Podcasts about European

Why was there almost no emphasis on "church growth" before the 1970s, and how does the fixation on it for the last 40 years correspond with the American economy? Skye talks with Andrew Root about his new book, "Baal and the Gods of More," about the link between the modern church growth movement and ancient pagan fertility gods. A new report by Ryan Burge says that for decades those who left the church were turned off by partisan politics and the religious right, but that trend might be changing. Also this week, Brazil blames its poor performance in the World Cup on evangelicals, European evangelicals issue a statement, and an old theory about early Christianity and psychedelic mushrooms is back.   Holy Post Plus: Ad-Free Version of this Episode: https://holypost.substack.com/p/730-the-idolatry-of-church-growth?r=35kf51&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true   Bonus Interview with Andrew Root: https://holypost.substack.com/p/why-churches-cant-stop-chasing-growth?r=35kf51&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true   0:00 - Show Starts   4:07 - Theme Song   4:30 - Sponsor - AG1 - Heavily researched, thoroughly purity-tested, and filled with stuff you need. Get the AG1 $76 Welcome Pack for free when you order from https://www.drinkag1.com/HOLYPOST   6:01 - Sponsor - BetterHelp - This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/HOLYPOST and get 10% off your first month!   7:03 - Was Jesus a Mushroom?   12:52 - Brazil Blames Evangelicals for Soccer Failure?   21:40 - Sponsor - Tyndale -  To celebrate the NLT's 30th anniversary, Use code CURIOUS30 to receive 30% off any NLT Bible! https://tyndale.com   22:44 - Sponsor - Access Forge - Go to https://www.accessible.faith/ to unlock the first two Belonging by Design lessons and use promo code HOLYPOST to get $200 off the full program   23:47 - Sponsor - Feeding America - Feeding America, led by neighbors! Give now to end hunger at https://www.feedingamerica.org   24:20 - European Evangelicals   49:38 - Interview   54:32- Fertility Gods   1:02:09 - Capitalism and False Gods   1:18:26 - The Rise and Fall of American Growth   1:31:52 - End Credits   Links Mentioned in News Segment: Popular Science Posits Jesus was a Psychedelic Mushroom: https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a69061008/god-sacred-mushroom-christianity-debate/   Did Evangelicals Ruin Brazil's Soccer Performance? https://religionnews.com/2026/07/17/some-world-cup-fans-are-blaming-brazils-loss-on-evangelicals/?utm_medium=social   European Evangelicals Differentiate from American Evangelicals: https://religionunplugged.com/news/european-evangelicals-draw-a-clear-distinction-from-their-american-counterparts?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic/christianity   Other Resources: Baal and the Gods of More: Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry (A Theological Critique of Modern Ministry Metrics and Success-Driven Strategies) by Andrew Root: https://a.co/d/0c0ijKLw   Holy Post website: https://www.holypost.com/   Holy Post Plus: www.holypost.com/plus   Holy Post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/holypost   Holy Post Merch Store: https://www.holypost.com/shop   The Holy Post is supported by our listeners. We may earn affiliate commissions through links listed here. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.  

"From each according to their ability, to each according to their need." Steve's guest, Breht O'Shea of Rev Left Radio and Red Menace podcast, believes that dedicating one's life to fighting for this vision, even without knowing the outcome, is more meaningful than pursuing capital's vision of wealth and status. Steve invited Breht to help tackle one of the most misunderstood and weaponized texts in Marxist theory: Vladimir Lenin's Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder, a book sometimes misused as a cudgel to pressure leftists into voting for the Democratic Party. To set the record straight, Breht places the 1920 pamphlet in its proper historical context. It was written after the successful Bolshevik Revolution to advise European socialist movements on how to avoid fatal mistakes. Together, Breht and Steve break down Lenin's dual critique: the ultra-left "infantile" error of purity-spiraled sectarianism, and the right-wing "opportunist" error of liquidating the revolutionary movement into bourgeois liberal politics. Lenin's strategic genius lies in maintaining firm revolutionary principles while remaining tactically flexible. The discussion extends beyond the text to cover the necessity of organization and discipline (democratic centralism), the constant threat of counter-revolution, the failure of social democracy, and how fascism functions as capitalism's immune response to left-wing threats. Breht O'Shea is the host of Rev Left Radio, the co-host of the Red Menace podcast, and author of the upcoming book "Letters to a Young Revolutionary" published by Iskra Books.  Check out Real Progressives website HERE Check out Macro n' Cheese podcast HERE Subscribe to their Substack HERE Sub to their YouTube page HERE

Parents take their child to a hospital expecting care—not a custody battle. Investigative journalist Ann Vandersteel and veteran paralegal Maureen Steele examine allegations of "medical kidnapping," Child Protective Services, family courts, and financial incentives they argue are driving a system that some families say has become impossible to escape. GUEST: Maureen Steele is a veteran paralegal, investigator, and co-founder of the American Made Foundation. For years, she has investigated child welfare, family court, and guardianship cases, interviewing families, reviewing court records, and documenting allegations of government overreach. She is co-author of The CPS Pipeline: State Sanctioned Kidnapping. GUEST: Ann Vandersteel is an award-winning investigative journalist, broadcaster, and co-founder of the American Made Foundation. Through years of investigative reporting, she has examined allegations involving Child Protective Services, medical custody disputes, family courts, and guardianship systems. She is co-author of The CPS Pipeline: State Sanctioned Kidnapping. WEBSITES: https://americanmadefoundation.org https://maureensteele.com SUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@annvandersteel3 BOOK: The CPS Pipeline: State Sanctioned Kidnapping FOLLOW RICHARD Website: https://www.strangeplanet.ca YouTube: @strangeplanetradio Instagram: @richardsyrettstrangeplanet TikTok: @therealstrangeplanet SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! MARS MEN Mars Men helps you reclaim your edge with natural testosterone support for energy, focus, and strength Go to MenGoToMars.com right now, for a limited time, listeners of this program get 50% off for life, plus free shipping AND 3 free gifts. QUINCE Luxury, European linen that gets softer with every wash! Turn up the luxury when you turn in with Quince. Go to Quince dot com slash RSSP for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. CARGURUS CarGurus is the #1 rated car shopping app in Canada on the Apple App and Google Play store. They've got hundreds of thousands of cars from top-rated dealers, plus advanced search tools that let you zero in on exactly what you want. And you can set real-time alerts for price drops and new listings — so you never miss a great deal. Buy your next car today with CarGurus at cargurus dot ca. Go to cargurus dot ca to make sure your big deal is the best deal. ⁠ BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER!!!⁠ ⁠https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm⁠ Three monthly subscriptions to choose from. Commercial Free Listening, Bonus Episodes and a Subscription to my monthly newsletter, InnerSanctum. Visit ⁠https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm⁠ Use the discount code "Planet" to receive $5 OFF any subscription. We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm/

Robert Peston is one of Britain's most trusted journalists. A fixture in British politics and business coverage, he came to national prominence as Business Editor and then Economics Editor at the BBC, where he revealed the crises at Northern Rock and RBS, the emergency rescue of HBOS, and the tumult around the credit crunch, bailouts, and austerity.  Today he hosts his namesake flagship politics and current affairs show, Peston, as ITV's Political Editor, and co-hosts The Rest is Money with Steph McGovern where he continues to help audiences make sense of the fast-evolving worlds of business and finance. In July 2026 Peston joined us for the Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook. In conversation with BBC broadcaster Jonny Dymond, he explored the key challenges and opportunities facing today's domestic, European, and global economies.  Peston answered questions on our most pressing issues today. Has Keir Starmer successfully seen off a Labour Party coup, and will his government finally be able to deliver growth? In the face of war in the Middle East, how exposed is Britain to renewed instability in energy markets and the wider global economy? And what should policymakers do now to restore confidence, encourage investment and navigate a more volatile international landscape? He also discussed The Kill Switch, the new novel in his bestselling crime thriller series, set at the intersection of media, money and political power. --- --- This recording is part of The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook series of events made in partnership with Guinness Global Investors, an independent British fund manager that helps both individuals and institutions harness the future drivers of growth to achieve their investment goals. To find out more visit: https://www.guinnessgi.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Georgian Democratic Republic lasted a mere three years, from 1918-1921. And though it was viewed as an oddity at the time, many European social democrats marveled at its possibilities. Here was a state committed to social democracy in a mostly backward peasant and multiethnic country. What promises did it hold for the future? Unfortunately, the world never learned because the Bolsheviks crushed it in 1921 and proceeded to sovietize Georgia. The republic was denounced as counter revolutionary and its memory faded as its founders died in exile. So what was this brief experiment in social democracy in the south Caucasus? What were its political positions and aspirations? What does it say about the history of the Russian Revolution? How and why did it fall after only three years? Stephen Jones has been researching these questions for over 40 years, and that has culminated in his opus The First Social Democracy: The Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1918-1921. The Eurasian Knot spoke to Jones about his highly anticipated book to learn more about this historical “oddity” and how it might speak to us today.Guest:Stephen Jones is Professor of Georgian Modern History at Ilia State University in Georgia. His books include Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917 and Georgia: A Political History Since Independence. His latest book is The First Social Democracy: The Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1918-1921 published by Harvard University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second part of our economic roundtable, Michael Gapen, Jens Eisenschmidt and Chetan Ahya join Seth Carpenter to discuss how central banks are balancing sticky inflation, resilient growth and regional policy trade-offs.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Seth Carpenter: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Seth Carpenter, Morgan Stanley's Global Chief Economist and Head of Macro Research. And once again today, I am joined by Morgan Stanley's chief regional economists: Michael Gapen, the Chief U.S. Economist, Jens Eisenschmidt, our Chief Europe Economist, and on the other side of the world, Chetna Ahya, our Chief Asia Economist. Yesterday, we talked about what's supporting growth around the world, especially AI spending in the U.S. and some government spending in Europe, and Asia's role in making all of this happen. Today, we're going to try to dig deeper and go into policy. It's Tuesday, July 21st at 10 am in New York Jens Eisenschmidt: And 4pm in Frankfurt. Chetan Ahya: And 10pm in Hong Kong. Seth Carpenter: Since the last time we did this in mid-April, I will say the debate around central banks has probably become more complicated. Global growth has held up, probably better than many people expected. And inflation, which picked up a lot, started to recede. But it has not gone away. And some of the forces helping to shape the economy, the AI spending, government spending, that possible upswing in manufacturing, that could keep demand strong, and it might keep pushing inflation higher. So, the question today is, if growth remains resilient, how much room really do central banks have to navigate? Mike, let me start with you because your call for the Fed here in the U.S. is out of consensus, or at least at odds with where the market is pricing things. We talked about the demand going from AI. You pointed out that imports are actually limiting how much domestic demand there is. So, what is the underlying story for inflation in the U.S.? And what does it mean for the Fed? Michael Gapen: So, our view is that inflation will come down in the U.S. So, we think disinflation will be driven by some payback in energy prices. Some payback from tariffs, which have pushed up goods prices over the last year. And some further diminishment in housing-related inflation, namely shelter. So, we think on a broad-based perspective, inflation has already peaked and will start moving lower. And we think we've seen evidence of this in recent inflation prints. A risk to that, though, is from the demand side of the economy and AI-related inflation in two parts. One, higher software prices, chipflation. So, the pass-through of some of the AI pricing components. Fortunately, here, they're about less than 1 percent of the consumer basket. So, we don't think that there's a great risk, a strong risk, a high risk of AI-related inflation in the consumer bundle. I think the real risk is that maybe we underestimate broad-based demand, animal spirits. And so, you might just see a broad-based increase in inflation from stronger demand. That'll be a little bit harder to see in real times. But our expectation is that inflation moves lower to about 3 percent, by the end of this year and closer to 2.5 percent next year. Seth Carpenter: All right. Thanks, Mike. And in fact, the most recent inflation report that we just got confirms your perspective that inflation should be coming down. And so, I guess the question then remains: What would it take for the Fed to hike this year if inflation has come down like we've seen? Michael Gapen: Well, I think that the answer there is that inflation wouldn't come down in line with our expectations. So, if the view is that energy prices, tariffs, and shelter inflation should provide plenty of offset and bring inflation down, I think the answer is you don't get payback. Explicitly, core goods prices stay elevated. Maybe we get ongoing disruptions in the Middle East that push energy prices higher and create second-round effects. So, I think inflation just lingering at elevated levels could mean the Fed gets brought in to raise rates in September or later this year. We think if they're patient enough, they'll see enough disinflation to keep them on the sidelines. But the risk is disinflation forecast is too optimistic, inflation stays firm, the Fed needs to raise rates. Seth Carpenter: All right, Jens, what about for you and the ECB? They've already raised interest rates once this year. I think you've got a forecast for them raising interest rates again in September. What could make you wrong about that forecast? What's going to make you convinced that you're right about that forecast? And is there a similar tension that the ECB is wrestling with that Mike talked about for the Fed? Jens Eisenschmidt: Yeah. I mean, starting with the last part of your question, I think no doubt, very similar tension. Just that, of course, it's less obvious. It's essentially a nuanced European version instead of the loud American version that we always stereotypically think the world looks like. So, essentially, we have here clearly not an AI boom. That, I mean, there's no question. And we have discussed that yesterday. Still, there is certainly the notion that the world demand is not really weak, and some of this will also arrive in Europe. And so, you have that tension between maybe there's more resilience than we had thought, and so inflation will not come down through to slack as much. And so, we might actually add something here in terms of monetary restrictiveness. Now, the other thing that is often forgotten, even though it's blatantly obvious, the starting point is just different. The ECB is running neutral monetary policy by all accounts. I mean, you could say 2 percent is neutral, and now they are 2.25. But, you know, there are ranges of uncertainty around any estimate. And the latest that they published runs – goes from 1.75 to 2;2.5. So basically, even if they were to increase rates to 2.5 in September, you could go with the microphone around the governing council, and you would probably find a lot of people saying, "Well, this is still a neutral policy." That's probably not the case for the U.S. So, I guess this matters here for that debate too. Seth Carpenter: All right. Yesterday we talked about lots of different things, but for Europe, we brought up fiscal policy. How do you think about fiscal policy and how it affects monetary policy? And so, I'm thinking about two channels. One, how much does the ECB care that if they keep pushing up interest rates, they're going to increase the debt service burden for countries that are already facing high debt costs? And second, is fiscal policy going to be the extra impetus for inflation that forces even more rate hikes from the ECB? Jens Eisenschmidt: I guess it depends on who you ask. Certainly, more concerned members in the governing council that would point to exactly that fiscal stimulus as a reason why interest rates have to be increased further from here. The other answer I would give is – probably for now at least, the view on fiscal policy is really model-based. You look at what type of increase in interest rate gets you essentially more fiscal restraint because there's an increase in interest rate bill and so less spending somewhere else. And that gets you basically less stimulus or less growth, I mean, very roughly speaking. I don't think it's a major concern for now. We haven't reached yet interest rates where this would start to play a role. I guess, again, Europe being fragmented as it is, with all the political risk that's around the corner. Think about the elections in France and Italy and Spain next year. That will very likely find itself expressed in spreads. And so, the higher the interest rates are, the larger the spreads could become. Seth Carpenter: So, for each of you, there's clearly a role for inflation. One of the risks we'll talk about maybe is inflation expectations and how maybe there's a big shift in what's going on with inflation. But Chetan, that brings me to you and Asia, because one economy where there unquestionably has been a fundamental shift in inflation and inflation expectation over the past several years is Japan. The Bank of Japan is on this normalization path where they're raising interest rates. Interest rates had been negative and then zero, and now they're gradually raising things up. Inflation has come back to Japan. Markets are looking at what the Bank of Japan is likely to do. Can you tell us a little bit about what our view is for the Bank of Japan this year and next? And what might make them hike interest rates faster than we think? And is there any risk that in fact they hike interest rates slower than we think? Chetan Ahya: Yeah, Seth. So, we are expecting BoJ to hike twice from here. The first rate hike is coming up in December of this year, and then another one coming up in June of next year. And then we think that, you know, the underlying inflation trend in Japan is not really that strong. So, while market pricing is for about three more rate hikes instead of two that we are building in our base case. And some of the macro investors are even talking about four more rate hikes. We think the underlying inflation trend warrants a caution and BoJ to go slowly than what the market is pricing in and what the macro investors are saying in. And the key part of our framework on thinking about Japan's inflation is that bulk of the explanation to inflation rise in Japan lies in currency moves. And secondarily, you can look at also the other drivers are more from supply side, which is higher energy prices or food prices. Whereas it's not driven so much by demand. To elaborate further on why it is not driven by demand, when you look at Japan's consumption trend, and if you index it to hundred at pre-COVID levels in September [20]19 then it's currently about 101; i.e., that it's just about 1 percent up over the last seven years. So that's a very tepid trend of consumption demand. And therefore, we don't think that BoJ needs to rush into hike in a more aggressive pace going forward. Seth Carpenter: So, there is this fundamental shift, but boy, it's not on a tear, and so the BoJ can take its time. You know, Chetan, it's hard to wrap up a conversation about the global economy without talking about China. I get the sense that there's not a lot going on with monetary policy, but we did just see a soft Q2 GDP print. So, against that backdrop, what should we be expecting in terms of policy? Is there any monetary policy coming? Or is there going to be some fiscal expansion? Or is China just sort of stuck in this lower gear? Chetan Ahya: Yeah, Seth. So, we were also surprised by the soft GDP print. But when you look into the data, actually, it was interestingly doing well on exports. And I mentioned earlier about how the global CapEx trend is helping Asia. It's definitely helping China too. But at the same time, China's domestic demand turned out to be quite weak. And particularly in the areas where we think that the policy response can be providing some help, i.e., infrastructure spend, was also very weak. And therefore, we are expecting that in the back half of the year, you will see the government taking up some fiscal expansion. Not new stimulus announcement, but whatever they had budgeted. They have enough room within that to utilize that budget and actually increase that fiscal spending towards infrastructure. We have about 2 trillion RMB worth of funds available for the government to go ahead and spend in the second half. And then lift that growth trend, which has dipped to 4.3 percent in second quarter to back to 4.6 percent in the back half of the year. Seth Carpenter: You know what? Maybe that's a great place for us to leave it. We've gone around the world again today, but this time focusing much more on policy. In the U.S., the Fed is facing this interesting situation. We think inflation is coming down. The last CPI print went in our favor. And so as a result, our forecast is that the Fed doesn't change policy at all this year. But it's going to come down to the data, and in particular, whether or not Mike and his team are right in terms of where inflation is going. In Europe, the ECB has already raised interest rates once this year. Jens and team are looking for another interest rate hike. The ECB really does seem more sensitive to inflation coming from the energy shock, but there are lots of other crosscurrents that they're paying attention to as well. And then the other major developed market central bank, the Bank of Japan, is on this normalization path. They are in the process of raising interest rates, but Chetan pointed out to us that the growth rate is such that they don't have to be in any sort of hurry, and they can take their time. So, with that, Mike, Jens, Chetan, thank you so much for helping us connect all of these dots. And to the listeners, thank you for listening. If you enjoy the show, please leave us a review wherever you listen. And share Thoughts on the Market with a friend or a colleague today.

