Podcasts about Granted

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger Picture Trump is now helping the farmers out in California, he is now opening the waters in the north to help the farmers in the south. China is now purchasing soybeans from the US. The US is going to be a manufacturing powerhouse, the US is now building Tiny Cars. Trump is ready to release the liquid gold under our feet. Elon wants the EU abolished which will lead to the destruction of the ECB. The [DS] is trying to stop Trump from moving forward with his plan to take back the country and allow the people to control it. Trump and team released the NSS letting the old guard know that their days are numbered and put the countries on notice that the US is going down a different path and some of the allies we have now might not be our allies. Everything is about to change WW. Economy (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); Trump Administration to Direct More Water to California Farms  The Trump administration is making good on a promise to send more water to California farmers in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday announced a new plan for operating the Central Valley Project, a vast system of pumps, dams, and canals that direct water southward from the state’s wetter north. It follows an executive order President Donald Trump signed in January calling for more water to flow to farmers, arguing the state was wasting the precious resource in the name of protecting endangered fish species. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said the plan will help the federal government “strengthen California’s water resilience.” It takes effect Friday. But California officials and environmental groups blasted the move, saying sending significantly more water to farmlands could threaten water delivery to the rest of the state and would harm salmon and other fish. Most of the state’s water is in the north, but most of its people are in the south. Source: newsmax.com https://twitter.com/SecRollins/status/1997033961210433741?s=20  Trump Set to Sign Off on New Arctic Drilling Surge  Alaska’s Congressional delegation, along with the support of House and Senate Republicans, has scored a major win on the energy front. Representative Nick Begich (AK-At Large) introduced House Joint Resolution 131, stripping Biden-era restrictions on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Rep. Begich’s resolution has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate and is headed to President Trump’s desk for signature. Alaska's congressional delegation on Thursday succeeded in stripping Biden-era protections from the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, moving to expand opportunities for drilling there. The U.S. Senate voted to eliminate the 2024 leasing program for the refuge that put much of the refuge's 1.6-million-acre coastal plain off-limits to potential drilling.  The vote does a lot more than just open the door for potential oil and gas activity.  This is another step in unlocking America’s treasure chest. The areas in question in ANWR are estimated to hold 7.7 billion barrels of oil recoverable with current technology, and the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that there may be hundreds of millions of barrels in other areas to the west of the ANWR sites. Source: redstate.com https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1997327003062538459?s=20 Political/Rights https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1997007545097961499?s=20 JUST IN: Trump-Appointed Judge Unseals Epstein Grand Jury Records in South Florida  US District Judge Rodney Smith, a Trump appointee, said the law passed by Congress and signed by President Trump overrides grand jury secrecy. The Act applies to unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials that relate to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Consequently, the later-enacted and specific language of the Act trumps Rule 6's prohibition on disclosure. Accordingly, it is ORDERED that United States' Expedited Motion to Unseal Grand Jury Transcripts and Modify Protective Order [DE 6] is GRANTED,” the judge wrote. Last month President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency act into law to release all files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Source: thegatewaypundit.com DOGE https://twitter.com/Patri0tContr0l/status/1997015233399795932?s=20 https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1996997974455357552?s=20 European Union Fines X (Twitter) $140 Million for Violations of Europe's Digital Services Act  The European DSA is ultimately designed to control information, that reality should not be debated. All efforts to control traditional and social media are efforts to control information. The specifics of the reasoning for the fine are typically European.  (1) Twitter allows ordinary people to deliver information at the same level as people who should be defined as more important.  (2)  Advertisers of those who pay for promotion of information on X are not easily identifiable – people need to figure it out on their own.  (3)  It is too difficult to figure out who is providing the information. Basically, all of the EU concerns center around information control.  It's really an ideology issue.  In the outlook of the EU, bureaucrats and elites feel they are superior and must rule/protect the people under them.  Ordinary people having access to information that may or may not be approved by the EU is the underlying issue. Source: theconservativetreehouse.com [SOURCE] What Christopher Landau notes as the contrast and conflict in ideological priority from the EU can just as easily be applied to the USA dynamic with Canada.  As noted by Twitter user John Frank, “The same observations can easily apply to the relations with Canada, given the divergence between the US role in the military alliance with Canada, while Canada is involved in activities which work against US interests.” https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1996925010569511321?s=20 https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1996945925822939407?s=20 https://twitter.com/kadmitriev/status/1997233337354895559?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1997358453698728063?s=20 Geopolitical War/Peace EU making unacceptable demands on Ukraine peace – Kremlin Western European leaders are constantly making proposals that are unacceptable for Russia, presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said EU leaders are complicating Russia-US efforts to reach a settlement on the Ukraine conflict by making unacceptable demands, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said. European states, however, have reportedly been urging Kiev to reject any deal with Moscow without receiving security guarantees from the US, according to the Wall Street Journal. The EU and UK have also insisted on playing a larger role in the peace process. Source: rt.com Ukraine State Structure in Crisis: Neo-Nazi Junta Starts Unraveling. Clash within its Military-Intelligence (SBU-GUR) Apparatus   Ukrainian state stopped existing in early 2014 at the latest, when it was replaced by a US/NATO-installed regime composed of Nazis, criminals, murderers and their enforcers (it could easily be argued that these are all synonyms and listing them separately might be redundant). This was unequivocally confirmed by the infamous Victoria Nuland, one of the architects of the NATO-orchestrated    Source: theglobalist.com Trump made it a point to when meeting with Zelensky that they don’t have elections in Ukraine because of the war.  How do you get Ukraine to accept a peace deal while the EU, NATO DS is putting on pressure on Zelensky to start WWIII 1. As more corruption is brought out into the open this will put pressure on Zelensky 2. Zelensky will either going along with Trump peace deal or be exposed 3. If Zelensky does not go along, most likely he will be removed because of the corruption 4. This will pave the way for a new candidate, someone who is not controlled by the EU,NATO DS.    NATO EU DS might push a false flag to push the war 5. Trump will be able to work with the president of Ukraine because Putin is ready to go Medical/False Flags https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1997083856315224405?s=20 https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1997073307397423152?s=20   efficacy of this “schedule,” as have I! That is why I have just signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Department of Health and Human Services to “FAST TRACK” a comprehensive evaluation of Vaccine Schedules from other Countries around the World, and better align the U.S. Vaccine Schedule, so it is finally rooted in the Gold Standard of Science and COMMON SENSE! I am fully confident Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the CDC, will get this done, quickly and correctly, for our Nation's Children. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAHA! https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1996994177175855445?s=20 [DS] Agenda Grand Jury Says It Won't Indict Letitia James A federal grand jury refused Thursday to reindict New York Attorney General Letitia James. The grand jury rejected Department of Justice's (DOJ) second attempt to bring mortgage-fraud charges just 10 days after a federal judge tossed the original case, according to CNN. Another source told CNN that the decision should not be interpreted as a clean win for James, saying the department could ask a third grand jury to consider the allegations. Source: thegatewaypundit.com FBI Raids Home of High-Ranking DEA Official Under Obama, Charges Him For Conspiring to Launder Millions of Dollars For Mexican Drug Cartel  The FBI on Friday morning raided the home of a high-ranking DEA official under Barack Obama and charged him for conspiring to launder millions of dollars for a Mexican drug cartel. The Feds charged former DEA Deputy Chief of the Office of Financial Operations Paul Campo and friend Robert Sensi for conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Paul Campo and Robert Sensi were charged with narcoterrorism, terrorism, narcotics distribution, and money laundering charges. Campo and Sensi were arrested on Thursday afternoon in New York, according to the DOJ. Campo and Sensi agreed to launder $12 million and participate in narcotics trafficking for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a/k/a Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion or CJNG. Per the Department of Justice: As part of the scheme, CAMPO and SENSI agreed to launder approximately $12,000,000 of CJNG narcotics proceeds; laundered approximately $750,000 by converting cash into cryptocurrency; and provided a payment for approximately 220 kilograms of cocaine on the understanding that the payment would trigger the distribution and sale of the narcotics worth approximately $5,000,000, for which CAMPO and SENSI would (i) receive directly a portion of the narcotics proceeds as profit; and (ii) receive a further commission upon the laundering of the balance of the narcotics proceeds. Source: thegatewaypundit.com  President Trump's Plan Kash Patel Shuts Down Candace Owens’ Accusations About Charlie Kirk's Murder FBI Director Kash Patel shut down numerous accusations that have been made by podcast host Candace Owens involving the murder of the late co-founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk. During his appearance on Friday on the Sirius XM The Megyn Kelly Show podcast, Kelly started out by asking Patel if they believe they have the “proper suspect in custody” — if Tyler Robinson is “in fact, the man who killed Kirk.” Patel didn’t hesitate in the slightest and answered, “Yes.” The host then brought up one of the wild accusations that have been made by Owens, which includes claiming that Kirk’s own friends and his organization allegedly knew and approved of his murder. Insane. “Do you have any credible reason to believe that anyone connected with the Turning Point organization had anything to do with Charlie’s death?” Kelly asked. Patel’s response: “Zero.” He was then pressed about other claims that Owens has made about the alleged involvement of foreign governments in Kirk’s assassination, like French paratroopers, Egyptian Air Force planes flying out of Provo, Utah, and “potential underground assassins traveling through unseen tunnels,” as the producer of The Charlie Kirk Show, Blake Neff, previously explained. “At this time, the FBI doesn’t have credible information to connect any foreign governments to it,” Patel said. The FBI director made it clear that the investigation is continuing and they are looking into everything, no matter how small. “We are not done just because we arrest someone, just like in the pipe bomber case,” Patel said. “We don’t just say, Okay, we’re done, on to the next. The investigative team continues to work with the Utah authorities, and they’re deriving their own leads and coming back to us saying, ‘Hey, can you look at this piece of information? Can we get a search warrant on this account? What about this individual who is located in X, Y, or Z?'” Source: redstate.com https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1996873942406164855?s=20 https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1997120806212546797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1997120806212546797%7Ctwgr%5Ed963eef05511b000b3f2631742a9c8e0f0d3c2a2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fbobhoge%2F2025%2F12%2F05%2Fdc-pipe-bomb-suspect-i-did-it-n2196869  AUTISTIC-LIKE”   SO Why didn't BIDEN'S FBI REALLY catch THIS GUY MS NOW reported that Brian Cole is a Trump supporter. https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1996990984584933729?s=20 January 6 Pipe Bomb Suspect Brian Cole is NOT a Trump Supporter – Family Says He is an “Autistic Recluse” Who Lived in a Basement  January 6 pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole is not a Trump supporter like the legacy media has claimed. Brian Cole's grandmother told The Daily Mail that her grandson has no party affiliation and that he is not a Trump supporter. Cole's family said he is an “autistic recluse” and “computer nerd” who lived in the basement of his parents' Woodbridge, Virginia, home. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/talk2trav/status/1996716378066505847?s=20   until proven guilt in a court of law THREAD https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1996984026129732020?s=20  written to pardon “all targeted” and “everyone involved in the events surrounding that day”, functions as a class based pardon broad enough to include DOJ linked pre riot conduct like the pipe bomb incident. Because federal authorities folded that episode into the J6 security narrative, the defense says it sits squarely within the pardon's scope. https://twitter.com/Patri0tContr0l/status/1996975974106144923?s=20 is made up. So Kash gets a big win and the NEXT DAY the Fake News comes out with a hit piece based on anonymous sources. I can't believe there are still people out there who can't see through this bullshit. https://twitter.com/TheStormRedux/status/1996722966806028760?s=20   about this FBI is that we are running investigations while providing what we can… This pipe bomb investigation should show the American public that we, while providing information on the pipe bomb over the last 8 months and protecting the integrity of our investigation, gets us to the end point we want. Accountability & transparency… This investigation should show the world how we are going to operate in every single investigation. Arctic Frost specifically, we have HUGE investigation going… and it's gonna take a little more time to peel it back. But no, I'm not gonna let people get off the hook or get a hall pass. I don't care what position you held in the FBI, you're gonna be held accountable. And this DOJ is assuredly backing us.” Love it. We keep getting bits & pieces of the grand conspiracy investigation before ultimately the hammer drops. I'm not sure why this is hard to understand for some… Pam Bondi Gives FBI Marching Orders For Tackling Antifa Terrorists Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed federal law enforcement agents on Thursday to form a list of Antifa groups for potential prosecution, according to multiple reports. Bondi's order is part of a broader counterterrorism plan after President Donald Trump's directives targeting the Antifa movement and organized political violence, Reuters and Bloomberg Law reported, citing a Thursday memo from Bondi. The FBI must provide within 30 days a list of groups “engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism” along with strategies to disrupt them, with an emphasis on left-wing extremists, the memo reportedly says.  Bondi's memo directs law enforcement agencies to unearth whatever intelligence files they have on Antifa groups for investigators and to investigate unsolved domestic terrorism incidents over the past five years, Reuters and Bloomberg Law reported. The incidents may include the “doxxing” of law enforcement officers' personal information and threats against Supreme Court justices. The FBI must also streamline its tip line to allow members of the public to “send media” on suspected domestic terrorism, the memo says, according to Reuters. Source: dailycaller.com  https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1996984378983915761?s=20 With the New U.S. National Security Strategy, Trump Revives Monroe Doctrine     Trump administration released the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS). The intent seems to be a return to the Monroe Doctrine by increasing the United States military presence in the Western Hemisphere, taking on the drug cartels, enhancing border security, making trade deals that are better for the United States, and enhancing American energy production. That’s not the worst high-level take on the NSS, but a look at the actual document is illustrative. The NSS states as its purpose: To ensure that America remains the world's strongest, richest, most powerful, and most successful country for decades to come, our country needs a coherent, focused strategy for how we interact with the world. And to get that right, all Americans need to know what, exactly, it is we are trying to do and why. A “strategy” is a concrete, realistic plan that explains the essential connection between ends and means: it begins from an accurate assessment of what is desired and what tools are available, or can realistically be created, to achieve the desired outcomes. A strategy must evaluate, sort, and prioritize. Not every country, region, issue, or cause—however worthy—can be the focus of American strategy. The purpose of  foreign policy is the protection of core national interests; that is the sole focus of this strategy. One of the more interesting (but not surprising) pieces of this NSS is the overt and robust return to the Monroe Doctrine, an early 19th-century policy intended to restrict further European colonization of the Western Hemisphere and to ensure American dominance in that region. The modern take on this doctrine by the Trump administration uses American power by employing both internal and external security measures. The NSS states: American policy should focus on enlisting regional champions that can help create tolerable stability in the region, even beyond those partners' borders. These nations would help us stop illegal and destabilizing migration, neutralize cartels, nearshore manufacturing, and develop local private economies, among other things. We will reward and encourage the region's governments, political parties, and movements broadly aligned with our principles and strategy. But we must not overlook governments with different outlooks with whom we nonetheless share interests and who want to work with us. Source: redstate.com The Monroe Doctrine is a foundational principle of United States foreign policy, first articulated by President James Monroe in his annual message to Congress on December 2, 1823.   It declared that the Western Hemisphere was no longer open to European colonization or interference, while affirming that the U.S. would not meddle in existing European colonies or internal affairs.   Essentially, it warned European powers—particularly those in the Holy Alliance (Russia, Austria, and Prussia)—against attempting to extend their influence or establish new colonies in the Americas, positioning the U.S. as a protector of independent nations in the region The doctrine emerged amid concerns over European monarchies potentially aiding Spain in reconquering its former Latin American colonies, which had recently gained independence. It was largely drafted by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and reflected growing American confidence following the War of 1812.  At the time, the U.S. lacked the military power to enforce it fully, so it relied on British naval support, as Britain also opposed European rivals in the Americas for trade reasons.Key excerpts from Monroe’s address include: The American continents “are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” Any attempt by Europe to extend its political system to the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as “dangerous to our peace and safety.”   Significance and EvolutionInitially more symbolic than enforceable, the Monroe Doctrine evolved into a justification for U.S. intervention in Latin America during the 19th and 20th centuries. For instance: In the mid-1800s, it intertwined with Manifest Destiny to support U.S. territorial expansion, such as during the Mexican-American War.  President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 “Corollary” expanded it to allow U.S. intervention in Latin American countries to prevent European involvement, leading to actions like the occupation of Cuba and the Dominican Republic. It influenced Cold War policies, framing U.S. opposition to communism in the hemisphere as a defense against external threats. Critics, especially in Latin America, have viewed it as a tool for U.S. imperialism, enabling dominance over sovereign nations. Though less invoked today, it remains a symbol of U.S. hemispheric influence and anti-colonial rhetoric. facebook.com https://twitter.com/onechancefreedm/status/1996970776373735933?s=20 https://twitter.com/JoeLang51440671/status/1996992569746567173?s=20   other hand, I can see how we help real allies with aid when needed, as long as we get something of economic value in return. Regardless, NGO's are the root of a lot of EVIL and this will DESTROY a lot them. This is a good thing. https://twitter.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1996951610769961070?s=20 Senate To Confirm 97 More Trump Nominees After Democrat Blockade Fails Republicans will confirm a bloc of eight dozen Trump nominees as soon as next week following an attempted blockade by Senate Democrats. Republican leadership planned Thursday to kick-off the procedural process to confirm 88 of President Donald Trump's nominees in a bloc vote, but were initially thwarted by Democratic Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, who challenged the package for violating Senate rules. When Republicans refiled the package later on Thursday, the conference included an additional nine nominees, bringing the total to nearly 100.  The Senate has confirmed 314 civilian nominees as of Thursday evening, according to a tally by the Senate Republican Communications Center. The 97-member bloc would bring the Senate to more than 410 civilian confirmations in the first year of Trump's second term. “That far outstrips total confirmations by this point in President Biden's term, and in President Trump's first term as well,” Thune said Thursday. Thune also said that Senate Republicans have virtually cleared the nominations backlog. Before Republicans changed Senate precedent to allow for certain nominees to be confirmed in groups, more than 150 of the president's picks were awaiting floor consideration. The Senate approved a 48-member nominations package in September and an additional 108 of the president's picks in a single group vote in October. Source: dailycaller.com  (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

Episode 257How We Re-Parent OurselvesSensers! So there's cliche statement that some women of today love to utter…”once I meet a man who is masculine then I'll show my feminine/softer side of my personality” or some shit like that. Granted we as a society hear this but what is the actual possibility of this coming true to life? Believe it or not, I believe that it can happen. Let's talk about it!So if you were ever born on this earth in America, there's a strong chance that you had some form of trauma, however, after a certain point…blaming your parents/family for it becomes outdated and then accountability for rehabilitation comes into play. So what are you going to do to aide in your own healing? Yes you are not responsible for what happened to you, but we can agree that we are responsible for how we interpret the pain, our thoughts on the action, and how we're going to over come this.“Love conquers all…” One would love to believe this statement from fairy tales and Disney stories but I believe it's not that simple. Those of us who have been around you humans for sometime learn that it takes more than love to make a relationship, be with a mate, family, or friend to last the test of time. Peep my perspective here!May God and His Universe remove any negative energy you may have stored from reading this. If you dig the episode, click, like, and share on your page. Help build the tribe of healing

Tis the season for ANOTHER Medley case. So JOIN US as we discuss Black Friday Murders. RIP to the victims

Olivier v. City of Brandon | 12/03/25 | Docket #: 24-993 24-993 OLIVIER V. BRANDON, MS DECISION BELOW: 2023 WL 5500223 CERT. GRANTED 7/3/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: Gabriel Olivier is a Christian who feels called to share the gospel with his fellow citizens. After being arrested and fined for violating an ordinance targeting "protests" outside a public amphitheater, Olivier brought a § 1983 suit under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to declare the ordinance unconstitutional and enjoin its enforcement against him in the future. The Fifth Circuit, applying its precedent construing this Court's decision in Heck v. Humphrey , 512 U.S. 477 (1994), held that Olivier's prior conviction barred his § 1983 suit because even the prospective relief it seeks would necessarily undermine his prior conviction. The Fifth Circuit acknowledged the "friction" between its decision and those of this Court and other circuits. Over vigorous dissents, the Fifth Circuit denied rehearing en banc by one vote. The questions presented are: 1. Whether, as the Fifth Circuit holds in conflict with the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, this Court's decision in Heck v. Humphrey bars § 1983 claims seeking purely prospective relief where the plaintiff has been punished before under the law challenged as unconstitutional. 2. Whether, as the Fifth Circuit and at least four others hold in conflict with five other circuits, Heck v. Humphrey bars § 1983 claims by plaintiffs even where they never had access to federal habeas relief. LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 22-60566

* This originally aired as a video episode on YouTube HERE. We live in an age where "knowing mysteries of heaven" has taken on an entirely new - unbiblical - meaning. In this episode we use the Word to highlight and then connect several texts to reveal that the mysteries of heaven may be different than we thought. Using the Matthew 13 text, we establish that "walking with Messiah" alone is not enough *by itself* to rightly understand what He was saying. Have you been granted the ability to know the mysteries of heaven? Let's find out!

