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Few Americans have been as explicit in their warnings about Donald Trump than the St. Louis based writer Sarah Kendzior. Her latest book, The Last American Road Trip, is a memoir chronicling Kendzior's journey down Route 66 to show her children America before it is destroyed. Borrowing from her research of post Soviet Central Asia, Kendzior argues that Trump is establishing a kleptocratic “mafia state” designed to fleece the country of its valuables. This is the third time that Kendzior has been on the show and I have to admit I've always been slightly skeptical of her apocalyptic take on Trump. But given the damage that the new administration is inflicting on America, I have to admit that many of Kendzior's warnings now appear to be uncannily prescient. As she warns, it's Springtime in America. And things are about to get much much hotter. FIVE TAKEAWAYS* Kendzior views Trump's administration as a "mafia state" or kleptocracy focused on stripping America for parts rather than traditional fascism, comparing it to post-Soviet oligarchic systems she studied as an academic.* She believes American institutions have failed to prevent authoritarianism, criticizing both the Biden administration and other institutional leaders for not taking sufficient preventative action during Trump's first term.* Despite her bleak analysis, Kendzior finds hope in ordinary Americans and their capacity for mutual care and resistance, even as she sees formal leadership failing.* Kendzior's new book The Last American Road Trip follows her journey to show her children America before potential collapse, using Route 66 as a lens to examine American decay and resilience.* As an independent voice, she describes being targeted through both publishing obstacles and personal threats, yet remains committed to staying in her community and documenting what's happening. FULL TRANSCRIPTAndrew Keen: Hello everybody, it is April the 18th, 2025, a Friday. I'm thrilled today that we have one of my favorite guests back on the show. I call her the Cassandra of St. Louis, Sarah Kendzior. Many of you know her from her first book, which was a huge success. All her books have done very well. The View from Flyover Country. She was warning us about Trump and Trumpism and MAGA. She was first on our show in 2020. Talking about media in the age of Trump. She had another book out then, Hiding in Plain Sight, The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America. Then in 2022, she came back on the show to talk about how a culture of conspiracy is keeping America simultaneously complacent and paranoid that the book was called or is called, They Knew. Another big success. And now Sarah has a new book out. It's called The Last American Road Trip. It's a beautifully written book, a kind of memoir, but a political one, of course, which one would expect from Sarah Kendzior. And I'm thrilled, as I said, that the Cassandra of St. Louis is joining us from St. Louis. Sarah, congratulations on the new book.Sarah Kendzior: Oh, thank you. And thank you for having me back on.Andrew Keen: Well, it's an honor. So these four books, how does the last American road trip in terms of the narrative of your previous three hits, how does it fit in? Why did you write it?Sarah Kendzior: Well, this book kind of pivots off the epilog of hiding in plain sight. And that was a book about political corruption in the United States and the rise of Trump. But in the epilogue, I describe how I was trying as a mom to show my kids America in the case that it ended due to both political turmoil and corruption and also climate change. I wanted them to see things themselves. So I was driving them around the country to national parks, historic sites, et cetera. And so many people responded so passionately to that little section, especially parents really struggling on how to raise children in this America that I ended up writing a book that covers 2016 to 2024 and my attempts to show my children everything I could in the time that we had. And as this happens, my children went from relatively young kids to teenagers, my daughter's almost an adult. And so it kind of captures America during this time period. It's also just a travelog, a road trip book, a memoir. It's a lot of things at once.Andrew Keen: Yeah, got great review from Ms. magazine comparing you with the great road writers, Kerouac, of course, and Steinbeck, but Kerouak and Steinback, certainly Kerouack was very much of a solitary male. Is there a female quality to this book? As you say, it's a book as much about your kids and the promise of America as it is about yourself.Sarah Kendzior: Yeah, I think there is in that, you know, I have a section actually about the doomed female road trip where it's, you know, Thelma and Louise or Janet Bates and Psycho or even songs about, you know, being on the road and on the run that are written by women, you know, like Merle Haggard's I'm a Lonesome Fugitive, had to be sung by men to convey that quality. And there aren't a lot of, you know, mom on the Road with her husband and kids kind of books. That said, I think of it as a family book, a parenting book. I certainly think men would like it just as much as women would, and people without kids would like just as people with kids, although it does seem to strike a special resonance with families struggling with a lot of the same issues that I do.Andrew Keen: It's all about the allure of historic Route 66. I've been on that. Anyone who's driven across the country has you. You explain that it's a compilation of four long trips across Route 66 in 1998, 2007, 2017, and 2023. That's almost 40 years, Sarah. Sorry, 30. Getting away my age there, Andrew. My math isn't very good. I mean, how has Route 66 and of course, America changed in that period? I know that's a rather leading question.Sarah Kendzior: No, I mean, I devote quite a lot of the book to Route 66 in part because I live on it, you know, goes right through St. Louis. So, I see it just every day. I'll be casually grocery shopping and then be informed I'm on historic Route 66 all of a sudden. But you know it's a road that is, you once was the great kind of romanticized road of escape and travel. It was decommissioned notably by Ronald Reagan after the creation of the interstate. And now it's just a series of rural roads, frontage roads, roads that end abruptly, roads that have gone into ruin, roads that are in some really beautiful places in terms of the landscape. So it really is this conglomeration of all of America, you know of the decay and the destruction and the abandonment in particular, but also people's, their own memories, their own artistic works, you know roadside shrines and creations that are often, you know pretty off beat. That they've put to show this is what I think of our country. These are my values. This is what, I think, is important. So it's a very interesting journey to take. It's often one I'm kind of inadvertently on just because of where I live and the direction I go. We'll mirror it. So I kept passing these sites again and again. I didn't set out to write this book. Obviously, when I first drove it when I was 19, I didn't know that this was our future. But looking back, especially at technological change, at how we travel, at how trust each other, at all of these things that have happened to this country since this time, it's really something. And that road will bring back all of those memories of what was lost and what remains to be lost. And of course it's hitting its 100th anniversary next year, so I'm guessing there'll be a lot of reminiscing about Route 66.Andrew Keen: Book about memories, you write about that, eventually even your memory will just or this experience of this trip will just be a memory. What does that suggest about contextualizing the current moment in American history? It's too easy to overdramatize it or perhaps it's hard not to over dramatize it given what's happening. I want to talk about a little bit about that your take on America on April the 18th, 2025. But how does that make sense of a memorial when you know that even your memories will become memories?Sarah Kendzior: Yeah, I mean it's hard to talk frankly about what's happening in America now without it sounding over dramatic or hyperbolic, which I think is why so many people were reluctant to believe me over my last decade of warnings that the current crises and catastrophes that we're experiencing are coming, are possible, and need to be actively stopped. I don't think they were inevitable, but they needed to be stopped by people in charge who refused to do it. And so, my reaction to this as a writer, but just as a human being is to write everything down, is to keep an ongoing record, not only of what I witness now, but of what know of our history, of what my own values are, of what place in the world is. And back in 2016, I encouraged everyone to do this because I knew that over the next decade, people would be told to accept things that they would normally never accept, to believe things that they would normally, never believe. And if you write down where you stand, you always have that point of reference to look back towards. It doesn't have to be for publication. It doesn't have to for the outside world. It can just be for yourself. And so I think that that's important. But right now, I think everyone has a role to play in battling what is an authoritarian kleptocracy and preventing it from hurting people. And I think people should lean into what they do best. And what I do best is write and research and document. So that's what I meant. Continue to do, particularly as history itself is under assault by this government.Andrew Keen: One of the things that strikes me about you, Sarah, is that you have an unusual background. You got a PhD in Soviet studies, late Soviet studies.Sarah Kendzior: Anthropology, yeah, but that was nice.Andrew Keen: But your dissertation was on the Uzbek opposition in exile. I wonder whether that experience of studying the late Soviet Union and its disintegration equipped you in some ways better than a lot of domestic American political analysts and writers for what's happening in America today. We've done a number of shows with people like Pete Weiner, who I'm sure you know his work from the Atlantic of New York Times. About learning from East European resistance writers, brave people like Milan Kundra, of course, Vaclav Havel, Solzhenitsyn. Do you think your earlier history of studying the Soviet Union helped you prepare, at least mentally, intellectually, for what's happening in the United States?Sarah Kendzior: Oh, absolutely. I think it was essential, because there are all sorts of different types of authoritarianism. And the type that Trump and his backers have always pursued was that of a mafia state, you know, of a kleptocracy. And Uzbekistan is the country that I knew the most. And actually, you what I wrote my dissertation about, this is between 2006, and 2012, was the fact that after a massacre of civilians... A lot of Uzbekistan's journalists, activists, political figures, opposition figures, et cetera, went into exile and then they immediately started writing blogs. And so for the very first time, they had freedom of speech. They had never had it in Uzbekistan. And they start revealing the whole secret history of Uzbekistan and everything going on and trying to work with each other, try to sort of have some impact on the political process in Uzbekistan. And they lost. What happened was the dictator died, Islam Karimov died, in 2016, and was replaced by another dictator who's not quite as severe. But watching the losing side and also watching people persevere and hold on to themselves and continue working despite that loss, I think, was very influential. Because you could look at Václav Havel or Lech Walesa or, you know, other sort of. People who won, you know, from Eastern Europe, from the revolutions of 1989 and so forth. And it's inspiring that sometimes I think it's really important to look at the people who did not succeed, but kept going anyway. You know, they didn't surrender themselves. They didn't their morality and they didn't abandon their fellow man. And I think that that's important. And also just to sort of get at the heart of your question, yes, you the structure of it, oligarchs who shake down countries, strip them and sell them for parts. Mine them for resources. That model, especially of what happened to Russia, actually, in particular in the 1990s of these oligarch wars, is what I see as the future of the United States right now. That is what they're trying to emulate.Andrew Keen: That we did a show with Steve Hansen and Jeff Kopstein, both political scientists, on what they see. They co-wrote a book on patrimonialism. This is the model they see there. They're both Max Weber scholars, so they borrow from that historic sociological analysis. And Kopstein was on the show with John Rausch as well, talking about this patrimonials. And so you, do you share the Kopstein-Hansen-Rausch analysis. Roush wrote a piece in the Atlantic about this too, which did very well. But this isn't conventional fascism or communism. It's a kind of 21st century version of patrimonialism.Sarah Kendzior: It's definitely not traditional fascism and one of the main reasons for that is a fascist has loyalty to the state. They seek to embody the state, they seek to expand the state recently Trump has been doing this more traditional route somewhat things like wanting to buy Greenland. But I think a lot of what he's doing is in reaction to climate change and also by the way I don't think Trump is the mastermind or originator. Of any of these geopolitical designs. You know, he has a team, we know about some of them with the Heritage Foundation Project 2025. We know he has foreign advisors. And again, you know, Trump is a corporate raider. That is how he led his business life. He's a mafia associate who wants to strip things down and sell them for parts. And that's what they wanna do with the United States. And that, yes, there are fascist tactics. There are fascists rhetoric. You know there are a lot of things that this country will, unfortunately, and has. In common, you know, with, say, Nazi Germany, although it's also notable that of course Nazi Germany borrowed from a lot of the tactics of Jim Crow, slavery, genocide of Native Americans. You know, this has always been a back and forth and America always has had some form of selective autocracy. But yeah, I think the folks who try to make this direct line and make it seem like the 20th century is just simply being revived, I've always felt like they were off because. There's no interest for these plutocrats in the United States even existing as a sovereign body. Like it truly doesn't matter to them if all of our institutions, even something as benign as the Postal Service, collapse. That's actually beneficial for them because then they can privatize, they can mine resources, they can make money for themselves. And I really worry that their goal is partition, you know, is to take this country. And to split it into smaller pieces that are easier to control. And that's one of the reasons I wrote this book, that I wrote The Last American Road Trip because I don't want people to fall for traps about generalizations or stereotypes about different regions of this country. I want them to see it as a whole and that our struggles are interconnected and we have a better chance of winning if we stand by each other.Andrew Keen: Yeah, and your book, in particular, The View from Flyover Country was so important because it wasn't written from San Francisco or Los Angeles or D.C. Or New York. It was written from St. Louis. So in a way, Sarah, you're presenting Trump as the ultimate Hayekian b*****d. There's a new book out by Quinn Slobodian called Hayek's B******s, which connects. Trumpianism and mago with Neoliberalism you don't see a break. We've done a lot of shows on the rise and fall of neoliberalism. You don't say a break between Hayek and TrumpSarah Kendzior: I think that in terms of neoliberalism, I think it's a continuation of it. And people who think that our crises began with Trump becoming the president in 2017, entering office, are deluded because the pathway to Trump even being able to run for president given that he was first investigated by the Department of Justice in 1973 and then was linked to a number of criminal enterprises for decades after. You know, that he was able to get in that position, you know that already showed that we had collapsed in certain respects. And so I think that these are tied together. You know, this has a lot to do with greed, with a, you know a disregard for sovereignty, a disregard human rights. For all of this Trump has always served much better as a demagogue, a front man, a figurehead. I do think, you he's a lot smarter. Than many of his opponents give him credit for. He is very good at doing what he needs to do and knowing what he need to know and nothing more. The rest he gives to the bureaucrats, to the lawyers, et cetera. But he fills this persona, and I do wonder what will happen when he is gone because they've tried very hard to find a successor and it's always failed, like DeSantis or Nikki Haley or whoever. And I kind of wonder if one of the reasons things are moving so, so fast now is they're trying to get a lot of things in under the wire while he's still alive, because I don't think that there's any individual who people have the loyalty to. His cult is not that big. It's a relatively small segment of the country, but it is very intense and very loyal to him. I don't think that loyalty is transferable.Andrew Keen: Is there anything, you know, I presented you as the Cassandra from St. Louis, you've seen the future probably clearer than most other people. Certainly when I first came across your work, I wasn't particularly convinced. I'm much more convinced now. You were right. I was wrong. Is there, anything about Trump too, that surprised you? I mean, any of the, the cruelty? Open corruption, the anger, the hostility, the attempt to destroy anything of any value in America, the fact that they seem to take such great pleasure in destroying this country's most valuable thing.Sarah Kendzior: Yeah, it's extremely sad and no, he doesn't surprise me at all. He's been the same guy since I was a little kid. You know, he was a plot line on children's television shows in the 1980s where as a child, I was supposed to know that the name Trump was synonymous with corruption, with being a tax cheat, with being a liar, you know, these were just sort of cultural codes that I was expected to know. What surprised me more is that no one stopped him because this threat was incredibly obvious. And that so many people in power have joined in, and I'm assuming they're joining in because they would rather be on the side with all that power than be a target of that power, but that they feel apparently no sense of loss, no sense grief for things like the loss of national parks, public education, the postal service, things that most folks like, social security for your elderly parents. Most Americans... Want these things. And most Americans, regardless of political party, don't want to see our country torn apart in this fashion. And so I'm not surprised by Trump. I'm surprised at the extent of his enablers at the complicity of the press and of the FBI and other institutions. And, you know, it's also been very jarring to watch how open they are this time around, you know, things like Elon Musk and his operation taking out. Classified information. The thing is, is I'm pretty sure Trump did all that. I mean, we know Trump did this in his first term, you know, and they would emphasize things like this box of physical written documents in Mar-a-Lago illegally taken. But, you know my mind always just went to, well, what did they do digitally? Because that seems much easier and much more obvious. What did they with all of these state secrets that they had access to for four years? What kind of leverage would that give them? And I think now they're just kind of, they're not bothering to hide anything anymore. I think they set the stage and now, you know, we're in the midst of the most horrible play, the most terrible performance ever. And it's, you can be still crushing at times.Andrew Keen: And of course, the real question is whether we're in the last act. Your book, The Last American Road Trip, was written, mostly written, what, in 2024 from?Sarah Kendzior: 2023.Andrew Keen: 2023. So, I mean, here's, I don't know if you can answer this, Sarah, but you know as much about middle America and middle Americans as anyone. You're on the road, you talk to everyone, you have a huge following, both on the left and the right in some ways. Some of your books now, you told me before we went live, some of your previous books, like Hiding in Plain Sight, suddenly become a big hit amongst conservative Americans. What does Trump or the MAGA people around him, what do they have to do to lose the support of ordinary Americans? As you say, they're destroying the essential infrastructure, medical, educational, the roads, the railways, everything is being destroyed, carted off almost like Stalin carted of half of the Soviet Union back into Asia during the Second World War. What does he have to do to lose the support of Middle America?Sarah Kendzior: I mean, I don't think middle America, you know, by which like a giant swath of the country that's, that's just ideological, diverse, demographically diverse supports him. I mean some do certainly. He's got some hardcore acolytes. I think most people are disillusioned with the entire political system. They are deeply frustrated by Trump. They were deeply frustrated. By Biden, they're struggling to pay bills. They're struggling. To hold on to basic human rights. And they're mad that their leverage is gone. People voted in record numbers in 2020. They protested in record number throughout Trump's first term. They've made their concerns known for a very long time and there are just very few officials really listening or responding. And I think that initially when Trump reentered the picture, it caused folks to just check out mentally because it was too overwhelming. I think it's why voter turnout was lower because the Democrats, when they won, didn't make good on their promises. It's a very simple thing. If you follow through with your campaign platform that was popular, then you're going to retain those voters. If you don't, you may lose them, especially when you're up against a very effective demagogue who has a way with rhetoric. And so we're just in such a bad place, such a painful place. I don't think people will look to politicians to solve their problems and with very good reason. I'm hoping that there are more of a sense of community support, more of sense that we're all in this together, especially as financially things begin to fall apart. Trump said openly in 2014 that he intended to crash the American economy. He said this on a Fox News clip that I found in 2016. Because it was being reprinted all over Russian-language media. They loved this clip because it also praised Putin and so forth. And I was astounded by it. I was like, why in the world isn't this all over every TV station, every radio station? He's laying out the whole plan, and now he's following that plan. And so I'm very concerned about that. And I just hope people in times like this, traditionally, this opens the door to fascism. People become extremely afraid. And in their fear they want a scapegoat, they are full of rage, they take it out on each other. That is the worst possible move right now from both a moral or a strategic view. People need to protect each other, to respect each other as fully human, to recognize almost everyone here, except for a little tiny group of corrupt billionaires, is a victim in this scenario, and so I don't see a big difference between, you know, myself and... Wherever I go. I was in Tulsa yesterday, I was in San Francisco last week. We're all in this together and I see a lot of heartache wherever I go. And so if people can lend each other support, that is the best way to get through this.Andrew Keen: Are you suggesting then that he is the Manchurian candidate? Why did he say that in 2014?Sarah Kendzior: Well, it was interesting. He was on Fox during the Sochi Olympics, and he was talking about how he speaks with Putin every day, their pals, and that Putin is going to produce a really big win for us, and we're all going to be very happy about it. And then he went on to say that the crashing of the economy and riots throughout America is what will make America great again. And this is in February 2014. Fox has deleted the clip, You know, other people have copies. So it is, it's also in my book hiding in plain sight, the transcript of that. I'm not sure, like a Manchurian candidate almost feels, you know like the person would have to be blackmailed or coerced or brainwashed somehow to participate. I think Trump is a true volunteer and his loyalty isn't to Russia per se. You know, his loyalty is to his bank accounts, like his loyalty is to power. And one thing he's been after his whole life was immunity from prosecution because he has been involved or adjacent to such an enormous number of crimes. And then when the Supreme Court granted him that, he got what he wanted and he's not afraid of breaking the law in any way. He's doing what all autocrats do, which is rewrite the law so that he is no longer breaking it. And he has a team of lawyers who help him in that agenda. So I feel like on one sense, he's very. All-American. It's kind of a sad thing that as he destroys America, he's doing it in a very American way. He plays a lot of great American music at his rallies. He has a vernacular that I can relate to that and understand it while detesting everything he's doing and all of his horrific policies. But what they want to turn us into though, I think is something that all Americans just won't. Recognized. And we've had the slipping away of a kind of unified American culture for a while, I think because we've lost our pop culture, which is really where a lot of people would bond, you know, movies, music, all of it became split into streaming services, you know. All of it became bifurcated. People stopped seeing each other as much face to face, you know, during COVID and then that became kind of a permanent thing. We're very fragmented and that hurts us badly. And all we've kind of got left is I guess sports and then politics. So people take all the effort that they used to put into devouring American pop culture or American civic life and they put it into this kind of politics that the media presents as if it's a game, like initially a horse race during the election and now like, ooh, will the evil dictator win? It's like, this is our lives. Like we have a lot on the line. So I wish they would do, they would take their job more seriously too. Of course, they're up paywalled and on streaming sites, so who's watching anyway, but still it is a problem.Andrew Keen: Yeah, it's interesting you talk about this death wish, you mentioned Thelma and Louise earlier, one of the great movies, American road movies, maybe in an odd way, the final scene of the Trump movie will be similar to the, you seem to be suggesting to, I'm not gonna give away the end of Thelmer and Louise to anyone who's watching who hasn't seen it, you do need to see it, similar ending to that movie. What about, you've talked about resistance, Sarah, a one of. The most influential, I guess, resistors to Trump and Trumpism. You put up an X earlier this month about the duty of journalism to resist, the duty to thinkers to resist. Some people are leaving, guys like Tim Snyder, his wife, Marcy Shaw, Jason Stanley, another expert on fascism. You've made it clear that you're staying. What's your take on people like Snyder who are leaving this country?Sarah Kendzior: Well, from what I know, he made a statement saying he had decided to move to Canada before Trump was put in office. Jason Stanley, on the other hand, explicitly said he's moving there because Trump is in office, and my first thought when I heard about all of them was, well, what about their students? Like, what about all these students who are being targeted by ICE, who are being deported? What about their TAs? What about everyone who's in a more vulnerable position. You know, when you have a position of power and influence, you could potentially do a lot of good in helping people. You know I respect everyone's decision to live wherever they want. Like it's not my business. But I do think that if you have that kind of chance to do something powerful for the community around you, especially the most vulnerable people in it who at this time are green card holders, people here on visas, we're watching this horrific crackdown at all these universities. My natural inclination would be to stay and take a stand and not abandon them. And I guess, you know, people, they do things in different ways or they may have their own personal concerns and, you know that's fine. I just know, you know I'm not leaving, you know, like I've got elderly parents and in-laws. I've got relatives who need me. I have a lot of people who depend on me and they depend on me in St. Louis and in Missouri. Because there aren't that many journalists in St. Louis. I think there could be, there are a lot of great writers in St Louis, you know, who have given a chance, given a platform, you could really show you what it's actually like here instead of all these stereotypes. But we're always, always marginalized. Like even I'm marginalized and I think I'm, you know, probably the most well-known in terms of being a political commentator. And so I feel like it's important to stand my ground but also You know, I love this, this state in the city and I love my community and I can't fathom, you know, leaving people in the lurch at a time like this. When I'm doing better, I'm on more solid ground despite being a target of various, you know organizations and individuals. I'm at a more solid down than somebody who's a, you know a black American or an immigrant or impoverished. Like I feel like it is my job to stand up for you know, folks here and let everyone know, you know what's going on and be somebody who they can come to and feel like that's safe.Andrew Keen: You describe yourself, Sarah, as a target. Your books have done very well. Most of them have been bestsellers. I'm sure the last American road trip will do very well, you're just off.Sarah Kendzior: It is the bestseller as of yesterday. It is your bestseller, congratulations. Yeah, our USA Today bestsellers, so yeah.Andrew Keen: Excellent. So that's good news. You've been on the road, you've had hundreds of people show up. I know you wrote about signing 600 books at Left Bank Books, which is remarkable. Most writers would cut off both hands for that. How are you being targeted? You noted that some of your books are being taken off the shelves. Are they being banned or discouraged?Sarah Kendzior: I mean, basically, what's been happening is kind of akin to what you see with universities. I just think it's not as well publicized or publicized at all, where there's not some sort of, you know, like the places will give in to what they think this administration wants before they are outright told to do it. So yes, there is an attempt to remove hiding in plain sight from circulation in 2024 to, you know, make the paperback, which at the time was ranked on Amazon. At number 2,000. It was extremely popular because this is the week that the Supreme Court gave Trump immunity. I was on vacation when I found out it was being pulled out of circulation. And I was in rural New Mexico and I had to get to a place with Wi-Fi to try to fight back for my book, which was a bestseller, a recent publication. It was very strange to me and I won that fight. They put it back, but a lot of people had tried to order it at that time and didn't get it. And a lot of people try to get my other books and they just can't get them. You know, so the publisher always has a warehouse issue or a shipping problem and you know, this kind of comes up or you know people notice, they've noticed this since 2020, you know I don't get reviewed in the normal kind of place as a person that has best selling books one after another would get reviewed. You know, that kind of thing is more of a pain. I always was able to circumvent it before through social media. But since Musk took over Twitter and because of the way algorithms work, it's more and more difficult for me to manage all of the publicity and PR and whatnot on my own. And so, you know, I'm grateful that you're having me on your show. I'm also grateful that, you Know, Flatiron did give me a book tour. That's helped tremendously. But there's that. And then there's also just the constant. Death threats and threats of you know other things you know things happening to people I love and it's been scary and I get used to it and that I expect it but you know you never could really get used to people constantly telling you that they're gonna kill you you know.Andrew Keen: When you get death threats, do you go to the authorities, have they responded?Sarah Kendzior: No, there's no point. I mean, I have before and it was completely pointless. And, you know, I'll just mostly just go to people I know who I trust to see if they can check in on things. I have to be very vague here who are not in the government or in the police or anything like that. I don't think anyone would protect me. I really just don't think anyone could help. You know, one thing is, you know, yes, I'm a prominent critic of Trump and his administration, but I was also a prominent critic of. The DOJ and Merrick Garland for not doing anything about all of these threats and also a critic of Biden and the Democrats for not impeaching quickly, for not being more proactive, for not acting with greater urgency. So I'm targeted by kind of everyone except for people who don't have any power, which is a strange situation to be in because I love my readers and I think that they're wonderful and I'm incredibly grateful for them because my books largely spread through word of mouth. It is scary for me, just as like a mom in Missouri without a lot of resources to be targeted by all of these kind of high profile, wealthy, powerful people. But all I have is my voice and my writing. And so I just do what I can. And that's just the way the cards have been dealt for me and it is what it is, so.Andrew Keen: Later historians write about this period in 50 or 100 years time. How do you think you mentioned the Biden administration, you were critical of them. We haven't talked about Kamala Harris's failed presidential term, which I wasn't particularly impressed with. How much moral responsibility do you think that Biden and Harris should be accused of for Trump too?Sarah Kendzior: Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, I'd be delighted if we have historians in the future. Well, I will be, even if I don't.Andrew Keen: Well, there will be, even if, I don't know, in America, there'll be somewhere.Sarah Kendzior: I is where it'll be some sort of AI creation that just, you know, belches out, make America great again, like, you know, like in The Shining or something, just over and over and over again. But assuming we have real historians that actually assess the situation, I think they are going to be tremendously critical of the Biden administration. I think it may in fact go down as one of the worst of all time. And he will be seen as a Neville Chamberlain-like figure who had the opportunity to stop or slow A number of autocratic practices and either chose to look the other way or to enable them. Because the thing is, in 2016, people were very doubtful that America could become an autocratic state. They hadn't seen this before. A lot of this was new to them. From 2016 through 2021, we saw all that Trump was capable of, and he committed a large multitude of crimes,RetryClaude hit the max length for a message and has paused its response. You can write Continue to keep the chat going.AKplease continueEditHere's the continuation of the transcript:Sarah Kendzior: ...and those crimes, not just him, but his cohort were never held accountable. And what they did during the Biden years was plan all of their next moves. Like you don't suddenly have a gulag for Americans in El Salvador, like just off the top of your head. You know, all of this takes planning. We knew about a lot of the plans, you know, the Democrats campaigned about combating Project 2025. And my question to them was, well, what what if you lose? How are you going to combat it then? You know what, if he gets back, what are you gonna do? They would be so offended. They're like, how dare you, you question us. How dare you question, you know, our plans? They're, like, well, I don't, you don't have a plan. Like, that's my question is what is the plan? And they didn't. And they could have spent those four years creating a bulwark against a lot of the most horrific policies that we're seeing now. Instead, they're kind of reacting on the fly if they're even reacting at all. And meanwhile, people are being targeted, deported, detained. They're suffering tremendously. And they're very, very scared. I think it's very scary to have a total dearth of leadership from where the, not just the opposition, but just people with basic respect for the constitution, our civil rights, etc., are supposed to be.Andrew Keen: You mentioned Project 2025, we've got David Graham on the show next week, who's written a book about Project 2025. Is there anything positive to report, Sarah? I mean, some people are encouraged by the behavior, at least on Friday, the 18th of April, who knows what will happen over the weekend or next week. Behavior of Harvard, some law firms are aggressively defending their rights. Should we be encouraged by the universities, law firms, even some corporate leaders are beginning to mutter under their breath about Trump and Trumpism?Sarah Kendzior: And it depends whether they actually have that power in wielded or whether they're just sort of trying to tamper down public dissent. I'm skeptical of these universities and law firms because I think they should have had a plan long ago because I was very obvious that all of this was going to happen and I feel so terribly for all of the students there that were abandoned by these administrations, especially places like Columbia. That gave in right away. What does hearten me though, you know, and I, as you said, I'd been on this tour, like I was all over the West coast. I've been all over, the Midwest and the South is, Americans, Americans do understand what's happening. There's always this like this culture in media of like, how do we break it to Americans? Like, yeah, well, we know, we know out here in Missouri that this is very bad. And I think that people have genuine concern for each other. I think they still have compassion for each other. I think there's a culture of cruelty that's promoted online and it's incentivized. You know, you can make money that way. You could get clicks that that way, whatever, but in real life, I think people feel vulnerable. They feel afraid, but I've seen so much kindness. I've been so much concern and determination from people who don't have very much, and maybe that's, you know, why people don't know about it. These are just ordinary folks. And so I have great faith in American people to combat this. And what I don't have faith in is our institutions. And I hope that these sort of in between places, places like universities who do a lot of good on one hand, but also can kind of act as like hedge funds. On the other hand, I hope they move fully to the side of good and that they purge themselves of these corrupt elements that have been within them for a long time, the more greedy. Aspects of their existence. I hope they see themselves as places that uphold civic life and history and provide intellectual resistance and shelter for students in the storm. They could be a really powerful force if they choose to be. It's never too late to change. I guess that's the message I want to bring home. Even if I'm very critical of these places, it's never to late for them to change and to do the right thing.Andrew Keen: Well, finally, Sarah, a lot of people are going to be watching this on my Substack page. Your Substack Page, your newsletter, They Knew, I think has last count, 52,000 subscribers. Is this the new model for independent writers, journalist thinkers like yourself? I'm not sure of those 52,00, how many of them are paid. You noted that your book has disappeared co-isindecially sometimes. So maybe some publishers are being intimidated. Is the future for independent thinkers, platforms like Substack, where independent authors like yourself can establish direct intellectual and commercial relations with their readers and followers?Sarah Kendzior: It's certainly the present. I mean, this is the only place or other newsletter outlets, I suppose, that I could go. And I purposefully divorced myself from all institutions except for my publisher because I knew that this kind of corruption would inhibit me from being able to say the truth. This is why I dropped out of academia, I dropped out of regular journalism. I have isolated myself to some degree on purpose. And I also just like being in control of this and having direct access to my readers. However, what does concern me is, you know, Twitter used to also be a place where I had direct access to people I could get my message out. I could circumvent a lot of the traditional modes of communication. Now I'm essentially shadow banned on there, along with a lot of people. And you know Musk has basically banned substack links because of his feud with Matt Taibbi. You know, that led to, if you drop a substack link in there, it just gets kind of submerged and people don't see it. So, you know, I think about Twitter and how positive I was about that, maybe like 12, 13 years ago, and I wonder how I feel about Substack and what will happen to it going forward, because clearly, you Know, Trump's camp realizes the utility of these platforms, like they know that a lot of people who are prominent anti authoritarian voices are using them to get the word out when they are when they lose their own platform at, like, say, the Washington Post or MSNBC or... Whatever network is corrupted or bullied. And so eventually, I think they'll come for it. And, you know, so stack has problems on its own anyway. So I am worried. I make up backups of everything. I encourage people to consume analog content and to print things out if they like them in this time. So get my book on that note, brand new analog content for you. A nice digital.Andrew Keen: Yeah, don't buy it digitally. I assume it's available on Kindle, but you're probably not too keen or even on Amazon and Bezos. Finally, Sarah, this is Friday. Fridays are supposed to be cheerful days, the days before the weekend. Is there anything to be cheerful about on April The 18th 2025 in America?Sarah Kendzior: I mean, yeah, there's things to be cheerful about, you know, pre spring, nice weather. I'm worried about this weekend. I'll just get this out real quick. You know, this is basically militia Christmas. You know, This is the anniversary of Waco, the Oklahoma City bombings, Columbine. It's Hitler's birthday. This is a time when traditionally American militia groups become in other words,Andrew Keen: Springtime in America.Sarah Kendzior: Yeah, springtime for Hitler. You know, and so I'm worried about this weekend. I'm worry that if there are anti-Trump protests that they'll be infiltrated by people trying to stoke the very riots that Trump said he wanted in order to, quote, make America great again and have everything collapse. So everyone, please be very, very careful this weekend heading out and just be aware of the. Of these dates and the importance of these days far predates Trump to, you know, militia groups and other violent extremist groups.Andrew Keen: Well, on that cheerful note, I asked you for a positive note. You've ruined everyone's weekend, probably in a healthy way. You are the Cassandra from St. Louis. Appreciate your bravery and honesty in standing up to Trump and Trumpism, MAGA America. Congratulations on the new book. As you say, it's available in analog form. You can buy it. Take it home, protect it, dig a hole in your garden and protect it from the secret police. Congratulations on the new book. As I said to you before we went live, it's a beautifully written book. I mean, you're noted as a polemicist, but I thought this book is your best written book, the other books were well written, but this is particularly well written. Very personal. So congratulations on that. And Sarah will have to get you back on the show. I'm not sure how much worse things can get in America, but no doubt they will and no doubt you will write about it. So keep well, keep safe and keep doing your brave work. Thank you so much.Sarah Kendzior: Yeah, you too. Thank you so much for your kind words and for having me on again. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