AI investment is reshaping the global outlook. In part one of this economic roundtable, our panel explores where the momentum is strongest — and where investment still needs to catch up.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Seth Carpenter: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Seth Carpenter, Morgan Stanley's Global Chief Economist and Head of Macro Research. Michael Gapen: And I'm Michael Gapen, Chief U.S. Economist. Chetan Ahya: And I'm Chetan Ahya, Chief Asia Economist. Jens Eisenschmidt: And I'm Jens Eisenschmidt, Chief Europe Economist. Seth Carpenter: And today is going to be our third quarter economic roundtable taking a wide-angle view on the global economy and all the key forces shaping our outlook and the economy. Seth Carpenter: It's Monday, July 20th at 10am in New York Jens Eisenschmidt: And 4pm in Frankfurt. Chetan Ahya: And 10pm in Hong Kong. Seth Carpenter: Since our last roundtable in April, the global economy has continued to face all sorts of shocks, a mix of resilience and friction. Inflation pressures have not disappeared. Energy and geopolitical risks have come up, they've receded, they've come back, they've receded all over the place But there is one underlying source of momentum that we have to talk about. And that is the AI-driven CapEx cycle. Michael, let me turn to you because the U.S. is a real focal point of all of this. Tell me a little bit about where Morgan Stanley Research is thinking about hyperscaler CapEx. How big it is? And then for you, when you think about the U.S. economy, just how big of a driver is it for what we're looking for in the U.S.? Michael Gapen: Yeah, we continue to revise higher our estimates for hyperscaler and AI-related CapEx in the U.S. economy. We were thinking a little over a trillion for 2027. Now we're more like 1.2 - 1.3 trillion, maybe as high as 1.4 trillion in 2028. So, the level of hyperscaler spending continues to keep rising. The growth rate and its effect on the economy is likely to slow. But as you noted, it's still a major driver of momentum in the U.S. You would look at that headline number and think, "Wow, that's, you know, 3.5 percent or so of GDP. Must be a massive source of momentum for GDP growth." But roughly about 60 percent of that hyperscaler CapEx spending goes to items like computers and peripherals, equipment spending categories that have a very, very high import content. We still get a significant number that AI CapEx is probably contributing around 40 basis points to growth this year. Be a similar-sized amount perhaps next year.So, for an economy that's growing somewhere a little bit above 2 percent right now, maybe closer to 2.5 percent next year, that's a non-trivial amount. We just have to remember it's fueling growth around the world, just not here in the U.S. Seth Carpenter: Yeah, that's a really great point because I have seen some estimates where people say, "Well, if it wasn't for AI CapEx, the U.S. economy wouldn't have grown at all." And that's clearly wrong, as you point out. But U.S. imports are necessarily exports from somewhere else. And, Chetan, if I can pull you into the story then, U.S. firms are buying a lot of AI-related equipment from Asia. What does that mean in your part of the world? And in particular, I'm thinking about Korea, Taiwan, and maybe some other economies in Asia. What's the critical story there? Chetan Ahya: So, for Asia, this has definitely been a big boon. If you look at Asia's exports, they have been booming, and particularly for the ones which are exporting semiconductors to the U.S. They are seeing semiconductor exports growing by 90 percent. And when we go back in time and compare Asia's semiconductor exports, it's very tightly linked to the U.S. IT CapEx. And it's not surprising when Mike Gapen mentions about the imports going up. It's on the other side, helping Asia's exports quite meaningfully. So, so far, we've seen this benefiting Korea, number one, Taiwan, and also Japan. All these three are big beneficiaries of U.S. AI CapEx. And of course, also not just U.S., but the other countries which are doing any little amount of CapEx on AI front, that's also helping these three economies in the region. Seth Carpenter: You've been doing a lot of work, Chetan, recently about how much the story can actually broaden out, that the AI CapEx cycle has really contributed to Asian growth, but it doesn't tell the whole story that there's a broader industrial cycle. Can you give us a little bit of a flavor of that story? Chetan Ahya: That's right, Seth. So, we are actually highlighting that there is a CapEx and industrial super cycle that is underway in Asia, and there are four components to this story. AI and semiconductors CapEx, which we just briefly discussed. Number two is energy. Number three is defense. And number four is industrial supply chain onshoring related CapEx. I know that everybody still thinks that AI is the most important part of this story, but when I give you the numbers and the breakup of that... So, for Asia, AI and semiconductor companies CapEx is about $380 billion in 2026, but energy CapEx is going to be $900 billion. So, this is a far broader story than just AI for Asia. Seth Carpenter: Mike, let me come back to you and to the U.S. then. So, isn't the growth story also broader than that as well domestically? So, what's going on in terms of consumer spending in the U.S., and is there a broader CapEx story in the U.S. as well? Michael Gapen: I would say, is it broader than that? I think maybe you could argue also it's narrower than that. Here's what I mean by that. As I noted AI CapEx contributing about 40 basis points to growth, it's certainly underpinning equity valuations in the U.S. and underpinning strong wealth creation. So about [$]180 trillion in household net worth in the U.S. About [$]55 trillion of that has been created in just the last five years alone, underpinned in part by AI-related spending and optimism about future profitability. That's really supported spending by upper income households. So, I think it's both investment-led and consumer-led, but they're inextricably linked. So, the positive for the U.S. is that it's providing a lot of resilience. The negative component of that is it feels like momentum in the U.S. is narrowly driven. Jens Eisenschmidt: Let me maybe jump in here from Europe to provide some perspective from the other side. So, I think it's a fair summary to say that AI investment is not yet, or maybe will never get there, dominating the business cycle. What we do have instead is an unusually consumption-driven expansion. That has to do not so much with an extraordinary strength of consumption, but more of an absence of other factors. Now, prospectively looking forward, we think the fiscal expansion might help lifting us a little bit. And then it is really the debate how much AI investment can arrive in Europe. For now, I would say it's probably a factor of 20 that separates European investment plans from the plans we know that exist for the U.S. Seth Carpenter: Let me stick with you then in Europe because you brought up fiscal as one of the factors going on here and where it's going… You and your team recently wrote a blue paper talking about what the outlook is for fiscal policy in Europe, and in particular, we had this era of cheap debt. Interest rates in Europe were low, at times negative. It was super easy to borrow. Not as much happened then. There's been a shift towards more fiscal expansion at the same time that interest rates have gone up, causing the cost of debt to go up. Feels like there's a lot of push and pull going on. Can you unpack for us a little bit what was in that paper you wrote, what's going on with fiscal policy in Europe, especially in Germany? And what it might mean over time for Euro-area countries? Jens Eisenschmidt: Yeah, so I think fiscal policy in Europe really is looking at a regime shift. So, there is this very famous, probably in the U.S. even more so than here, notion that the Europeans have built a very comfortable welfare state. And that's true if you just look at the accounting from a GDP perspective. It's close to 50 percent that, you know, budgets are actually extended on welfare spending. And now you have three structural headwinds for any type of fiscal spend. So, one is aging related costs, you mentioned it already. Defense spending has to increase significantly, and the interest rate costs will also rise significantly. All of that means there will be very hard choices to be made. The one thing that actually could help here is growth. Growth is the one thing that's, for now at least, missing, at least in comparison to the U.S. It's probably half what we expect, what the U.S. colleagues think is in stake for the U.S., and a quarter or even less than that of what is there in Asia. So, growth is really the key, the solution, the answer to everything in Europe. More growth than just 1 percent, which is potential, would help solving that fiscal challenge. For now, it looks really, really like an uphill battle. Returning to Germany, it's the one country that has a very good fiscal starting position. They are pushing a lot but they're to some extent pushing a string. So, even with the German huge fiscal package, given that private sector investments so far are absent, doesn't get us a ton of growth. Seth Carpenter: Chetan, maybe I'll come back to you before we close part one of this roundtable. The AI CapEx cycle started with AI, broadened out further. How long do you expect this cycle to last? How durable can it be? And how might it compare to previous CapEx cycles? Chetan Ahya: Yeah, Seth. So, we think this will be a multi-year CapEx cycle. And when we are thinking about the duration of the cycle, there are two things that I would keep in mind. Number one is that most of the drivers that we just discussed – the CapEx on AI, energy, defense, and industrial supply chain onshoring related investments – these are all structural drivers. So, we think these are going to continue for some more time. At this point of time, we have the visibility for this cycle to be lasting for three-four more years. And then the second point of framework that I would keep in mind is that the corporate balance sheets are in a pretty good shape. So, when you are thinking about the leverage in the private sector, you can look at both households and the corporate sector balance sheet. But since the cycle is CapEx driven, we are looking at the corporate balance sheets, and they are in a pretty good shape. Across the region, corporate debt to GDP is below where it was in 2019. Seth Carpenter: Mike, let me, let me wrap up quickly with you. We talked about AI, AI CapEx. For now, that's a very strong demand story. When are we going to see a supply side of things coming from AI? Are you already seeing a big contribution to GDP and growth from productivity coming from AI? Michael Gapen: We are, but not outside of the high-tech sectors, and we're seeing limited, what I'll call labor market restructuring of tasks and occupations beyond high AI-exposed occupations. So right now, everything is still very isolated I think maybe as we get into 2029 and beyond, so as Chetan says, we probably have a three to four-year super cycle here around a build-out phase. Then we might see some of that broader-based diffusion to other non-tech sectors in the economy. Seth Carpenter: All right, Jens, for you, let's wrap up here. So, what is the state of play for the build-out in the CapEx cycle for AI in Europe? Jens Eisenschmidt: Yeah, it's very early stages. As I said before, we really; we connected to all the industry experts or analysts covering the sector and the total plans are a factor of 20 below what we see in the U.S. by just the seven hyperscalers. So, I would say very fragmented, very small, in general. Not only AI. I think the one thing I would be looking at for any type of sign of revival, sign of growth is investment. The second would be investment. And you can guess what the third would be… Investments in the core countries. That's really what we need to see, and we haven't seen much in Germany or France on this front. Seth Carpenter:That's a great place for us to stop today. We talked about the real side of the economy, AI, CapEx, trade. Tomorrow we're going to come back, and we'll talk about how that growth outlook affects inflation. And once you start talking about growth and inflation, you got to talk about policy, and that's where we'll be tomorrow. Mike, Jens, and Chetan, thank you for joining today. And for the listeners, thank you for listening. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Part 2 of our conversation. And I have to say, if you enjoy this show, please leave us a review wherever you listen, and share Thoughts on the Market with a friend or a colleague today.