First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. Platkin | 12/02/25 | Docket #: 24-781 24-781 FIRST CHOICE WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTERS, INC. V. PLATKIN DECISION BELOW: 2024 WL 5088105 CERT. GRANTED 6/16/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: New Jersey's Attorney General served an investigatory subpoena on First Choice Women's Resource Centers, Inc., a faith-based pregnancy center, demanding that it turn over most of its donors' names. First Choice challenged the Subpoena under 42 U.S.C. 1983 in federal court, and the Attorney General filed a subsequent suit to enforce it in state court. The state court granted the Attorney General's motion to enforce the Subpoena but expressly did not decide First Choice's federal constitutional challenges. The Attorney General then moved in state court to sanction First Choice. Meanwhile, the district court held that First Choice's constitutional claims were not ripe in federal court. The Third Circuit affirmed in a divided per curiam decision. Judge Bibas would have held the action ripe as indistinguishable from . Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Banta , 594 U.S. 595, 618-19 (2021). But the majority concluded First Choice's claims were not yet ripe because First Choice could litigate its constitutional claims in state court. In doing so, the majority followed the rule of the Fifth Circuit and split from the Ninth Circuit. It did not address the likely loss of a federal forum once the state court rules on the federal constitutional issues. The question presented is: Where the subject of a state investigatory demand has established a reasonably objective chill of its First Amendment rights, is a federal court in a first-filed action deprived of jurisdiction because those rights must be adjudicated in state court? LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 24-3124

The Mark Thompson Show 12/1/25Patreon subscribers are the backbone of the show! If you'd like to help, here's our Patreon Link:https://www.patreon.com/themarkthompsonshowMaybe you're more into PayPal.  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PVBS3R7KJXV24And you'll find everything on our website: https://www.themarkthompsonshow.comSarah Kendzior - HUGE DEAL! On Kindle   ​​If you've been wanting to read Sarah Kendzior's books, there's a cyber Monday deal today only.     https://substack.com/@sarahkendzior/note/c-182963820

Urias-Orellana v. Bondi, Att'y Gen. | 12/01/25 | Docket #: 24-777 24-777 URIAS-ORELLANA V. BONDI DECISION BELOW: 121 F.4th 327 CERT. GRANTED 6/30/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides that noncitizens on American soil are generally eligible for asylum if they qualify as a "refugee." 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1) (A). A refugee is someone with "a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." Id. § 1101(a)(42). Noncitizens are presumptively eligible for asylum if they have "suffered persecution in the past." 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(1). If ordered removed by an immigration judge (IJ), noncitizens may appeal the removal order-and with it, the denial of asylum-to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). From there, "judicial review" is available in "an appropriate court of appeals." 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(5). The INA mandates judicial deference on "findings of fact" and three other kinds of administrative decisions. Id. § 1252(b)(4). The statute also explicitly provides for judicial review of the BIA's decisions on "questions of law," but does not establish a deferential standard of review for such decisions. Id. § 1252(a)(2)(D), (b)(9). The question presented is: Whether a federal court of appeals must defer to the BIA's judgment that a given set of undisputed facts does not demonstrate mistreatment severe enough to constitute "persecution" under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42). LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 24-1042

Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment | 12/01/25 | Docket #: 24-171 24-171 COX COMMUNICATIONS, INC. V. SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT DECISION BELOW: 93 F.4th 222 CERT. GRANTED 6/30/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: 1. This Court has held that a business commits contributory copyright infringement when it "distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps to foster infringement." Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster , Ltd ., 545 U.S. 913, 919 (2005). The courts of appeals have split three ways over the scope of that ruling, developing differing standards for when it is appropriate to hold an online service provider secondarily liable for copyright infringement committed by users. Did the Fourth Circuit err in holding that a service provider can be held liable for "materially contributing" to copyright infringement merely because it knew that people were using certain accounts to infringe and did not terminate access, without proof that the service provider affirmatively fostered infringement or otherwise intended to promote it? 2. Generally, a defendant cannot be held liable as a willful violator of the law-and subject to increased penalties-without proof that it knew or recklessly disregarded a high risk that its own conduct was illegal. In conflict with the Eighth Circuit, the Fourth Circuit upheld an instruction allowing the jury to find willfulness if Cox knew its subscribers ' conduct was illegal-without proof Cox knew its own conduct in not terminating them was illegal. Did the Fourth Circuit err in holding that mere knowledge of another's direct infringement suffices to find willfulness under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)? LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 21-1168