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You're hearing this show on a consumer electronics device. Few Americans even get through breakfast each morning without interacting with consumer electronics. It's a big industry...and it has mixed feelings about the Trump-Musk-DOGE approach to the government. The CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, Gary Shapiro, joins me now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Few Americans familiar with the federal government are unaware of the Department of Defense. The DOD is one of our largest agencies with a budget of $2 trillion dollars. That's roughly 16 percent of the entire federal budget. And few veterans are unaware of the Department of Veterans Affairs, also called the VA. It facilitates programs that benefit those who've served in the armed forces and their families. But who's watching over that trillion-dollar defense budget? And who's making sure those programs that help veterans are working? For this installment of (dot) Gov, we dive into the federal workers who help make sure the DOD and the VA stay up and running. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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Few Americans use ‘woke' terminology: Survey    Please Subscribe + Rate & Review KMJ's Afternoon Drive with Philip Teresi & E. Curtis Johnson wherever you listen!  ---     KMJ's Afternoon Drive with Philip Teresi & E. Curtis Johnson is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever else you listen.  ---   Philip Teresi & E. Curtis Johnson – KMJ's Afternoon Drive  Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 & 105.9 KMJ  DriveKMJ.com | Podcast | Facebook | X | Instagram  ---   Everything KMJ: kmjnow.com | Streaming | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Few Americans have been as consistently critical of Donald Trump's morality than the New York Times and Atlantic columnist Peter Wehner. How to prevent the worst happening, Wehner thus wrote, in his final Atlantic column before the election. So now that the worst has actually happened, how exactly is Wehner - who worked in several Republican administrations - feeling about the future of the American Republic? More optimist than one might. American self-renewal is a wonder of the world, Wehner explained to me, which is why, he believes, we should still be remain cheerful about American democracy.Peter Wehner is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum. His books include The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump, City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era, which he co-wrote with Michael J. Gerson, and Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism. He was formerly a speechwriter for George W. Bush and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Wehner is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and his work also appears in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Affairs.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Transcript“What we're called to be in our lives, personally and maybe vocationally, is to be faithful, not necessarily successful. Whether a person is successful in life depends often on circumstances that they can't control. That's just the nature of human existence. But you do have some measure of control of whether you're faithful or not. And that's really what honor is.” -Pete WehnerAK: Hello everybody. Election was two weeks ago, but we're trying to figure out the implications of the Trump/Vance win in the presidential election. We've done a number of shows, one with my old friend Jonathan Rauch. Rauch believes that November 5th represents what he calls a "moral catastrophe." And I'm curious as to what my guest today will say, whether he'll try to trump his old friend John Rauch. Wehner I've always seen as the conscience of American conservatism. He wrote a piece in The Atlantic—he writes a lot both for The Atlantic and The New York Times. Before the election, he wrote a piece for The Atlantic about preventing the worst from happening. He's joining us now two weeks after the election. Pete, did the worst happen? Is it a moral catastrophe?PETE WEHNER: Well, I see the worst happened in terms of what the binary choice was for this this election. Obviously, it's not the worst that could conceivably happen to a country, but given the circumstances, it's the worst that happened. Is it a moral catastrophe? You know, it's a moral blow. And I think it's a moral indictment, actually, of of much of the country as well. Whether it's a moral catastrophe remains to be seen. I mean, events will write that story. But I'm certainly concerned about where we are politically in terms of classical liberalism, in terms of the moral life and moral compass of America.AK: Immediately after the election. Peter Baker, New York Times writer, one of your one of your companions, colleagues on The Times, wrote an interesting piece about Trump's America, suggesting that this is the America who we are. Kamala Harris argued that we were different. But Baker believes that this is the America. It's Trump's America. As you know, Pete, he quoted you in the piece. You said, "This election was a CAT scan on the American people. And as difficult as it is to say, as hard as it is to name, what it revealed, at least in part, is a frightening affinity for a man of borderless corruption." Tell me more about this CAT scan. What does it tell us about the America of late 2024?PETE WEHNER: Well, I think it tells us things that are disturbing. It doesn't mean—and I wouldn't say and I didn't mean to imply—that people who themselves voted for Donald Trump are morally corrupt. But what I do mean to argue is that everybody who voted for Donald Trump voted for a man of borderless corruption, a man of moral depravity. And that's disturbing.AK: It's more than disturbing, Pete, the way you put it. "Moral depravity." In what way is he depraved?PETE WEHNER: Well, let me count the ways. I mean, the man was found liable to sexual assault. He's adulterer, porn star. He's cheated on his taxes and charitable giving. He tried to coerce an ally to find dirt on his opponent. He invited a hostile foreign power in the election. He instigated an insurrection against the Capitol. He tried to urge a violent mob to hang his vice president. He's a man who says racist things. He's a misogynist. He surrounds himself with people who are themselves deeply problematic, including picks that he wants for his cabinet. I would say that corruption has touched every area of his life, personal, professional, and in the presidency. So I don't think that that's a difficult argument to make. I think there's empirical evidence for it. But if there is a counter argument, I'm open to hearing it.AK: Well, I'm certainly not going to make that counter argument. You seem on the one hand, Pete, a little...tentative about, shall we say, morally smearing all Trump voters with his depravity. On the other hand, you know that everybody knows everything about Trump. There are no secrets here.PETE WEHNER: Right.AK: Can one then vote for Trump and not be in any way smeared by this moral depravity?PETE WEHNER: Yeah, it's a good question and I've thought a lot about it, Andrew. The way I think about it is that for Trump supporters, many of them, in any event, look, I know them. I mean, we've friends throughout our life, and I wouldn't deny that you can be a Trump voter and be a wonderful parent or neighbor and a person of high moral quality in a lot of areas in your life. On the other hand, I would say that this was an important election, and that Trump's depravity was undisguised. In fact, he kind of hung a neon light on it. And for an individual to cast a vote for that kind of man, who has done the things that he's done, and he's promised to do the things that he's done, I do think reflects on the person's character. And I don't think it's says everything about a person's character. I don't think this is the most important thing about a person's character. But I do think it says something. And I think that the people who voted for him should at least own up to who he is and the kind of man that that they cast their vote for. So if that's the tentativeness that you hear from me, that's an effort to explain why it's both tentative but something that I have fairly strong convictions on.AK: Pete, you and I talked about this a lot. You've been on the show many times. So it's a wonderful opportunity to talk to you. Is the church/state division in your head as sharp as it should be? For you, is politics essentially an extension of morality? I've always suspected there's an element of that, and I don't necessarily mean that as a criticism. It's just a reality of how you think.PETE WEHNER: Yeah, I don't take it as a criticism. I do think that politics is an extension of of morality. I don't think it's the most important extension of morality. And I do believe that the people who are indifferent to politics, you know, their morality expresses itself in different ways. But yeah, I think from my youngest days, at least in junior high and high school and on, I've always had a sense that politics, at its core, is about justice and the pursuit of justice. And it's about a lot of other things. And it's an imperfect means to achieve justice; there's other ways to achieve justice. But I do think that that's what politics is about. And politics is also the expression of a set of moral beliefs. I mean, that, after all, is what law is in many cases. So I do think that morality and politics are tied. The last point I'll make on it, Andrew, is that if politics goes bad, if it goes really bad, it can have catastrophic human consequences. Gulags and killing fields and genocide and a lot of things less bad than that but that are bad enough. And so I just feel like that matters. And that's certainly a manifestation of morality.AK: What about the argument, Pete, that for all the immorality, the depravity, to use your word, of Trump, most of the voters are voting for change. There's a photo in one of your pieces, I think it may be in the Baker piece, of a Trump supporter on a motorbike with a "Trump 2024" flag, and the suggestion that the rules have changed. It seems to be clear in the two weeks after the election that Trump is determined to change the rules. I mean all his appointments seem to be challenging the current assumptions, institutions, elites, and conventions. Isn't that a good thing? America seems bogged down—I mean, I know you're a conservative, but there were many areas from health care to foreign policy to the environment, and they need to be fundamentally changed. It was a very odd election in the sense that Kamala Harris was supposed to be the progressive, and yet she turned out to be the conservative. She seemed to be suggesting that not much in America needs changing. She didn't seem to want to distance herself too much from Joe Biden, whereas Trump is the candidate of change. Is that a credible argument?PETE WEHNER: No, I don't think it's credible. At least let me qualify that. He's certainly a candidate of change. I think whether it's positive or negative change is really what matters. I think it's one thing to say that institutions need to be reformed, which I agree with and have agreed with for many years and have been part of various efforts, throughout the years, to advocate for the reform of institutions. It's another thing to try and destroy institutions, to burn them down. And I think that Trump and the MAGA world is in the latter category. I think that that is the ethos which defines them. So, you know, in terms of people who voted for Trump out of the country, 50%, whatever, the number is going to end up being, vote for him. I understand the impulse, some of the frustrations that have been expressed. So that is its own topic of conversation, which we can get into. But to me, the idea that Donald Trump is the solution to the problems is not plausible. And I point out too, Andrew, that he did have one term prior to it. And in many respects, the things that people are unhappy about got worse, not better, under his watch. So if you compare what his promises have been to what his record was in the first term, I just don't think it squares. And in addition to that, the kind of things that he's promoting now, I think will make things worse. Just to take one specific area, the manufacturing crisis. There's no question that, for a whole variety of reasons, that there's people who have been in the manufacturing industry have suffered. But actually, it was worse during Trump's watch than it was under Biden's watch. So I don't think that Donald Trump is is the answer to the to the question, even a legitimate question, that's being presented or posed.AK: Pete, you've always described yourself as a conservative. You believe that now you're homeless as a conservative. I wonder what you made, though, of the Harris campaign. Her association with Liz Cheney, of course, represents the conservative wing of the Republican Party that you've been involved with all your life. You work with Cheney and Bush and Reagan. Do you blame Harris for losing the election? Did she make a series of mistakes? And what does it tell us about the Democratic Party? I mean, it's always easy—you've written extensively about the crisis of the Republican Party and its Trump-ification. But is there a similar crisis within the Democratic Party?PETE WEHNER: Well, I think there's a crisis, or at least a challenge, in the Democratic Party, which I'll turn to in a second. I mean, they've they've lost two of the last three elections to Donald Trump. So that is a cause for for self-reflection, for for sure. In terms of the Harris campaign, I'm not as critical as a lot of people are of her. I thought she ran a much better campaign than I thought that she would. It wasn't a perfect campaign by any means, but given the tasks she faced, given her own history, I thought that she did extremely well. And I don't blame her for the loss. I think there were certain intrinsic disadvantages that she had. I mean, she was essentially an incumbent in an election where the impulse for the public was change. Joe Biden's approval rating was 41%. She's going to end up with about 48% of the popular vote. That actually, to me is pretty impressive. The idea that she could have beaten, or have been ten points better, in the popular vote from the Biden approval rating would have been a spectacular achievement. I don't think it was achievable. She made mistakes. She didn't distance herself sufficiently from the Biden administration, but I don't think she ever really could have, because she was vice president. I think that the biggest stage, the biggest moment with the largest audience of all, she absolutely obliterated Donald Trump in the debate. I thought her convention speech was good. I'd sort of graded it at a B plus. I thought the convention itself made a lot of sense. I thought her rallies were very good. She was better on the stump than I thought. She had a huge amount of of energy. I thought she was not so good on interviews. And I think she stumbled at a few points, particularly when she was asked on The View where she differed from Joe Biden. She couldn't come up with anything. I think that she should have been prepared for that.AK: But to put it mildly, I mean, that was the most obvious question that everyone wanted to know. How could she have been so unprepared?PETE WEHNER: Well, I don't know if she was unprepared, I assume—AK: Or unwilling or unable to answer this fundamental question.PETE WEHNER: Yeah, I'm guessing that what was going through her mind, and probably the mind of the people that she spoke with, was that there was still a lot of loyalty to Joe Biden. And so she had to be careful in how far she distanced herself from him and whether that would create some unhappiness among Biden supporters. Secondly, she was vice president. And so there's a plausibility issue here, which is: how much can you separate yourself from a president if you're vice president? That said, look, I think she should have had 2 or 3 things that she could have named. And there was a relatively easy explanation, various explanations she could have offered: look, I believe in learning. When facts change, people change. I think that, you know, in my in my earlier life, I was wrong on certain issues and name what they were, and say that hopefully I've learned from that, I hope to continue to learn. I mean, there are all sorts of ways you could answer that. But look, Andrew, I will say this, too, which is having worked on several campaigns and having observed a lot of them over the decades, it's a lot harder to run as a candidate than people can imagine. And every candidate, no matter how good they are, whether you're Barack Obama or Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan, have made mistakes. And the prism through which people view it is completely based on whether you win or not. If Trump had lost, you can imagine all of the things that we would say about, you know, really, was it wise to to close the argument talking about the penis size of Arnold Palmer or feigning masturbation with a microphone? I mean, there are there are dozens and dozens of things we would have said.AK: Yeah, I take your point, but of course he didn't. Let's talk about conservatism. You always made the argument—you were on MSNBC recently talking about why Trump is an enemy of conservatism. Is now, shall we say, the Harris wing, which is the center/right of the Democratic Party, which seems to have got into bed, so to speak, with Liz Cheney, are they really the conservatives now in America? I mean, they seem to think that America works pretty well. They always talk about America being American, and we're better than that. Is your conservative Republican Party, has it been swallowed by the Democratic Party?PETE WEHNER: I don't think it's been swallowed by the Democratic Party. And of course, it depends on what aspects of conservatism one is talking about. I would say that given the current constellation of reality in the two main parties in America, that conservatives have a better home in the Democratic Party than the Republican Party right now. But I don't think it's a natural home, and it's certainly not the kind of home that conservatives have been used to in the Republican Party pre-Donald Trump. I'd say the main point in terms of the question you asked is to underscore how fundamentally unconservative the Republican Party, Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, are. You know, there's a line in the movie The Dark Knight, the Batman movie, in which Alfred is talking to Bruce Wayne, and Bruce Wayne is trying to explain the criminal mindset to Alfred. And Alfred is saying, but you don't understand. And here he's talking about the Joker. He says, some people can't be bought, bribed, coerced. Some people just want to watch the world burn. And I think that Donald Trump and the MAGA movement have within them that kind of sensibility. I don't think it's defining to all of them, and I don't think it's completely defining to them. But I think that there is a nihilistic impulse, this effort not to reform, as I said earlier, institutions, but just to burn them to the ground, to take a wrecking ball. But, you know, Matt Gaetz as attorney general, or Pete Hegseth as defense secretary or Tulsi Gabbard as the head of the intelligence agencies, and just, out of anger, grievance, try and destroy them, try and destroy the so-called deep state. That's so fundamentally unconservative, in my estimation, that a conservative couldn't, in good conscience, find a home there. And right now, the alternative is the Democratic Party. And I don't think, on that central question of disposition and temperament, the Democrats are nearly as unconservative, nearly as radical, nearly as revolutionary, as the current-day Republican Party.AK: It all reminds me a little bit of a cowboy movie, The Magnificent Seven (or perhaps the Un-Magnificent Seven.) Talk about a natural party, Pete, but does that really work in American politics, where most African-Americans now vote for a Democratic Party that was in favor of segregation?PETE WEHNER: I'm sorry, say that again.AK: You talk about a natural party. You said, well, conservatives said that the Democrats aren't the natural party of conservatism. But can we use this term convincingly in American politics? After all, most African-Americans vote for the Democratic Party, which was the party of segregation.PETE WEHNER: Yeah, the Democratic Party was the party of segregation. And they changed in the end, you know, it took them longer than it should have. No, I don't think that there's anything, you know, endemic or intrinsic to parties that makes them a natural home to any political movement or political philosophy. Because parties change, circumstances change, coalitions change, the base of a party changes. We've seen that really with the Republican Party. It's just a fundamentally different party than it was in the 80s and 90s and 2000s. And the Democratic Party has changed, and changed in some ways, to the worse. And I think they paid a price for that. I do think that you can take a step back and say, look, over the last 50 years, when you chart the trajectory of the Democratic and Republican Party, there are certain trends that you can see. And so for some period of time, I think that the Democratic and Republican parties were natural homes to certain movements.AK: Is there anything we should celebrate about the election? There were a lot of warnings beforehand that there was going to be a massive gender split, and it didn't turn out to be true. Trump promised that he would get a lot of Hispanic and African-American voters. He got a lot of Hispanic and quite a few African-Americans, especially men. Could one argue that November 5th, 2024 was the first post-identity politics election? Is that something to be encouraged about?PETE WEHNER: Well, in this case, I'd say no, because I think the results of that post-identity politics is going to have really damaging consequences. I see your point, and I do think that to the extent that political parties can't count on certain groups constituencies, that's probably, as a general matter, good. It means you have to go out and earn their vote rather than reflexively rely on them. But as somebody who's been a Trump critic, and who has predicted what four more years under Donald Trump is going to be like, I just think that that overwhelms whatever good that could have come out of it. I suppose I would add, there's one good thing that's come out of this, which is there hasn't been violence. But honestly, I think that's because Donald Trump lost, and the Democratic Party believes in the peaceful transfer of power, and they're not going to do in 2024 what Donald Trump and his supporters did in 2020. I'm glad that's not happening, but I think it is worth reflecting on the fact that violence won't happen because the Democratic Party is the more responsible and civilized party in that respect.AK: How are you doing personally? Trump hasn't been shy to boast about his revengefulness. You've being one of his most articulate critics in The Times, in The Atlantic, certainly from the right, or from traditional conservatism, a very strong moral critic. How are you dealing personally with this situation?PETE WEHNER: You know, I think I'm probably dealing with it better than a lot of people would imagine given my own views on Trump. I think just disposition, temperamentally, I'm not a person who has found politics to be overwhelming or disorienting. I don't want to pretend that it's not a difficult moment, both in terms of what I think it means for the country and for what, as I said earlier, what I think it says about the country. And for somebody who grew up loving