Rest Day Live is back tonight with Tim Tollefson in the co-host chair. After a couple weeks off, we have lots to catch up on! European FKT Madness: Francios D'Haene reclaims GR20 FKT, Sophie Grant's Via Alpina progress, & Karel Sabbe begins the Great French Trail Trail Grails: DBo's all-time most coveted shoe Industry News Roundup: Tudor watch sponsorships, Chamonix's mayor on restricting UTMB, Kilian out at Sierre-Zinal, & Katie Schide's injury progress Recent Race Performances: Catching up on what we've missed + Tim's commentary on Josh Kerr's World Record Speedgoat 50k Preview Strava File of the Week We'll be LIVE on YouTube starting at 5pm PT tonight. SUBSCRIBE TO FREETRAIL'S NEWSLETTER https://mailing.freetrail.com/newslettersignup JOIN FREETRAIL PRO https://freetrail.com/pro Sponsors: Use code FREETRAIL25 for 25% off your first order of NEVERSECOND nutrition at https://www.never2.com Use this link for 30% off Ketone-IQ: https://ketone.com/pages/dylan-bowman?utm_source=partners&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=FREETRAIL30 Freetrail Links: Website | https://freetrail.com/ Freetrail Pro | https://freetrail.com/freetrail-pro/ Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/dylanbowman Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/runfreetrail/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MKI1xB8YMchI1764zJXHg Freetrail Experts | https://freetrail.com/freetrail-experts/ Dylan Links: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dylanbo/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/dylanbo LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-bowman-06174380/ Strava | https://www.strava.com/pros/1596921

Time Codes: 00:00:35 MK INTERVIEW THOUGHTS 00:15:58 Rone's content idea 00:22:03 World Cup 00:23:46 Peach Jam 00:34:30 Lu Dort Trade 00:44:56 Darius Garland vs Ja Morant 00:52:16 Futbol Talk 00:59:12 FIBA 3v3 01:00:32 West Virginia 01:02:08 TV talk 01:03:03 European drafts 01:14:04 40 and Over Camp Mars Men: For a limited time, our listeners get 50% off FOR LIFE, Free Shipping, AND 3 Free Gifts at Mars Men at https://Mengotomars.com. Shopify: Start your free trial at https://SHOPIFY.COM/hoopinYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/patbevpod

[00:30] Herbert W. Armstrong Was Right About Europe (29 minutes) Germany and France are working toward nuclear sharing. Britain is relying on Germany for military help. European powers are responding to the U.S.'s insistence that NATO nations take more responsibility for their own defense. At the same time, the U.S. is running short on military funds after burning billions of dollars in the Iran war. Bible prophecy shows what will come of these dangerous trends. [29:00] Left-wing Terrorist Resurgence (14 minutes) A recent U.S. government forum exposed the resurgence of left-wing terrorism. Is civil war brewing in the U.S.? [42:50] Celtic Throne II Recap and Feedback (12 minutes)

Want to climb longer, recover faster, and finally stop getting pumped off your project? Then this episode is for you. In this special coaching session with Ryan Devlin, I deliver a deep-dive masterclass on rock climbing endurance training, sport climbing performance, and the science of building lasting endurance. We explore why improving endurance isn't just about surviving pumpy workouts—it's about becoming a more efficient climber by eliminating hidden energy leaks caused by overgripping, poor pacing, inefficient movement, fear, hesitation, and mental tension. You'll learn how better technique, movement economy, breathing, and confidence can dramatically improve your endurance before you ever change your fitness. Next, we dive into the physiology of climbing performance, breaking down the differences between aerobic endurance, anaerobic power endurance, and maximum strength—and why all three must be trained if you want to reach your climbing potential. I explain how to structure your training using route climbing, treadwall intervals, spray wall workouts, bouldering circuits, and submaximal volume sessions to build endurance the smart way instead of simply climbing until your forearms explode. Whether you're training for your first 5.12, projecting steep sport routes, preparing for long days at the crag, or simply looking for the most effective climbing training methods backed by exercise science and decades of coaching experience, this episode is packed with practical strategies you can apply immediately. If you're serious about becoming a stronger, more durable, and more efficient climber, this is an episode you'll want to save, revisit, and share with your climbing partners. If you love the T4C podcast, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode with a friend or climbing partner! Podcast Sponsors  Thank you to La Sportiva, PhysiVantage Nutrition, DMM Climbing, Blue Water Ropes! Save 10% off a new BlueWater Rope with checkout code: ERIC_CLINIC Save on  La Sportiva shoes here >> Save 15% off full-priced PhysiVantage Nutrition with code: PODCAST15 (North America only) European climbers, please get your PhysiVantage from the   EPIC-TV Shop or Oliunid.com. Mexican climbers visit PhysiVantage.mx Connect with Eric Hörst

Get a $200 gift card after your first payment of $500 with Melio (affiliate) - https://milestomemories.com/go/melio/ Get 3 free months of Audible - https://milestomemories.com/audible-subscription-offer-2/ A huge week of travel news, so we ran through the partnerships and new seat products that actually matter. Delta launched a basic first class following United, stripping out seat selection, upgrades, and same day changes while almost certainly charging you the same, and we explain why it is just a way to make you pay more for what you already got. The good news is United is putting a blocked empty middle seat with its own tray on its A321XLRs, a European style setup that saves them a flight attendant and that we would happily book over regular first, and Emirates is rolling out a folding UDream headrest that could finally make sleeping in economy possible. We also cover the partnership madlibs of the week, Hilton with Explora cruises, Japan Airlines with Marriott Bonvoy, and Air Canada Aeroplan with World of Hyatt, and what each is actually worth. We close with a genuinely useful one, Wyndham doubling its Caesars transfer limit to 60,000 points through September 11th, which is a great way to rescue points before Wyndham's brutal four year expiration hits. Let us know in the comments if a better headrest would get you to fly economy. Episode Guide: 0:00 Welcome to MTM Travel 1:10 Hilton x Explora Cruises 4:35 Delta's New Basic First Class 6:47 United's Genius Empty Middle Seat 11:02 The Emirates Headrest That Fixes Economy 15:14 Japan Airlines x Marriott Bonvoy 17:00 Why Economy Is the Real Sweet Spot 20:42 Air Canada Aeroplan x World of Hyatt 23:45 Wyndham Doubles the Caesars Transfer 26:30 Final Thoughts Links Wyndham expiration - https://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2026/06/25/how-to-find-out-when-all-of-your-wyndham-rewards-points-expire/ Hilton cruises - https://milestomemories.com/hilton-honors-launches-explora-journeys-partnership/ United's blocked middle - https://www.united.com/en/us/newsroom/announcements/cision-125474 Emirates headrest - https://onemileatatime.com/news/emirates-u-dream-headrest-economy/ JAL/Marriott - https://milestomemories.com/marriott-bonvoy-japan-airlines-partnership/ Hyatt/Aeroplan - https://milestomemories.com/world-of-hyatt-and-air-canada-aeroplan-launch-new-partnership/ ✈️ Track your travel credit cards for free

With the sad news that the former City manager Kevin Keegan has died at the age of 75, David Mooney is joined by City fans Liam Wright and Andy MacNab to discuss his legacy at the club. After taking over in 2001, he led City to promotion from the second tier in style, setting a club record points total and equalling the record for the number of goals City had scored in a single season. In the final season at Maine Road and City's first back in the Premier League, he led the club to a ninth-placed finish and brought European football back to the blue half of Manchester, via the UEFA Fair Play league, as he oversaw the move to what's now the Etihad Stadium. ========== To get more podcasts or to listen without the ads, join our Patreon. It's just £2 per month for all the extra content and you can get a 7-day free trial first: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/BlueMoonPodcast⁠ And why not gift a Patreon subscription to a friend or family member? More details: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/BlueMoonPodcast/gift Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hiring Crisis, TikTok Training and Gen Z Perfectionism. PLUS How to Keep Quiet Teams Motivated Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. In this episode of This Week in Work, business owner Al Elliott and Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott break down why fewer than half of recruitment processes actually succeed, why TikTok-style L&D might be sabotaging employee memory, and how economic pressure is driving an epidemic of Gen-Z perfectionism. Plus, in Truth or Lie, we test the psychological myth: Can you bullshit a bullshitter?

Stand by: host Gavin Jackson is back from Europe and working on the next South Carolina Lede. Check back soon for the latest episode!

Griffin Warner talks betting for Tuesday. Griffin Warner runs through a full board of Major League Baseball lines on the July 21st episode of What I Bet, part of the Straight Out of Vegas AM podcast feed, working game by game across a slate that stands as the only major action on the calendar with the World Cup finished and European soccer still weeks away. He opens by noting a strong recent run of picks, then works through a value spot on the Dodgers as a plus-money road underdog in Philadelphia against Zach Wheeler, a Twins-Guardians rematch in Cleveland following a five-home run outburst, a look at Bubba Chandler and the Pirates catching a diminished Yankees lineup in the Bronx, and a plan to keep fading a struggling Kevin Gausman in Toronto. He breaks down why the Orioles carry value in Boston against a Red Sox club working a starter back from injury, why the Padres are getting more plus-money than expected in Atlanta, and how a Brandon Sproat storyline shapes his lean in the Mets-Brewers total. He spends extended time explaining why he wants nothing to do with the San Francisco Giants' defense in Kansas City, along with looks at the Tigers, Marlins, White Sox, a massive total in Colorado, a first-five under in Anaheim, and continued concerns about the Seattle offense heading into a matchup with Cincinnati. Along the way he details a promo code offering listeners a discount on his season-long Major League Baseball coverage. The episode closes with his Best Bet of the show, a play on the Kansas City Royals built around fading the Giants entirely, capping a detailed, game-by-game walkthrough of everything moving on the baseball board that day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you listen to this podcast then you care about people and planet and how we make it through this potential crunch point when all our crises mash together. But what if you knew you were not alone? What if you knew that almost everyone in our culture cares about this, they just don't know what to do about it? They don't have what this week's guest, Dr Liam Kavanagh, calls the 'Victory Stories' to show how we made it through. Liam is a founding Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project, an organisation that has worked since 2022 to extend climate action beyond the vocal minority of activists to the concerned but quiet majority. His social science background informs CMP's theory of change and strategy. He began his career as an applied economist in New York and Tanzania. Motivated by questions about ideology and cognitive dissonance in political economy, he completed a PhD in Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. In 2016, he co-founded Life Itself, a European polycrisis-response network (we spoke to Sylvie Barbier from Life Itself a few weeks ago), and has authored two books and numerous reports. His latest reports: Mobilising Silent Majorities is one of the must-reads of this year.  Please do download and read the pdf - at least the executive summary. This is a long, detailed, dynamic look at how many people really do care about the polycrisis. As he says, 'Across society, many people recognise serious risks—climate disruption, inequality, instability—but these concerns often stay private. The report identifies six “silent majorities” whose hidden views could shift what feels politically possible:The climate-concerned majority – Most people see climate change as a serious threat but rarely talk about it in daily life.The climate-concerned business majority – Business leaders see climate risks but hesitate to speak publicly.The reticent scientific majority – Scientists privately worry about worst-case scenarios but communicate cautiously.The decline- and collapse-concerned majority – Many fear overlapping crises, yet these concerns are rarely voiced.The depolarising majority – Citizens who favour cooperation over conflict are often drowned out by louder, polarising voices.The intrinsic-values majority – People prioritise family, community, and wellbeing, but economic pressures often prevent these values from guiding their lives.When concern remains unspoken, it appears weaker than it is. And when people feel alone in their worries, silence becomes the apparently safest choice.But it doesn't have to be like this.  What if we were able to speak up in our communities of place, purpose and passion and let other people know they're not alone? That we are, in fact, a huge, huge majority?  What if we were able to seed ideas out into the conversations that are happening on- and off-line so that we all acknowledge the system is not fit for purpose and all have good, workable ideas of how to fix it? What if we embodied the 'Victory Stories' of this time and transformed our future? It's all to play for now, and here's someone with the ideas at his fingertips.  Enjoy! Liam on LinkedIn Climate Majority ProjectSilent Majorities Sub-stackSilent Majorities Report pdf—About Accidental Gods—We offer three strands all rooted in the same soil, drawing from the same river: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass Our next Open Gathering offered as part of our Accidental Gods Programme is 'BECOMING A GOOD ANCESTOR' which will run on Sunday 13th September 2026 from 16:00 - 20:00 GMT - details are here. You don't have to be a member of Accidental Gods to come along, but if you are, all Gatherings are half price.If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life. If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here. If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are hereManda and Louise both offer one-to-one Mentoring Calls.  Manda is writing a book just now, but if you'd like to contact Louise, details are here.

Carlo Ancelotti, Julian Nagelsmann, Ronald Koeman. These managers have proved themselves at club level, but why do they falter in international football? What are the biggest differences between coaching a national team and a club?Dotun, Andy and David Cartlidge are here to answer your World Cup questions! Which players have boosted their chances of a big move this summer? Was the 48-team format a success? Could regular club matches be split into four quarters?Ask us a question on X, Instagram and TikTok, and email us here: otc@footballramble.com.For ad-free shows, head over to our Patreon and subscribe: patreon.com/footballramble.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** On The Continent is your definitive podcast for European football. Subscribe for new podcasts every single week and throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us Fan MailOn this week's episode, I'm talking to the fabulous Désirée Cyganek, a single and childfree photographer and former dancer, the daughter of a French father and an African mother who was born in the Ivory Coast and raised in France. Having moved to Florida when she met the man she subsequently married, Désirée now lives in Jersey City — just across the water from Manhattan — with her two beloved bengal cats which we obviously talk about. In this conversation, Désirée tells me about her former career as a dancer, the love story that took her to the US but ultimately ended in divorce, and how she subsequently became a photographer. We talk all about her single life and how she feels about it, we talk about why people get so triggered by single women without kids, she tells me about the differences between dating American guys and European guys, and she also gives me possibly the best description I've ever heard about what it actually means to love yourself. Désirée really is a force, I thought she was absolutely fabulous, and I can't wait for you to hear this. Follow Désirée on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anothereraclub/Check out her photography website: https://daisyrey.com/Support the showBuy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/bookJoin my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesoloDownload my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the MostAnnoying Questions Single Women Get Asked' Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacksCheck out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=shareFollow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/Email me: lucy@lucymeggeson.com And thank you so much for listening!