This episode we look at many of the natural events and talk about those observing and writing things down, and why they may have wanted to do so. For more, check out our podcast blogpage:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-139   Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 139: Observing the "Natural" World. Members of the Onmyou-ryou, dressed in the official robes of their office, sat around in their observation tower, measuring the location of the stars.  They kept their light to a minimum, just enough so that they could write down their observations, but not so much that it would destroy their vision.  As they looked up, suddenly they saw a strange movement: a streak through the sky.  They waited, and observed, and then there was another, and another after that.  It was as if the stars themselves were falling from the heavens.  They watched as it seemed that the constellations themselves were melting and falling apart.  Quickly they scribbled down notes.  Tomorrow, with the light of day, they would consult various sources to see just what it could mean.  For now, their role was simply to observe and record.   Welcome back, everyone.  It is the height of holiday season in the US as I record this, and in our narrative we are in the middle of the reign of Ohoama, aka Temmu Tennou, who came to power in 672 and who has been shoring up the Ritsuryo state instigated by his late brother, Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou.  We have talked in recent episodes about how Ohoama put a lot of the state under the control of members of the royal family, or at least those with claims to royal blood, and how he had also begun work on the Chronicles—the very works that we have been using to try and understand the history of this and earlier periods.   It seems clear that Ohoama and his cohorts were doing their best to solidify their control and, in the process, create what they felt was a modern state, leveraging the continental model, but not without their own local flavor.  After all, they were also investing in the kami based rituals of state and specifically in Ise shrine, which they claimed as an ancestral shrine for their lineage. This episode, let's dig into another thing that was getting reported around this time.  And that is… science!  Or at least observations of the world and indications of how people were interacting with it. Before going into the subject, I want to acknowledge that "science", or "Kagaku" in modern Japanese, may not look like what we think of as "science" today.  The word "Kagaku" itself appears to come about in the late Edo period, and became associated with the western idea of "Science" in the Meiji period.  Today we think of it as observations, yes, but also testing via the scientific method. I think it might be more appropriate to categorize a lot of earlier science under a term like "learning" or "study", and it seems to have encompassed a wide range of topics of study, some of which we would include as "science" and some which we might refer to more as "arts".  There is also a very fine line with religion and philosophy as well. From a modern perspective, I think one could fairly argue that "science"—particularly the so-called "hard" sciences—refers to something that can be empirically tested via the scientific method.  So you can see something, form a hypothesis, create a test, and then that test should produce the same results no matter who conducts it, assuming you account for the variables. And please don't @ me about this… I know I am simplifying things.  This isn't a podcast about science unless we are talking about the social sciences of history and archaeology. In contrast to our modern concept of science, much of what we see in the Asuka era is built around using our reasoning to arrive at the truth of something.  In cases where we are dealing with clearly physical phenomena that have observable causes and effects, this can lead to remarkably reliable results.  One example of this is calendrical science—it isn't that hard to observe the passing of days and seasons.  Even the rotation of the earth and the movements of stars and even something with as large a period as comets could be observed and tracked, especially if you had centuries of data to comb through.  In fact, they often would predict things that it turns out they couldn't, themselves, see.  They could predict that an eclipse would occur, for example, even when that eclipse was only visible somewhere else.  And they didn't have to calculate gravitational pull, mass, or distances between different heavenly bodies for that to occur. Similarly, in the agricultural sphere: you had so many people who observed the seasons and would figure out new ways of doing things.  It doesn't take an understanding of chlorophyl to know that plants generally do better when exposed to sunlight. I believe the leap happens when you get to things that go beyond purely observable means.  Sickness, for example—how do you explain viruses or germs without equipment like microscopes to see what our eyes alone cannot?  And if such "invisible" things could cause so much damage, then why could there not be other "invisible" elements, such as kami and boddhisatvas?  And as humans we are driven to make connections.  It is one of the things that has driven our technological innovation and rise, but it is also something that can easily go awry.  Like when you are sitting in a dark house, alone, and you hear a noise.  Rationally, you might know that houses settle and creak, but that doesn't necessarily stop your brain from connecting it with thoughts that someone must be in the house making that noise. Or even how we make judgments based on nothing more than how someone talks or what they look like, because our brains have made connections with those things, for good or ill. A large part of the rationalization that was accomplished in Asian thought had to do with concepts of Yin and Yang, the negative and the positive, the dark and the light.  This was thought of as a kind of energy—qi or ki—that was embedded in things.  We discussed this somewhat back in episode 127, because yin yang theory, along with the five element theory, known as Wuxing or Gogyou in Japanese, became embedded in the idea of the calendar.  Why was summer hot, except that it was connected with an excess of fire energy?  And the cold, dark days of winter would be associated with an excess of water, naturally. I should note that while this is one of the more comprehensive philosophical systems in use, it was not the only means by which various phenomena and effects were rationalized.  After all, it had to be imposed on a framework of how the world otherwise worked, and descriptions of the world came from a variety of places.  There was, for example, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, or Sanhaijing, which detailed the world as envisioned in the period before the Qin dynasty, although there were occasional updates.  The Sanhaijing  described regular plants and animals in the same breath as gods and monsters.  There were also various buddhist sutras, which brought their own cosmological view of the universe that had to be squared with other visions, including those passed down locally describing the archipelago as the "Reed Plain" and giving particular importance to eight of the islands—though which eight depends on which variant of the creation myth you are referencing. To categorize the study of the natural—and what we would consider the supernatural—world around them, the Ritsuryou set up specific bureaus.  One of these was the Onmyou-ryou, the Bureau of Yin-yang, also known as the Onyo no Tsukasa.  This Bureau oversaw divination, astronomy, time, and calendars.  At its head was the Onmyou-no-kami.  Below them were the various scholars studying the core subjects, as well as technical practitioners to carry out the rites and divination. On the continent, priority was generally given to astronomical and calendrical studies, and many of the more magical practices or rituals would fade away, likely because there were local Taoist institutions who could take up much of that work.  In Japan, however, it seems that the calendrical studies tended to ossify, instead, while onmyoji came to fill a role not just for the state but also among the population for divination and other such practices.  Even into the Edo period one could find private onmyoji, and the Bureau itself lasted until the very beginning of the Meiji period. Another important institution of the Ritsuryo government for learning was the Daigakuryou, the Bureau of Great Learning.  Students of Japanese may recognize the term "Daigaku" referring, today, to universities. The original concept for the Daigaku-ryou, or Daigaku no Tsukasa, was focused on the study of those things that were considered perhaps a bit more practical and necessary to anyone who might want a political career.  Since this was founded on concepts of Confucian government, it is little wonder that it was originally designed to focus on Confucian studies, among other things.  This fits into the idea of a supposed meritocracy, where one's education was part of the examination.  You may recall from Episode 115 we talked about the National University in Chang'an, which is likely something that the Daigaku Ryou could only ever dream of becoming. Early arts taught at the Daigaku Ryou included the Confucian classics, mathematics, writing, and Chinese pronunciation.  These were all things that you would need to know to become a part of the bureaucracy The idea of a school may have been born along with the early institution of the government, with mention as early as 671, in the last year of Naka no Oe's reign, but we don't have it clearly established in the code until later.  Full operations may have been somewhat delayed due to the tumultuous events of Ohoama's accession to power in 672, but we do see it explicitly mentioned in the year 675.  On the first day of the year we are told that Students from the Daigaku Ryou, along with students from the Onmyou-Ryou and from the Gaiyaku Ryou, the Bureau of External Medicine; along with the Woman of S'ravasti, the Woman of Tara, Prince Syeonkwang of Baekje, and Silla labourers offered presents of drugs and various rarities. We talked about the first two, the Daigaku-ryou and the Onmyou-ryou, but the Gaiyaku Ryou doesn't seem to have a lot of information out there beyond this mention.  Later there would a "Ten'yaku Ryou", or Bureau of Medicine, established in the code.  Since we don't have any extant codes from this period beyond what was written down in the Nihon Shoki, we don't know for certain what the Gaiyaku-ryou was , and it is possible that the Gaiyaku-Ryou was a precursor to the Ten'yaku Ryou.  "GAI" means "outside" or "external", leading me to wonder if this referred to external medicine in contrast to internal medicine, or if it meant medicine or drugs from outside teh archipeloago. I would point out that these students are found with the Woman of S'ravasti, or Shae; the Woman of Tara; a Baekje prince and Silla labourers.  In other words, they were all people from outside of the archipelago.  This is not entirely surprising as it was from outside that much of the learning was coming into the country. "Yaku" or "Kusuri", which can be translated as either "Drugs" or "medicine", could refer to a number of things.  How effective they were is somewhat questionable. Almost certainly some of them had confirmed medicinal efficacy, but others may have been thought to have been effective due to things like their connection to the five elements, or wuxing, theory. For example, something red might be assumed to have a warming effect because of the presumed presence of the fire element.  And the power of the placebo effect no doubt made them seem at least partially effective.  Consider, for example, how many people will swear by certain remedies for the common cold when all it really does is distract you, or perhaps make you a bit more comfortable, until the symptoms pass on their own. A more certain science was probably that of Astronomy, which we've mentioned a few times.  The passage of the stars through the sky was something that could be easily observed.  There is a theory that some of the first lines in the Yijing, or book of changes, may actually be a description of the changing of seasons as different aspects of a given constellation rise over the horizon, and the placement of certain stars would help in the adjustment of the lunar calendar, since the moon's orbit does not match up exactly with the solar year, and year the solar year was quite important to things like agriculture and even sailing to the mainland. This all makes 675 a seemingly banner year for science, as four days after the presentation of medicine to the throne, the government erected a platform by which to observe the stars.  This wouldn't need to be much—it could have been an earthen mound, or just a tower, from which one could get above the ground, presumably see over any buildings, to the horizon.  Granted, Asuka might not be the best place for such observations, with the nearby mountains meaning that the true horizon is often obstructed.  Nonetheless, it may have been enough to make calculations. Astronomy platforms, or Tenmondai, would continue to be used up until at least the Meiji period.  Without a telescope, observations were somewhat limited—though they also didn't have the same level of light pollution that we have today.  Remember, many woke just before dawn and went to sleep not too long after the sun went down, which only makes sense when you are living in a place where creating light, while doable, also ran the risk of burning your entire house to the ground. It is worth noting that the sky for the ancient Japanese was likely quite different than what most of us see when we look up, unless you are fortunate enough to live in a place with very little light pollution.  For many of those living today in the cities and suburban landscape, go outside at night and you might see the moon and some of the brightest stars, but for most of the ancient Japanese, they would look up and see the heavenly river, the Amakawa, or Milky Way.  They would have looked up at a sky glittering with myriad dots of light, as well as planets and more.  It was both familiar and strange—something one saw regularly and yet something that was also extremely inaccessible. Astronomical observations would have been important for several reasons, as I've mentioned.  They would have been used to keep the calendar in check, but they would also have likely been used to help calibrate the water clock, which helped to tell time.  Of course, going back to the five elements and yin yang theory, it is also believed that the energy, the qi or ki, changed with the seasons and the movements of the stars and planets—planets were not known as such, of course, but their seemingly erratic movements compared to bright lights in the sky meant they were noticed and assigned values within the elemental system. One of the things that came with the changing seasons, the heavenly movements, and the flow of ki was a concept of "kata-imi", literally directional taboos.  There were times when certain directions might be considered favorable or unfavorable for various actions.  This could be something as simple as traveling in a given direction.  In the centuries to come this would spawn an entire practice of kata-tagae, or changing direction.  Is the north blocked, but you need to travel there, anyway?  Well just go northwest to say hello to a friend or visit your local sake brewery, and then travel due east.  Ta-da!  You avoided going directly north!  There were also mantra-like incantations that one might say if they had to travel in an inauspicious direction to counteract the concept of bad influences. This also influenced various other things, and even today you will often see dates where a year and month might be followed by simply the character for "auspicious day" rather than an actual day of the month. So observing the heavens was important, and it was also important that they tostudy the works of those on the continent, whose records could help predict various astronomical phenomena.  Except that there was one tiny problem:  I don't know if you've noticed, but Japan and China are in two different locations.  Not all astronomical phenomena can be observed from all points of the globe.  The Northern Lights, for example, are rarely seen in more southerly latitudes, and while eclipses are not too rare, a total eclipse only impacts certain areas of the earth, along relatively narrow paths. I mention this because it isn't always clear if the records we get in the Nihon Shoki are about phenomena they directly observed or if they are taking reports from elsewhere and incorporating them into the narrative.  One such event is the comet of 676. The entry in the Nihon Shoki tells us that in the 7th lunar month of the 5th year of Temmu Tennou, aka 676 CE, a star appeared in the east that was 7 or 8 shaku in length.  It disappeared two months later. We've mentioned some of this before, but the sky was divided up into "shaku", or "feet", though how exactly it was measured I'm not entirely sure.  It appears to be that one foot was roughly 1.5 degrees of the sky, give or take about a quarter of a degree, with 180 degrees from horizon to horizon.  So it would have been about 10 to 12 degrees in the sky.  Another way to picture it is if you hold out your arm towards the object, and spread your index and little finger, it would probably fit between those two points.  This comet hung around for some time, and a great part about a comet like this is that it was viewable from multiple locations.  After all, as the earth turned, different areas were exposed to the comet as it passed through our part of the solar system.  Thus we have records of it from not just the Nihon Shoki:  We also find it in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, where it was thought to have foretold the end of Bishop Wilfred's control of Northumbria.  We also see it in Tang, Silla, and Syrian sources. These sources aren't always in complete agreement.  For one thing, they noted when they first saw it, which might have been impacted by local conditions.  And then conversion between lunar and solar calendars can also sometimes get in the way.  Roughtly speaking, we have the Nihon Shoki providing dates of somewhere from about August or September of 676, on the Western calendar, to October or November. Tang sources put it from 4 September to 1 November.  Silla Chronicles claim that it first appeared in the 7th lunar month, so between August and September.  A Syrian Chronicle notes a comet from about 28 August to 26 October in the following year, 677, but this is thought to have been a mistake.  European sources generally seem to claim it was seen in August and lasted for three months.  All of these sightings put it at roughly the same time. Working with that and with known comets, we think we actually know which comet this is:  The Comet de Cheseaux also known as the Comet Klinkenberg-Cheseaux.  And I should mention this is all thanks to a research paper by M. Meyer and G. W. Kronk.  In that paper they propose that this is the comet with the designation of C/1743 X1, or the common names I just mentioned.  If so, based on its trajectory, this comet would have been visible in 336, 676, 1032, 1402, 1744, and is next predicted to show up in 2097.  And no, those aren't all exactly the same amount of time.  It is roughly every 350 years or so, but with the movements of the solar system, the planets, and various gravitational forces that likely slow or speed up its movement, it doesn't show up on exactly regular intervals.  Still, it is pretty incredible to think that we have a record of a comet that was seen the world over at this time, by people looking up from some very different places. Comets were something interesting for early astronomers.  They may have originally been seen as particularly ominous—after all, in the early eras, they were hardly predictable, and it would take years to get enough data to see that they were actually a somewhat regular occurrence.  In fact, it is likely that early astronomers were able to figure out eclipse schedules before comets.  Still, they seem to have come to the realization that comets were in fact another type of natural and reoccurring phenomenon.  That isn't to say that they didn't have any oracular meaning, but it did mean they were less of an obvious disturbance of the heavenly order. We have another comet mentioned in the 10th lunar month of 681, but that one seems to have had less attention focused on it, and we don't have the same details.  Then in the 8th lunar month of 682 we have an entry about a Great Star passing from East to West—which was probably a shooting star, rather than a comet.  Comets, for all that they appear to be streaking across the sky thanks to their long tails, are often relatively stable from an earthbound perspective, taking months to appear and then disappear again. Then, on the 23rd day of the 7th month of 684 we get another comet in the northwest.  This one was more than 10 shaku in length—about 15 degrees, total, give or take.  Given the date, we can be fairly confident about this one, as well: it was the famous Halley's comet.  Halley's comet is fascinating for several reasons.  For one, it has a relatively short period of about 72 to 80 years, though mostly closer to 75 to 77 years in between sightings.  The last time it visited the earth was in 1986, and it is expected back in 2061.  Halley's comet has been recorded since the 3rd century BCE, and, likely because of its short period, it was the first periodic comet to be recognized as such.  There are other periodic comets with short periods, but many of them are not visible with the naked eye.  Halley's comet is perhaps the most studied comet, given its regular and relatively short periodicity.  It is also connected to the famous writer, humorist, and essayist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain.  He was born only a few days after the comet reached perihelion in 1835 and died a day after it reached the same point again in 1910, and while he may not have visited Japan in his lifetime, it was a period of great change both in his home country of America and in Japan.  America, of course, would undergo a Civil War over the issue of slavery in the early 1860s, and shortly after that Japan would have its own civil war in the form of the Meiji Revolution.  And while he never visited—and translation could only do so much to capture the art of his prose—Mark Twain's works were apparently quite influential in Japan in the early 20th century. Of course, comets were just one of the celestial phenomena to be observed.  The astronomers were interested in just about anything happening in the sky.  We have accounts of both solar and lunar eclipses, and not necessarily full eclipses either.  We even have notice of the movement of some planets, such as in 681, when they noted that the planet mars "entered" the moon. Obviously the astronomers weren't recording every raincloud that came through—at least not in the main chronicles—but they did capture a fair number of events.  They did record particularly memorable storms.  For instances, in the 8th lunar month of 675 there was a storm that is said to have caused sand to fly and which then damaged houses.  This sounds like a wind storm without rain—after all, if there was rain, you would expect that the sand would have been wet and tamped down.  It is possible to have hurricane level winds without the rain.  While typhoons typically bring rain, especially as they usually build up their strength at sea, it is possible to have the winds alone, as I've experienced, myself, in Tokyo.  This most likely happens in an isolated area—there is water and rain somewhere, but the typhoon can be large, so parts of it may only get the wind and little or no rain.  I wonder if something like that happened in this instance.  It is also possible that this record refers to actual sand being brought across from the continent.  In some instances, sand can be lifted up from as far away as Mongolia and carried all the way to Japan, though it is pretty rare. And it wasn't just wind and sand.  We get accounts of hail coming down as large as peaches, torrential rainstorms, and even ash, likely from a volcanic eruption that was otherwise unrecorded.  There are also accounts of snow, though typically recorded in times where you wouldn't expect to see it, such as the third lunar month, which would mean snow in late April or early May. Mostly these storms are mentioned in terms of how they affected the immediate fortunes of the living, but sometimes storms did even more damage.  In 682, for example, a hoar-frost was reported in both Shinano and Kibi in the 7th lunar month.  On its own, this probably wouldn't have been worth mentioning, but the chroniclers add that because of storms the "five grains had not formed".  So storms had diminished the crops and the hoar-frost was apparently the killing blow.  The harvest that year would be lean, and it would not be a happy time for many that winter. And then, just as important as what was happening was what was not.  There are several mentions of droughts, particularly towards the end of Spring, early Summer.  This is traditionally a drier period, and if it is too dry it could harm the harvest.  And so the government was expected to find a way to bring the rain—a tall order, the general resolution to which seems to be prayers and rituals designed to bring rain.  In a place like Japan, I suspect that it was usually just a matter of time before the prayers were "successful", thus reinforcing their presumed efficacy. Some of the things that they recorded were a bit more mysterious.  For example, in the second lunar month of 680 we are told that a sound like drums was heard from the East.  There are many things this could theoretically be, from rumbles of thunder to some other phenomenon, though the following year we have a note about thunder in the West, so theoretically they knew the difference between thunder and drums.  Later that same year, 680, we are told that there was a "brightness" in the East from the hour of the dog to the hour of the rat—about 8pm to midnight.  Was this some kind of aurora?  But wouldn't that have been in the north, rather than the east?    Could it have been some kind of lightning?  But that is a long time for a lightning storm to hang around.  And there are other strange things, some of which seem impossible and we have to doubt.  For example, in 684 they said that, at dusk, the seven stars of the Big Dipper drifted together to the northeast and sank.  Unless they are just recording the natural setting of the stars of the big dipper.  Certainly, over time the constellation appears to rotate around the north star, and it dips down to or below the horizon in the autumn months.  So were they just talking about the natural, yearly setting of the stars, or something else? There may be some clues in that the 11th lunar month, when that was recorded, we see several other heavenly phenomena recorded.  Two days after the Big Dipper set, at sunset, a star fell in the eastern quarter of the sky that we are told was as large as a jar.  Later, the constellations were wholly disordered and stars fell like rain.  That same month, a star shot up in the zenith and proceeded along with the Pleiades until the end of the month.  While this sounds like shooting stars and a possible meteor shower, a later commenter suggested that this was all a heavenly omen for the state of the court, showing the "disordered" state of the nobility at this time.  Of course, this was also a year and change before the sovereign's eventual passing, so there is also the possibility that the Chroniclers were looking at events later and ascribing meaning and importance after the fact. In another account of something seemingly wonderous: in 682 we are told that something shaped like a Buddhist flag, colored like flame, was seen by all of the provinces and then sank into the Japan sea north of Koshi.  A white mist is also said to have risen up from the Eastern mountains. There are various things that could be going on here.  It strikes me that the white mist could be a cloud, but could also be something volcanic.  And the flame colored prayer flag makes me think about how a high cloud can catch the light of the rising or setting sun.  That could look like a flag, and can seem extremely odd depending on the other conditions in the sky. Or maybe it was aliens. Okay, it is unlikely that it was aliens, but I think that these do give an idea of the kinds of records that were being made about the observed phenomena.  Obviously the Nihon Shoki is recording those things that were considered particularly significant for whatever reason.  This could just be because it was something odd and unexplained, or perhaps it was more well known but rare.  It may have even had religious connotations based on some aspect, like evoking the image of Buddhist flags.  And it is possible that it was thought to have had significant impact on events—perhaps even an impact that isn't clear to us today, many centuries removed from the events. Some things were clear, however.  Lightning strikes are often mentioned specifically when they strike something of note.  In 678, we are told that a pillar of the Western Hall of the New Palace was struck by lightning, though apparently the building itself survived.  Then, in 686, Lighting appeared in the southern sky with a large roar of thunder.  A fire broke out and caught the tax cloth storehouse of the Ministry of Popular affairs, which immediately exploded in flames.  After all, a thatched roofed, wooden building filled with kindling in the form of cloth—and likely a  fair amount of paper and writing supplies to keep track of it all—sounds like a bonfire waiting to happen.  There were reports that the fire had actually started in Prince Osakabe's palace and then spread to the Ministry of Popular Affairs from there. It is also worth noting that recording of such events was still somewhat new to the archipelago as a whole. They were learning from the continent, but also defining their own traditions. Observations of natural phenomena weren't just relegated to celestial occurrences or weather.  After all, there was something else that one could observe in the sky:  birds.  Now this wasn't your average bird-watching—though I'm not saying that there weren't casual birders in ancient Japan, and if we ever find someone's birding diary from that era I think that would be so cool.  But there were some things that were significant enough to be mentioned. For example, in 678 we get a report of "atori", or bramblings.  Bramblings are small songbirds which are found across Eurasia.  Notably they are migratory, and are known to migrate in huge flocks especially in the winter time, and sure enough on the 27th day of the 12th month we are told that the bramblings flew from the southwest to the northeast, covering the entire sky.  This makes me think about some of the other mass migrations that used to occur that have largely been reduced significantly due to habitat loss, disruption to traditional migratory routes, and other population pressures on various bird species.  Still, having so many birds that it blocked out the sky certainly seems a significant event to report on.  We later see a similar account in 680, with the flock moving from southeast to northwest.  Given the location of Asuka it sounds like they were flocking in the mountains and heading out over the Nara Basin, perhaps seeking food in another mountainous area. In 682, the birders were at it again.  This time, around midday on the 11th day of the 9th lunar month, several hundreds of cranes appeared around the Palace and soared up into the sky.  They were there for about two hours before they dispersed.  Once again, cranes are migratory and known to flock.  Cranes are also known as a symbol of long life and joy—and I can understand it.  Have you ever seen a flock of cranes?  They are not small birds, and they can be really an incredible sight.  Flocks of cranes themselves were probably not that rare, and it was no doubt more about so many gathering around the palace which made it particularly special. It wasn't just birds in the sky that were considered important symbols, though.  Birds often are noted as auspicious omens.  Usually strange birds, plants, or other such things are found in various provinces and presented to the throne.    So in 675, Yamato presented auspicious "barn-door fowl", likely meaning a fancy chicken.  Meanwhile, the Eastern provinces presented a white falcon and the province of Afumi presented a white kite.  Chickens are associated with the sun and thus with the sun goddess, Amaterasu, and albino versions of animals were always considered auspicious, often being mentioned in Buddhist sources.  Later, in 680, we see a small songbird, a "Shitodo", also described as white, and probably albino, sent to the court from nearby Settsu. Then, in 681 there is mention of a red sparrow.  Red coloration is not quite the same as albinism, though it is something that does occur at times, when the brownish coloration comes out more red than brown, and I suspect this is what we are talking about.  This is most likely just a recessed gene or genetic mutation, similar to causes for albinism, but just in a different place in the DNA.  As for why it was important:  I'd first and foremost note that anything out of the ordinary (and even some ordinary things) could be considered a sign.   Red was also seen as an auspicious color, so that may have had something to do with it as well.  And then there is the concept of Suzaku, the red bird of the south.  Suzaku is usually depicted as an exotic bird species of some kind, like how we might depict a phoenix.  But it was also just a "red bird", so there is that, and perhaps that was enough.  Not that this red sparrow was "Suzaku", but evoked the idea of the southern guardian animal.  A year prior, in 680, a red bird—we aren't told what kind—had perched on a southern gate, which even more clearly screams of the Suzaku aesthetic. It is probably worth noting here that in 686, towards the end of the reign, not that anyone knew it at the time, Ohoama decided to institute a new nengo, or regnal period.  It was called Shuuchou—red or vermillion bird—and it likely referred to Suzaku.  This nengo was cut short, however, with Ohoama's death that same year.  Nengo were often chosen with auspicious names as a kind of hope for the nation, so clearly "red bird" was considered a good thing. A month after the red sparrow, Ise sent a white owl, and then a month after that, the province of Suwou sent a red turtle, which they let loose in the pond at the Shima palace.  Again, these were probably just examples of animals seen as auspicious, though they would have likely been recorded by the Onmyou-ryou, who would have likely combed through various sources and precedents to determine what kind of meaning might be attached to them. Color wasn't the only thing that was important.  In 682, the Viceroy of Tsukushi reported that they had found a sparrow with three legs.  There are numerous reasons why this could be, but there is particular significance in Japan and Asia more generally.  A three legged bird is often associated with the sun Andusually depicted as a black outline of a three legged bird inside of a red sun.  In Japan this was often conflated with the Yata-garasu, the Great Crow, which is said to have led the first mythical sovereign, Iware Biko, to victory in his conquest of Yamato.  Thus we often see a three legged crow depicted in the sun, which was an object of particular veneration for the Wa people from centuries before.  And I suspect that the little three-legged sparrow from Tsukushi  I suspect that this had particular significance because of that image. Animals were not the only auspicious things presented to the throne.  In 678, Oshinomi no Miyatsuko no Yoshimaro presented the sovereign with five auspicious stalks of rice.  Each stalk, itself, had other branches.  Rice, of course, was extremely important in Japan, both from a ritual and economic sense, so presenting rice seems appropriate.  Five stalks recalls things like the five elemental theory—and in general five was consider a good number.  Three and five are both good, prime numbers, while four, pronounced "Shi", sounds like death and is considered inauspicious.  Three, or "San" is sometimes associated with life, and five is associated with the five elements, but also just the fact that it is half of ten, and we have five fingers on one hand and in so many other ways, five is regarded as a good number in much of Asia. That the stalks had multiple branches likely referred to them bearing more than the usual amount of rice on them, which seems particularly hopeful.  Certainly the court thought so.  In light of the auspicious gift, all sentences of penal servitude and lower were remitted.  In 680, Officials of the Department of Law gave tribute of auspicious stalks of grain, themselves.  I'm not sure, in this case, that it was all that they hoped, however, as that began three days straight of rain and flooding. A year earlier, in 679, we are told that the district of Ito, in Kii, immediately south of Yamato, sent as tribute the "herb of long life".  We are told that it "resembled" a mushroom—probably meaning it was a mushroom, or maybe something formed into a mushroom shape.  But the stem was about a foot long and the crown was two spans, about 6 feet in diameter.  This is pretty incredible, and I have to wonder if there is a bit of exaggeration going on here. Another tribute was a horn found on Mt. Katsuraki.  It branched into two at the base, was united at the end, and had some flesh and hair still attached, about an inch in length.  They claimed it must be horn or a Lin, or Kirin, sometimes referred to as an Asian unicorn—a mythical creature considered to be quite auspicious and benevolent.  This was on the 26th day in the 2nd lunar month of the year 680, probably around March or April.  I highly suspect that what they found was an oddly shaped bit of antler from  a buck whose antlers had begun to come in and which might have been taken out by wolves or bears or something else altogether.  The fact that the ends were said to be fused together could just be referring to some kind of malformation of the antlers.  The fur and flesh could mean that the antlers were still growing—antlers would probably just be coming in around early spring time.  Still, there is no telling how long it was there, so it could have been from the previous year as well.  Attributing it to a kirin seems a bit of a stretch, but it was clearly something unusual. Animals and plants were recorded in tribute, but also when something odd happened.  Fruiting out of season was one such occurrence, which we've seen elsewhere in the chronicles as well.  There was even a record when the famous Tsuki tree outside of Asukadera had a branch fall down.  Presumably it was a large and noticeable branch, and by now this appears to have been a tree with a bit of age to it that had seen a lot, so it makes sense it got a mention. Finally, we go from the heavens to the earth.    Perhaps the most numerous observations in the Chronicles were the earthquakes.  We've noted in the past that Japan is extremely active, volcanically speaking, so it makes sense that there are multiple accounts of earthquakes each year, especially if they were compiling reports from around the country.  Most of these are little more than just a note that there was an earthquake, but a few stand out. The first is the 12th lunar month of 678.  We are told that there was a large earthquake in Tsukushi—modern Kyushu. The ground split open to the width of about 20 feet for more than 30,000 feet.  Many of the commoners' houses in the area were torn down.  In one place there was a house atop a hill, and though the hill crumbled down the house somehow remained intact.  The inhabitants had apparently been home and must have been oblivious, as they didn't realize anything had happened until they woke up the next morning. Again, probably a bit of hyperbole in here, but if we think back to things like the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, where large areas of land shifted noticeably along the fault lines, it is likely that this was a similar or even more catastrophic event.  And here I'll give a quick plug for Kumamoto, which is still working to rebuild from the earthquake, and if you ever get a chance, I recommend a visit to the Kumamoto Earthquake Memorial Museum or Kioku, where you can see for yourself just how powerful mother nature can be. Another powerful earthquake was mentioned in the 10th lunar month of 684.  If the earthquake in Tsukushi had hit mostly agricultural areas, based on the description, this seems to have hit more populated regions.  We are told that it started in the dark of night, the hour of the boar, so about 10pm, give or take an hour.  The shaking was so bad that throughout the country men and women cried out and were disoriented—they could not tell east from west, a condition no doubt further hindered by the dark night sky.  There were mountain slides and rivers changed course, breaking their banks and flooding nearby areas.  Official buildings of the provinces and districts, the barns and houses of the common people, and the temples, pagodas, and shrines were all destroyed in huge numbers.  Many people and domestic animals were killed or injured.  The hot springs of Iyo were dried up and ceased to flow.  In the province of Tosa, more than 500,000 shiro of cultivated land sank below sea level.  Old men said that they had never seen such an earthquake.  On that night there was a rumbling noise like that of drums heard in the east—possibly similar to what we had mentioned earlier.  Some say that the island of Idzu, aka Vries Island, the volcanic island at the entrance of Edo Bay, increased on the north side by more than 3,000 feet and that a new island had been formed.  The noise of the drums was attributed to the gods creating that island. So here we have a catastrophic quake that impacted from Iyo, on the western end of Shikoku, all the way to the head of Edo Bay, modern Tokyo.  This appears to be what seismologists have labelled a "Nankai Trough Megathrust Earthquake".  Similar quakes have occurred and are predicted to occur in the future., along a region of Japan from the east coast of Kyushu, through the Seto Inland Sea, including Shikoku, through the Kii peninsula and all the way to Mt. Fuji.  The Nankai Trough, or Southern Sea Trough, is the area where the continental shelf drops down, and where the Philippine tectonic plate slips underneath the Eurasian—or more specifically the Amuric—plate.  As these plates move it can cause multiple events all along the trough at the same time.  Since being regularly recorded, these quakes have been noted every 100 to 150 years, with the last one being the Showa Nankai quakes of 1944 and 1946. For all of the destruction that it brought, however, apparently it didn't stop the court.  Two days after this devastating quake we are told that Presents were made to the Princes and Ministers.  Either they weren't so affected in the capital, or perhaps the date given for one of the two records is not quite reliable.  Personally, I find it hard to believe that there would be presents given out two days later unless they were some form of financial aid.  But what do I know?  It is possible that the court itself was not as affected as other areas, and they may not have fully even grasped the epic scale of the destruction that would later be described in the Chronicles, given the length of time it took to communicate messages across the country. Which brings us back to the "science" of the time, or at least the observation, hoping to learn from precedence or piece out what messages the world might have for the sovereign and those who could read the signs.  While many of the court's and Chronicler's conclusions may give us pause, today, we should nonetheless be thankful that they at least decided to keep notes and jot down their observations.  That record keeping means that we don't have to only rely on modern records to see patterns that could take centuries to reveal themselves.  Sure, at this time, those records were  still a bit spotty, but it was the start of something that would be remarkably important, and even though these Chronicles may have been focused on propaganda, the fact that they include so many other references are an incalculable boon to us, today, if we can just see to make the connections.  And with that, I think I've rambled enough for this episode.  We still have a couple more to fully cover this period. Until then, if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  

* This originally aired as a video episode on YouTube HERE. As the crowds and disciples gathered to listen to Messiah, His taught ones asked Him a seemingly simple question. Yet His answer was a very deep one. Whether we like it or not, biblically, there are those who have been granted the ability to know the mysteries of heaven and there are those who have not. Which will we be? Let's find out!

How might some of us respond to the question James poses in 5:13? Am I suffering? I will complain. I will vent to my friend. I will ignore it. I will go buy stuff on Amazon. I will incessantly clean. I will watch sports and yell at the Bills. Granted, not all of these are terrible, but none of them deal directly with God. This is problematic because we are spiritual people that have bodies, not bodies that have spirits. In other words, our identity is primarily spiritual. With this perspective, we find James' message for the close of his epistle - that every circumstance demands a spiritual response; namely, prayer. How we initially respond to a situation reveals the help that we trust in the most. This becomes especially evident when we fall sick. Do we go to God in prayer? Do we really trust his shepherding care for us? Do we believe that if we can only apprehend Christ in prayer, then we will truly be whole? What a friend we have in Jesus! All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carryEverything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carryEverything to God in prayer. Koinonia FellowshipSundays at 8:30a and 10:30a500 Main St. East Rochester, NY 14445koinoniafellowship.com

As the holiday season kicks into full swing , interestingly, it is now apparently the auction season. As, in the coming weeks, a large collection of offerings from Jim Henson Studios are on the block at Julian's. And both the Prop Store and Heritage Auctions have large entertainment memorabilia auctions, kicking off within days of each other. So if you're looking for that last-minute gift, particularly for one of the show hosts, this is your chance to pick up a Blade Runner blaster, Rocketeer helmet or Boba Fett's Gun. Granted, they won't arrive in time to be under the tree, but Barry, Dave and Tod will understand. There's also the usual Random Topics, and a What's on the Workbench update. Thanks for listening, and or watching! Links: Fanboy Collectibles - https://www.fanboycollectibles.com From Dave's Workshop - https://www.fromdavesworkshop.com Reach Out: e-mail: podcast@regularjoes.com Voice Message: 413-475-1650 Text Message: 413-422-0004 Leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify

A righteous sister identifies herself as a biker. She might wrench, or maintain, her own bike, and she prefers to ride with other righteous sisters. Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club (Temple UP, 2025) is Dr. Sarah Hoiland's insightful ethnography about an all-women motorcycle club (MC). She recounts stories of women bikers for whom riding in an MC is “an act of rebellion” and “liberating” even as it constrains—a reactionary populist version of the American Dream dipped in “girl power.” Granted unprecedented access to the MC's initiation rituals, annual ceremonies, and the extensive socialization process, Dr. Hoiland investigates this fascinating subculture, why women choose to join, and why, in some cases, they exit or become exiled. Righteous Sisterhood also reveals complex and contradictory gender and political dynamics within the club and within the larger subculture. The MC provides a unique, liberatory, womanist space within the larger male-dominated MC social world, but these women remain outsiders, with political voices that are lost in the misogyny of alt-right spaces. As Dr. Hoiland emphasizes, the quest for righteous sisterhood is about finding individual excellence and camaraderie while seeking recognition and immortality within the MC. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A righteous sister identifies herself as a biker. She might wrench, or maintain, her own bike, and she prefers to ride with other righteous sisters. Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club (Temple UP, 2025) is Dr. Sarah Hoiland's insightful ethnography about an all-women motorcycle club (MC). She recounts stories of women bikers for whom riding in an MC is “an act of rebellion” and “liberating” even as it constrains—a reactionary populist version of the American Dream dipped in “girl power.” Granted unprecedented access to the MC's initiation rituals, annual ceremonies, and the extensive socialization process, Dr. Hoiland investigates this fascinating subculture, why women choose to join, and why, in some cases, they exit or become exiled. Righteous Sisterhood also reveals complex and contradictory gender and political dynamics within the club and within the larger subculture. The MC provides a unique, liberatory, womanist space within the larger male-dominated MC social world, but these women remain outsiders, with political voices that are lost in the misogyny of alt-right spaces. As Dr. Hoiland emphasizes, the quest for righteous sisterhood is about finding individual excellence and camaraderie while seeking recognition and immortality within the MC. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

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A righteous sister identifies herself as a biker. She might wrench, or maintain, her own bike, and she prefers to ride with other righteous sisters. Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club (Temple UP, 2025) is Dr. Sarah Hoiland's insightful ethnography about an all-women motorcycle club (MC). She recounts stories of women bikers for whom riding in an MC is “an act of rebellion” and “liberating” even as it constrains—a reactionary populist version of the American Dream dipped in “girl power.” Granted unprecedented access to the MC's initiation rituals, annual ceremonies, and the extensive socialization process, Dr. Hoiland investigates this fascinating subculture, why women choose to join, and why, in some cases, they exit or become exiled. Righteous Sisterhood also reveals complex and contradictory gender and political dynamics within the club and within the larger subculture. The MC provides a unique, liberatory, womanist space within the larger male-dominated MC social world, but these women remain outsiders, with political voices that are lost in the misogyny of alt-right spaces. As Dr. Hoiland emphasizes, the quest for righteous sisterhood is about finding individual excellence and camaraderie while seeking recognition and immortality within the MC. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

A righteous sister identifies herself as a biker. She might wrench, or maintain, her own bike, and she prefers to ride with other righteous sisters. Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club (Temple UP, 2025) is Dr. Sarah Hoiland's insightful ethnography about an all-women motorcycle club (MC). She recounts stories of women bikers for whom riding in an MC is “an act of rebellion” and “liberating” even as it constrains—a reactionary populist version of the American Dream dipped in “girl power.” Granted unprecedented access to the MC's initiation rituals, annual ceremonies, and the extensive socialization process, Dr. Hoiland investigates this fascinating subculture, why women choose to join, and why, in some cases, they exit or become exiled. Righteous Sisterhood also reveals complex and contradictory gender and political dynamics within the club and within the larger subculture. The MC provides a unique, liberatory, womanist space within the larger male-dominated MC social world, but these women remain outsiders, with political voices that are lost in the misogyny of alt-right spaces. As Dr. Hoiland emphasizes, the quest for righteous sisterhood is about finding individual excellence and camaraderie while seeking recognition and immortality within the MC. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

A righteous sister identifies herself as a biker. She might wrench, or maintain, her own bike, and she prefers to ride with other righteous sisters. Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club (Temple UP, 2025) is Dr. Sarah Hoiland's insightful ethnography about an all-women motorcycle club (MC). She recounts stories of women bikers for whom riding in an MC is “an act of rebellion” and “liberating” even as it constrains—a reactionary populist version of the American Dream dipped in “girl power.” Granted unprecedented access to the MC's initiation rituals, annual ceremonies, and the extensive socialization process, Dr. Hoiland investigates this fascinating subculture, why women choose to join, and why, in some cases, they exit or become exiled. Righteous Sisterhood also reveals complex and contradictory gender and political dynamics within the club and within the larger subculture. The MC provides a unique, liberatory, womanist space within the larger male-dominated MC social world, but these women remain outsiders, with political voices that are lost in the misogyny of alt-right spaces. As Dr. Hoiland emphasizes, the quest for righteous sisterhood is about finding individual excellence and camaraderie while seeking recognition and immortality within the MC. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A righteous sister identifies herself as a biker. She might wrench, or maintain, her own bike, and she prefers to ride with other righteous sisters. Righteous Sisterhood: The Politics and Power of an All-Women's Motorcycle Club (Temple UP, 2025) is Dr. Sarah Hoiland's insightful ethnography about an all-women motorcycle club (MC). She recounts stories of women bikers for whom riding in an MC is “an act of rebellion” and “liberating” even as it constrains—a reactionary populist version of the American Dream dipped in “girl power.” Granted unprecedented access to the MC's initiation rituals, annual ceremonies, and the extensive socialization process, Dr. Hoiland investigates this fascinating subculture, why women choose to join, and why, in some cases, they exit or become exiled. Righteous Sisterhood also reveals complex and contradictory gender and political dynamics within the club and within the larger subculture. The MC provides a unique, liberatory, womanist space within the larger male-dominated MC social world, but these women remain outsiders, with political voices that are lost in the misogyny of alt-right spaces. As Dr. Hoiland emphasizes, the quest for righteous sisterhood is about finding individual excellence and camaraderie while seeking recognition and immortality within the MC. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

"I tell you, keep on asking, and it will be given to you. Keep on searching, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." - Jesus ChristKeep remembering that I Am your Daily Bread, and you'll never hunger again. You'll never fear again.You'll rest, finally,because you trust that I will never leave you.I've never left you. And just as it worked out last time, it's working out this time. I know you think you're almost out of time,but remember, there is no time where I am.I Am before I was. I Am on the cross. I Am resurrected. I Am before you.I Am after you.Right now, I Am for you.You have work to do,but it won't be what you think it is.You have hearts to change.But I'll be right there with you.I love you.I never stop talking to you. xxnik nikki@curlynikki.comPlease support the show:▶▶https://www.patreon.com/goodmornings▶▶ Cash App $NikWalton __________________________________________DAY 6 PRAYER - Father Dolindo "You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything and you surrender to human strength, or worse to men themselves, trusting in their intervention, this is what hinders my words and my views. Oh how much I wish from you this surrender, to help you and how I suffer when I see you so agitated! Satan tries to do exactly this: to agitate you and to remove you from my protection and to throw you into the jaws of human initiative. So, trust only in me, rest in me, surrender to me in everything.O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)Mother, I am yours now and forever. Through you and with you I always want to belong completely to Jesus.Amen""My daughter, do you think you have written enough about My mercy? What you have written is but a drop compared to the ocean.I am Love and Mercy itself. There is no misery that could be a match for My mercy, neither will misery exhaust it, because as it is being granted - it increases. The soul that trusts in My mercy is most fortunate, because I myself take care of it". -Diary 1273, St. Faustina"24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus--the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." - Acts of the Apostles "God is good, all good, only good."Francis of Assisi"You either quit or keep going. They both hurt. Read that again." - @goatmotivated "Whatever you are trying to control, controls you." - @thehamsterwheelisnotmotorized "If the ego rises, all else will also rise; if it subsides, all else will also subside." -Ramana Maharshi"I read something about how someone was asking their therapist why all of the sudden they got intensely triggered when they felt like they were almost completely healed from that thing, and the therapist respondedeverything screams when it dies.And that made sense to a lot of things." - @self.loveoasis

- Popular Chesapeake restaurant accused of racial discrimination- Kamala Harris calls out the Democratic party for taking black woman for granted. - Music Artist Nicki Minaj praises Trump - Keith Olbermann roasts ex-girlfriend.

Hello and welcome to the Unedited podcast! The goal of this podcast is to help you develop and enjoy the habit of daily Bible reading and prayer. It is through the Word of God and the presence of God that we GET TO KNOW GOD. In this episode, Meg continues a series based on questions she's been asking herself and shares an Unedited journal entry: “Exceeding. Abundantly. Above All.” Thank you for joining me for this journey. I look forward to meeting up with you again next Friday! If you have questions, please visit megunedited.com Go grab your Bible and your journal! Looking forward to the power of this habit in YOUR life. This is Unedited. This is for U. Happy Friday! IG: @unedited_meg

On this Week's Keepin It Real, Cam is tired of people not from Alabama degrading and belittling our state. But in this certain case, Cam says, we might deserve it.  ----- Go find a podcast called The Alabama Murders. It's a seven-episode series by author Malcolm Gladwell done under his Revisionist History podcast. I love Revisionist History – it's been one of my favorite podcasts for a long time but, well, The Alabama Murders is yet another example of someone who is not from here looking at Alabama with shame and disgust. Our state has been the target of this for a long long time. Gladwell goes out of his way a few times in the podcast to say something along the lines of "what you think people would do in this case is this. However, this is Alabama." It's a clear shot at our state. A slap. Degrading and belittling. However, I want you to find The Alabama Murders podcast because, candidly, we deserve it this time. Two men were executed for killing a woman who they did not kill. The jury of their peers wanted them jailed for the harm they did but the judge, who also knew they didn't kill her, changed their sentence to the death penalty in a move called judicial override. If Gladwell's telling of the story is true, after every state in the union had eliminated judicial override, Alabama kept it for a long while. After every state in the union reverted every guilty party's judgment to what was given to them by the jury of their peers, Alabama refused to change any sentences, grandfathering in the judicial override sentencing which led to the execution of the two men who did not kill their victim. Her husband did. Go find The Alabama Murders and hear the story for yourself. The most gruesome part of the story is not the murder of the lady, but our state's repeated failed attempts to execute the prisoners. It was, unquestionably, cruel and unusual punishment performed by men who then took to the media to boast about creating new precedents that states across the nation should adopt. Granted, the podcast included some dramatization. Long silences to let words linger, music that drove home the cruelty inflicted in each execution and attempted execution. And silences where we can only assume the person being interviewed was quietly crying. But folks, there is no question there should be egg all over our face based on what happened. I'm as sick as the next person of Alabama being looked down upon. And as much as I admire and like Gladwell, I've read all his books, I wish he'd sniff around his own backyard to find stories of justice gone wrong. Leave us alone. There are many many good people here but Gladwell seems to want us to think otherwise. However, you do need to hear this podcast. You need to hear all that happened and who facilitated it and who knew about the cruelty in the executions and did nothing and who knew about the true murderer and sentenced these men to death instead. Find The Alabama Murders in your podcasts. It'll make you flinch. It'll make you want to turn away. Don't. Listen to it. And help me hold our state and our elected officials to a higher standard. I'm Cam Marston just trying to Keep it Real.

Tonmya now available for fibromyalgia; safety warnings for DMD treatment; mitapivat shows mixed results in sickle cell disease trial; Redemplo approved for familial chylomicronemia syndrome; Hyrnuo approved for HER2-mutant NSCLC.

Gerald leads another episode! This time, he gets his feet wet in the realm of being a Dungeon Master! Well...sorta...Joining this episode are fellow dwarven patrons Mark and Fuzz by invitation! Granted, they're mostly here to make Reyway suffer for his elf ego, but also to assist Gerald in sharing the knowledge of Dragon Age's dwarves via roleplaying!

The Time Riders: Part 12 Teaching Nanu about the modern world. Based on a post by BiscuitHammer, in 16 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Some minutes passed before Becky pressed her forehead to Nanu's, holding her by the cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Nanu; I thought I'd lost you. I'm sorry; I'll teach you how to be careful. I promise." "I'm sorry, Mistress, I didn't mean to be thoughtless and frighten you," Nanu sniffled, her eyes bleary. As much as the fright by the wheeled monster, she was disconcerted by how upset her Mistress was. Rebe-kah was genuinely terrified that she'd nearly lost Nanu. It made her love her Mistress even more. "Let's go back inside," Becky suggested, pulling Nanu to her feet. "I promise, we'll try again later." She looked both ways before taking them across the road, holding Nanu close, even possessively. Becky was taking no chances. "Mistress?" "Yes, my love?" As they reached the curb back in front of Becky's house, Nanu held up the hem of her long shirt, heedless of the fact that she was flashing her cunt to a random woman walking by as she showed Becky something. "I'm sorry, the monster, it frightened me. I; I pissed myself and ruined the sack." Becky's response was somewhere between a laugh, a choke, and a sob and she caressed Nanu's shoulder as they continued walking. "Don't worry, I'll find you another." "Can it have a flaming cock on it again?" Nanu asked. "I think I rather like that." Becky smiled. "I'll buy you some more flaming cock shirts, my love. I promise." The door shut behind them, and it was time to relax. It had been quite the eventful day and it was barely noon. After a nap. "Do you have friends, Mistress?" Nanu asked as she lay on her back on the bed, gazing up at Becky. She ground and pumped her hips, slithering her cunt against her lover's, while Becky looked down at her, churning and undulating. Becky was fondling one of her ample tits, while the other was caressing one of Nanu's. In turn, Nanu was groping Becky, while her free hand had reached down and was holding her nether lips wide, exposing her throbbing clit to be brushed by Becky's. They'd already cum a few times, but were simply enjoying the sensations now. "Of course, silly," Becky giggled, loving how wet and sticky their pussies felt together. "You just haven't met any of them yet. The only person you know aside from me is Mark." "If we meet your friends, what will you tell them about me?" One of the things that Becky appreciated about Nanu was that she could fuck and still hold a conversation if she felt the need. Business didn't interfere with pleasure. "I admit, I haven't given it too much thought yet, but I would probably tell them that you're a student from another country who I have staying with me, and you don't speak English." Nanu arched her hips and side, pressing hard against Becky's cunt. "Mistress, what; what is the name of the place we are in? Where in the empire of the Romans is it?" Becky had to stop fucking because she broke down laughing. She leaned down and pressed her body to Nanu's hugging her tight while she jiggled uncontrollably. Nanu held her Mistress, but she was frowning, wondering what was so funny. She stopped frowning when Becky kissed her lovingly. "Oh, Nanu," the blonde woman said, smiling into her companion's eyes. "I have so much to explain to you still;” She sat up and then pulled Nanu into her lap. Nanu's legs wrapped around her Mistress' waist and she just looked contentedly into Becky's blue eyes. She knew she was in for an explanation she wouldn't completely understand, but as long as she was naked like this with Becky, she didn't mind, either. There wasn't much Nanu couldn't endure, as long as she kept getting fucked on a regular basis. And Becky seemed to like fucking as much as she did. It was a wonderful match, as far as Nanu was concerned. "Baby," Becky cooed, pushing a stray damp hair away from Nanu's lovely face. "Where we are now, we are very, very far from the boundaries of the Roman Empire. The place I live, it is a nation called 'Canada'." "Kaaa-na-daaa;” she said quietly. She liked the sound of it. "Is Kaaa-na-daaa a large place?" Becky tried to remember her ancient history, not to mention what she knew about her own geography. "Well," she said finally, having figured it out. "Canada is larger than the entire Roman empire at its height. Canada is the second largest nation in the world." Nanu's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Impossible!" she almost hissed in disbelief. "How have you fought off the Roman devils? Is Kaaa-na-daaa mighty?" Becky drew in a breath. This is where it got difficult. "Nanu, I know you can read, and you can count, but; do big numbers mean anything to you?" Nanu shrugged. "I could count higher than any of the other slaves in the Flavian household, and even a few of my masters and mistresses. Sometimes I was too smart and they beat me for it. I think I count well." "I'm asking because;” Becky continued, seeming hesitant. "The Roman Empire, it fell around one-thousand five-hundred years ago." Nanu said nothing, trying to understand what she had just been told. The Empire, gone? Life without Rome? Becky blushed. "It; and the time you were from, Nanu, that was just under three hundred years before Rome fell. My time, where we live now, is about eighteen-hundred years after your own." A long silence followed. Nanu shook her head. When she looked at Becky, her hazel eyes were full of worry. "Mistress, are; are you lying to me?" Becky shook her head slowly. "No, Nanu. I promised you I wouldn't lie to you." "But I don't understand what you mean," the Egyptian girl almost pleaded. "These numbers you are saying, they; I don't understand them!" She took Becky's hands in hers, her expression somewhere between afraid and desperate. "Please help me understand, Mistress.." Becky thought about what she could possibly do to help her beloved Nanu understand. She considered, her eyes closed for some seconds. When she opened them, she nodded. "Come downstairs with me and I will try," she said. Nanu clambered out of her lap and the two girls rose. Taking Nanu's hand, Becky led her downstairs to the living room. She made Nanu sit on the floor while she walked over to a corner. In said corner, behind a decorative screen, she kept a large, bluish water container, like one would find supplying the water cooler in an office. With a grunt, she began rolling it out from its storage space and toward Nanu. The former slave-girl watched curiously while Becky now turned it over with some effort, spilling out what looked to Nanu like tiny brown coins. Endless numbers of them, chinking and tinkling into a pile on the rug. "There," Becky breathed, wiping her brow. She'd already been sweaty from sex with Nanu, and the effort of rolling and tipping her change barrel had her feeling warm. She now lay down on her stomach on the carpet opposite Nanu, with the piles of tiny brown coins between them. "Nanu, these are called 'pennies', and they are a type of coin we use in my time. They are made of aeramen (copper), like some coins you know." Nanu nodded slowly. Becky held up a penny. "We're going to pretend each of these is a year. We're going to count them. And when we get to a certain point, that is how long ago the Roman Empire fell. But think of them as years, Nanu." Nanu drew a deep breath, sat with her legs crossed, and began counting, picking up the pennies and placing them into a new pile she started. "One; two; three;” Fifteen minutes later. Nanu had stopped pushing the pennies, but was still counting aloud while Becky moved the coins. "Six hundred fifty-one; six hundred fifty-two;” Becky could tell her beloved friend was getting very upset, but she kept going, because she needed Nanu to understand. The minutes dragged by, but Nanu kept counting. "Nine hundred eighty-five;” she said in a quavering voice. "Nine hundred eighty-six; nine hundred; No!" Nanu shoved the ever-growing pile of pennies away, scattering the coins, and Becky reared back in surprise. The Egyptian girl was scrambling backward on her ass, her eyes wide in fear and disbelief. She bumped into the couch before she yelped and leapt to her feet, dashing out of the room. "You're Lying!" "Nanu!" Becky called, getting hastily to her feet as the smaller girl opened the front door and burst onto the street. She was still naked, and Becky could hear her sobbing. "Shit shit shit shit;” Becky said under her breath as she pulled a long jacket out of the closet and then dashed out the door, looking around. "Nanu?" she called frantically. "Nanu!" But the girl was nowhere in sight. She looked up and down the street, seeing no bewildered pedestrians. Thank God it was Sunday, but how long could it possibly be before a tiny naked woman was noticed running around the neighborhood sobbing to herself and unable to speak English? She'd be picked up by the police, be terrified, and they would have absolutely no way of identifying her. Heaven only knows what would happen then. Poor Nanu! Becky took a chance and began heading in the direction she heard a dog barking from. She kept calling Nanu's name, having no clue where she could have gone. How on earth had no one seen her yet? Becky cursed herself. There were so many things she hadn't anticipated. How could she? She and Mark had brought Nanu forward in time to make her life better, to free her from the chains of slavery. It seemed like such a good thing to do. It had to be. After all, hadn't time let them do it? She wasn't even exactly certain what had set Nanu off, but she had an inkling. Yet another thing Becky hadn't known she needed to think through. Why would she know that? She'd never brought anyone forward in time before. How many people had? One ten millionth of this time's people? Maybe? She didn't know! This was almost as new to her as it was to Nanu. But Becky was making her own choices and knew she didn't need to be afraid. Nanu was completely surrounded by a universe she knew nothing about. Even the air had to smell completely different to her! She stopped just outside of a parkette and looked around. "Nanu!" she called loudly. She heard a gasp and then muffled sobbing, along with the rustling of foliage. She turned and saw the shrubs that marked the boundaries of the parkette moving awkwardly. She moved toward the disturbance, hoping her search was over. She stopped in front of the shrubs and spoke gently. "Nanu?" "En!" the girl hissed in panic. "Annoi!" Becky had no idea what Nanu had just said, since it wasn't Latin, but she could guess. She stopped coming forward and simply knelt down in the cold grass, determined to give Nanu the time she needed. She could see the girl now, stuffed bodily into the thicket, her hazel eyes brittle with fright. Poor Nanu had to be in agony, wedged in with all those branches and sticks poking and scratching her. How had she done it to begin with? "I'm here, Nanu," she said softly, letting Nanu see her smile, but she stayed still. "I'm sorry you got frightened. Will you please tell me what happened? I am trying so hard to understand, but I am not perfect at this, as you can see." Nanu was sobbing quietly, trying to not be heard. But after some moments, she seemed to be trying to rein in her crying so that she could speak. It took some time, words only coming out as choked gasps. Becky stayed still. She would wait however long was necessary. For Nanu, no length of time was too much. She owed it to the lovely, frightened young woman. And Nanu finally spoke. "They're gone, Mistress," she said in little more than a whisper. "They're all gone." Becky thought about what Nanu was saying and it sent a chill through her. "Nanu, do you mean your family?" "They're dead," she managed to say in a rasping whimper. "They're all dead; my mother, my father; my brothers and sisters; my Ki; her little baby daughter, Nanu; they are dust; dust;” Becky couldn't help it, she began crying too. She bent her head and her chest shuddered as she tried not to vocalize, and tears streamed down her face. This was a horrifying thought when she examined it from Nanu's point of view. Everything Nanu knew to be real was gone. And not even recently. The pennies had forced Nanu to see things in a way she was never meant to. Her family, they weren't newly dead, remembered by anyone. They weren't even decaying in graves. They were dust, nothing more than the endless sands of the land Nanu had grown up in. They'd become a sort of nothingness. "Nanu," Becky whispered, tears stinging her eyes and cold on her cheeks. "I'm so sorry. I; wish I knew what to say." "What can you say?" the girl murmured. "You are not a god, you cannot bring them to life for me. All I can ever do is go and see them, as they once were, alive and remembering me. But I will always be thinking that I live many ages of the moon after they are nothingness. I will never be rid of that realization, Mistress." "You're right, of course," Becky admitted, nodding. "It's different for you. Lots of my family members are dead, but I never met them, I never knew them. You lived with them all." "Please be honest with me, Mistress," Nanu said quietly. "How much more counting was there to do? How much bigger was the pile of coins going to get?" Becky blushed, feeling stupid for thinking it had been a good idea. The road to Hell was paved with good intentions. "It was going to be twice that size, Nanu. We; we got halfway through the counting." She closed her eyes while Nanu wept quietly again. Someone walked by, staring at her in confusion as she knelt in front of the shrubs in a long jacket, but just kept walking. Maybe it was a weird meditation thing. Nanu finally stopped crying but went silent. Becky did the only thing she could, and remained silent, waiting to see what happened next. Some minutes passed before Nanu finally spoke. "There are twigs and leaves stuck in my cunt." Despite herself, Becky began to snicker, squeezing her knees as she tried to stop. "Mistress," Nanu protested, but she was also trying to keep from giggling. "It's not funny, it hurts. Why did you let me do this?" "I'm sorry, baby," the blonde woman said finally, wiping a tear from her eye and smiling. "I'll try harder to keep you from doing crazy things. I promise." "I am naked, Mistress," Nanu pointed out. "Did you bring me something to wear?" "No, honey, I forgot, because I was so worried about you," admitted Becky. "Why are you stuffed into a shrub, anyway?" There was a pause before Nanu answered. "The dog scared me when it barked at me. Dogs scare me. The Romans use dogs for guards and for war. Why does Ka-na-da have war dogs?" "They aren't war dogs, my love," Becky said, wondering what to do next. "People keep dogs as pets. I used to have a dog when I was a little girl. I miss him very much." Nanu considered. "What was his name?" Becky was almost reluctant to say, since it now sounded silly. "His name was Frankincense. I; I just called him Frank for short." There was another pause. "What does that name even mean?" Becky shrugged. "He's named after a substance I think the Romans called olibanum." "You named your dog after that shit my Flavian masters kept burning in their rooms?" Nanu queried, clearly not impressed. "Hey, I like that smell, thank you," Becky replied. "And you be nice about my little Frankie, or you can keep the leaves and twigs in your cunt, young lady." "Sorry," Nanu snickered. "I'm sure your dog with the stupid name was very nice, Mistress." "Okay, are you ready to come home now?" asked the blonde, pondering their situation. "I can't leave you here like this, so; I guess I'll just hide you inside my coat and hope for the best. I mean, it's only seven blocks back to the house." There was a pause for some moment before Nanu answered. "Okay. I'm; I'm sorry, Mistress. I; I got scared." "I don't blame you, my love," Becky said gently. "Nobody can understand what you're feeling. Nobody, anywhere, can understand. Even Mark and I can't truly." She leaned forward and spoke quietly. "But I promise you, Nanu. We love you. And we want you to be happy. We wanted to free you from slavery and show you the wonders that Mark and I experience. But; we are not very good at planning, because even we don't know what to expect. But please believe me when I say that we want your happiness." "I know, Mistress. And I am sorry I said you were lying and ran away. I just felt terrified. Nothing made sense. It; still doesn't. All I can do is place my faith in you now." Becky nodded solemnly. Nanu was right. Becky couldn't even take her home, because Mark was the one with the time machine, and they wouldn't see him for the next three months. All this trauma had happened on Day One. Not a smooth start. She sighed. Maybe the chroniques dealer she'd found hidden away downtown could find someone to take Nanu back to her own time if she really wanted to return? She'd talk with Nanu about it in due course. She owed Nanu an out if she wanted one. "Okay," she said finally. "I'm going to move to the bush and open my coat, Nanu. Then you; uh; you get inside, I guess, and hug me with your arms and legs. Then I'll try to close my coat and get us home, okay?" The bush rustled as Nanu nodded, and then she moved forward, grunting and swearing as she unstuck herself from her deciduous prison. She almost tumbled into Becky, who was also nude underneath the long garment. She prayed that it would somehow fit around them both. As Nanu snuggled into her, Becky knelt up straight, presenting her waist. She fought to keep herself balanced as Nanu wrapped her arms and legs around her torso, her face squashed between Becky's ample tits. Great; Becky thought as she pushed to her feet and began struggling to close the coat around herself and the Nanu-shaped bundle now hanging onto her. She wheezed almost comically. If I manage to close the damn coat, I'm gonna smother Nanu between my tits. She'll suffocate before I get her the seven blocks home. How on earth did she get this far to begin with? Naked? Becky turned slowly and began to waddle out of the parkette. She pivoted ponderously onto the street and began the slow, awkward trek home. She could hear Nanu snuffling and trying to breathe inside the stretch-tight coat. As she waddled, Becky pulled the top of the coat open slightly, hoping to give Nanu some air. She looked down, seeing Nanu looking back up at her out of the darkness. "Thank you, Mistress;” the girl whispered. Becky could begin to imagine how she looked at the moment; she probably looked like she was trying to give birth to a horse. Or was smuggling a primate beneath her coat. Close enough, really. The occasional person walked by, giving her a curious glance, but then continuing on. This neighborhood wasn't known for being terribly nosy, as long as you weren't too dark of skin. Becky hadn't quite figured out how to solve that problem yet. "Eep! Nanu!" she hissed, shivering as Nanu's mouth found one of her nipples and began sucking on it. She heard Nanu hum contentedly, clearly willing to occupy herself this way while Becky got them home. "What're you doing, you brat?" Nanu ignored her, and Becky realized she'd been speaking English, so Nanu was free to not notice anything she said and had a perfectly viable excuse for doing so. Becky bit her lip as Nanu's wicked tongue swirled around her nipple before she began sucking again. Worse, one of the little brat's hands found her cunt and began stoking it. Whether she wanted to or not, Becky started getting wet and she tried waddling faster. Becky was going to kill Nanu when they got home. She was going to fuck her to death! Another block down. Becky could feel her face was flushed, and she was sweating now, and not only from the effort of carrying Nanu around her middle beneath the damned coat. She bit her lip and groaned as her eyes almost rolled up into her head. Dammit, one of Nanu's fingers found her way inside Becky's cunt! She tried closing her legs as she walked, to force the little tramp's finger out, but she quickly realized she would lose her balance and fall over if she kept this up. Sighing in frustration, she kept her legs open while she walked, doing her best to walk faster. "What're you smuggling under your coat, Fischer?" guffawed a neighbor as he walked by. "An orangutan?" "Uh; just groceries I have to protect!" Becky replied hastily, wrapping her arms under Nanu's ass as if holding the aforementioned imaginary groceries. She heard Nanu sigh and wiggle her cheeks on the hands. She kept sucking on Becky's tits and fingering her cunt. Becky's knees were trembling, and she was fairly certain she was dripping, leaving a path of sticky droplets on the sidewalk her behind her. Her whole body was tingling, even as she struggled to walk. "Uh!" Becky gasped loudly as Nanu bit and tugged on the nipple, the delicious sting lancing along the blonde's nervous system. "You little brat," she hissed, pulling the top of the coat open and scowling down into it. "When we get home, I am spanking your ass right off, young lady!" "If you make it that far, Mistress," Nanu replied, smirking up at her evilly. "If you make it home before you cum, I will eat a whole package of that bay-kon as punishment." Becky waddled faster, panting now as she fought for control. Nanu had two fingers in her now, making scooping motions along her upper wall. "Uh, that's cheating, you little slut!" "It is taking us so long to get home, Mistress," Nanu teased, slithering her tongue around a nipple. "How far are we walking? The length of your Ka-na-da?" Staggering quickly, almost wheezing like she was about to give birth, Becky moved on relentlessly. She almost couldn't see anything as pleasure kept flooding through her, promising orgasm was just around the corner. But Becky knew she didn't have strength to climax and keep moving. If she came, she would be collapsing to her knees and cumming on the sidewalk. If she was lucky, she'd remain kneeling. Sweat was streaming from her body. She was amazed Nanu was still able to hold on at all. C'mon; c'mon. She moaned as Nanu got a third slender finger inside her Mistress, and some woman chose that exact moment to go jogging by, giving Becky a confused look. Becky ignored her and just soldiered on as best she could. She could feel her arousal trickling down her inner thighs. How ridiculous must she have looked, barefoot, waddling around in a long jacket, smuggling an octopus while grunting and moaning like she was in a porn movie? She had barely turned up onto the little walkway leading up to her house before she tore the coat open and burst into a run, stampeding up the stairs while Nanu squeaked in alarm. She flung the door open and staggered inside, panting like she'd just run a marathon and sweating like she'd been fucked by twenty men in a row. Nanu was goggling up at her Mistress in shock (and maybe a little panic). Becky's blue eyes flashed and she grabbed the slave-girl and shoved her down her sweat-slicked body. Nanu's knees hit the wooden floor and she barely had time to register what had happened before Becky grabbed her head and jammed it against her steaming cunt. Nanu grunted and almost choked as Becky ground her hips with a dreadful eagerness, desperate to cum. Nanu slid her tongue inside and lashed her Mistress' cunt frantically. One of Becky's hands scrabbled for and finally grabbed onto the front door, managing to swing it closed so that they couldn't be seen from outside anymore. Leaning back against the wall, she bucked her hips furiously against Nanu's face, both her hands now gripping the Egyptian girl's black hair. She hissed and panted, her entire body shaking. Becky clamped her hands over her mouth and shrieked, juddering as the orgasm rocked her. She was barely cognizant of Nanu below her, trying not to drown as Becky's cunt flooded over. Becky pumped and ground greedily, reality spinning around her. She felt herself slumping down the wall to the floor, her hand on the back of Nanu's head, making sure the girl didn't try to escape. Becky felt like her eyes had switched sockets. Thank God this hadn't happened on the street or she would have been arrested, no question. At last, she opened her eyes and Nanu was kneeling in front of her, waiting patiently with her hands in her lap. Her face and much of her upper chest were glistening with Becky's cum. Not surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind. She stayed quiet until Becky seemed more focused before she finally spoke. "I guess I'm going to have the shits for a few days after the bay-kon, aren't I, Mistress? I lost the wager." Becky wearily reached up and caressed her beloved Nanu's hair. "I'm not letting you eat all my bacon, you silly slut. I love bacon. I'll figure some other way to punish you for losing the wager, like tonguing my ass or something." Nanu nodded. "I think I will enjoy losing wagers to you, Mistress." Becky laughed tiredly. They weren't even through their first day yet and she was exhausted. How many millions more things did she have to teach Nanu before this would was safe for her? And she only had three months to do it! Who would've thought that introducing someone to the future would prove so troublesome? "So you do want to see how the television works?" Becky asked, holding up the remote. Nanu looked at her curiously. They were both naked again, and in all likelihood intended to stay that way, unless they had to leave the house. Becky imagined that Nanu's ass probably still hurt somewhat, and anything she could do to relieve the discomfort was likely in order. Not wearing clothes seemed like a good start. "Mistress, I don't even know what it does, never mind how it works," the Egyptian girl pointed out, sitting on the floor, cross-legged. She gestured at the small black device her mistress held. "Wassa?" "This controls the television for me," Becky said, sitting down next to her charge and showing Nanu all the tiny buttons on the device. Granted, Nanu didn't know what buttons were, so she merely frowned at the remote in mild confusion. "I use it to watch things on the television. It allows me to select what I watch." She pointed the remote at the television and pushed the Power button. The High Definition unit, which was actually longer than Nanu was tall, winked on, and noise blared from it as images came on the screen. Nanu squealed at the sound and scrambled behind Becky, hiding and clutching her mistress' flanks. Becky giggled and lowered the volume. "You can come out now, hero," Becky said, smirking. "I lowered the volume." Nanu peeked out from behind her mistress, looking at the screen warily. She stared for some seconds, unable to understand what she was seeing. Some yellow-haired woman, ridiculously overclothed, was looking at Nanu and babbling in what she could only assume was En-gush. She had a serious look on her face as she spoke into what looked like a black cock. It was windy, apparently, because her hair was blowing around. Nanu slowly crawled toward the TV, her eyes narrowing. Becky watched in amusement, still sitting some distance away. Nanu had a great ass, and she could stare at it endlessly. The younger woman moved close to the screen, staring in bewilderment. Becky had lowered the volume sufficiently so that the news reporter wasn't yelling in Nanu's face. Nanu stared, then moved to the side of the television, looking around and behind it, sitting on its smoked glass countertop. She crawled around to the other side and looked behind again. Finally, she turned and looked at Becky in confusion. "Mistress?" she asked uncertainly. "Why do you keep the woman in the tiny box? How?" Becky had half-expected the question, of course, but it was still funny to hear. Once she was done snickering (Nanu waited patiently, looking only slightly annoyed), Becky replied. "She is not trapped inside the television, darling. It is a device that can show me other people. You have paintings in Rome and back in Egypt, right?" Nanu nodded. "And of course, a painting is just an illustration of someone," Becky explained. She'd had a little bit of time to put thought into this. "They're not actually in the painting, trapped." "So;” Nanu ventured, thinking about it. "The woman inside the box is a painting? Why can it move and talk to me?" "It's not a painting, it's a representation of her," Becky replied, knowing this would get awkward. "A television allows me to see things that are happening elsewhere." Nanu's eyes widened in shock. "The woman you see on the television is here in the city somewhere. I can see other people as well;” She changed the channel, and the television now displayed a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Unfortunately, a split second after the cartoon came up, Tom screamed loudly, having stabbed himself in the ass with a needle on the end of a pool cue. Nanu yelped in fright and threw herself into Becky's arms, shaking. Becky wheezed as she tumbled onto her back, holding onto her young ward. Nanu was trembling, her face stuffed between Becky's boobs. "Mistress, the box frightens me," the girl whispered. "It is too loud." "We can change how loud it is, Nanu," Becky said gently, pushing herself up into a sitting position and hugging Nanu, who was still wrapped around her, refusing to let go. "My world is probably rather loud compared to the one you know, my love. And the noises will be things you're not used to. But I promise you that you will adapt. Just like you did to life in Rome, and just like you will to bacon." Nanu nodded and then turned her head to look back at the TV. "Is; is that supposed to be a mouse and a cat?" Becky nodded. "Someone drew them to look comical and make people laugh." "The mouse is trying to kill the cat," Nanu pointed out. "He struck the cat on the head with the stick so that the cat screamed and swallowed that rolling ball. The mouse is evil. Are cats not sacred in your time, Mistress?" "Cats think they are, but many people just keep them as pets," Becky laughed. "Turn around and let me show you more. And I promise you, Nanu, nobody is caught inside the box. I don't quite know how to explain yet, but I will when I can. The television is meant to entertain." She changed the channel again and Nanu watched intently as Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago slugging it out on the screen. "You have gladiators in your society, Mistress?" she breathed, watching the bulging muscles flex as the two men pummeled one another. "We pay some athletes to fight, but we do not have death sports, like you remember," Becky replied, shrugging as she hugged Nanu, who was still sitting in her lap. "I mean, maybe some countries like the Veniti (Russians) do, but they're rather barbaric. We have Olympics, like you remember, just a lot more events. But this is just a story being told, this isn't real." "It looks very real," Nanu said, still glued to the screen. "I can hear them hitting each other." "Did you ever see a drama or play, Nanu?" Becky asked, which got a nodding head from the smaller girl. "Well, just like in those plays or dramas, the actors can pretend to strike one another. In my time, we might just be better at making it look real." "How do you tell fake fights and real fights apart?" Nanu asked. Becky could feel the other girl squirming in her lap. Nanu was getting turned on watching muscular men beat one another up. "Circumiastentia, (context)," Becky replied. "The television will tell you if you are watching something that actually happened, or whether it is a drama." Nanu tilted her head. "Can you show me a real fight?" Becky considered and then switched to a sports channel. Quickly enough, she came across an MMA fight between two women. Nanu gaped as she watched the women grapple and beat the shit out of one another. "Oh, Nunes! She Just Hurt Cyborg!" crowed the announcer. Not that the Egyptian girl understood what he was saying. "And; they never use weapons?" Nanu asked in a quiet but somehow hopeful voice. "No, you bloodthirsty little thing," Becky giggled, hugging her tight and wiggling her boobs into Nanu's back. "If you see weapons, it is probably a drama and not real." "These women are not very attractive, and punching each other just makes it worse," Nanu said, wrinkling her nose. "I would not fuck them. Are they fighting over a man?" Becky wasn't about to try to explain that Amanda Nunes was married to another woman who was also an MMA fighter. She just let her continue to watch while blood and teeth flew everywhere. "What else, does the magic box show us?" Becky thought of how to explain. She thought about anything Nanu might have been familiar with. "Do you; remember how announcements were placed in the Forum in Rome for people to read?" Nanu nodded. "The acta diurna. They told us about things that were happening. I was one of three Flavian slaves who could read them. It made the others jealous. But mostly we just found out about things from hearsay, people telling other people things." "Well, there are people who are paid to report nuntium (news)," Becky said. "That way, you can know what's going on, not just here in the city, but almost anywhere in the world." Nanu leaned back into Becky and looked up at her. "What IS the name of this city you live in, Mistress?" "Toronto," Becky said. This drew a frown from Nanu. Becky picked up Nanu's hand and gently pressed her lips against her palm. "To-ron-to." Nanu shook her head. "Maybe if you said it against my lips, Mistress." Becky giggled and shook her head. "You little slut;” She leaned down and her lips barely touched Nanu's. "Tor-ron-to." Fifteen minutes of almost kissing passed before Nanu could say Toronto. Becky wasn't at all surprised. It occurred to her that maybe one way to ease Nanu into her new environs and life was to find ways in which it was similar to her old one. "I know you don't speak English yet, darling, but I might be able to help you learn a little more quickly. Can you spell your name?" "Nanu nodded. "I can speak Latin and read some, Mistress, but; I only know how to write a few words. One of them is my name." "Come," Becky said, getting Nanu out of her lap and getting to her feet. Nanu followed suit. "Let's go to the kitchen;” She brought Nanu by the hand into the kitchen and stopped in front of the fridge. She had a small whiteboard stuck to it, and some colored markers alongside. She popped the top of the black marker and then drew a large dot on the board, demonstrating for Nanu how it worked. She then handed the marker to Nanu. The Egyptian girl looked at it curiously and then sniffed the tip. "Don't lick it, Nanu," Becky said gently but firmly. Nanu grimaced and stuck her tongue back in her mouth, sighing and turning toward the whiteboard. It was a glossy white color she'd almost never seen before. She gripped the marker awkwardly, in her fist, and pressed the tip against the white surface, obeying Becky's instructions to not press so hard. She slowly drew out her name on the surface. NANV "Good," Becky said as the slave-girl wiped her forehead. "Now, watch me spell your name in English;” NANU Nanu looked shocked. "Mistress, they are almost exactly the same," she breathed. "Why are they so similar?" Becky smiled. "My language borrows many, many things from Latin, including the alphabet. Many words have Latin origins as well." She wrote the name of Rome in Latin and English for Nanu, followed by the words for Egypt. ROMA ROME AEGYPTUS EGYPT. Nanu got quiet for a moment. "Mistress, I; I know my family is gone now but; what does my home look like?" "Do you mean Egypt?" Becky asked. Nanu nodded. "Well, it is still largely desert, except along the river, but there are many large cities like my own there now. The city that is the capital of the Egyptian nation is one of the largest in the world." Nanu almost looked excited. "My people are numerous and mighty?" Becky paused a second too long in answering and Nanu's expression changed to one of concern. "Mistress? Tell me the truth." Becky led her over to two small chairs and held her hand while they sat down. Becky drew a deep breath. "It is hard to explain, Nanu. Your nation is populated, like I said, but; I don't think the people there are Egyptians the way you understand them." Nanu almost went pale. "We have been destroyed?" "No, not as such," Becky fumbled, trying to explain. "But; for centuries after your time, there were waves of people who moved through the lands. Do you know who the Arabs are?" Nanu thought about that. "They are nomads from the great desert, aren't they?" Becky nodded. "After the Roman Empire fell, the next great empire was one ruled by the Arab tribes. Egypt fell to them. Modern scholars believe that the Arabs are the blood of Egypt now, and much of northern Africa. They had children with your people, and then with those children in time, and soon; your blood, true Egyptian blood, was no more. Not as you would think of it." The Egyptian girl was silent for some time, staring at nothing. Or Becky's boobs. It was a fair bet with Nanu. "My people are gone;” she murmured, looking at the floor. "We are no more;” Becky nodded sadly. "There are many civilizations in the world that has happened to, Nanu. Egypt, your Egypt, just happens to be one of them. If the scholars are right about that, then you are the only person in my world of your bloodline, your people." Nanu finally looked up at Becky and nodded. "Then I must fuck and have children so that the people of the Black Land may rise again. I will be the new queen of a new, mighty people of Keme." Becky smiled warmly. Nothing ever seemed to daunt Nanu for long. "Nanu, my love, somehow I do not doubt that about you. Let's eat, shall we?" This time around, Becky chose the foods carefully, mostly relying on fresh fruits and vegetables. She did her best to buy organic products, free of pesticides and preservatives, so hopefully this meal would not wreak havoc on Nanu's digestive tract. Nanu watched patiently as her mistress prepared the food, cutting into a loaf of what seemed to be bread, and smelled wonderful. Becky had baked it not long before she and Mark had gone to retrieve Nanu, so it was still quite fresh. She brought everything to the table and sat Nanu down before sitting herself. "Apples, pears, blackberries, celery, scallions, cherry tomatoes, bread I made myself, with butter and my own peanut butter," Becky said, pointing to everything in turn. "I think you'll like it." Nanu made a wry face when she looked at the peanut butter. "What is that, Mistress? I would be rude if I said what it looked like." Becky snickered, remembering that the Romans had no damn idea what a peanut was. "It is a paste made of a ground up nut. You have eaten almonds?" The Egyptian girl nodded, still looking at the brown goop suspiciously. "This is like almonds, but I have ground them up and made a paste out of them. Try a bit on your spoon." Nanu trusted her mistress enough to dip her spoon in the goop that looked like warm shit, and licked it with her tongue apprehensively. She smacked her lips as she tasted the peanut butter, her eyes darting back and forth. Then she blinked and dunked her spoon into the condiment, scooping up a huge glob and shoving it in her mouth eagerly. "Leave some for me, you brat!" Becky laughed. "You spread it on your bread, although you can also put it on some of your fruits and vegetables, like the apples or celery. Let me show you." She demonstrated spreading the peanut butter on her piece of bread, and Nanu followed suit. Nanu devoured the bread covered in peanut butter quickly, then began experimenting with putting the substance on the other foods on her plate. Some were a miss, but she seemed delighted with the peanut butter on the apples and celery, as her mistress had suggested. "Mistress, I cannot wait to lick this off of you;” the Egyptian girl breathed. "This is as good as licking honey off a cunt." "All in due course, my dear," Becky assured her. "For now, just eat." "How will I eat, Mistress?" Nanu asked as she shoveled apple and peanut butter down her gullet. "You said that you must work, you are to be gone for long parts of some days. How will I feed myself if I cannot work the food makers?" "I will start teaching you," the blonde said, smiling. "But until then, I will make food for you and leave it in the cold box and you can eat it when you get hungry. It might be cold food, but you will like it, I promise. And maybe I can show you how to prepare some things that don't require the heat makers." "I would like to learn, Mistress," Nanu said, pausing eating long enough to indicate she was serious. "I want to thrive in my new world, and to do that, I must be able to feed myself. You said you teach young minds?" Becky nodded. "Young men and women, from the ages of thirteen to eighteen. I teach them sciences." "Why are girls taught, Mistress?" Nanu asked. "If they just need to be able to read before they marry and have children, why would they learn anything else? Especially a science?" Becky almost laughed. "In this day and age, Nanu, education is the right of everyone, man or woman, girl or boy. Women, as it turns out, are every bit as capable as men when it comes to academia. That's why I'm a teacher, after all." "I just thought you were smarter than everyone else and exceptional," Nanu grunted, going back to her food. "You are certainly smarter than M-ark." "You'll get no argument from me, darling," giggled the older girl, drinking some milk. "Mark is currently failing my science class." "Do you beat him?" queried Nanu. "In my time, negligent boys are held down and whipped with a leather strap if they are failing in their studies." "No, we don't beat our students, tempting as that sounds," Becky said, picturing herself beating Mark's ass for yet another D grade in her class. "But when I work, which is generally five days a week, I leave in the morning and am back in the mid-afternoon. Between eight and nine hours." "That is a long time for me to be alone, Mistress, but I will manage," Nanu sighed. "If you show me how to do things and keep myself amused, I will be fine. Maybe I can teach myself about your world." "I absolutely believe that about you, Nanu, you are a very smart young woman," Becky said, nodding and smiling. "You may have just been a dancing slave in your old life, but I'll bet you could be anything you want here in my world, if you are diligent and work hard." Nanu's eyes widened. "You mean I could become a mighty and feared queen who conquers her enemies? I will work so very hard, Mistress!" "Let's just make sure you can conquer to the TV remote first," Becky laughed as she began to clear off the table, leaving the peanut butter for Nanu. It had been a long time since she'd had it licked off her tits or her cunt, after all. They spent a good deal of the afternoon in the bathtub, where Nanu was resting back against her mistress, humming in contentment as she luxuriated in the hot, scented water. Becky was fond of adding oils to her bath, making her skin smooth, and she loved how it made her smell, even after a vigorous workout at her Krav-Maga class. "Hmm, this feels so nice, Mistress," the Egyptian girl murmured, snuggling back against Becky, her eyes closed. "Even warmer than the baths of Trajan, and much warmer than my master kept his." "I like it," Becky said agreeably, scooping up water in her hands and pouring it down over Nanu's tits and down her torso. She caressed the smooth, tan skin gently, making Nanu sigh in pleasure. They'd fucked again before the bath, making each other cum at least twice. Nanu had indeed licked peanut butter off Becky's cunt, and out of it. The brat in her came out and she managed to smear it all over Becky's front before the blonde could stop her, resulting in Nanu having to lick it all off, apparently. A terrible dilemma for them both. Once they'd showered, Becky drew a bath, and this was where they found themselves now, relaxing and winding down the day. "And you can't take me with you to your work?" Nanu asked, her head nuzzled back between the twin pillows of Becky's tits. "It's not a good idea right now, my love," the teacher answered, stroking her lover. "It's hard to explain, but Mark is there, and he can't see you right now." "I thought you said we couldn't see Mark for three whole months?" Nanu asked, making a wry face. "But you see him at your school every day?" Becky considered how to explain. "You now understand that Mark and I travel through time, right?" Nanu nodded. "I don't understand at all how you do it, but I have seen it for myself, so yes." "Well; imagine if I took you to see your family, but before you were even born. Like, if your parents were so young that they haven't even met yet. You might know who they are, but they would have no idea who you were, because you weren't born yet." Nanu squeezed her eyes shut, thinking very hard, but it was a losing battle. "Keep going, Mistress." "The Mark you would see in my school doesn't know about time travel yet, or you. He isn't my lover yet. He won't be until three months from now. The Mark you know and love is from three months ahead of us, darling. So; you meeting the Mark who exists at the same time we do is a bad idea." Nanu shook her head. "I don't understand how meeting this Mark could be bad when meeting the Mark of tomorrow isn't. But I guess I must just take your word for it; again." "Probably for the best, Nanu," Becky giggled. "Don't worry, I don't like it either." "Three months without cock, Mistress," the younger girl almost groused. "How do you survive it?" "Nanu, just because we can't see Mark doesn't mean we can't have sex with men," Becky pointed out. "Mark doesn't own us, we can fuck whomever we please, just as he can." "Just not your students," Nanu grunted. "Who else is there?" Becky shrugged. "There's quite a few teachers, but that's awkward to me. I don't want to fuck my co-workers." "There must be lots of people in this world to fuck, Mistress," Nanu insisted. "And yes, I love you, and your cunt, but three months without cock is long time for me. I could have it nightly if I wanted when I was a slave." Becky reflected on that conundrum. Before she'd begun time travelling with Mark, she'd actually been experiencing quite a drought when it came to getting laid. It had been more than a year since she'd gotten any, and that pent-up tension had a tendency to come out during her Krav-Maga lessons. She couldn't help but think that maybe, in a world so very many times larger than Nanu's, she'd made her own life difficult by being overly fussy. After all, she'd hardly shown any restraint at all once she'd gotten into the time stream, had she? In Renaissance France, she'd fucked the innkeeper's two daughters quite readily. She rarely been with a woman since her days at university. And at the Flavian villa in Nanu's Rome, she'd fucked several men and women at once, because she could. It was an orgy, after all. What the Hell was so hard about getting laid in her own time? "Nanu, I promise you, we will fuck men before we meet Mark again," she assured her charge. "Maybe I don't know who yet, but I'll make it happen." Nanu nodded drowsily, the warmth of the water in the tub getting to her. "Hmm, glad to hear it, Mistress. I do love a stiff cock in my cunt." "So do I, my love," Becky sighed, finding her own mind wandering because of the water and the sensation of Nanu's soft body against hers. She had to admit, she normally wasn't this relaxed, even after her yoga and meditation. Sometimes, there was just no substitute for getting lots of sex. "I don't want you to worry about me going to work and leaving you tomorrow. I will make sure you are fed and have things to do. We'll make all your food tonight so that it's ready for tomorrow." "Where can we get some cock, Mistress?" Nanu asked, seemingly becoming fixated. Not that Becky blamed her. The blonde closed her eyes and pondered that for a few moments. Where was she guaranteed to get Nanu and herself laid without big risk? Of course! Talk about surefire! She smiled down at her companion and hugged her close. "Nanu, I have an idea, and it will certainly result in cock for you. All the cock you want and very likely the biggest. But you'll need to bear with me first, okay? I have to teach you some things." Nanu looked back at her and nodded eagerly. "Yes, Mistress. I will learn so well if it means I get some cock!" I can't tell if she's more food-motivated or sex-motivated, Becky thought with a smirk. "Okay, then. It'll likely be later this week, so you need to be patient. But there's much to do before then." Becky reached out of the tub and picked up her cellphone, which Nanu looked at curiously. Becky pressed some small dots on the surface, which had a very lifelike picture of her Mistress on it. Becky could see Nanu's confusion and remembered that the girl had no idea what the Hell a button was. Where in ancient Rome would she have seen a button? She keyed in a number and then hit the speaker button, allowing Nanu to hear what was happening. She made a shush gesture with her finger, indicating that Nanu was to be quiet. The Egyptian girl nodded and watched intently. Nanu frowned as she heard a weird buzzing sound that was uncomfortable in her ears. Then it stopped and was replaced by a lyrical, wondrous voice. "Hello?" "Heya, Lady Prof," Becky said cheerfully. "It's Becky." What sounded like a gasp of delight emanated from the little box Becky held, and then the wonderful voice again. "Rebecca Nightingale Fischer! How are you, my dearest and most talented student?" "I'm good, thanks," Becky replied, feeling a delicious tingle at the sound of that voice. "If you and Lord High Eve

This week's case takes us way back to the 1800s, a few years before slavery was officially abolished. A 16 year old black boy convicted of a crime that HE claims he did not commit, and VOWED to get revenge for the injustice he faced. So JOIN US as we discuss the first case in US history where someone used the insanity defense.JOIN US as we discuss the revenge story of William Freeman. RIP to the victims

What's Slowing the Vegan Movement?…a 3-Headed Monster "Vegans often lament that our movement has not grown and spread at a satisfactory rate. Granted, if everyone went vegan tomorrow, it still wouldn't be soon enough for the animals. Our biggest obstacle takes the form of a three-headed monster that is frustrating our efforts at every turn." Listen to today's episode by Jeffrey Spitz Cohan at Main Street Vegan Academy #vegan #plantbased #plantbasedbriefing #veganmovement #maha #misinformation #bigfood #animalagriculture =============== Original post: https://mainstreetvegan.com/whats-slowing-the-vegan-movement-a-3-headed-monster-guest-post-by-jeffrey-spitz-cohan/  Related Episodes: 50: Dr. Gundry's The Plant Paradox is Wrong https://plantbasedbriefing.libsyn.com/50-dr-gundrys-the-plant-paradox-is-wrong-by-dr-michael-greger-at-nutritionfactsorg  874: [Part 1] 19th-Century Animal Rights Activists Had A Lot Of Moxie. Here's How To Get It Back https://plantbasedbriefing.libsyn.com/874-part-1-19th-century-animal-rights-activists-had-a-lot-of-moxie-heres-how-to-get-it-back-by-dr-crystal-heath-dvm-at-voxcom  875: [Part 2] 19th-Century Animal Rights Activists Had A Lot Of Moxie. Here's How To Get It Back https://plantbasedbriefing.libsyn.com/875-part-2-19th-century-animal-rights-activists-had-a-lot-of-moxie-heres-how-to-get-it-back-by-dr-crystal-heath-dvm-at-voxcom  Use search field at https://www.plantbasedbriefing.com/episodes  =============== Main Street Vegan Academy is the premier training & certification program for Vegan coaches. Their mission is to encourage the adoption and maintenance of a positive vegan lifestyle and a health-promoting diet, geared to the needs and preferences of the individual, for the purpose of creating a just world for all beings and protecting this planet. Founder Victoria Moran went vegan in 1983; overcame a binge-eating disorder; in 1985 wrote Compassion the Ultimate Ethic, the first book about Vegan philosophy and practice to come from an actual publisher; raised a Vegan daughter; wrote 12 additional books and has another on the way; and appeared twice on Oprah. Learn more at https://MainStreetVegan.com   ==================   FOLLOW THE SHOW ON: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@plantbasedbriefing     Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2GONW0q2EDJMzqhuwuxdCF?si=2a20c247461d4ad7 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plant-based-briefing/id1562925866 Your podcast app of choice: https://pod.link/1562925866 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlantBasedBriefing   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plant-based-briefing/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantbasedbriefing/     

Pakistan's Military Dominance: Field Marshal Munir's Power and US Relations Guest: Ambassador Husain Haqqani Ambassador Husain Haqqani detailed the institutional dominance of Pakistan's military, noting that Parliament recently granted Field Marshal Asim Munir legal immunity for life and expanded his power by designating him Chief of Defense Forces, giving him control over the entire military, as Munir aims for presidential privileges without directly taking power, backed by a national narrative that Pakistan is perpetually under threat from India, and gained significant political and psychological advantage through two meetings and praise from President Trump, despite no new US aid or weapons, while Trump, who favors strongmen, may also be using this praise to leverage concessions from Indian Prime Minister Modi, as Munir is taking risks by adopting a firmer stance regarding violence on the Northwest frontier with the Taliban, an approach not well received by the Afghans, with Pakistani politicians historically conceding ground to the military to secure a shared portion of power. 1965 INDO-PAKISTAN WAR

CONTINUED Pakistan's Military Dominance: Field Marshal Munir's Power and US Relations Guest: Ambassador Husain Haqqani Ambassador Husain Haqqani detailed the institutional dominance of Pakistan's military, noting that Parliament recently granted Field Marshal Asim Munir legal immunity for life and expanded his power 1945 CHAPPAR RIFT

Cricket icon Merv Hughes has called the Barmy Army being allocated sacred bay 13 this summer as "un-Australian". The legendary paceman wants an independent inquiry into the decision to give the English fans access to the infamous section, known for larrikin behaviour filled with iconic cricket moments. Catch Mick in the Morning, with Roo, Titus & Rosie LIVE from 6-9am weekdays on 105.1 Triple M Melbourne or via the LiSTNR app. Mick In The Morning Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/molloy Triple M Melbourne Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/triplemmelb Triple M Melbourne TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@triplemmelbourne Triple M Melbourne Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/triplemmelbourneSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the current climate, a large swath of secularists would be nervous if they knew we were considering the conquest of Canaan in the book of Joshua. The remainder would be fascinated as they attempted to understand the Christian way over against their own unbelieving assumptions. Their fascination would not be misplaced, nor their fear. Granted, many of them would speak of a Christian jihad, and we are up to nothing of that sort. But their true fear is the terror of the Lord—the sword of the Spirit—which is more deadly than any earthly blade.What this means for us is that we should not let the secularists understand the times better than we do. If they understand Joshua is an apt book at this moment, how much more should we?

This episode we cover the first silver mine in Japan, as well as the way that this sovereign is approaching offerings to the kami and handling family matters. For more check out: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-138   Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is Episode 138: Offerings and Covenants   A gentle summer breeze blew through the cherry-tree-covered hills of Yoshino valley.  The royal residence, a kind of summer home for the royal family, normally somewhat quiet, was suddenly abuzz with activity.  The regular groundskeepers and those who tended the site throughout the year mingled with servants sent from the capital to make it ready for a royal visit.  Rooms were aired out and swept. Metal fixtures were polished.  The kitchen was stocked and ready to go. It had been some years since the prince—now sovereign—had resided in the valley as an attempt to proclaim he had retired from the world.  Now he was sitting at the top of the state government, but as such, he was more often than not living in the grand palace in Asuka, which he had renovated at the start of his reign. This, the Yoshino palace, was left as more of a vacation home—though "home" hardly did it justice given its majesty compared to the meager dwellings that otherwise surrounded it. And now there was a massive royal procession on their way.  Sure, it was the sovereign and his queen, and only a handful of princes, but they would each need their own quarters and likely have their own household staff that would no doubt need to be fed and housed.  In such a way a "simple" outing for the royal family was so often anything but for those who had to make it happen. And yet, such labor was much preferred to toiling in the fields, especially as the heat of the day started to rise, and the height of summer loomed large in the all-too-immediate future.   Alright, so we are in the midst of the reign of Ohoama, aka Temmu Tennou, the brother of Naka no Ohoe, who came to power through the use of military force—purportedly used in self-defense—and the sovereign who would have a profound effect on solidifying the Ritsuryo state, as well as the Chronicles and the history of the archipelago as we know it.  We've talked about Ohoama's ascension to the throne, and even his first year.  We mentioned how, during his reign, he rewarded those who helped him, tweaked the rank system, and we talked a bit about what we know of the clothing and the material culture of the period. This episode, we continue looking at what occurred during Ohoama's reign.  Specifically we'll be covering some of the ways in which Ohoama and his court were shaping the government and the structures of power to serve him and his family.  This includes everything from ritual, such as making offerings to various kami, to the way that he seems to have centralized power to himself and his family, which would have lasting impacts through the Asuka and Nara periods. First, though, a tiny little digression about silver.  We start in the 3rd lunar month of the second year since Ohoama ascended the throne, or the year 674 by the western calendar.  We are told that Woshiumi no Miyatsuko no Ohokuni, the governor of Tsushima, the island that formed the main border between the archipelago and the mainland, reported that silver had been produced there for the first time, and sent in some as tribute.  This is the first recorded instance of silver being produced in Japan. At this time, silver mining was mostly limited to finding a vein of silver on the surface and digging it out as far as one could possibly go into the rock and stone.  Still, silver would eventually become an important resource for the archipelago.  Tsushima would continue to produce silver through modern times.  Granted, production was limited until new refining techniques were introduced from Joseon Korea in the 16th century.  This was just as Ming dynasty deposits were declining, and as such, silver would become a major export from the archipelago to the mainland.  Indeed, by the 17th century, it is said that Japan accounted for one quarter to one third of the entire world's silver production. For now, however, the discovery of native silver was certainly a good start, but the Yamato court wasn't switching to a silver coin currency just yet—rice and cloth were still the major currencies for tax and trade purposes.  Still this find seems not insignificant, and clearly the chroniclers thought so as well -- as did the court.  They granted Ohokuni, the governor of Tsushima, the rank of Lower Shoukin.  The silver produced by the mine was offered to the various kami of heaven and earth, and presents were made to the high ministers and others of the rank of Shoukin and above. Now back to the Chronicles, and to the meat of what I'll be talking about this episode. On the 3rd day of the 8th lunar month of 674, we are told that the Royal Prince Wosakabe was sent to Isonokami shrine to polish up the divine treasures, at which point the sovereign made a rather spectacular decree:  he declared that all of the precious things originally deposited in the sacred treasuries by the various houses should be returned to their descendants. This appears to be a reference to the long-standing practice by Yamato of demanding that those they had gained some level of hegemony over turn over their sacred objects for Yamato's keeping.    We talked about this back in episodes 19 and 29, for example, when we talked about how Mimaki Iribiko, aka Sujin Tenno, and Ikume Iribiko, aka Suinin Tenno, had both requested treasures from Izumo and elsewhere, to be stored in the treasure house of Isonokami. We aren't told what all of these treasures were, but we can deduce that these were sacred treasures of the different houses and localities, much as the mirror, jewel, and sword were sacred treasures of Yamato.  These were items that early on distinguished the elite class in the archipelago, and had come to be gathered in the divine store houses.  You may recall how, early on, we saw mentions in the Chroncles that ships sent out to meet with others from different lands would place such treasures on a makeshift tree on the deck as a way of depicting who they were—who they represented. It would seem that these sacred objects came to represent the divine ancestors of the elites, and so eventually were associated with the idea of power and authority.  As Yamato spread its influence, possibly as much through the spiritual authority of Mt. Miwa as through its economic and military capability, it seems to have demanded that the various lands that came under its sway place their sacred treasures in Yamato's storehouse—a powerful image of Yamato's authority.  In a sense, this was a kind of hostage situation: recognize our authority, or your most sacred treasures, representing your ancestors, will be at risk .  One wonders if this isn't part of the reason that we find buried caches of bronze ritual items, including weapons, bells, and other such things, perhaps as a means of keeping them safe from those who would steal them away. However, in the new era of the Ritsuryo system, those objects, while still considered divine and sacred, did not hold the same value as they once had.  Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but this really seems to me to be particularly illustrative of the idea that the cultural imaginary of state power and authority had shifted.  Yamato's power and authority was no longer based on its role as a spiritual powerhouse as much as it was centered on the continental framework of a heavenly mandate and a system of laws and punishments.   And so, the sovereign could return the sacred items back to their descendants, because to do so did not cost him anything, and at the same time would no doubt earn him goodwill.  He could appear magnanimous and, in so doing, solidify his position as the supreme hegemon of this new state.  In many ways this acknowledged the importance of the divine treasures to the people and to the kami while also no doubt reinforcing Confucian stereotypes of the benevolent ruler. More importantly, this shows how Ohoama was restructuring the rituals of the state.  After all, he had the Jingikan, an entire governmental department dedicated to administering the various shrines and sacred rituals; so even if the sacred treasures were returned, they were still technically under the control of the state apparatus.  We've already talked about the Daijosai, the Feast of First Fruits for a new reign, a central ritual to which Ohoama had added further pomp and circumstance.  But as no less a scholar than Herman Ooms has written about, Ohoama also initiated the practice of ordering regular centralized offerings to not just one particular kami, but to several or even a number of kami, or shrines, at any given time.  We see this in the following year, on the 23rd day of the first lunar month of 675, in an almost off-hand remark. Later, in the 10th month of 676 offerings were made to all of the "Ahimbe" kami of Heaven and Earth—that is all of kami that were part of the festival of first fruits held on the first day of the rabbit on the 11th lunar month.  Offerings were also made to all of the Heavenly and Earthly kami on the second day of the year in 681. Of course, these offerings would not just be enriching the shrines of these various kami, but it would also reflect on the various uji connected to each of those shrines, as well. Another example of the court's involvement in these ritual innovations appears to be the worship of the deities at Tatsuta and Hirose.  The first example of that is also in 675, in the 4th month of that year.  Prince Mino and Saheki no Muraji no Hirotari were sent to the Wind-gods at Tateno, in Tatsuta.  Aston notes that there is a litany to the Wind-gods mentioned in the Engishiki, a 10th century collection of information on various rituals of the time, so this practice seems to have taken hold, at least enough to persist over 3 centuries later.  Also in the 4th month of 675, Hashibito no Muraji no Ohobuta and Sone no Muraji no Karainu were sent to worship the Oho-imi deity at Kahawa, in Hirose. The Oho-imi appears to be a "big abstinence" deity, whom Aston identifies with Waka'ukahime, responsible for food.  Worship is again paid twice in the year 676, once in 677, then twice again in 679, continuing twice a year, almost exclusively in the 4th and 7th lunar months, through the end of the reign.  Why were these particular deities chosen for special worship by the court?  Ooms notes that these shrines were built downstream along the Yamato river, which, along with its tributaries, was responsible for the irrigation of the crops in the Nara basin.  This mirrors, in some ways, the responsibility of rulers in the Yellow River and Yangzi river regions to help ensure the flow of the rivers while preventing devastating flooding – a very continental idea of the responsibilities of the sovereign, though expressed here with a particularly Japanese style. Indeed, Aston associates the deity at Hirose, with the deity of food.   Likewise, the Wind-deities at Tatsuta were also related to helping to grow crops.  After all, Tatsuta would have been situated near the break in the mountains that surrounds the Nara basin, where the Yamato River flows out towards the Kawachi plain.  As anyone who lives near a mountain gap is no doubt familiar, those areas are notorious for channeling weather phenomena, including storms, which can bring rain, but could also bring terrible winds.  So it does seem a natural point to pray for good weather for your harvest or otherwise, given the geography that made up the sovereign's world. We also have, in this reign, considerably more discussion of Ise than we've seen, previously.  In 673 we have the Royal Princess Ohoku no Himemiko entering the Saigu, the Abstinence, or Purification, Palace, where she was to be purified before going to Ise, which she did in the 10th lunar month of 674.  Ohoku is said to have been the first official Saiou, the unmarried royal princess sent to oversee shrine operations, of Ise Shrine.  This is a practice we see at multiple shrines, although it's most prominent at Ise. The term for the position in general is Saiou, although at Ise the royal princess would also be known as the Saiguu, after the purification palace.  Although Ohoku is said to have been the first Saiguu at Ise, this is muddied somewhat by some earlier mentions in the Chronicles.  There are those who are said to have been sent as Shrine Princesses to Ise back in the time of Mimaki Iribiko and Ikume Iribiko, but the process was largely discontinued—or at least rarely mentioned—until this period.  There are certainly several named individuals who are said to have served the Deity of Ise previously, starting with the presumably mythical Yamato Hime, who is credited with founding the shrine.  There are also various royal princesses are noted as either having served or as having been made ineligible due to their indiscretions. However, those earlier mentions rarely go into the detail we see here —starting with the abstinence hall, where the would-be Shrine Princess must purify herself prior to approaching the shrine, a process that took some time.  Certainly we first really see this put into action with Ohoku, and from that time the position of Saiguu or Saiou at Ise does appear to have been regularly filled.  That Ohoku was actually the first "Saiguu" shrine princess appears to be confirmed by the "Fusou Ryakki", which states that the first Saiou was appointed when then Prince Ohoama, in the midst of the Jinshin war, made a prayer to Ise and offered the royal princess Ohoku no Himemiko in exchange for victory.  In fact, a lot of the focus on Ise seems to stem from its apparent involvement, at the behest of either Ohoama or his consort, Uno no Sarara Hime, in the conflict. The following year we are told that the Royal Princesses Towochi and Abe proceeded to Ise Shrine as well, though presumably just for a brief visit.  Towochi, you may recall, was Ohoama's daughter who had been married to Ohotomo, aka Koubun Tennou, whom Ohoama had defeated to take the throne.  Abe was a daughter of Naka no Oe, half-sister to Ohoama's queen, Uno, and would eventually go on to marry the Crown Prince, Kusakabe.  That gives you some idea of the position of those were going to the shrine. Princess Towochi herself would fall ill a few years later in 678.  In fact, it was just as the sovereign himself was preparing to go pay a visit to the abstinence palace, perhaps so that he could also head out to Ise.  The court had a divination to figure out when he would leave, officers had cleared the roads, and the public functionaries were in a line of procession when word came that Princess Towochi, suddenly took ill and died within the palace.  This stopped everything in its tracks, and in that year there was no sacrifice made to the kami of heaven and earth.  I suspect that this was in part due to mourning and in part due to the pollution more generally associated with death. Two weeks later, she was buried at Akaho, and Ohoama raised a lament for her. Later, in 686, we are told that the Royal Princess Taki, the Princess Yamashiro no Hime, and the Lady Ishikawa were all sent to Ise Shrine, though Princess Taki returned in less than a fortnight. Why all this focus on Ise?  Remember that the Chronicles were begun in this era, and so the "truth" they would tell would be the truth that Ohoama and his immediate successors orchestrated. The focus on Amaterasu, her shrine at Ise, and the role of the sovereign as Heavenly Descendant was thus part of the overarching narrative that the Chroniclers tried to promote.  Still, hints that the focus on Ise shrine may have been something largely created in this era, however, are scattered throughout the existing literature, despite the Chroniclers' best efforts. For one thing, it is fairly clear that early on, the focus in the Chronicles is on  Mt. Miwa and the deity  Ohomononushi, rather than Amaterasu.  We also see the fingerprints of deities like Takami no Musubi, who in one story is the one who is actually responsible for sending the Heavenly Grandchild down to earth in the first place. It also seems telling that Amaterasu is not mentioned in earlier court rituals.  Worship of Amaterasu by the royal family takes place at Ise shrine.  Meanwhile, there are various rituals preserved within the traditions of the palace that include many other, seemingly older deities. I have also noted in the past how Ise shrine isn't even the primary shrine of Ise no Kuni.  In fact, that is claimed by Tsubaki shrine, the shrine to Saruta Hiko no Ohokami, with a separate shrine to Ame no Uzume, who are both said to have met the heavenly grandchild on his descent. None of this is to say that Ise Jingu was brand new at the time of the Chronicles' writing —there does seem to have been a shrine on that spot for some time, though even the Chronicles suggest that it might have been moved from a shrine originally housed in the Nara basin.  It is also possible, and even likely, that the rise of Ise and Amaterasu coincided with other trends at the time.  Even if the Sun Goddess had not always been centered in Yamato ritual, she was not a new deity, and it may have been the case that her prominence, and that of her shrine in Ise had been growing in prominence before this time, and so the court was now adopting that popularity for themselves.  Of course, Ohoama and Uno don't exactly spell out what they were attempting to achieve, beyond the unification of the archipelago, more broadly.  How, exactly, their focus on Ise Shrine was meant to play into that I don't know that I could fully state, but it certainly seems to have allowed the sovereign to create a new cultic focus for kami worship with a story that touched on regions from Kyushu all the way to the eastern shore of the Kii peninsula. Given the decentralized nature of kami worship, I don't believe it was possible to completely rewrite all of the stories—hence the numerous and conflicting accounts given in the Chronicles.  However, that is also what would have made it easier to hide newly fabricated—or perhaps simply exaggerated—stories in the mix.  And of course, it wasn't necessarily that the Chroniclers were creating things out of whole cloth, but they were able to choose those things that people would remember and what would be lost and forgotten over time.  They had to make the decision, for instance, which story they told was the "main" storyline, and which were listed as coming from "other books", implying a degree of separation from the truth. Through all of this, it certainly seems that propping up the royal family and its lineage was a central focus—even if that lineage was largely something that had recently been created.  As a reminder, we see a lot heavier reliance at this point on royal princes as opposed to other elite families, and an actual or implied reliance, in particular, on the royal family, as that is where Ohoama was consolidating most of the power and authority. Kitayama Shigeo coined the term "Koushin Seiji" to refer to this idea of a consolidated royal—or imperial—family managing the affairs of state.  Literally it is something like "Imperial Family Government".   In Shigeo's concept this was specifically an autocratic authority executed by the sovereign, and those of his immediate family.  Of course, writing in the post-war era, it is more than a little likely that Shigeo and others were looking at the concept of Tennou in the 20th century compared with many other world monarchs.  In that vein, the Asuka and Nara periods do seem to have been one of the rare times—perhaps even the last time—that the sovereigns had such a direct hand in the government and the making and establishment of law and tradition. That said, not everyone ascribes entirely to the idea that Ohoama was a completely autocratic despot—after all, it was clear that there were still plenty of powerful families in the archipelago, and the Ritsuryo state itself was also being strengthened.  Still, it does seem that Ohoama had brought his queen, Uno no Sarara, and his descendants into government.  And they would not only assist him, but continue his work for the next generations, such that even though the histories would not be finished until well after Ohoama's death, they would still show his influence on events. The dedication of the royal family to work as one is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the events of the 5th lunar month of 679.  It was then that the sovereign, and his family, proceeded to the Yoshino Palace.  Now Ohoama had plenty of offspring—among them 10 sons.  And as long as he was around, there would be a certain amount of civility, but he knew all too well how things could break down after a sovereign's death.  And so he brought them together and he made them enter into a pact, which we know as the Yoshino Covenant, or Yoshino no Meiyaku.  Besides Ohoama himself, there were several others in attendance, presumably those who might stand to one day inherit the realm.  These included his partner and queen, Uno no Sarara Hime, as well as her son, Prince Kusakabe, who would be named Crown Prince, only a couple of years later.  It also included the Royal princes Ohotsu, Takechi, Kawashima, Osakabe, and Shiki.  All of these individuals were made to swear an oath to support each other, even though they were all from different mothers, and they agreed. But so what?  Why does it matter?  It is all well and good that Ohoama brought them together for a bit of kumbaya in his old digs away from the capital, but was there anything really to this covenant. This covenant is significant in several ways.  First off, it is clear that Ohoama was pulling in his family and trying to ensure they were onboard with what he was doing and what was planned.  Furthermore, it set out a clear line of succession, something that had not really been done up to this point. We have ideas on what would have made a candidate eligible, but other than naming a particular crown prince there hasn't exactly been any clear process or rules of precedence for who would assume the throne.  Here, though, we have a list that appears to be in order of precedence, since it otherwise may not seem to make sense, at least from a modern perspective. A key clue in the Chronicles is often the order of the names.  The most important or highest ranking person is usually given first, and then names are typically given in descending order of precedence.  There are clues that this is the case, but it becomes even more stark when we actually see reference to an individual's court rank or the size of their fief.  Since this period brings about court rank even for royal princes, we have some of that, at least in later records.  As such, there is the idea that this order was actually providing for a line of succession.   As I mentioned, up to this point, the contest for the throne was a toss up with each monarch's death.  Claims from competing princes were often considered equally valid until one proved their claim through a political or military victory.  Ohoama appears to have been trying to add greater structure to this.  Specifically, we see that Uno no Sarara's son, Kusakabe, is given pride of place.  In fact, throughout the Chronicle it is typical that we see the Chroniclers designate a queen—a Kougou—that is considered the primary wife.  This queen is almost always found to be the descendant of previous royalty, granting their child a doubly royal lineage, through both the maternal and paternal lines.   There has been plenty of reason to doubt that this was actually the case, and it often seems like the Chroniclers stretched things more than a bit to make it all work out.  However, now we are almost more concerned with the very *truth* that the Chroniclers were attempting to burn into the social consciousness rather than the historical facts, because that gives us direct insight into how the court of the day viewed succession and legitimacy.And that does lead to another possible thought:  since the Chroniclers knew how things turned out it is possible that they were the ones ensuring that the order was as we have it.  So we cannot definitively say that this exactly mirrors's Ohoama's idea, but it certainly seems in line with his history and intentions and helps set the stage for us, at least, regarding what would later transpire in regards to succession.. Getting back to the covenant, as I noted, the first person listed, after Ohoama and Uno no Sarara Hime, is Prince Kusakabe.  He would be about 17 or 18 years old at this time, which is probably why he wasn't formally named Crown Prince until a couple of years later.  He isn't the eldest son, however.  Rather he was the second son.  Ohoama's eldest son, Prince Takechi, was actually third in line. Takechihad been with his father helping to lead the troops during the Jinshin War. While he was some 8 years senior to Kusakabe, he was nonetheless a son of Amago no Musume, one of Ohoama's consorts from a powerful clan, but not a royal princess like Uno no Sarara, Kusakabe's mother. Between Kusakabe and Takechi, in the second place spot for succession, was actually Prince Ohotsu, whom we also mentioned during the Jinshin War.  Ohotsu was likely 16-17 years old around this time.  While he was the third eldest child, he, like Kusakabe, was the son of a Royal Princess, Princess Ota, daughter of Naka no Oe, giving him greater bonafides than Takechi, apparently. So, in the top three slots, we have: Ohoama's eldest son by a royal mother, Ohoama's second eldest son by a royal mother, and finally Ohoama's eldest son by a non-royal mother. Fourth in line, and the 4th eldest, presumably, though I don't know that we have an actual age for him, is Prince Wosakabe.  He likely wasn't too young, however, as he had been given the task, previously, to polish the divine treasures in Isonokami's storehouse. It would appear that six of Ohoama's other sons didn't even get a mention.  That includes Princes Naga and Yuge, born to another daughter of Naka no Ohoe, Ohoye no Himemiko.  Then there is Prince Toneri, son of Royal Princess Nittabe, not to be confused with Royal Prince Nittabe, Ohoama's son by way of a daughter of Fujiwara no Kamatari.  Finally there was Royal Prince Hodzumi, a maternal grandson of Soga no Akaye, and Prince Shiki, a full brother to Prince Wosakabe. Prince Toneri is particularly conspicuous in his absence.  We know that he held the 5th rank, and two positions in government—that of Nagon, or Councillor, as well as the Minister of the Household, our Kunaikyou.  This may be because he was not doing so well.  We aren't told the story until the following year, on the 2nd day of the 7th lunar month of 680, when we are told that Prince Toneri took ill and was on the point of death.  His half-brother, Prince Takechi, went to check on him, and a day later Toneri passed away.  The way these are written it would be easy to believe that it all happened in a pretty short timeframe, but it is also just as likely that illness lingered, especially without modern medicine.  So it is possible that Prince Toneri was too sick at the time of the original covenant, though there could be some other reason we weren't told. This doesn't necessarily hold for all of the others, though.  For instance, we have the Princes Naga and Yuge mentioned in 693, well over a decade later, being granted the 2nd Broader Pure Rank at the same time that Prince Takechi is granted the 1st Broader Pure Rank.  So we can at least see that they were ranked below Takechi.   Similarly we see Prince Hodzumi likewise attained 2nd Broader Pure Rank at some point, and was still around to have his own fief and to receive houses to it in the following reign.  Hozumi even ranked above some of the others were in Yoshino, and yet was not present. It is possible that the princes not mentioned, assuming they had not met with an untimely end that was not mentioned in the record somewhere, could have been too young or too junior at the time of the meeting.  After all, when we look at the known ages of those who were there, we see that Prince Takechi may have been 25 years old, but Prince Kusakabe and Prince Otsu were just under 20, and it is unclear if others were older or younger than they were. There are two other princes who were part of the covenant who were not, perhaps surprisingly, sons of Ohoama.  Rather they were his nephews, sons of Ohoama's brother, Naka no Ohoe.  They were the princes Kawashima and Shiki. Kawashima is mentioned several times throughout the record.  Kawashima's mother was from a high ranking noble family, but given that Kawashima was married to his cousin, one of Ohoama's daughters, that may have brought him closer to the family.  He was about 22 years old at the time, too.  We see him often teaming up with Prince Osakabe on various projects, including the project to compile together the history of the royal household.  In fact, Prince Kawashima always precedes Prince Osakabe when they are mentioned together.  That said, we have evidence of Kawashima only being awarded up to 3rd Greater Pure rank, below even that of some who were not present, such as Prince Hodzumi.  His importance and impact, however, is noted through his numerous appearances in the record. In contrast, Prince Shiki has almost no mentions in the record.  It doesn't help that there are two Princes Shiki, one born to Naka no Ohoye and one born to Ohoama.  Their names are spelled differently, however, and although the first character of "Shiki" used in the Yoshino record matches neither name, the second character suggests that this was the son of Naka no Ohoye and not the Shiki that was brother to Prince Osakabe—though given that one followed the other in the record, there may have been some confusion on this point. And with all of that we have our apparent line of succession, as well as an idea of who the movers and shakers might be within the royal family.  From Ohoama and Uno no Sarara, we have Princes Kusakabe, Ohotsu, Takechi, Kawashima, Osakabe, and Shiki.  Six princes, four directly descended from the current sovereign, Ohoama, and two from the Naka no Ohoe lineage. Obviously, promoting the idea of a strictly patrilineal succession of father to son would have caused some problems for Ohoama's own legitimacy, not that anyone was going to gainsay him while he was on the throne.  However, with Kusakabe they seem to have established that in a de facto format, at least.  Furthermore it provided a blueprint for succession might fall to the other lines should the main line not work out.  This put Prince Ohotsu as next in line, should anything happen to Kusakabe, followed by Takechi.  That Kawashima may have had a shot over Osakabe and then Shiki is interesting as it suggests that it wasn't strictly about who descended from whom. We'll have to wait for Ohoama's death before we can fully appreciate how well this worked, of course.  Throughout history, agreements and covenants amongst powerful interests are often only as permanent as long as all of the interests remain aligned with one another, whether through mutual benefit or threat of consequences.  Once the power shifts, as it always does, those promises and treaties are almost always up for renegotiation, unless they are supported by some higher authority, whatever that might be. Following the royal family's off-site, they returned to the palace in Asuka.  There they had a formal ceremony in the Great Hall, the Ohodono, where the six princes all demonstrated their allegiance and paid respects to Ohoama.  Given the timing of this event, one can likely assume that it was a kind of public acknowledgement of the covenant and the agreement that they would all be working together as a united front on the project of the government. And with that, I think we can bring it to  a close for now.  There is plenty more about this reign to discuss before we move on, but we'll get there. Until then, if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  

Ask Me Anything and takeaways of the day featuring Andy, Randy, Beau, and Abe.

The Celtics blow the doors of the Grizzlies 131-95 and we finally got to see 48 minutes of great basketball. Granted, it came against a bad Grizzlies team that was also decimated with injuries but you have to love seeing good basketball regardless. Pritchard led the way in this one with 24pts alongside 6reb and 9ast and was making some insane passes out there getting everyone involved. This was also the first time this season where Derrick White truly looked like his old self which is great to see!This was another game where Queta and Luka Garza really played well contributing 13pts 8reb and 14pts 7reb respectively. Because of their strong play, the Celtics did out rebound Memphis 58-41 in this game! Overall, there are a lot of strong performances and not a lot of negative to talk about which isn't how a lot of these early season games have gone lol. The Celtics move to 6-7 on the year and have a very winnable stretch of basketball ahead of them!This podcast is brought to you by me, Guy DePlacido. I have been a Loan Officer servicing MA, NH and ME for the last 5 years so if you are looking to buy or refinance, reach out to me today at (978) 804-7756 or email me at guy.deplacido@ccm.com! Like the Boston Celtics, I know that you need a great team behind you to win so this year I am partnering with some of my favorites including Deb Burke, and Collin Tucker.If you're looking to buy or sell a home in the near future meet Deb Burke, your trusted realtor at Compass Real Estate, serving MA and NH. With a passion for finding dream homes, Deb is committed to making your real estate journey a breeze. Whether you're buying or selling, Deb's got your back. Reach out today at 978-930-4621 or email deb.burke@compass.com to start your next chapter. Let's turn your real estate dreams into reality!After getting preapproved with me and finding your home with Deb Burke, you'll want to make sure your home is protected and for that, there is nobody better than Collin Tucker at Berlin Insurance Group. Collin is a local agent but he is licensed in all of New England with over 20+ carriers for auto and home insurance guaranteeing the lowest quote possible. I have worked with Collin so many times not only for my clients insurance needs but mine as well. Reach out to Collin Tucker at Berlin Insurance Group at 508-459-1226 or Collin@berlininsurancegroup.comOne of my favorite things about the Celtics is how much they care and give back to the community and INspire Cafe is following that model too. Inspire Cafe is a Community Cafe in Wakefield on a mission to inspire change and creating a more inclusive world where individuals with diverse abilities are not just included but valued. If you're looking for, not only amazing food, but an opportunity to support a cafe that is inspiring change check out INspire Cafe in Wakefield today! 

Have you ever thought about...What a therapist, a grandma, and an organ donor teach you about service design?I know, this might sound like the start of a strange joke, but it gets to the heart of a big truth about our work. We invest a lot of time perfecting our journey maps, blueprints, and personas. But as we know, the challenges we work on won't be solved by a deliverable.They're solved through invisible "tools" like subtle influence, creating space for others, and building strategic relationships. So, where do you find these tools? Well, this episode is a great start.This episode is part of our "Inside Service Design" series, where we explore the real, unpolished practice of driving change from within organizations.And just like in the previous episodes you get to hear two brilliant in-house professionals, share some of their most powerful, non-traditional strategies. This time we're joined by Irina Damascan and Gina Mendolia.Gina walks us through her concept of "Setting the Trap" for engagement, and how she draws inspiration from the roles of therapists, coaches, and even grandmas to master the art of creating space and enabling teams to connect the dots themselves. Irina introduces a powerful model for influence she calls the "Organ Donor Chain," a strategic way to build networks of reciprocity by doing "favors" that enable change across the organization, often in unexpected ways.I have to say, it was refreshing to hear about effective mental models that go beyond design-as-usual, which aren't just theories but truly help to design better services.Want to add some (unconventional) tools that help you drive change to your toolkit? Grab your notebook and join us for this conversation.What's the most unconventional place you've found inspiration for your work? Maybe a different profession, a hobby, a movie? Share your inspiration in the comments on YouTube and let's continue the conversation there.Keep making a positive impact!~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome04:30 Who is Ben06:00 How Heydn got his role07:15 What Heydn is currently doing08:15 Ben working at a financial services firm10:15 who Ben is reporting to11:30 where Autodesk sits13:15 what a good looks like for Heydn16:30 indicators of success17:30 what success looks like for Ben23:30 Why Context Determines Your SD Strategy27:00 Ben's topic: the first 90 days30:45 Heydn's key takeaway35:00 Making Your Map Complicated on Purpose37:00 Ben's takeaway43:00 the last time he has done the first 90 days46:45 Heydn reacting48:45 Learning things the hard way51:00 Ben's hard lessons55:00 what keeps him motivated57:30 what will Heydn get back there1:00:00 Ben to summarize1:00:30 Heydn's final words of wisdom --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/heydnhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/benmccammon/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-snipd

In this podcast episode, Vulcan (aka Coach House) discusses the impact of modern conveniences on our capabilities and daily lives. He explores how technology, while beneficial, can lead to a decline in physical fitness, social interactions, and problem-solving skills. The conversation emphasizes the importance of auditing personal capabilities and being prepared for unexpected situations, ultimately questioning whether our reliance on convenience makes us more fragile.TakeawaysConvenience can lead to a decline in physical capabilities.Technology is a double-edged sword; it can enhance or hinder our skills.Social interactions are diminishing due to reliance on technology.We should regularly audit our personal capabilities.Being prepared for unexpected situations is crucial.Micro conversations with strangers enrich our lives.Functional fitness is essential for maintaining utility in daily life.The mind is our most powerful tool for problem-solving.Modern conveniences can create a false sense of security.We must reflect on what conveniences we take for granted.TitlesThe Tyranny of Convenience: Are We Losing Our Capabilities?Navigating Modern Life: The Impact of Technology on UsSound bites"What are we losing?""It's a thinking exercise.""What if it goes away?"Chapters00:00 Introduction to Convenience and Capabilities02:48 The Tyranny of Convenience05:53 Technology and Its Impact on Daily Life08:42 Social Interactions and Micro Conversations11:34 Functional Fitness and Utility14:17 Auditing Personal Capabilities17:26 Preparedness and Problem Solving20:12 The Fragility of Modern Life23:07 The Importance of Physical Activity25:46 Conclusion and Reflection on Convenience

Fernandez v. United States | 11/12/25 | Docket #: 24-556 24-556 FERNANDEZ V. UNITED STATES DECISION BELOW: 104 F.4th 420 THE PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI IS GRANTED LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHETHER A COMBINATION OF “ EXTRAORDINARY AND COMPELLING REASONS ” THAT MAY WARRANT A DISCRETIONARY SENTENCE REDUCTION UNDER 18 U. S. C. §3582(c)(1)(A) CAN INCLUDE REASONS THAT MAY ALSO BE ALLEGED AS GROUNDS FOR VACATUR OF A SENTENCE UNDER 28 U. S. C. §2255.   CERT. GRANTED 5/27/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: Under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), a district court has broad discretion to reduce the term of imprisonment in any case if it finds that "extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction." The sole limitation Congress placed on that discretion is found in 18 U.S.C. § 994(t), which provides that "[r]ehabilitation of the defendant alone shall not be considered an extraordinary and compelling reason." In reversing the district court's grant of compassionate release to Joe Fernandez, the Second Circuit held that it was an abuse of discretion for the court to have considered evidence bearing on Fernandez's potential innocence as well to have found a disparity in sentences between Fernandez and several of his co-defendants who were cooperating witnesses. That decision was contrary to decisions of the First and Ninth Circuits, which have each held that district courts are not restricted with respect to matters they may consider under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) other than as set forth by Congress. The question presented is: Whether the Second Circuit erred in recognizing extra-textual limitations on what information a court may consider when determining whether there exist extraordinary and compelling reasons warranting a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1) (A). LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 22-3122

Rutherford v. United States | 11/12/25 | Docket #: 24-820 24-820 RUTHERFORD V. UNITED STATES DECISION BELOW: 120 F.4th 360 CONSOLIDATED FOR ONE HOUR ORAL ARGUMENT WITH 24-860 CERT. GRANTED 6/6/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: The compassionate-release statute permits courts to reduce a prisoner's sentence if the court finds that "extraordinary and compelling reasons" warrant relief. 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). Congress placed only two limits on what can count as an "extraordinary and compelling reason": (1) it must be "consistent with" "applicable policy statements" from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, id .; and (2) "[r]ehabilitation of the defendant alone shall not be considered an extra- ordinary and compelling reason," 28 U.S.C. § 994(t). Sections 401 and 403 of the First Step Act of 2018 reduced penalties for certain drug and firearm offenses going forward. Because of these changes, individuals sentenced today for these offenses often face mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment decades shorter than they would have received before the First Step Act. The question presented is: Whether, as four circuits permit but six others prohibit, a district court may consider disparities created by the First Step Act's prospective changes in sentencing law when deciding if "extraordinary and compelling reasons" warrant a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i). LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 23-1904

Welcome to Sports By The Book -- November 11th, 2025 You LIVE sports. You LOVE sports. You BET sports. The key to winning your sports bets is information. You need an edge. Our professional betting specialist, Alex White gives you her favorite picks every show. Entertaining and enlightening, you're sure to collect on your sports bets more often after watching "Sports By The Book". Streamed LIVE from South Point Studio in the beautiful South Point Hotel & Casino. Get ready to up your game and get in on the action with the ultimate sports betting podcast - Sports By the Book. Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3WXUaD4 Special Guest: Ryan McCormick.

Landor v. LA DOC | 11/10/25 | Docket #: 23-1197 23-1197 LANDOR V. LA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS DECISION BELOW: 82 F.4th 337 CERT. GRANTED 6/23/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: Congress has enacted two "sister" statutes to protect religious exercise: the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq ., and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. 2000cc et seq . In Tanzin v. Tanvir , 592 U.S. 43 (2020), this Court held that an individual may sue a government official in his individual capacity for damages for violations of RFRA. RLUIPA's relevant language is identical. The question presented is whether an individual may sue a government official in his individual capacity for damages for violations of RLUIPA. LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 22-30686

GEO Group, Inc. v. Menocal | 11/10/25 | Docket #: 24-758 24-758 THE GEO GROUP, INC. V. MENOCAL DECISION BELOW: 2024 WL 4544184 CERT. GRANTED 6/2/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: Under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, the courts of appeals "have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts." This Court has held that certain orders are immediately appealable under Section 1291 even though they do not terminate the litigation. Such "collateral orders" include orders denying claims of absolute immunity, qualified immunity, and state sovereign immunity. The question presented, which has divided the circuit courts 5-3, is whether an order denying a government contractor's claim of derivative sovereign immunity is immediately appealable under the collateral-order doctrine. LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 22-1409

I was moving the harp the other day and once again, it occurred to me just how much stuff we have to carry around with us. Granted, I move my harp all the time for rehearsals and concerts - it's a big Lyon Healy Salzedo model harp - so you would think I'd be used to it by now.  I guess I am, mostly; I don't have to think about what goes in the car, and my harp bag is always ready to go. But when I start counting the number of trips I have to make between my car and the concert hall in the pouring rain, I start wishing for a Star Trek transporter.  But recently, while I was moving the harp, my bench, my stand, and my bag, I had a flash of insight; we harpists carry a lot of baggage with us. Not a revelation, I know, but it led my mind to consider the other kind of baggage we harpists carry, the stress that accumulates in our practice and performance. That's a kind of baggage that piles up in a sneaky way until one day, we find it has overwhelmed us. The physical stress that is part of practicing, the mental stress that can come with intense focus and the emotional stress of wanting to do our best when we play can add up to a potentially toxic level.  The worrisome part is we rarely acknowledge the stress as it is building little by little. There is simply a moment when we know we can't take any more, often as we are in the final stages of preparing for a performance. That's when we want to be at our most focused, but our mind and body are shutting down, trying to protect us from too much stress. I'm better at managing stress than I used to be, but stress used to be baggage that I always carried with me to some degree. It came and went in cycles, and I'm embarrassed to admit that it never occurred to me that this wasn't or shouldn't have been normal. I don't want to be all doom and gloom here. What I want to talk about today is how to recognize that sneaky cycle of stress and release yourself from it. We'll talk about the hidden symptoms of stress and how to recognize them and how to keep them from coming back. It's time to ditch the excess baggage and feel free to play. Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:  Are you a beginner? Register now for my free seminar, Pro Tactics for Beginners. Register for the Getaway Retreat now at Early Bird Pricing!  Stretches for Harpists, by Mary Jane D'Arville  Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at podcast@harpmastery.com   Looking for a transcript for this episode? Did you know that if you subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts you will have access to their transcripts of each episode? LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-234  

JOIN US as we discuss Scotty Morrow.RIP to the victims

Ninja Nurse Book: https://amzn.to/42n9Fqz TKF -KFP Blend 1.Leaders 2.Ando Mierzwa 3. Saturday Mental Meals Shurite Troy June 26-28 2026 https://shuritebujutsu.com/seminars%2Fevents Support A Kids Dream https://gofund.me/e745a0e7 Injuries, ailments and bruising are part of being a martial artist. Sore muscles, joint tweaks and broken bones can happen in martial activity with many variables dictating the outcome. We want to identify the most important variables or potential risks. The injury rate in martial arts is similar to other contact sports. In a study, # Comparison of Shotokan Karate Injuries against Injuries in other Martial Arts and Select NCAA Contact Sports By John-David Swanson, Ph.D. Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI 02840 Martial arts has "myriad physical and mental benefits. Physical benefits include improved balance, meaningful exercise, and the ability to protect oneself against a physical threat [2]. It is also a physical art, with flowing movements that support one's connection to his/her movements." A review of research revealed there is a 1 in 5 chance of being injured in a shotokan tournament and 1 in 4 chance of being injured over the course of time training. The mean percentage of reported injuries thru 10 studies 1. Contusions 47% 2. Epistaxis (nosebleed) 20% 3. Laceration 14% 4. Sprains/strains 3% 5. Concussions 2% some as high as 7% the most injury-prone arts appear to be Jujitsu (97.5%), Aikido (51%), and Kung Fu (38%), followed by Judo, Karate, and Tae Kwon Do which all were at 20-21%. The least injury prone martial art of those studied is Tai Chi (14%). Which I define as the Wellness versions, but may include pushhands and some strengthening work. Over a 16 year NCAA research study, the only collegiate sport that had a higher injury rate than shotokan karate was football witha 36% injury rate. Soccer and ice hockey following respectively. The major risk factors for injury in the Martial Arts are the 1. time spent in training, 2. age of the participant, 3. the experience of the participant. 4. Specifically, it was found that overtraining, and older and inexperienced participants presented the highest risk of injury. As you might imagine, these factors compound, so an older, inexperienced person has a much higher percentage of getting injured. Professor Swanson states, "The single most important factor in preventing injury is the education and experience level of the instructor [14]. This indicates the requirement of having a strong organizational “apprenticeship” or instructor qualification that includes specific instruction in warm up and cool down procedures, injury prevention and the mechanisms of prevention, the ability to determine overtraining, the ability to give appropriate advice to students in the implication of techniques in both execution and results of delivery" Segways to why this is an important book, Ninja Nurse by Peter Jones. The Essential Guide to Injury Management in Martial Arts. It is available on amazon, goodreads and several other locations. Contributing to the validity of this 300 page book is that Peter is a nurse, has over 30 years of multi-martial experiences and deposits volumes of this information into one book. Ninja Nurse is an excellent guide to all aspects of injury prevention or reduction in martial arts. Chapters include health screening, risk assessment, and aspects of the training environment. Also, You Get a deepdive into children and to combat sports. It also includes true stories, useful links, and where to find important forms if you have a school. Peter takes you through a process, how to: 1. Reduce and prevent injury 2. Treat injury 3. Learn from the injury The book emphasizes content for the instructor. Peter walks through potential problem actions such as : 1. Breakfalling 2. Striking and padholding 3. Chokes and strangles As I read through the book, I noted that Peter provides you a good idea of what a legimate martial arts first aid kit might look like. Granted, any is better than none. However, This is particularly useful if you are not sure on how to build your martial arts first aid kit. Then please, make sure that you can use everything that is in it. https://www.nationalcprfoundation.com/courses/standard-first-aid-3/. $12.95 2 years Reality Moment: Indiana Personal Injury Lawsuit Involving Karate Kick Moves Forward. Kicking Held Bags, Johnny the jackass has already been warned twice about trying to crush people, and on third, gets a lady, jump kicks her when she wasn't ready. she injures her knee in the fall that required surgery. She has sued Johnny, and the court has stated, "an individual's actions during a particular exercise or drill in a practice session can be viewed as “within the range of ordinary behavior of participants in the sport” or whether it is dangerous is for a jury to decide." It continues, "Responsible trainers and athletes keep themselves aware of both the risk of injury and the steps to prevent them." My understanding is that the injured lady is only seeking damages from Johnny Jackass and not the martial arts school. My guess would be that they did things as close to right as possible, except for yanking johnny on his second warning. Ninja Nurse is an excellent clinical reference broken into areas, such as: 1. Spinal injury 2. Chest 3. Neck 4. Limbs 5. And smaller join injuries. Peter discusses Mental Health Awareness and there associations to problems in your training hall. Depression, anger, bi-polar students will bring unique concerns that you can reduce with awareness. Peter states, "consider an acute mental health episode like an acute injury." Iain Abernethy said, ""it focuses on how to ensure training partners don't get hurt and how to help them if they do." Jamie Clubb says, "this is as an exhaustive work on the subject as one could hope to find." I would tell you that this book addresses a critical area of any martial arts training center. Its value is well worth more than the cost. Thank you Peter. References [Shotokan and Other Martial Art Injury Rates](https://thesportjournal.org/article/comparison-of-shotokan-karate-injuries-against-injuries-in-other-martial-arts-and-select-ncaa-contact-sports/)

Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, President of U.S. | 11/05/25 | Docket #: 24-1287 24-1287 LEARNING RESOURCES, INC. V. TRUMP DECISION BELOW: THE PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT IS GRANTED. CONSOLIDATED WITH 25-250 FOR ONE HOUR ORAL ARGUMENT. EXPEDITED BRIEFING. THE CASES WILL BE SET FOR ARGUMENT IN THE FIRST WEEK OF THE NOVEMBER 2025 ARGUMENT SESSION.       CERT. GRANTED 9/9/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. ("IEEPA") permits the President, upon a valid emergency declaration, to "investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest[.]" Id. § l 702(a)(1)(B). Until now, no President in IEEPA's nearly 50-year history has ever invoked it to impose tariffs-let alone the sweeping worldwide tariffs imposed pursuant to the executive orders challenged here. The question presented is: Whether IEEPA authorizes the President to impose tariffs. LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 25-5202

I love spontaneous podcasts. That's what happened today with Randy Barton. He's a Diné (Navajo) artist and is just a very interesting man and a very unique and important artistic voice. He has a great story. He moves from the reservation to Winslow, AZ and gets into  hip hop culture and graffiti at a very young age. He runs with this, and it becomes the story of his life. Randy lays it all out in our conversation.This is one of those that you should watch on YouTube. Granted, this is an ART podcast, so they're all better with added visuals, but also because he's just such an animated individual. It's fun to be in his presence. He has a magnetism that you just can't put into words, but you know it when you feel it.I got to watch Randy do a live painting this summer and it was amazing to see. He's just so multi-dimensional in his creativity, from traditional art, to graphic design, to fashion, to dance, to music, to filmmaking. It was a really fun, interesting, and overall dynamic podcast that just happened out of thin air. After speaking with him for an hour or so, I like to think that's how Randy's life is. Things are naturally spontaneous for him and he's the type of person that - when he feels something, he just does it. So anyway, I had a great time, and I think you will too. This is Randy Barton on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 370.