get into security?" when I was interviewing, and I was just like, "Well, I had all this anxiety lying around. And I figured, you know, since nobody will give me a job that I can afford to sustain myself on without a degree, in any other field, I may as well take all this anxiety and like, sell it as a service." Margaret 50:33 Yeah, I started a prepper podcast. It's what you're listening to right now. Everyone who's listening. Yeah, exactly. Well, there's a value in that. But then, but you're talking about the Panopticon stuff, and the like, maybe being in too crowded of an environment. And it's, and this gets into something where everyone is really going to have to answer it differently. There's a couple of layers to this, but like, the reason that I just like, my profile picture on twitter is my face. I use my name, right? Elle 51:03 Same. Margaret 51:04 And, yeah, and I, and I just don't sweat it, because I'm like, "Look, I've been at this long enough that they know who I am. And it's just fine. It's just is." One day, it won't be fine. And then we have other problems. Right? Elle 51:18 Right. Margaret 51:19 And, and, and I'm not saying that everyone as they get better security practice will suddenly start being public like it... You know, it, it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Like, a lot of the reasons to not be public on social media is just because it's a fucking pain in the ass. Like, socially, you know? Elle 51:36 Yeah. Margaret 51:36 But I don't know, I just wonder if you have any thoughts about just like, the degree to which sometimes it's like, "Oh, well, I just, I carry a phone to an action because I know, I'm not up to anything." But then you get into this, like, then you're non-normalizing... don't know, it gets complicated. And I'm curious about your thoughts on that kind of stuff. Elle 51:56 So like, for me, for me personally, I am very public about who I am. What I'm about, like, what my politics are. I'm extremely open about it. Partially, because I don't think that, like I think that there is value in de-stigmatizing anarchism. Margaret 52:20 Yes. Elle 52:20 I think there is value in being someone who is just a normal fucking human being. And also anarchist. Margaret 52:29 Yeah. Elle 52:30 And I think that, you know, I...not even I think. I know, I know that, through being exactly myself and being open about who I am, and not being super worried about the labels that other people apply to themselves. And instead, kind of talking about, talking about anarchism, both from a place of how it overlaps with Judaism, because it does in a lot of really interesting ways, but also just how it informs my decision making processes. I've been able to expose people who would not necessarily have had any, like, concept of anarchism, or the power dynamics that we're interested in equalizing to people who just wouldn't have wouldn't have even thought about it, or would have thought that anarchists are like this big, scary, whatever. And, like, there, there are obviously a multitude of tendencies within anarchism, and no anarchist speaks for anybody but themselves, because that's how it works. But, it's one of the things that's been really interesting to me is that in the security field, one of the new buzzwords is Zero Trust. And the idea is that you don't want to give any piece of technology kind of the sole ability to to be the linchpin in your security, right? So you want to build redundancy, you want to make sure that no single thing is charged with being the gatekeeper for all of your security. And I think that that concept actually also applies to power. And so I...when I'm trying to talk about anarchism in a context where it makes sense to security people, I sometimes talk about it as like a Zero Trust mechanism for organizing a society. Margaret 54:21 Yeah. Elle 54:21 Where you just you...No person is trustworthy enough to hold power over another person. And, so like, I'm really open about it, but the flip side of that is that, you know, I also am a fucking anarchist, and I go to demonstrations, and sometimes I get arrested or whatever. And so I'm not super worried about the government knowing who I am because they know exactly who I am. But I don't share things like my place of work on the internet because I've gotten death threats from white nationalists. And I don't super want white nationalists like sending death threats into my place of work because It's really annoying to deal with. Margaret 55:02 Yeah. Elle 55:03 And so you know, there's...it really comes down to how you think about compartmentalizing information. And which pieces of yourself you want public and private and and how, how you kind of maintain consistency in those things. Margaret 55:21 Yeah. Elle 55:22 Like people will use the same...people will like be out and anarchists on Twitter, but use the same Twitter handle as their LinkedIn URL where they're talking about their job and have their legal name. And it's just like, "Buddy, what are you doing?" Margaret 55:37 Yeah. Elle 55:38 So you do have to think about how pieces of data can be correlated and tied back to you. And what story it is that you're you're presenting, and it is hard and you are going to fuck it up. Like people people are going to fuck it up. Compartmentalization is super hard. Maintaining operational security is extremely hard. But it is so worth thinking about. And even if you do fuck it up, you know, that doesn't mean that it's the end of the world, it might mean that you have to take some extra steps to mitigate that risk elsewhere. Margaret 56:11 The reason I like this whole framework that you're building is that I tend to operate under this conception that clandestinity is a trap. I don't want to I don't want to speak this....I say it as if it's a true statement across all and it's not it. I'm sure there's absolute reasons in different places at different times. But in general, when I look at like social movements, they, once they move to "Now we're just clandestine." That's when everyone dies. And, again, not universally, Elle 56:40 Yeah, but I mean, okay, so this is where I'm gonna get like really off the wall. Right? Margaret 56:46 All right. We're an hour in. It's the perfect time. Elle 56:50 I know, right? People may or may not know who Allen Dulles is. But Allen Margaret 56:54 Not unless they named an airport after him. Elle 56:56 They Did. Margaret 56:57 Oh, then i do who he is. Elle 56:59 Allen Dulles is one of the people who founded the CIA. And he released this pamphlet called "73 Points On Spycraft." And it's a really short read. It's really interesting, I guess. But the primary point is that if you are actually trying to be clandestine, and be successful about it, you want to be as mundane as possible. Margaret 57:22 Yep. Elle 57:23 And in our modern world with the Panopticon being what it is, the easiest way to be clandestine, is actually to be super open. So that if you are trying to hide something, if there is something that you do want to keep secret, there's enough information out there about you, that you're not super worth digging into. Margaret 57:46 Oh, yeah. Cuz they think they already know you. Elle 57:48 Exactly. So if, if that is what your threat model is, then the best way to go about keeping a secret is to flood as many other things out there as possible. So that it's just it's hard to find anything, but whatever it is that you're flooding. Margaret 58:04 Oh, it's like I used to, to get people off my back about my dead name, I would like tell one person in a scene, a fake dead name, and be like, "But you can't tell anyone." Elle 58:15 Right. Margaret 58:16 And then everyone would stop asking about my dead name, because they all thought they knew it, because that person immediately told everyone, Elle 58:22 Right. Margaret 58:23 Yeah. Elle 58:24 It's, it's going back to that same using the noise to hide your signal concept, that it...the same, the same kind of concepts and themes kind of play out over and over and over again. And all security really is is finding ways to do harm reduction for yourself, finding ways to minimize the risk that you're undertaking just enough that that you can operate in whatever it is that you're trying to do. Margaret 58:53 No, I sometimes I like, ask questions. And then I am like, Okay, well don't have an immediate follow up, because I just need to like, think about it. Instead of being like, "I know immediately what to say about that." But okay, so, but with clandestinity in general in this this concept...I also think that this is true on a kind of movement level in a way that I I worry about sometimes not necessarily....Hmm, what am I trying to say? Because I also really hate telling people what to do. It's like kind of my thing I don't like telling people what to do. But there's a certain level... Elle 59:25 Really? Margaret 59:25 Yeah, you'd be shocked to know, Elle 59:27 You? Don't like telling people what to do? Margaret 59:31 Besides telling people not to tell me what to do. That's one of my favorite things to tell people. But, there's a certain amount of. Margaret 59:38 Oh, that's true, like different conceptions of freedom. Elle 59:38 But that's not telling people what to do, that's telling people what not to do. Elle 59:44 It's actually setting a boundary as opposed to dictating a behavior. Margaret 59:48 But I've been in enough relationships where I've learned that setting boundaries is the same as telling people to do. This is a funny joke. Elle 59:55 Ohh co-dependency. Margaret 59:58 But all right, there's a quote from a guy whose name I totally space who was an old revolutionist, who wasn't very good at his job. And his quote was, "Those who make half a revolution dig their own graves." And I think he like, I think it proved true for him. If I remember correctly, I think he died in jail after kind of making half a revolution with some friends. I think he got like arrested for pamphleteering or something, Elle 1:00:20 Jesus. Margaret 1:00:21 It was a couple hundred years ago. And but there's this but then if you look forward in history that like revolutionists, who survive are the ones who win. Sometimes, sometimes the revolutionists win, and then their comrades turn on them and murder them. But, I think overall, the survival rate of a revolution is better when you win is my theory. And and so there's this this concept where there's a tension, and I don't have an answer to it. And I want people to actually think about it instead of assuming, where the difference between videotaping a cop car on fire and not is more complicated than people want you to know. Because, if you want there to be more cop cars on fire, which I do not unless we're in Czarist Russia, in which case, you're in an autocracy, and it's okay to set the cop cars on fire, but I'm clearly not talking about that, or the modern world. But, you're gonna have to film it on your cell phone in order for people to fucking know that it's happening. Sure. And and that works absolutely against your best interest. Like, on an individual level, and even a your friends' level. Elle 1:01:25 So like, here's the thing, being in proximity to a burning cop car is not in and of itself a crime. Margaret 1:01:33 Right. Elle 1:01:34 So there's, there's nothing wrong with filming a cop car on fire. Margaret 1:01:41 But there's that video... Margaret 1:01:41 Right. Elle 1:01:41 There is something wrong with filming someone setting a cop car on fire. And there's something extremely wrong with taking a selfie while setting a cop car on fire. And don't do that, because you shouldn't do crime. Obviously, right? Elle 1:01:42 But there's Layers there...No, go ahead. Margaret 1:02:03 Okay, well, there's the video that came out of Russia recently, where someone filmed themselves throwing Molotovs at a recruitment center. And one of the first comments I see is like, "Wow, this person has terrible OpSec." And that's true, right? Like this person is not looking at how to maximize their lack of chance of going to jail, which is probably the way to maximize that in non Czarist Russia... re-Czarist Russia, is to not throw anything burning at buildings. That's the way to not go to jail. Elle 1:02:35 Right. Margaret 1:02:35 And then if you want to throw the thing at the... and if all you care about is setting this object on fire, then don't film yourself. Elle 1:02:41 Right. Margaret 1:02:41 But if you want more people to know that this is a thing that some people believe is a worthwhile thing to do, you might need to film yourself doing it now that person well didn't speak. Elle 1:02:53 Well no. Margaret 1:02:56 Okay. Elle 1:02:56 You may not need to film yourself doing it. Right? Because what what you can do is if, for example, for some reason, you are going to set something on fire. Margaret 1:03:09 Right, in Russia. Elle 1:03:09 Perhaps what you might want to do is first get the thing to be in a state where it is on fire, and then begin filming the thing once it is in a burning state. Margaret 1:03:25 Conflaguration. Yeah. Elle 1:03:25 Right? And that can that can do a few things, including A) you're not inherently self incriminating. And, you know, if if there are enough people around to provide some form of cover, like for example, if there are 1000s of other people's cell phones also in proximity, it might even create some degree of plausible deniability for you because what fucking dipshit films themself doing crimes. So it's, you know, there's, there's, there's some timing things, right. And the idea is to get it...if you are a person who believes that cop cars look best on fire... Margaret 1:04:10 Buy a cop car, and then you set it on fire. And then you film it. Elle 1:04:15 I mean, you know, you know, you just you opportunistically film whenever a cop car happens to be on fire in your proximity. Margaret 1:04:23 Oh, yeah. Which might have been set on fire by the person who owned it. There's no reason to know one way or not. Elle 1:04:27 Maybe the police set the cop car on fire you know? You never know. There's no way to there....You don't have to you don't have to speculate about how the cop car came to be on fire. You can just film a burning cop car. And so the you know, I think that the line to walk there is just making sure there's no humans in your footage of things that you consider to be art. Margaret 1:04:29 Yeah. No, it it makes sense. And I guess it's like because people very, very validly have been very critical about the ways that media or people who are independently media or whatever, like people filming shit like this, right? But But I think then to say that like, therefore no, no cop cars that are on fire should ever be filmed versus the position you're presenting, which is only cop cars that are already on fire might deserve to be filmed, which is the kind of the long standing like film the broken window, not the window breaker and things like that. But... Elle 1:05:29 I think and I think also there's, you know, there's a distinction to be made between filming yourself setting a cop car on fire, and filming someone else setting a cop car on fire, because there's a consent elemenet, right? Margaret 1:05:34 Totally. Totally. Elle 1:05:47 You shouldn't like...Don't do crime. Nobody should do crime. But if you are going to do crime, do it on purpose. Right? Margaret 1:05:55 Fair enough. Elle 1:05:55 Like that's, that's what civil disobedience is. Civil disobedience is doing crime for the purpose of getting caught to make a point. That's what it is. And if you if you really feel that strongly about doing a crime to make a point, and you want everyone to know that you're doing a crime to make a point, then that's, that's a risk calculation that you yourself need to make for yourself. But you can't make that calculation for anybody else. Margaret 1:06:25 I think that's a great way to sum it up. Elle 1:06:27 So unless your friend is like, "Yo, I'm gonna set this cop car on fire. Like, get the camera ready, hold my beer." You probably shouldn't be filming them. Margaret 1:06:38 See you in 30 years. Elle 1:06:39 Right? You probably shouldn't be filming them setting the cop car on fire either. Margaret 1:06:43 No. No Elle 1:06:44 And also, that's a shitty friend because they've just implicated you in conspiracy, right? Margaret 1:06:49 Yeah. Elle 1:06:50 Friends don't implicate friends. Margaret 1:06:53 It's a good, it's a good rule. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, I that's not entirely where I immediately expected to go with Threat Modeling. But I feel like we've covered an awful lot. Is there something? Is there something...Do you have any, like final thoughts about Threat Modeling, and as relates to the stuff that we've been talking about? Elle 1:07:18 I think that you know, the thing that I do really want to drive home. And that honestly does come back to your point about clandestinity being a trap is that, again, the purpose of threat modeling is to first understand, you know, what risks you're trying to protect against, and then figure out how to do what you're accomplishing in a way that minimizes risk. But the important piece is still doing whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, whether that's movement building, or something else. And so there there is, there is a calculation that needs to be made in terms of what level of risk is acceptable to you. But if if, ultimately, your risk threshold is preventing you from accomplishing whatever you're trying to accomplish, then it's time to take a step back, recalculate and figure out whether or not you actually want to accomplish the thing, and what level of risk is worth taking. Because I think that, you know, again, if if you're, if your security mechanisms are preventing you from doing the thing that you're you set out to try to do, then your adversaries are already winning, and something probably needs to shift. Margaret 1:08:39 I really like that line. And so I feel like that's a decent spot, place to end on. Do. Do you have anything that you'd like to shout out? People can follow you on the internet? Or they shouldn't follow you on the internet? What? What do you what do you want to advocate for here? Elle 1:08:53 If you follow me on the internet, I'm so sorry. That's really all I can say. I'm, I am on the internet. I am a tire fire. I'm probably fairly easy to find based on my name, my pronouns and the things that I've said here today, and I can't recommend following my Twitter. Margaret 1:09:17 I won't put in the show notes then. Elle 1:09:19 I mean, you're welcome to but I can't advocate in good conscience for anyone to pay attention to anything that I have to say. Margaret 1:09:27 Okay, so go back and don't listen to the last hour everyone. Elle 1:09:31 I mean, I'm not going to tell you what to do. Margaret 1:09:34 I am that's my favorite thing to do. Elle 1:09:36 I mean, you know, this is just like my opinion, you know? There are no leaders. We're all the leaders. I don't know. Do do do what you think is right. Margaret 1:09:55 Agreed. All right. Well, thank you so much. Elle 1:09:59 Thank you. I really appreciate it. Margaret 1:10:07 Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, you should tell people about it by whatever means occurs to you to tell people about it, which might be the internet, it might even be in person, it might be by taking a walk, leaving your cell phones behind, and then getting in deep into the woods and saying," I like the following podcast." And then the other person will be like, "Really, I thought we were gonna make out or maybe do some crimes." But, instead you have told them about the podcast. And I'm recording this at the same time as I record the intro, and now the