What's the best country to take a bike adventure? I put that question to the Seek Travel Ride Instagram community, and the answers poured in, from expected favourites to a few genuine curveballs. This episode is dedicated to running through every single one.It comes on the back of a scorching European summer and a roadside afternoon spectating the Tour de France, which got me reflecting on how the race first brought me to France  and ultimately to the Pyrenees back in 2013, where I now live.Countries featured in this episode:Most votes: France, Turkey, SpainMountain destinations: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bolivia, NorwayOff the beaten path: Tunisia, New Caledonia, El Salvador, Saudi ArabiaClassic bike-adventure countries: New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, China, Peru, IranThe philosophical answer: "Wherever you haven't been yet" (and "any country" will do)Got a country to add to the list? Get in touch and let me know your pick for the best country to take a bike adventure.Mentioned in this episodeSlauka' Macurak's Norway episode (recently re-released)Leonie Katekar's episode on cycling solo from Antigua to UshuaiaMy YouTube series on crossing the Pyrenees coast to coast Support the showBuy me a coffee!I'm an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

Effort or Outcome? Do you focus on the effort someone puts forth? Or do you look at their outcome? Just because someone does something doesn't mean you get a good result. The government is one example. Restaurant service with a guaranteed gratuity is another. In this episode, we talk about Europeans in America, legislation introduced to benefit AI companies, Israel, and more. There are artificial hurdles or governmental hurdles that sometimes must be overcome, but there is also physical limitations that can not be overcome. We also talk about competition, value, and using logic instead of emotion. Use these lessons to make your world a better place! Abolish Property Taxes in Ohio: www.AxOHTax.com  Get more information about abolishing all property taxes in Ohio. https://citizensforpropertytaxreform.org/ Our Links: www.RealPowerFamily.com Info@RealPowerFamily.com 833-Be-Do-Have (833-233-6428

Send us Fan MailEuropeans at the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) with (Ryan  Diamond)In this episode of American Civil War & UK History Podcast, host Daz is joined by fellow American Civil War Round-Table UK member Ryan Diamond to explore the role of Europeans at the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas). Together, they discuss the experiences of European-born soldiers who fought on both sides of the conflict, their motivations for serving, and the impact they had during the first major battle of the American Civil War.The First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), fought on 21 July 1861, included thousands of European-born soldiers on both the Union and Confederate sides. Many were recent immigrants from Ireland, Germany, England, Scotland, France, and other nations who had settled in America before the war. They served in both ethnic regiments and mixed units, bringing valuable military experience and playing an important role in the first major battle of the American Civil War.ACW & UK History's Website.https://www.acwandukhistory.com/ACW & UK History's Pages.https://linktr.ee/ACWandUKHISTORYSupport the show

Astronomy Daily · S05E146 · “Postcards from Mars” · Tuesday 21 July 2026 NASA's Psyche probe phones home from its Mars flyby — data and a spellbinding month-long time-lapse — as Europe's Plato planet-hunter clears its final test. From the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting: a CubeSat that could give us hours of solar-storm warning, and a new way to forecast the Sun's next active spell. Plus the first pieces of the giant ngVLA radio array, and a Southern Hemisphere meteor shower to catch this week.Story notes & sources 1 · Psyche phones home NASA's Psyche spacecraft (launched 2023; arriving metal asteroid 16 Psyche in 2029) used a 15 May Mars gravity assist to test its instruments. The neutron spectrometer detected the anticipated count-rate enhancement near closest approach; the gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer, magnetometer and imager all performed well. Data and a month-long Mars time-lapse were released this week. ●        NASA/JPL — “Psyche Mission Delivers Mars Flyby Data, Time-lapse Video” (17 Jul 2026) ●        Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — LLNL-built gamma-ray sensor's first planetary measurements (17 Jul 2026) 2 · Plato clears its final exam ESA's Plato — 26 cameras hunting Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars — passed electromagnetic compatibility testing in the Maxwell chamber at ESTEC, its last major qualification hurdle. It's bound for Sun-Earth L2 aboard an Ariane 6 (current target 2027). ●        ESA — “Plato's electronics ready for space” (20 Jul 2026) 3 · HENON space-weather CubeSat Presented at NAM 2026: HENON, a deep-space CubeSat that would sit ~15 million km upstream of Earth (10× farther than L1), potentially extending severe geomagnetic-storm warning from ~15 minutes to 2–3 hours. It carries the UK-built MAGIC magnetometer (Imperial College London) plus instruments from the Czech Republic and Finland, paving the way for a future European early-warning mission. ●        Royal Astronomical Society / NAM 2026 — “From 15 minutes to 3 hours” (20 Jul 2026) 4 · The Sun's “sleep” precursor Also at NAM 2026: a newly identified precursor in the solar cycle's declining phase that could help predict the next maximum's sunspot number. After the Sun's active phase “switches off,” storms weaken and track a 27-day (solar-rotation) rhythm — pointing to co-rotating fast-wind streams rather than coronal mass ejections. ●        Royal Astronomical Society / NAM 2026 — “How the Sun goes to ‘sleep'…” (20 Jul 2026) 5 · Building the ngVLA The US National Science Foundation, NSF NRAO and the US Naval Observatory are partnering on a pathfinder for the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) — the ~266-antenna successor to the iconic VLA. The focus is very long baseline interferometry for ultra-sharp imaging and for maintaining the International Celestial Reference Frame. Construction/early operations are expected before the end of the decade. ●        NSF NRAO / US Naval Observatory — ngVLA pathfinder partnership (17 Jul 2026) 6 · Skywatch: Southern Delta Aquariids Active mid-July to late August, peaking 29–30 July, with a radiant near Skat (δ Aquarii) — high overhead for Southern Hemisphere observers. ~15–20 faint, graceful meteors/hour under dark skies; suspected parent comet 96P/Machholz. A near-full Buck Moon spoils the peak, so the moon-free pre-dawn hours this week are the best window. Bright, slow Alpha Capricornid fireballs join in toward month's end. ●        Scientific American / EarthSky / American Meteor Society — Delta Aquariids 2026 Astronomy Daily is part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network. Find every episode and the full show notes at astronomydaily.io, and follow @AstroDailyPod. Clear skies.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-the-latest-space-news--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.

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The C919, China's domestically developed narrowbody passenger jet, will begin its first scheduled international commercial service next month, a step industry experts said will test the aircraft's ability to operate beyond domestic markets and help build confidence for wider overseas expansion.中国自主研发的窄体客机C919将于下月开启首条国际定期商业航线。业内专家表示，此举将检验该机境外运营能力，也有助于为后续更大规模海外拓展积累信心。The daily round-trip service, operated by Air China, will connect Beijing Capital International Airport and Ulaanbaatar's Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Mongolia from Aug 12, the airline said.国航方面透露，这条每日往返航线将于8月12日起通航，往返北京首都国际机场与蒙古国乌兰巴托成吉思汗国际机场。According to the schedule, outbound flight CA723 will depart Beijing at 3 pm Beijing time and arrive in Ulaanbaatar at 5:15 pm local time. The return flight, CA724, will leave Ulaanbaatar at 6:30 pm local time and arrive in Beijing at 8:35 pm Beijing time.根据航班计划，出境航班CA723北京时间15时从北京起飞，当地时间17时15分抵达乌兰巴托；返程航班CA724当地时间18时30分从乌兰巴托起飞，北京时间20时35分落地北京。The route marks the first time the C919, manufactured by Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, will enter a regular international commercial passenger aviation market.该航线是中国商飞制造的C919客机首次投入常态化国际客运商业运营。Previously, the aircraft has operated mainly on Chinese mainland routes, as well as services connecting the mainland with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. China Eastern Airlines launched the aircraft on scheduled flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong in January 2025, while Air China began regular C919 services between Beijing and Hong Kong in November.在此之前，C919主要执飞中国大陆境内航线，以及内地往来香港特别行政区的航班。东方航空已于2025年1月用该机开通沪港定期航线，国航则在同年11月开通京港C919常态化航班。"Choosing Ulaanbaatar as the first regular international destination is not a move to lower the entry barrier or test the waters," said Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy.中国新经济研究院创始院长朱克力表示：“选择乌兰巴托作为首条国际定期航线目的地，并非为了降低准入门槛、浅尝辄止。”Zhu said the decision reflected a combination of factors including aviation cooperation between China and Mongolia, airworthiness cooperation arrangements, operational safety and route economics.朱克力称，这一决定是多重因素综合考量的结果，涵盖中蒙航空合作、适航协作机制、运营安全以及航线经济效益。"China and Mongolia have maintained stable civil aviation cooperation, with a relatively mature framework for airworthiness cooperation," Zhu said. "The airport environment is relatively straightforward, the flight distance is moderate and the aircraft can complete a round trip within a day, allowing domestic technical support to respond quickly if operational issues arise."朱克力表示：“中蒙民航合作长期稳定，双方拥有较为成熟的适航协作体系。当地机场运行环境简单，航程适中，客机可当日往返，一旦出现运行故障，国内技术保障力量能快速响应处置。”The route also has established business and tourism demand, making it suitable for regular commercial operations rather than serving only as a demonstration flight, Zhu said.他表示，该航线拥有稳定的商务、旅游客流需求，适合常态化商业运营，而非仅作为示范航班。He said the first international route is aimed at validating the full process of cross-border operations, including overseas maintenance support, international air traffic coordination and customs procedures.他表示，首条国际航线的核心目的是完整验证跨境运营全流程，包括境外维修保障、国际空管协调、海关通关流程等环节。"Ulaanbaatar is more like a low-risk practical training ground where the C919 can accumulate real overseas operating data and build a replicable model for future international expansion," Zhu said.朱克力称：“乌兰巴托更像一处低风险实操试验场，C919可以在这里积累真实海外运营数据，为后续国际化拓展打造一套可复制的运营模式。”Guo Jia, a civil aviation expert and professor at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies' South China Business College, said safety considerations were the primary factor behind the selection of the first international destination.广东外语外贸大学南国商学院民航专家郭佳教授表示，安全考量是选定首个国际通航点的首要因素。He said Air China's previous experience operating the C909 regional jet to Ulaanbaatar, along with the airline's assessment of airport handling and maintenance capabilities, also supported the route choice.他介绍，国航此前长期使用ARJ21支线客机执飞乌兰巴托航线，同时航司对当地机场地面保障、维修维护能力进行过充分评估，这也助推了这条航线落地。For the Chinese aviation industry, the significance of the route extends beyond the flight itself, experts said.专家指出，对中国航空产业而言，这条航线的意义远不止航班运营本身。"Previously, C919 operations were mainly based on China's domestic airspace and supporting infrastructure," Zhu said. "This scheduled international route means the aircraft is entering a regular commercial passenger aviation system between countries."朱克力表示：“此前C919的运行完全依托国内空域与配套保障体系，这条国际定期航线，标志着该机正式进入跨国常态化商业客运体系。”The operation will help establish overseas support capabilities, including maintenance cooperation, spare parts arrangements and international operating procedures, Zhu said.朱克力称，此次通航将助力搭建境外配套保障体系，涵盖维修合作、备件储备、跨境运营流程等多个方面。Guo said international expansion would require more than aircraft performance. "Aircraft sales, international operations and market expansion all need to comply with the airworthiness standards of different countries and regions," Guo said, adding that broader international communication and certification efforts would be necessary.郭佳表示，国际化拓展不只是考验飞机性能。“飞机销售、跨境运营、市场开拓都必须符合各国各地区的适航标准，还需要开展大量国际沟通与适航认证工作。”Guo added that overseas maintenance, aircraft support and route support capabilities would be among the key challenges for international operations.郭佳补充，境外维修、整机后勤保障、航线配套能力，将是该机开展国际运营的核心难点。Looking ahead, experts expect the C919's international expansion to be gradual. "C919's internationalization will not follow an aggressive model of rapidly launching a large number of routes," Zhu said.展望未来，专家认为C919的国际化进程将循序渐进。朱克力表示：“C919不会采取激进模式，短时间内密集开通大量国际航线。”After validating operations in Ulaanbaatar, the aircraft will likely expand first into short-haul international markets in Central Asia and Southeast Asia, allowing it to accumulate experience under different operating conditions, Zhu said.朱克力表示，在乌兰巴托航线完成运营验证后，C919大概率会先拓展中亚、东南亚短途国际市场，在多样运行环境中积累运营经验。"The priority is to complete the transition from zero to one — making the first international route operate safely and accumulating experience," Guo said. "Only after establishing overseas safety operation and maintenance standards should the C919 move from one route to multiple routes.郭佳称：“当下首要任务是完成从0到1的突破，保障首条国际航线安全运行、沉淀实操经验。只有建立成熟的境外安全运营与维修标准后，C919才能从单条航线拓展至多条国际航线。”"Airworthiness certification is indeed one of the biggest barriers for the C919 entering mainstream European and US markets," Zhu said.朱克力表示：“适航认证，确实是C919进入欧美主流市场最大阻碍之一。”He said certification by authorities such as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the US Federal Aviation Administration would be essential, while airlines' familiarity with the aircraft, maintenance networks, leasing systems and market recognition would also influence adoption.他表示，获取欧盟航空安全局、美国联邦航空管理局等机构的适航认证至关重要；同时航司对机型的熟悉度、全球维修网络、飞机租赁体系以及市场认可度，都会影响各国引进该机的意愿。narrowbody /ˈnærəʊbɒdi/窄体客机airworthiness /ˈeəwɜːðinəs/适航性certification /ˌsɜːtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn/认证infrastructure /ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə(r)/基础设施short-haul /ˌʃɔːt ˈhɔːl/短途的maintenance /ˈmeɪntənəns/维修，维护

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#990: Join Lauryn Bosstick as she sits down with Sandy Brockman – elite strength coach, celebrity personal trainer, and the woman behind Lauryn's current fitness routine. Known for her no-nonsense approach to building strength, improving body composition, and creating sustainable results, Sandy has helped countless high performers transform their health by mastering the fundamentals. In this episode, Sandy breaks down the exact training principles she uses with Lauryn, including how to build a stronger posterior chain, increase strength without overtraining, prioritize protein for optimal results, and create habits that support long-term longevity. She also shares practical advice on balancing fitness, nutrition, recovery, and real life so you can build a stronger body that lasts.    Plus, Sandy shares details on her new podcast, LIFTED, in partnership with obé. Tune into LIFTED, now on Spotify and Apple!   Check out The Strength Collective: Phase 1 & 2 with obé's 6-week progressive strength plan led by celebrity trainer Sandy Brockman. Learn at http://obefitness.com and use code SKINNY for a 30-day free trial.   For Detailed Show Notes visit TheBossticks.com   To connect with Sandy Brockman click HERE   To connect with obé click HERE   To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE   Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE   Head to our ShopMy page HERE and LTK page HERE to find all of the products mentioned in each episode.   This episode is sponsored by PVOLVE Head to http://pvolve.com/skinny and use code SKINNY for 15% off sitewide, or on class packs at a Pvolve studio near you.   This episode is sponsored by Squarespace Check out http://squarespace.com/skinny to save 10% off your first purchase of a web or domain using code skinny.   This episode is sponsored by Wayfair Ready to upgrade your home for way less? Head to http://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home and get your space ready for less.   This episode is sponsored by Ka'Chava Go to https://kachava.com and use code SKINNY for 15% off your first order.   This episode is sponsored by Function Health Function provides 160+ lab tests for $1/day and member pricing on advanced imaging. Join at http://functionhealth.com/SKINNY and use code SKINNY25 for a $25 credit.   This episode is sponsored by Unreal Snacks Visit http://Unrealsnacks.com/SKINNY to get $4 off a bag of Unreal. Terms and conditions apply.   This episode is sponsored by Vivrelle Visit http://www.vivrelle.com and use code SKINNY for your first month free.   This episode is sponsored by Minnow Inspired by Mediterranean blues and the carefree spirit of a European summer, the Cabana Capsule celebrates days spent lingering by the sea, soaking up the sun, and savoring the simple luxury of having nowhere to be. Shop the capsule now at http://shopminnow.com and enter code MEETMINNOW15 at checkout to receive 15% off your first order. Produced by Dear Media

Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603–1689. In 1649, Charles I was tried and executed in public, a shocking event that horrified European monarchs. The segment explores the establishment of the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. John Lambert drafted the Instrument of Government, England's first written constitution, which included checks and balances and religious protections for Protestants. Although Cromwell refused the crown, his rule relied on military strength and the imposition of Puritan values, such as banning Christmas celebrations. Upon Cromwell's death in 1658, his son Richard failed to maintain control, leading the nation back into political chaos. (6)2650

Matthew Longo, The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain. The focus shifts from political elites to young activists in the Hungarian "borderlands." In late June 1989, inspired by a speech from Otto von Habsburg, a young woman named Maria and a man named Ferenc hatch an audacious plan in the city of Debrecen: they will throw a party—the Pan-European Picnic—at the Iron Curtain itself. Maria, showing incredible initiative in a country with few phones, begins calling government officials and border guards to organize the event. The original vision for the picnic was "euphorically ignorant": the organizers imagined a thin fence where Hungarians and Austrians could pass sausages and beer to one another. In reality, the Iron Curtain was a "death zone" several kilometers wide, filled with watchtowers, dogs, and layers of fencing. However, the process of de-electrifying and dismantling the fence was moving faster than expected. The organizers eventually secured a location near the town of Sopron and convinced the authorities to allow a one-time-only opening of a border gate, allowing Austrians to cross into Hungary to celebrate "European togetherness." (2)1930 BUDAPEST

A wrong turn at a university party plunged William "Gibby" Gibson into Jamaica's violent drug underworld, where mobsters, assassins, prison, and betrayal became everyday realities. In this unforgettable conversation, he recounts an astonishing true story of survival, miracles, and the faith that transformed a life destined for destruction GUEST: William "Gibby" Gibson is a Canadian author, businessman, and former international marijuana smuggler whose extraordinary life inspired Escape from Jamaica. After surviving Jamaica's brutal prison system, assassination attempts, and decades inside the criminal underworld, Gibson emerged with a powerful story of faith, redemption, and the unseen providence he believes saved his life. BOOKS: Escape From Jamaica: A True Story of Crime, Faith and Redemption FOLLOW RICHARD Website: https://www.strangeplanet.ca YouTube: @strangeplanetradio Instagram: @richardsyrettstrangeplanet TikTok: @therealstrangeplanet SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! MARS MEN Mars Men helps you reclaim your edge with natural testosterone support for energy, focus, and strength Go to MenGoToMars.com right now, for a limited time, listeners of this program get 50% off for life, plus free shipping AND 3 free gifts. QUINCE Luxury, European linen that gets softer with every wash! Turn up the luxury when you turn in with Quince. Go to Quince dot com slash RSSP for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. CARGURUS CarGurus is the #1 rated car shopping app in Canada on the Apple App and Google Play store. They've got hundreds of thousands of cars from top-rated dealers, plus advanced search tools that let you zero in on exactly what you want. And you can set real-time alerts for price drops and new listings — so you never miss a great deal. Buy your next car today with CarGurus at cargurus dot ca. Go to cargurus dot ca to make sure your big deal is the best deal. ⁠ BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER!!!⁠ ⁠https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm⁠ Three monthly subscriptions to choose from. Commercial Free Listening, Bonus Episodes and a Subscription to my monthly newsletter, InnerSanctum. Visit ⁠https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm⁠ Use the discount code "Planet" to receive $5 OFF any subscription. We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm/