America and probably, to some extent, mythologizing America, seeing this happen is difficult. But most of my life and the spirit of my life and is based on my relationships mostly with family and with friends. And those, to me, are the things that really determine what my mood is on any given day or any week. I will say that my wife Cindy and I, in the last two weeks, have really been struck by the number of people that we have heard from who are deeply grieved and fearful of what's happening. We saw somebody a week ago Sunday, and Cindy asked this person, how are you doing? And she burst into tears. She had been abused by her husband. And she said that Donald Trump was a person just like her husband, and she couldn't fathom that America elected him. And we have a friend who's a family therapist, and she said she had spent the week before with sexual abuse victims, and the fact that Trump had been elected and that people in her family were celebrating that...other people who felt like much of what they had given their lives to was shattering. So we've really felt more, I suppose, in a listening mode, in a comforting mode, trying to help people to sort through it. It's different, Andrew, I will say, in my experience and the experience of the people around me, I think, in the country now than it was in 2016. I think 2016 could be argued that that was an aberration, a parenthesis, and I think it's clearly not the case. This is the Trump era, and I think that's hard for a lot of people to come to terms with. Other people are celebrating it. They think that this is wonderful. Donald Trump is, to them, the personification of what they want in a leader and a human being. And now we've got it.AK: Yeah, we will see. You wrote an interesting piece in The Atlantic after the election suggesting that 2024 is different from 2016. It's less shocking, more a confirmation. You wrote an interesting piece in response to what happened, "Don't Give Up on the Truth," in The Atlantic. We are where we are. But there is, if not reason to celebrate, reason to, at least, resist. Are you part of a moral resistance, in some ways, Pete, do you think, to Trump, or at least Trumpism, in America?PETE WEHNER: Yeah, I think that's fair. I think some people who have been critical of Trump are going to dial back their criticism, or they just might find other things to think about or talk about or write about. And I understand that. That's not where I am. I mean, I have to think about what my posture is going to be in the Trump era. That's not clear to me yet. And I think it'll become clear to me as circumstances unfold. But, you know, what I wrote, I believed, and I continue to believe in, and the fact that Donald Trump won the election doesn't allay my concerns, it deepens them. I hope I have enough intellectual independence that if he is different than I think, and if he does things that I agree with, that I'm willing publicly to say that. I tried to do that in the first term. And I hope I can do it in a second term and I hope I'm given reasons to do it, and I hope that my foreboding of what this means for America is wrong. But I can't shake what I believe to be true. And I read the opposite views of mine and critiques of mine and try to understand what I'm getting wrong about Donald Trump. And I may be blinded on this, but I don't think I have been wrong about him. I think all of the things that I've been writing about him since 2015—actually, 2011, and go back to the birther moment—I think they've been validated. And I feel like given my role in life and the outlets that I have, that I can't help but give voice to those concerns. And whether that makes a difference or not, time will tell. It certainly didn't have an impact this time around, that's for sure.“Parties change, circumstances change, coalitions change, the base of a party changes. We've seen that really with the Republican Party. It's just a fundamentally different party than it was in the 80s and 90s and 2000s. And the Democratic Party has changed, and changed in some ways, to the worse. And I think they paid a price for that.” -PWAK: Well, you certainly have a natural home on this show, Pete. And in your excellent Atlantic piece, you talk about the importance of truth telling. You are a truth teller, that goes without saying. What do you think is the most effective way, though, to tell the truth these days? I don't think you're a big social media guy, you're not going on X or Instagram or TikTok. How does one most effectively tell the truth in Trump's America?PETE WEHNER: That's such a good question, Andrew, and a deep one. I'm not sure what the answer is. I think in terms of what each individual has to do, they just have to find within the circumstances of their life the places that they can tell the truth. Some of that just may be with family and friends, maybe in neighborhoods and community groups. It may be in churches. It may be, if you're a writer, in The Atlantic, in The New York Times. You know, I think that what's important in telling the truth is that one does it truthfully. That is, that it corresponds and aligns to reality, that it's rooted in empirical evidence, and that one does not dehumanize in the process. And if you're dealing with a person—for example, in my estimation of Donald Trump and what I do believe is this moral depravity, I just think that is true about him—how do you say that? How do you say that without crossing lines? How do you engage with people who are Trump supporters, as I have, many of them, and to try and point out and argue for my position, and to do so in a way that isn't disrespectful or dehumanizing? Those aren't easy questions. I'm sure I haven't gotten them right. But I think you just try the best you can in the world that you live in to try and give voice to the truth. And probably it helps to look back to others who have faced far more difficult circumstances than we have. I mentioned in my most recent Atlantic essay Solzhenitsyn and Havel who were great dissidents and spoke, in the case of Solzhenitsyn, when the Soviet Union was a country to which he was hostage to, and for Havel, there was a communist movement in Czechoslovakia. And they and so many others, Orwell in a different way, and Jesus in a different way, said that the important thing to do was to speak the truth. It doesn't mean you succeed, necessarily, when you do it, but it's important to do. Times change. Circumstances change. Inflection points can happen. And sometimes speaking the truth can create those moments. And other times when those moments open up, people who spoke the truth have a capacity to shape events in a way that they didn't before that. I should say one interesting example that apposite, maybe, you and your own history knowledge: you take someone like Winston Churchill. And Churchill was the same man in the 30s as he was in the 40s, and in the 30s he was viewed as a social pariah, an alarmist, a kind of ridiculous figure, he had very, very little influence. But events changed, the war came, and all of a sudden Churchill became arguably the greatest person of the 20th century. So there's probably a lesson in that for people who want to be truth tellers.AK: Yeah, I've always thought of you, Pete, as the moral conscience of America, although you've been involved in politics, but I can't imagine you ever running for political office. You talked about Solzhenitsyn and Havel in particular as an activist, as someone who stood up very bravely and indeed humorously to the Russian colonialists in Czechoslovakia or Soviet colonialism. Does the anti-Trump movement need a Havel, a Solzhenitsyn, a Winston Churchill? Seems to be lacking, Harris clearly wasn't. I've always wondered whether Michelle Obama could have been that person. And I know that everyone says, well, she couldn't have run. She doesn't like politics, but maybe she had almost a moral responsibility as an American. But where are we going to get an America? Where are we going to get our Churchill, our Havel, our Solzhenitsyn? All of course, white men. Maybe we need some women, too.PETE WEHNER: Yeah, you know, those are rare people. And it's not a dime a dozen. Yeah, I felt like Liz Cheney was that person in this moment more than Harris, more than others. I think I felt that way about Liz, because there was a cost, there was a very concrete and practical cost, to what she had done. And that, to me, is a sign and a symbol of courage, which is: if you do the right thing when there's a cost to doing the right thing. And I thought her articulation of why she broke with Trump and voted for Harris was extremely powerful. So I'd say of the people in the landscape in American politics right now, Liz Cheney would be supreme for me, but of course, she was tossed out of the Republican Party. She was beaten in a primary. And the Democratic Party's not a natural home for her either. So these are her wilderness years, Churchill had his, I'm not saying that Liz is Churchill, Churchill was Churchill and that's about it. But she showed enormous courage and articulation. I think the fact that for a person of my view, she made such a powerful and persuasive case, and it just didn't win over enough voters. And I think that that's an indictment not of Liz, but I think it's an indictment of an awful lot of voters in America. But that would make sense, because I see the world in a certain way, and the majority of Americans saw it differently. And this is a democracy. And so now we've got Trump and the people who voted for him, and the rest of us get to live with them.AK: Are there hierarchies of morality, Pete? There's a great deal of revisionism now on on Churchill reminding us all that he was an overt racist, a colonialist, a warmonger in some ways, although, of course, we don't use that word in terms of his opposition to Hitler. Trump made that point about Cheney, I mean, in his own vulgar way, but Cheney, of course, was also a warmonger—or, certainly her father was, millions of people—well, certainly hundreds of thousands of people—in the Middle East lost their lives because of catastrophic American wars in the region. Could one argue that Cheney's support for these catastrophic wars are equally immoral, if not more immoral, than Trump's moral transgressions?PETE WEHNER: Yeah, if you believe that narrative, I mean, I think that narrative is flawed. I don't mean that the wars weren't mistaken, but I think the way you framed it is is a caricature. But if you believe that, if you're right and I'm wrong, sure, then, of course. And there is a moral hierarchy. I mean, you know, morality is judged by the actions that you take in the moment that you live and the consequences that they create. And if a person or an individual does an action that creates massive harm and the destruction of human lives, human civilizations, if someone is advocating maliciousness and malevolence on a wide scale, that obviously has to be judged differently than if you lose your temper as a boss or somebody who works for you. So morality is a complicated subject. You also have to take into account, to some degree, the circumstances in which people lived. If you lived in the 14th century, if you lived in the 18th century, if you lived in the 20th century, if you lived in the 21st century, there were different moral standards and moral ethics and moral norms. That doesn't mean, in the case of the American founders, the slave holders, that was a grave sin, and I think probably traditionally on the on the American right, because there's been almost a defecation of the founding fathers, that they've been excused too much for tolerating slavery. Lincoln himself, who I think is the greatest American in history, his history was somewhat spotty. I think he was a magnificent figure. And he grew, but that happens. But just to come back to what you said earlier, if you were to say to me, Liz Cheney versus Donald Trump on any reasonable moral spectrum, I would say that that Liz Cheney has him beat by a country mile, by virtually any metric that you want to judge her and him on.AK: In that excellent Atlantic piece, Pete, you talked about this being a moment where we, and I'm quoting you, we need to guard our souls. But what about for those of us who might not believe in the existence of souls?PETE WEHNER: Yeah. Then I would use a different word.AK: What word would you use?PETE WEHNER: Your inner life, your interior life, your sense of humanity, how you view others. I think most people, whether soul is the word that they use, I think most people aren't strict materialists, or they don't believe in scientism. They believe that there are parts of human life, human existence, human reality that aren't materialistic, that has to do with beauty and esthetics and love and = humanity and caring for the least of these. And, you know, many people that I know that are not believers personify those high virtues, honestly, in ways that are more impressive than people I know who claim to be followers of Jesus. So I use the word soul because I think it speaks to something that is true for human life and human beings. But I understand if you're not a believer that you wouldn't use that term. But I imagine that there's some other term that would get at essentially the same thing, which is your core humanity. What makes you an estimable human being. Compassion, honor, dignity, being a peacemaker, and so forth.AK: You're also more cheerful in the sense that you want to remind everyone that, of course, we want to cultivate hope, humanistic hope. But all this needs to be understood within the historical context. You argue that, in the Atlantic piece, presumably Trump's only going to be around for four years. Things change, there are always party realignments, so, cheer us up, Pete. Why might this just be a blip in the history of humanity rather than the end of it in some way?PETE WEHNER: Yeah. It's not going to be the end of humanity. Even if my most dire warnings are realized. Look, I would say that there can be a kind of catastrophism that happens on all sides and that we need to be careful about it. Life is complicated. Human history is complicated. There are moments of glory and moments of catastrophe and disaster. You know, in the American experience, we had the 1850s that lead up to the Civil War. We had the Civil War. We had the profound difficulties in reconstruction. We had segregation, child labor laws, women can't vote. Just enormous challenges in this country. The first election, really contested election in America between Adams and Jefferson in 1800, was a vicious affair. So, you know, we've we've faced a lot. And that's just America. And, you know, you look at world history, I quote it at the end of my essay, "Don't Give Up on the Truth" in The Atlantic, a speech, one of my favorite speeches, that Bobby Kennedy gave in 1966 at University of Cape Town in South Africa, where he talked about the ripples of hope, and how the ripples of hope can overcome the worst and highest walls of oppression. Now, when Kennedy gave that speech, it was 66. It was at the apex of of apartheid, and eventually apartheid was overthrown, and—AK: Yeah, it's worth repeating the RFK quote, "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Of course, it's particularly resonant given that his son is involved in the Trump administration and is probably not someone you're particularly keen on.PETE WEHNER: No, he's, no pun intended, but I'm not particularly keen on his son. But the father I admired, and I think those words are timeless words. And we shouldn't forget them. Look, the other thing I'd say, Andrew, is that what we're called to be in our lives, personally and maybe vocationally, is to be faithful, not necessarily successful. Whether a person is successful in life depends often on circumstances that they can't control. That's just the nature of human existence. But you do have some measure of control of whether you're faithful or not. And that's really what honor is. I mean, honor is living a life—an imperfect life. We all struggle, we're all fallen, we're all flawed—But trying to advance that. And the other thing I would emphasize again is that human life, human history, the progression of countries, are not straight lines. There's forward and backward, there's zigs, there's zags, inflection points develop, and things change in ways that a person may never anticipate. You mentioned John Rauch earlier, and he and Andrew Sullivan were leading the campaign for same sex marriage. When they started that campaign, especially, Andrew, in 1989, I think he wrote a cover story in The New Republic on the conservative case for gay marriage. Now, if you would have asked either of them in the late 80s, 90s and so forth, whether gay marriage would be prevalent or even be found to be a constitutional right, they would have said that's inconceivable. It couldn't happen. And it happened. Whether you agree or not with same sex marriage, it shows capacity of events to change. And you and I could name a lot of things in which that's happened. So you don't know when those moments come, when those inflection points happen. And I also believe the American capacity for self-renewal is a kind of wonder of the world and that people will—AK: Say that again: American self-renewal is a wonder of the world.PETE WEHNER: Yeah. I think the American capacity for self-renewal is extraordinary. I think it's shown itself throughout history. Again, it's a mixed history, but—AK: But where does that come from, that American self-renewal? Is it a spiritual thing? Is it an economic thing? “I think that what's important in telling the truth is that one does it truthfully. That is, that it corresponds and aligns to reality, that it's rooted in empirical evidence, and that one does not dehumanize in the process.” -PWPETE WEHNER: You know, I'd imagine part of it is part of the American DNA. The things that shape anybody in any country, the factors, the history...there's certainly something, I think it's reasonable to say, in America, about freedom and liberty, that is part of the American character. You know, people could go back and read Tocqueville, which is still relevant to what Americans are like. I think our political history has helped shape us. Civil society has helped shape us. So, you know, each country has a certain kind of a DNA. And I think by and large, America's has been good. So there's history to give you hope, and not just American history. So, I just think you need to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I think you have to call out things that happen that are wrong, immoral or illegal as they as they happen, and hope that over time you bend events enough in your direction. Martin Luther King Junior had that quote, which is pretty well known, about the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice, but that does not—AK: It's not natural, is it? As you suggest, it requires human agency, doesn't bend on its own. Finally, Pete, and you've been very generous, as always, with your time. A lot of comparisons, there always have been, with America and the Roman Republic, this shift into, sort of, decadence. There's also a fashion these days for stoicism. Some of the ideologies or the intellectual movements of the late Roman decadent, not the republic, but imperial Rome. What would you say to people—won't say necessarily Stoics formally, but people who are espousing a kind of stoicism—who will say, "Well, I'm just not going to watch the news for the next four years, Trump doesn't really affect me. I'm just going to ignore him. I'm going to go to sleep for four years, and when I wake up, things will have changed." Do we all need to stay awake? Is the stoical response to essentially ignore the political world, is that healthy in Trump's America?PETE WEHNER: I think some people need to stay awake. You know, it really would depend on the facts and circumstances, Andrew. I mean, if you're an individual who feels overwhelmed by what Trump represents and really can't process it in a very healthy way, and you find your spirit being pulled down and obsessing on him and just, you know, casting shadows over your life, then I'd say, yeah, just to the degree that you can pull the plug. Don't follow, you know, the unfolding events, and attend to your life, your inner life, and the people that you love and care for. On the other hand, if that happens more broadly, and just people shut up and don't speak out, I think that that would be a great tragedy, because I think it's important to speak the truth in its own terms. I think it's important that there are individuals who give voice to what people believe and the moral concerns that they have when they don't have the capacity to do it on a large scale. And as I said, you know, I mentioned earlier, Solzhenitsyn and Havel, and I don't pretend that America is in a situation like the two of them faced. So the challenges and sacrifices that are called on Americans today who are in the so-called resistance isn't comparable to what Solzhenitsyn and Havel and many others have faced. But you need to speak out, and you can't go to sleep. Democracy is, as you said earlier, about human agency. We're not corks in the ocean. We're not fatalistic. We shouldn't be fatalistic. We can create movements and trends and moments and trajectories and moments of and periods of honor and and virtuous chapters in the American story. But they don't happen accidentally. And you can be discouraged, but you've got to stay at it. A friend of mine once said that you could be a theoretical pessimist, but you should be an operational optimist.AK: That's a nice way of putting it. Peter Wehner, I'm not sure about American self-renewal being a wonder of the world, certainly your self-renewal is a wonder of the world. It's wonderful to have you around, and we will be calling on your wisdom, your ethical spirit of resistance against injustice, over the next four years. Keep well, keep safe, Pete, and we will talk again in the not-too-distant future. Thank you so much.PETE WEHNER: Thanks. It's great to be with you, Andrew. This is a public episode. 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Send us a textIn this episode of Authors Who Lead, I delve into the inspiring journey of eight young authors and their dedicated teacher, Natalie Wilkinson. Together, they crafted a powerful novel titled The Art of Giving a Crap, which encapsulates the essence of untold stories and the beauty of collaborative effort. Let's unpack their journey, from the project's inception to seeing their work in print.Timestamp:00:00 Students publish a book post-graduation with a teacher.03:37 Discussing personal stories and creative processes.09:17 Flip-flopping platforms, collaborative editing process finalized.11:50 Few Americans publish books despite widespread aspirations.15:58 Inspired by the podcast by students' achievements.17:01 Students inspire writing and publishing books globally.Full show notesCOMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Russia's ambassador to the USA has permanently departed Washington. There is no sign that the Kremlin will send another ambassador. Few Americans are aware of this ominous World War 3 sign.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 10/11/2024Join the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comYou can partner with us by visiting https://www.TruNews.com/donate, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!https://www.AmericanReserves.com             It's the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Characteristics-Second-Coming/dp/0578260816/Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/final-day-10-characteristics-of-the-second-coming/id1687129858Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.https://www.sacrificingliberty.com/watchThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today!https://tru.news/faucielf