Reverse-engineering his imagined past, Israeli author Yaniv Iczkovits follows his characters across the Pale of Settlement. The Slaughterman's Daughter, finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. With her reputation as a vilde chaya (wild animal), Fanny Keismann isn't like the other women in her shtetl in the Pale of Settlement—certainly not her obedient and anxiety-ridden sister, Mende, whose “philosopher” of a husband, Zvi-Meir, has run off to Minsk, abandoning her and their two children. As a young girl, Fanny felt an inexorable pull toward her father's profession of ritual slaughterer and, under his reluctant guidance, became a master with a knife. And though she long ago gave up that unsuitable profession—she's now the wife of a cheesemaker and a mother of five—Fanny still keeps the knife tied to her right leg. Which might come in handy when, heedless of the dangers facing a Jewish woman traveling alone in czarist Russia, she sets off to track down Zvi-Meir and bring him home, with the help of the mute and mysterious ferryman Zizek Breshov, an ex-soldier with his own sensational past. Yaniv Iczkovits spins a family drama into a far-reaching comedy of errors that will pit the czar's army against the Russian secret police and threaten the very foundations of the Russian Empire. The Slaughterman's Daughter is a rollicking and unforgettable work of fiction. Yaniv Iczkovits, born in 1975, is an award-winning author and screen writer. He has published four novels and one novella, and is now working on developing TV content based on his novels for Keshet and KI, Yes Studios, Endemol Shine and more. His books include Pulse (Hakibbutz HaMeuchad), which won Haaretz's debut novel prize and was translated into Italian; Adam and Sophie (HaSifriya HaHadasha), which won the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Writers; Laws of Succession, a novella published in the anthology “There's a Story Behind the Money” (Achuzat Bayit). His third novel, The Slaughterman's Daughter, was published by Keter in August 2015 and is translated into 15 languages worldwide. The book was awarded the Agnon Prize – in honor of Israel's only Nobel Laureate for Literature – the first time the prize has been granted in ten years (2016). Iczkovits won the Ramat Gan Prize (2017) for literary excellence and the People of the Book Foundation Prize (2017), and the British Wingate prize (2021). The Economist and The Sunday Times chose the book as one of the best books published in Britain in 2020, and The New York Times and Kirkus chose the book as one of the best books to look forward to in 2021 in the U.S. In January 2022 the book was announced as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. In August 2020 Iczkovits published his recent book, Nobody Leaves Palo Alto (Keter) which immediately became a no.1 best seller in Israel and won critical acclaim. Iczkovits studied at the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students at Tel Aviv University, and during his Master's degree he spent a year at Oxford University as a Chevening scholar from the British Council. His doctoral dissertation dealt with Ludwig Wittgenstein's thought and analyzed the interplay between ethics and language. He taught for eight years at the University of Tel Aviv, and After receiving his Ph.D., he went on to pursue postdoctoral research at Columbia University in New York, where he adapted his doctoral dissertation into the book Wittgenstein's Ethical Thought (Palgrave Macmillan 2012). He currently lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and three daughters. (Photo by: Eric Sultan)

For the last century, Finland has walked a diplomatic tightrope between East and West. A former Russian imperial holding and Soviet target, the independent nordic nation boasts a free market economy, EU membership, and regional defense partnerships. Yet, Finland has previously stopped short of formally joining NATO, the West's major military alliance–maintaining a pragmatic policy of forced neutrality along its 800-mile border with Russia. That is, until Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine. How does a country survive the threat of Russian aggression? Ray Suarez talks with Henri Vanhanen, advisor to the Finnish National Coalition Party, about his country's recent pivot toward NATO membership–both in parliament and the polls–and what it could mean for the future of international security.  Featuring: Henri Vanhanen, foreign policy and EU advisor for the Finland National Coalition Party Ray Suarez, co-host of WorldAffairs Finland 101, by Ray Suarez Maybe you've noticed how often Finland comes up during the Ukraine coverage, and wondered why? Here's a quick little history…a thousand pages in a few seconds. For centuries, the Finns have had to thread their way, as a people, through the conflicts of other big powers in their part of the world. Ethnically and linguistically distinct…they're not their Swedish neighbors to the west or their Russian neighbors to the east…but they had to fend off both to remain themselves. For centuries Finland was fought for, or fought over, by Russians and Swedes. As the 20thcentury began, Finland was part of Czarist Russia…then the Czar abdicated and the Empire collapsed. The Finns flirted with Communism, and with monarchy, before becoming a republic with a new president in 1919. Josef Stalin wanted Finland back for the USSR. The Soviets invaded, shortly after the Nazis bulldozed Poland in 1939. The Finns fought back ferociously. They inflicted heavy casualties. The Soviets eventually recognized Finland's independence, signed a peace treaty, and permanently seized about a tenth of Finland's territory, incorporating it into the USSR. The Finns would remain independent, somewhat free of Soviet domination after the Second World War, but that freedom came at a cost. Finland gave up more territory, and population, and diplomatic freedom of movement. The country lived in a gray area between east and west during the Cold War. Its status even got a dismissive name…Finlandization, used to describe a forced neutrality, an expensive freedom.  Finland had a market economy, democratically elected governments, freedom of speech, and growing prosperity….all the while staying aloof from the expanding European Union, and certainly NATO, the western military alliance. When the Soviet Union collapsed, much as Czarist Russia did, Finland had an escape hatch… denounced its earlier treaties, joined the EU, adopted the Euro, but remained outside NATO, sharing an eight hundred mile border with the Russian Federation.

Defender of Judaism in the Beilis Trial. Author of scintillating Jewish memoirs, which everyone should read

The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece is the true crime story-behind-the-story of Dostoevsky's greatest work, Crime and Punishment, and why it changed the world. November 11th marked the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky's birth and author Kevin Birmingham spent years researching archival material to evoke Czarist Russia at the birth of the Russian intelligentsia, along with Siberian prison camps, high-stakes trials, and gory murders and the details of Dostoevsky's fascinating life.

Adam, Nick, and Kelsey (Resident Historian) discuss so much that it's unbelievable we fit it into 2 hours! We ask ourselves will Derek Chauvin be found guilty? Why Georgia? Will Andrew Cuomo resign or continue to "admire a cashmere sweater"? Is Biden the new FDR? Did Alfred E Neuman bike to work? Does Matt Gaetz visit High School cafeterias a little too much? And more!!! Artwork by @lauren_michelle_art on Instagram! Music by @prod.by.tae on Instagram! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman Dr. Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and co-author of the new book, “Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War,” to discuss the domestic charges filed against 25 of the Trump supporters who overran the US capitol last week, the dubious media narratives which seemingly seek to present more forceful policing and surveillance as the solution to fascist violence, and why he believes referring to the mayhem in Washington as a “coup” downplays the real political violence implemented by the US government abroad.In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Ariel Gold, national co-director of CODEPINK, to discuss the glowing media coverage of Israel's COVID-19 vaccine program, why the Israeli refusal to distribute the dosages to Palestinians constitutes “medical apartheid,” and where the latest development fits into efforts to ensure a Jewish majority in historic Palestine.Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Jon Jeter, award-winning journalist and foreign correspondent, radio and television producer, Bluesologist and Decolonizer, and author of the book “Flat Broke in the Free Market: How Globalization Fleeced Working People,” to discuss the appointment of the first Black Capitol Police chief in the wake of last week's Trump-led fascist insurrection, the connections between Czarist Russia as a “prison house of nations” and the emerging “Black Vichy class” composed of politicians like Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, and why he thinks the country is unprepared for what he sees an an inevitable escalation in racial violence.

“We are stronger than we realize.  We have the immense capacity for resilience -- to rise up and recreate the world we know is possible.” When Antoinette Klatzky took a part-time job as a recent college graduate in a retail clothing store, she might not have imagined one day working with the iconic fashion designer, Eileen Fisher, to help set strategy for Fisher’s foundation on human rights and climate justice for the next 10 years -- operating at the intersection of transforming business, environmental stewardship, and women’s empowerment. Nor might she have envisioned that her work with Fisher would lead her to help prepare leaders and changemakers around the globe for broader awareness-based systems change. But that’s what Klatzky has done. As the co-creator and Executive Director of the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, she facilitates empowerment workshops for young women – having previously initiated a recycled clothing program to fund those workshops and helped diversify the company’s supply chain for social justice and equity. And as a co-creator in the Presencing Institute, led by Otto Scharmer of MIT, she co-anchors a worldwide community of nearly 13,000 participants engaging in shared inquiry: how can we be of transformational service in our modern moment of intersecting crises? The daughter of a consciously single parent, Klatzky comes from a strong line of independent women. Her mother, after leaving a secure academic tenured career, gave birth to her at the age of 40 as a single parent by choice. Her grandmother, who gave birth to her mother at the age of 40, was the daughter of a Russian Jewish seamstress who fled the pogroms of Czarist Russia. “It’s this lineage of strong women that carried me into this life and to the journey that I have been on,” Klatzky reflects. Her father’s Indian heritage was a doorway of discovery for universal roots, blending community and family, and deepening into spiritual and embodiment practices like yoga, of which she is a certified teacher. The paradoxical sense of both belonging and difference that she experienced in her childhood within the Jewish community led her to an International Honors Program in college, where she traveled across countries, experienced different cultures, and re-imagined globalization. Upon graduating, she returned to her childhood stomping grounds at the YWCA where she was previously a lifeguard competitive swimming coach – this time to step in as a social justice coordinator, while also taking a part-time job in retail clothing. This would foreshadow the next stage of her life. As it turned out, Eileen Fisher was looking to establish an institute to teach the company’s leadership practices to a new generation of young women and teenage girls. Klatzky seemed the ideal fit. The company’s leadership practices were heavily influenced by Otto Scharmer’s work at MIT, taking Klatzky deep into the principles of Theory U, a paradigm for awareness-based systems change and organizational transformation that emphasizes deep listening, and radically sensing and “presencing” an emerging future. She was so drawn to these principles that she studied and trained with Scharmer’s Presencing Institute, and later joined its board. A moment that occurred during a Master Class in Germany captures Klatzky’s depth of spirit: in a circle discussing the aftermath of the Holocaust, she spontaneously and melodiously sang a Hebrew prayer. Much of the room was brought to tears.  Out of Klatzky's explorations, the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute was born.  Beyond simply imparting useful skills, the program distinctively helps young women embark on a leadership journey of self-discovery -- and the authenticity that comes with embodiment.  Today, Klatzky divides her time at work between the Leadership Institute and Women Together, an initiative of the Eileen Fisher Foundation that supports women in being the change they wish to see in the world.  She also co-anchors the GAIA Journey (Global Activation of Intention and Action), a 14-week online course that she co-developed for the Presencing Institute aimed at profound civilizational renewal. Within the span of 12 days in response to the Covid pandemic, GAIA grew from a small group of friends discussing an idea to 13,000 virtual journeys supported by insights from neuroscientists, indigenous wisdom keepers, psychotherapists, biologists, artists, poets, and academic researchers. Klatzky is still processing all that has transpired. What keeps her grounded? She lives just north of New York City on Lenape land, and loves her time in the garden, connected to the land. What she calls “home” is her regular yoga and meditation practice. “When I can really come back to myself and be centered in who I am, that is home for me.” Join us in conversation with this strong feminine voice of the emerging future!

The name Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) is commonplace in the field of education. Ask any teacher or professor of education about Vygotsky and chances are they will at least recall the name from their child development or educational psychology classes. His theories are still foundational to even mainstream education but, as is the case with so many revolutionaries, they have been stripped of their Marxist foundations. One result is that the revolutionary potential of Vygotsky’s theories have remained largely unknown not only inside schools and teacher education programs, but also inside social movements. This article introduces Vygotsky’s theories on educational psychology and human development, contextualizes them within the transition from Czarist Russia to the Soviet Union, draws out the main elements of his work that have utility for revolutionary organizers, and provides concrete illustrations of their utility. Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/vygotskys-revolutionary-educational-psychology/

Many details of this fascinating story were unknown until the Russian Government archive was revealed close to 200 years later. The archive includes slanderous letters to Russian Officials, Russian agents investigations, and detailed interrogations of witnesses as well as the Rebbe himself.

Where we are as society compared to late Czarist Russia. Cancel culture. GOP reform bill led by Sen Tim Scott. Life imitating Black Mirror. Has social media become like Brawndo?

Where we are as society compared to late Czarist Russia. Cancel culture. GOP reform bill led by Sen Tim Scott. Life imitating Black Mirror. Has social media become like Brawndo?

Caitlin, Anya, and Alan kick off The Golden Compass by talking about its “real” name of The Northern Lights, the scruffiness of shoes in academia, and the danger of Gargamel’s pussy(cat).Paradise Lost by John Milton is the source of His Dark Materials and Golden Compasses.Read more about What’s Up With The Title of the first book and the HDM series itself.Satan as the protagonist of Paradise Lost is hotly debated (if anything about the criticism of English religious epic-poetry can be “hot”) and Alan is just giving his opinion. Here is another opinion that agrees with Caitlin by John M. Steadman titled “The Idea of Satan as the Hero of Paradise Lost” written for the American Philosophical Society Journal and compiled by jstor.org.The allusions to Narnia are from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.What is Turkish Delight?Chocolatl is the Romanized spelling of the Nahuatl word for “food made from cacao seeds”.Listen to Desire Made Real hosted by Caitlin and Mandi and that featured Anya.How long does it take wine to go bad?The use of alternate words like Anberic and Naphtha help to show that history has been different in Lyra’s world.The Protestant Reformation led to the separation of church and state in Europe and gave rise to secular nationalism during the Enlightenment.Who is Calvin? Was he the Pope for real?(spoilers: no- the opposite)The doctrine of Predestination centered reformed Christian theology on God rather than on humans.A list of all the PopesListen to the “Crazy for God” episode of HGSCAzrael the Cat is not the inspiration for Lord Asriel’s name, but the Islamic angel of death Azrael is.The Smurfette PrincipleCarl Jung and the Animus/ Anima.Teleology has nothing to do with bananas or phones.What is a dystopia?Jewish boys in Czarist Russia were drafted into the army in order to kill/ socially deprogram them.America is separating families and detaining children.What’s a Mary Sue?“Dollar” was used by Shakespeare to refer to money, and the dollar-coin was the most common form of money in Europe- but was rejected by England as it rose into the largest empire in world history.Read Chapters 5-9 for the next episode!!Our theme song is Clockwork Conundrum by NathanGunnFollow us on Twitter: Anya @StrangelyLiterl Cailtlin @inferiorcaitlin The Podcast @MoTPodPlease email us contact@hallowedgroundmedia.com

5/6: Murdering Jews for Something They Did Not Do: Chimerical Christian Fantasies and their Lethal Results in Jewish History Series: Murdering Jews for Something They Did Not Do

The son of Reb Chaim Volozhiner. "Mr. Responsiblity"

Welcome to Blackbird9's Breakfast Club's Wednesday Podcast Menacing Machiavellian Protocols. Tonight we will look at the Game Theory behind and history of The Protocols Of The Elders of Zion. https://www.blackbird9tradingposts.org/2018/04/04/menacing-machiavellian-protocols-blackbird9/In the First Hour Host we will be covering the recent chaotic events brought on by the teachings of the Frankfurt School Marxists. Their mission has always been to establish a Greater Israel ruled by globalism under the direction of Talmudic Noahide Law and at the same time force all other nations to surrender their independent sovereignty. In the Second Hour, Menacing Machiavellian Protocols, the host examines the history of The Protocols Of The Elders of Zion, or The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion which first surfaced in Czarist Russia in 1903. In a continuation from last week's Breakfast Club Show, Machiavelli Whispers Deceit, Frederick discusses the similarity from a Non-Cooperative Game Theory perspective of the "Evil Queen/Black Magick" systems of our T3-Copper Era (10,000-4000 B.C.), the Priory of Zion and Knights Templar model, the Talmud-Kabbalah-Zohar systems, Freemasonry, Marxism, World Zionism, etc. and what is contained in that cookbook of Fourth Generation Asymmetrical Warfare known as The Protocols. Of course, (((Good People))) should just dismiss them as an anti-Semitic Canard!

Welcome to Blackbird9's Breakfast Club's Wednesday Podcast Menacing Machiavellian Protocols. Tonight we will look at the Game Theory behind and history of The Protocols Of The Elders of Zion. https://www.blackbird9tradingposts.org/2018/04/04/menacing-machiavellian-protocols-blackbird9/In the First Hour Host we will be covering the recent chaotic events brought on by the teachings of the Frankfurt School Marxists. Their mission has always been to establish a Greater Israel ruled by globalism under the direction of Talmudic Noahide Law and at the same time force all other nations to surrender their independent sovereignty. In the Second Hour, Menacing Machiavellian Protocols, the host examines the history of The Protocols Of The Elders of Zion, or The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion which first surfaced in Czarist Russia in 1903. In a continuation from last week's Breakfast Club Show, Machiavelli Whispers Deceit, Frederick discusses the similarity from a Non-Cooperative Game Theory perspective of the "Evil Queen/Black Magick" systems of our T3-Copper Era (10,000-4000 B.C.), the Priory of Zion and Knights Templar model, the Talmud-Kabbalah-Zohar systems, Freemasonry, Marxism, World Zionism, etc. and what is contained in that cookbook of Fourth Generation Asymmetrical Warfare known as The Protocols. Of course, (((Good People))) should just dismiss them as an anti-Semitic Canard!

America's relationship with Russia wasn't always as bad as it is now (or was during the Cold War). Thanks to help from Czarist Russia, for example, England had a tough time controlling the colonial rebellion during the Revolutionary War. And who can forget the alliance with Stalin during World War II? In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, our hosts explore the on-again, off-again relationship with the Ruskies. 

(Reposted from http://creativeplayandpodcastnetwork.podbean.com/) I hope you enjoy Owl Dance (Clockwork Legion Book 1) Chapter 3: The Clockwork Lobo       Owl Dance is a Weird Western steampunk novel. The year is 1876. Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico, meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi, who is looking to make a new start after escaping the oppression of her homeland. When an ancient life form called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon's fast draw and Fatemeh's uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when airships from Czarist Russia invade the United States?   David Lee Summers is an author, editor and astronomer living somewhere between the western and final frontiers in Southern New Mexico. He is the author of nine novels. His short stories and poems have appeared in numerous magazines including Cemetery Dance, Realms of Fantasy, Star*Line, and The Santa Clara Review.

I hope you enjoy Owl Dance (Clockwork Legion Book 1) Chapter 3: The Clockwork Lobo       Owl Dance is a Weird Western steampunk novel. The year is 1876. Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico, meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi, who is looking to make a new start after escaping the oppression of her homeland. When an ancient life form called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon's fast draw and Fatemeh's uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when airships from Czarist Russia invade the United States?   David Lee Summers is an author, editor and astronomer living somewhere between the western and final frontiers in Southern New Mexico. He is the author of nine novels. His short stories and poems have appeared in numerous magazines including Cemetery Dance, Realms of Fantasy, Star*Line, and The Santa Clara Review.

Well, for the next two weeks, we're going to be looking at this incredible passage of scripture that Chase just read, Ephesians 2:11-17. And it's a powerful text, I think, that gives us hope for some of the most poignant issues that are facing us even in this day. It's the only hope I think there is for racism, for dealing with the issues of racism in our country. We'll talk much more clearly and directly about that next week. But these problems of division in our world, and hatred, and hostility, and what this text calls a barrier dividing wall of hostility. These things can only be removed by the sovereign grace of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They cannot be removed by diplomacy, or government regulations, or United Nations, or any of those things. Those barriers, those dividing walls of hostility, will not come down that way, but only through the Gospel of Christ. The only hope for unity in our world is the Gospel, and this morning we're going to zero in specifically on the division between Jews and Gentiles. The Jew-Gentile division in the scripture and what Christ has done for that. History of Conflict And I think the overwhelming majority of us who are here today, are Gentiles. There may be some of Jewish descent here, but the overwhelming majority of those that assemble on Sunday mornings to hear the good news of Christ, and to study the scriptures are Gentiles. And we need to hear what Paul is saying to us. What you just heard in the text. How it was for us as Gentiles. We need to understand the astounding work that Christ has done in bringing us as Gentiles, who were so far away from hope, so far away from God's work in redemption, in the world, and bringing us near in Christ, and we need to celebrate that. It's amazing. And this text has the power to do that. Paul here goes to the root of hatred and hostility between Jews and Gentiles, and shows us how the work of Jesus Christ on the cross has removed that forever among those that believe in Christ. Gentiles’ Hostility Toward Jews Now, from the Gentile side, there is the arrogance, and the military superiority, and the vicious persecution, and even genocidal mania that has stained the pages of history. We know that very well from the 20th century from the rise of Nazism, and its virulent anti-semitism, and 6 million Jews slaughtered in what they called the final solution of Auschwitz, and other death camps, but that wasn't the first expression of anti-Semitism in history. It's not the first time we see that hostility or hatred from the Gentiles toward the Jews. Throughout history, if you saw a fiddler on the roof, for example, there's a pogrom right in the middle of that in Czarist Russia. That gives you a sense of the history there. The Jews have been persecuted throughout the nations of Europe. They were persecuted during the time of the Inquisition. Going further back, the Crusades were focused not just on driving the Muslims out of Jerusalem, but also they were anti-Semitic in nature. And it goes all the way back even within the scriptures to what happened in the Book of Esther, as Haman was seeking some kind of a genocidal work on the Jews, wiping them out entirely. So, Gentile history of hatred for the Jews is well-established, along with their military superiority. Hostility of Jews Toward Gentiles But the Bible also makes plain the other side. The hostility of the Jews toward the Gentiles. The Jewish jealousy and hatred of the Gentile world as well. The arrogance, religiously. The fact that the Gentiles were, as the text says, "excluded from citizenship in Israel." They were cast out in effect by the Law of Moses, as we're going to talk about today. They were outsiders, and that had the tendency to make the Jews feel religiously superior to those that were inferior to them. They were the chosen people. Then, in the course of time, when the Jews rebelled against God's covenant, as God said they would through Moses, but when they rebelled in the Promised Land, against God's covenant, failed to keep it, God began to give the Jews over again and again to Gentile conquest. Again, and again, God would raise up Gentiles to come in from the surrounding nations and punish the Jews. You see this in the Book of Judges, you see God raising up the various nations that surrounded them. The Midianites, the Ammonites, Syrians, the Philistines, the Egyptians. And again and again, God would give the Jews into the hands of the Gentiles. The very thing that God said He would do as a curse in the Mosaic covenant, in the Old Covenant. He said this in Deuteronomy 28:25, "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You'll come at them from one direction, but flee from them in seven. You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms of the Earth." And then again in Deuteronomy 32:21, God says this, "They, the Jews, made me jealous by what is no God and angered me with their worthless idols, so I will make them jealous by those who are not a people," speaking of the Gentiles. "I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding." So, you Jews made me jealous by your idolatry, then I'm going to make you jealous by giving you over militarily to the Gentiles. This is the very thing you said you would do in the song of Moses before they even enter the Promised Land. Ultimately, this was completed, consummated in some ways, by the exiles under the Assyrians, and under the Babylonians, as the Jews were driven out from the Promised Land militarily. Then one succession of Gentile overlords after another rose up to dominate them even when a small remnant under Ezra and Nehemiah, came back to rebuild the Jewish presence in the Promised Land, they were still, as was said in those books, slaves in their own land. They were under Gentile domination. And that was very, very difficult. So you see some of that hatred in that history. It's interesting, even this morning I was looking at a couple of verses in Ezra and Nehemiah. It says in Nehemiah 2:20, as Nehemiah's just beginning his work of building the city wall around Jerusalem, some Gentiles come and show up and begin talking to him about that project, and this is what Nehemiah said to these Gentiles. "You have no portion, no right, and no claim in Jerusalem." Well, praise God we do have a portion, right, and claim in the New Jerusalem. Amen. We were outsiders. What was Nehemiah building? A wall. What was that for? To keep them out. And then again in Ezra as they're starting to build the temple, in Ezra 4:3 says, "You have nothing to do with us in building this temple for our God in which we will worship." Again, spoken to the Gentiles. “You're outsiders.” Well, this attitude, this hostility, Jew toward Gentile, which is made much more fierce because they were, in effect, under Gentile domination, and slaves in their own land, came to a fever pitch in the New Testament. When God raised up Saul of Tarsus, converted him, made him the Apostle to the Gentiles, and he began to go from place to place, teaching that in Christ, the very things he's saying here in Ephesians are true, “we gentiles have become sons and daughters of Abraham. And that we're now included in the covenant, the new covenant in Christ.” The nationalistic Jews were extremely angry about that, those that had not yet come to faith in Christ. And they were enraged actually. Started riots in many cities in reference to Paul's ministry to the Gentiles. Well, you see that in Acts 21, when Paul's there and he's with a Gentile, and they assumed that he had brought this Gentile into the temple area, which was absolutely forbidden. And they started to try to kill him, and started a riot and all that. The Romans came in and rescued Paul, and they're bringing him to the barracks where they're going to beat him. Paul had a hard life. I mean really. What a ministry. But here he says, "Just a minute, I'd like to speak to the crowd." I just think that's amazing, Acts 22, it's a witnessing moment. A chance to share the Gospel. I mean, how he thought was amazing. But he stands up and he's sharing his testimony and for the second time in the Book of Acts. We get the story of the road to Damascus, and how he's converted, and they're listing quietly, until he gets to one word. One word. And this is what it says, "Then the Lord said to me," this is Paul talking about his own testimony. They'd been quiet up to this point. "Go. I will send you far away to the Gentiles." The crowd listened carefully to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices, and shouted, "Rid the earth of him. He's not fit to live." And then they're shouting and throwing off their cloaks, and flinging dust in the air. One word sent them into anger, “Gentiles.” So there's that Jew Gentile hostility. We've seen it both sides of the equation. Now, it is true that God had chosen the Jews and blessed them. They were in a very special way, the focus point of his redemptive work on Earth. He said at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:5-6, to the Jewish nation, "Now if you obey me fully and if you keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole Earth is mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." But it was for the purpose of blessing the entire world with the Abrahamic blessing. "Through you,” Abraham, “all peoples on Earth blessed," and I don't think they understood that. They didn't see that. And that theme had long since disappeared from the Jewish mindset, and from the Jewish way of life. In Christ, it is fulfilled. In Christ, it is consummated. “We Gentiles, who were once so far away have now been brought near” and are included in what God had always planned to do through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, that's all by way of introduction. The Distance Between Gentiles and God Remember What You Were, Gentiles Let's look now very carefully at these verses that teach so much about our condition as Gentile believers in Christ. Let's begin in verses 11 and 12 where it makes it very plain that Gentiles, who are formally excluded and without hope, have now been brought near. We were formally excluded. We were on the outside, and without hope. Look at Verse 11-12, "Therefore remember that formally, you who are Gentiles, by birth, and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision, that done in the body by the hands of men. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” So Paul here calls on the Gentiles to remember what they were formally. We've already seen that earlier in the worship service today. The benefit of going back and remembering how it was. Now, Ephesus, these Ephesians, they were from the city of Ephesus. It was in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. And that was a Gentile region, a Gentile city, and a Gentile region. And they worshiped Pagan deities, like Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, whose image had supposedly fallen out of Heaven. And they built this huge temple to her, that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There was paganism, it was a pagan place, they worshiped idols. Their men were uncircumcised, as Paul mentions in this text. They were seen by Jews, by some Jews anyway, to be unclean dogs. "They were," verse 11, "Gentiles by birth” or more literally “Gentiles in the flesh." Their genealogy, their racial lineage, was Gentile, not Jew. Paul wants them to look back and to remember how it was for them as a nation, and group. Why is that? Well, it's just a truth. And we've been seeing this again and again. The more you realize what you were before you were converted, the more joyful and thankful you'll be now and energetic in service to Christ. The more you know just how black, and dark, and distant all of that was, the better it is for you. I just love singing that song, Jesus, Thank You. Don't you? I leaned over to Daphne this morning? I said, "I love this song. It gives me a chance to tell Jesus, ‘Thank you.’ Just to say, ‘Thank you for saving me.’” And we've already seen this already, this morning, and earlier in Ephesians 2, how Paul has already brought their minds back. In verses 1-3, look, "As for you," he says, "You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live. When you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. Spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” That's what we were. Remember how you were. Look back at how you were. Understand that condition. Formerly Called “Uncircumcision” by the Circumcised Now, he wants to tell these Gentiles even more about their situation. God had begun a work of redemption through the Jews. Think of the world like a dark howling wasteland. Like a blizzard in some mountainous region, and there's some light shining and a fire that started, and there's some food cooking, and there's this place of warmth, and you're in the blizzard. But it's like you can see the light, and then as you draw nearer you find that there's this huge wall erected around it. You are on the outside and there was a wall there preventing you from coming in. You couldn't be included, that's what he's saying. You were on the outside. Now, Paul himself was raised in a Gentile region. He was also raised in Asia Minor. He was in the city of Tarsus, 700 miles to the east of Ephesus, right along pretty much the same latitude, right across. And he knew what it was like to be surrounded by Gentiles. He himself was a Roman citizen and he understood this situation. So, he doesn't know how much these Gentiles knew about Jewish laws and regulations, but he's going to tell them. He's going to say, "Remember that formally, you who were called the uncircumcision." Alright, “Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised, by those who call themselves the circumcision.” You're seen to be outsiders by these Jews, “called uncircumcised by those who call themselves as circumcision.” Now, to some degree, this statement here is a bit of a digression an aside. Paul's interrupting his thought and said, "There are some people who think hard thoughts about you and they call themselves the circumcision. These Jewish nationalists. I understand them, I was one of them myself at one point. And they call themselves the circumcision. They have a sense of spiritual superiority to you, hostility toward you. They have a certain hatred toward you, but their circumcision," Paul alludes to this, "their circumcision is merely external, and physical, it's not spiritual." He's going to talk about this in Romans 2:28 and 29. He says, "A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly. Nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise does not come from men, but from God." So that's a true Jew. Okay. They've had that inner-work of transformation by the Holy Spirit. It's a circumcision of the heart. They've been transformed. The very thing that happened in Ephesians 2:4-5. Go ahead and look at it. "But God made us alive even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up." That's another way of saying the same thing. That spiritual circumcision, by the Spirit, not by the written code, that hasn't happened to these people, they call themselves a circumcision and they're only focusing on the physical. Six Facts About the Gentile Condition Okay, well anyway, you Gentiles, alright, what should we remember? Well, let's remember six devastating things about you in that condition. “Remember that at that time, when you were not a Christian. Back then, before you were converted, alright, you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the Promise, without hope, without God in the world.” Six different things that Paul says was true of us as Gentile, unconverted people. Separate from Christ So first he says, "You are separate from Christ, you are outside of Christ, you are apart from Christ, you are not in fellowship with Christ." Christ for us is everything. Christ is life, Christ is our hope. We have nothing apart from Christ. And so, when you are not a Christian you had nothing from Christ, you were separate from Him. Christ is the fullness of joy. He is life and power and peace and everything good in the universe. But more than that, you Gentiles, you didn't even have any promises or any hopes or any thoughts about Christ? You didn't have a heritage of waiting for the Messiah. You didn't even know about Him. You didn't know that one had been promised who would come would be the Savior of the world. You didn't have those kinds of thoughts. So you were separate from Christ. You had nothing like that. Excluded from Citizenship in Israel And secondly he says, "You were excluded from citizenship in Israel." Citizenship, the language of citizenship is something these Gentiles would have understood, dominated as they were by the Romans, and there was such a thing as Roman citizenship. Paul himself was born a citizen of Rome,. And so being a citizen of Rome brought you certain rights and privileges. Certain advantages and benefits. Well, they were outsiders, they had no rights and privileges when it came to Israel. And why? Because the law of Moses kept them out, it excluded them, told them they were not permitted to enter the assembly of the righteous. They were outsiders. In Deuteronomy 23:2-3, it says this, “No one born of a foreign marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord even down to the 10th generation.” That's right in the law of Moses. “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord even down to the 10th generation.” When they came back under Ezra and Nehemiah, they were all about genealogies. You've read those books. Genealogy all the time. “Are you Jewish?” That's the question. And then in Nehemiah 13:1-3, it says on that day, the Book of Moses was read aloud and the hearing of the people and it was found written, “that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be entered into the Assembly of God.” Now listen to this, the kind of extension of this “when the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent,” everybody. So you might say, “Wait a minute. I'm not Ammonite I'm not a Moabite.” Well, you're included, excluded, included in the excluded. If you're not Jewish, you're out. What's interesting though is honestly the entire Old Covenant was about exclusion, for everybody. Wasn't it? Wasn't the tabernacle, just a bunch of cloth walls that kept people out? Wasn't the Temple, a more permanent bunch of walls that kept people out? Wasn't it true that you couldn't enter the Holy of Holies, unless you were descended from Levi and descended from Aaron and it was the Day of Atonement, and you brought blood, and you better get out of there, quickly? So there are these barriers, all of this. We'll get back to that in a moment. But God had set this up, He had set up this barrier, He had set up this dividing wall, He had set all of this up with its commandments and regulations. It excluded all uncircumcised people, from the sacred assembly. The Gentiles were outsiders. Look at Verses 14-15. Do you see the words there? “Barrier.” “Dividing wall.” See it? Verse 15, “the Law with its commandments and regulations.” That's what kept us out. The circumcision rule, the dietary regulations, all of the Jewish laws. Kept us out. Foreigners to the Covenants of the Promise Thirdly, foreigners to the covenants of the Promise, what is this? Well, God made a promise to Abraham, when He called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. “Leave your country and your people, and go to the land I will show you.” "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So that's a promise. Then He made him even more promises, He says at one very incredible time. It was night time, and He takes him out, God takes Abraham out of the tent and has him look up at the stars and he says, "Look up at the stars and count them if you can", then He makes him a promise, “So shall your offspring be.” “You're going to have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky,” that's a promise made from God to him. The very next verse is key to our salvation. “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” So you first have to hear a promise, then you can believe it. But the Gentiles had no promise made to them, none that we could believe. And then, it mentions the “covenants of the Promise,” “the covenants of the Promise,” and so in Genesis 15, that very same chapter He makes him the second word. “I'm going to give this land that you're walking on here to you and to your descendants forever.” So how do I know that I'm going to get it? It's not looking too good right now God. So then God had him make a covenant. He had him have animals, and he sacrificed them, and laid them out and made a path between them, as that was a covenant cutting ceremony, and suddenly, mysteriously, this fire pot, representing the presence of God, moved between the pieces and in effect, God said “May I personally cease to exist, if I don't keep this promise to you, I will keep my promise to you, I will keep this covenant, you will get the land forever.” Well, that was Jewish though. The Gentiles had no such covenant cutting ceremony, they had no covenant made with them. Nope, no such promises have been made to the Gentiles, their outsiders. God wasn't making them any promise at all. And notice, it's plural “covenants.” The second covenant I think that Paul has in mind is the covenant made with David, that God would raise up one of David's sons and seat Him on His throne, the throne of David, and he would reign forever and ever a king reigning over a chosen people, in an eternal land that would be theirs forever and ever. That's what God was doing through the covenants, but the Gentiles were outsiders. They were excluded from the covenants of the Promise. Without Hope Fourthly, they, “were without hope.” I would say just like Ephesians 2:10 I would say, there's very few days that go by I don't think about Ephesians 2:10, “that I am God's workmanship created to do good works today, which I want to do which God has prepared for me.” How about this one. That the non-Christians that surround us, the lost people are “without hope and without God in the world.” Think about that every day, think about what it would be like to go through life without hope and without God. It's inconceivable how much misery, human misery, is packed into these words. “Without hope.” What do people do when they're hopeless? Well, some of them kill themselves. Other people drown their sorrows in drugs and alcohol. Or in workaholism or achievements or material possessions, or entertainment, or sports. Because they don't have anything, and as they go on there's more and more sense of despair that just doesn't satisfy doesn't satisfy it's “Vanity of vanities, it's meaningless.” Now, I think there are three types of hope. I've talked to people, non-Christians and Christians alike about this, and it just has to do with a time frame. Hope always has to do with the future. “Who hopes for what he already has?” We don't hope about past things. Hope always has to do with the future. What is hope? Hope is a feeling in the heart, a positive feeling that the future is bright. “I'm looking forward to the future, the future will have good things for me.” Okay? Time frame. First, let's start with eternity, that I'm looking forward to eternity. I'm not afraid to die, I believe in eternal life, and I think eternally, I'll be happy, eternal hope. No one on earth but Christians has any reason for eternal hope, none. Then there's long range hope. “I like how my life is going.” Might have to do with your career, might have to do with a long-term goal. Maybe you just got married, and you're looking forward to a beautiful life with your wife, with your husband. looking forward to that. Things are looking good for you down the road and from now until death, it's going to be good, long range hope. And then there's that short-term, immediate hope. “We're going out to eat tonight at my favorite restaurant. Looking forward to that! Future is looking bright. Short, short range future.” What ends up happening is more and more non-Christians get down to that final one. More and more, and they just live for today. “Let us eat and drink and be merry, because I don't even know if tomorrow's ever going to come and if it does, it's probably going to be bad.” So that's what it means to be without hope. We have a God who has gone ahead of us, in time, and has basically said, “Not only have I been to your future and seen it. I've ordained it, I've decreed it, and nothing will stop it. Your future is bright. So be filled with hope. Be filled with joy.” We have that as Christians. Non-Christians, don't have that. “Without hope, and without God” means without God as a blessing. God sees everything they do. He is a constant watcher of men and women, He knows everything that we do, that's not it, that's like Hell. That's God. There to punish. God, there to curse. God, there to pour out wrath, not God to bless. That's what, “without God” means here, that God isn't making any commitment to bless you. He's made no promises to bless you. “Without hope and without God in the world.” The world is just Satan's world where Satan is in charge and dominant. Can I just stop and just do an application here? Do you not see how we have to be evangelistic in this world? Do you not see how we have got to reach out to non-Christians? We've got to see non-Christians that we live with differently, that these folks have no hope and we have hope in our hearts! Our centers are radiant with hope! By the way, you need to live that out, right? Just live out hope, just speak your hope all the time. Because somebody's going to come and ask you to “give a reason for the hope that you have,” so you have to be putting that hope on display. Amen? So just put that hope on display and hopeless people will say, “What is going on with you?” They're out in the howling wilderness and it's dark and cold and you're like, sitting around a very warm campfire, eating well, and you're protected, and they're like, “I want in. How do I get in?” “Repent and believe in Jesus.” Well, they're “without hope and without God in the world” But now, He says, in verse 13, “In Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. But now,” isn't that almost exactly like, “But God?” Isn't that fantastic just like, “But God”? In verse 4, we have “But now.” Gentiles Now Brought Near by Christ You who were once far away you have been brought near, and how amazing is that we're near, near to what? Not so much near to the Jews. Although we'll get to that. You've been brought near to God. This infinite, high and holy God, the one who, as Daniel quoted earlier, “I live in a high and holy place.” “I live in a high and holy place,” but also with him who is contrite and “lowly in spirit,” “I live with people that are broken-hearted and that come to me through faith in Christ.” You've been brought near. This is the God who sits, “enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.” We were as sinners distant from God, and now we have been “brought near” and it says, “through the blood of Christ,” or “by the blood of Christ.” There is no salvation for us sinners, apart from the “shed blood of Christ,” we will never be done talking about the blood of Christ, it says in Leviticus 17, “the life of the creature, of the animal, is in the blood, and I've given it to you to make atonement for your sins.” Well, that was in the old covenant, but we learned in the new covenant that “the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin.” It was just a symbol, And “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” but blood has been shed for us, amen? Isn't that beautiful? “The blood of Christ has brought us near.” Jesus died on the cross, He shed His blood in our place that we, who were once distant might be now brought near to God. Brought Near by Christ’s Bloodshed Now, here's the key to the “barrier, the dividing wall of hostility coming down.” We're going to talk much more about this next week. This is the key to the end of racism. This is the key to the end of the hostility between Jews and Gentiles. This is it. Christ has made us one. Look at verses 14 and 15, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.” Well, Christ is our peace. This section here, verses 14 and 15, begins and ends with peace, and so, Christ by His bloodshed on the cross has taken away the wrath of God. So, the peace horizontally takes a back seat to the first, and that is peace vertically with God. God was at war with us, we were His enemies, but now, in Christ, God has reconciled us to Him, through faith in Christ. And so we now have as we saw earlier, Romans 5:1-2, “we have peace with God” through our Lord Jesus Christ. So vertically, we now have peace with God. And so what that means is horizontally we are drawn close to oneness with one another. We, having been reconciled to God, we can be reconciled to each other. Look at verses 15 and 16, “His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two,” one out of two, “thus making peace and in this one body, to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility.” So, the war is ended. The war is ended with us and God, and then with us and brothers and sisters in Christ, we are one with each other, we are reconciled to one another, we have been made at peace with each other. So he says that the two, Christ has now made one. Now, the key to that is our spiritual unity with Jesus, if you come to faith in Christ, you are made one with Jesus, look back at verses 4 through 6, “But God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ, with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.” Verse 6, “And God raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus.” We are one with Christ, And that's true of every single Christian on the face of the earth. We are one with Christ, all of us. It is impossible for two individuals to be each of them, one with Christ and not one with each other. We are in a status of oneness with Christ. Now, we need to act like it in terms of our walk with Christ, in holiness. We are also in a status of oneness with each other, and we need to act like it and walk like it. And so on that basis, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians are made one with each other, as well, one body united in Christ. Now, later he's going to say this in Ephesians 4:3-6, he says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope, when you're called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is overall, and through all, and in all.” Unity Made Possible Only Through Christ Now, there are some difficult passages to interpret in the Bible, but what's the main important word there? I think it's “one.” I mean It's kind of like you have to be dense, not to see it. One. There's “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” “One” hope we are one, we have all been made one in Christ. Now the way he does that is by transforming us individually, making us new men and women, new boys and girls. Look at verse 15, "His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.” 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, behold everything has become new.” We're changed, we're transformed and we're going to talk next week about racism and all of those issues. So much of it just has to do with the change of the heart, and covering of the history, and forgiveness, and all of those things God has done that for us, he has transformed our hearts and made us into new people. So, no longer Jew, no longer Gentile. Now with a new name Christian, A believer in Christ. Amen? One new man, one new work he's doing, it's the only designation that matters and the Spirit takes that hatred, that bitterness, that's based on history, based on actual sins that have occurred and takes it away. Christ’s Miraculous Power to Change Hearts I love the scene in the movie, Ben-Hur, one of my favorite movies, and there Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish man had had a Roman friend when he was a boy, Messala, but when each of them grew up Judah Ben-Hur grew up as it as a Jew, and very nationalistic and caring about his people, Messala grew up as a Roman and grew up very nationalistic, and caring about his people, they came back together after having an apart since they were teenagers, they could not be friends and Messala was bitter and negative toward the Jews, but wanted to use Judah Ben-Hur to betray his people And use him as an informant and all that, and Judah wouldn't do that. So, Messala turns and punishes Judah Ben-Hur, sends him on a slave galley, takes Judah's mother and sister beloved, mother and sister and throws them in prison with no charges where they contract leprosy. Somehow God spares Judah Ben-Hur, brings him back but he is so seething with hatred at Messala, he can't stand him, he's filled with bitterness and rage over the history and what has happened, And then when he finds out that his mother and his sister have leprosy, and it's Messala's fault, it just goes off the charts. Messala ends up dying in a chariot race, but the hatred doesn't go away. It's like a heat seeking missile, he's just looking for something, and he hates Rome, he hates the world, he hates everything, but he meets Jesus as He's on his way to dying on the cross. He actually watches Him die in the movie. And he had met Jesus earlier, Jesus had given him some water when He was on His way to the slave galley. Now, he sees Him dying, and he hears Him say those words "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing", and the blood flows down, and in the movie it was very powerful. And then he comes back, he's just a different man. And he said, "When I heard Him say those words, I felt Him reach down and take the sword out of my hand. That's What happens when Jesus makes you a new man or a new woman. He Just reaches down and takes the sword right out of your hand and you are one with somebody that you, in every other way would be an enemy with. That's the power here. And so Christ has done that, and it says in the text, he's done it by destroying “the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Well, this was the last issue in the text. There were laws, there was a circumcision regulation, there were dietary regulations. Jesus, we are told here, has abolished it. Look at verse 15, he talks about the “barrier of the dividing wall of hostility,” verse 15, "By abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.” He abolished them. Hebrews 8:13 says that in Jesus, “in His blood, there's a new covenant and by calling this covenant new, He has made the old one obsolete.” So the old covenant is abolished. That's the text. It's obsolete. That's Hebrews 8:13. We now no longer are at any spiritual disadvantage uncircumcised we don't have to keep the ceremonial regulations, the dietary regulations. That “barrier, that dividing wall” has been removed. That horizontal barrier has been removed because the vertical one has been removed. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and now “we have access to the Father by one Spirit,” so Jews and Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ, are perfectly one in Him. They just need to act like it, they need to live out that oneness. Now, we're going to talk next week about how hard that is and more of those aspects. I would say that this text is the most powerful one that I know at getting at the root of racism and bitterness and division. We'll talk more about that next week. A few other applications, then we'll be done. Application First, as Gentile Christians. Let's just stand amazed at what He has done. Just do what Paul says. “Remember how it was for you,” formally remember what you were remember the journey that God has taken you from remember how you used to be an outsider, and now you're in. Now, you're inside. Now, you're loved. Keep that in mind and rejoice. If you like, Jesus, Thank You, go home and sing it. Find another song then sing that one. Just praise Him and thank Him. Secondly, Verse 18 says that “we now both Jews and Gentiles in Christ have free access to God through the Holy Spirit.” Take advantage of it. Come close to God. He has brought you near positionally, now come close in prayer, Bring your problems to Him, “Let us draw near to God, having a sincere heart and pure assurance of faith, as it says in Hebrews 10. Thirdly, and I've already mentioned this and I'll say it again. Meditate much on the condition of people who are not yet converted. Think about the fact that they're “without hope and without God in the world,” have mercy on them. Last week I challenged the home fellowships to have each member identify five people that they know to be lost, that you're praying for by name. Okay, so I'm ready. Home Fellowship, I've got my names alright, I was busy this week meeting people, but let’s just let's reach out, let's get names of lost people and let's pray for them. And if perhaps you have a chance like Ben and some others of sharing the Gospel and reaching out, let's be bold, let's share. And then finally, let's meditate on our supernatural unity, in Christ. We're going to talk much more about it next week, but this is the only answer there is for the kind of racial tensions and divisions there are in our country and in the world. Let's meditate on it, let's Get Ready. So I'd urge you just read this text over in light of some of the difficulties that we've been having, even in our nation and around the world and see the answer there. Close with me in prayer. Prayer Father, we thank you for the truth of the Gospel. We thank you O Lord that apart from Christ we had no salvation but now we, who are once far away have been, “brought near through the blood of Christ.” Lord I pray that there wouldn't be a single person here that would leave this place unconverted, today. I pray that they would trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and find in Jesus, the salvation that they need. And Lord, I pray for all of us who have already found forgiveness and unity and hope in Christ, that we would be filled with thanksgiving and that we would be filled with boldness to take the Gospel to those who are “without hope and without God in the world.” In Jesus' name, amen.

Camille Sanzone talks with Millie Richmond, author of PAPA’S PROMISE & other books, like HILDY and DADDY’S GONE. The common thread is the power of perseverance. In PAPA’S PROMISE you will find a potent slice of history as Richmond tells the compelling story of young Esther’s family’s journey from the grip of Czarist Russia to America.This show is broadcast live on W4WN Radio – The Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (http://www.talk4radio.com/) on the Talk 4 Media Network (http://www.talk4media.com/).

"Higher" and "lower" in KoG; Takes effort; "Church in general"; Christ's doctrines (it's His church); How going to figure parables/mysteries; Thousands came to Christ... until told what He really meant; Eating at table of rulers (presidents, kings, queen, prime minister, et al); Christ's system of "You pay your way"; Charity requires freewill offerings; "Accustom to trampling on the rights of others..."; Core philosophy of both parties; Barry, the homeless guy; "All the gold in China"; Both parties going in same direction; "Corvee," like what done during '30's depression; We belong to them; "… who gives employment ... is my master … call him what I will"; Do what Christ said; " 'EMPLOYEES' See 'Master and Servant' "; "...not so much by the elevation of former slaves..."; Forcing men to work without full benefit of his labor...; "Fracking" nature of modern-churches; Foe to the armies of Pharaoh; Wow, real Christians!; Process of gathering... like mining gold; Start moving now; We made the error; Key element; Panning in local mountains... of people; Many layers to this; From beginning of our dominion on planet...; No end to what can be done if we...; We can help each other; What Paul was attempting to say; Obviously something else; Church should talk government; Very easy to fiddle with Hebrew; By revelation – not in book, but in us; What God also prohibits; Sacrifices, and national adultery; Jehovah Witnesses encounter; When party providing benefits has incurred debt; There is a way out...; Social contracts described/explained; If you love the truth; Agreements almost everybody's made; Parents, in natural law, can sell you (and many of us have been so sold); More than serfs during worst of Czarist Russia; Giving history so can understand/relate to bible; This system will fail; Until then...

In a visit with curator Patricia Klindienst we learn how a simple postcard led her to reconstruct the story of Abram Spiwak and Sophie Schochetman - their immigration from Czarist Russia to America, their courtship, marriage, and the making of their life together. Klindienst's exhibit, "No One Remembers Alone: Memory, Migration, and the Making of an American Family," tells the universal story of the emigrant through postcards, related ephemera, and photographs. "No One Remembers Alone" is on exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center through March, 2014. Episode 0073 December 4, 2013 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

''The boss is hurrying the life out of me.''Rose Cohen and her father immigrated from Czarist Russia to the tenements of New York City, working exhausting schedules under harsh conditions to survive and to send for the rest of the family. In this podcast, I read an excerpt from Rose Cohen's book, Out of the Shadow: A Russian Jewish Girlhood on the Lower East Side, published in 1918. She tells of her first days as a child worker in a garment sweatshop.My First Job by Rose Cohen is taken from Out of the Sweatshop: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy, edited by Leon Stein, published in 1977.

I. The Center of our Salvation: Almighty God Some verses just unfold like a cave of treasure or like one of those little toys you get that has all these little secret hidden compartments and you keep learning. It's this cleverly made thing. Made of wood perhaps, with little secret compartments and you have to learn how each one of them opens, and inside each one, there's a gold ring or a silver chain or some new thing. And that's the way I look at this passage that we're going look at today, especially verse 10. I was saying to some of the men as we're praying, as I worked on the sermon this morning, it was 27 minutes on verse 10 alone. So if 27 minutes from now, we're still on verse 10, don't despair, just listen and take it in because it's an astonishing verse. But all of them are magnificent. And so we're going to learn from this text, the greatness of Christ, the greatness of his salvation that he works for us. But we're going to go immediately right away to the center of the universe. We're going to go right away to the center of everything, and that is to God. God is the focus of verse 10. God's thoughts, what God is doing in salvation, what it was fitting for God to do. God is the center of verse 10, as God as the center of all things. God is the center of the universe. And so the author right away in verse 10 emphasizes God's central role in the universe. "For it was fitting for him, [God, was fitting for him] for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." So we're going right away to the idea of God and how healthy is it for us to do that. We talked recently about how we are tempted constantly to drift away from God, away from Christ. We need to know that everything in this universe exists for God. Through God. By God. That God is the center of all things. We are living in God's house. We are playing with God's things. We are eating at God's table. We are sleeping under God's roof. We are breathing God's air. We are wearing God's clothes. This is God's universe that we're in. We are welcome guests as created beings, created in his image. We are adopted sons and daughters through Christ but it's God's universe. The Essence of Our Sinfulness: Putting Man at the Center Now, the essence of our sinfulness is to put man at the center of all things and to relegate God increasingly to nothingness. A practical atheism. And here, the word that comes to my mind is the word secular. We live in a secular world, a secular society. And what is the essence of our secular society of secular education in secular schools of secular banter on talk radio of secular perspectives and the news media of secular mentality and political debates? The essence of secular America is one central lesson and is being drummed into us every day. God, if he even exists, is irrelevant. That's the lesson. If he even exists, and it's up to you to decide, you can do what you want in your own little private world but if he even exists, God is irrelevant to this world. Irrelevant to your chemistry midterm. He's irrelevant to who wins the big football game on Saturday afternoon. He's irrelevant to your plans for a career. He's irrelevant to the scenery at Yosemite National Park. Irrelevant to the economic conditions in the United States. God just doesn't matter because I notice he's not really brought up in any of those discussions. He's never mentioned at all. But when you enter the world of the Bible, it's an entirely different issue. When you step into God's world through the scripture, it's a whole different thing. Amen? You walk in through Genesis 1 and right away it's, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, 'let there be light' and there was light." This is God's universe. And God isn't confused about that, by the way. He knows it's his universe. He wants us to know it too by faith. And so in Romans 11, Eric already quoted it, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen." And so, a God-centered salvation really is the story of the whole Bible. That's what it's about. God is the alpha and the omega of human salvation. Human sinfulness mars God's universe and God will have it out, and God alone can remedy this pollution and bring us to glory. God Crafted a God-Honoring Salvation: “It was fitting...” So, we're talking in verse 10, in Hebrews 2:10 about a God fitting salvation. A salvation that's appropriate for God. It's fitting for God. The author speaks about what's fitting. The fitting nature of God's plan of salvation. It was fitting. It was appropriate. It was well suited to God and to his nature. God can do nothing that violates his nature. He never will. Everything God does lines up well with who he is and what he wills to do. God is never passive, friends. He's never along for the ride. He's never a victim taken where he doesn't want to go. And he's never waiting for man to make the final decision so he'll know what to do. If God wanted to save sinners, and he does, thank God for that. If God wanted to save sinners and bring them to glory, he had to do it in a fitting way. And so what is the destination of our salvation? It is a fitting destination. It was fitting for God to bring us to a certain destination. And what is it? Glory. I'm going to speak more about this destination in a moment. But it was fitting for that to be the destination of this God-centered salvation, glory, which is God. That we would see the glory of God, and drink it in and immerse ourselves in it. It was fitting that that should be the destination of our salvation. It was fitting to bring many sons to glory. It lined up with the holiness of God. It lined up with the goodness of God to bring us to glory. It was fitting. And not only was the destination of our salvation fitting, it was fitting for God to bring us to glory, the means by which He brought us to glory was fitting. And what are those means? In Hebrews 2:10, it's Christ's suffering. That's what we're talking about here. It was appropriate. It was fitting for God to make Christ suffer in order to bring us to glory. That's very deep, isn't it? That's a profound concept. The author's point here is, it was especially fitting for God to bring many sons to glory by making Christ perfect through suffering. Look again in verse 10, "For it was fitting for Him, from whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering." So, for God to vindicate his holiness and to vindicate, to put his justice on display, it was appropriate for him to crush his only begotten, his beloved son. It was fitting for Him to do it. That's what the author's saying here. Romans 3:25-26 says, "God presented Him as a propitiation to faith in His blood." That word means a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice that takes away wrath. That's what propitiation means. God presented Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood. "He did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance, he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." So it's fitting for God to make Jesus suffer. The perfection of our salvation as it lines up with God's nature, it lines up with his attributes. He's saved us in the most appropriate and fitting way. Amen? II. The Destination of Salvation: Our Glory Alright, so let's look more at this destination of our salvation, and that is our glory in bringing... The NIV puts the glory part first. I've been giving you the NAS this morning because it puts God first, and that's what it doesn't agree. But the NIV then right away says, "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God," etcetera. The focus of salvation here are many sons, and we're going to talk more about the family aspect of salvation in a moment. But we're focused on many sons and in bringing many sons to glory, God is bringing us to glory. The aspect of bringing is a focus on God's activity, God's energy, God's leadership, God's power. God comes to lead us out of a place and bring us to another place. Picture the exodus. And so He's bringing us to glory. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life as we sang. Isn’t that beautiful? I love that song. I almost broke decorum and said, "Eric, sing it again one more time." Couldn't do it. But I wouldn't have mind if somebody else did it. I would have been happy to sing it. Don't do it, though, please. But anyway. I'd go up and talk to say, "Yeah, sing it again." But I just love it. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the way we get to glory. There's a journey to be traveled here. We're going to a promised land, and the name of that promised land is glory. It's glory land, friends. That's where we're heading. He's bringing many sons to glory. And there's a richness to that expression, "many sons." Just zero in on the word "many." He's not saving just a few people. He's saving a lavish number of people. There's a multitude greater than anyone could count. It says in Revelations 7 that it is a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe and language and people and nation, standing around the throne, giving praise to the Lamb. And they're dressed in white robes, and they're praising God. It's a lavish, generous amount of the human race that's being saved here, many sons. And the word glory, I think is both a destination and a condition. In heaven, we will both see glory and we will be glory. You almost can't imagine the sights you're going to see. It's beyond imagination, like Paul caught up to the third heaven came back down and said, "Look, inexpressible." It's inexpressible. I can't put it into words. In one of the songs we sang this morning, it says, "We're going to say goodbye to words. No more words." Hey, look, words are fine. That's what you're listening to right now. This right now, this preaching, this time in the Bible, is the essence of what it means to see through a glass darkly. We're not blind. We're seeing, but we're just seeing through a glass darkly, through nouns and verbs, through preaching, through the Word, through texts and paragraphs. But we will gladly trade it all, and no disrespect to the Word because the Word itself will live forever. But the printed page and this, it's gone for the reality itself. Amen? You're not going to be staring at love letters from your fiancé after you're married, right? It's just, no, you don't. There he is, there she is. We're going to see the bridegroom face to face. All the sights we're going to see. We're going to see glory. Revelation 21, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice coming from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them.'" That's God saying that, saying, "At last, we get to be together and you get to see my glory." Awesome. Revelation 21:11 and 12, the New Jerusalem, it says shown with the glory of God and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. And it had a great high wall with 12 gates and 12 angels at the gates. And it said later in that chapter, "I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp." And so the entire city of God and the new heavens and the new earth are just gonna be radiant with the glory of God. It's just going to shine with the glory of God through Jesus. It's going to be magnificent. The colors will be beautiful, the proportions perfect in every way. The entire universe will glow, openly glow with the glory of God in bringing many sons to glory. That's what that means, that's where we're heading. A world of glory. God wanted to bring his adopted sons and daughters to the most glorious place imaginable, and that is to him to see his own glory and to worship him forever. So we will see glory but we're also going to be glory ourselves. Remember, we're talking about what it was fitting for. It was fitting for God in bringing many sons to glory. Friends, it would not be fitting for us to be there and not be glorious too. For us to be there in ugly, wretched, stinking clothes of rebellion and sin, it would not be fitting. We would mar the place, we would be like black holes of darkness sucking the light in and making it disappear. We spent enough time doing that, amen? It's time to be done with that and so we're going to be made glorious ourselves so that we can fit right in. It would not be fitting any other way. And so we must be glorious ourselves, and we will... It says in Matthew 13, "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." You're going to just shine with the radiant glory of Jesus. The finished work of your salvation, glorification. You will shine with it, and your own good works and your achievements and that of the whole church will make the place glorious in a marvelous way. It says again in Revelation 21, "The nations will walk by the light of the glory of God and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it." So the kings are going to bring their own kind of glory into the New Jerusalem, and the glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it and nothing impure will ever enter it nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And so there will be our glorious deeds, purified by the blood of Jesus, purified by the fire of judgment day, but they'll be there and they will shine with their own unique glory, your own contributions to the glory of that city. The courage of the martyrs will shine in that place. So also the sacrifice of the missionaries who gave up everything to go to a distant land and tell people about Christ. The generosity of those who gave money, and time, and energy, and even a cup of cold water to advance the kingdom of Christ will shine there. Even those simple cups of cold water. That's a good hope for me, friends. I may not be a martyr but I can give a cup of cold water today. Amen? Matthew 10. Let's have lots of that, but it's just going to shine with the good deeds done by faith. The best sermons preached by Spurgeon, and Luther, and Robert Murray McCheyne, and any of these other great preachers will shine there in a marvelous way. The boldness of George Whitefield's field preaching to the coal miners in Bristol. Nobody had ever done that before, that moment's just going to shine there. And so we're going to see glory and we're going to be glory, and our own holiness is a big part of that. We must be holy, so that if you look at verse 11, don't misunderstand, we're not done with verse 10. You know that, don't you? Okay. We're not. So those of you that are timing, and I hope no one is timing me. Alright. But we're not done with verse 10, but just look at verse 11, it says, "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family." So the essence of our glory is our holiness. Our holiness, friends. God is light, and in Him, there's no darkness at all. We must be made holy. And that's what it means to be being brought to glory, we're being sanctified, we're being made progressively more like Jesus. That's what it means to be that we're being brought to glory. I just see sanctification all over that. I actually believe that sanctification is just a subset of glorification. I say that with all seriousness, meditate on that and tell me what you think, but I think it is because it's just skipped in Romans chapter 8. It says in Romans 8:29-30, "For those whom God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." That's glory, friends. That we might be glory, conformed to the image of Jesus, that he might be the first born among many brothers. That's that family aspect, we'll get to that in a minute. And those he predestined, he also called, and those he called, he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified. Now, you, systematic theologians say, "What happened to sanctification?" It's in there. It's just called glorification. We are being brought from glory to glory. We're being made ever more glorious by putting sin to death and becoming more like Jesus. That's what it means to bring many sons to glory. And so, it was fitting that God should do that to us. And how does he do it? He does it through Jesus. It was fitting that God through whom and for whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. III. The Pioneer of our Salvation: Jesus Christ Now we're talking about Jesus at last. God's bringing you to glory through Jesus and no other way. There is no other way. And so, we're focusing on Jesus. Now, who is this, this author of our salvation? What an incredible word. The Greek word is archegos. And so NIV has author of our salvation. So you could picture some great author sitting at a desk and writing an incredible novel, like Leo Tolstoy sitting at his desk there in his farm, in Yasnaya Polyana, in Russia. In 1862, he begins writing War and Peace, crafting arguably the greatest novel in literary history. Sprawling tale of Czarist Russia and Napoleonic invasion told through the eyes of five aristocratic families, 580 different named characters in the story, 580 of them. A complex psychological drama of immense scope and detail. All of it flowing from the mind through the pen of an author, who many have called the greatest author of all time, Leo Tolstoy. Well, he is not the greatest author of all time. Amen? Jesus is the greatest author of all time. By the way, I went to Barnes & Noble and bought War and Peace. I'm on page two. I'm excited about that. I think my son called it a geek book. But I like historical novels so we'll see. I'll tell you in 12 years how it is. But Jesus is the author of our salvation, writing it out. Writing all of it out. That's an incredible conception and not just my salvation, but the salvation of that multitude from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. What a complex tale. Not 580 characters but a multitude greater than anyone could count. And the complexity of weaving their lives together with unbelievers and with culture and language and missionaries, and what a story. What a story. He's the author of our salvation, isn't that awesome? Christ wrote our salvation story. He says in Revelations 22:13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." Those are letters. Those are Greek letters. I wrote the first letter and I'll write the last letter. I'm the first and the last. I am the beginning and the end. That's who I am. So your life story is salvation in Jesus. That's your story, if you're a Christian. And it was written in Jesus' blood before God said, "Let there be light." Psalm 139, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." And this verse says it's Jesus that wrote the story, he's the author of your salvation. He comes up with a story line, the plot, the characters, plot, twist, climax; they knew them all. All of that, Jesus wrote it, written in his blood and he had to pay the price for it. So archegos can be translated author, but I don't even think that's the best translation. I don't think that's the best translation of this word. Other versions have captain of our salvation. I like captain, but I like pioneer better. Because both captain and pioneer get at something like what I think the Greek word... The home base of this Greek word is, usually refers to some kind of a hero. A great warrior who's a trailblazer and who through military conquest subdued an area and founded a city. He's then a patriarchal leader who has sons and grandsons. And he's looked on as the founder of the whole city and the surrounding region. That's what archegos tends to be in the Greek. ESV translates it's founder of our salvation. One who established a city in which you could live, pioneer maybe. So Jesus is our pioneer. He goes on ahead of us boldly. He carves a trail that we must follow if we are to reach the promised land. There's no other way. So we're going to follow Jesus, the trailblazer our salvation. Trailblazer hero has to be a warrior with immense courage for the promised land has to be taken by force. Later in chapter 2, it talks about how he destroyed the one who held the power of death, that is the devil and freed those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. He's a hero. He's a conqueror. He's a fighter, warrior. You could picture the exploits maybe of a Daniel Boone carving his way through the Appalachian Mountains in 1778, blazing the wilderness trail to the fertile soil of Kentucky. He has to fight off the Cherokee and Shawnee and Delaware Indians who don't want settlers in their hunting grounds. With great knowledge and courage, he widens the wilderness trail by felling trees with an ax. Try chopping down an oak tree with an ax. Just do it like in real life and see what it's like. I've done it. The tree was like this big in diameter, it took me a long time. But these guys were chopping down trees making corduroy roads. And before the end of the 18th century, that wilderness trail that he helped trailblaze was followed by over 200,000 settlers through the Cumberland Gap. He is a kind of an archegos, a warrior pioneer whose courage enables him to establish an ancestral town in enemy territory, where his descendants can flourish. But Jesus is the archegos of our salvation. That's what this word means. The bold pioneer who carves the way and destroys the enemy and founds a city. But now here's the deal. He had to pay for it with his life, friends. He had to suffer and die in order to bring us to glory. That's what verse 10 is talking about. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author or pioneer or captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. Suffering. IV. The Cost of Our Salvation: Christ’s Suffering Now, what suffering did our pioneer have to endure? Well, the suffering of incarnation, the suffering of temptation, the suffering of rejection, of persecution, of torture and physical death, the suffering of the wrath of God on the cross as our substitute, shedding his blood for us. That suffering. All of it. Well, what does it mean that Jesus is made perfect through suffering? It's a difficult phrase. It was fitting for God to make his son perfect through suffering. Well, it's not like us. We were greatly imperfect, wicked even, and we are made perfect through the salvation work of Jesus. That's not what's happening with Jesus. He was in no way ever anything but holy and perfect. What then does it mean that he was made perfect through suffering? Well, I think what it meant is that he had to live it. He had to do it. He had to actually go through that life. He had to be hungry and thirsty, and he had to be rejected and despised, he had to go through it. He had to live it on the earth, and he had to actually get nailed to the cross and shed his actual blood and die. And without that, he couldn't have, I think the Hebrew word really is perfected or completed our salvation. He would've been an incomplete Savior without actually suffering. He had to suffer to be our pioneer, that's what I think it means. Had Jesus not suffered incarnation, he could not have shared our humanity and understood the physical nature of our misery; what it was like to be hungry and tired and feel pain and weariness. If Christ had not suffered temptation, he could not have been our sympathetic and merciful high priest who could say, "I understand what it's like to be tempted. I've been tempted in every way just as you are and so, I can be your merciful and faithful high priest." If he had not suffered rejection by his own people, he would not have been able to perfect God's salvation, complex salvation plan for the Jews, which called for them to reject their own Messiah, and then for God to show mercy on them and bring them back and regraft them back into their own olive tree. Read about it in Romans 11. But he had to go through the suffering of rejection by the Jews. If Christ had not suffered physical torture and death, he could not have destroyed the devil and freed us from our slavery to fear of death. All of it was suffering and he had to go through it. And if he had not suffered the wrath of God, verse 17 says, in order that he might make atonement for the sins of the people, our sins would not be atoned for. But now they are. He's our perfect Savior. Amen? He is the perfect Savior for you and me. And he's been made perfect through suffering, and so, we have atonement for our sins. V. The Reason for our Salvation: Family Ties Why did he do it? What was his reason for doing? What was the connection to us? Well, here's where: I want to bring out the family ties between us and Jesus. We are of the same family as Jesus. Isn't that incredible when you think about that? This whole section here is saturated in family language. Look at verse 11, "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family." So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. Verse 12, he says, I will declare your name to my brothers." Verse 13, again, he says, "Here am I and the children God has given me." On verse 14, "since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity." On verse 16, "For surely it's not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants." In verse 17, "For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers in every way." Go back to verse 16, even though it's not really supposed to be in this sermon because it's supposed to be just on 10 to 13. Is it okay if I look at verse 16 for a minute? Is that alright? Rick said it is, so I can do that. Alright, so look at verse 16. "It's not angels he helps," who does he help? Abraham's family. "Abraham's descendants." He's keeping the promise made to Abraham. You remember that promise? Where God took him out on that starry night and he said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them... So shall your offspring be." Well, we've come to realize in the new covenant that that offspring is not physical, it's not just the physical descendants. Just because you had Abraham as your physical father, it didn't mean you're going to heaven. Romans 9 makes that very plain. Not all Abraham's physical children are the offspring of Abraham. But only those who believe, those who are by faith Abraham's children. And so, even Galatian believers, Gentile believers, who have trusted in Jesus are engrafted into Abraham's family. They're family members. We are members of Abraham's family, he's our father in faith, it says in Romans 4. And so, there is this family. And so, Jesus in verse 16 of Hebrews 2, he doesn't help angels. What angels would need help? Fallen angels, demons, he doesn't... There's no atonement for demons, they're lost, they're going to hell, there's nothing that's going to happen for them. No gospel for them. But he helps Abraham's descendants, Abraham's family, and that's us. We who have trusted in him. And so, it says in verse 11 that Jesus isn't ashamed of us. Isn't that incredible? I mean, just let that roll around in your mind for a little while. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. Ashamed. That's astonishing. Could there be anything in us that would make him ashamed? Might there be anything in your history that would make him ashamed to own you as his brother or sister? Romans 6:21 says, "What benefit did you reap at that time from those things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death." There's all kinds of shameful things in our lives. But Jesus is not ashamed to call you brother or sister. Isn't that incredible? He's not ashamed. Welcomes it. On judgement day, he's going to acknowledge you and say, "He's my brother. She's my sister. They're with me." And in you'll go, through Jesus the door, right into heaven. He's not ashamed of you, not ashamed to own you. Do you see now how wrong it would be for you to act ashamed of Jesus now? Have you ever acted ashamed of Jesus? Have you ever been ashamed to say his name? I don't think there's any of us that could say, "I've never been ashamed to say Jesus' name." It's a great sin actually. Jesus said, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels." I love sports and I like to watch sports. I think of the great moments on the ball fields and all that but I have to tell you, probably my favorite, favorite moment in sports happened January 30, 2000. And it wasn't even an athletic achievement. The athletic achievements had already occurred. It was Super Bowl 34, Kurt Warner had led the St Louis Rams to a very exciting victory over the Tennessee Titans. I couldn't care less about the Rams or the Titans but I watched the game. You know how it is, this is the Super Bowl. And he had led the Rams on a game winning touchdown drive and then the defense had somehow held off the Titans on the two yard line, the game ended. It was exciting game. And so they get Kurt Warner the MVP. And Mike Tirico of ABC stands there with a microphone in front of his face as 50 million people are watching this interview, I guess, or more. Who knows? And I love this, this is my favorite moment in sports, right here. Mike Tirico, "First things first, Kurt, tell us about that final touchdown pass to Isaac." Kurt Warner's answer, "First things first, Mike, I want to give glory to my Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus!" He said it louder than that actually. That's my favorite moment in sports. Actually, his foundation is called First Things First Foundation. Isn't that awesome? First things first, I couldn't care less about the touchdown to Isaac, let's talk about Jesus. And not just thank God. Look, there's nothing wrong with saying God. God is fine. But let's say Jesus more. Amen? Let's say Jesus a lot. Thank you, Jesus. It's the name that divides us from the unbelievers. Let's say the name then. Let's not be ashamed of the name. And Kurt Warner said it with the greatest boldness I'd ever seen in my life. He did it again when he led the Arizona Cardinals into the Super Bowl. Same thing. He said, "You know what I'm going to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. Thank you, Jesus." He said the same thing. First time was better though, it was awesome. I mean, he was just so pumped. Been taken from the Hy-Vee convenience store and arena football to be Super Bowl MVP, and he just was overwhelmed more with his salvation than anything. I want to be with people like that forever. Amen? Saying, as strong as we can, "Thank you, Jesus!" And let's say it to our neighbors, and our co-workers, and our unbelieving family, and all these people, and let's not be ashamed to say the name Jesus. It saves people. Everyone who calls on that name is going to be saved. Let them get all prickly and irritable and frustrated and then... I was like that. I was like that for two years. Boy, did I abuse the guy who led me to Christ. But he kept saying the name Jesus to me. And I eventually called on that name. And so we have fellowship. We're flesh and blood with him and so we share the same family. And Jesus agreed, because the children, verse 14, have flesh and blood. He shared in their humanity in the same family. We're flesh and blood. Like Laban said to Jacob when he came on the journey and he was there and he said, "You are my flesh and blood." And he welcomed him in. That's what Jesus is going to say to you and me. Amen? You are my flesh and blood. You just come right in here. And for Jesus, this was an eternal commitment. An eternal commitment to be flesh and blood with us. Why do I say that? He had to agree to take the body back up again, right? Because without taking the human body back up, it wouldn't be a resurrection. He had to be human before and after. He had to take up the body, you see? And so he said after the resurrection, "Look at my hands and my feet, it is I myself, touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." And so Jesus shares with us in our flesh and blood. He's also a sharer with us in our life of faith. We relate to God only by faith. Remember I said, "We see through a glass darkly. We see him only by faith." And so Jesus is like us in that as well. Or was in his time on earth. Faith is temporary for us and it was for him, but look at verse 13, it says, "And again I will put my trust in him." It's a strange little verse. I had the hardest time when I first went through Hebrews carefully and I was memorizing scriptures and looking, I was like, "What is this here for? I will put my trust in Him." It's right in the middle of nowhere. I'm telling you, the author to Hebrews is a genius. His knowledge of the Bible is deep and real and he assumes a lot. And if you're not tracking him on Isaiah 8:17, that's your problem, not his. He's moving right on. What is going on in Isaiah 8:17? That's what it's a quote of. Well, Isaiah the prophet, living in a time of great danger when the Assyrians were about to invade, and it seemed like God was hiding his face from Israel, said, "I'm going to trust God despite the fact, it seems, you're hiding your face from Israel." This is what 8:17 says, Isaiah 8:17, "I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him." Jesus said that on the cross. Now, in what way was God hiding his face from Jesus at the cross? Well, you know in what way. He said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Why are you hiding your face from me? And so he put his trust in God. He entrusted himself to God. It says in 1 Peter 2:23, "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats, instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." He trusted his life to God, he trusted his work on the cross to God. He put his trust in God. And so when he calls out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." And I think if you could just add more things, "Father, into your hands I commit this atoning work. Do something with it. I will put my trust in Him." That's what he said. And he's like us in that. He's made like a sinner, really. For whom God is hiding His face, he trust in God anyway, on the cross. And as a result, he loses none of his children. Again, he says, "Here am I and the children God has given me." Isn't that beautiful? You are a child given to Jesus. God the Father gave the elect to Jesus, the children. He said, "Here, save them." And in effect, when it's all done, you know what's going to happen? He's going to stand with all of those children, all of his elect, all the ones he saved and says, "Here am I and the ones you gave me. I didn't lose any of them. I saved them all." And so he says in John 17:6, "I have revealed you to those whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word." And again, John 18:9, Jesus said, "I have not lost one of those you have given me." And again he says in John 6:39, "This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day." And so he says in Hebrews 2:13, "Here am I and all the children you gave me." 100%. Isn't that comforting? If you're God's child through Jesus right now, he's going to someday present you to God and say, "Here they are, all of them. I'm not going to lose any of them." VI. The Consummation of our Salvation: Worship And so what is the consummation of our salvation? It's worship. He says in verse 12, "I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." We have here this great assembly of worship. We're going to a worship time. We're going to an awesome worship time, that's where we're heading. And so, again and again in the Book of Psalms, there's this great assembly that's pictured, assembly of worship. And so in the congregation, in the assembly, he says, "Here are my children, all of them are here." And "I will declare your name to my brothers and in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." The author of Hebrews describes that to Jesus. Jesus says that. This is the best and maybe even only clear verse in the entire Bible on Jesus singing. Aren't you looking forward to hearing Jesus sing at the wedding banquet of the Lamb? The bridegroom stands up and starts to sing, and the topic of his song, the praise of his Father. He's going to sing God's praise in front of us. Isn't that awesome? Isn't that awesome? ! Like Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia, sings Narnia into existence and the magician's nephew, he just sings. And as he sings and the song changes in lilts, different parts of Narnia start getting created. That's how CS Lewis pictured creation, Aslan the lion, the Christ-like lion singing and creation coming. Well, it's going to be the end of the story then redemption is done and Jesus is going to rise at the wedding banquet and he's going to sing the praise of God. Isn't that cool? I think that's just an awesome thing. And we will be there and we will join in, and sing a new song, praising God. And we will worship Him forever. VII. Application What application can we take from this? We'll come to Christ, come to Christ now. It could be God brought you here today to hear this message, Jesus shed his blood. You've heard everything you need. I've been very clear about the cross. Very clear about faith. The need for repentance and faith. Apart from Him you're lost. But perhaps you're not lost. God brought you here today. All you need to do is look to Jesus by faith and put your trust in him, like the text says. Trust in him and your sins will be forgiven. And you will be welcomed as a child of God. As many as received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. And you'll be one of those that he'll speak of, saying, "Here am I and the children God has given me." For those of you that are already believers, just understand the fellowship of suffering that Jesus has with you. He went through suffering so that he could help you in suffering. And you may be going through suffering right now. You may be going through psychological suffering, emotional, financial suffering, suffering with sin, temptation. Jesus knows and understands. Now, isn't it sweet that our present sufferings aren't even worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us? Isn't that wonderful? But it's still suffering. And Jesus can help you in your suffering because he's suffered too. And thirdly, anticipate heavenly worship. Picture Christ singing. Can I speak a word to cool teenage boys now for a moment, who don't like to sing? Because it's not cool and none of their friends are singing. Jesus sings, friends. Jesus is cool. You should sing too, from your heart. Don't be embarrassed to sing. We should sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and praise God as Jesus did. So sing. Sing when you're grieving. Sing when you're hurting. Sing when you're suffering. Sing in anticipation of hearing Jesus sing over you. Fourth, be God-centered in your outlook. Fight secularism. Fight it. God matters to everything. At all times, God matters. And be willing to proclaim the name of Jesus in this secular world. Be willing to offend people with Jesus. And don't listen to any Satan back talk to you about "Well, you weren't loving, you weren't sensitive." Look, say the name of Jesus, say it boldly, say it like you're not ashamed of him because he's not ashamed of you. And then finally, meditate on Jesus as the author of your salvation. If you're a literary kind of person, author, you'll like that. If you're more of a military history or kind of thing, go with Pioneer and Captain. But either way, just know this, Jesus is saving you and he's bringing you to glory and nothing's going to stop him. Close with me in prayer.

Introduction I am so excited to preach on this passage today. All morning long, I've just been excited for this time and just captivated by Jesus' statement concerning his own word, and I don't wanna get ahead of myself, but just the beauty and the power of the words of Christ just has captivated my heart, and I have a sense of the tremendous and immense privilege I have week by week to minister and open up the word. I love that song we just sang, it just moves me. One word in particular. Food, the word “food.” I want to feed you with the word of God today, that's what I want. I want the food of the word of God to just be in your systems when you walk away today. And that's my prayer as we look at Matthew 24:32-35. As I come to this passage, I think about this one question: what is permanent and what is temporary? While flowers are temporary, I think we all know that, their beauty lasts just a few days and they wither. Morning mist is temporary, the sun rises and its heat scorches the mist and it's gone. So also at a different season, the morning frost, temporary again, sun melts it and it's gone. Movement of the wind as it goes north or south, east or west is temporary, soon it's blowing a different direction, the gust blows leaves flutter, then it's gone the moment has passed. All of these things are temporary. Then the real question for us is, what is permanent? What is eternal? Is the ground beneath our feet permanent? Is the Atlantic Ocean permanent? Are the Rocky Mountains? Are they permanent? How about the sun and the moon and the stars? Are they forever? Recently here in America, the striking events of history have been brought home with painful reality, the impermanence of the world around us in one stunning moment, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center melted before eyes and were gone. Completely gone, disappeared forever from the face of the Earth. In five shocking minutes, an earthquake shook the city of Port-au-Prince in Haiti and reduced much of it to rubble, snuffing out many lives in the process, causing everyone who lived there to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that even the ground beneath their feet is not permanent, and neither is life in this world. Could it be that the most permanent thing in this universe is something invisible: a word, or actually words, spoken 2,000 years ago by Jesus”? Look at verse 35, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” What is a word? Is it an invisible thing, the sound of a whisper in the wind that floats to the air and causes your eardrums to vibrate for a second and then it disappears like a faint echo in a cavern? Is that what a word is? Is a word anything more than a fleeting shadow of reality, something like a nothing? For many of us, I think words would be the very picture of impermanence, something that lasts only as long as we hear it and then it's gone. But Jesus here said his words will last forever. But that Heaven and Earth won't. He makes an assertion here, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Now, the context of that statement, I think couldn't be more powerful, remember that Jesus has predicted the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem. As they're coming out of the city, the disciples are in awe of the temple building and all of its massive stones, and by extension, Jerusalem. What massive stones, they're so impressed. And Jesus says in Matthew 24:2, “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another, every one will be thrown down.” Do you realize that in verse 35 of this chapter, Jesus is saying the same thing about these stones too, they're all gonna get thrown down, all of them, not just in Jerusalem, but all over the world. Everything that man has erected will be, as it says in Daniel 2, blown away like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer and not a trace will be left. It's all gonna be gone. Well, the disciples obviously are fascinated by this statement that Jesus makes, and they come to him privately on the Mount of Olives and they say, “Tell us, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And for this whole chapter, Jesus has been answering that three-part question, in verses 4-14, I think as I've described before, Jesus describes in very general terms, what life will be like on this Earth, this sin-cursed world, from the first to the second comings of Christ. There'll be wars and rumors of wars, there'll be famines and earthquakes in various places. He describes the special and vicious persecution of the church and the apostasy in the church, many will betray the faith and will turn against each other. He talks about the need to stand firm to the end, those that stand firm to the end will be saved. Very difficult time to come, and He gives us this beautiful prediction or predictive indicator of the progress of the kingdom. “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” So as the gospel makes its progress throughout the world, then we're getting closer to the end of the world, verses 4-14. Then verses 15-25, he describes the special circumstances surrounding first, I believe the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, under the Romans. And then as I preached in great detail, a re-establishment of the temple, an establishment of the abomination of desolation spoken of the prophet Daniel, I believe the coming of the antichrist and some special and vicious and terrible tribulations and persecutions that will come connected with that as well. We see the re-enactment as it was, so it will be. It's going to happen again, and the fleeing those in Judea up to the mountains no one having time to go down in the house to get anything out of their house, no one having time to go back to get anything out of that, even the cloak, they've got to just run for their lives because of the terrors of that time. As it was in the days of the Romans, and so it will be at the end of the world, I believe. And then in verses 26-31, the description of the actual events right toward the end, the second coming of Christ described. It will be no secret coming, it will be visible from one end of the sky to the other, like lightning that flashes from the east visible even in the west. You don't have to go out in the desert to see it, nobody's gonna need special training, you don't need any faith. You don't need anything, you just need to look up and you will. If you're alive at that time, look up and so will everyone. And every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. and all the peoples of the Earth will mourn because of him. “And immediately after the distress of those days,” says Jesus, “The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ... And they will see the sign of the Son of Man appearing in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” Jesus will return. And all the nations of the Earth will mourn. And he will send out his angels. Last week, we talked about this, and they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. So we come to this section of scripture that we're looking at today and what a shock it must have been to these Jewish disciples of Jesus. They thought that the temple city of Jerusalem would last forever. Jesus revealed that they're actually going to be destroyed, and so this question of then, what's permanent, must be in their minds. When will this happen? They still wanna know, and if this is impermanent than what is permanent? What can I build my life on? What is going to last here? Now, concerning the first of those two questions: When will this happen? The answer he gives for the rest of the chapter is really two-fold. First of all, he's going to say, look for the signs, add up the signs. I've been telling you some specific details. When you see these things happening, look for these signs, you'll see a progress toward the end of the world. We'll be able to lay it out. We'll be able to connect the dots. Look at those signs, add up the signs. And secondly, he says that he's coming like a thief in the night, and no one's gonna know exactly when. So we have to be ready at any time. Concerning what is permanent, what can I build my life upon? As I look at these four verses that we're studying today, I think the unifying theme of today's sermon is not so much the timing of Christ coming, but rather the trustworthiness of Christ's words. We're going to look at the words of Christ today. The word of Christ in its power, the word of Christ, in its clarity, in its immediacy, in its difficulty, and in its eternity, its permanence. And in the end, all we have as we look ahead to the second coming of Christ are the words of Christ, Amen, that's what we have. Spoken, either by him or by his apostles. We know nothing about the second coming of Christ apart from the words, and so we've got to cling to these words so we can know how to be ready and be filled with joy at his coming and not be ashamed. And so we must cling to the words of Christ. Clarity: The Parable of the Fig Tree The “Parable” of the Fig Tree So let's look first at this issue of the clarity of Christ's words, and we have immediately this parable of the fig tree. Look at verse 32 and 33, it says, “Now, learn this lesson from the fig tree, as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.” So we have this parable, he doesn't call it that, but this parable of the fig tree. Jesus frequently used just homely, everyday physical things in life to teach spiritual principles, parables. Parables are really fascinating teaching tools. They're really kind of amazing, actually. Some people think parables were given to make things clear. Well, that's not entirely true, they're given to make things clear for the church to the insiders, to the believers, they actually make things more difficult for the outsiders. They led people in Jesus' day to think he was nuts. He would say these things and it would be like, these are the sayings of a demon-possessed man, he's crazy. And if you think that's a strange reaction, then just try it sometimes I've told you this before, just take one of the parables of Jesus and go to an average person in the street, talk to somebody until you find somebody who never goes to church, just an unbeliever, never went to church, whatever, just an average American pagan. You just go up to them and just tell them the words of a parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a seed that a man sowed in his garden, and it grew up and it got bigger and bigger like this tree until the birds came and nested in its branches. “You are nuts. Is that all you wanted to say to me?” “No, that's it. Well, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Does that help you?” “I guess I don't have ears.” “Oh, may God give you ears to hear.” Because what happens is the disciples didn't get it either, what did they do? Like humble spiritual beggars, they went back to Jesus and said, “What does this mean? I don't get it.” And then he explained everything in detail, he said, “The outsiders get it in parables, the insiders have the good sense to come and ask me, and I just open up my hand and I satisfy the desire of every living thing. You ask, and I'll tell. If any man lack wisdom, let him come to Jesus and he will make it very clear." And then the parables become the clearest of all Jesus' teaching tools, extremely memorable, very efficient. Kingdom of heaven, like yeast that a woman makes into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough. A very efficient way of talking about how the gospel is gonna spread to the ends of the Earth in a very hidden, and secret way that people will not be able to see. And how it spreads to your own individual life from inside until it conquers everything you are. That's a very efficient teaching tool. That's the way the parables work. Agricultural Parables: Things Take Time to Develop What about this parable of the fig tree? Well, the whole thing about agricultural parables is that there are some things that God has ordained that take time to develop. They don't come overnight. They don't come instantly. God says, “Let there be light,” and there's light. But in Genesis 2, he creates a certain species of herbs and plants that require human cultivation, and so while he creates the genetic pattern for those, they're not all there immediately and they need some time to develop. And so it is with these agricultural parables. The fig tree has to develop, we're in a history here, developing movement. We have to look at the movement, the development. As soon as you see its twigs get tender and its leaves come out you know that summer is near. So when you see some simple things happening in the spring. Here in North Carolina, the leaves come up very quickly, don't they? And when you see just the explosion of green, you basically know that winter's over. Summer is coming very soon. You just know that. You just know these things, and Jesus is saying the same thing. You know this, don't you? And so when you see all these things, you know that the end is imminent, it's near. That's what he's saying very simply. “All These Things”: The Signs Christ Has Already Given And so what does he mean by “all these things”? Well, that's quite a question and we'll get into that, but basically the signs that the Christ has already given: Wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes in various places, apostasy, persecution of the church, standing firm to the end, gospel preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, abomination of desolation, people running for their lives, and then the celestial signs that we talked about. When you see all of that then Jesus is coming back. So when you see all of these things, you know that it is near, it's imminent. All those signs point to the imminent return of Christ and makes it clear. The Fig Tree: Is It Israel? Now, the fig tree, what is the budding of the fig tree? Some would simply say, “Look, you've got it, you don't have to say anything more, Pastor Davis, you've already explained the agricultural thing, just when you see all this.” But now I go a little deeper, I say, “In the Bible, fig tree represents Israel.” And it may actually, there are numbers of indicators that from time to time, God actually does assign that kind of a thing. Sometimes Israel's like a vineyard surrounded by a rocky wall, but a lot of times there's this agricultural idea. They point to Jeremiah 24, in which Jeremiah is shown, two baskets of figs, one of them really, really good, ripe succulent figs and the other one, other basket just wretched so bad they could not be eaten, and the good figs represent the Jews that are gonna be restored to the promised land. And the bad figs are those that are going to be destroyed, and so they say, “Okay, then the figs represent... The budding of the fig tree represents the coming back of the Jews to the Promised Land.” Or they'll say, Jesus' parable of the fig tree in Luke 13, when there's this fig tree as you remember that doesn't bear any fruit and he's about to cut it down, he's had it with this fig tree, and the gardener says, “No, wait a minute, just give me a little more time, let me dig around it, let me put some fertilizer down and give it a year, and if it bears fruit, fine, if not, then cut it down.” So they say that represents Israel and its fruitlessness. Or, even more poignantly, in Matthew's gospel, after the triumphal entry, Jesus goes into the temple and looks around and goes back to, I think, Gethsemane and spends the night and then comes back the next morning and on route sees a fig tree and he's hungry and he goes up and finds nothing but leaves. And he curses the fig tree and he says, “May you never bear fruit again,” and immediately the fig tree withers. And again, the timing, it just seems to be that the tree seems to represent the Jewish nation. And so from this, some Christians conclude that the budding of the fig tree, should be in some way connected to Israel or the re-establishment of the Jewish state in Israel in 1948. On May 14th, 1948, they said, “This is the budding of the fig tree.” And then that set somewhat of a time table for the return of Christ, they link it then with verse 34, when he says, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” And so they say, “Within one generation of 1948, Jesus will return.” So some Dispensational Premillennialists and Christian Zionists and others take this approach and really set the clock at that moment. It may well be. My final word on that is maybe. Maybe. It maybe that there will be some people who will be alive on earth at both of those events, both the re-establishment of Zionist Israel in Palestine, 1948 and a second coming of Christ. That is possible, but if that whole generation should die out, I don't necessarily think that Matthew 24 isn't true. In other words, it's not a sure and certain interpretation of this. Furthermore, it has been 62 years since that and counting, continuing to go on. Some people thought, what is a generation? They give you numbers like 25, they give you numbers like 40. Remember 88 Reasons that the Rapture Would Happen in 1988? I'll talk about that a little bit next week, but date setters love this budding of the fig tree thing, and they say, within that 40 years, Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert, said that pamphlet. And it's 40 years from the crucifixion of Christ to the destruction of Jerusalem, said the pamphlet. So one more 40-year period, it's 1948 to 1988. Well, friends, we're still here. Alright, the Lord is definitely gonna come back at some point, but I know one thing for certain. He's not coming back in 1988. Alright, I definitely can make that - Is that a prediction? I don't think that's even a prediction at this point, a post-diction. Okay? He didn't return. Does that mean the budding of fig tree is not Israel? I'm not saying that. Does that mean that the re-establishment of the Jews and the promised land is not significant? I am definitely not saying that friends, everything's significant, especially when it comes to the Jews. But I cannot go any further. Shall we move on? Okay, let's move on. The clarity then is, look at the whole chapter. Look at what Jesus has said. Especially friends, look at verse 14, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” Measure it that way, by the spread of the gospel around the world. Unreached people groups, missions, do it that way. Clarity. Immediacy: Near... Right at the Door “Right at the Door”: A Sense of Immediacy Secondly, immediacy. What does Jesus mean when he says, “When you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.” I wanna zero in on this phrase, “Right at the door.” The immediacy of the second coming of Christ. There is a sense of immediacy, Jesus' return would be imminent after all these things occurred. But he's also gonna say at the end of this chapter, we should always carry around in our hearts a sense of the imminence of the return of Christ, a sense of the immediacy of it. And don't be disillusioned, then, to study church history and find out that seventh century christians had a sense of the immediacy of the return of Christ and that they were convinced it could be in their lifetime, they should be ready at any moment. Like, “Boy, they were a bunch of fools.” No, they were being obedient. The Lord wanted the seventh century christians to be ready for the imminent return of Christ. How do we do that? How do we put all this together? A sense of the immediacy of Christ. A sense of this phrase, “right at the door” is used in James 5:9, where it says, “Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door.” He's right there at the door. He's ready to just open the door and come in. So don't have conflicts with each other, dear friends, because Jesus is right there. In him, we live and move and have our being. We need a sense of the imminence of Christ and of his return. An Immediate Encounter with Christ And so we need, in some sense, every day, an immediate encounter with Jesus Christ. You need a sense that he is right at the door, he's right there, and why? Because you will live differently if you do. How do we get that? Well, I'm telling you, the word of Christ is the only thing that can do that for you. It's only by consistently being in the word, that your faith is strengthened. I love that hymn we sing. “Cause our faith to rise.” Keith Getty and Stewart Townend wrote it, “Cause our faith to rise.” How does that happen? By the word, by the ministry of the word, be in the word and your faith's gonna rise and you'll have a sense Jesus could come back today. He could come back today, I could die today. I could be in the presence of Jesus before the sun goes down tonight. I want that sense of immediacy today. How do I get that? Be in the word, be in the word. Meditate on it, memorize it. Say it to yourself. Say it to each other. Pray it. Come, don't miss church. Don't miss church. I know it's summer, dear friends, but don't miss church. You need the food of the word to keep Jesus imminent in your heart. Balance Between Prophesied Events and Immediacy Now, there's a problem here, okay? How do we add up the signs and still say Jesus could come back tonight? For example, how do I preach on the abomination of desolation and say that I think that the temple is gonna be rebuilt and there'll be an antichrist and all that. And you say, “Well, that hasn't happened yet.” So we know one thing, until they do some incredibly fast building this afternoon. But even that doesn't - It kind of blows the Daniel timetable thing, about three and a half years and all that, so it just doesn't add up. So we can conclude one thing, Jesus is not coming back tonight. Don't do that. At the end of Matthew 24 and into Mathew 25 says specifically, don't do that. William Cowper wrote a hymn, “God Moves in Mysterious Ways” and he says this powerful thing in that hymn. He says, “God is his own interpreter.” The final, sovereign, accurate interpretation of Matthew 24 will be done by Jesus, okay? When he returns, and if you come and say, “Yeah, but my pastor said…” Hey look, dust in the wind, dear friends, bad teaching will go away. False interpretations will disappear, Jesus will come back when he chooses. He defines what an unreached people group is, he defines what's going on with Daniel. He's gonna decide all that, and when he comes like a king, he's coming, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. We need to be ready today, because he told us to be ready today. But still, look at the signs. Hold those two in tension and if you're struggling with that, then struggle away. We'll get to that in a moment. But Paul says In 2 Thessalonians, talking to the Thessalonian Christians there who are expecting, actually, they thought they'd missed the bus. Some false teachers had come and said “The day of the Lord has already come.” And Paul says, “Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the man of lawlessness appears,” and the apostasy and all of these things. And he says the antichrist has to come. So you read 2 Thessalonians 2, and you say, “What am I to do with that? Paul, an apostle of Christ, said that. And so if the apostasy hasn't occurred and the man of lawlessness hasn't set himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God, then Jesus can't return.” So how do we hold these things in tension? I don't know exactly. Let me give you some suggestions. First of all, we are not like the apostles after the ascension of Jesus, to be standing, ready for the second coming of Christ by gawking up at the clouds. The apostles get special things we don't get. They get angels sent saying, “Stop that. Go back and pray and wait for the gift the Father has promised. The Holy Spirit is coming. You have work to do.” And so we are to be kind of looking upward in our hearts, but busy with our hands and with our mouths and our minds, doing our spiritual gift ministries, active building the kingdom until Jesus comes back. Like it says in one translation, “Occupy until I come." Be busy doing stuff, but in your hearts know, he is his own interpreter. He could come tonight. He can come tonight. So we need to be ready, we need to keep watch. I'll get to that at the end of this chapter in Matthew 24. But don't say, “Hey, my master is a long time in coming and I can live however I want.” That's the specific attitude Jesus is driving away at the end of Matthew 24. And verse 13 of chapter 25, “Keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour.” You're told what to do. So there is a mysterious balance here. Add up the signs of the times, the budding of the fig tree and all that. But at the same time, say, “Jesus could come back any time.” I actually think you need to be ready for two mysterious things. You need to be ready at any time for the second coming of Christ, and ready any time for your own death. Because you don't know the day or the hour of either one, and it really amounts to the same thing, you live the same way. You don't do anything you're ashamed of, you're just ready all the time, because the Lord could come back or you could go to the Lord in death, and he's sovereign over both of those things. Difficulty: Who Is “This Generation” that Will Not Pass Away? Many of Christ’s Words Are Also Difficult! So that brings us immediately to the third issue, and that is the difficulty of Christ's words. Christ's words are not easy. They're not easy to understand. It just takes labor. 2 Timothy 2:15, for people like myself, pastors who are called to the ministry of the word, that's a key verse for us. “Study to show yourselves approved unto God, workmen who don't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Don't be lazy in the word, Oh pastors, dig deep, try to understand, compare one passage to the next, cut it straight. Do a good job. Don't be slap dash in your interpretation. Why? Because the word is difficult, and we have an example of it right here. Look at verse 34, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Oh boy, what are we gonna do with that statement? Frankly, many of Christ's words are said to be difficult in the gospels. Mark 9:32, it says, “But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” Don't you love that? “I have no idea what that is, and I don't wanna ask him. Do you?” “No, I don't wanna ask him. Let's just be blissfully ignorant because I have no idea what he's talking about.” Luke 18:34, “The disciples did not understand any of this, it's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.” There are many such statements. How about this one? After Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” Jesus loses 90-plus percent of his followers that day. And they all said the same thing. “This is a difficult saying, who can understand it?” Very difficult. One of the Most Debated Sayings of Christ Now, this one in Matthew 24:34 is one of the more debated statements of Christ. What does Jesus mean when he says that “this generation” would not pass away until “all these things” have happened? They work on both of those. What is this generation? And what are all these things that he's talking about? They go back and forth. A “Solemn Declaration” He begins it with a solemn declaration, “I tell you the truth.” Or “Truly I say to you.” Everything Jesus says is true, but when he uses, “Truly, truly, I say to you,” or in this case, “Truly, I say to you,” I don't think he's saying “This is more true than the other things I say.” Everything he says is true. But in a way, he's saying, “Sit up and pay attention. Notice this, I wanna tell you something. This is important.” That's what he's doing. Various Interpretive Options to Reject But, what does he mean? Well, let's reject some interpretations we know it can't mean. “The generation,” I don't think he's referring to the human race as a whole. It could, grammatically, the Greek word, it could mean “the human race,” and in effect then, he would be saying the human race will not be extinct before the end of the world. Well, that's a relief to all those that watch end-of-the-world type movies where you're wondering if we're gonna become extinct, but that's not even what Jesus is talking about here. Neither is he saying, I think that the church will not die out before he returns. That's a relief to everyone, but what would the point be, and he already said that unless those days have been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened. There will be some elect when Jesus returns. That’s who the angels are gonna go gather anyway. I think it's impossible for Jesus to mean this. Before every single solitary person that's alive today dies, I will come back in glory to judge the world. How do you know that's not true? Well, it didn't happen, friends. And it's amazing how people play with the idea that Jesus may have been wrong, “I mean, even Jesus made mistakes when it came to the second coming.” Jesus never made a single mistake. Next week, we'll talk about his statement when he says that he didn't know when the exact time would be. But the fact of the matter is it cannot mean that all of these things, including the second coming would happen in the first century AD, because then Jesus would be wrong, and if Jesus is wrong about anything, I don't wanna hear him about anything, he's a false prophet. But he's not a false prophet. Everything he says is true. So we dispense with that. Various Interpretive Options to Consider Well, then, what could it mean? Well, various options that we consider. Could be that he's just talking about the destruction of Jerusalem, saying that that will happen within the lifetime of those standing there, and some, many reputable commentators, take that approach. Some who are alive today will be alive when the temple is destroyed. And that did happen. And so in support of that is just a simple use of the word “this generation.” Within this generation, the temple will be destroyed, and that's literally what did happen. But there are some problems with that approach. Jesus has just gotten done describing the events of the second coming, coming in the clouds and everyone's gonna see him, and the angels sent out and gathering the elect, and then all of these things comes right after that, and all these things this generation won't pass away until all those things have happened. So that's difficult, still some hold to it, say he's going back to talking about the temple at that point. Option number two, I think, is that he's referring - The word “generation” can refer to “race.” And I think here, this is the best of many difficult interpretations, but the best is he is referring to the Jewish race as a whole. The Jewish race will not become extinct, will not be eradicated from the face of the earth, despite all of the assaults there will be on it. Now think about that, “pray that your flight will not take place in the winter on the Sabbath,” it's a specifically Jewish attack when the temple is destroyed and when the Romans come in in 70 AD, they are wanting to kill Jews and not just a few, they're wanting to kill them all, I think. Josephus estimates between one and two million Jews killed by the sword. What a blood bath. The Ramifications of the Jews’ Preservation And we should not think, it's just a no-brainer that the Jews will be around when Jesus returns. They have been attacked and persecuted in just about every generation, they have been a special focus of Satanic attack all along, and I've got historical dates, I don't wanna give it to you, but just - even Christians - so-called Christians and the crusades went after the Jews during the Black Plague. They blamed the Jews and went after them. Muslims in different generations have wiped out whole communities of Jews. Czarist Russia had their pilgrims and their attacks. And of all of them, of course, the worst under the Nazis in Germany, six million of them exterminated in a clear desire on the part of the Germans, the final solution of getting rid of the Jewish race as a whole. Eradicating it completely. So therefore, I think it's no small assertion that Jesus makes, that there will be a recognizable, identifiable Jewish people when he returns. That's actually a miracle, quite frankly, given all the persecution, the attack on them. And why will they be there? Because his sovereign power will guarantee it. And why? Because God's gifts and his calling are irrevocable. He still has purposes for the Jewish nation. And so he's going to uphold them and he's going to take godlessness away from Jacob and they will turn to Christ at the end, that's why. And so he's saying, despite all of the assaults and the attacks, they'll still be a recognizable Jewish nation at the end. The difficulty, however of Christ words you may say, “You know what, pastor, I don't agree with that interpretation.” Fine, I am not as certain about that as I am about this, Jesus is coming back some day, and so there is in my mind a hierarchy of certainty of truth, some things are clearer than others. I'm just telling you the Bible is a hard book to interpret. It's not all easy, friends, there is milk and there is meat, more on that in a moment. But the fact is, difficulty. Eternity: Christ’s Words More Permanent than the Universe This Temporary Universe So we've seen clarity. We've seen immediacy. We've seen difficulty now finally, the eternity of Christ's words. Look at verse 35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” This temporary universe, friends, this temporary universe, that's our home, for a little while. Heaven and earth will pass away. He's testified to this many times. Look back at verse 29, he says, “Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened. Moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” That's the future, friends, it's all going away. Or this one, Hebrews 1:10-12. “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the Earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment, they will be changed. But you remain the same and your years will never end.” And again, in that same book, Hebrews 12:26-27, looking back to Sinai, when God came down to Sinai and shook the Earth, it says, “At that time his voice shook the Earth, but now he has promised once more I will shake not only the Earth, but also the heavens.” Now, the words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken. So that those things that cannot be shaken will remain. And what is it that cannot be shaken? The kingdom of Christ cannot be shaken. We're receiving a kingdom that can never be shaken through the word of God. Or this one, 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the Earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” So there is nothing physical, there is nothing that our five senses can take in in the physical world that God created of which is speaking here, that is eternal. And the bent of our hearts is always to make it so, isn't it? “This is really my life, this is what I love, this is what I cling to.” Don't. Let it go, let it go. Because the world and its desires is passing away, but the man who does the will of God stands forever. Astonishing Statement: Christ’s Words More Permanent than the Universe! An amazing statement that Jesus is making here, he's saying, my words that I'm speaking to you are more permanent than the universe. Do you realize only God could make a statement like that? Not even the prophets would talk like that. Prophets don't talk like that. They say, “Thus says the Lord,” and then they go. Jesus doesn't say, “Thus says the Lord.” He says, “My words, my words are more permanent than the universe.” Christ’s Assertion: Yet Another Claim to Deity!! He is God in the flesh, dear friends, he was God in a body, and he was standing there talking and he said, “My words will still be around.” Similar to the assertion he made earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, he said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away,” or disappear, “not the smallest letter or the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished.” He's equating his own words to the law, the psalms and prophets. He says, “My words are scripture.” God’s Esteem for His Own Word Now, God has the highest esteem for his own word. Genesis 1:3, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Psalm 33:6, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” It says in Psalm 138 that God has exalted above all things his name and his word. And so “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” What Scripture Says About the Permanence of God’s Word Dear friends, Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. All men are like grass.” Friends, we are temporary. We are impermanent. We're not gonna be here much longer. God's word's gonna still be here. And notice he says, “My words,” I find that fascinating. Not just kind of “my word,” like a theological principle, but my words, my nouns, my adjectives, my connectors, my sentences, my paragraphs will still be around. People will still be reading them. A movie recently, I read about it in World Magazine, called Book of Eli, where they were down to one Bible. Friends, there are billions of Bibles in the world. Billions of them. Satan has tried to attack this book, it's still here, friends. It's still here. Voltaire said within 100 years, no one in France would be a Christian. Christianity would be gone. Nobody would be reading the Bible. Friends we're still here, the Bible is still here. Voltaire is gone. But the scripture is still here. And it will be forever. Applications The Purpose of this Assertion: Our Faith and Confidence Now, what application can we take from this? Well, why does he just make this assertion? He wants us to put our faith and our confidence in his word. Trust in that. He wants churches based on the word, not based on glitzy showmanship and entertainment and titillating people's senses so that they can feel good for just a little short time like eating a candy bar, and then you return to the warfare and the trenches, he wants you to base your life on the word. Base your churches on the word and base your churchgoing on feeding on the word. That's what he's saying here. Marvel at the Living Word of God So I want you to begin by just marveling at the living word of God, marvel at it, marvel at its clarity, marvel at its immediacy, marvel at its difficulty and its eternity. Clarity: Come to Christ to Make the Word Clear And when it comes to the clarity, if I can just urge you, come to Christ for him to make everything clear. The clearest thing in the Bible is how sinners are made right with God, it's the clearest thing is that there is a God, he is holy, he has laid down laws, they are to be fully obeyed. We have sinned, all of us have broken the laws of God, we are going to die and stand before this mighty God and give an account for every careless word we have spoken. We, apart from Christ, are lost. We are damned. We are going to spend eternity in hell. But God sent his son who shed his blood on the cross, he died in our place that we might have eternal life. If you repent and trust in him, all your sins will be forgiven. And then Jesus will speak those beautiful words over, you “Take heart, son, take heart, daughter. Your sins are forgiven you, and you're righteous in my sight.” If you hear nothing else about this sermon, hear this. If you're lost, don't be lost anymore, come to Christ and let him make everything clear. And if you're a Christian and have been a Christian for years, then come to Christ every day over the scripture, just say, “Jesus, make this clear to me. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. Teach me your word.” And bring him some difficult things, say, “I don't know what I think about Matthew 24 and all this stuff, pastor has his opinion, he's a very opinionated guy, it's alright, I guess it's his job to be opinionated. But I wanna know the truth, Jesus.” Like the Bereans, “Jesus. Teach me Matthew 24.” Search the scriptures. Immediacy: Read the Word of God for an Immediate Encounter with God through Christ Clarity, immediacy. God wants you to live moment by moment with a sense of the immediate presence of God in your life. So that whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you're doing it to the glory of God. You can only have that immediacy through the word, God is mediating it to you through the word. Look, Hindus have spiritual experiences, even astral projection, out-of-body experiences, Muslim Sufis have those kinds of things. There are even some that call themselves Christians don't read the word much, but they're looking for an experience of the spirit. That's dangerous, dear friends, get your experience through the word, but let it be a rich, full experience with Christ. Don't be distant from him, let him mediate his love to you in a sense of presence, and you will live a more holy life, and you will live a more fruitful life, immediacy. Immediacy: Be Ready Constantly for the Second Coming of Christ...and for your own Death And be ready constantly for the second coming of Christ, be ready at any hour. Jonathan Edwards, when he was 19 years old, made some resolutions. Resolution 19, “Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be ashamed to do if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trumpet.” That was in the early 18th centuries. He never heard the last trumpet, but he was ready at any moment to not do anything he'd be ashamed for Christ to find him doing that when he returned. So also we have to be ready at any time for our own death, as I've said. Resolution number seven, “Resolved, never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.” It's really in the end, the same thing. Difficulty And what about the difficulty of the word? There is milk in the word, drink it, it's sweet, but there's meat too. Don't despise the process it takes for a pastor when preaching or for you when studying to find out difficult things in the word. As John Piper said, “If you use a rake, all you get is leaves, but if you use the shovel, you might get gold.” So dig down, or as one of my Bible professors said, “The best cookies are in the highest shelf,” so work for it, go after it, because there's some difficult passages. Eternity And finally, eternity. Meditate much on this statement, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount saying, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rains came down, and streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock.” And so it is, if you're having financial troubles, maybe out of a job or struggling financially, build your life on the word of God. Go to Hebrews 13, it says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money, be content with what you have because God has told you, ‘I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.’” Go to that, feed on that. In your marriage, learn again, what marriage is about. Matthew 19, “Haven't you read that at the beginning, the Creator made them male and female and said ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so they're no longer two but one’? What God has joined together, let man not separate.” Come to the word for your marriage. Same thing with parents, and I could go topic by topic. Base your whole life on the word of God. Heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus' words are still gonna be here when we see him face-to-face. Close with me in prayer.