In this hilarious and heartfelt first installment of our conversation with Bravo TV's Persian Valley star, Sky Askari, we immediately discover that we may have found our long-lost twin. Born in Iran, raised between Germany and Switzerland, and now building a luxury jewelry empire in Los Angeles, Sky joins us to talk about everything from family, fashion, and immigration to love, marriage, and what it really takes to reinvent yourself in America. We kick things off by bonding over our shared European connections, our love of luxury, and our surprising ties to the Kardashian family. Pol' reminisces about designing Robert Kardashian's Wife's (not Kris Jenner) final wedding gown while Sky opens up about her own extraordinary journey from Iran to Germany and eventually to Los Angeles, where she studied art and fashion before launching her bridal business and later creating Sky Askari Fine Jewelry. As Sky shares stories about growing up Persian, we dive into cultural traditions, private schools, family expectations, and the differences between life in Iran, Germany, and America. She reveals that despite common assumptions, she arrived in the United States with a green card already in hand and built her life here through determination, hard work, and a refusal to be limited by labels. Things get especially entertaining when Sky admits that before becoming a successful jewelry designer and Bravo star, she worked at the legendary Shamshiri restaurant in Westwood, where she met her future husband, Bomshad. What begins as a casual story about waitressing quickly turns into one of the funniest and longest proposal stories we've ever heard. Sky reveals that after years of insisting she never wanted to get married, Bomshad proposed on Valentine's Day wearing colorful socks and boxers, nervously pacing around their home with a Tiffany box in hand. But instead of a dazzling diamond ring, Sky found a simple gold band—because, according to him, she was “too picky” to trust with choosing her own engagement ring. Along the way, we compare engagement stories, including our own unforgettable televised proposal, and discover that Sky's fiercely independent spirit mirrors our own philosophy on relationships: love should always be a choice, never an obligation. We also get unexpectedly deep as Sky reflects on her parents' divorce, their enduring friendship, and the lessons she learned about commitment, freedom, and building a life on her own terms. The conversation turns emotional as she discusses family members still living in Iran and why today's political climate makes returning home difficult. From Persian culture and restaurant chaos to luxury jewelry and unconventional romance, Part 1 is packed with laughter, honesty, and the realization that maybe Capricorns really do run the world. Subscribe to our audio: ⁠linktr.ee/undressedpod⁠ Follow Pol Atteu:  Instagram: ⁠@polatteu⁠  Tiktok: ⁠@polatteu ⁠ Twitter: ⁠@polatteu ⁠ ⁠www.polatteu.com⁠ Follow Patrik Simpson:  Instagram: ⁠@patriksimpson ⁠ Tiktok: ⁠@patriksimpson⁠ ⁠www.patriksimpson.com⁠ Follow SnowWhite90210: Instagram: ⁠@snowwhite90210⁠ Twitter: ⁠@SnowWhite9010⁠ ⁠www.snowwhite90210.com⁠ Watch Gown and Out In Beverly Hills on ⁠Prime Video⁠.  ⁠www.gownandoutinbeverlyhills.com⁠ #UndressedPodcast  ⁠Armenian Coffee Reading⁠ ⁠SnowWhite90210 SnowBubu is a Perfect gift!⁠ ⁠https://polatteu.com/shop/ols/products/snowbubu90210⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last time we spoke about the Miluo River Catastrophe. On September 17, General Xue Yue, watching alarming reconnaissance telegrams, learns the Japanese 11th Army has massed across the north bank of the Xinqiang River—3rd, 4th, 6th, and 40th Divisions—alongside additional detachments. Chinese operatives even intercept a Japanese order directing divisions to prepare for an attack on September 18. Despite this, Xue Yue's decisions and readiness remain inadequate. By September 21–23, the fighting at and around the Miluo River and Dongting Lake destroys the 37th Army's ability to function as a coherent combat force. The disaster as both tactical collapse and a failure of planning: Japanese interception and decoding of radio orders allow them to shift toward encirclement, turning Chinese movements into a "trap" laid in advance.   #211 The Japanese Blunt China's Iron Army at Changsha Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The four divisions that had stormed into northern Hunan had made good progress, achieving the victory of defeating three main Chinese armies in quick succession. General Anami Korechika, commanding the Japanese forces, was secretly pleased, but he dared not slacken his efforts in the slightest. He was a methodical man, and he understood that the contest was not yet decided. Every day, his intelligence officers placed before him a stream of intercepted Chinese military telegrams and aerial reconnaissance reports. What they showed gave him reason for both confidence and caution. Two significant forces were moving toward the battlefield — forces unlike those he had so far encountered. One of them was Chiang Kai-shek's elite 74th Army, a formation whose reputation had reached Anami long before, from his time at headquarters in Tokyo. The other was the 10th Army, considered second only to the 74th in quality and fighting spirit.   The 74th Army was no ordinary unit. It had been rigorously trained under German and Soviet instructors specially hired by Chiang Kai-shek, its officers schooled in both European combined-arms doctrine and Soviet tactical flexibility. It was characterized by its disciplined offensive and defensive tactics and was lavishly equipped by the standards of the Chinese military. Most remarkably, it had maintained an undefeated record on the battlefield since the beginning of the war — a distinction that had earned it the title of "Iron Army of the Anti-Japanese War" among the Chinese people. In the high command of the Imperial Japanese Army, it was referred to, with a mixture of respect and wariness, as the Tora no Ko — the "Tiger Child" — meaning, in essence, the ace in the enemy's hand.   The 10th Army was held in nearly equal esteem. The deployment of either of these two formations required the personal approval of Chiang Kai-shek himself. The Generalissimo's principle for employing them was clear and deliberate: they were to be committed only to the most critical battles, those that would decide outcomes, or to the most prominent ones, where their prowess could demonstrate the might of the Chinese army to a watching nation. Since the outbreak of the war, the 74th Army had been kept in reserve at Fenyi in Jiangxi Province, and the 10th Army at Hengyang in southern Hunan. Both forces had been conserving their strength, training, and waiting.   Now Anami's relentless offensive had forced Chiang Kai-shek's hand. The battle situation had tilted dangerously under the weight of Japanese pressure, and the fall of several elite units had left the Chinese commander of the Ninth War Zone, General Xue Yue, with little room to maneuver. Xue Yue had no choice but to appeal to Chongqing for help, and Chiang Kai-shek, reluctantly and with full awareness of the risks, agreed to release his two trump cards. Anami, having mastered his opponent's intentions through his intelligence apparatus, now found himself in the rare and advantageous position of a card player who could see his opponent's hole cards. He carefully planned his battle strategy, studying maps late into the night, conferring with his officers, and calculating how best to neutralize the Chinese elite before they could bring their full weight to bear. He knew that his life's honor, his career, and his legacy rested on this one gamble.   Li Yutang, the commander of the 10th Army, was from Guangrao in Shandong Province — a place that had given China more than its share of fighting men. He was a graduate of the first class of the illustrious Whampoa Military Academy, where he had trained alongside men who would go on to shape the fate of China. At the academy, he had been part of a celebrated group known informally as the "Four Lis of Shandong": himself, Li Xianzhou, Li Yannian, and Li Hanfan. The first three would all rise to significant commands in the Nationalist army. The fourth, Li Hanfan, a native of Changqing in Shandong, had taken an entirely different path, joining the Communist Party of China and fighting the same war under a different flag. In later years, the group became known as the "Three Lis of Shandong," the fourth having parted ways with his classmates long before the guns fell silent.   Li Yutang had not risen quickly or through privilege. He embodied the hardworking, resilient, and tenacious qualities long associated with the men of Shandong — qualities forged by a hard land and harder circumstances. He had climbed the ranks of the army step by step: platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, regimental commander. Each step had been earned through performance under fire. When Japan launched its full-scale invasion in 1937, Li Yutang was serving as commander of the 3rd Division of the 2nd Army under Li Yannian, participating in the brutal Battle of Shanghai in August of that year. He fought in the grinding urban warfare along the Suzhou Creek, learning lessons in modern combat that would serve him for the rest of the war. The following spring, in March and April of 1938, he led his troops in the Battle of Xuzhou, holding the Linyi line northeast of Taierzhuang, blocking the Japanese 5th Division under Itagaki Seishiro from breaking through to reinforce the embattled Japanese forces at that critical engagement. His handling of the defense contributed to one of the few early Chinese battlefield successes of the war.   For his performance at Xuzhou, he was promoted to commander of the 8th Army. During the Battle of Wuhan in 1938, he led his troops in major engagements against the Japanese 101st and 106th Divisions along the Nanxun Railway, inflicting significant casualties on the attackers. After that campaign, General Xue Yue, recognizing both Li's talent and his Shandong origins — Shandong being home to Mount Tai, the foremost of China's Five Sacred Mountains — personally inscribed a banner reading "Mount Tai Army" and formally presented it to Li Yutang's 8th Army. Chiang Kai-shek added his own recognition, awarding Li Huazhou a medal. In the Battle of Nanchang, Li Yutang again distinguished himself, leading his troops in the defense of Wuning for ten days and ten nights of uninterrupted fighting. When the battle was over, Japanese soldiers lay piled in front of his defensive lines, and the name "Taishan Army" was on every officer's lips from Chongqing to the front. After the First Battle of Changsha in 1939, Chiang Kai-shek personally nominated Li Yutang to take command of the 10th Army — the posting that would now define his legacy. The orders came on September 20, 1941 — three days after the Japanese forces had broken through the Xiangbei defense line in the north. General Xue Yue's summons reached Li Yutang's headquarters in Hengyang, and the 10th Army began immediate preparations for movement to the battlefield.   The mobilization was extraordinary even by the standards of an army that prided itself on discipline and fighting spirit. Li Yutang addressed his men, and the response was unlike anything a commander might ordinarily expect. He received wave after wave of letters — requests to be placed at the front, declarations of determination, pledges to die before surrendering. Some of the letters were written in ordinary ink. Others had been written in blood, the soldier biting his own finger to draw enough for a few lines. These were not men who needed to be driven to battle. They were men who had spent months training for precisely this moment.   Their preparation had been rigorous to the point of fanaticism. For six months before the order came, the 10th Army had conducted intensive training in the three core skills of infantry combat: marksmanship, grenade throwing, and bayonet fighting. The Ministry of National Defense had set a standard that considered a unit successful if one quarter of its men scored "top-tier" in each category. Chiang Kai-shek had personally raised the bar for the 10th Army: eighty percent of every unit must score "top-tier," with the remainder no lower than "excellent." Any unit falling short would face elimination. When the assessments were completed, the result was unambiguous — one hundred percent of the army had met the standard.   Over 30,000 men boarded seven special trains at Hengyang, their military songs and mobilization slogans ringing through the station as families and bystanders watched them depart. The troops traveled by train to Zhuzhou, then transferred to motor vehicles for the road north to Changsha, arriving in the Jinjing area — some seventy kilometers northeast of the city — on September 22nd. They had moved with professional speed. What awaited them would test something no training exercise could fully replicate. From the moment of arrival, the situation was clear to any officer with eyes: the 10th Army had stepped into chaos. However, given the already established passive situation, the 10th Army was like a leaf caught in a whirlpool as soon as it arrived on the battlefield. General Xue Yue, at the Ninth War Zone Command, immediately ordered the entire army to support the besieged 37th Army and simultaneously launch an offensive against the Japanese 3rd Division. It was an ambitious order for troops who had just completed a multi-day journey and had not yet oriented themselves to the ground. Nevertheless, Li Yutang passed the order down and his divisions began to move.   The first division to feel the dislocating effect of high command's demands was Zhu Yue's 190th Division. On September 23rd, the vanguard regiment of the 190th made contact with Japanese forces and was preparing to engage. Before a single shot was fired in earnest, Division Commander Zhu Yue received a telegram from army headquarters ordering him to abandon his current position and rush immediately to Shending Mountain to relieve the siege of the 140th Division of the 37th Army. The order brooked no delay. The troops dropped their baggage where it lay and ran — truly ran, in light order — to the vicinity of Shending Mountain.   They had barely formed ranks at their new position when a second telegram arrived from General Xue Yue. The 190th Division was to immediately reverse course and return to the Fulipu area to establish a defensive line and block the Japanese advance southward. Another forced march, exhausting men who had already marched and traveled for days. They arrived at the designated position on time — a testimony to their conditioning — and Zhu Yue established his division headquarters at Liangjiaduan, near Fulipu. After all the aimless marching and countermanding orders, after all the wasted energy and fruitless attempts, the troops were running on the last of their reserves. They worked through the night constructing fortifications with shovels and bare hands. Just as the first light of dawn revealed the outline of their new positions, the Japanese army advanced.   General Toyoshima Fusataro's Japanese 3rd Division had not rested. It had decisively defeated the 37th Army on the night of the 23rd and turned immediately, without pause, to attack the 190th Division. The blow came from the sky before it came from the ground. At dawn, more than ten Japanese planes swept down over Zhu Yue's division headquarters — seemingly guided, as the Chinese soldiers would later say, as if they had eyes in their heads, so accurate was the targeting. The small village that housed the headquarters was bombed almost to the ground. Dust and smoke billowed over the ruins as the aircraft banked away, and before it had settled, over a thousand Japanese infantrymen, seemingly springing from the earth itself, rushed forward directly toward the headquarters position. The regiment commanders, still at their positions elsewhere, could not be recalled in time.   Division Commander Zhu Yue did not hesitate. He drew his pistol and began commanding his subordinate units to fight back, rallying the headquarters staff and support troops into a perimeter defense. Under the fierce and accurate Japanese fire, Zhu Yue was hit by a bullet in his right arm. Then another round struck him in the left leg, and he went down. Almost simultaneously, Deputy Division Commander Lai Shixiang took command of the nearest available men and attempted to lead a breakout with a machine gun. An enemy mortar round found its mark, and Lai Shixiang was killed instantly. The division headquarters personnel, already shocked by the swiftness of the attack and the wounding of their commander, broke into disorder. Chaos erupted on the battlefield. Many soldiers ran blindly in the smoke and confusion, dying in the crossfire from multiple directions.   Division Chief of Staff Tao Xiu, now acting as deputy division commander with Zhu Yue incapacitated, took hold of the situation as best he could. He led the remnants of the headquarters staff in retreat toward a hollow in a grove of trees near the edge of the village. When the headcount was taken, approximately twenty men remained capable of fighting. It was already ten o'clock in the morning. Tao Xiu gathered these few men and led them along a small path through the dense forest on the outskirts of the village, bypassing Liangjiaduan, searching for the dispersed units of the division.   Out on the main positions, the 568th, 569th, and 570th Regiments were simultaneously surrounded and attacked. The officers and soldiers, exhausted from days and nights of continuous fighting, summoned what remained of their endurance and put up a tenacious resistance. From dawn until the afternoon, several positions were cut off and divided by Japanese encircling movements. In the ever-shrinking pockets, each cluster of defenders became an isolated target for enemy aircraft and artillery. Completely losing the initiative, groups of officers and soldiers perished in the shelling. Many of them died not in defiance but in something closer to despair — regretting this humiliating reversal, the waste of their patriotic aspirations, their unfulfilled desire to fight and kill the enemy on their own terms.   By evening, the regimental commanders had lost control of their respective battalions and companies. The remaining soldiers on each position scattered and concealed themselves in whatever ground offered cover, hiding in all directions across the darkening hills. It was not until midnight that the lightly wounded and unwounded officers and soldiers managed to assemble, as the contingency plan had directed, in a dense forest on the southwest side of the position. Division Commander Zhu Yue, wounded in both his arm and his leg, had been sent to the rear to receive treatment. Acting Deputy Division Commander Tao Xiu stood before the assembled survivors — more than two hundred men gathered from the regiments — and offered them quiet words of comfort. There was little else he could give them. The people present carried the seriously wounded on improvised stretchers and supported the lightly wounded with their arms and shoulders, groping their way through the darkness toward Zhuzhou. The 10th Reserve Division, under Commander Fang Xianjue, had been assigned to hold the Jinjing line — a position that, on paper, formed an anchor of the defensive scheme. In practice, the situation was deeply flawed from the outset. The Ninth War Zone Command had placed the 10th Reserve Division alone at Jinjing with no depth behind it and no friendly forces on either flank — an isolated salient that offered the Japanese every opportunity for encirclement.   On the 23rd, the division captured the Kanai line at noon, an initial success that promised more than it delivered. Around six o'clock in the evening, as darkness gathered, General Kanda Masatsuka arrived at the front with the vanguard of the Japanese 6th Division. He was not a man to move without information. Before committing to a full assault, Kanda ordered a probing attack and watched its progress carefully through binoculars from a small hill behind the advancing force. What he saw gave him pause. However he searched for a weak point in the Chinese line, the defenders showed none. No gap in the wire, no position carelessly manned, no sector that sagged under pressure. Kanda lowered his binoculars and considered his next step. He felt this was indeed an elite unit with excellent tactical skills, and should not be underestimated. He ordered a halt to the attack and waited for the full arrival of his division's strength.   On the morning of the 24th, the Japanese launched their proper assault — a fierce attack from the east, north, and west simultaneously. The three-directional pressure was designed to pin the defenders and deny any lateral reinforcement. Kanda went further, requesting permission from General Anami to concentrate all thirty-plus bombers available for the entire battlefield and direct them at the 10th Reserve Division's positions in a single concentrated raid. Anami granted the request. The bombing was devastating. The defending positions were almost completely destroyed from the air. Yet in the ruins of their fortifications and bunkers, the soldiers of the 10th Reserve Division continued fighting, repelling Japanese ground attacks wave after wave through the rubble and the smoke.   At two o'clock in the afternoon, a report reached Fang Xianjue that halted him in his tracks. A Japanese regiment had executed a large-scale outflanking maneuver around the south side of Jinjing and was approaching the rear of the position. The encirclement was closing. Fang Xianjue was shocked. He now grasped in full the tactical impossibility of his assignment. The Ninth War Zone Command had placed the 10th Reserve Division here alone, exposed on all sides, without depth and without support. The order to "block the enemy's southward advance" had been an empty promise from the start. Fang Xianjue could not understand the strategic intention behind the deployment at all — there was none that made any tactical sense. The only purpose of holding out here, he concluded bitterly, was to theoretically be seen to be "fighting the Japanese." Before Fang Xianjue could translate his analysis into a decision, the Japanese troops launched another fierce attack from the front and both flanks, and one side of the defensive line was breached. The situation became critical. Fang Xianjue decided to withdraw before the encircling force to the south could complete its movement and seal off all escape. He did not have time to seek authorization from the war zone — there was no time. He ordered each regiment to organize its own breakout and reassemble at designated locations.   At four o'clock in the afternoon, Fang Xianjue led the division headquarters in the first withdrawal from the battlefield. Looking back as he departed, he watched as the regiments were cut apart by Japanese fire, large numbers of officers and soldiers falling among the mountain ridges and into the ditches and gullies. There was nothing more he could do for them.   By the 25th, approximately half of the division's troops had reached the designated reception point. After a hasty reorganization, they were ordered to occupy positions along the Xueshi Bridge line and prepare to resume the defense. That same evening, a portion of the Japanese 3rd Division — fresh from its defeat of the 190th Division — launched a fierce attack on Xueshi Bridge. The positions could not be held. The scene of the previous day's rout was repeated almost exactly, and this second defeat completed the destruction of the 10th Reserve Division as a coherent fighting force. General Xue Yue's rebuke reached Fang Xianjue shortly afterward, and the division commander had no way to express the depth of his frustration — the tactical position he had been placed in had made his assignment impossible before the first shot was fired. On the 26th, he led the surviving troops to be received and reorganized by war zone units near Changsha. Compared to the bitter fates of the 190th Division and the 10th Reserve Division, Zhou Qingxiang's 3rd Division wrote a different kind of story in these same days — one of extraordinary tactical competence maintained against mounting odds. In the equally fierce battles, the 3rd Division demonstrated the qualities of an elite force more effectively than any other unit on either side.   On the 22nd, the 3rd Division had been ordered to establish positions two kilometers east of Fulipu. At noon on the 24th, after the Japanese 3rd Division defeated Zhu Yue's 190th Division, a portion of the Japanese force turned and attacked the right flank of Zhou Qingxiang's position. It was repelled. That evening, the Japanese 4th Division, riding the momentum of its success against the 37th Army, launched a night attack on the 3rd Division's left flank. It too was repelled. On the 25th, Zhou Qingxiang's division was attacked from both sides simultaneously by the main forces of two Japanese divisions — forces that outnumbered the defenders several times over. The officers and soldiers of the entire division showed no fear. They fought bravely and with skill honed by months of intensive preparation, holding their lines despite heavy casualties and preventing the Japanese from breaking through at any point.   When word of this resistance was relayed to General Anami Korechika at his headquarters, he fell into a long, uncharacteristic silence. He studied the reports before him, the maps, the casualty tallies on both sides. Then he turned to his chief of staff, General Isamu Kinoshita. "This is the elite force," Anami said quietly. He paused a moment, and added: "I really want to go there and see for myself." The compliment, delivered in the private setting of a Japanese headquarters, was perhaps the most honest assessment of the fighting quality of Zhou Qingxiang's men that history has preserved.   Anami's response, however, was not admiration — it was determination to overwhelm. On the morning of the 26th, he concentrated nearly the entire combat power available to him against the single 3rd Division: units drawn from the Japanese 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 40th Divisions — close to 100,000 men — were directed to surround and destroy the Chinese formation. The 3rd Division stubbornly held its ground despite catastrophic casualties, the soldiers refusing to give way even as the perimeter contracted and the dead accumulated.   To ease the relentless pressure from enemy aircraft, the division commanders made a calculated decision: all positions were ordered to allow the Japanese troops to close to hand-to-hand fighting range. If the enemy was within arm's reach, the bombers above could not strike without killing their own men. Several instances of fierce hand-to-hand fighting erupted across the defensive line as a result — bayonets, shovels, pistols and bare hands in the broken earth and shell craters. By noon, the 8th Regiment had been divided and surrounded. Shortly afterward, the 7th and 9th Regiments met the same fate. Zhou Qingxiang moved the division headquarters to the position of the 7th Regiment to maintain command over his most accessible unit, while the deputy division commander and chief of staff were dispatched to coordinate the independent defense of the 8th and 9th Regiments respectively. For another half day, each of the three regimental pockets fought alone. At dusk, Zhou Qingxiang ordered a breakout.   As darkness fell, exploiting the brief respite that came when the Japanese halted their attacks for the night, each regiment burst simultaneously from its position. Carefully prepared covering detachments remained behind and created convincing feints toward false breakout directions, drawing the enemy's main pursuit forces away from the actual withdrawal routes. The deceptions worked. By the time the Japanese commanders understood what had happened, the breakout had succeeded. Officers and soldiers filtered into the designated reception point in small groups — three men here, five there — arriving through the night and into the following morning. When the count was complete, the 3rd Division was a remnant of less than one-fifth of its pre-battle strength. The finest infantry division in the 10th Army had bled itself almost dry, but it had done so on its own terms, and it had extracted as much as it was possible to extract from an impossible situation.   On September 27th, a chilly autumn wind blew across the city of Changsha. At the playground of Lizhong Middle School in the eastern part of the city, Li Yutang stood and watched the survivors of his divisions come in. A week before, on September 20th, more than 30,000 men had departed Hengyang aboard seven special trains. Their military songs had filled the railway station. Their letters of determination, some written in blood, had been stacked on Li Yutang's desk. Their training scores were the highest ever recorded for a Chinese army unit — a perfect one hundred percent of "top-tier" achievement across all three infantry skills. They had been, by every measurable standard, the finest army China could produce.   Standing now at the playground of a secondary school repurposed as a muster point, Li Yutang looked at what remained: a little over 2,000 men, including lightly wounded soldiers from Changsha who had been caught up in the fighting and bandaged civilians who had taken up arms. Two thousand, from thirty thousand. What had happened to the others? They were dead. They were injured. They were maimed. Some had broken under the pressure and run. The accounting was simple and devastating. Li Yutang's expression remained dignified as he inspected his survivors — the face of a commander who understood that bearing is required of officers precisely in the moments when bearing costs the most. But his heart was filled with tears. Perhaps soon, he reflected, there would be another 10th Army — still heroic and spirited, still singing loudly as it went to war. But it would not be the same one.   History has no gaps or blank pages. The story of the 10th Army's ordeal was barely complete before the next chapter began. Reluctantly, one must turn the page. Following the 10th Army, Wang Yaowu's 74th Army also suffered a crushing defeat. Wang Yaowu had received his orders from Commander Xue on September 21st and had immediately begun moving his three divisions from their cantonments at Fenyi and Xinyu in Jiangxi Province. The 74th Army was composed of three divisions: the 51st Division under Li Tianxia, the 57th Division under Yu Chengwan, and the 58th Division under Liao Lingqi. These were the formations that had kept the "Iron Army" undefeated through four years of brutal warfare. Their code names told their own story — the 51st Division was called "Frontline," the 57th was called "Tiger Warrior," and the 58th was called "Exhilarating." Wang Yaowu had personally chosen the code name for the army headquarters: "Brilliant." Chiang Kai-shek himself had once remarked, "Of all the code names, yours is the best." It was a small distinction, but one that Wang Yaowu quietly cherished.   What Wang Yaowu did not know — could not know, for Anami's intelligence network had kept the preparation perfectly concealed — was that Anami Korechika had been monitoring his movements since the order to deploy was first issued. The Japanese commander had already selected the terrain, positioned his units, and laid the trap. He was waiting for the 74th Army's arrival.   On the 25th, Wang Yaowu led the 57th Division into the battlefield first, marching rapidly as Xue Yue had directed to Chunhua Mountain on the north bank of the Laodao River, east of Changsha, to occupy positions and cover the main force's deployment. On the evening of the 25th, the 169th and 170th Regiments of the 57th Division arrived at the south side of Chunhua Mountain and encountered a Japanese search party of over a hundred men. The 169th Regiment swiftly cut off the small force's escape route, coordinating effectively with the 170th. The Japanese detachment suffered heavy casualties, and the survivors fled toward Chunhua Mountain. When part of the 170th Regiment reached the foot of the mountain, they ran into a much larger Japanese force coming down to meet them — and learned in that moment that Chunhua Mountain had already been occupied by the enemy.   Wang Yaowu responded instantly. To seize the initiative before the Japanese could consolidate, he ordered two regiments to assault Chunhua Mountain that same night. Around midnight, the troops advanced in silence through the dark. After a fierce night battle, two Japanese battalions were unable to hold against the assault and withdrew in the early hours of the morning. The 57th Division had its foothold. At dawn on the 26th, a regiment from the 57th Division followed up the night's success, and Yu Chengwan positioned the division along the Chunhua Mountain line. As the morning advanced, the 51st and 58th Divisions arrived to complete the deployment. Following Xue Yue's orders, Wang Yaowu spread his force across the line: the 57th Division at Chishi River, the 58th Division at Chunhua Mountain itself, and the 51st Division at Fengjiang Bridge. They were ready. Or so it appeared.   At dawn on the 27th, Wang Yaowu went on the offensive. The 57th Division launched a surprise attack on the camp of the main force regiment of the Japanese 3rd Division. The Japanese were caught entirely unprepared — the attack came in total darkness, and the camp was thrown into chaos before anyone could organize a coherent response. The Japanese managed to form some kind of defense only as the first light of dawn broke, and through the morning the two armies clashed furiously. By mid-morning, the Japanese had been forced back three kilometers — a genuine and significant victory achieved through aggression and timing.   Then, at eight o'clock, the Japanese 3rd Division launched its counterattack with the support of dozens of aircraft — fighter-bombers diving low over the Chunhua Mountain positions, strafing and bombing. Both armies knew themselves to be elite formations; each had its country's reputation riding on the outcome. They clashed with corresponding ferocity.   Around noon, Wang Yaowu climbed to the rooftop of a farmhouse and studied the Japanese battle line through his field glasses. What he saw was encouraging: a breach had appeared in the enemy's formation to the north of Chunhua Mountain — a gap that, if exploited quickly, could roll up the Japanese flank. He ordered Li Hanqing, the infantry commander of the 51st Division, to take two regiments and execute an outflanking maneuver through that gap, striking the Japanese from the side. An hour later, Li Hanqing's movement succeeded. The Japanese forces were thrown into disarray, breaking rearward in a rout. For one brief hour, it seemed as though the 74th Army might achieve a decisive success. Then the Japanese 4th Division arrived. It swept in from behind Li Hanqing's flanking force, surrounding his two regiments before they could extract themselves. In the desperate fighting of the breakout attempt, Li Hanqing was shot and killed.   In the afternoon, with two of its regiments lost to encirclement and its flanking stroke reversed, the 57th Division found itself holding off two full Japanese divisions alone. The fighting continued — artillery, rifle fire, close assaults — until nightfall dimmed the battlefield. The division had suffered over 3,000 casualties, and more than half of all commanders below battalion level had been killed or wounded. Division Commander Yu Chengwan conferred with Wang Yaowu over the field telephone, and together they decided to withdraw the troops to prepared positions to hold through the night.   Meanwhile, on the same 27th of September, Liao Lingqi's 58th Division at Chunhua Mountain was subjected to a separate and equally devastating assault by the Japanese 6th Division, reinforced by elements of the 3rd Division. The positions at Chunhua Mountain were compact and clustered — ideal targets for concentrated aerial bombardment. The Japanese bombers came in two waves, and after both had passed, the hastily constructed earthen fortifications were almost entirely destroyed. Across what had been the defensive line, limbs and broken bodies could be seen among the wreckage. The entire division had suffered devastating casualties.   Beginning at nine o'clock in the morning, tens of thousands of Japanese troops launched successive offensive waves, methodically dividing the defensive line into sections and breaking through each one in turn. The defenders engaged the Japanese in hand-to-hand combat at position after position, gunfire and the shouts of bayonet fighters filling the smoke-thickened air. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Chunhua Mountain defense line collapsed. The surviving soldiers attempted to break out in small groups, but many were intercepted and cut down by Japanese forces waiting along the escape routes.   Wang Yaowu was seething. He directed the battle from wherever he could find a usable vantage point, issuing orders in rapid succession — one moment ordering the 51st Division to send reinforcements to Chunhua Mountain, the next directing the army's directly subordinate regiments to absorb the shattered remnants of the 58th Division, then ordering the 57th Division to block Japanese forces from reinforcing the encirclement. He was everywhere at once, doing the work of a staff of twenty, improvising responses to crises that unfolded faster than any plan could accommodate. And as he directed, the same thought played and replayed: wasn't the Ninth War Zone just feeding them to the wolves? They had jumped into the enemy's encirclement without any initiative, while the enemy could attack from whatever direction they chose. He had nowhere to vent his frustration on the battlefield, only able to fend for himself. While directing the battle, he cursed under his breath: "What kind of hell is this?!"   As dusk fell over the chaos, the gunfire gradually subsided. The Japanese as a rule did not launch night attacks — a pattern the Chinese had come to rely upon for the brief respite it offered. Li Tianxia, commander of the 51st Division, concentrated his troops from the flanks toward the center to consolidate a defensible perimeter. The 57th Division, adjacent to the 51st and badly diminished by the day's fighting, did the same. Both divisions settled into their positions, and the exhausted soldiers lay down fully clothed, weapons in hand, and tried to rest. At midnight, the battlefield exploded.   Fierce gunfire roused the soldiers from whatever shallow sleep they had found. Two elite regiments of the Japanese 6th Division had broken through the gap that had opened between the positions of the 51st and 57th Divisions — a gap created by both units pulling inward — and were driving directly toward the headquarters of the 74th Army. In Wang Yaowu's many years of battlefield experience, this was the only instance he ever encountered of a large Japanese force launching a major attack at night.   The knowledge of terrain displayed by the attacking Japanese regiments was so precise, the route to army headquarters so accurately selected, that it raised immediate suspicions of an intelligence compromise — an inside source who had provided the attackers with maps and positions. Whatever the explanation, the effect was devastating. The headquarters' directly subordinate regiment and guard battalion were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed. They fought where they could, but the Japanese pushed through them.   The guard platoon leader, a man who had served at Wang Yaowu's side through numerous campaigns, gathered several of his best soldiers and formed a close escort. He led Wang Yaowu into the darkness as the Japanese closed around the headquarters compound. More than a hundred Japanese soldiers gave chase — moving through the dark with a sureness of foot that seemed almost preternatural, as if they had developed night vision. The platoon leader recognized that Wang Yaowu could not outrun a hundred men. He shouted to the general and the remaining escort: "Go quickly!" Then he and a single machine gunner turned and stayed behind. Wang Yaowu ran. A few minutes later, the machine gunner was killed. Shortly after that, the platoon leader was shot through the leg and fell to the ground. He was captured.   Wang Yaowu threw himself into the grass beside a drainage ditch and lay still as Japanese soldiers searched the ground around him, their voices close enough to touch. From his hiding place, he heard his platoon leader — the man who had been at his side day and night, who had chosen to stay behind so that his general might live — cursing the Japanese soldiers from the ground where he lay captured and wounded. Then a Japanese officer drew his sword. The cursing stopped. The Japanese soldiers moved on. The gunfire subsided. Wang Yaowu lay in the grass in the dark and did not move until he was certain they were gone. When he crawled out of the bushes, he looked up at the stars, found the direction of Liuyang, and began walking in the darkness with the few guards who had stayed close. He walked until dawn.   Since joining the army, Wang Yaowu had never allowed himself to think about fear of death. He had spent too many years on battlefields, seen too much death and bloodshed, to entertain it as a personal concern. This time, however, he was in tears. Not from sadness, and not from fear. From something harder to name and harder to bear: frustration — the frustration of a capable commander who had been committed to battle by a higher command that neither understood the ground nor provided him the support to fight on it, and who had watched good men die for orders that made no tactical sense.   In the aftermath of the battle, Wang Yaowu's grief was compounded by something beyond the ordinary losses of combat. The 27th alone had cost the 57th Division nearly half its strength, and the 58th Division had been essentially wiped out as a fighting formation. Of his three powerful divisions, only the 51st remained relatively intact. In war, such losses, however painful, are comprehensible. What happened next was not. Liao Lingqi, the commander of the 58th Division — one of the three officers Wang Yaowu had called his "tigers" — did not remain with his shattered troops to regroup and reorganize them. Instead, after the division's collapse, he slipped away from the battlefield with only his personal guards, changed into civilian clothes, and boarded a train bound for his hometown of Qiyang in southern Hunan to visit his family.   By unhappy chance, a senior staff officer from the Ninth War Zone was aboard the same train. He recognized Liao Lingqi and watched, saying nothing, as the division commander traveled south in civilian dress while his men lay dead on Chunhua Mountain. Upon arriving in Hengyang, the officer went directly to report the incident to General Xue Yue. Xue Yue instructed the Military Law Supervision Department to investigate and referred the case to the Military Commission's Military Law Enforcement Directorate on charges of desertion in the face of the enemy. At that point, in that situation, there was nothing Wang Yaowu could say. He had no words left. He had given everything he had to the battle, and this was what greeted him at the end of it.   The elite 74th Army, with its heroic spirit and its unbroken record, had captured the imagination of the Chinese nation and the hearts of countless young men. When soldiers of the 74th Army returned to their hometowns on leave, they wore their elite status openly, and the prestige of the unit was such that families sought them as sons-in-law. Young men who enlisted and were not selected for the 74th Army were known to weep. What a fine unit. But this time, the trap had been perfectly laid, and the intelligence had been mastered. Anami had looked at his opponent's hole cards and played accordingly. He had concentrated overwhelming force, moved with coordination and speed, and exploited the confusion generated by contradictory orders from the Ninth War Zone Command. The Chinese elite had fought with courage and skill that earned the admiration of their enemies. They had simply been outgeneraled at the operational level.   The Second Battle of Changsha, Phase Three, had cost China two of its finest armies. The 10th Army had departed Hengyang over 30,000 strong and returned barely 2,000. The 74th Army had suffered a crushing defeat from which it would require months to rebuild. Wang Yaowu had walked alone through the dark to Liuyang. Li Yutang had stood in the autumn wind at a schoolyard and looked at what remained of the men who had written their determination in blood.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Phase Three of the second battle of Changsha showed Anami Korechika using intelligence and planning to blunt China's elite forces as Chiang Kai-shek reluctantly deployed the "Iron Army" 74th and the 10th. Intercepted communications enable encirclement and heavy losses. Li Yutang's merit and experience shape resistance, yet Japanese strategy dominates from the outset through coordinated advances.