This is an important conversation. Few Americans are better skilled at listening than the UC Berkeley sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. The author of the best selling Strangers in Their Own Land, Hochschild's much anticipated new book, Stolen Pride, takes place in Kentucky, where she examines rural loss, shame and the rise of the American Right. Hochschild's superpower is her ability to listen. It's what she defines as “bilingualism” - the skill in separating the literal from the symbolic in other people's language. This bilingualism makes Hochschild one of the few members of America's coastal elite able to truly listen to the other America. What she hears - and the rest of us miss - is the pained language of stolen pride, loss and shame. Arlie Russell Hochschild is the author of many groundbreaking books, including The Second Shift, The Managed Heart, and The Time Bind as well as Strangers in Their Own Land, which became an instant bestseller and was a finalist for a National Book Award, and Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right (both from The New Press). Hochschild is professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in Berkeley with her husband, the writer Adam Hochschild.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

September 24, 2024The Daily Mojo is 2 hours of news, commentary, comedy, and auditory deliciousness.www.TheDailyMojo.com"Why Politicians Suck"Politicians never answer questions - they just yammer. Is Trump's proposed tariff on John Deere products a good idea? Few Americans believe elections will be free and honest. Phil Bell's Morning Update: What Major League Baseball can teach us about Democrats.  HEREDan Andros - host of The Quickstart Podcast from CBN News - is onbaord to talk about the public's lack of trust in all things government. Our affiliate partners:We've partnered with The Wellness Company – a based, dedicated group of medical pros – including Dr. Peter McCullough – to bring you a single trustworthy source for your health.www.GetWellMojo.comPromo Code: Mojo50Dave and his crew were roasting historically great coffee before some of these newcomers even thought about creating a coffee brand. He's still the best, in our eyes! www.AmericanPrideRoasters.comNothing says “I appreciate you” like an engraved gift or award. Ron and Misty (mostly Misty) have the perfect solution for you if you need a gift idea for family or your employees!www.MoJoLaserPros.comWe love to support Mike Lindell and his company. He's a real patriot and an American success story!https://www.mypillow.com/radiospecials Promo code: Mojo50Be ready for anything from a hurricane to man-created stupidity (toilet paper shortage, anyone?). The tools and food storage you need to weather the storm.www.PrepareWithMojo50.com Stay ConnectedWATCH The Daily Mojo LIVE 7-9a CT: www.TheDailyMojo.com (RECOMMEDED)Rumble: HEREFacebook: HEREMojo 5-0 TV: HEREFreedomsquare: HEREOr just LISTEN:www.Mojo50.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-daily-mojo-with-brad-staggs--3085897/support.

On the version of Hot off the Wire posted Aug. 5 at 7:15 a.m. CT: TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Debby is expected to bring potential record-setting rains, catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge to the Big Bend coast of Florida before it moves slowly across the northern part of the state and stalls over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina. The National Hurricane Center of Miami says Debby is located about 60 miles northwest of Cedar Key, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. The storm is moving northeast at 10 mph. The hurricane center says Debby is expected to make landfall Monday morning. A tornado watch also was in effect for parts of Florida and Georgia on Monday. BANGKOK (AP) — Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index has lost 12.4% in the latest bout of sell-offs that are jolting world markets. European markets opened lower and U.S. futures fell more than 2%. Oil prices also declined. The Nikkei's decline was the worst since a 14.9% drop in October 1987 that was dubbed “Black Monday.” World stocks tumbled Friday on worries the U.S. economy could be cracking under the weight of high interest rates meant to tame inflation.  The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says it launched a drone attack on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two Israeli troops and set off a fire. The violence on Monday came as fears of an all-out regional war mount following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran. WASHINGTON (AP) — The hospitality workers’ union UNITE HERE has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president. It's a rejoinder to Republican Donald Trump’s effort to woo restaurant and hotel workers by promising to make their tips tax-free.  PARIS (AP) — Olympic triathletes plunged into the Seine River as the mixed relay event got underway after organizers said the bacteria levels in the long-polluted Paris waterway were at acceptable levels.  In other news: VP campaign launches 'Republicans for Harris' in push to win over GOP voters put off by Trump. Some activists step up criticism of Shapiro and Kelly as Harris closes in on naming a running mate. Trump says he'll skip an ABC debate with Harris in September and wants them to face off on Fox News. Few Americans trust the Secret Service after a gunman nearly killed Trump, an AP-NORC poll finds. Justice Dept. says it's committed to sharing info about foreign election threats with tech companies. Justice Department sues TikTok, accusing the company of illegally collecting children's data. Warren Buffett surprises by slashing Berkshire Hathaway's longtime Apple stake in second quarter. Firefighters continue battling massive wildfire in California ahead of thunderstorms, lightning. 1 child killed after wind gust sends bounce house airborne at baseball game. With a $97M second weekend, 'Deadpool & Wolverine' sets a new high mark for R-rated films. Lots of American heroics Sunday at the Paris Games, the Phillies break a losing streak, while the White Sox continue theirs. IOC leader says 'hate speech' directed at Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting at Olympics is unacceptable. UK leader Starmer condemns attack on asylum-seeker hotel as far-right violence spreads. On this week's AP Religion Roundup, an ongoing firestorm over the olympic opening cerenony, and Liberty University settles with Jerry Falwell Jr. —The Associated Press About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.

Few Americans know contemporary China better than Peter Hessler. The author of four prize winning books about life in China as well as the former China correspondent of the New Yorker, Hessler originally came to China as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1996 and has been writing about the day-to-day life of the country ever since. In contrast with the geopolitical crowd with their bellicose nonsense about the totalitarian evils of Xi's China, Hessler, whose twin daughters were educated in a local state-run elementary school, has spent the last quarter century talking with ordinary Chinese people about ordinary things. In his latest book, Other Rivers: A Chinese Education, Hessler offers intimate narrative about two generations of students in China's heartland. In an America unthinkingly preoccupied with the “China threat”, Hessler provides an accurate window onto real life in this much misunderstood country. Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, Cairo correspondent from 2011 to 2016, and Chengdu correspondent from 2019 to 2021. He is the author of The Buried, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; River Town, which won the Kiriyama Prize; Oracle Bones, which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Country Driving; and Strange Stones. He won the 2008 National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting, and he was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2011.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Few Americans knew what the U.S. House of Representatives passed late Wednesday. Pro-Israel Republicans and Democrats quietly joined together to pass HR 6090 that will have a chilling effect on free speech in America. You could be prosecuted someday for criticizing Israel and/or Zionism. The bill is headed to the Senate.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 05/02/2024Listen to this FULL show exclusively on Faith & Valueshttps://members.faithandvalues.com/posts/may-02-2024-us-house-passes-pro-zionist-bill-to-restrict-free-speech-in-americaJoin the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comYou can partner with us by visiting https://www.TruNews.com/donate, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Now is the time to protect your assets with physical gold & silver. Contact Genesis Gold Today! https://www.TruNewsGold.comGet high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!https://www.AmericanReserves.comIt's the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Characteristics-Second-Coming/dp/0578260816/Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/final-day-10-characteristics-of-the-second-coming/id1687129858Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.https://www.sacrificingliberty.com/watchThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today!https://tru.news/faucielf

Few Americans of any color or creed have had a legal career as historically rich or significant as Thelton Henderson. One of the earliest African-American graduates of Boult law school at UC Berkeley, Henderson was the first black attorney for the civil rights division of the US Department of Justice, going down to Mississippi in 1963 where he become familiar with MLK and many other civil rights leaders. He later became a Federal judge where he pioneered historic legal decisions regarding racial, environmental and gay rights. So it was a real honor for me to have the opportunity to sit down with Henderson at his Berkeley home to talk about his childhood, his memories of the Sixties and why, in his view, the success of the civil rights movement was as dependent on radicals like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael as it was on MLK and other moderates. And then, of course, there is Henderson's own relationship with America which, like so many African-Americans, is tangled and frayed. No, he confessed, he won't be celebrating raucously in 2026 on the 250th birthday of the American Republic. Especially if, as Henderson fears, a certain Donald J Trump, who he likens to Hitler, is once again President. Judge Thelton E. Henderson is a world-renowned federal judge whose commitment to advancing civil rights spans six decades and three continents. He was the first African American lawyer assigned to field service in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, where he worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the second African American federal judge in the Northern District of California and its first African American chief judge, he authored groundbreaking civil rights decisions.  Born in Louisiana, Judge Henderson left the Jim Crow South with his mother and grandmother for Los Angeles. He excelled academically and athletically, becoming one of the first African Americans to earn a football scholarship to UC Berkeley. After serving in the Army, he returned as one of two African Americans at Berkeley Law. He graduated in 1962 and joined the DOJ. At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Judge Henderson was posted in the Deep South to gather information on voter suppression and monitor opposition to Dr. King's peaceful demonstrations. After Henderson loaned Dr. King his rental car for a Selma rally, Alabama Governor George Wallace inaccurately told the press that a “high ranking” DOJ official had driven Dr. King to Selma. Rather than worsen a public relations problem for the Kennedy Administration, Henderson resigned. Returning to California, Judge Henderson helped establish, and directed, one of the first federally funded legal aid offices in the U.S. He was appointed Assistant Dean of Stanford Law School and launched its pioneering minority admissions program, which was replicated nationwide. In 1980, Judge Henderson was appointed to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California. His courageous decisions included declaring prison overcrowding unconstitutional; placing the California prison system under monitoring to prevent cruel and unusual punishment; ruling for the first time in U.S. history that gays and lesbians are entitled to equal protection; declaring unconstitutional a law that eliminated affirmative action; and upholding environmental protections. He has advocated for civil rights globally, helping develop strategies to end apartheid. After retiring from the court in 2017, Henderson taught at Berkeley Law, where the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice advances his vision for a better world. Among his many awards are the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award, the California State Bar Bernard Witkin Medal and UC Berkeley's 2008 Alumnus of the Year Award. At over 90 years strong, Judge Henderson remains a beacon for democracy, liberty and equality.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Technical Games Agony D FeetThe Ochelli Effect 3-6-2024 NEWSTik Tok Tech TeaserInside the World of TikTok Spammers and the AI Tools That Enable Themhttps://www.404media.co/inside-the-world-of-tiktok-spammers-and-the-ai-tools-that-enable-them/Spam, scams, and propaganda: The state of Twitter 15 months into Elon Musk's reignhttps://theins.ru/en/society/2696682024 S Election Trumping SanityNikki Haley officially drops out of 2024 election, challenges Trump to win back her supportershttps://nypost.com/2024/03/06/us-news/nikki-haley-to-suspend-presidential-campaign-after-super-tuesday-defeats-reports/A 9-0 Supreme Court ruling on Trump shows that democracy isn't partisanhttps://nypost.com/2024/03/04/opinion/a-9-0-supreme-court-ruling-on-trump-shows-that-democracy-isnt-partisan/McConnell weighs endorsing Trump. It's a stark turnaround after the Jan. 6, 2021, attackhttps://apnews.com/article/senate-mcconnell-endorsement-trump-super-tuesday-6f9202ff2709518db276c5a0c68943c6?user_email=ed25f7cfbbec31d9f558e8542612e74d44e150b26f06f36df1bfd18e8e286cdd&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_Mar5_2024&utm_term=Afternoon%20Wire"He looks lost": Alarm after Trump's "mind blanks out" repeatedly during speechhttps://www.salon.com/2024/03/04/he-looks-lost-alarm-after-mind-blanks-out-repeatedly-during-speech/Meet North Carolina's GOP Governor Candidate: A Hitler-Quoting Extremisthttps://newrepublic.com/post/179566/north-carolina-governor-candidate-mark-robinson-quoting-hitlerMedicines and magicHidden trauma: Do psychedelics reveal memories or create fake ones?https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/hidden-trauma-do-psychedelics-reveal-memories-or-create-fake-ones/Will Psychedelics Save Us? Nahhttps://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/will-psychedelics-save-us-nahFaster FoodsBurger King offers free Whopper deal in response to Wendy's 'surge pricing' backlashhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2024/02/28/burger-king-free-whopper-deal-wendys/72774484007/Tucker TrotskiTucker Carlson compares US to Roman Empirehttps://www.rt.com/news/593807-tucker-carlson-us-empire/Law Suits / Murder / Mayhem / War / Oh My...Liberty University will pay $14 million, the largest fine ever levied under the federal Clery Acthttps://apnews.com/article/liberty-university-clery-act-fine-ac7f365762fb8ac8a4abb86cf4613d33?user_email=ed25f7cfbbec31d9f558e8542612e74d44e150b26f06f36df1bfd18e8e286cdd&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_Mar5_2024&utm_term=Afternoon%20WireGaza cease-fire talks fail to achieve a breakthrough with Ramadan just days away, Egypt sayshttps://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-03-05-2024-a13c5fa6e23fedbda42e3028a96ca14e?user_email=ed25f7cfbbec31d9f558e8542612e74d44e150b26f06f36df1bfd18e8e286cdd&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_Mar5_2024&utm_term=Afternoon%20WireFour killed, multiple injured in California shootinghttps://local.newsbreak.com/king-city-ca/3354814109096-four-killed-multiple-injured-in-california-shooting?s=dmg_local_email_bucket_10.web2_fromwebHaiti declares state of emergency after thousands escape prisonhttps://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/03/04/haiti-state-of-emergency-prison-break/5961709537290/Few Americans want US more involved in current wars in Ukraine and Gaza, AP-NORC poll findshttps://apnews.com/article/israel-russia-ukraine-american-war-94404b3269a1effc8d94482a36387657?user_email=ed25f7cfbbec31d9f558e8542612e74d44e150b26f06f36df1bfd18e8e286cdd&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_March6_2024&utm_term=Afternoon%20WireCharges are dropped midtrial in ‘Hotel California' lyrics case. Don Henley plans to fight onhttps://apnews.com/article/hotel-california-lyrics-trial-eagles-e54331f073373ecdc801349c39cda889?user_email=ed25f7cfbbec31d9f558e8542612e74d44e150b26f06f36df1bfd18e8e286cdd&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_March6_2024&utm_term=Afternoon%20WireEmbattled Oklahoma high school breaks its silence after sick footage showed students engage in 'toe-licking' challenge for fundraiser: 'We failed to uphold dignity of our students'https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13160263/Oklahoma-school-foot-licking-apologizes-video-Deer-Creek.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email.You are the EFFECT if you support OCHELLIhttps://ochelli.com/donate/New Membership Options To Support Ochelli.com Radio and get More RARE content Than Ever Before!!BASIC MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP$10. USD per MonthSupport Ochelli & in 2024Get a Monthly Email that deliversThe 1st Decade of The Ochelli EffectOver 5,000 Podcasts by 2025BASIC + SUPPORTER WALL$150. USD one time gets the sameAll the Monthly Benefits for 1 Yeara spot on The Ochelli.com Supporters WallSIGN-UP @https://ochelli.com/membership-account/membership-levels/Ochelli Link Treehttps://linktr.ee/chuckochelli

Few Americans have done more to save this country than Kash Patel. He joins the podcast to talk about Trump winning Iowa and what it's like to be a target of the corrupt Biden DOJ. If you want to know how to defeat the deep state, listen in now! Kash Patel: https://governmentgangsters.com https://truthsocial.com/@Kash  ------------------------------------------------  Sponsored By:  Zippix​ Toothpix: Go to https://zippixtoothpicks.com and get 10% off your first order by using the code Roseanne at checkout! Your lungs will thank you!   Get 15% off your first order plus 10% off when you subscribe on recurring orders at http://www.fieldofgreens.com and use promo code RB Study about benefits https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4644575/   The Wellness Company: Use code RB to save 10% at Checkout "Spike Support" at https://www.twc.health/rb   Goto https://www.rblikesgold.com and let Goldco help you protect your family's wealth. Again that's https://www.rblikesgold.com  ------------------------------------------------  Follow Roseanne:     Website: https://www.roseannebarr.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialroseannebarr    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialroseannebarr   Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealroseanne   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/roseanneworld Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/roseannebarrpodcast Merch: https://www.roseannebarr.com/shop    ------------------------------------------------ Co-host /Producer: Jake Pentland https://twitter.com/jakezuccproof https://www.instagram.com/jakepentlandzuccproof   ------------------------------------------------  Music: "Synthetic World" by Swamp Dogg: https://youtu.be/2_uOB0455VI      

In Yemen a rebel movement of Shia Islamists has been firing missiles at commercial shipping in the Red Sea, provoking several rounds of U.S. airstrikes in retaliation. Few Americans know much about the Houthis, who go by the formal name of Ansar Allah or "Defenders of God." The Houthis seized control of Sana'a in 2014, leading to years of catastrophic war once Saudia Arabia intervened to try to restore the ousted government. Today, this relatively small militia is disrupting global shipping, as cargo ships have been forced to avoid the strait at the mouth of the Red Sea on the way to the Suez Canal. In this episode, Eurasia Group analyst Gregory Brew discusses the Houthis' motives and the impact of their missile attacks on the geopolitics of the region.

Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State who helped shape Cold War history, is a man both revered and reviled.  To his supporters, he was a brilliant statesman whose realpolitik approach to foreign affairs helped maintain international world order and contain Soviet aggression. Kissinger's skilled diplomacy produced a diplomatic opening to Beijing, a détente with the Soviet Union, and the eventual peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. As present-day conflict threatens to engulf the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and a new and dangerous alliance is forming between China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, a statesman with Kissinger's strategic acumen is badly needed. To his distractors, however, Kissinger was a war criminal whose pursuit of power resulted in the carpet bombing of Cambodia, a prolonged Vietnam war, a military coup in Chile, and many other such atrocities. Few Americans have been responsible for as many deaths in America and abroad as he. Henry Kissinger, his critics argue, did not make the world more secure; rather, his ruthless brand of realism and callous disregard for human life sowed a deep hatred of US foreign policy overseas that has manifested into the violent conflicts unfolding in the present day. Arguing in favour of the resolution is Niall Ferguson. He's a world famous historian, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the author of Kissinger 1923-1968: The Idealist Arguing against the resolution is Patrick Porter, Professor of International Security and Strategy at the University of Birmingham SOURCES: AP, ABC News, CNA   The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths   Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/ To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.   To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membershipMembers receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/ Senior Producer: Ricki GurwitzEditor: Kieran Lynch

Few Americans know much about William McKinley, but one could argue he did more for civil rights than almost all of his predecessors. In this episode, we interview Benjamin R. Justesen about the 25th president's forgotten crusade for racial equality.FORGOTTEN LEGACY: WILLIAM MCKINLEY, GEORGE HENRY WHITE, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK EQUALITYhttps://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Legacy-McKinley-Struggle-Equality/dp/0807173851JOIN PREMIUMListen ad-free for only $5/month at www.bit.ly/TAPpremiumFOLLOW USwww.linktr.ee/thisamericanpresidentCREDITSHost: Richard LimProducer: Michael NealArtist: Nip Rogers, www.NipRogers.comThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5220935/advertisement

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/archaeology

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Timothy R. Pauketat's Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America (Oxford UP, 2023) is a sweeping account of what happened when Indigenous peoples of Medieval North and Central America confronted climate change. Few Americans today are aware of one of the most consequential periods in North American history—the Medieval Warm Period of seven to twelve centuries ago (AD 800-1300 CE)—which resulted in the warmest temperatures in the northern hemisphere since the "Roman Warm Period," a half millennium earlier. Reconstructing these climatic events and the cultural transformations they wrought, Pauketat guides readers down ancient American paths walked by Indigenous people a millennium ago, some trod by Spanish conquistadors just a few centuries later. The book follows the footsteps of priests, pilgrims, traders, and farmers who took great journeys, made remarkable pilgrimages, and migrated long distances to new lands. Along the way, readers discover a new history of a continent that, like today, was being shaped by climate change—or controlled by ancient gods of wind and water. Through such elemental powers, the history of Medieval America was a physical narrative, a long-term natural and cultural experience in which Native people were entwined long before Christopher Columbus arrived or Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. Spanning from North to Central America, Gods of Thunder focuses on remarkable parallels between pre-contact American civilizations separated by a thousand miles or more. Key archaeological sites are featured in every chapter, leading us down an evidentiary trail toward the book's conclusion that a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley, sometimes because of worsening living conditions and sometimes by improved agricultural yields thanks to global warming a thousand years ago. The author also includes a guide to visiting the archaeological sites discussed in each chapter of the book. Sarah Newman (@newmantropologa) is an archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her research explores long-term human-environmental interactions, including questions of waste and reuse, processes of landscape transformation, and relationships between humans and other animals.

Fort Worth is making some progress with two affordable housing projects.  Jimmy and EJ discuss both projects in the big story.Short Story 1: District 7 candidate makes Wokelandia gamehttps://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article272628203.html#storylink=cpyShort Story 2: The city is looking to change how council member proposals are approved for the agendahttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-decrease-in-violent-crime-%2411m-in-housing-for-homeless/id1579328171?i=1000602691785Short Story 3: City vows to listen and revamp comprehensive planhttps://fortworthreport.org/2023/02/28/fort-worth-vows-to-listen-as-it-revamps-comprehensive-plan-communities-of-color-are-skeptical/BIG STORY: Affordable HousingFort Worth offers $11 million to buy Southwestern Seminary dorms for homeless families: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article272637518.htmlThe troubled hotel in Las Vegas Trail will be renovated for homeless familieshttps://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article272711765.html#storylink=mainstage_card5* First-time buyers made up the smallest share of sales on record last year, at 26%, even as home values started to cool, according to the National Association of Realtors.** Before the pandemic, about a third of first-time homeowners relied on a gift or loan from families or friends for at least part of their down payment, said Zillow's Olsen. That increased to about 40% in 2021, she said. Meanwhile, the number of young adult buyers with an co-borrower over the age of 55 has spiked since 2021,  according to Freddie Mac. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-02/will-home-prices-fall-first-time-buyers-face-a-costly-housing-market?leadSource=uverify%20wall*** Few Americans lived on the streets in the early post-war period because housing was cheaper. Back then, only one in four tenants spent more than 30% of their income on rent, compared with one in two today. The best evidence suggests that a 10% rise in housing costs in a pricey city prompts an 8% jump in homelessness.https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/12/18/how-to-cut-homelessness-in-the-worlds-priciest-cities**** Everything you think you know about homelessness is wronghttps://noahpinion.substack.com/p/everything-you-think-you-know-aboutWinsJimmy: UTA architecture bridge student projectEJ: Community Frontline MuralLossesJimmy: Texas politicsEJ: Fort Worths misalignment on being a fiscally responsible city

Are we actually headed for a replay of Trump vs Biden in 2024? How strong is Trump heading into the GOP primaries? Is Biden certain to be the Democratic nominee? Do Biden and Trump need each other? And what role will Trump play in 2024 if he's NOT the Republican nominee? Maggie Haberman, senior political correspondent for The New York Times, returns to the podcast. For the entirety of the Trump administration, Maggie Haberman was a White House correspondent for The New York Times. She joined The Times in 2015. Maggie is part of a team at The Times that won a Pulitzer, and she is the author of the book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America. Before joining The New York Times, Maggie was a reporter at Politico, The New York Post and The New York Daily News. Maggie Haberman's book, Confidence Man: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/confidence-man-maggie-haberman/1140985472 Articles discussed in this episode: "Some Democrats are worried about Harris's political prospects" - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/30/harris-democrats-worry/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email "Few Americans are excited about a Biden-Trump rematch, Post-ABC poll finds" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/05/poll-biden-trump-2024/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 659, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Are You Addressing Me? 1: The personal pronoun of the second person in the nominative case; people often act holier than it. thou. 2: A surgeon in England is simply addressed as this, not Dr.. Mr.. 3: Miss came from the first syllable of this word and mrs. is a shortened form of it. mistress. 4: From the Arabic for "old man", it's the head of a family, tribe or village. sheik. 5: As tovarishch means this, we guess you could be a tovarishch-in-arms. comrade. Round 2. Category: Florida 1: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's this teen of steel, the 1st TV series made at the Disney-MGM Florida Studios. Superboy. 2: Interstate 10 enters Florida at the west end of the Panhandle from this adjacent state. Alabama. 3: In the movie "Where the Boys Are", it's the city where the boys are. Fort Lauderdale. 4: A revolving platform called Kodak's Island in the Sky provides panoramic views of these gardens near Winter Haven. Cypress Gardens. 5: The Sunshine Skyway crosses this bay to connect St. Petersburg to the Tamiami Trail. Tampa Bay. Round 3. Category: Bear Facts 1: In song, Davy Crockett was said to have "Kil't him a bar when he was only" this age. three. 2: The original Smokey the Bear became a popular attraction at this city's zoo. Washington, D.C.. 3: The constellation Ursa Major, meaning the "great bear", is better known by this name. Big Dipper. 4: In their structure and tooth formation, bears are most closely related to this family of animals. dogs. 5: Few Americans got to see this mascot at the 1980 Olympics. Misha. Round 4. Category: Cinematic Title Pairs 1: 1958:"...and the Dead". The Naked. 2: 1971:"...and Maude". Harold. 3: 1989:"...and Hooch". Turner. 4: 1945:"...and the Amazons". Tarzan. 5: 1976:"...and the Dirtwater Fox". The Duchess. Round 5. Category: Striking 1: Abbreviated the WGA, this entertainment union went on strike in 1981, 1985 and 1988. Writers Guild of America. 2: A major 1970 strike by federal employees in this "service" helped change it to an independent gov't agency. U.S. Postal Service. 3: International Women's Day on March 8 honors a famous 1857 strike began by textile workers in this city. New York City. 4: In 1892 a workers' strike at this steel magnate's Homestead, Penn. plant led to several injuries and deaths. Andrew Carnegie. 5: In May of 1926, unions in this nation banded together and quit work in support of striking coal miners. Great Britain. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/

Let's check out a famous City of Man. Let's go to Amsterdam.Amsterdam is the most famous red-light district in the world in the Netherlands, where people can tour and observe prostitutes showing their wares in single stall bedrooms. I've been there. It's very odd, as you have naive tourists walking around as if we were wandering at Costco in the meat section, except in Amsterdam you can make eye contact with the meat while it's still alive. Or perhaps more similar, it's like the cattle judging at the county fair, where the judge pokes at the young heifer and says, "Well, this rump is marbling nicely - this one may get a Reserve Champion ribbon," or "I bet she'll draw a good bid at the auction." The experiment that the Netherlands has done is to permit everything with the underlying goal being that it would reduce crime and drug use overall. This is meant to be merciful, as heroin addicts and sex addicts just need a little outlet, and if allowed they could be productive members of the city and not harm others. Mercy is the goal, and the flip side of mercy is justice. Surely allowing people to let their wild side out for a run around the yard is more merciful than locking up every casual drug user and dirty john. The same merciful motive created wet houses for hopeless alcoholics, or free apartments for chronic homeless. This is intended to be the flip approach to the “War on Drugs” approach, the heavy hammer, which imprisoned a lot of people but may not have actually quelled drug use. However, wide open policies haven't seemed to work either, as the famous Platzspitz experiment in Zurich played out in a very public way. The TV show The Wire has great episodes about this, where a place called "Hamsterdam" is allowed to exist in Baltimore, in an attempt to fix a city overridden by crime and drugs. The show portrays the experiment as a success, but politics in the city disband Hamsterdam because it makes them look like they are promoting the destruction of the city rather than being merciful. Oddly enough, the roping off of an area does allow the majority to live outside of the influence of the chaos of drugs and red-light vice, and done with the understanding that suppressing all vice will lead to an explosion, allows the edge of society to live in sin while families and careerists can pursue their own dreams. In the TV show, a man named Bunny Colvin wants to save Baltimore by creating a vice district:Colvin wondered if there was a way for drugs to be made safe for low level users to take them without facing punishment; comparing the city's drug problems to the illegal public consumption of alcohol, which was circumvented when people began keeping their beer in a paper bag. After the attempted murder of Officer Dozerman, Colvin finally decided that he would independently set up three "free zones" in his district where addicts and dealers were allowed to conduct their business under supervision but without interference. This would move the drug trade into a controlled, uninhabited area to protect the rest of his district.What happens in end is that the vice district is removed and the crime and drugs moves back into the neighborhoods where parents, children, and elderly live. To quote the band, the Offspring, "You gotta keep 'em separated." Mixing the innocent with the fallen must be done with caution. Any caring parent raising a child will try to steer his or her children toward good choices, just as any bird does not build a nest where predators can climb. Taken to a wider level, a city or nation that embraces the disorder of the Prodigal Son and places it at the center will suffer. Las Vegas, and increasingly Nashville, act as the main outlets for American party, like a neverending Saturnalia or Fat Tuesday. Vegas even advertises this in its moniker of Sin City and the motto, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." The message is: come here to sin and get wild. This is the outlet for the Groundhog Day kind of life that people feel, where you get up and go to work and raise kids and do laundry and do it all over again the next morning.The idea of "setting apart" a time or place for letting loose and celebrating pleasure has been with humans for a long time, but the overall governing idea on how a city or group should be formed has been battled about just as long. Plato's Republic is around 2,400 years old, but the Code of Hammurabi is close to 4,000 years old. The Laws of Israel in the first five books of the Bible was written about 3,000 years ago. But that doesn't mean these discussions and ideas were not taking place long before they made it to paper. We are lucky to have the preservation of these arguments, because for some 20,000 to 30,000 years people have been discussing and observing how we should organize our world. Along with those descriptions of law and governing philosophies, we have ample evidence of festival and party weekends that acted as part of the fabric of a culture. Before Mardi Gras and Oktoberfest there was Saturnalia, Kronia, Purim, Chinese New Year, the Festival of Drunkenness (in Egypt), and a thousand other small festivals around harvest and marriages and victory. We still have these today, and even dedicated places where people can go to have their own festival whenever they choose. Las Vegas is a place set apart for rejection and rebellion from the typical rules of society, and most certainly against the idea of a watchful God. If anything, Vegas is modern shrine to the Greek or Roman god of wine, Dionysus (or Bacchus for the Romans). Vegas also worships the gods and goddesses of sex, Eros and Aphrodite (a.k.a. Cupid and Venus), since people go there specifically for nude shows and strippers and red-light action. Much like an altar, the stage at a strip joint presents a ritual gathering place where men offer money, eat, and drink in front of it. Even the dance that strippers do acts like a ritual, since they all do the same things in luring dollars out of pockets. The same can be said for the Sports Book areas where people gather in the dark, around TV screens, and make offerings of money, sacrifices, in the hopes of the sports gods granting a wish. Again, food and drink is present, and the ritual of watching and praying to the screens happens at every table. Vegas is set aside for a kind of ritual pilgrimage for those in rebellion. The idea of drinking, gambling, and partaking of bodily pleasures makes Vegas clearly a place where Holy and Sacred things are not welcome, or not the traditional Holy and Sacred things. There are substitutions which take their place. The reality is that while in Vegas, the holy and sacred things are sports, sex, food, and drink. Once you see the ritual and sacrificial aspects of what happens in Vegas, you see a religion in process. It's difficult to see it as anything but a pilgrimage. When you hear someone say, “I go to Vegas every year,” they have identified their offering of sacrifice (money, brain cells, liver tissue), their veneration of the warm sins (of gluttony, lust, and greed), their place of pilgrimage (Luxor, Excalibur, Treasure Island), their liturgy ritual (repentance by hangover, spa rebirth, poolside libations, slot machine offertory, nude dancing adoration, and communion by all-you-can-eat-buffet with chocolate fountain chaser). It's all there, it just not called “religion” and no overt human sacrifice is raised up to unmask what it really is (except Nevada actually is one of the leading states for human sacrifice to Moloch per capita). There are places set apart for where the party never ends, like Las Vegas or Key West or Bourbon Street. Then there are established weekends for celebration in every town and city, known as festivals and block parties. Both of these set-aside places and events allow people to feast, to let loose, and to reset their moral compass. The letting down of morality for a day or weekend is intended to allow recalibration and grounding of the party-goers greater purpose. By letting the masses off the leash, they get to run wild for a bit before returning to productive and ordered living. The festival weekend mimics the fall and the redemption, which is why it makes sense for every culture and city and town to hold these events. An allowance for rebellion is made, even in the most strict cultures in order for people to see why the norm of order is so valuable. If the celebration doesn't center on alcohol, then it's a feast of some kind. A touch of gluttony is added to the calendars in the form of feast days in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. One of the greatest paintings of this block party rowdiness was from Pieter Breugel the Elder, known as The Peasant Dance, and while the fashion of the peasants may differ greatly from today's attire, the characters and actions within the painting can be witnessed wherever heavy-duty drinking takes place. Unrestrained dancing and haggard drunken faces own the foreground. There is a couple in the background sneaking into a barn for solitude and a presumable tryst. There are tankards of liquor everywhere. Lust, gluttony, and wrath are present, just like any nightclub today. The unrefined people of the peasant world engage in everything that happens annually today at Coachella among our elite, privileged, and “refined.” Most interesting in the painting are two subtle elements that are shoved aside in favor of the tavern. On the right-hand side of the painting is a blurry picture of the Virgin Mary, tacked on a crooked tree. She is fully ignored by the peasants. In the background, at the center of the painting, is the church, the centerpiece of the town, ignored for the day. The celebration is thought to be the feast of St. George. This feast day is like other days surrounding holy days in our time, like Fat Tuesday as a feast before the Lenten season of fasting, or Halloween before All Saints' Day. There is a season for fasting and for feasting. The Peasant Dance shows a lack of morality, yes, but it also shows the allowance of a sanctioned escape from the ordinary churn of days where the townspeople, whose rituals of work and worship, are dispensed for a time. The idea of having a Liturgical calendar is designed with this in mind, because if all days were fasting, then fasting would lose its meaning as an offering and be mere drudgery. Worse, if all days were feasts, then civilization would collapse. The calendar of the Church did not balance feasts and fasts by accident or dumb luck. It is designed to move with the seasons of life. This reminds me of an old Huey, Dewey, and Louie Christmas special, called “Stuck on Christmas” where the duckling boys think it would be great to have Christmas every day. Getting their wish, they soon discover that after about five days of feasting and toys, they are miserable. Christmas and endless feasting grows into a burden, just like any addiction. The error happens when this feasting is made the center of life. This goes to the core issue of our mental illness outbreak today. The fact that every day can be a feast now is why so many addictions seize lives. Pair this with declining belief in the one true God, and you have a problem that science cannot solve alone. Because there is no longer a concept of “sacred” time and space, all days are flattened into Groundhog Day. The idea of sacred places and things and days is no longer recognized in culture, which leads to a kind of malaise in all the days. We can overeat and get drunk and find a sex partner any day we like. Or we can do some New Age prayer routine, but only in a yoga studio or our living room, because we have no sacred place to go to. After all, “Everything is sacred,” which of course means that nothing is sacred. For replacements, things like Super Bowl Sunday and Fourth of July Parties have overtaken the prominent places of Easter Sunday and All Saints' Day. I think this over often, as it's clear that most Christians put far more preparation into Super Bowl Sunday than Easter. That alone tells you how secularism and the new pagan “holy days” has come to dominate America. There should be a widespread outcry among Catholics to boycott Super Bowl Sunday, because it is literally the new “holy day” where we not only gather in a ritual, but also eat in front of the liturgy presented by the TV. There is so much pagan cult ritual in Super Bowl Sunday, it's hard for me to fathom that it has slipped past every self-proclaimed Christian as “just a social gathering.” Super Bowl Sunday is one of the only set-apart days that Americans share, and it is anything but holy or sacred. If you watched Jennifer Lopez's halftime show in 2020, you will know that you were watching something demonic or perhaps the greatest satirical wake-up call of all time to every Christian in America. In the show, she did an imitation of the three crosses at Calvary using stripper poles, where she was lifted up on a center pole and appeared crucified in the center. What other word could be used for this than demonic, as the entire imagery was the inversion and mockery of Jesus Christ? If you believe that Jesus is God, then what do you make of this image, which took a lot of planning and practice to perfect for a live show? There are no accidents in Hollywood. Few Americans even batted an eye, but I knew then that something was rotten in America. Sometimes an image or a moment jars you awake. You suddenly realize that the nation you thought were living in, is not at all what you imagined. It's like when you get sucked into admiration for a group or company, only to find out after joining that the exterior is just a cheap veneer and the inside is completely rotten. Or when you meet a celebrity and find out he's all too human. America today is like a jack-o-lantern after Halloween, still smiling but rotting and caving inside. When J-Lo was lifted up like Christ, I knew that a threshold had been crossed long ago, but I was only seeing it then. We would all be wise to back away from sports, entertainment, and wealth worship in general, but I have a feeling we won't, since those are the values of the elite. Now that we know how much cheating takes place in professional sports with rampant steroid use and sign stealing and deflating footballs, we know that professional wrestling is every bit as honorable. We know know that the media companies are hell-bent on mocking all things Christian. As far back as 2005, NBC's Committed did a full episode mocking the Eucharist, where in the end, the consecrated host is flushed down the toilet. Wealth and winning and comfort are what we worship, so we have just gone ahead and merged stripper poles and soft porn into our halftime shows. Why not? Let's just stop pretending we aren't living in a Roman orgy. I'd personally like to thank J-Lo for lifting herself up to be the new Christ, because I'd like to think that she was doing it in satire, using stinging ridicule and wit, and subtly yelling at us all to turn off the TV and get right with God. That's the best charitable answer I can give, because if it was anything other than that, we need to pray for Jennifer, who once assured us in “Jenny from the Block,” while she was nearly nude in the video, that she, “Put God first and can't forget to stay real.” J-Lo is a very common specimen of modern Christianity however, which is a quick nod to God while you ignore every single thing He ever said. The crucifixion of Jesus was mimicked using imagery from a strip joint, with an extremely wealthy woman being lifted up, alive and well, claiming the image of Christ on the cross. Moreover, notice that everyone is falling at her feet in worship below her. Yet, this passed by the viewers and we all went back to eating wings and talking football and gossip and getting drunk. Sinead O'Connor's act of tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II brought an outrage, but this was more subtle dig at all things Christian, and there was hardly a bark because everyone who sets aside time for the Super Bowl is, let me say it here first, a modern pagan. There is no other explanation for it, and J-Lo just helped point it out. A good conspiracy could be made that J-Lo was actually calling us to be awakened to our faith, because she was pointing out how far we have fallen. Somehow I doubt it, but if she is ever reborn in the faith, this image will require some explanation.The problem with our new holy days is that there is nothing sacred about football, and Super Bowl Sunday has all the hallmarks of a Roman feast day for Dionysus or Zeus. What happens when the belief in the transcendent Most High God fades is not just that we don't feel guilty, it's that nothing is elevated into sacredness. We remain on the flat earth, never reaching up to God. Rather than being lifted up into sacredness, the reverse happens, and everything falls into the profane, the ordinary. What this leads to is a search for the sacred, because if it's not built into the calendar, into the week, into blessed objects, then the heart must go to seek it. With no restrictions or guidance, the search can go on at any time, any where, and thus what is best reserved for special days of feasting becomes a daily “Stuck on Christmas” that depresses the hell out of people. This falling and rising action of our life stories is built into the Liturgical calendar, and it's even built into the seasons of the plants and animals around us. Fasting, feasting, and ordinary time; suffering, thriving, and holding steady - these are the ups and downs and in-betweens that make a life whole. When the Prodigal Son's errant lifestyle becomes the norm instead of the exception, there is a problem. Escape from real life is not meant to be permanent. Anyone who reads the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32) knows that his choices are poor and the story resonates with people exactly because we can understand the character arc. The prodigal wild son begins the story whole, but in living in escapism, his version of Christmas every day turns to misery. He falls, and now he's stuck. He threw away the sacred for the profane. Then he is brought to his senses and restored. He surrenders to his Father, and his Father rushes out to greet him with love. The end. Roll credits. Notice that the fall in Act II did not become the final act for the Prodigal Son. Act II is not the happy ending, nor even a place anyone wants to stay. The point of the fall is to stand up again, just as Dante must go all the way down through the bottom of hell to emerge on the mountain of Purgatory, just as any addict must hit a bottom, soft or hard, in order to rise up, and in case you can't see where I'm going, it's why Jesus must go to the cross to be killed in order to be raised and resurrected. This story of falling and rising is not just for us humans. God himself goes through this, which is what makes the story of Jesus so compelling and strange.But why? I mean, isn't that always the question? Why would God have to come to us in order to die and be raised again? I didn't understand this for a long time. It's still difficult sometimes, and I know why cynics make fun of it, but I think it because it's not easy to understand. Of course, it's much easier to belittle the story with a meme like this one. I once thought this was clever. Christianity: The belief that some cosmic Jewish zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. Makes perfect sense.There's so many things in this that are misunderstood, but it is effective at destroying people's faith, especially if the person has spent no time trying to learn the faith and spends no time in prayer. I mean, for goodness sakes, zombies eat people, people do not eat zombies. If this insult can't even get the basics of zombiedom right, it's pretty sad. And for the record: Catholics do not symbolically eat his flesh. We actually eat Jesus. And his glorified and risen body exists in the Real Presence of the Eucharist, under the appearance of bread. Yes, his body, blood, soul, and divinity is in the Eucharist. So please, fix up your insults before posting them. At least get the mystery correct. The Eucharist is everything and I feel sad for you if you don't understand what the word theosis means. Destroying faith is easy. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Most of us had little or no education on faith or religion, or if we did have some, it was sketchy and full of holes. If anything, it was some mashed potatoes of Catholicism, 50 shades of Protestantism, and a glued-and-taped-together Hollywood portrayal of Christians-gone-bad. I was so under-catechized that I couldn't have defended my faith against a light breeze. And that's exactly why my faith blew away like a leaf in the first rustle of wind at an outdoor keg party. When you practice something you don't understand, it's just like doing busy work for no reason. I recall in the Army when a drill sergeant would make soldiers move a pile of rocks from one location to another, for no reason other than to keep us busy and to assert his power. Similarly, I recall doing hundreds and thousands of quadratic equation problems in math that I didn't care about or understand. This is exactly what practicing a religion without understanding it feels like. Doing the Rosary without understanding why is much like moving a pile of rocks from point A to point B and back again, or like doing easy quadratic equations repeatedly. It is pointless. Without knowing how or why it's done, you cannot grasp its purpose, usage, and application to your life. A kid who was told to read a book in Arabic when he can barely speak English would get about as much out doing the Rosary if he has no understanding of prayer and meditation. On the other side, there is understanding without practicing, which is like telling everyone you are in shape and ready for a marathon, and knowing all the details of stretching and training, but when race-day arrives, your gut is hanging over your shorts. You have zero stamina and lung-strength for the race. To understand Christianity, you can't have rules and no understanding, nor can you have understanding with no rules. You must practice the faith to be fit for it, and you must learn the faith to make sense of it. Without faith, prayer, and understanding, of course it seems like nonsense. Without the interior change, it means nothing. And without the rules, it changes nothing. This is the body and soul needing both parts of faith and reason. This is where the leap of faith joins the mouth with the action of the hands. It's not just about rules, and it's not about living without rules. The whole thing is about humility before the one God, and when the change of heart happens, you don't care about the rules or the vices, because everything begins to fall into place and make sense. Even after the change, you still have battles with vice and wrongdoing, but you are eager to remove them from your life. Strict legalism and unbridled lawlessness no longer make sense, because neither can satisfy you. They can actually unite into a single thing called love, and that is the love of God first and foremost. But you have to understand forgiveness first, to know that you are loved, and to understand it, you have to kneel and say it out loud. You have to practice it to keep it, and to practice it, you have to be forever open to it. The change starts with a choice of “being willing to be willing,” to take that first step of asking the Holy Spirit to come and fill your heart with a flicker of light. Without opening up to that, you cannot expect the change to happen. Say yes to being open, and you never know where it will lead. The sandbox and the red-light districts allows you to grow and get lost. What you thought you wanted turned out to be vapid and empty promises, like a cheap knockoff of the real thing. When you stop chasing the cheap things, the base things, you'll know that you were crawling on your belly. But there is a way to think of this that can help make sense of time lost in the alleys. The caterpillar inches furiously on the ground, seeking forage and shelter, seeking something that it cannot possibly realize. And then one day, when it's ready, it begins to transform, and after so much crawling and struggling, it undergoes a radical, difficult transformation, one that must be painful, but that suffering is transforming the caterpillar into a butterfly. And when the cocoon splits open, the new life begins, and what was once a caterpillar chasing things on the ground, is now a miraculous and beautiful being that flies. All of those desires that occupied so much of your time, all the days of being lost, are the formation of your story guided by God, the growing of your soul toward meeting Jesus, and if you let the suffering transform you, you will never be inching on the ground again, you will be aloft with Him. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.whydidpetersink.com

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Will the Biden administration overhaul US cannabis policy Few Americans get new covid booster shot ahead of projected winter surge Mayor Adams declares state of emergency over NYC migrant crisis, seeks help from feds, state Belarus, Ukraine, Russia activists win Nobel Peace Prize Jean Pierre stalls reporters pleas to take questions after Biden Armageddon warning Creeslough Three dead in Donegal explosion Ukraine war World must act now to stop Russia, says Zelensky Canada buys land in Frances Juno Beach and ends condo plan Bidens marijuana move could change lives and impact the midterms Ukraine war Vladimir Putin gets a tractor for his 70th birthday Climate change World aviation agrees aspirational net zero plan Dogs that fatally mauled Tennessee toddlers, injured mom were never violent, friend says Uvalde suspends school police force after mass shooting Who wields the most power in Iran New York City declares state of emergency over migrant crisis situation Slain California family and suspect had longstanding dispute, authorities say charges filed Ukraine war World must act now to stop Russia nuclear threat Zelensky Governor Ron DeSantis Press Conference FOX 13 Tampa Bay

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv New York City declares state of emergency over migrant crisis situation Jean Pierre stalls reporters pleas to take questions after Biden Armageddon warning Will the Biden administration overhaul US cannabis policy Dogs that fatally mauled Tennessee toddlers, injured mom were never violent, friend says Who wields the most power in Iran Ukraine war World must act now to stop Russia, says Zelensky Ukraine war Vladimir Putin gets a tractor for his 70th birthday Few Americans get new covid booster shot ahead of projected winter surge Belarus, Ukraine, Russia activists win Nobel Peace Prize Ukraine war World must act now to stop Russia nuclear threat Zelensky Slain California family and suspect had longstanding dispute, authorities say charges filed Mayor Adams declares state of emergency over NYC migrant crisis, seeks help from feds, state Bidens marijuana move could change lives and impact the midterms Climate change World aviation agrees aspirational net zero plan Creeslough Three dead in Donegal explosion Uvalde suspends school police force after mass shooting Canada buys land in Frances Juno Beach and ends condo plan Governor Ron DeSantis Press Conference FOX 13 Tampa Bay

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Mayor Adams declares state of emergency over NYC migrant crisis, seeks help from feds, state Canada buys land in Frances Juno Beach and ends condo plan Will the Biden administration overhaul US cannabis policy Jean Pierre stalls reporters pleas to take questions after Biden Armageddon warning New York City declares state of emergency over migrant crisis situation Creeslough Three dead in Donegal explosion Belarus, Ukraine, Russia activists win Nobel Peace Prize Ukraine war World must act now to stop Russia, says Zelensky Uvalde suspends school police force after mass shooting Ukraine war World must act now to stop Russia nuclear threat Zelensky Ukraine war Vladimir Putin gets a tractor for his 70th birthday Bidens marijuana move could change lives and impact the midterms Dogs that fatally mauled Tennessee toddlers, injured mom were never violent, friend says Who wields the most power in Iran Few Americans get new covid booster shot ahead of projected winter surge Slain California family and suspect had longstanding dispute, authorities say charges filed Governor Ron DeSantis Press Conference FOX 13 Tampa Bay Climate change World aviation agrees aspirational net zero plan

As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one-hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst. Gangland-style. . . .Packed with surprising, little-known facts, graphic details, and unforgettable personalities, Gangsters vs. Nazis chronicles the mob's most ruthless tactics in taking down fascism—inspiring ordinary Americans to join them in their fight. The book culminates in one of the most infamous events of the pre-war era—the 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden—in which law-abiding citizens stood alongside hardened criminals to fight for the soul of a nation. This is the story of the mob that's rarely told—one of the most fascinating chapters in American history and American organized crime.HOST:  Rob MellonFEATURED BREW:  Almost Famous New England IPA, Torch and Crown Brewing Company, New York, New YorkBOOK:  Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America https://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-vs-Nazis-Mobsters-Battled/dp/0806541792/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LJYOXW8FOQYF&keywords=gangsters+vs+nazis+michael+benson&qid=1664750956&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjI3IiwicXNhIjoiMS4wMiIsInFzcCI6IjEuMjMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=gangsters+vs+%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-1MUSIC:  BoneS Forkhttps://bonesfork.com/

As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one-hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst. Gangland-style. . . .In this thrilling blow-by-blow account, acclaimed crime writer Michael Benson uncovers the shocking truth about the insidious rise of Nazism in America—and the Jewish mobsters who stomped it out. Learn about:* Nazi Town, USA: * Meyer Lansky and Murder Inc.: * Fritz Kuhn, “The Vest-Pocket Hitler”:.* Newark Nazis vs The Minutemen: * Hitler in Hollywoodland: Packed with surprising, little-known facts, graphic details, and unforgettable personalities, Gangsters vs. Nazis chronicles the mob's most ruthless tactics in taking down fascism—inspiring ordinary Americans to join them in their fight. The book culminates in one of the most infamous events of the pre-war era—the 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden—in which law-abiding citizens stood alongside hardened criminals to fight for the soul of a nation. This is the story of the mob that's rarely told—one of the most fascinating chapters in American history and American organized crime. GANGSTERS vs. NAZIS: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America-Michael Benson

What does it mean to be a conservative in a time of profound upheaval, when it is no longer clear what can or even should be conserved? Few Americans have more to teach us on that front than John Jay — a man who modeled throughout his remarkable life and work the vocation of a conservative in a time of disruption. Guest Brad Littlejohn joins us to discuss Jay, the founding father whose brand of “conservative, nationalist statesmanship” provides lessons for how to remain calm amid the political storms of today. Brad Littlejohn is a fellow in the Ethics and Public Policy Center's https://eppc.org/program/evangelicals-in-civic-life/ (Evangelicals in Civic Life Program) and is founder and president of the Davenant Institute. He previously worked as a senior fellow of the Edmund Burke Foundation as lead author on a multi-year project entitled “Foundations of Liberty: Rediscovering the Anglo-American Conservative Tradition.”  This podcast discusses themes from Brad's essay in the Summer 2022 issue of National Affairs, “https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/a-conservative-revolutionary (A Conservative Revolutionary).”

Few Americans have ever been convicted of the crime. Is that about to change?

How many times must Russian officials tell the American people that the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces will unleash its fury on the United States of America? Few Americans are aware of the very serious warnings. Even among those who have heard or read the threats, there is not much concern that Moscow may actually carry out a surprise first strike on American cities. Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 5/31/22It's the Final Day! The day when Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. You can order the second edition of Rick's book, Final Day!  https://tru.news/3LknyuL

Few Americans say cryptocurrency is a good long-term investment, though its perception varies greatly by age. Listen here and learn more at Knewz.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The last time Chris Preble joined my show, we discussed the full sweep of U.S. foreign policy from the founding period to the “forever wars” in the middle east, all through the lens of his monumental book *[Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy](https://www.amazon.com/Peace-War-Liberty-Understanding-Foreign/dp/1948647168/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1556590857&sr=1-1)*.Just as one long conflict in Afghanistan comes to an end, there are new rumors of war brewing in hotspots around the world. From Taiwan to Ukraine, the temptations for new exercises of American influence abroad are everywhere. The Biden Administration has put Americans on alert that Russia may invade Ukraine at any time. But should this happen, what is the right response? Few Americans, let alone Europeans, seem to have the stomach for a hot war with Russia.Preble now serves as co-director of the New American Engagement Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at [the Atlantic Council](http://atlanticcouncil.org) in Washington DC. We discussed the shifting alliances underlying both NATO and Putin's patchwork of strongmen in Eastern Europe, and how the struggle is likely to play out. Do we have a compelling interest in “defending democracy” in far-flung regions? And what about “preserving credibility” in the wake of our disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan?

The vast majority of adults do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, according to a new CDC study. The data comes from a long-term study of almost 300,000 Americans over more than 30 years. The current dietary guidelines recommend adults eat 2 to 3 cups of vegetables and 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fruit […] The post 100. Few Americans eat enough fruits and vegetables appeared first on Dr. David Geier - Feel and Perform Better Than Ever.

Few Americans know Hungary as well as veteran travel journalist Diane Dobry. Join her on TRAVEL ITCH RADIO Thursday, November 18, as she talks about her travels and stays in Budapest and elsewhere in this spectacular but little-known European travel destination. Listen live at 8p EST on iTunes or BlogTalkRadio.com as Dan Schlossberg and Maryellen Nugent Lee ask Diane about the language, customs, currency, cuisine, accommodations, and transportation available to the American visitor. Or check out the archived show on our Facebook page anytime.

Few Americans seem to consider just how expensive those "free" services really are. We look to government to, protect us, shield us, even provide for us in contradiction to the Constitution. Yet how many Americans have asked what those illegal government services cost, not just in money but in the rights and liberties we must give away to get them?

Few Americans seem to consider just how expensive those "free" services really are. We look to government to, protect us, shield us, even provide for us in contradiction to the Constitution. Yet how many Americans have asked what those illegal government services cost, not just in money but in the rights and liberties we must give away to get them?

In May of 1888, women and teenage girls working at the Bryant & May match factory in London went out on strike. Few Americans will have heard of the Matchgirls' strike, but it was a landmark victory in working-class history. On today's show, Union Dues podcast host Simon Sapper explores the legacy of the Matchgirls' strike on union organizing, safe working conditions, a collective voice and women's emancipation and Simon finds a "golden thread" linking then to now.  And, on Labor History in 2:00, the year was 1786. Daniel Shays led a group of farmers and an armed uprising. They were angry about taxes levied by the state of Massachusetts. Audio on today's show includes the trailer for The Matchgirls, book and lyrics by Bill Owen, music by Tony Russell, performed at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, in London in July 2012. Produced by Chris Garlock. To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council's Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @duesunion

Green and Red had a great conversation with the well-known scholar (and Retired Colonel) Andrew Bacevich, whose new book is *After the Apocalypse.* We began by getting his views on the recent revelations regarding JCS Chair Mark Milley's role in opposing Trump's attempt to steal the election. Then we discussed the key points in his book--his view on the dangers of American Exceptionalism, the damages done to society by immense military spending and the role of the Military-Industrial Complex, and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and revived Cold War against China. But most of our discussion centered on his book where he doesn't just discuss American interventions and wars, but the various crises that affect National Security, and in this conversation he groups COVID and American racial discrimination--as we saw in the 2020 protests--as dangers to American safety and stability. Few Americans understand these issues better than Andrew Bacevich and this was a great and comprehensive discussion. Links// Andrew Bacevich: After the Apocalypse (https://bit.ly/39oI1O2) WaPo: The age of American privilege is over (https://wapo.st/2ZeYliu) Andrew Bacevich: Gen. Milley did the wrong thing for honorable reasons. We need new rules for starting nuclear war (https://bit.ly/3nOcJZh) Follow Green and Red// Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenRedPodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastGreenRed Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenredpodcast YouTube: https://bit.ly/GreenAndRedOnYouTube Please follow us on Medium! (https://medium.com/green-and-red-media). Donate to Green and Red Podcast// Become a recurring donor at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR This is a Green and Red Podcast production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.

Andrew Wyatt is the spokesman for Bill Cosby, standing by him in the run up to his trial and his conviction in Pennsylvania, and greeting him at the prison gates when he was released from prison after the State Supreme Court threw out the conviction.  Who is Andrew Wyatt? And what does a spokesman do? Few Americans have enjoyed the celebrity status that Bill Cosby enjoyed. And none have fallen so far and so quickly from grace.   Will Cosby engage in a comeback tour?  If he does, I'm betting Andrew Wyatt will be by his side.  I just love this guy. In this wide-ranging interview, Wyatt talks about his childhood, his work, how he met Bill Cosby, and the challenges of representing 'America's Dad' to a media that turned surly during the what appears as the prologue to the #MeToo hysteria.  What's next for Bill Cosby? Did prison change him? Just how did his lawyers permit the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to promise Cosby effective immunity and then turn around and prosecute him?  Wyatt's at once quick-witted, charming, and, from time-to-time, funny as hell. I suspect his endearing qualities are a product of the time his spent on Detroit's east side, where I, too, emerged from adolescence into the bright lights of adulthood confusion and angst. And did you know that Wyatt and Cosby are fraternity brothers, both members of Omega Psi Phi?   Listen in to find out how Law and Legitimacy's host, Norm Pattis, also developed a connection to the fraternity.   Join Norm Pattis's growing subscriber base on Patreon. And give Law and Legitimacy a 5-Star rating on your platform of choice and leave a review! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/norm-pattis/support

Andrew Wyatt is the spokesman for Bill Cosby, standing by him in the run up to his trial and his conviction in Pennsylvania, and greeting him at the prison gates when he was released from prison after the State Supreme Court threw out the conviction.  Who is Andrew Wyatt? And what does a spokesman do? Few Americans have enjoyed the celebrity status that Bill Cosby enjoyed. And none have fallen so far and so quickly from grace.   Will Cosby engage in a comeback tour?  If he does, I'm betting Andrew Wyatt will be by his side.  I just love this guy. In this wide-ranging interview, Wyatt talks about his childhood, his work, how he met Bill Cosby, and the challenges of representing 'America's Dad' to a media that turned surly during the what appears as the prologue to the #MeToo hysteria.  What's next for Bill Cosby? Did prison change him? Just how did his lawyers permit the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to promise Cosby effective immunity and then turn around and prosecute him?  Wyatt's at once quick-witted, charming, and, from time-to-time, funny as hell. I suspect his endearing qualities are a product of the time his spent on Detroit's east side, where I, too, emerged from adolescence into the bright lights of adulthood confusion and angst. And did you know that Wyatt and Cosby are fraternity brothers, both members of Omega Psi Phi?   Listen in to find out how Law and Legitimacy's host, Norm Pattis, also developed a connection to the fraternity.   Join Norm Pattis's growing subscriber base on Patreon. And give Law and Legitimacy a 5-Star rating on your platform of choice and leave a review! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/norm-pattis/support

THE RAGGED EDGE RADIO BROADCAST WORLDWIDE TEN MILLION FIERCE PDF LIVE NOTES & ARCHIVES MARCH 12TH 2021 THE FUTURE OF WAR PANDEMICS, PESTILENCE AND BIO ENGINEERED WEAPONS PART ONE INTRO 21 BIODEFENSE BIOLOGICAL ATTACK INDICATORS: The following section contains indicators to help identify whether a biological attack has occurred. Indicators—Description An unusual number of sick or dead people and animals within an area or location. Any number of symptoms can be present in a suspected biological attack. As a first responder you should consider assessing (polling) the local area hospitals to see if additional casualties with similar symptoms have been observed. Casualties can present in minutes, hours, days, and even weeks after an incident has occurred. The time required before symptoms are observed in a biological attack is dependent upon the actual agent used.… When considering biological attacks from the perspective of a first responder it is important to note that, with the exception of some toxins, any manifestations of the attack are likely to be delayed. —From First Responders Chem-Bio Handbook: A Practical Manual for First Responders, 1998 We may not realize until too late that we have become the victims of a biological attack. It is not until days or weeks after such an attack has taken place—after the first wave of deaths—that we will most likely recognize its occurrence. Few terrorists will choose to warn us of their activities. A small amount of Marburg or Ebola released in THE PDF LIVE NOTES FOR THE RAGGED EDGE RADIO BROADCAST WORLDWIDE By Russ Dizdar © 2 the subway system of Washington, D.C., Boston, or New York, or in an airport, shopping mall, or financial center, could produce hundreds of thousands of victims. In the past twenty years, scientists have created antibiotic-resistant strains of anthrax, plague, tularemia, and glanders. Biopreparat research proved that viruses and toxins can be genetically altered to heighten their infectiousness, paving the way for the development of pathogens capable of overcoming existing vaccines. The arsenal of a determined state or terrorist group could include weapons based on tularemia, anthrax, Q fever, epidemic typhus, smallpox, brucellosis, VEE, botulinum toxin, dengue fever, Russian spring-summer encephalitis, Lassa fever, Marburg, Ebola, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever (Machupo), and Argentinean hemorrhagic fever (Junin), to name a few of the diseases studied in our labs. It could also extend to neurological agents, based on chemical substances produced naturally in the human body. It is easier to make a biological weapon than to create an effective system of biological defense. Based on our current level of knowledge, at least seventy different types of bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, and fungi can be weaponized. We can reliably treat no more than 20 to 30 percent of the diseases they cause. Few Americans are aware that they are living under a state of national emergency relating to weapons of mass destruction. Alibek, Ken; Handelman, Stephen. Biohazard (pp. 311-312). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11Great earthquakes will occur in various places, and there will be famines and pestilence. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. Luke 21 7When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come! ”, 8And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. The horseman on it was named Death, and •Hades was following after him. Authority was given to them, over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth. PREEMPTOR Introduction video here and genetic engineering and overview Biological weapons and bioterrorism: Past, present, and future (medicalnewstoday.com) America Isn't Ready for the Biowarfare Future (foreignpolicy.com) Before the pandemic The Threat Of Biological Warfare Is Increasing, And The U.S. Isn't Ready (forbes.com) Zombie Preparedness Poster | CDC What Does the Bible Say About Pestilence? (openbible.info) 100 BIBLE VERSES on pestilence UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 2020 (IPS) - The devastating spread of the deadly coronavirus across every continent– with the exception of Antarctica– has triggered a conspiracy theory on social media: what if the virus was really a biological weapon? And more specifically, was it an experimental weapon that accidentally escaped from a laboratory in China? Or as others contend, is it a weapon surreptitiously introduced to de-stabilize a country with more than 1.4 billion people and described as the world’s second largest economy, after the United States.THE PDF LIVE NOTES FOR THE RAGGED EDGE RADIO BROADCAST WORLDWIDE By Russ Dizdar © 3 Both narratives are considered false, and probably part of a deliberate disinformation campaign, according to military experts. Still, in the US, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has repeated the charge that the virus was a creation of the Chinese military while others source it to North Korea. And US President Donald Trump has been roundly condemned for “a racist remark” after describing the deadly disease as “a Chinese virus.” But one hard fact remains: the potentially destructive power of biological weapons, which were banned by an international convention, going back to 1975. Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates predicted in a TED talk in 2015: “If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it is likely to be a highly infectious virus, rather than a war.” They will not be missiles, he warned, but microbes. And two years later, according to GeekWire, Gates repeated the same warning at a side event during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos: “It’s pretty surprising how little preparedness there is for it,” Gates was quoted as saying in 2017….. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=CHRISTIAN+SONG+OF+HOPE&&view=detail&mid=BC237CED69AE3FA6012BBC237CED69AE3FA6012B&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DCHRISTIAN%2BSONG%2BOF%2BHOPE%26FORM%3DHDRSC3

That's literally Joe Biden's energy plan. Shut America's lights off to force a transition to clean energy, or else. Few Americans understand what he's actually proposing, and shutting down pipelines is just the beginning. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You have to listen to the podcast to really understand we have a choice when we understand choice! Few Americans really understand public education, but I will bet you that everyone coming from a foreign country understands public education value as there are so many countries that do not provide public education. Americans need to get a clue, and change is not going to happen without a demand. With the local states having the ability to say that your child is below basic and far below basic and then do nothing to support change is criminal. Parents have pulled their children out of public schools, yet the schools do not have to transfer the enrollment? COVID 19 demonstrated that far too many Black Americans across this nation have been denied due process as these programs that they are placed in do not have the content standards as all other children enrolled in the regular school? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/darlene-anderson/message

President Trump has a secret that is also held by Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and every President going all the way back to Eisenhower. In Washington DC, a city riddled with leaks where the main currency is the exchange of information, how is it possible this secret has been kept for 64 years?In this episode of Unconventional Threat, we are going to explore what we know---and what we don’t know---about PEADs, Presidential Emergency Action Documents.Few Americans know that a state of emergency allows the President to exercise powers contained in secret Presidential Emergency Action Documents. More troubling, even fewer leaders of our federal government--in all three branches-- know what authorities, documented in the PEAD’s, can be claimed by the President. The question to be answered is “How do we safeguard our electoral process in a state of emergency, when the President is wielding unknown - and potentially unprecedented - uses of Presidential powers?”

Tens of millions of Americans are out of work because of the coronavirus. But it didn't have to be that way -- and it's not too late for the US to change course. Few Americans alive today have ever seen unemployment numbers as bad as they are right now. At the end of April 2020, economists estimated that between 13 and 18 percent of US workers were unemployed. It's the highest rate since the Great Depression.   That figure can seem somewhat inevitable; the unfortunate but unavoidable cost of economic lockdown. It’s why, in response, Congress has prioritized shoring up unemployment insurance benefits.  But a handful of European countries have shown that mass unemployment isn’t a given in a situation like this. It’s a policy choice.   In this video, we explain how and why the UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands chose a different path. With the help of economist Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, we explore whether the US can still avoid millions of more job losses. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tanush-prem/support

Few Americans know that when they settle a case with the SEC (or the CFTC which has a similar “rule”) that they will be forced to agree to a lifetime gag, a subject of much concern to Americans across the political and economic spectrum. Whether in small businesses or large, Americans charged by these powerful government agencies settle 98% of the cases brought against them, meaning that those defendants cannot question the strength or the merits of the government’s case against them—for life.For nearly 50 years the SEC has settled cases in this manner even though the “rule” that purports to authorize the practice was never lawfully enacted in 1972. Join us for a litigation update forum with Peggy Little, Senior Litigation Counsel of New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), to discuss whether this practice violates First Amendment doctrines forbidding prior restraint, content-based restrictions on speech, unconstitutional conditions, or suppresses rights of petition, rights of the public to hear truthful speech and due process. Does this silencing of truthful speech immunize the agencies from examination and criticism by the very people best situated to level such criticism? Congress itself could not lawfully enact such a rule, and the teleforum will explore why an administrative agency is exercising powers that Congress does not have.Litigation and Regulatory Background and Disclosure: NCLA petitioned to amend the SEC’s gag rule in October of 2018, which led to a lively hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. NCLA similarly moved to amend the CFTC gag rule in July 2019. NCLA also represents Barry D. Romeril, former CFO of Xerox, who moved to set his gag aside in the Southern District.

Few Americans know that when they settle a case with the SEC (or the CFTC which has a similar “rule”) that they will be forced to agree to a lifetime gag, a subject of much concern to Americans across the political and economic spectrum. Whether in small businesses or large, Americans charged by these powerful government agencies settle 98% of the cases brought against them, meaning that those defendants cannot question the strength or the merits of the government’s case against them—for life.For nearly 50 years the SEC has settled cases in this manner even though the “rule” that purports to authorize the practice was never lawfully enacted in 1972. Join us for a litigation update forum with Peggy Little, Senior Litigation Counsel of New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), to discuss whether this practice violates First Amendment doctrines forbidding prior restraint, content-based restrictions on speech, unconstitutional conditions, or suppresses rights of petition, rights of the public to hear truthful speech and due process. Does this silencing of truthful speech immunize the agencies from examination and criticism by the very people best situated to level such criticism? Congress itself could not lawfully enact such a rule, and the teleforum will explore why an administrative agency is exercising powers that Congress does not have.Litigation and Regulatory Background and Disclosure: NCLA petitioned to amend the SEC’s gag rule in October of 2018, which led to a lively hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. NCLA similarly moved to amend the CFTC gag rule in July 2019. NCLA also represents Barry D. Romeril, former CFO of Xerox, who moved to set his gag aside in the Southern District.

In this special episode, Mr. D goes through one of the little know bits of American history. During WWI, American soldiers actually were part of a small "invasion" of Russia that became known as The Polar Expedition. Few Americans know this tale, and how the Allies in WWI tried to eliminate the Soviets before they could rise in 1918 and 1919. In this episode, Mr. D summarizes and reviews a work done by James Carl Nelson titled The Polar Expedition. Please check out the book! It was an excellent work.

Few Americans in our history have had such wide-ranging and distinguished careers as Leon Panetta. A former Secretary of Defense, Director of Central Intelligence and White House Chief of Staff as well as a long-time Congressman from California, Panetta is one of the most respected, thoughtful and experienced observers of U.S. national security and foreign policy. Panetta presents his views on the threats we face and the need to take them seriously. In this extraordinary interview he discusses the Ukraine Whistleblower case and why now is the time for an impeachment investigation, Trump undermining of Americans standing in the world and the risks associated with his allergy to advice or to drawing up on the professional national resources at his disposal. Don't miss this urgent, pointed interview.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Few Americans in our history have had such wide-ranging and distinguished careers as Leon Panetta. A former Secretary of Defense, Director of Central Intelligence and White House Chief of Staff as well as a long-time Congressman from California, Panetta is one of the most respected, thoughtful and experienced observers of U.S. national security and foreign policy. Panetta presents his views on the threats we face and the need to take them seriously. In this extraordinary interview he discusses the Ukraine Whistleblower case and why now is the time for an impeachment investigation, Trump undermining of Americans standing in the world and the risks associated with his allergy to advice or to drawing up on the professional national resources at his disposal. Don't miss this urgent, pointed interview. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Few Americans know much about the Reserve Officer Training Corps program, and even fewer have insight into the ROTC scholarship. However, the evident and not-so-obvious benefits of this scholarship deserve the attention of anyone involved in the college admissions process.   Amy and Mike invited consultant and author Lieutenant Colonel Robert O. Kirkland to talk all about the ROTC scholarship.   What are five things you will learn in this episode? What does ROTC entail? How difficult is it for a student to earn an ROTC scholarship?  What obligations and benefits accompany an ROTC scholarship? Do scholarship requirements vary by branch or intended major? What are some little-known but powerful benefits that accompany an ROTC scholarship? MEET OUR GUEST Lieutenant Colonel Kirkland was one of the few officers ever to lead two separate Army ROTC programs--Claremont McKenna College from 2006 to 2009 and the University of Southern California from 2010 to 2013. He was selected as Army ROTC instructor of the year and the best Professor of Military Science in his Brigade in 2009. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point and has also earned an MA and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. Robert is the author of The Insider's Guide to the Army ROTC Scholarship for High School Students and Their Parents and The Insider's Guide to the Air Force ROTC Scholarship for High School Students and Their Parents. https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Scholarship-School-Students-Parents/dp/1535319720/ https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Scholarship-School-Students-parents/dp/1501075810/ Find Robert at https://www.rotcconsulting.com ABOUT THIS PODCAST Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

Few Americans dispute the centrality of the Constitution as a statement of our country’s goals; it is as though holy. But what the Constitution actually means to any two people may differ widely, and those differences are dramatized in a new play, on Broadway, called “What the Constitution Means to Me.” It’s essentially a one-person show written and performed by Heidi Schreck (profiled in The New Yorker by Michael Schulman), and it’s her first play to reach Broadway. The performer reflects on her personal history as a high-school debate champion, when she was rewarded for upholding an officially sanctioned view of American politics that she has come to realize is a distortion. Both the play and Schreck’s performance have been nominated for Tony Awards; it’s a hit, and it’s a cultural flashpoint in an era when the phrase “constitutional crisis” is invoked almost weekly. Dorothy Wickenden spoke with Heidi Schreck. Plus, SoundCloud rap—once a marginal, willfully weird genre for amateurs—has lately created some of the biggest hits in hip-hop.

We welcome Richard M. Gamble, Professor of History, Anna Margaret Ross Alexander Chair in History and Politics at Hillsdale College, to speak about Julia Ward Howe's poem, which came to be know as "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Gamble is the author of A Fiery Gospel: The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Road to Righteous War (Religion and American Public Life), which discloses the history of the hymn as well as its position within an overall intellectual history of civil religion within the United States. Other Books by Richard M. Gamble The War for Righteousness: Progressive Christianity, the Great War, and the Rise of the Messianic Nation. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2003. The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to be an Educated Human Being. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2007. In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and Unmaking of an American Myth. New York: Continuum/Bloomsbury, 2012. https://vimeo.com/335044096/347d2cf550 From the Publisher Since its composition in Washington's Willard Hotel in 1861, Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" has been used to make America and its wars sacred. Few Americans reflect on its violent and redemptive imagery, drawn freely from prophetic passages of the Old and New Testaments, and fewer still think about the implications of that apocalyptic language for how Americans interpret who they are and what they owe the world. In A Fiery Gospel, Richard M. Gamble describes how this camp-meeting tune, paired with Howe's evocative lyrics, became one of the most effective instruments of religious nationalism. He takes the reader back to the song's origins during the Civil War, and reveals how those political and military circumstances launched the song's incredible career in American public life. Gamble deftly considers the idea behind the song―humming the tune, reading the music for us―all while reveling in the multiplicity of meanings of and uses to which Howe's lyrics have been put. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" has been versatile enough to match the needs of Civil Rights activists and conservative nationalists, war hawks and peaceniks, as well as Europeans and Americans. This varied career shows readers much about the shifting shape of American righteousness. Yet it is, argues Gamble, the creator of the song herself―her Abolitionist household, Unitarian theology, and Romantic and nationalist sensibilities―that is the true conductor of this most American of war songs. A Fiery Gospel depicts most vividly the surprising genealogy of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and its sure and certain position as a cultural piece in the uncertain amalgam that was and is American civil religion.

The private sector is stepping up to help young immigrant Dreamers while Congress continues to debate their future. Few Americans have done more than Donald Graham, the chairman of the board of Graham Holdings Company and former publisher of the Washington Post. Mr. Graham cofounded TheDream.US to fund college scholarships for hundreds of Dreamers, and he recently received significant donations to expand the program to thousands more. Graham will discuss the success of his initiative, his future plans, and his views on immigration policy and philanthropy. Marisela Tobar and Sadhana Singh, two Dreamers who graduated from Trinity Washington University this year after receiving scholarships from his foundation, will share their perspectives on how his program changed their lives, their hopes for the future, and what barriers they still face to attaining the American dream. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Few Americans have ever been to North Korea. Even fewer have been inside one of the country’s nuclear weapons facilities. Siegfried Hecker, a professor at Stanford University and a former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory made his first private visit in 2004 and went back again and again. In our podcast this week, he says what the North Koreans showed him and his team members “blew our socks off.” He can only speculate why they gave him access to the country’s most sensitive nuclear sites. “What they wanted to tell the Americans is, ‘okay, so you know we have…uranium capabilities to the bomb. And by the way, you’ll never know how much we have and you’ll never know where it all is.’” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every man has his price. For disgruntled US soldier Robert Stephan Lipka, all it took to betray his country was an offer of four hundred dollars. Few Americans know of Lipka, but in September of 1965 he began the wholesale theft of top secret information from the National Security Agency, selling classified documents to the KGB for small sums of money, and causing untold damage to national security and endangering US operations across the globe. Two years later, he quit the espionage business as his military enlistment period expired. He then disappeared into obscurity before the FBI could gather evidence needed for arrest. His case would remain open for over thirty years. Decades after Lipka’s betrayal, a KGB officer sought asylum in the West, fearing reprisal in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. In return for protection he offered important documents stolen from KGB archives. Hidden within these documents was vital proof of Lipka’s guilt. One traitor’s actions led to another’s conviction Author John Whiteside is the dedicated FBI agent who led the Lipka case.

We are extremely pleased this week to be able to bring you one of the world's foremost authorities on the Constitutional Militia, which is a key element of the mechanisms of freedom and security in the United States, and which could also serve as a model to copy, for freedom-loving people anywhere in the world. Few Americans even know there is such a thing as a Constitutional Militia, much less what it really is. Even many who want to defend and preserve the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution do not understand that a major reason for the existence of that amendment is to make possible the functions of the Constitutional Militia. It is not only about individual self-defense, though allowing individuals to protect themselves and others is one of its outcomes. There is a reason that the word "militia" is demonized by U.S. media under the control of government and global corporations. It should give us a powerful clue to how important it is to us to find out what it really is. Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. holds four degrees from Harvard University including Ph.D and J.D. He is a frequent contributor to News With Views, where many of his articles can be seen. He is also the author of many articles in scholarly journals, and is the world authority on the U.S. Constitution as it relates to money and banking. His two-volume work on money and banking is called Pieces of Eight. Also a world-class expert on the Constitutional Militia, the main subject of this show, he is the author of books on that subject including The Sword and Sovereignty and Constitutional Homeland Security, both highly recommended as sources to bring Americans up to speed on this extremely essential subject which is intentionally ignored in American public education.

This year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a legal revolution with far-reaching cultural, political, and economic import. But as J. Douglas Smith argues in On Democracy's Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought “One Person, One Vote” to the United States (Hill and Wang, 2014),the early 1960s witnessed a comparable sea change in voting law that deserves far more attention. Indeed, when journalists asked Earl Warren what he regarded as the Supreme Court's most important accomplishment under his tenure, the Chief Justice — who oversaw a series of landmark cases, from Brown to Miranda –– did not hesitate to answer: Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims. Few Americans today could identify and explain what these rulings did. But as Smith explains, they represented a dramatic break with a long-reigning electoral system that now feels almost unimaginable. America is exceptional among modern democracies for elevating the idea of unequal representation to a theory of”checks and balances;” the Senate being the most obvious example (California, with more people than the twenty-one least-populous states combined, has as tiny a fraction of the power in Congress). Yet the situation was far worse before the Court's forgotten revolution, with state legislatures across the country effectively disfranchising voters on a mass scale. Los Angeles County, with more than 6 million residents in 1960, had just one state senator. Three nearby counties, with less than 15,000 voters, each had the same. Many have argued that these facts have been inconsequential to U.S. political history, a very counterintuitive notion if so. But the early twentieth century politicians who relied on the inflation of rural and small-town districts — some of whom numbered among the most powerful arbiters of legislation and debate in Washington — certainly did not share this view. In reaction to the Court's decisions, Everett Dirksen, the Republican Minority Leader in the legendary 89th Congress, hired the consulting firm Whitaker and Baxter, widely thought to have pioneered modern campaigning, to repeal or roll back the rulings. Dozens of states lined up, with enormous funding from the nation's biggest corporations. The group even considered a Constitutional Convention, what would have been the first since 1789. Those efforts failed. But in the wake of this half-realized democratization, legislatures underwent dramatic political change. Notably, they also turned to gerrymandering and increasing reliance on the filibuster. Dubbed by the Washington Post one of the notable works of the year, Smith's book is well worth your read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a legal revolution with far-reaching cultural, political, and economic import. But as J. Douglas Smith argues in On Democracy’s Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought “One Person, One Vote” to the United States (Hill and Wang, 2014),the early 1960s witnessed a comparable sea change in voting law that deserves far more attention. Indeed, when journalists asked Earl Warren what he regarded as the Supreme Court’s most important accomplishment under his tenure, the Chief Justice — who oversaw a series of landmark cases, from Brown to Miranda –– did not hesitate to answer: Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims. Few Americans today could identify and explain what these rulings did. But as Smith explains, they represented a dramatic break with a long-reigning electoral system that now feels almost unimaginable. America is exceptional among modern democracies for elevating the idea of unequal representation to a theory of”checks and balances;” the Senate being the most obvious example (California, with more people than the twenty-one least-populous states combined, has as tiny a fraction of the power in Congress). Yet the situation was far worse before the Court’s forgotten revolution, with state legislatures across the country effectively disfranchising voters on a mass scale. Los Angeles County, with more than 6 million residents in 1960, had just one state senator. Three nearby counties, with less than 15,000 voters, each had the same. Many have argued that these facts have been inconsequential to U.S. political history, a very counterintuitive notion if so. But the early twentieth century politicians who relied on the inflation of rural and small-town districts — some of whom numbered among the most powerful arbiters of legislation and debate in Washington — certainly did not share this view. In reaction to the Court’s decisions, Everett Dirksen, the Republican Minority Leader in the legendary 89th Congress, hired the consulting firm Whitaker and Baxter, widely thought to have pioneered modern campaigning, to repeal or roll back the rulings. Dozens of states lined up, with enormous funding from the nation’s biggest corporations. The group even considered a Constitutional Convention, what would have been the first since 1789. Those efforts failed. But in the wake of this half-realized democratization, legislatures underwent dramatic political change. Notably, they also turned to gerrymandering and increasing reliance on the filibuster. Dubbed by the Washington Post one of the notable works of the year, Smith’s book is well worth your read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a legal revolution with far-reaching cultural, political, and economic import. But as J. Douglas Smith argues in On Democracy’s Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought “One Person, One Vote” to the United States (Hill and Wang, 2014),the early 1960s witnessed a comparable sea change in voting law that deserves far more attention. Indeed, when journalists asked Earl Warren what he regarded as the Supreme Court’s most important accomplishment under his tenure, the Chief Justice — who oversaw a series of landmark cases, from Brown to Miranda –– did not hesitate to answer: Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims. Few Americans today could identify and explain what these rulings did. But as Smith explains, they represented a dramatic break with a long-reigning electoral system that now feels almost unimaginable. America is exceptional among modern democracies for elevating the idea of unequal representation to a theory of”checks and balances;” the Senate being the most obvious example (California, with more people than the twenty-one least-populous states combined, has as tiny a fraction of the power in Congress). Yet the situation was far worse before the Court’s forgotten revolution, with state legislatures across the country effectively disfranchising voters on a mass scale. Los Angeles County, with more than 6 million residents in 1960, had just one state senator. Three nearby counties, with less than 15,000 voters, each had the same. Many have argued that these facts have been inconsequential to U.S. political history, a very counterintuitive notion if so. But the early twentieth century politicians who relied on the inflation of rural and small-town districts — some of whom numbered among the most powerful arbiters of legislation and debate in Washington — certainly did not share this view. In reaction to the Court’s decisions, Everett Dirksen, the Republican Minority Leader in the legendary 89th Congress, hired the consulting firm Whitaker and Baxter, widely thought to have pioneered modern campaigning, to repeal or roll back the rulings. Dozens of states lined up, with enormous funding from the nation’s biggest corporations. The group even considered a Constitutional Convention, what would have been the first since 1789. Those efforts failed. But in the wake of this half-realized democratization, legislatures underwent dramatic political change. Notably, they also turned to gerrymandering and increasing reliance on the filibuster. Dubbed by the Washington Post one of the notable works of the year, Smith’s book is well worth your read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a legal revolution with far-reaching cultural, political, and economic import. But as J. Douglas Smith argues in On Democracy’s Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought “One Person, One Vote” to the United States (Hill and Wang, 2014),the early 1960s witnessed a comparable sea change in voting law that deserves far more attention. Indeed, when journalists asked Earl Warren what he regarded as the Supreme Court’s most important accomplishment under his tenure, the Chief Justice — who oversaw a series of landmark cases, from Brown to Miranda –– did not hesitate to answer: Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims. Few Americans today could identify and explain what these rulings did. But as Smith explains, they represented a dramatic break with a long-reigning electoral system that now feels almost unimaginable. America is exceptional among modern democracies for elevating the idea of unequal representation to a theory of”checks and balances;” the Senate being the most obvious example (California, with more people than the twenty-one least-populous states combined, has as tiny a fraction of the power in Congress). Yet the situation was far worse before the Court’s forgotten revolution, with state legislatures across the country effectively disfranchising voters on a mass scale. Los Angeles County, with more than 6 million residents in 1960, had just one state senator. Three nearby counties, with less than 15,000 voters, each had the same. Many have argued that these facts have been inconsequential to U.S. political history, a very counterintuitive notion if so. But the early twentieth century politicians who relied on the inflation of rural and small-town districts — some of whom numbered among the most powerful arbiters of legislation and debate in Washington — certainly did not share this view. In reaction to the Court’s decisions, Everett Dirksen, the Republican Minority Leader in the legendary 89th Congress, hired the consulting firm Whitaker and Baxter, widely thought to have pioneered modern campaigning, to repeal or roll back the rulings. Dozens of states lined up, with enormous funding from the nation’s biggest corporations. The group even considered a Constitutional Convention, what would have been the first since 1789. Those efforts failed. But in the wake of this half-realized democratization, legislatures underwent dramatic political change. Notably, they also turned to gerrymandering and increasing reliance on the filibuster. Dubbed by the Washington Post one of the notable works of the year, Smith’s book is well worth your read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a legal revolution with far-reaching cultural, political, and economic import. But as J. Douglas Smith argues in On Democracy’s Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought “One Person, One Vote” to the United States (Hill and Wang, 2014),the early 1960s witnessed a comparable sea change in voting law that deserves far more attention. Indeed, when journalists asked Earl Warren what he regarded as the Supreme Court’s most important accomplishment under his tenure, the Chief Justice — who oversaw a series of landmark cases, from Brown to Miranda –– did not hesitate to answer: Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims. Few Americans today could identify and explain what these rulings did. But as Smith explains, they represented a dramatic break with a long-reigning electoral system that now feels almost unimaginable. America is exceptional among modern democracies for elevating the idea of unequal representation to a theory of”checks and balances;” the Senate being the most obvious example (California, with more people than the twenty-one least-populous states combined, has as tiny a fraction of the power in Congress). Yet the situation was far worse before the Court’s forgotten revolution, with state legislatures across the country effectively disfranchising voters on a mass scale. Los Angeles County, with more than 6 million residents in 1960, had just one state senator. Three nearby counties, with less than 15,000 voters, each had the same. Many have argued that these facts have been inconsequential to U.S. political history, a very counterintuitive notion if so. But the early twentieth century politicians who relied on the inflation of rural and small-town districts — some of whom numbered among the most powerful arbiters of legislation and debate in Washington — certainly did not share this view. In reaction to the Court’s decisions, Everett Dirksen, the Republican Minority Leader in the legendary 89th Congress, hired the consulting firm Whitaker and Baxter, widely thought to have pioneered modern campaigning, to repeal or roll back the rulings. Dozens of states lined up, with enormous funding from the nation’s biggest corporations. The group even considered a Constitutional Convention, what would have been the first since 1789. Those efforts failed. But in the wake of this half-realized democratization, legislatures underwent dramatic political change. Notably, they also turned to gerrymandering and increasing reliance on the filibuster. Dubbed by the Washington Post one of the notable works of the year, Smith’s book is well worth your read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After four decades of military service and countless experiences with military intervention, retired four-star General Tony Zinni is well aware that wars are not always decided on the battlefield. Political decisions, intelligence estimates, strategies (or the lack thereof) and many other non-battlefield components have crucial significance in the outcome of war. Few Americans realize how many essential pieces have to fall in to place to execute a successful campaign. What triggers lead the US to use military force and how may these triggers be changing due to emerging global issues? How can the US learn from past successes and failures to achieve greater success in the future? General Zinni will analyze past military experiences and discuss what must be done to make the process of going to war more clear-eyed, and ultimately, successful. This program is presented in partnership with the Marines' Memorial Association.Speaker Anthony Zinni is the Former Commander of US Central Command.The discussion will be led by Jane Wales, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Affairs Council.For more information about this event please visit: http://www.worldaffairs.org/events/event/1325

Join Richard Diaz and his guest, Coach Jenny Hadfield as they discuss an exoticrunning vacation: The Havana Cuba HalfMarathon.  Due to the US embargo, Cuba has been restricted for US travelers. This is a unique chance to visit and run on the forbidden Island of Cuba. Few Americans have had the pleasure of visiting Cuba since we blocked trade with Cuba as far back as October of 1960 back.  Through the efforts of InsightCuba, a non-profit travel organization specializing in legal people-to-people travel to Cuba for Americans, runners from the US can legally visit Cuba to participate in this event.

Few Americans know much about Josephine Baker. Why? It wasn't because she lacked artistic skill or failed to remain relevant during a long career that stretched from the 1920s into the 1970s; it was because she took charge of her life and career at a time when African Americans were not always able to cast a public image of control, intelligence, and bravado that didn't stumble across racial lines.    Produced by Ted Wells Living Simple LLC.  www.TedWells.com

Today you will learn to write Russian cursive "А". I will include more than one letter in my future lessons.Thanks to one of my listeners I was able to upload a "Russian Cursive Workbook" in the DOWNLOADS section on the right.The Cyrillic alphabet was adopted by the Slavs in about the 9th century. Although it is named after St. Cyril (Constantine), it was not invented by St. Cyril. It is based on the system of Greek capital letters. If you know the Greek alphabet, many of the letters will be familiar to you.The Cyrillic alphabet, with some modifications, is used by many nations in Europe and Asia, including Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, and Mongolia, to name only a few.Few Americans write in cursive script anymore. All Russians write in cursive. You won't need to learn cursive to "get by" such as reading street signs or newspapers, and Russians will be able to read your notes if you print your letters. But you'll need to learn cursive to read Russians' handwriting. If you want to learn "good Russian" then learn to write in cursive. If you just want to "get by" on vacation you can skip this.Russian cursive letters looks quite different from Russian printed letters. Some letters look like English cursive letters, but represent different letters. The bane of Russian cursive is the letters м т л и ш щ ц, which look almost identical.Upper- and lower-case cursive letters look quite different. Thus Russians use three distinct alphabets: printed, upper-case cursive, and lower-case cursive.In this example, each letter--upper and lower case--is followed by the same letter in Russian cursive. You will notice that in the block style, the only difference between the upper and lower case letters is the size. In the cursive style, certain letters distinguish between upper and lower case.(Please follow the video for this lesson. Just click on the title of the blog entry.)-----------------------------------------------------