Today's episode of The Carmudgeon Show is a bumper episode. It's also a headlight, taillight, and side market episode - all of the above which were effected greatly in the mid-1970s to 1980s by updated US Department of Transportation regulations in 1974.===Visit http://JasonSentMe.com to get a Hagerty Guaranteed Value (TM) collector-car insurance quote! === But first, a Rover update!! The Rover is back (temporarily) on the west coast - we get some long awaited updates, new plans, and of course a new chapter of the saga which may send the car back where it just was……the project never stops! 5-mph bumpers were one of the crucial components removed from the Rover to make it tolerable to look at today. These US-mandated bumpers (and headlights and taillights) the bane of existence for many European and Japanese manufactures in period. Most of these manufactures were so perturbed by this regulation, that the bumper integration became a bit of an afterthought. Cars like the Mercedes-Benz R107 and W116 were considered some of the worst offenders given the size and integration of the bumper in comparison to the car's raw proportions. Other cars like the BMW E21, E23, E24, E28, and E30 were also repeat offenders. Other cars mentioned include but are not limited to: Maserati Bora, Lamborghini Countach, Rover SD1, Volkswagen Scirocco (MK2) + Cabriolet, Citroen CX, Jaguar XJS, Alfa Romeo Spider, Honda Accord, Datsun Z, BMW 2002, Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Corolla, Ford Taurus, and Ford Thunderbird. Rarely, did a manufacture decide they would go the extra mile and integrate the bumper into the design of the car - the G-body Porsche 911 and Chevrolet Corvette C3 were one of the few of the time. And if you didn't get enough Rover air time this episode or need a recap, Jason's just written a 5 column article for The Intercooler about his experience so far - you can red it here: https://www.the-intercooler.com/library/features/america-fast-part-two/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pete and Matt, straight off the back of the World Cup final in New Jersey. Morgan Rogers is not coming to Arsenal. People are losing their minds on the internet. Pete and Matt are not. Here's what's inside:

Check out https://www.mytrainpal.com/ and use the code MAN20 to get 5% off UK and European train tickets, 20% off railcards, plus a £10 welcome pack. Check out our new Stretford Paddock Merchandise: https://stretfordpaddock.shop/ Are Manchester United actually moving like a smart-thinking, professional club? Young, intelligent signings and not biting at the first chance to spend big money like some of our rivals! Join Joe, Jay, Fin and Ronny for the LIVE Paddock Podcast! Become a member! - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7w8GnTF2Sp3wldDMtCCtVw/join Stretford Paddock has content out EVERY DAY, make sure you're subscribed for your Man United fix! - https://bit.ly/DEVILSsub

It's sweet victory for the European continent at this year's World Cup, with Spain taking the honours. Congratulations to them and the team Luis de la Fuente so brilliantly built. So, just how did he do it? And might they be the side to dominate international football for the next decade?David Cartlidge sits down with Dotun and Andy to discuss that. Plus, how do we reflect on the tournament as a whole? Are we pleased with the performances of our European sides at the World Cup? Are we witnessing a re-forming of the hierarchy in European football? And how do we assess FIFA's role in all of this?Ask us a question on X, Instagram and TikTok, and email us here: otc@footballramble.com.For ad-free shows, head over to our Patreon and subscribe: patreon.com/footballramble.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** On The Continent is your definitive podcast for European football. Subscribe for new podcasts every single week and throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

London City Lionesses shocked the women's soccer world by signing Barcelona legends Alexia Putellas and Mapi León, transforming the newly promoted Women's Super League side into an instant European powerhouse.In this episode, LDG delivers an essential tactical breakdown of the historic summer transfer window. He analyzes Michele Kang's ambitious blueprint to reshape English women's football and the WSL through high-profile recruitment.This episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the recent transfer window in women's football, focusing on the strategies of top clubs like Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, and the ambitious London City Lionesses, but also covering the moves of every club in the league. We explore how these moves shape the league's competitive landscape and the future of the Women's Super League.The episode dives deep into the sudden squad turnover at London City, focusing on how these blockbusters disrupt the WSL hierarchy. LDG dissects how two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas alters the midfield dynamics and elevates the club's creative floor. He follows with a critical evaluation of how four-time Champions League winner Mapi León provides the structural organization needed to compete against established giants. The discussion concludes by exploring the world-class shot-stopping and backline communication the Lionesses secure with England international Mary Earps in goal.LDG addresses the burning questions circulating in the women's soccer community regarding sustainable growth. He evaluates critics who question if rapid success fueled by billionaire investment is sustainable over a full domestic season. He provides an in-depth analysis of whether massive financial backing translates into on-pitch chemistry or simply creates an expensive collection of individuals. Finally, he projects how London City's aggressive business pressures rivals like Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham to rethink their recruitment strategies.Thank you all for listening! Remember to follow us wherever you get your podcasts, on Instagram (@the_womens_soccer_podcast) and Bluesky (@thewomenssoccerpod.bsky.social). In addition, leave a 5-star review and tell all your friends about our show!

US futures mixed as the Dow trades lower and the Nasdaq slightly higher. Bond markets are mixed: the U.S. 10-year yield is up 1 bp at 4.6%, gilts have risen 2 bps to 5%, and bunds are steady at 3.2%. The dollar is softer. Oil has given back earlier gains, with WTI crude little changed just below $82 per barrel. Gold is lower, industrial metals are down, and bitcoin is weaker. Ongoing Middle East tensions leaving a cautious tone for equity markets. US ramped up strikes against Iran on the weekend. Protraction in hostilities a complication for European macro outlook given impact on inflation and demand. Market moving off earlier lows with oil pulling back from session highs, highlighting sensitivity to energy price developments.Companies Mentioned: Segro, Samsung Biologics, Advanced Medical Solutions Group, PolyPeptide Group

Kyndra is back from her Euro summer, and she's sharing what it was really like traveling through the South of France and Spain with two kids. We talk about surviving the long flight, navigating Europe as a family, how surprisingly kid-friendly the destinations were, and whether hiring a nanny abroad was worth it. Kyndra also shares the biggest lessons she learned, what she would do differently, and her best tips for international travel with children. Whether you're planning a European family vacation or simply dreaming about summer travel, this episode is filled with honest stories and practical advice for traveling to Europe with kids. Sponsor: Zocdoc - Find your preferred in-network at ease here! For more exclusive content, join our Patreon! To stay up to date on all the latest Camp Chaos news, follow us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week in the world of SWFC its not just the squad that is going through an upgrade we have updates regarding the training ground and a new place to have a prematch pint with a living legend.SWFC have headed off east to the first part of their European preseason tour which stops off in Hungary and onboard the plane is a GK that is well known to fans and thats Cammy Dawson, is he signing or is he just there to help out.These and more in this weeks episode of your favourite SWFC podcast.#swfc #wawaw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 39 of Flow State Podcast, Harry returns with a solo episode as he prepares for his European tour. This episode's Moments of Flow features Rick Rubin talking about ignoring the outcome when being creative, and a bonus Moment of Flow features a costumed character absolutely shredding it on the drums. In Meet The Team, iKaanic asks Harry about his obsession with practicing. Harry also reflects on embarrassing moments that have stayed with him over the years, reacts to a fan-submitted freestyle, and closes the episode with his signature recap freestyle.Show NotesHuberman Lab - Protocols to Access Creative Energy and Process | Rick Rubinhttps://youtu.be/GpgqXCkRO-w?si=r9Du5w0qG5CNezDrNyango Star Drumminghttps://youtu.be/-UYgORr5Qhg?si=ORSBRNJ4SOqwutrsiKaanic - In Peacehttps://open.spotify.com/album/7o47Ncq38sOpEaVFPknV2r?si=_8LPoTljTnS8GJ2ny-3ynAiKaanichttps://www.youtube.com/ikaanichttps://www.instagram.com/ikaanic/Israel Annohhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpcZpmRLm6Ahttps://pindangorecords.com/recordings-albums-artists/afuebe-by-israel-annoh/Sonny Rollinshttps://sonnyrollins.com/J Dilla Batcheshttps://open.spotify.com/album/6weRSYjUgB6yPz3HAUTlFr?si=tx2PQSweTZ-klLr9TR_wwAhttps://open.spotify.com/album/43dlRbuIleFKd8fOAsZv9B?si=2ca3884632ca4293https://open.spotify.com/album/2YkfSY3iYHt8ntC0FF3JIu?si=aa4e55e8c43b42e2https://open.spotify.com/album/1zpnkC3MR6hIaVfxgg0KFo?si=144603a550ba4e77MF DOOM Special Herbshttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/1YHFqY4cLcpCxSi4hplSzJ?si=1yVZprcUT_60iNP1iH0dQAMadLibhttps://open.spotify.com/album/12Ul3nb1lU4EJN8ZFSMHGn?si=fd66f109339f4bf12001 Instrumentalhttps://open.spotify.com/album/3t3Ar2cJUVLY6yTRmrezI8?si=c8ada02270cc4774Still Drehttps://open.spotify.com/track/503OTo2dSqe7qk76rgsbep?si=127976cc06164997Mobb Deephttps://open.spotify.com/track/1VIG2mUBL5JoXbcKKXU2af?si=16f0269076bd417ehttps://open.spotify.com/track/7N1Vjtzr1lmmCW9iasQ8YO?si=9092bd467eb440f8Milkbone Keep It Realhttps://open.spotify.com/track/2pFqCPGkedpl5ThtyNvmEG?si=b0fbb4fadd964a9bWu-Tanghttps://open.spotify.com/track/119c93MHjrDLJTApCVGpvx?si=fb132632df6e40bdhttps://open.spotify.com/track/37jaEO9DnuZmpcHPWyBF6A?si=0e95abcd845c48c8PeteStrumentalshttps://open.spotify.com/album/3BXHZmPR0u5TBVlxcp4Tjk?si=o2rqbsh4SLibZzP8uW2EvQGang Starrhttps://open.spotify.com/track/30oTS7bm0aH3p7lqjEIu8q?si=e18547386f4e4ef0https://open.spotify.com/track/3lGBvPUgO7MJltUnBlOpe9?si=5003e42b89dd44faPharcyde Runnin'https://open.spotify.com/track/0XgpiStoxq1IJncYlPrvZ5?si=bb0a40aa4a404ca1SaulGoodwww.youtube.com/@saulgood_music*Corrected to accurately reflect the name of the freestyler 00:00:00 Intro00:01:35 Rehearsing for Euro Tour00:11:56 Moments of Flow: Rick Rubin00:29:19 Moments of Flow: Nyango Star00:35:56 Meet the Team - iKaanic asks “Why is Harry so obsessed with practicing?”00:56:31 Filling Y'all With Joy01:04:53 Jazz Standards of Rap01:12:02 Stories of Embarrassment01:18:46 Fan Submitted Freestyle - SaulGood01:23:52 Closing Freestyle

In this lecture from his "English Poems and Poets" course, classical teacher Josh Traylor explains what Romanticism is, what it is not, why it is ambiguous, and how we should understand it as a European cultural movement in the late 1700s and in the 1800s.Josh has listed his course at an incredible rate for us, so take advantage of his offer and enroll today: English Poems and Poets.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/kF4KsqKe7dMBecome a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmindListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Harry in Westview wonders why the Pirates won't make Carmen Mlodzinski the closer. It was cool to see how much people care globally about the World Cup. The flopping is crazy. Europeans got to see the best of America.

On today's Big Rich, TD & Fletch, we're getting Comic-Con ready by figuring out which characters we'd actually cosplay as—and which costumes should never see the light of day. We also found a new steamy movie to watch with your partner, and Fletch is officially preparing for Europe by purchasing a purse. Not for his wife. Not as a gift. For himself. Bon voyage, fashion king.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Maclean and Roger Hannah are taking your calls as we react to Celtic supporters' recent boycott of the club's friendly against Middlesbrough. Elijah Just is close to a club-record move from Motherwell to Swansea, and we're also discussing potential European qualifying opponents for Hearts, Rangers, Motherwell and Hibs.You have your chance to win a signed ball against Roger Hannah on Beat The Pundit.Check out our YouTube channel and subscribe via: https://www.youtube.com/@Clyde1SSBX: https://x.com/ClydeSSBInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/clyde1ssbFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/clyde1TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clydessbListen to previous shows on Rayo: https://hellorayo.co.uk/podcasts/superscoreboard/

Is it safe to fly through Dubai right now? On 14 July, EASA, the regulator behind every European airline, told its operators to avoid the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE at all altitudes, until at least 29 July. Dubai International is open. Emirates is flying one of its busiest summers ever. Both of those things are true at the same time, and this episode explains how.   I read the actual conflict zone bulletin word for word, unpack the one word in it that should get your attention (misidentification, the MH17 and PS752 word), separate the three things people keep mashing together (the airspace, the airport, the airlines), and walk through the real routing choices from Johannesburg to Europe. Then I give you my honest answer: what I would do flying alone, and what I am doing differently when my wife and kids are next to me.   In this episode of The Bryan Air Podcast, Bryan Roseveare explains the EASA conflict zone bulletin, Dubai airspace restrictions, Gulf airspace safety, whether Dubai airport is open, why Emirates is still flying, Dubai flight cancellations, and how to reroute from Johannesburg to Europe without the Gulf.   TIME-STAMPED FLIGHT PLAN   00:00 The EASA warning, read word for word   01:40 Misidentification: the word that scares pilots   02:48 Why now: the 72 hours before the bulletin   03:15 Airspace, airport, airlines: three different things   04:20 Do you even need the Gulf?   04:31 Joburg to Europe: every routing option   05:24 Why airlines are reacting so differently   06:33 What avoiding the Gulf actually costs you   07:17 Flying solo vs flying with your family   09:18 The takeaway: two risk models   I'm Bryan Roseveare. Fourteen years an airline pilot, now a simulator instructor. I train the pilots flying you around.   SUPPORT THE SHOW   Bryan Air → https://bryanairpodcast.com/   Support on Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/bryanair

In this episode, Adrian Goldberg hears from Ukrainians left in limbo after fleeing Putin's persecution. Following Russia's full scale invasion in 2022 the UK – like many other European countries – opened its arms to those displaced by the fighting and more than 200,000 live here now.   But unlike refugees from other countries, Ukrainians don't have a pathway to permanent residence in Britain. The're expected to head back home whenever the conflict ends, despite having built newlives here.   In the meantime, rules around visas and qualifications mean they are being denied jobs and educational opportunities. There are stories of doctors working as cleaners.   Adrian hears from Natalia Kogut who fled Ukraine with her two children and Professor Sara Jones at Birmingham University, who has been researching the plight of Ukrainians in the UK. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ukraine war has now outlasted World War I — and there's no clear end in sight. Former CIA Russia analysis director George Beebe joins Newt for a sobering assessment of where things stand. They dig into how AI-guided drones costing $17,500 apiece are reshaping the battlefield and challenging a century of military doctrine, why Ukraine's deep strikes on Russian oil infrastructure are more effective than previous campaigns but still can't win the war alone, and what it would actually take to get Putin to the negotiating table. Beebe argues the conflict is not just a bilateral Russia-Ukraine dispute — it's a larger confrontation over the foundations of European security that requires the United States at the table, not just as mediator. He also warns that the window for a negotiated compromise may be closing, and that the escalatory risks — including nuclear — are higher than most people realize.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the Straight White American Jesus Sunday Interview, host Annika Brockschmidt sits down with extremism researcher Eviane Leidig, author of The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization, for an in-depth conversation about the women reshaping today's far-right movement. Together they explore how female influencers have become some of the movement's most effective communicators, using lifestyle content, tradwife aesthetics, motherhood, religion, and social media to normalize extremist ideas for mainstream audiences. From Lauren Southern and Lana Lokteff to the emerging "womanosphere," Leidig explains how these figures bridge fringe ideologies and conservative politics while building powerful online communities that extend far beyond national borders. Annika and Evian also examine the relationship between gender, Christianity, anti-feminism, transnational organizing, and white nationalism, unpacking the contradictions that allow women to thrive within deeply patriarchal movements. The conversation closes with a look at the international networks connecting the American and European far right, including the role of influencers, social media platforms, and digital propaganda in shaping contemporary extremist politics. If you value conversations grounded in scholarship and historical context, consider supporting Straight White American Jesus and Axis Mundi Media by becoming a member at Axis Mundi Membership. You'll receive ad-free episodes, bonus content, and access to our community. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and sign up for the SWAJ newsletter to stay up to date with every new episode. Subscribe to the SWAJ Newsletter Support independent journalism and analysis from Axis Mundi Media by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://axismundinetwork.substack.com⁠ Subscribe to the Axis Mundi Network on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@AxisMundiNetwork⁠ Learn more about the Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement: ⁠https://www.irmce.org⁠ Eviane Leidig: The Women of the Far Right: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-women-of-the-far-right/9780231210171/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Friday's Mark Levin Show, should our Constitution be gutted? DSA's Gustavo Gordillo says yes. He says the Senate is undemocratic and should be reformed or eliminated. The problem? Small states have an equal say in the Senate. The genius of the Founding Fathers was that in at least one house of a bicameral Congress, small states wouldn't be swallowed up by large states. Gustavo wants to replace this genius system with a European-style socialist parliament. He also wants to put the working class over billionaires. Isn't it funny you never hear Socialists like Gustavo talk about liberty? Marxist "working class versus billionaire class" rhetoric promotes group-based oppression narratives over freedom, individual rights, and the Declaration of Independence. These people seek to destroy the country, its way of life, political and governing systems, founding principles, and economic system—the greatest on Earth—built through countless legal, military, and political battles. Due to generosity and stupidity, including open borders and ceding colleges and universities to enemy-promoted teachings, an enemy within now acts through culture and has largely conquered the Democrat Party piece by piece. Those who love the country and want to preserve its lifestyle for children and grandchildren must wake up, listen, and pass the message on, because if more of them vote, they win. Later, China has constructed a full-scale, three-dimensional replica of a US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the Taklamakan Desert as a weapons testing facility to target real warships. They're not fooling around, this is serious. Afterward, it's problematic that the media dismissed President Trump's election security speech and his findings on Communist China's interference in the 2020 election. There are foreign and domestic forces seeking to destroy America, including a weak ruling class, rogue judges, and too many university faculty who indoctrinate students against America's core principles. Finally, Rep Jim Jordan calls in and explains that Special Counsel Jack Smith misled Congress by testifying that his team did not obtain the contents of communications between Trump administration officials and members of Congress. Evidence shows the National Archives, under the Biden administration, turned over unfiltered text message contents to Smith's team raising separation of powers and Speech or Debate Clause violations. Jordan also addresses the President's speech highlighting Communist China's election interference, confirming his staff is investigating documents on the matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices