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Top Stories for October 7th Publish Date: October 7th From The BG AD Group Studio, Welcome to the Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. Today is Tuesday, October 7th and Happy Birthday to John Mellencamp I’m Peyton Spurlock and here are your top stories presented by KIA Mall of Georgia Fox Theatre continues Coca-Cola Film Series with screening of 'The Phantom of the Opera' Iconic Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli reflects on 30 years of music ahead of Gwinnett concert Gwinnett honors Jimmy Carter's life on his 101st birthday All of this and more is coming up on the Gwinnett Daily Post podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen and subscribe! Break 1: Kia MOG STORY 1: Fox Theatre continues Coca-Cola Film Series with screening of 'The Phantom of the Opera' The Fox Theatre is bringing a little magic—and a lot of nostalgia—to its Coca-Cola Film Series with a special screening of the 1925 silent classic The Phantom of the Opera on Oct. 29. Here’s the twist: the film will be accompanied live by organist Ken Double on the Mighty Mo, the Fox’s legendary 1929 Möller pipe organ. If you’ve never heard it, you’re in for a treat—it’s massive, intricate, and honestly, a masterpiece in itself. But that’s not all. Expect Phantom-inspired photo ops, a peek into the Fox’s own history with the film, and, for Marquee Club guests, custom watercolor portraits by Lexi Brite’s team. Exclusive, artsy, and unforgettable. Tickets? Head to foxtheatre.org. STORY 2: Iconic Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli reflects on 30 years of music ahead of Gwinnett concert For over three decades, Andrea Bocelli has been enchanting audiences worldwide with his voice—one that feels like it was made to stir souls. At 67, the legendary tenor from Italy, has sold over 90 million albums, but it’s his live performances that truly leave people breathless. On Saturday, Oct. 11, Bocelli will bring his magic to Gas South Arena in Duluth, performing a mix of operatic arias, crossover hits, and selections from his album A Family Christmas. With Maestro Steven Mercurio conducting and surprises promised, it’s a night not to miss. STORY 3: Gwinnett honors Jimmy Carter's life on his 101st birthday Even though former President Jimmy Carter wasn’t there in person last Wednesday, Tiffany Parks felt his presence everywhere. As volunteers hammered and sawed away at what will soon be her new home in Lilburn, she couldn’t help but think of the man who championed Habitat for Humanity for decades. “This is special—for him, his family, his legacy,” Parks said. Wednesday would’ve been Carter’s 101st birthday, and Gwinnett County honored him in every way imaginable: a Habitat build, a mural at Best Friend Park, blue lights on Jimmy Carter Boulevard, and heartfelt tributes. “He showed the world that everyone deserves a home,” said Habitat’s Eric Miller. We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.874.3200 for more info. We’ll be right back Break 2: CITY OF SUGAR HILL STORY 4: Gwinnett road closures Oct. 4-10 Here’s what’s happening with Gwinnett road closures for Oct. 4-10, courtesy of the Department of Transportation: Albion Farm Rd: Lane closures through October for utility work. Ballpark Ln: Closed until November for construction. Detour via Rock Springs Rd and Buford Dr. Beaver Ruin Rd over I-85: Lane closures through April 2026 for bridge work. Buford Dam Rd: Lane closures for improvements. Info: 678.231.3190. Lakeview Rd: Closed for bridge replacement. Detour via Grayson Pkwy. For the full list or questions, email DOT Community Relations at dotcommunityrelations@gwinnettcounty.com. Stay safe out there! STORY 5: EXPLORING GWINNETT'S HISTORY: Your Parcel ID and the 1820 Land Lottery Ever wonder where your property’s parcel ID comes from? Turns out, it’s not random—it’s rooted in history, all the way back to Georgia’s 1820 Land Lottery. Back then, the state divided up land taken from Native Americans through treaties and forced removal, creating opportunities for white settlers to claim plots. Gwinnett County, established in 1818, was part of this process. Surveyors carved the county into districts and 250-acre lots. The first digit of your parcel ID? That’s your lottery district. The next three? Your original land lot. The last three? Your slice of that lot today. Curious who won your land? Visit the Gwinnett Historical Society in Lawrenceville! We’ll be right back. Break: LILBURN DAZE STORY 6: The Lights Fest coming to Lanier Islands Resort On Oct. 25, the night sky over Lake Lanier will come alive with thousands of glowing lanterns as The Lights Fest makes its Atlanta-area debut at Lanier Islands Resort. Picture it: a lakeside evening filled with music, dancing, and the quiet magic of lanterns drifting into the dark. Hosted at PineIsle, the event invites people to release biodegradable lanterns—simple rice paper, bamboo, and string—symbolizing hope, remembrance, or just letting go. Some come to honor loved ones, others to dream, and some just to soak in the beauty. A portion of proceeds supports the Georgia Mountain Food Bank. Want to stay the night? Lanier Islands is offering a special package with tickets and accommodations. Details at lanierislands.com. STORY 7: Georgia Tech Switching to Under Armour from Adidas for Uniforms, Apparel Big news for Georgia Tech fans: starting July 1, 2026, Under Armour will officially take over as the Yellow Jackets’ provider for uniforms, apparel, footwear, and accessories. Yep, the same brand outfitting Notre Dame, Maryland, and Wisconsin is coming to Atlanta. This partnership isn’t just about gear—it’s about innovation. Under Armour’s investment includes NIL opportunities for student-athletes and even hands-on roles in product design. Fans? Expect more Tech merch hitting stores soon. Fun fact: Georgia Tech was Under Armour’s first collegiate client back in 1996. Now, nearly 30 years later, they’re reuniting. Full-circle moment, right? Stay tuned for uniform reveals! We’ll have closing comments after this. Break 4: Ingles Markets Signoff – Thanks again for hanging out with us on today’s Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Marietta Daily Journal, or the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at www.gwinnettdailypost.com Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the BG Podcast Network Show Sponsors: www.ingles-markets.com www.kiamallofga.com #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversations See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Cast Iron Balls is here with a firsthand account of the Virginia/FSU overtime thriller in Charlottesville last Friday, and plenty of TAKES about the state of the Georgia football program. And since it's already nearly the weekend, we're also doing our Week 6 preview. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!Show RundownOpen — Abe Live Bets the Games!4:33 — Virginia storms the field after beating FSU17:24 — Georgia loses to Alabama AGAIN40:40 — Penn State loses another big matchup, and quickly acknowledging the rest of the games53:53 — The Best Game in Every Time Slot1:06:26 — CIB 2025 Football Pick ‘em Contest1:14:00 — Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week1:18:00 — Wrap-up!Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.The background music for Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week is "Bama Country" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Stretchy yogurt. National holidays and celebrity birthdays. Pancake Soup. Duct tape. Jimmy Carter stamp. RIP Jane Goodall. Plus local news and sports.
Shutdown, shutdown, shutdown; Jimmy Carter's 'forever' stamp unveiled; and after 50+ years with the Braves, Brian Snitker won't return as the team's manager next season. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
National Hair day. Entertainment from 1978. Model T went on sale, Disney World opened, October begins. Todays birthdays - Walter Mathau, Jimmy Carter, Tom Bosley, George Peppard, Julie Andrews, Herb Fame, Randy Quaid, Zach Galifianakis, Brie Larson. Tom Clancy died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran https://www.diannacorcoran.com/ Hair from movie soundtrackKiss you all over - ExileHeartbreaker - Dolly PartonBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent https://www.50cent.com/Sound of music - Julie AndrewsShake your groove thing - Peaches & HerbExit - I'll never know if I don't ask - Buck Ford https://www.buckford.com/countryundergroundradio.comHistory & Factoids about today webpage
Notes and Links to Matthew Boedy's Work Matthew Boedy has written for many publications and authored three books. He's appeared on CNN and MSNBC and in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media outlets. He has been a leader in faculty organizing since 2020 as president of the Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors, a national higher education advocacy group. He completed his Ph.D. in English in 2015 at the University of South Carolina where he also received in 2010 a master's in creative writing. He most prizes his bachelor's degree in journalism in 2001 from the University of Florida and his work at the campus newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator. He is a full professor of rhetoric at the University of North Georgia. He researches and writes about religious rhetoric, particularly in the last few years about the rise of Christian Nationalism. Buy The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy Matthew's Website Matthew Speaks on WBUR's “Here and Now” on The Seven Mountains Mandate Article from Mother Jones: “His Book on Charlie Kirk Was About to Come Out. Then His Subject Was Murdered. At about 1:50, Matthew responds to Pete's question about “exercising different muscles” in writing fiction, academic, and journalism At about 3:15, Matthew gives information on his book-publisher, summary, etc. At about 5:00, Matthew gives background on the book's title and subtitle in cover in response to Pete's question about added resonance for the book since Charlie Kirk's murder At about 8:25, Matthew responds to Pete's question about what Matthew has learned about the Turning Point and Charlie Kirk's influence as seen from outside the United States At about 10:20, Matthew discusses seeds for the book At about 11:40, Matthew talks about why he wrote two Prefaces for the book, and how the 2024 Presidential Election was a huge turning point for Turning Point At about 12:45, Pete and Matthew trace the book's opening timeline and its significance in tracing the history of the Seven Mountains Mandate At about 13:55, Matthew summarizes the Seven Mountains Mandates and talks about Charlie Kirk's “conversion” to the philosophy At about 17:25, Matthew reflects on whether or not Charlie Kirk's “religious fervor” was authentic and on his turn to Christian nationalism At about 19:45, Matthew responds to Pete's musings about the connection between “grifting” and Charlie Kirk's career At about 21:00, Matthew talks about the connections between the prosperity gospel and the Seven Mountains Mandate At about 22:15, Pete lays out some of the book's early writing on Project 2025, and Matthew expands on its connection to the mandate At about 23:30, Matthew emphasizes how the book is a lot about post-January 6 and connections to the “Mountain of Government" At about 24:10, Matthew talks about Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham and some early iterations of the mandate At about 27:25, Sara Diamond's prescient writing on the mandates is discussed At about 29:15, Pete uses a unique analogy to ask Matthew about the ideas of mandates, and Matthew makes a key point about the Mandate as being part of a “minority movement” At about 32:10, Matthew reflects on Trump's connection to the Mandate and the movement and mutual benefits At about 33:30, Pete and Matthew discuss a staggering stat about American's beliefs in and knowledge of the Mandate At about 34:25, Matthew responds to Pete's question about Charlie Kirk's death and its influence on religious conversion and political engagement At about 35:20, Matthew talks about Charlie Kirk's role in fulfilling a hole for many millennials and Gen Z and young men, particularly with reradds to a religious direction and “finding [one's] purpose] At about 36:45, Pete asks Matthew about ideas of nonengagement and engagement and connections to Christian fundamentalism At about 40:10, Matthew explains the “salt and light” metaphor often used by proponents of the Mandate At about 41:10, Matthew talks about Jimmy Carter's “falling out” with evangelicals At about 43:00, The two discuss the naming of the mandate and tracing the history of the title/metaphor At about 44:20, Matthew talks about his personal experiences and those others who have been listed on the Professors' Watchlist At about 47:00, Matthew traces Charlie Kirk's connections and contradictions involving higher education, as well as his “origin story” At about 49:40, Matthew recounts a memorable trip to a TPUSA event at the University of GA where higher ed was ridiculed At about 51:05, Matthew reflects on connections between state budgets and philosophies on public school and voucher programs At about 52:40, Matthew discusses distinctions between “republic” vs. “democracy” and notes important links to the Mandate At about 56:15, Matthew reflects on the usage and meanings of “stewardship” in certain circles At about 57:30, Matthew responds to Pete's question about Charlie Kirk's seemingly-contradictory attitude towards Israel and Jewish people At about 1:00:05, Pete and Matthew talks about ideas of manhood and male bonding and “warrior” archetypes and TPUSA's tokenization and abuse towards minorities of all types At about 1:02:55, Matthew discusses Erika Kirk's trapeze act of being an emboldened and powerful businesswoman and political force, as well as complementary partner/“stay in the home” woman and mother At about 1:05:15, Pete quotes a line about Charlie Kirk astutely learning how to “erase history,” and Matthew discussed particular mentors who taught him this lesson At about 1:07:30, Conspiracy theories and religious connections to the Mandate are discussed, including how The Great Reset as a conspiracy was hyped and sidelined by TPUSA At about 1:08:50, Andrew Breitbart and Jon Root as representative of the Entertainment Mandate are discussed At about 1:10:25, Matthew discusses Benny Johnson and the “cultural buckets” that have been repurposed through meme culture At about 1:11:55, Matthew talks about Neil Postman's book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, and its close connection to the Seven Mountains Mandate and politics as entertainment At about 1:12:55, the two discuss the “pomp and circumstance” that pervades politics, including the proposed UFC fight at the White House At about 1:14:55, Pete asks Matthew about the idea of Charlie Kirk's possible future as a “martyr” You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode. Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This month's Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of flawed characters, protagonists who are too real in their actions, and horror and noir as being where so much good and realistic writing takes place. Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show. This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 300 with Nathan Thrall, an American writer living in Jerusalem. In 2024, he received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. An international bestseller, it was translated into more than thirty languages, selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and named a best book of the year by over twenty publications, including The New Yorker, The Economist, and Time. He spent a decade at the International Crisis Group, where he was director of the Arab-Israeli Project, and has taught at Bard College. The episode airs on September 30, and Pete is thrilled and stunned to make it to Episode 300. Thanks to all of those who have helped him make it to 300 episodes. Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.
Each episode on Unstoppable Mindset I ask all of you and my guests to feel free to introduce me to others who would be good guests on our podcast. Our guest this time, Erin Edgar, is a guest introduced to me by a past podcast guest, Rob Wentz. Rob told me that Erin is inspirational and would be interesting and that she would have a lot to offer you, our audience. Rob was right on all counts. Erin Edgar was born blind. Her parents adopted an attitude that would raise their daughter with a positive attitude about herself. She was encouraged and when barriers were put in her way as a youth, her parents helped her fight to be able to participate and thrive. For a time, she attended the Indiana School for the Blind. Her family moved to Georgia where Erin attended high school. After high school, Erin wanted to go to college where she felt there would be a supportive program that would welcome her on campus. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapple Hill. After graduating she decided to continue at UNC where she wanted to study law. The same program that gave her so much assistance during her undergraduate days was not able to provide the same services to Erin the graduate student. Even so, Erin had learned how to live, survive and obtain what she needed to go through the law program. After she received her law degree Erin began to do what she always wanted to do: She wanted to use the law to help people. So, she worked in programs such as Legal Aid in North Carolina and she also spent time as a mediator. She will describe all that for us. Like a number of people, when the pandemic began, she decided to pivot and start her own law firm. She focuses on estate planning. We have a good discussion about topics such as the differences between a will and a living trust. Erin offers many relevant and poignant thoughts and words of advice we all can find helpful. Erin is unstoppable by any standard as you will see. About the Guest: Erin Edgar, Esq., is a caring, heart-centered attorney, inspirational speaker and vocal artist. She loves helping clients: -- Plan for the future of their lives and businesses, ensuring that they have the support they need and helping them find ways to provide for their loved ones upon death. --Ensure that the leave a legacy of love and reflect client values -- Find creative ways that allow them to impact the world with a lasting legacy. She is passionate about connecting with clients on a heart level. She loves witnessing her clients as she guides them to transform their intentions for their loved ones into a lasting legacy through the estate planning process. Erin speaks about ways to meld proven legal tools, strategies, and customization with the creative process to design legal solutions that give people peace of mind, clarity, and the assurance that their loved ones will be taken care of, and the world will be left a better place Ways to connect with Erin: Facebook: https://facebook.com/erin-edgar-legal LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/erinedgar About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of unstoppable mindset. We're glad that you're here with us, wherever you may be. Hope the day is going well, and we have Erin Edgar on our episode today. Edgar is a very interesting person in a lot of ways. She's a caring, heart centered attorney. She is also an inspirational speaker and a vocal artist. I'm not sure whether vocal artistry comes into play when she's in the courtroom, but we won't worry about that too much. I assume that you don't sing to your judges when you're trying to deal with something. But anyway, I'll let her answer that. I'm just trying to cause trouble, but Erin again. We're really glad you're with us. We really appreciate you being here, and I know you do a lot with estate planning and other kinds of things that'll be fun to talk about. So welcome to unstoppable mindset. Erin Edgar ** 02:14 Thank you, Michael. It's great to be here, and I haven't sung in a courtroom or a courthouse yet, but I wouldn't rule it out. Michael Hingson ** 02:23 I have someone who I know who also has a guide dog and his diet. His guide dog, it's been a while since I've seen him, but his guide dog tended to be very vocal, especially at unexpected times, and he said that occasionally happened in the courtroom, which really busted up the place. Oh, dear. Erin Edgar ** 02:45 I imagine that would draw some smiles, hopefully, smiles. Michael Hingson ** 02:48 Well, they were, yeah, do you, do you appear in court much? Erin Edgar ** 02:53 Um, no, the type of law that I practice, I'm usually, I don't think I've ever appeared in court after I've written people's wills, but I have done previous things where I was in court mediating disputes, which is a kind of a separate thing that I used to do, so I've been in court just not recently. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 03:17 Well, that's understandable. Well, let's start a little bit with the early Erin and growing up and all that sort of stuff. Tell us about that? Sure. Erin Edgar ** 03:26 So I was born in cold, gray Indiana, and, yeah, chilly in the wintertime, and I started out I was blind from birth, so my parents thought it would be a good idea to send me to the school for the blind for a while. And back when I was born, um, teen years ago, they did not mainstream visually impaired and disabled students in that state, so you went where you could, and I was at the blind school for until I reached third grade, and then we moved to Georgia, and I've been in the south ever since I live in North Carolina now, and I started going to public schools in fourth grade, and continued on that route all the way up through high school. Michael Hingson ** 04:21 Oh, okay. And so then, what did you do? Erin Edgar ** 04:29 So after, after that, I, you know, I was one of those high school students. I really wanted to get out of dodge and leave my high school behind. I went visiting a couple of colleges in Georgia, and I said to my parents, I said, I really don't like this. It's like going to high school again. Literally, I was meeting people I had been in high school with, and I decided, and was very grateful that my parents. Were able to rig it some way so that I could go to an out of state school. And I went to UNC Chapel Hill here in North Carolina, Tar Heels all the way. And I was there for undergrad. And then I got into law school there as well, which I was very excited about, because I didn't have to go anywhere, and graduated from law school again a while ago in the early 2000s Michael Hingson ** 05:31 Okay, and so then you went straight into law from that. Erin Edgar ** 05:37 I didn't I did some other things before I actually went into law itself. I worked with some local advocacy organizations, and I also mediated, as I said earlier, I did mediations with the county court, helping mediate criminal disputes. And we're talking about like things with you get in a dispute with your neighbor and you yell at each other, those kind of People's Court type things. They were fun and interesting. And then I did go into law. After that, I started working with Legal Aid of North Carolina, which is a an organization that helps people in poverty who cannot afford a lawyer to go and have have their options communicated to them and some help given to them regarding their public benefits or certain other, you know, public things that we could help with we weren't able to help with any personal injury, or, you know, any of the fun stuff you see on TV. So and then, when the pandemic hit, I started my own law practice and completely changed gears and went into writing estate plans and wills for a living. Michael Hingson ** 07:07 Do you think that your time doing mediation work and so on taught you a lot about humanity and human nature and people? Erin Edgar ** 07:16 It did. I bet it did. It was invaluable, actually, in that area taught me a lot about, I don't know necessarily, about human nature. However, it did teach me a lot about how to talk to people who were on different pages. You know, they had, perhaps, values and principles that weren't quite the same, where they had a different way of looking at the same exact situation, and how to bring those those people together and allow them to connect on a deeper level, rather than the argument we're able to get them to agree to kind of move forward from that, so nobody has to be found guilty, right? And you know a judge doesn't have and you don't have to drag a criminal conviction around with you. I think the most rewarding cases that I had, by far were the education cases. Because I don't know if anyone knows this, but in most states, in the United States, if you don't send your kids to school, you are guilty of a crime. It's called truancy, and you can be arrested. Well, the county that I live in was very forward thinking, and the school system and the court said, that's kind of dumb. We don't want to arrest parents if their kids aren't going to school, there's something behind it. You know, there the school is not providing what the child needs. The child's acting out for some reason, and we need to get to the bottom of it. So what they did was they set up a process whereby we come in as neutral observers. We did not work for the court. We were part of a separate organization, and have a school social worker there or counselor, and also have a parent there, and they could talk through the issues. And in a lot of cases, if the children were old enough, they were teenagers, they were there, and they could talk about it from their perspective. And truly amazing things came out of those situations. We could just we would discover that the children had a behavioral issue or even a disability that had not been recognized, and were able to come up with plans to address that with you know, or the school was with our help, Michael Hingson ** 09:42 going back a little bit, how did your parents deal with the fact that you were blind? I gather it was a fairly positive experience Erin Edgar ** 09:50 for me. It was positive. I was so fortunate, and I'm still so grateful to this day for having parents who you. I were very forward thinking, and advocated for me to have and do whatever, not whatever I wanted, because I was far from spoiled, but, you know, whatever, yeah, yeah, you know. But whatever, however I wanted to be successful, they advocated for me. And so my mother actually told me, you know, when I was born, they went through all the parent things like, oh, gosh, what did we do wrong? You know, why is God punishing us? You know, all that. And they, very early on, found support groups for, you know, parents with children with either blindness or disabilities of some sort, and that was a great source of help to them. And as I grew up, they made every effort to ensure that I had people who could teach me, if they couldn't, you know, how to interact with other children. I think, for a while when I was very little, and I actually kind of remember this, they hired an occupational therapist to come and teach me how to play with kids, because not only was I blind, but I was an only child, so I didn't have brothers and sisters to interact with, and that whole play thing was kind of a mystery to me, and I remember it sort of vaguely, but that's just A demonstration that they wanted me to have the best life possible and to be fully integrated into the sighted world as much as possible. So when I was at the blind school, and I was in this residential environment, and there was an added bonus that my parents didn't really weren't happy in their jobs either, and they weren't happy with the education I was getting, that they decided, well, we're just going to pick up and move and that was, quite frankly, as I look back on it now, a huge risk for them. And they did it, you know, 50% for me and 50% for them, maybe even 6040, but as I look back on it now, it's another demonstration of how supportive they were, and all the way through my school age years, were very active in ensuring that I had everything that I needed and that I had the support that I needed. Michael Hingson ** 12:19 That's cool. How did it go when you went to college at UNC? Erin Edgar ** 12:25 Yeah, that's an interesting question, a very good question. Michael Hingson ** 12:29 You didn't play basketball, I assume? Oh no, I figured you had other things to do. Erin Edgar ** 12:33 Yeah, I had other stuff to do. I sang in the choir and sang with the medieval chorus group, and, you know, all this other, like, musical geek, geeky stuff. But, or, and when we were looking for colleges and universities, one of the criteria was they had to have a solid kind of, like disability, slash visually impaired center, or, you know, support staff that would help in, you know, allow people with disabilities to go through the university. So at UNC Chapel Hill, the they had as part of their student affairs department Disability Services, and it just so happened that they were very aware of accommodations that blind people needed. I wasn't the first blind student to go through undergrad there. That's not law school, that's undergrad. And so you know, how much was it? Time and a half on on tests if I was doing them on the computer, double time if I was doing them in Braille. A lot of the tests were in Braille because they had the technology to do it. And also the gentleman who ran the Disability Services Department, I think, knew Braille, if I'm not mistaken, and could transcribe if necessary. But I was at the stage at that point where I was typing most of my exams anyway, and didn't need much that was in Braille, because I had books either electronically or they had a network of folks in the community that would volunteer to read if there was not, you know, available textbooks from RFD, and what is it, RFP and D? Now was at the time, yeah, now Learning Ally, there wasn't a Bookshare at that time, so we couldn't use Bookshare, but if there weren't textbooks available, they would have people in the community who would read them for them, and they would get paid a little bit. Now, when I went to law school, it was a totally different ball game, because I was the first law student who was blind, that UNC Chapel Hill had had, and it was a different school within the school, so that student affairs department was not part of law school anymore, and we had quite a time the first semester getting my book. Works in a format that I could read them in. They did eventually, kind of broker a deal, if you will, with the publishers who were either Thompson Reuters or Westlaw at the time to get electronic versions. They were floppy disks. This is how old I am. Floppy disks. They were in this weird format. I think it was word perfect or something. Usually it was, and they Michael Hingson ** 15:27 didn't really have a lot of them new or no, they didn't know now, newer publishing system, Erin Edgar ** 15:32 yeah, there wasn't PDF even, I don't think, at the time. And the agreement was I could get those, and I actually had to buy the print textbooks as well. So I have this whole bookcase of law books that are virgin, unopened, almost. And they are, you know, some of them almost 25 years old, never been opened and of no use to anyone. But I have them, and they look nice sitting down there in that bookshelf antiques books. They're antiques. So the first year was a little rough, because for a while I didn't have books, and we were able to make arrangements so that I could kind of make up some classes on a later year and switch things around a little bit. And it ended up all working out really well once we got started. Michael Hingson ** 16:16 Yeah, I remember when I was going through getting my bachelor's and master's in physics, I needed the books in braille because, well, it's the only way to be able to really deal with the subject. You can't do it nearly as well from recordings, although now there's a little bit better capability through recording, because we have the DayZ format and so on. But still, it's not the same as reading it in Braille and for mathematics and physics and so on. I think that the only way to really do it is in Braille. And we had challenges because professors didn't want to decide what books to use until the last minute, because then, oh, a new book might be coming out and we want to get the latest book, and that didn't work for me, right? Because I had a network that I, in part, I developed with the Department of Rehabilitation out here, helped our office for disabled students didn't really have the resources to know it. They were very supportive. They just didn't really deal with it. But the bottom line is that we had to develop, I had to develop the network of transcribers, but they needed three to six months to do the books, at least three months and and sometimes I would get them one or two volumes at a time, and they barely kept ahead of the class. But, you know, it worked, but professors resisted it. And my the person who ran the Office for Students with Disabilities, said, Look, you have to work on these things, but if you're not getting cooperation from professors, and you come and tell me, and I will use the power of this office to get you what you need, there's another thing you might consider doing, she said. And I said, What's that? And Jan said, Go meet the chancellor. Make friends, yeah, friends in high places. And so I did. And Dan, oh, there you go. Became pretty good friends over the years, which was pretty cool, Erin Edgar ** 18:15 you know, it was weird because we didn't, I didn't have that problem with the professors. They were, you know, I had a couple of old codgers, but they weren't really worried about the books. They were fine with me having the books, but it was the publishers. The publishers were irritated that that I needed them, and, you know, in an alternative format. And I didn't really, I was not. I was one of those people that if someone said they were going to do something for me, I kind of let people do it. And at the time, I was really not an advocate, advocator for myself, at that time, a very good self advocate. And so I kind of let the school interface with that. I think it would have been really interesting, if I look back on it, for me to have taken a hand in that. And I wonder what would have happened well, and at this point, you know, it's neither here nor there, but that's really fascinating. Making Friends with the chancellor, sometimes you have to do stuff like that Michael Hingson ** 19:15 well. And the idea was really to get to know Him. And what there was, well, obviously other motivations, like, if we needed to go to a higher court to get help, we could go to the chancellor. I never had to do that, but, but the reason for meeting him and getting to know him was really just to do it and to have fun doing it. So we did, Erin Edgar ** 19:36 yeah, and I kind of had a comparable experience. I met the Dean of the Law School for that very reason. And he said, you know, if you've got trouble, come to me, my parents got involved a little bit. And we all, you know, met together and maybe even separately at some points just to make sure that I had everything that I needed at various times. Mm. Yeah, and I made friends with the some of the assistant deans at the law school, in particular because of the situation, and one of whom was the Dean of the Law School Student Affairs, who was helping me to get what I needed. And for a while, when I was in law school and beyond. He was like, We lent books to each other. It was very funny. We found out we had the same reading tastes beyond law books. It wasn't, you know, legal at all, but we were like, trading books and things. So a lot of really good relationships came out of that. Michael Hingson ** 20:37 And I think that's extremely important to to do. And I think that's one of the things that that offices for students with disabilities that tend to want to do everything for you. I think that's one of the things that it's a problem with those offices, because if you don't learn to do them, and if you don't learn to do them in college, how are you going to be able to be able to really act independently and as an advocate after college, so you have to learn that stuff Erin Edgar ** 21:05 Absolutely. That's a very good point. Michael Hingson ** 21:09 So I, I think it was extremely important to do it, and we did, and had a lot of fun doing it. So it was, was good. What are some of the biggest misconceptions you think that people had about you as a blind child growing up? Erin Edgar ** 21:25 Oh yeah, that's a great question. I think that one of the biggest misconceptions that people had about me, especially when I was younger, is that I would know I would be sort of relegated to staying at home with parents all of my life, or being a stay at home parent and not able to be kind of professionally employed and earning, you know, earning a living wage. Now, I have my own business, and that's where most of my money goes at the same at this point. So, you know, earning a living wage might be up in the air at the moment. Ha, ha. But the the one thing I think that the biggest misconception that people had, and this is even like teachers at the blind school, it was very rare for blind children of my age to grow up and be, you know, professionals in, I don't want to say high places, but like people able to support themselves without a government benefit backing them up. And it was kind of always assumed that we would be in that category, that we would be less able than our sighted peers to do that. And so that was a huge misconception, even you know, in the school that I was attending. I think that was the, really the main one and one misconception that I had then and still have today, is that if I'm blind, I can't speak for myself. This still happens today. For instance, if I'm if I want, if I'm going somewhere and I just happen to be with someone sighted, they will talk whoever I'm, wherever I'm at, they will talk to the sighted person, right? They won't talk to you. They won't talk to me. And so, for instance, simple example, if I'm somewhere with my husband, and we happen to be walking together and we go somewhere that I need to go, they will talk to him because he's guiding me, and they won't talk. And he's like, don't talk to me. I have no idea, you know, talk to her, and part of that is I'm half a step behind him. People naturally gravitate to the people that are leading. However, I noticed, even when I was a young adult, and I would go, you know, to the doctor, and I would be with my my parents, like, maybe I'm visiting them, and I need to go to the doctor, they would talk to them and not me, yeah, which is kind of sad. And I think it happens a lot, a lot more than people realize. Michael Hingson ** 24:10 Yeah, it does. And one of my favorite stories is, is this, I got married in 1982 and my wife has always been, or had always been. She passed away in 2022 but she was always in a wheelchair. And we went to a restaurant one Saturday for breakfast. We were standing at the counter waiting to be seated, and the hostess was behind the counter, and nothing was happening. And finally, Karen said to me, she doesn't know who to talk to, you know? Because Karen, of course, is, is in a wheelchair, so actually, she's clearly shorter than this, this person behind the counter, and then there's me and and, of course, I'm not making eye contact, and so Karen just said she doesn't know who to talk to. I said, you know? All she's gotta do is ask us where we would like to sit or if we'd like to have breakfast, and we can make it work. Well, she she got the message, and she did, and the rest of the the day went fine, but that was really kind of funny, that we had two of us, and she just didn't know how to deal with either of us, which was kind of cute. Mm, hmm. Well, you know, it brings up another question. You use the term earlier, visually impaired. There's been a lot of effort over the years. A lot of the professionals, if you will, created this whole terminology of visually impaired, and they say, well, you're blind or you're visually impaired. And visually impaired means you're not totally blind, but, but you're still visually impaired. And finally, blind people, I think, are starting to realize what people who are deaf learned a long time ago, and that is that if you take take a deaf person and you refer to them as hearing impaired, there's no telling what they might do to you, because they recognize that impaired is not true and they shouldn't be equated with people who have all of their hearing. So it's deaf or hard of hearing, which is a whole lot less of an antagonistic sort of concept than hearing impaired. We're starting to get blind people, and not everyone's there yet, and we're starting to get agencies, and not every agency is there yet, to recognize that it's blind or low vision, as opposed to blind or here or visually impaired, visually impaired. What do you think about that? How does and how does that contribute to the attitudes that people had toward you? Erin Edgar ** 26:38 Yeah, so when I was growing up, I was handicapped, yeah, there was that too, yeah, yeah, that I was never fond of that, and my mother softened it for me, saying, well, we all have our handicaps or shortcomings, you know, and but it was really, what was meant was you had Something that really held you back. I actually, I say, this is so odd. I always, I usually say I'm totally blind. Because when I say blind, the immediate question people have is, how blind are you? Yeah, which gets back to stuff, yeah, yeah. If you're blind, my opinion, if you're blind, you're you're blind, and if you have low vision, you have partial sight. And visually impaired used to be the term, you know, when I was younger, that people use, and that's still a lot. It's still used a lot, and I will use it occasionally, generally. I think that partially sighted, I have partial vision is, is what I've heard people use. That's what, how my husband refers to himself. Low Vision is also, you know, all those terms are much less pejorative than actually being impaired, Michael Hingson ** 27:56 right? That's kind of really the issue, yeah. My, my favorite example of all of this is a past president of the National Federation of the Blind, Ken Jernigan, you've heard of him, I assume, Oh, sure. He created a document once called a definition of blindness, and his definition, he goes through and discusses various conditions, and he asks people if, if you meet these conditions, are you blind or not? But then what he eventually does is he comes up with a definition, and his definition, which I really like, is you are blind if your eyesight has decreased to the point where you have to use alternatives to full eyesight in order to function, which takes into account totally blind and partially blind people. Because the reality is that most of those people who are low vision will probably, or they may probably, lose the rest of their eyesight. And the agencies have worked so hard to tell them, just use your eyesight as best you can. And you know you may need to use a cane, but use your eyesight as best you can, and if you go blind, then we're going to have to teach you all over again, rather than starting by saying blindness is really okay. And the reality is that if you learn the techniques now, then you can use the best of all worlds. Erin Edgar ** 29:26 I would agree with that. I would also say you should, you know, people should use what they have. Yeah, using everything you have is okay. And I think there's a lot of a lot of good to be said for learning the alternatives while you're still able to rely on something else. Michael Hingson ** 29:49 Point taken exactly you know, because Erin Edgar ** 29:53 as you age, you get more and more in the habit of doing things one way, and it's. Very hard to break out of that. And if you haven't learned an alternative, there's nothing you feel like. There's nothing to fall back on, right? And it's even harder because now you're in the situation of urgency where you feel like you're missing something and you're having to learn something new, whereas if you already knew it and knew different ways to rely on things you would be just like picking a memory back up, rather than having to learn something new. Well, I've never been in that position, so I can't say, but in the abstract, I think that's a good definition. Michael Hingson ** 30:34 Well, there are a lot of examples, like, take a person who has some eyesight, and they're not encouraged to use a cane. And I know someone who was in this situation. I think I've told the story on this podcast, but he lived in New Jersey and was travel. And traveled every day from New Jersey into Philadelphia to work, and he was on a reasonably cloudy day, was walking along. He had been given a cane by the New Jersey Commission for the Blind, but he they didn't really stress the value of using it. And so he was walking along the train to go in, and he came to the place where he could turn in and go into the car. And he did, and promptly fell between two cars because he wasn't at the right place. And then the train actually started to move, but they got it stopped, and so he was okay, but as as he tells the story, he certainly used his cane from then on. Because if he had been using the cane, even though he couldn't see it well because it was dark, or not dark, cloudy, he would have been able to see that he was not at the place where the car entrance was, but rather he was at the junction between two cars. And there's so many examples of that. There's so many reasons why it's important to learn the skills. Should a partially blind or a low vision person learn to read Braille? Well, depends on circumstances, of course, I think, to a degree, but the value of learning Braille is that you have an alternative to full print, especially if there's a likelihood that you're going to lose the rest of your eyesight. If you psychologically do it now, that's also going to psychologically help you prepare better for not having any eyesight later. Erin Edgar ** 32:20 And of course, that leads to to blind children these days learn how to read, yeah, which is another issue. Michael Hingson ** 32:28 Which is another issue because educators are not teaching Braille nearly as much as they should, and the literacy rate is so low. And the fact of the matter is even with George Kircher, who invented the whole DAISY format and and all the things that you can do with the published books and so on. The reality is there is still something to be said for learning braille. You don't have sighted children just watching television all the time, although sometimes my parents think they do, but, but the point is that they learn to read, and there's a value of really learning to read. I've been in an audience where a blind speaker was delivering a speech, and he didn't know or use Braille. He had a device that was, I think what he actually used was a, was, it was a Victor Reader Stream, which is Erin Edgar ** 33:24 one of those, right? Michael Hingson ** 33:25 I think it was that it may have been something else, but the bottom line is, he had his speech written out, and he would play it through earphones, and then he would verbalize his speech. Oh, no, that's just mess me up. Oh, it would. It was very disjointed and and I think that for me, personally, I read Braille pretty well, but I don't like to read speeches at all. I want to engage the audience, and so it's really important to truly speak with the audience and not read or do any of those other kinds of things. Erin Edgar ** 33:57 I would agree. Now I do have a Braille display that I, I use, and, you know, I do use it for speeches. However, I don't put the whole speech on Michael Hingson ** 34:10 there that I me too. I have one, and I use it for, I know, I have notes. Mm, hmm, Erin Edgar ** 34:16 notes, yeah. And so I feel like Braille, especially for math. You know, when you said math and physics, like, Yeah, I can't imagine doing math without Braille. That just doesn't, you know, I can't imagine it, and especially in, you know, geometry and trigonometry with those diagrams. I don't know how you would do it without a Braille textbook, but yeah, there. There's certainly something to be said for for the the wonderful navigation abilities with, you know, e published audio DAISY books. However, it's not a substitute for knowing how to Michael Hingson ** 34:55 read. Well, how are you going to learn to spell? How are you going to really learn sit? Structure, how are you going to learn any of those basic skills that sighted kids get if you don't use Braille? Absolutely, I think that that's one of the arenas where the educational system, to a large degree, does such a great disservice to blind kids because it won't teach them Braille. Erin Edgar ** 35:16 Agreed, agreed. Well, thank you for this wonderful spin down Braille, Braille reading lane here. That was fun. Michael Hingson ** 35:27 Well, so getting back to you a little bit, you must have thought or realized that probably when you went into law, you were going to face some challenges. But what was the defining moment that made you decide you're going to go into law, and what kind of challenges have you faced? If you face challenges, my making an assumption, but you know what? Erin Edgar ** 35:45 Oh, sure. So the defining moment when I decided I wanted to go into law. It was a very interesting time for me. I was teenager. Don't know exactly how old I was, but I think I was in high school, and I had gone through a long period where I wanted to, like, be a music major and go into piano and voice and be a performer in those arenas, and get a, you know, high level degree whatnot. And then I began having this began becoming very interested in watching the Star Trek television series. Primarily I was out at the time the next generation, and I was always fascinated by the way that these people would find these civilizations on these planets, and they would be at odds in the beginning, and they would be at each other's throats, and then by the end of the day, they were all kind of Michael Hingson ** 36:43 liking each other. And John Luke Picard didn't play a flute, Erin Edgar ** 36:47 yes, and he also turned into a Borg, which was traumatic for me. I had to rate local summer to figure out what would happen. I was in I was in trauma. Anyway, my my father and I bonded over that show. It was, it was a wonderful sort of father daughter thing. We did it every weekend. And I was always fascinated by, like, the whole, the whole aspect of different ideologies coming together. And it always seemed to me that that's what human humanity should be about. As I, you know, got older, I thought, how could I be involved in helping people come together? Oh, let's go into law. Because, you know, our government's really good at that. That was the high school student in me. And I thought at the time, I wanted to go into the Foreign Service and work in the international field and help, you know, on a net, on a you know, foreign policy level. I quickly got into law school and realized two things simultaneously in my second year, international law was very boring, and there were plenty of problems in my local community that I could help solve, like, why work on the international stage when people in my local community are suffering in some degree with something and so I completely changed my focus to wanting to work in an area where I could bring people together and work for, you know, work on an individualized level. And as I went into the legal field, that was, it was part of the reason I went into the mediation, because that was one of the things that we did, was helping people come together. I realized, though, as I became a lawyer and actually started working in the field, most of the legal system is not based on that. It's based on who has the best argument. I wanted no part of that. Yeah, I want no part of that at all. I want to bring people together. Still, the Star Trek mentality is working here, and so when I when I started my own law firm, my immediate question to myself was, how can I now that I'm out doing my own thing, actually bring people together? And the answer that I got was help families come together, especially people thinking about their end of life decisions and gathering their support team around them. Who they want to help them? If they are ever in a situation where they become ill and they can't manage their affairs, or if you know upon their death, who do they want to help them and support them. And how can I use the law to allow that to happen? And so that's how I am working, to use the law for healing and bringing people together, rather than rather than winning an argument. Michael Hingson ** 39:59 Yeah. Yeah, well, and I think there's a lot of merit to that. I I value the law a great deal, and I I am not an attorney or anything like that, but I have worked in the world of legislation, and I've worked in the world of dealing with helping to get legislation passed and and interacting with lawyers. And my wife and I worked with an attorney to set up our our trust, and then couple of years ago, I redid it after she passed away. And so I think that there was a lot of a lot of work that attorneys do that is extremely important. Yeah, there are, there are attorneys that were always dealing with the best arguments, and probably for me, the most vivid example of that, because it was so captivating when it happened, was the whole OJ trial back in the 1990s we were at a county fair, and we had left going home and turned on the radio, only To hear that the police were following OJ, and they finally arrested him. And then when the trial occurred, we while I was working at a company, and had a radio, and people would would come around, and we just had the radio on, and followed the whole trial. And it was interesting to see all the manipulation and all the movement, and you're right. It came down to who had the best argument, right or wrong? Erin Edgar ** 41:25 The bloody glove. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. Yeah, yep, I remember that. I remember where I was when they arrested him, too. I was at my grandparents house, and we were watching it on TV. My grandfather was captivated by the whole thing. But yes, there's certainly, you know, some manipulation. There's also, there are also lawyers who do a lot of good and a lot of wonderful things. And in reality, you know, most cases don't go to trial. They're settled in some way. And so, you know, there isn't always, you know, who has the best argument. It's not always about that, right? And at the same time, that is, you know, what the system is based on, to some extent. And really, when our country was founded, our founding fathers were a bunch of, like, acted in a lot of ways, like a bunch of children. If you read books on, you know, the Constitution, it was, it was all about, you know, I want this in here, and I want that in here. And, you know, a lot of argument around that, which, of course, is to be expected. And many of them did not expect our country's government to last beyond their lifetimes. Uh, James Madison was the exception, but all the others were like, Ed's going to fail. And yet, I am very, very proud to be a lawyer in this country, because while it's not perfect, our founding documents actually have a lot of flexibility and how and can be interpreted to fit modern times, which is, I think the beauty of them and exactly what the Founders intended for. Michael Hingson ** 43:15 Yeah, and I do think that some people are taking advantage of that and causing some challenges, but that's also part of our country and part of our government. I like something Jimmy Carter once said, which was, we must adjust to changing times while holding to unwavering principles. And I think absolutely that's the part that I think sometimes is occasionally being lost, that we forget those principles, or we want to manipulate the principles and make them something that they're not. But he was absolutely right. That is what we need to do, and we can adjust to changing times without sacrificing principles. Absolutely. Erin Edgar ** 43:55 I firmly believe that, and I would like to kind of turn it back to what we were talking about before, because you actually asked me, What are some challenges that I have faced, and if it's okay with you, I would like to get back to that. Oh, sure. Okay. Well, so I have faced some challenges for you know, to a large extent, though I was very well accommodated. I mean, the one challenge with the books that was challenging when I took the bar exam, oh, horror of horrors. It was a multiple, multiple shot deal, but it finally got done. However, it was not, you know, my failing to pass the first time or times was not the fault of the actual board of law examiners. They were very accommodating. I had to advocate for myself a little bit, and I also had to jump through some hoops. For example, I had to bring my own person to bubble in my responses on the multiple choice part, it. And bring my own person in to kind of monitor me while I did the essay portion. But they allowed me to have a computer, they allowed me to have, you know, the screen reader. They allowed me to have time and a half to do the the exam. And so we're accommodating in that way. And so no real challenges there. You know, some hoops to jump through. But it got all worked out. Michael Hingson ** 45:23 And even so, some of that came about because blind people actually had to go all the way to the Supreme Court. Yes, the bar to the Bar Association to recognize that those things needed to be that way, Erin Edgar ** 45:37 absolutely. And so, you know, I was lucky to come into this at a time where that had already been kind of like pre done for me. I didn't have to deal with that as a challenge. And so the only other challenges I had, some of them, were mine, like, you know, who's going to want to hire this blind person? Had a little bit of, you know, kind of challenge there, with that mindset issue for a while there, and I did have some challenges when I was looking for employment after I'd worked for legal aid for a while, and I wanted to move on and do something else. And I knew I didn't want to work for a big, big firm, and I would, I was talking to some small law firms about hiring me, small to mid size firms. And I would get the question of, well, you're blind, so what kind of accommodations do you need? And we would talk about, you know, computer, special software to make a talk, you know, those kinds of things. And it always ended up that, you know, someone else was hired. And I can, you know, I don't have proof that the blindness and the hesitancy around hiring a disabled person or a blind person was in back of that decision. And at the same time, I had the sense that there was some hesitation there as well, so that, you know, was a bit of a challenge, and starting my own law firm was its own challenge, because I had to experiment with several different software systems to Find one that was accessible enough for me to use. And the system I'm thinking about in particular, I wouldn't use any other system, and yet, I'm using practically the most expensive estate planning drafting system out there, because it happens to be the most accessible. It's also the most expensive. Always that. There's always that. And what's it called? I'm curious. It's called wealth Council, okay, wealth. And then the word councils, Council, SEL, and it's wonderful. And the folks there are very responsive. If I say something's not accessible, I mean, they have fixed things for me in the past. Isn't that great? And complain, isn't that wonderful? It is wonderful. And that's, that's awesome. I had a CRM experience with a couple of different like legal CRM software. I used one for a while, and it was okay. But then, you know, everyone else said this other one was better and it was actually less accessible. So I went back to the previous one, you know. So I have to do a lot of my own testing, which is kind of a challenge in and of itself. I don't have people testing software for me. I have to experiment and test and in some cases, pay for something for a while before I realize it's not, you know, not worth it. But now I have those challenges pretty much ironed out. And I have a paralegal who helps me do some things that, like she proof reads my documents, for instance, because otherwise there may be formatting things that I'm not, that I miss. And so I have the ability to have cited assistance with things that I can't necessarily do myself, which is, you know, absolutely fine, Michael Hingson ** 49:04 yeah. Now, do you use Lexus? Is it accessible? Erin Edgar ** 49:08 I don't need Lexus, yeah, yeah. I mean, I have, I'm a member of the Bar Association, of my, my state bar association, which is not, not voluntary. It's mandatory. But I'm a member primarily because they have a search, a legal search engine that they work with that we get for free. I mean, with our members, there you go. So there you go. So I don't need Lexus or West Law or any of those other search engines for what I do. And if I was, like, really into litigation and going to court all time and really doing deep research, I would need that. But I don't. I can use the one that they have, that we can use so and it's, it's a entirely web based system. It's fairly accessible Michael Hingson ** 49:58 well, and. That makes it easier to as long as you've got people's ears absolutely make it accessible, which makes a lot of sense. Erin Edgar ** 50:08 Yeah, it certainly does well. Michael Hingson ** 50:10 So do you regard yourself as a resilient person? Has blindness impacted that or helped make that kind of more the case for you? Do you think I do resilience is such an overused term, but it's fair. I know Erin Edgar ** 50:24 I mean resilience is is to my mind, a resilient person is able to face uh, challenges with a relatively positive outlook in and view a challenge as something to be to be worked through rather than overcome, and so yes, I do believe that blindness, in and of itself, has allowed me to find ways to adapt to situations and pivot in cases where, you know, I need to find an alternative to using a mouse. For instance, how would I do that? And so in other areas of life, I am, you know, because I'm blind, I'm able to more easily pivot into finding alternative solutions. I do believe that that that it has made me more resilient. Michael Hingson ** 51:25 Do you think that being blind has caused you, and this is an individual thing, because I think that there are those who don't. But do you think that it's caused you to learn to listen better? Erin Edgar ** 51:39 That's a good question, because I actually, I have a lot of sighted friends, and one of the things that people just assume is that, wow, you must be a really good listener. Well, my husband would tell you that's not always the case. Yeah. My wife said the same thing, yeah. You know, like everyone else, sometimes I hear what I want to hear in a conversation and at the same time, one of the things that I do tell people is that, because I'm blind, I do rely on other senses more, primarily hearing, I would say, and that hearing provides a lot of cues for me about my environment, and I've learned to be more skillful at it. So I, I would say that, yes, I am a good listener in terms of my environment, very sensitive to that in in my environment, in terms of active listening to conversations and being able to listen to what's behind what people say, which is another aspect of listening. I think that that is a skill that I've developed over time with conscious effort. I don't think I'm any better of a quote, unquote listener than anybody else. If I hadn't developed that primarily in in my mediation, when I was doing that, that was a huge thing for us, was to be able to listen, not actually to what people were saying, but what was behind what people were saying, right? And so I really consciously developed that skill during those years and took it with me into my legal practice, which is why I am very, very why I very much stress that I'm not only an attorney, but I'm also a counselor at law. That doesn't mean I'm a therapist, but it does mean I listen to what people say so that and what's behind what people say, so that with the ear towards providing them the legal solution that meets their needs as they describe them in their words. Michael Hingson ** 53:47 Well, I think for me, I learned to listen, but it but it is an exercise, and it is something that you need to practice, and maybe I learned to do it a little bit better, because I was blind. For example, I learned to ride a bike, and you have to learn to listen to what's going on around you so you don't crash into cars. Oh, but I'd fall on my face. You can do it. But what I what I really did was, when I was I was working at a company, and was told that the job was going to be phased out because I wasn't a revenue producer, and the company was an engineering startup and had to bring in more revenue producers. And I was given the choice of going away or going into sales, which I had never done. And as I love to tell people, I lowered my standards and went from science to sales. But the reality is that that I think I've always and I think we all always sell in one way or another, but I also knew what the unemployment rate among employable blind people was and is, yeah, and so I went into sales with with no qualms. But there I really learned to listen. And and it was really a matter of of learning to commit, not just listen, but really learning to communicate with the people you work with. And I think that that I won't say blindness made me better, but what it did for me was it made me use the technologies like the telephone, perhaps more than some other people. And I did learn to listen better because I worked at it, not because I was blind, although they're related Erin Edgar ** 55:30 exactly. Yeah, and I would say, I would 100% agree I worked at it. I mean, even when I was a child, I worked at listening to to become better at, kind of like analyzing my environment based on sounds that were in it. Yeah, I wouldn't have known. I mean, it's not a natural gift, as some people assume, yeah, it's something you practice and you have to work at. You get to work at. Michael Hingson ** 55:55 Well, as I point out, there are people like SEAL Team Six, the Navy Seals and the Army Rangers and so on, who also practice using all of their senses, and they learn, in general, to become better at listening and other and other kinds of skills, because they have to to survive, but, but that's what we all do, is if we do it, right, we're learning it. It's not something that's just naturally there, right? I agree, which I think is important. So you're working in a lot of estate planning and so on. And I mentioned earlier that we it was back in 1995 we originally got one, and then it's now been updated, but we have a trust. What's the difference between having, like a trust and a will? Erin Edgar ** 56:40 Well, that's interesting that you should ask. So A will is the minimum that pretty much, I would say everyone needs, even though 67% of people don't have one in the US. And it is pretty much what everyone needs. And it basically says, you know, I'm a, I'm a person of sound mind, and I know who is important to me and what I have that's important to me. And I wanted to go to these people who are important to me, and by the way, I want this other person to manage things after my death. They're also important to me and a trust, basically, there are multiple different kinds of trusts, huge numbers of different kinds. And the trust that you probably are referring to takes the will to kind of another level and provides more direction about about how to handle property and how how it's to be dealt with, not only after death, but also during your lifetime. And trusts are relatively most of them, like I said, there are different kinds, but they can be relatively flexible, and you can give more direction about how to handle that property than you can in a will, like, for instance, if you made an estate plan and your kids were young, well, I don't want my children to have access to this property until they're responsible adults. So maybe saying, in a trust until they're age 25 you can do that, whereas in a will, you it's more difficult to do that. Michael Hingson ** 58:18 And a will, as I understand it, is a lot more easily contested than than a trust. Erin Edgar ** 58:24 You know, it does depend, but yes, it is easily contested. That's not to say that if you have a trust, you don't need a will, which is a misconception that some, yeah, we have a will in our trust, right? And so, you know, you need the will for the court. Not everyone needs a trust. I would also venture to say that if you don't have a will on your death, the law has ideas about how your property should be distributed. So if you don't have a will, you know your property is not automatically going to go to the government as unclaimed, but if you don't have powers of attorney for your health care and your finance to help you out while you're alive, you run the risk of the A judge appointing someone you would not want to make your health care and financial decisions. And so I'm going to go off on a tangent here. But I do feel very strongly about this, even blind people who and disabled people who are, what did you call it earlier, the the employable blind community, but maybe they're not employed. They don't have a lot of Michael Hingson ** 59:34 unemployed, unemployed, the unemployable blind people, employable Erin Edgar ** 59:38 blind people, yes, you know, maybe they're not employed, they're on a government benefit. They don't have a lot of assets. Maybe they don't necessarily need that will. They don't have to have it. And at the same time, if they don't have those, those documents that allow people to manage their affairs during their lifetime. Um, who's going to do it? Yeah, who's going to do that? Yeah, you're giving up control of your body, right, potentially, to someone you would not want, just because you're thinking to yourself, well, I don't need a will, and nothing's going to happen to me. You're giving control of your body, perhaps, to someone you don't want. You're not taking charge of your life and and you are allowing doctors and hospitals and banks to perpetuate the belief that you are not an independent person, right? I'm very passionate about it. Excuse me, I'll get off my soapbox now. That's okay. Those are and and to a large extent, those power of attorney forms are free. You can download them from your state's website. Um, they're minimalistic. They're definitely, I don't use them because I don't like them for my state. But you can get you can use them, and you can have someone help you fill them out. You could sign them, and then look, you've made a decision about who's going to help you when you're not able to help yourself, Michael Hingson ** 1:01:07 which is extremely important to do. And as I mentioned, we went all the way and have a trust, and we funded the trust, and everything is in the trust. But I think that is a better way to keep everything protected, and it does provide so much more direction for whoever becomes involved, when, when you decide to go elsewhere, then, as they put it, this mortal coil. Yes, I assume that the coil is mortal. I don't know. Erin Edgar ** 1:01:37 Yeah, who knows? Um, and you know trusts are good for they're not just for the Uber wealthy, which is another misconception. Trust do some really good things. They keep your situation, they keep everything more or less private, like, you know, I said you need a will for the court. Well, the court has the will, and it most of the time. If you have a trust, it just says, I want it to go, I want my stuff to go into the Michael hingson Trust. I'm making that up, by the way, and I, you know, my trust just deals with the distribution, yeah, and so stuff doesn't get held up in court. The court doesn't have to know about all the assets that you own. It's not all public record. And that's a huge, you know, some people care. They don't want everyone to know their business. And when I tell people, you know, I can go on E courts today and pull up the estate of anyone that I want in North Carolina and find out what they owned if they didn't have a will, or if they just had a will. And people like, really, you can do that? Oh, absolutely, yeah. I don't need any fancy credentials. It's all a matter of public record. And if you have a trust that does not get put into the court record unless it's litigated, which you know, it does happen, but not often, Michael Hingson ** 1:02:56 but I but again, I think that, you know, yeah, and I'm not one of those Uber wealthy people. But I have a house. We we used to have a wheelchair accessible van for Karen. I still have a car so that when I need to be driven somewhere, rather than using somebody else's vehicle, we use this and those are probably the two biggest assets, although I have a bank account with with some in it, not a lot, not nearly as much as Jack Benny, anyway. But anyway, the bottom line is, yeah, but the bottom line is that I think that the trust keeps everything a lot cleaner. And it makes perfect sense. Yep, it does. And I didn't even have to go to my general law firm that I usually use. Do we cheat them? Good, and how so it worked out really well. Hey, I watched the Marx Brothers. What can I say? Erin Edgar ** 1:03:45 You watch the Marx Brothers? Of course. Michael Hingson ** 1:03:49 Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun, and I'm glad that we did it and that we also got to talk about the whole issue of wills and trusts and so on, which is, I think, important. So any last things that you'd like to say to people, and also, do you work with clients across the country or just in North Carolina? Erin Edgar ** 1:04:06 So I work with clients in North Carolina, I will say that. And one last thing that I would like to say to people is that it's really important to build your support team. Whether you're blind, you know, have another disability, you need people to help you out on a day to day basis, or you decide that you want people to help you out. If you're unable to manage your affairs at some point in your life, it's very important to build that support team around you, and there is nothing wrong. You can be self reliant and still have people on your team yes to to be there for you, and that is very important. And there's absolutely no shame, and you're not relinquishing your independence by doing that. That. So today, I encourage everyone to start thinking about who's on your team. Do you want them on your team? Do you want different people on your team? And create a support team? However that looks like, whatever that looks like for you, that has people on it that you know, love and trust, Michael Hingson ** 1:05:18 everybody should have a support team. I think there is no question, at least in my mind, about that. So good point. Well, if people want to maybe reach out to you, how do they do that? Erin Edgar ** 1:05:29 Sure, so I am on the interwebs at Erin Edgar legal.com that's my website where you can learn more about my law firm and all the things that I do, Michael Hingson ** 1:05:42 and Erin is E r i n, just Yes, say that Edgar, and Erin Edgar ** 1:05:45 Edgar is like Edgar. Allan Poe, hopefully less scary, and you can find the contact information for me on the website. By Facebook, you can find me on Facebook occasionally as Erin Baker, Edgar, three separate words, that is my personal profile, or you can and Michael will have in the show notes the company page for my welcome as Michael Hingson ** 1:06:11 well. Yeah. Well, thank you for being here, and I want to thank all of you for listening. This has been a fun episode. It's been great to have Erin on, love to hear your thoughts out there who have been listening to this today. Please let us know what you think. You're welcome to email me at Michael H i@accessibe.com M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, www, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, I wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. We really appreciate getting good ratings from people and reading and getting to know what you think. If you know anyone who you think might be a good guest, you know some people you think ought to come on unstoppable mindset. Erin, of course, you as well. We would appreciate it if you'd give us an introduction, because we're always looking for more people to have come on and help us show everyone that we're all more unstoppable than we think we are, and that's really what it's all about, and what we want to do on the podcast. So hope that you'll all do that, and in the meanwhile, with all that, Erin, I want to thank you once more for being here and being with us today. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much, Erin Edgar ** 1:07:27 Michael. I very much enjoyed it. Michael Hingson ** 1:07:34 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite
Already on edge, CDC employees fear for jobs as government shutdown looms; SCOGA hands Gullah-Geechee on Sapelo Island zoning win; and President Jimmy Carter "forever" stamp set to debut. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In questo episodio con il professor Riccardo Brizzi parleremo di incidenti insoliti e bizzarri capitati ai potenti della storia contemporanea. Ripercorreremo episodi surreali e momenti imbarazzanti legati ad alcuni leader mondiali del secolo scorso: il Presidente Francese Paul Deschanel e la sua misteriosa caduta dal treno, Jimmy Carter e l'attacco del coniglio assassino, Neville Chamberlain e l'ombrello "ostinato"…
Going Green is a Finalist in the Signal Awards—the largest award solely dedicated to podcasting! Now I need YOUR help: The Listener's Choice Awards are open for voting worldwide through October 9th. Vote here today! This episode of Going Green (a SPACES podcast story) explores the historical roots, policies, and corporate actions that lead to the energy crisis of the 1970s and President Jimmy Carter's energy policies that aimed to combat the crisis. We examine the evolution of environmental policy in the United States during the Reagan era. The impact of Reaganomics, the role of the Heritage Foundation, and the deregulation and budget cuts that affected environmental programs are also discussed. The episode also highlights significant environmental disasters and the growing awareness of climate change during this period. Subscribe to SPACES PodcastEpisode Extras - Photos, videos, sources and links to additional content I found during my research. Check out the Going Green Soundtrack on SpotifyEpisode Credits:Production by Gābl MediaWritten by Dimitrius LynchExecutive Produced by Dimitrius LynchAudio Engineering and Sound Design by Jeff AlvarezArchival Audio courtesy of: C-SPAN, ThamesTv, CBS News, PBS NewsHour, Miller Center, Movieclips, Free To Choose Network, Larry Bergan
We continue our conversation about the history and interaction of Christianity and Islam with Dr. Wafik Wahba of Tyndale University in Toronto, Canada. We will be discussing more highlights from Wafik's latest book Global Christianity and Islam - Exploring History Politics and Beliefs. Wafik will also give us a concise overview about the differences between how Christians and Muslims understand the Person of Jesus. From Dr. Wahba's website at Tyndale University: Dr. Wahba first came to Tyndale as adjunct professor of theology in 1998, having previously taught contextualized theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt, as well as having pastored churches in Chicago and Toronto. Dr. Wahba has taught theology and intercultural studies in the United States, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America. Dr. Wahba is one of 31 contemporary reformed theologians who have contributed to The Future of Reformed Theology, edited by Willis, David & Welker, Michael, (Eerdmans, 1999). Dr. Wahba has also published in Zur Zunkunft Der Reformierten Theologie, (Neukirchener Verlag, 1998). He co-led the unit on Theological Education for Mission at the 2004 Forum of Lausanne Committee in Pattaya, Thailand and is one of the authors of “Effective Theological Education for World Evangelization” Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 57, (May 2005). Dr. Wahba serves on the Board of Directors for several international Christian organizations. Related Links: Access additional Watchman Fellowship resources related to this week's podcast: Watchman book: What the Qur'an Really Teaches about Jesus, by James Walker Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Islam by James Walker:www.watchman.org/Muslim Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Shi'a Islam by Dr. Mike Edens: www.watchman.org/Shia Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Ahmadiyya Islam by Eric Pement: www.watchman.org/Ahmadiyya Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on The Bahai Faith by Robert Pardon: www.watchman.org/Bahai Watchman Fellowship's complete Profile Notebook demo video: www.watchman.org/Demo Additional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (around 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.
Just before Abe jets across the Atlantic for a European vacation CIB is sneaking in a preview of Week 5 of the college football season, along with the sports news of the week and a visit from Jimmy Carter in heaven with the Presidential Lock of the Week. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!Show RundownOpen — Abe Live Bets the Games!3:51 — WGAS NewsBag, Sports Edition: Jaxson Dart made Giants starter; Robot strike zone challenge system; Mike Gundy fired; SEC matchups through 2029 revealed21:48 — The Best Game in Every Time Slot44:03 — CIB 2025 Football Pick ‘em Contest50:50 — Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week, Live from Plains55:28 — Wrap-up!The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.The background music for Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week is "Bama Country" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
“What do Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump all have in common?” They've all shaken hands with Congressman Roger Williams—and each handshake comes with a story you won't forget. In this captivating episode of Kent Hance, The Best Storyteller in Texas, Kent sits down with longtime friend and Texas Congressman Roger Williams, a man whose life reads like a history book with a Texas twist. From shaking hands with 14 U.S. Presidents to meeting with legends like Ted Williams, and golfing with President Gerald Ford, Roger shares personal anecdotes that span decades of American history and politics. Listeners will hear: The surreal moment Roger shook JFK's hand just two hours before his assassination. A hilarious encounter with Jimmy Carter—shirtless and mid-run. The story behind gifting Ronald Reagan a jackalope. His candid thoughts on college athlete compensation and Congress's role in the evolving sports landscape. Memorable campaign moments, including a voter more concerned about “them hogs” than taxes. His time as Texas Secretary of State, selling the Lone Star State to businesses nationwide. With Kent's signature storytelling style and Roger's down-to-earth charm, this episode is packed with humor, history, and heartfelt reflections. Whether you're a political junkie, sports fan, or proud Texan, this episode delivers something for everyone. “You've got to smile, call people by name, and talk in terms of their interests. That's how you win.” — Congressman Roger Williams
The history of Christianity and Islam has a long and complex history spanning several centuries, from Christians living among Muslims in Baghdad during the Golden Age of Islam to the Crusades and on into the 21st century. What does the future hold for Christian and Islamic relations? On the next two episodes of the Profile, we will be talking with an expert in the fields of Christianity and Islam, Dr. Wafik Wahba about his new book Global Christianity and Islam - Exploring History Politics and Beliefs. Wafik will give us a comprehensive overview of how Christianity and Islam have engaged and clashed since Islam emerged in the 7th century A.D. From Dr. Wahba's website at Tyndale University: Dr. Wahba first came to Tyndale as adjunct professor of theology in 1998, having previously taught contextualized theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt, as well as having pastored churches in Chicago and Toronto. Dr. Wahba has taught theology and intercultural studies in the United States, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America. Dr. Wahba is one of 31 contemporary reformed theologians who have contributed to The Future of Reformed Theology, edited by Willis, David & Welker, Michael, (Eerdmans, 1999). Dr. Wahba has also published in Zur Zunkunft Der Reformierten Theologie, (Neukirchener Verlag, 1998). He co-led the unit on Theological Education for Mission at the 2004 Forum of Lausanne Committee in Pattaya, Thailand and is one of the authors of “Effective Theological Education for World Evangelization” Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 57, (May 2005). Dr. Wahba serves on the Board of Directors for several international Christian organizations. Related Links: Access additional Watchman Fellowship resources related to this week's podcast: Watchman book: What the Qur'an Really Teaches about Jesus, by James Walker Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Islam by James Walker:www.watchman.org/Muslim Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Shi'a Islam by Dr. Mike Edens: www.watchman.org/Shia Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Ahmadiyya Islam by Eric Pement: www.watchman.org/Ahmadiyya Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on The Bahai Faith by Robert Pardon: www.watchman.org/Bahai Watchman Fellowship's complete Profile Notebook demo video: www.watchman.org/Demo Additional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (around 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.
Choice Classic Radio presents Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, which aired from 1949 to 1962. Today we bring to you the episode titled "The Jimmy Carter Matter.” Please consider supporting our show by becoming a patron at http://choiceclassicradio.com We hope you enjoy the show!
1980 Olympic Hockey Gold Medalist and Team USA Captain Mike Eruzione talks about The Miracle on Ice, Al Michael's legendary call alongside the late Ken Dryden, the two movies made about that 1980 Olympic hockey journey (with Coach Herb Brooks played by Karl Malden and Kurt Russell), hanging out with 5x Gold Medalist Eric Heiden, meeting The Great One Wayne Gretzky at centre ice of the 4 Nations championship game, President Jimmy Carter sending Air Force One to deliver the team to the White House, meeting Charlie's Angel Kate Jackson, where all his super-valuable memorabilia ended up, and why he's proud to return to his alma mater the Boston University Terriers! For everything Mike Eruzione, please visit https://www.mikeeruzioneshop.com/ TORONTO LEGENDS is hosted by Andrew Applebaum at andrew.applebaum@gmail.com All episodes available at https://www.torontolegends.ca/episodes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
HEADLINE: The October Surprise: Bill Casey, Rogue Spies, and the Secret Deal to Delay Hostage Release AUTHOR:Craig Unger SUMMARY: Author Craig Unger discusses his book, Den of Spies, detailing the alleged 1980 October Surprise where Bill Casey, leading the Reagan campaign, made an illegal deal with Iran to delay releasing 52 American hostages until after the election, thereby ensuring Jimmy Carter's defeat. Casey's network used arms dealers like Ari Ben-Menashe and involved Israeli intelligence.
HEADLINE: Desert One Tragedy and the Geopolitics that Set the Stage for the October Surprise AUTHOR: Craig Unger SUMMARY: Craig Unger details the tragic failure of the April 1980 Desert One rescue attempt for 52 American hostages held by Iranian militants, resulting in eight American deaths. This failure, occurring during an election year, virtually guaranteed Jimmy Carter's inability to recover and made the hostage crisis the central issue of the 1980 presidential campaign against Ronald Reagan.
Your favorite sports podcast is here to yap about the politically and socially and legally allowable content of the day, in only the most regime-friendly way. It's our College Football Week 4 preview show! Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!Show RundownOpen — Abe Live-Bets the Games!6:16 — WGAS NewsBag, Sports Edition! Dabo Swinney press conference; Diego Pavia eligibility lawsuit goes on; Congress stalled on NCAA reforms; spring transfer window nailed shut; BIG 12 following ACC in replay transparency22:24 — The Best Game in Every Time Slot34:27 — CIB Pick'em Contest40:50 — Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week44:53 — Wrap-up! Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.The background music for Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week is "Bama Country" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Back on this day in, future President Jimmy Carter filed a UFO sighting report. KTAR Timeline is brought to you by Beatitudes Campus.
*Founding Members exclusive* Ronald Reagan takes his biggest leap yet: from Hollywood star and California governor to the White House. In this episode, Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci chart Reagan's bruising campaign against Jimmy Carter, a landslide victory that redefined American politics, and the near-fatal assassination attempt that almost ended his presidency before it began. With his approval ratings soaring, Reagan rolls out his bold economic experiment — Reaganomics. Sweeping tax cuts, deregulation, and a dramatic showdown with striking air traffic controllers set the tone for a new conservative era. But behind the optimism and patriotic rhetoric lay recession, soaring unemployment, and a country still reeling from the turmoil of the 1970s. How did Reagan's first years in power ignite a political revolution, and what price did America pay for it? Become a Founding Member: Go deeper into US politics every week with ad-free listening, members-only miniseries, early access to live show tickets and a bonus members-only Q&A podcast every week. Sign up at therestispoliticsus.com Instagram: @RestPoliticsUS Twitter: @RestPoliticsUS Email: therestispoliticsus@goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: India Dunkley Producer: Fiona Douglas Video Editor: Kieron Leslie, Adam Thornton Social Producer: Charlie Johnson Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Head of Content: Tom Whiter Head of Digital: Sam Oakley Exec Producers: Tony Pastor, Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
National Bald is beautiful day. Entertainment from 1965. 1st naval battle of civil war, Velcro invented, Scooby Doo debuted, Willie Nelson smoked a Big fat Austin torpedo on White House roof. Todays birthdays - Milton Hershey, Bill Monroe, Mel Torme, Jaqueline Bisset, Peter Cetera, Jean Smart, Dave Mustaine, Tyler Perry. Tupac Shakur died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran https://www.diannacorcoran.com/ Bald is beautiful - ?Help - The BeatlesIs it really over - Ko, ReevesBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent https://www.50cent.com/Blue moon of Kentucky - Bill MonroeCareless hands - Mel TormeGlory of love - Peter CeteraTrust - MegadeathHow do you want it - Tupac ShakurExit - Break up rules - Paige Rutledge https://www.paigerutledge.com/countryundergroundradio.com History & Factoids webpage
This Flashback Friday and 10th episode is from Creating Wealth 410, published last September 8, 2014. Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler is a doctor of psychology with over 45 years of pioneering brain/mind research experience. In addition to teaching mind power methods in universities and corporations, she was invited by former President Jimmy Carter to support his Special Commission on Women in Business, was invited to serve as a Pentagon consultant focused on business communications, and has authored over 30 books and hundreds of articles in both business and individual success categories. Unlike other personal development approaches, her focus is on refining brain/mind power to create more successful action. Instead of presenting strategies that never work in the real-world, you'll get genuine science-based information that can be immediately implemented. Learn more by scrolling down the page to check out Dr. Jill's books, audio books, and other materials. In her books, audio books and programs, Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler provides insights and action plans for every area of your life: from higher states of awareness to personal achievement ... from instant stress management to healthy longevity ... from enhanced mental performance to mind/brain enhancement. Getting more satisfaction in life does not necessarily result from taking the latest personal growth program. True, this set your feet on a more productive path. BUT...true lasting success only happens when you commit to direct your thoughts and actions every day. In other words, your daily mental habits and resulting actions are what help you create the life and business conditions you want. When not writing or teaching, Dr. Jill enjoys artistic pursuits, gardening and being out-of-doors, good conversation, home and garden design, and kayaking and skiing. Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class: Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com
Week 3 of the 2025 college football season is upon us, and we're here to talk about what we're excited to see, despite the horror and uneasiness of the day. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!Open — The problem with constantly raising the stakes10:15 — Sports-Adjacent Question of the Week32:42 — The Best Game in Every Time Slot56:06 — CIB Pick ‘em Contest1:05:31 — Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week1:12:50 — Wrap-up!The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.The background music for Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week is "Bama Country" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Jimmy Carter: More Than A President with Andrew Greer - Episode 596 - Voices in my Head (the Rick Lee James Podcast) On this episode of Voices in My Head: The Rick Lee James Podcast, I welcome Andrew Greer—author, editor, musician, and filmmaker—whose latest projects center on the faith and legacy of President Jimmy Carter. Andrew moved to Plains, Georgia, where he came to know Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter personally in their latter days. From that experience, he has edited More Than a President: Sundays with Jimmy Carter, a new book of Carter's Sunday School lessons, and directed Plainspoken, the PBS documentary exploring the history and heart of Plains. In our conversation, Andrew shares how his own faith journey led him to Plains, what he learned from the Carters' witness, and how both the book and the film preserve a legacy of humility, service, and hope for future generations. https://www.andrew-greer.com/more-than-a-president https://www.andrew-greer.com/more-than-a-president ----more---- Rick Has A Book! Get the Audiobook, Out of the Depths: A Songwriter's Journey Through the Psalms by your host, Rick Lee James, on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0F45G6KWH?qid=1744142727&sr=1-1&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=KEDVV78ASDMS52WQFD7W&plink=3YmaWg4y0HJ0Cjfc&pageLoadId=IaamycyuJR519uYD&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1%20 ----more---- Don't forget about our music sale on Bandcamp. Use the code “10off” on RickLeeJames.Bandcamp.com to get 10% off your purchase. Blessings, Rick Lee James Email: Rick@RickLeeJames.com Don't forget about our music sale on Bandcamp. Use the code “10off” on RickLeeJames.Bandcamp.com to get 10% off your purchase. Blessings, Rick Lee James Email: Rick@RickLeeJames.com Blessings, Rick Lee James Get the new song - Whatever You Do VINYL SALE THUNDER by Rick Lee James ONLY $9.99. (Plus you get a free digital download of the album) VINYL SALE - “KEEP WATCH, DEAR LORD” BY RICK LEE JAMES
Jimmy Carter: More Than A President with Andrew Greer - Episode 596 - Voices in my Head (the Rick Lee James Podcast)On this episode of Voices in My Head: The Rick Lee James Podcast, I welcome Andrew Greer—author, editor, musician, and filmmaker—whose latest projects center on the faith and legacy of President Jimmy Carter. Andrew moved to Plains, Georgia, where he came to know Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter personally in their latter days. From that experience, he has edited More Than a President: Sundays with Jimmy Carter, a new book of Carter's Sunday School lessons, and directed Plainspoken, the PBS documentary exploring the history and heart of Plains.In our conversation, Andrew shares how his own faith journey led him to Plains, what he learned from the Carters' witness, and how both the book and the film preserve a legacy of humility, service, and hope for future generations.https://www.andrew-greer.com/more-than-a-presidentGet the Audiobook, Out of the Depths: A Songwriter's Journey Through the Psalms by your host, Rick Lee James, on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0F45G6KWH?qid=1744142727&sr=1-1&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=KEDVV78ASDMS52WQFD7W&plink=3YmaWg4y0HJ0Cjfc&pageLoadId=IaamycyuJR519uYD&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1%20----more----Don't forget about our music sale on Bandcamp.Use the code “10off” on RickLeeJames.Bandcamp.com to get 10% off your purchase.Blessings,Rick Lee JamesEmail: Rick@RickLeeJames.comDon't forget about our music sale on Bandcamp.Use the code “10off” on RickLeeJames.Bandcamp.com to get 10% off your purchase.Blessings,Rick Lee JamesEmail: Rick@RickLeeJames.comBlessings,Rick Lee JamesGet the new song - Whatever You DoVINYL SALETHUNDER by Rick Lee JamesONLY $9.99. (Plus you get a free digital download of the album)VINYL SALE -“KEEP WATCH, DEAR LORD” BY RICK LEE JAMES
National beer lovers day. Entertainment from 2024. Boston formed. Day of prayer in Austrialia, Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal. Todays birthdays - Grandma Moses, Peter Lawford, Don Messick, Buddy Holly, Gloria Gaynor, Julie Kavner, Chrissie Hynde, Corbin Bernsen, Jermaine Stewart, Eazy E, Shannon Elizabeth. Keith Moon died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran https://www.diannacorcoran.com/ I like beer - Tom T. HallA Bar Song (Tipsy)Birthdays - In da club - 50 Cent http://50cent.com/That'll be the day - Buddy HollyI will survive - Gloria GaynorMiddle of the road - The PretendersWe don't have to take our cloths off - Jermaine StewartStraight outta compton - NWAExit - Cold Beer - Buck Ford https://www.buckford.com/countryundergroundradio.comHistory & Factoids webpage
Another example of the kind of kismet that happens when Jennifer and I meet up. We don't plan a guest list, we have Luana Anders, our moderator on the Flipside who does that for us. In this episode, the first person that comes through is Mr. Bailey, Luana's cat. When Luana was on her death bed, her cat escaped from her house and disappeared. She called me in a panic. My soon to be wife Sherry went with me to see if we could find her. Sherry went into the backyard and said a prayer aloud: "Mr. Bailey, Luana needs you now." The cat appeared in the tree above, and jumped into Sherry's arms, a person she'd never met. Mr. Bailey wanted to talk about how animals have the ability to communicate to the afterlife, and while people may have filters on the brain that prevent them from that awareness, animals do not. Mr. Bailey confirmed what we've heard in the past; "animals understand how incarnation works, but humans do not." Hard for some folks to contemplate; dogs smell cancer, elephants can communicate over ten miles, octopuses have 9 brains, and do more with one year of life than humans can do in 90. Some other pets stopped by to give their support. Then former President Reagan stopped by. He said that our interview with JFK (a number of years ago, it's in the book BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE) inspired him to say hello. He pointed out that he's had a number of lifetimes with Nancy in the past - even if he was married to someone else to begin with. (Jane Wyman whom Ronald said "raised him.") I asked who in our classroom of notaries had invited him and he said it was John McCain. John came by some years ago after he passed to ask us to pass along a private message to his daughter, which I did through a producer at Coast to Coast radio. I don't know if she dismissed the message, as I've yet to hear from her. But in those earlier conversations he confirmed a number of things only he could know - or be aware of. People I interviewed in his office for the film "Three for the Road" and later, talked about meeting his victims of the Vietnam war on the flipside - and them understanding each other as players in a drama. He talked about the politics of the era when he passed, and this veiled reference to Steve Schmidt's 2020 comments about the current President were what I was referring to as someone had reposted them the other day. We've heard it often - people act out difficult roles onstage to get others to react and do that thing that they're supposed to do. However, in terms of political debate, the former President deferred from doing so - as he put it "I just came by to express concern for how divide the country is." I asked if there was any advice he could give - some kind of grand gesture or action people could do. His answer was simple, yet profound. Smile. Start smiling to people we know, then more that to people we don't know, then move that to people we may not like. Just the physical act of smiling changes the paradigm, and everyone can do that on their own. It sounds miniscule - but instead of arguing with someone who clearly still exists on the flipside, I think it's wise to consider that they're saying instead of belittling or berating it. He was consider the great communicator - and why not listen to his advice. To be clear; we've communicated with a number of Presidents, both Bushes, Jimmy Carter, LBJ, Nixon, JFK, FDR and Truman. Again - I ask the questions and Jennifer gives verbatim what she's hearing or sensing. It's possible miscommunicate, but when you've been working with someone weekly for ten years, if one is paying attention, we can see that these folks show up often to talk to us. And in this case - Ronnie himself. While people may start with a defensive posture - defending him, or upset that he might speak on our podcast - the point is that anyone can invite him to have a conversation and see what he says. As noted, we have the current President's father and brother on a podcast, and the last President's late son Beau on that same podcast. It's mind bending to hear them talk about the play we're all involved in. How we should spend more time talking to each other, coming together, than coming apart. Hard to fathom in today's climate, that that is the message that is repeated often. Enjoy.
This week's slate of college football games may be a bit of a bummer on paper, but that doesn't stop us from having a perfectly enjoyable time talking about it. Plus, tune in for Abe's EXCLUSIVE 2025 NFL preview, the CIB Pick ‘em Contest, and Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week, Live from Plains. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!Show RundownOpen — Abe “Live-Bets” the Games!3:07 — Bill Belichick and UNC mollywhopped by TCU12:38 — WGAS NewsBag, Sports Edition; Abe besmirching young athletes, repealing the Sports Broadcasting Act18:23 — The Sports-Adjacent Question of the Week: What if Donald Trump had bought the Cowboys in 1984?30:31 — The Best Game in Every Time Slot40:20 — CIB 2025 Football Pick ‘em Contest54:27 — Patented CIB Very In-Depth NFL Preview1:00:58 — Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week1:04:20 — Wrap-up!Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.The background music for Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week is "Bama Country" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
What is more nostalgic than the memory of an American road trip: the sense of freedom and exploration, adventure and an open road, connection and memories, simplicity and escape? In The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana (Artisan; hardcover; June 24, 2025), join journalist Rolando Pujol on a coast-to-coast celebration of the nostalgic pleasures of America's vintage signs, quirky roadside attractions, and offbeat fast-food relics.A taste of the 1000 iconic locations listed includes:The 21-foot Buck Atom, a Muffler Man space cowboy deposited by aliens at an old gas station on Route 66 near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 13-foot Smiling Peanut, inspired by President Jimmy Carter's famous smile and constructed during his 1976 campaign, now sitting in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. The Sinclair Oil dinosaur Octane in Heber City, Utah, to see how local schoolteacher Christine Chappell has outfitted him (Octane has been dressed up as everything from a Utah Jazz player to Barbie to the Statue of Liberty and has promoted school fundraisers, political candidates, and helped celebrate holidays). The 9,370-pound World's Largest Popcorn Ball, made from real, locally grown popcorn kernels in Sac City, IowaA corn dog at the Cozy Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois, whose founder sensationalized the 1946 Illinois State Fair when he debuted his hot dog on a stick. A hamburger and midcentury ambience at The Red Rooster in Brewster, New York in a 1963 A-frame decorated with candy- stripes and an ice-cream-cone cupola. Burger Chef, founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1954, was once neck-and-neck with Burger King in the race to catch up with McDonald's. The chain faded away by the 1980s, but one of the finest remaining former Burger Chefs is in Rialto, California, is so authentic looking it appeared in Mad Men.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.
Listen to the first episode of AJC's new limited podcast series, Architects of Peace. Go behind the scenes of the decades-long diplomacy and quiet negotiations that made the Abraham Accords possible, bringing Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and later Morocco, together in historic peace agreements. Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief of Policy and Political Affairs, explains the complex Middle East landscape before the Accords and how behind-the-scenes efforts helped foster the dialogue that continues to shape the region today. Resources: Episode Transcript AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace - Tune in weekly for new episodes. The Abraham Accords, Explained AJC.org/CNME - Find more on AJC's Center for a New Middle East Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus People of the Pod Follow Architects of Peace on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace You can reach us at: podcasts@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript: Jason Isaacson: It has become clear to me in my travels in the region over the decades that more and more people across the Arab world understood the game, and they knew that this false narrative – that Jews are not legitimately there, and that somehow we have to focus all of our energy in the Arab world on combating this evil interloper – it's nonsense. And it's becoming increasingly clear that, in fact, Israel can be a partner. Manya Brachear Pashman: In September 2020, the world saw what had been years – decades – in the making: landmark peace agreements dubbed the Abraham Accords -- normalizing relations between Israel and two Arabian Gulf states, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Later in December, they were joined by the Kingdom of Morocco. Five years later, AJC is pulling back the curtain to meet key individuals who built the trust that led to these breakthroughs. Introducing: the Architects of Peace. Manya Brachear Pashman: On the eve of the signing of the Abraham Accords, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson found himself traveling to the end of a tree filled winding road in McLean, Virginia, to sip tea on the back terrace with Bahraini Ambassador Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani. Jason Isaacson: Sitting in the backyard of the Bahraini ambassador's house with Dr. Al Zayani, the Foreign Minister of Bahrain and with Shaikh Abdulla, the ambassador, and hearing what was about to happen the next day on the South Lawn of the White House was a thrilling moment. And really, in many ways, just a validation of the work that AJC has been doing for many years–before I came to the organization, and the time that I've spent with AJC since the early 90s. This possibility of Israel's true integration in the region, Israel's cooperation and peace with its neighbors, with all of its neighbors – this was clearly the threshold that we were standing on. Manya Brachear Pashman: If you're wondering how Jason ended up sipping tea in such esteemed company the night before his hosts made history, wonder no more. Here's the story. Yitzchak Shamir: The people of Israel look to this palace with great anticipation and expectation. We pray that this meeting will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Middle East; that it will signal the end of hostility, violence, terror, and war; that it will bring dialogue, accommodation, co-existence, and above all, peace. Manya Brachear Pashman: That was Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir speaking in October 1991 at the historic Madrid Peace Conference -- the first time Israel and Arab delegations engaged in direct talks toward peace. It had taken 43 years to reach this point – 43 years since the historic United Nations Resolution that created separate Jewish and Arab states – a resolution Jewish leaders accepted, but Arab states scorned. Not even 24 hours after Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria attacked the new Jewish state, which fought back mightily and expanded its territory. The result? A deep-seated distrust among Israel, its neighboring nations, and some of the Arab residents living within Israel's newly formed borders. Though many Palestinian Arabs stayed, comprising over 20 percent of Israel's population today, hundreds of thousands of others left or were displaced. Meanwhile, in reaction to the rebirth of the Jewish state, and over the following two decades, Jewish communities long established in Arab states faced hardship and attacks, forcing Jews by the hundreds of thousands to flee. Israel's War of Independence set off a series of wars with neighboring nations, terrorist attacks, and massacres. Peace in the region saw more than a few false starts, with one rare exception. In 1979, after the historic visit to Israel by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, he and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin joined President Jimmy Carter for negotiations at Camp David and signed a peace treaty that for the next 15 years, remained the only formal agreement between Israel and an Arab state. In fact, it was denounced uniformly across the Arab world. But 1991 introduced dramatic geopolitical shifts. The collapse of the Soviet Union, which had severed relations with Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967, diminished its ability to back Syria, Iraq, and Libya. In the USSR's final months, it re-established diplomatic relations with Israel but left behind a regional power vacuum that extremists started to fill. Meanwhile, most Arab states, including Syria, joined the successful U.S.-led coalition against Saddam Hussein that liberated Kuwait, solidifying American supremacy in the region and around the world. The Palestine Liberation Organization, which claimed to represent the world's Palestinians, supported Iraq and Libya. Seizing an opportunity, the U.S. and the enfeebled but still relevant Soviet Union invited to Madrid a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, along with delegations from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Israel. Just four months before that Madrid meeting, Jason Isaacson had left his job on Capitol Hill to work for the American Jewish Committee. At that time, AJC published a magazine titled Commentary, enabling Jason to travel to the historic summit with media credentials and hang out with the press pool. Jason Isaacson: It was very clear in just normal conversations with these young Arab journalists who I was spending some time with, that there was the possibility of an openness that I had not realized existed. There was a possibility of kind of a sense of common concerns about the region, that was kind of refreshing and was sort of running counter to the narratives that have dominated conversations in that part of the world for so long. And it gave me the sense that by expanding the circle of relationships that I was just starting with in Madrid, we might be able to make some progress. We might be able to find some partners with whom AJC could develop a real relationship. Manya Brachear Pashman: AJC had already begun to build ties in the region in the 1950s, visiting Arab countries like Morocco and Tunisia, which had sizable Jewish populations. The rise in Arab nationalism in Tunisia and rebirth of Israel eventually led to an exodus that depleted the Jewish community there. Emigration depleted Morocco's Jewish community as well. Jason Isaacson: To say that somehow this is not the native land of the Jewish people is just flying in the face of the reality. And yet, that was the propaganda line that was pushed out across the region. Of course, Madrid opened a lot of people's eyes. But that wasn't enough. More had to be done. There were very serious efforts made by the U.S. government, Israeli diplomats, Israeli businesspeople, and my organization, which played a very active role in trying to introduce people to the reality that they would benefit from this relationship with Israel. So it was pushing back against decades of propaganda and lies. And that was one of the roles that we assigned to ourselves and have continued to play. Manya Brachear Pashman: No real negotiations took place at the Madrid Conference, rather it opened conversations that unfolded in Moscow, in Washington, and behind closed doors in secret locations around the world. Progress quickened under Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In addition to a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, reached in 1994, secret talks in Norway between Israel and PLO resulted in the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements signed in 1993 and 1995 that ended the First Intifada after six years of violence, and laid out a five-year timeline for achieving a two-state solution. Extremists tried to derail the process. A Jewish extremist assassinated Rabin in 1995. And a new terror group launched a series of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. Formed during the First Intifada, these terrorists became stars of the Second. They called themselves Hamas. AP News Report: [sirens] [in Hebrew] Don't linger, don't linger. Manya Brachear Pashman: On March 27, 2002, Hamas sent a suicide bomber into an Israeli hotel where 250 guests had just been seated for a Passover Seder. He killed 30 people and injured 140 more. The day after the deadliest suicide attack in Israel's history, the Arab League, a coalition of 22 Arab nations in the Middle East and Africa, unveiled what it called the Arab Peace Initiative – a road map offering wide scale normalization of relations with Israel, but with an ultimatum: No expansion of Arab-Israeli relations until the establishment of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 armistice lines and a so-called right of return for Palestinians who left and their descendants. As the Second Intifada continued to take civilian lives, the Israeli army soon launched Operation Defensive Shield to secure the West Bank and parts of Gaza. It was a period of high tension, conflict, and distrust. But behind the scenes, Jason and AJC were forging ahead, building bridges, and encountering an openness in Arab capitals that belied the ultimatum. Jason Isaacson: It has become clear to me in my travels in the region over the decades that more and more people across the Arab world understood the game, and they knew that that this false narrative that Jews are not legitimately there, and that somehow we have to focus all of our energy in the Arab world on combating this evil interloper – it's nonsense. And it's becoming increasingly clear that, in fact, Israel can be a partner of Arab countries. Manya Brachear Pashman: Jason led delegations of Jewish leaders to Arab capitals, oversaw visits by Arab leaders to Israel, and cultivated relationships of strategic and political consequence with governments and civil society leaders across North Africa, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. In 2009, King Mohammed VI of Morocco bestowed on him the honor of Chevalier of the Order of the Throne of the Kingdom of Morocco. Jason's priority was nurturing one key element missing from Arab-Israeli relations. An element that for decades had been absent in most Middle East peace negotiations: trust. Jason Isaacson: Nothing is more important than developing trust. Trust and goodwill are, if not synonymous, are so closely linked. Yes, a lot of these discussions that AJC's been engaged in over many years have been all about, not only developing a set of contacts we can turn to when there's a crisis or when we need answers to questions or when we need to pass a message along to a government. But also, develop a sense that we all want the same thing and we trust each other. That if someone is prepared to take certain risks to advance the prospect of peace, which will involve risk, which will involve vulnerability. That a neighbor who might have demonstrated in not-so-distant past animosity and hostility toward Israel can be trusted to take a different course. Manya Brachear Pashman: A number of Israeli diplomats and businesspeople also worked toward that goal. While certain diplomatic channels in the intelligence and security spheres stayed open out of necessity – other diplomats and businesspeople with dual citizenship traveled across the region, quietly breaking down barriers, starting conversations, and building trust. Jason Isaacson: I would run into people in Arab capitals from time to time, who were fulfilling that function, and traveling with different passports that they had legitimately, because they were from those countries. It was just a handful of people in governments that would necessarily know that they were there. So yes, if that sounds like cloak and dagger, it's kind of a cloak and dagger operation, a way for people to maintain a relationship and build a relationship until the society is ready to accept the reality that it will be in their country's best interest to have that relationship. Manya Brachear Pashman: Privately, behind the scenes, signs emerged that some Arab leaders understood the role that Jews have played in the region's history for millennia and the possibilities that would exist if Muslims and Jews could restore some of the faith and friendship of bygone years. Jason Isaacson: I remember sitting with King Mohammed the VI of Morocco just weeks after his ascension to the throne, so going back more than a quarter century, and hearing him talk with me and AJC colleagues about the 600,000 subjects that he had in Israel. Of course, these were Jews, Israelis of Moroccan descent, who are in the hundreds of thousands. But the sense that these countries really have a common history. Manya Brachear Pashman: Common history, yes. Common goals, too. And not for nothing, a common enemy. The same extremist forces that have been bent on Israel's destruction have not only disrupted Israeli-Arab peace, they've prevented the Palestinian people from thriving in a state of their own and now threaten the security and stability of the entire region. Jason Isaacson: We are hopeful that in partnership with those in the Arab world who feel the same way about the need to push back against extremism, including the extremism promoted, promulgated, funded, armed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, that we can have enough of a network of supportive players in the Arab world, in the West. Working with Israel and working with Palestinian partners who are interested in the same future. A real future, a politically free future, where we can actually make some progress. And that's an ongoing effort. This is a point that we made consistently over many years: if you want to help the Palestinian people–and we want to help the Palestinian people–but if you, fill in the blank Arab government official, your country wants to help the Palestinian people, you're not helping them by pretending that Israel doesn't exist. You're not helping them by isolating Israel, by making Israel a pariah in the minds of your people. You will actually have leverage with Israel, and you'll help the Palestinians when they're sitting at a negotiating table across from the Israelis. If you engage Israel, if you have access to the Israeli officials and they have a stake in your being on their side on certain things and working together on certain common issues. Manya Brachear Pashman: Jason says more and more Arab leaders are realizing, with some frustration, that isolating Israel is a losing proposition for all the parties involved. It has not helped the Palestinian people. It has not kept extremism at bay. And it has not helped their own countries and their own citizens prosper. In fact, the limitations that isolating Israel imposes have caused many countries to lag behind the tiny Jewish state. Jason Isaacson: I think there was just this sense of how far back we have fallen, how much ground we have to make up. We need to break out of the old mindset and try something different. But that before the Abraham Accords, they were saying it in the years leading up to the Abraham Accords, with increasing frustration for the failure of Palestinian leadership to seize opportunities that had been held out to them. But frankly, also contributing, I think, to this was this insistence on isolating themselves from a naturally synergistic relationship with a neighboring state right next door that could contribute to the welfare of their societies. It just didn't make a whole lot of sense, and it denied them the ability to move forward. Manya Brachear Pashman: Jason remembers the first time he heard an Arab official utter the words out loud – expressing a willingness, daresay desire, to partner with Israel. Jason Isaacson: It took a long time, but I could see in 2016, 17, 18, 19, this growing awareness, and finally hearing it actually spoken out loud in one particular conference that I remember going to in 2018 in Bahrain, by a senior official from an Arab country. It took a long time for that lesson to penetrate, but it's absolutely the case. Manya Brachear Pashman: In 2019, Bahrain hosted an economic summit where the Trump administration presented its "Peace to Prosperity" plan, a $50 billion investment proposal to create jobs and improve the lives of Palestinians while also promoting regional peace and security. Palestinians rejected the plan outright and refused to attend. Bahrain invited Israeli media to cover the summit. That September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, AJC presented its inaugural Architect of Peace Award to the Kingdom of Bahrain's chief diplomat for nearly 20 years. Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, told Jason that it was important to learn the lessons of the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and late Jordanian King Hussein, both of whom signed peace treaties with Israel. He also explained the reason why Bahrain invited Israeli media. Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa: President Anwar Sadat did it, he broke a huge barrier. He was a man of war, he was the leader of a country that went to war or two with Israel. But then he knew that at the right moment he would want to go straight to Israeli and talk to them. We fulfilled also something that we've always wanted to do, we've discussed it many times: talking to the Israeli public through the Israeli media. Why not talk to the people? They wake up every day, they have their breakfast watching their own TV channels, they read their own papers, they read their own media, they form their own opinion. Absolutely nobody should shy away from talking to the media. We are trying to get our point across. In order to convince. How will you do it? There is no language of silence. You'll have to talk and you'll have to remove all those barriers and with that, trust can be built. Manya Brachear Pashman: Jason had spent decades building that trust and the year to come yielded clear results. In May and June 2020, UAE Ambassador to the UN Lana Nusseibeh and UAE Minister of State Dr. Anwar Gargash both participated in AJC webinars to openly discuss cooperation with Israel – a topic once considered taboo. So when the Abraham Accords were signed a few months later, for Jason and AJC colleagues who had been on this long journey for peace, it was a natural progression. Though no less dramatic. Sitting with Minister Al Khalifa's successor, Dr. Al Zayani, and the Bahraini ambassador on the evening before the White House ceremony, it was time to drink a toast to a new chapter of history in the region. Jason Isaacson: I don't think that that would have been possible had there not been decades of contacts that had been made by many people. Roving Israeli diplomats and Israeli business people, usually operating, in fact, maybe always operating with passports from other countries, traveling across the region. And frankly, our work and the work of a limited number of other people who were in non-governmental positions. Some journalists, authors, scholars, business people, and we certainly did a great deal of this over decades, would speak with leaders in these countries and influential people who are not government officials. And opening up their minds to the possibility of the advantages that would accrue to their societies by engaging Israel and by better understanding the Jewish people and who we are, what we care about, who we are not. Because there was, of course, a great deal of decades, I should say, centuries and millennia, of misapprehensions and lies about the Jewish people. So clearing away that baggage was a very important part of the work that we did, and I believe that others did as well. We weren't surprised. We were pleased. We applauded the Trump administration, the President and his team, for making this enormous progress on advancing regional security and peace, prosperity. We are now hoping that we can build on those achievements of 2020 going forward and expanding fully the integration of Israel into its neighborhood. Manya Brachear Pashman: Next episode, we hear how the first Trump administration developed its Middle East policy and take listeners behind the scenes of the high stakes negotiations that yielded the Abraham Accords. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jason Isaacson, Jon Schweitzer, Sean Savage, and the entire AJC team for making this series possible. You can subscribe to Architects of Peace on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. You can reach us at podcasts@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us. ___ Music Credits: Middle East : ID: 279780040; Composer: Eric Sutherland Middle East Violin: ID: 277189507; Composer: Andy Warner Frontiers: ID: 183925100; Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Pete Checkley (BMI) Middle East Tension: ID: 45925627 Arabic Ambient: ID: 186923328; Publisher: Victor Romanov; Composer: Victor Romanov Arabian Strings: ID: 72249988; Publisher: EITAN EPSTEIN; Composer: EITAN EPSTEIN Inspired Middle East: ID: 241884108; Composer: iCENTURY Middle East Dramatic Intense: ID: 23619101; Publisher: GRS Records; Composer: Satria Petir Mystical Middle East: ID: 212471911; Composer: Vicher
Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Cast Iron Balls is here to avoid discussing the awful news of the day and instead focus on important things, like which college football games to watch this week. All of them. The answer is all of them. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!Show RundownOpen — Getting appropriately hyped by cheering on various enemies5:18 — Abe Live-Bets the Games6:38 — WGAS NewsBag, Sports Edition; Bill Belichick and his girlfriend filing questionable trademarks; local pickleball news; no one knows what's going to happen this year; SEC to move to nine-game schedule27:44 — The Best Game in Every Time Slot1:01:11 — CIB 2025 Football Pick ‘em Contest, and CIB College QB Fantasy Update1:13:21 — Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week1:17:37 — Wrap-up!Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.The background music for Jimmy Carter's Presidential Lock of the Week is "Bama Country" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Send us a textThe North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, opened up the largest free trading block in the world. It was supported by every living former President in 1993, and Bill Clinton worked very hard to make it happen. He got support from an unlikely source.Bob Dole. In fact, he had bipartisan support and opposition. Our own two Senators here in South Carolina, Strom Thurmond and Ernest Hollings, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, both opposed NAFTA's passing. This is the story of how it passed through Congress. You will hear from three living former Presidents: George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford, in the Bush speech you will also hear about an opinion piece written by Ronald Reagan in favor of NAFTA as well. It was a controversial piece of legislation, and while it delivered on many of the high hopes when it passed, it also did not stop some of the very concerns those who were opposed to its passage brought up in their arguments. In this episode we will hear some of the oral history that Bob Dole gave and you will hear for yourself some of , what sounds like , regret he voices, ever so briefly, in his interview about supporting the passage of the bill. Here is the story of NAFTA, how it passed, and what people thought about it as the historic debate raged in Washington. Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!
Thanks, Sandy! Based on the transcript, here's a compelling podcast episode package for Kent Hance, The Best Storyteller in Texas Podcast:
This week's throwback guest is Cal Fussman. This was a very special interview for me, because Cal is one of the major reasons why I started podcasting in the first place. He made an appearance on Tim Ferriss' show, to which Tim talked him into starting his own show. As both of them are my podcasting inspirations, I knew this was going to be a good one! Cal is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Professional Speaker, Storytelling Coach, and host of “Big Questions” Cal was best friends with Larry King and shared breakfast with him every morning. He also traveled around the world for 10 years straight after booking a 1 way ticket to start a trip. He worked his way around the world, bus by bus where locals would invite him to their house to stay (more about this in the episode).Cal was a former writer for Esquire Magazine, where he interviewed a very impressive list, including: Muhammad Ali, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Jimmy Carter, Robert DeNiro, Donald Trump, Al Pacino, Joe Biden, Larry King, Ted Kennedy, Tony Bennett, Barbara Walters, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Michael DeBakey (father of open-heart surgery), Pele, Vint Cerf (co-creator of the Internet), George Clooney, Lauren Hutton (first super model) Leonardo DiCaprio, Dr. Dre, Walter Cronkite, Clint Eastwood, Mary Barra (General Motors CEO), legendary coaches John Wooden, Bobby Bowden and Mike Krzyzewski, Salman Rushdie, Tom Hanks, Shaquille O'Neal In this episode, we discussed:How A Good Question Can Get You To The Most Powerful Person In The WorldUkraine and Their Fight For A Free SocietyBuilding The Connection Bridge How Every Step back Is A Step Forward Rethinking Healthcare in America How To Tell Your StoryMuch More! Please enjoy this week's episode with Cal Fussman____________________________________________________________________________I am now in the early stages of writing my first book! In this book, I will be telling my story of getting into sales and the lessons I have learned so far, and intertwine stories, tips, and advice from the Top Sales Professionals In The World! As a first time author, I want to share these interviews with you all, and take you on this book writing journey with me! Like the show? Subscribe to the email: https://mailchi.mp/a71e58dacffb/welcome-to-the-20-podcast-communityI want your feedback!Reach out to 20percentpodcastquestions@gmail.com, or find me on LinkedIn.If you know anyone who would benefit from this show, share it along! If you know of anyone who would be great to interview, please drop me a line!Enjoy the show!
INTRO (00:24): Kathleen opens the show drinking a Shark Tracker Light Lager from Cisco Brewers. She reviews her weekend in Cape Cod performing at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. TOUR NEWS: See Kathleen live on her “Day Drinking Tour.” COURT NEWS (17:45): Kathleen shares news announcing that Post Malone & Jelly Roll have started the European leg of their tour, and Taylor Swift hinted to many Super Bowl Easter Eggs in her New Heights podcast appearance. TASTING MENU (3:20): Kathleen samples Smartfood Cheetos Cheddar Cheese Flavored Popcorn, and Chester's Carolina Style BBQ Fries. UPDATES (31:35): Kathleen shares updates on Starbucks changes in Korea, Vegas has extended Formula 1 through 2027, Anna Delvey is in more trouble, and the US govt is auctioning a seized $325M Russian yacht. HOLY SHIT THEY FOUND IT (40:10): Kathleen reveals that one of the rarest coins in American history has been located in NYC. FRONT PAGE PUB NEWS (49:45): Kathleen shares articles on Claire's stores closing, Megadeth is retiring, Jimmy Carter is getting a Forever Stamp, Kodak is filing for bankruptcy, Massachusetts has a ban on Happy Hour lasting 2 decades, Frankenstein rabbits have been seen in over 5 states, a 10-year-old chess prodigy makes history, and Taylor Sheridan launches a massive production studio in Texas. TOURONS (41:35): Kathleen reports on a tourist in India who was gored by an elephant after attempting a selfie. SAINT OF THE WEEK (1:23:44): Kathleen reads about St. Barbara, patron saint of armorers, architects, and artillery men. WHAT ARE WE WATCHING (23:00): Kathleen recommends watching “The Kingdom” on ESPN+, and “Amy Bradley Is Missing” on Netflix. FEEL GOOD STORY (1:19:15): Kathleen reads highlights of the story of Smokey the Bear, and Barry Manilow fulfills a dying wish.
01:00:46 – Trump–Putin Summit & Global TensionsAnalysis of the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin, with focus on egos driving geopolitics, the EU's role backing Zelensky, and risks of escalation. 01:05:39 – Clinton Foundation Investigations BuriedNineteen separate Clinton Foundation probes were shut down under Biden's DOJ, tied to Haiti operations, bribery, and “pay-to-play” dealings. 01:16:57 – Land-for-Peace RejectedPutin's offer to freeze front lines in exchange for recognition of eastern Ukraine was rejected by Zelensky and EU leaders, raising questions of loyalty to their citizens. 01:19:30 – Crimea's History & NATO InterestsCrimea's deep historical and cultural ties to Russia are explored, alongside NATO's strategic motives and Europe's role in blocking peace. 01:23:44 – Zelensky, the “Prostitute President”European leaders rush to prop up Zelensky ahead of his U.S. visit, while critics paint him as corrupt and willing to trade his people's lives for power. 01:40:36 – Mail-In Voting & Rigged ElectionsCriticism of mail-in voting as inherently insecure and ripe for fraud. Reference is made to Jimmy Carter's past warnings, contrasted with today's widespread ballot distribution. 02:17:30 – USDA, PRIME Act & Food FreedomDebate over the PRIME Act, which would allow states to distribute locally slaughtered meat. Strong critique of the USDA as unconstitutional overreach, arguing food safety should be handled at the local and state level. 02:52:34 – Near-Death Experiences & Hospice WorkAnecdotes about patients suddenly regaining lucidity before death, described as common in hospice care. Discussion highlights spiritual elements of dying, along with the emotional toll on caregivers. 03:02:59 – Farming, Trucking & Corporate AccountabilityListeners discuss livestock care, dangers of trucking, and frustration with corporations escaping accountability. The segment ends with a transition to brewing unrest in the UK over government double standards. 03:07:15 – Migrant Crime & Police Double StandardsA migrant trespasses into a woman's home in England and is released without charges, while a woman is arrested multiple times for silently praying outside an abortion clinic, highlighting a two-tiered justice system. 03:12:59 – Crackdown on Protesters vs. Protection for MigrantsPolice arrest locals protesting a migrant hotel while shielding the trespassing asylum seeker, fueling concerns of authoritarian policing and civil unrest in Britain. 03:19:56 – DC Police Roadblocks & Martial LawFocus on U.S. checkpoints in Washington, D.C. and erosion of Fourth Amendment rights, tied to Trump's accelerationist law-and-order policies. 03:31:21 – AI Dependence & Human AtrophyReliance on AI is compared to physical atrophy, with references to “WALL-E” and stroke recovery, warning that outsourcing thought undermines human capability. 03:52:44 – AI Surveillance & Metadata ControlExplores radar eavesdropping, Stingray devices, and Palantir's metadata systems, warning that AI-driven surveillance empowers state control. 03:57:17 – AI Job Loss & Police State ExpansionNotes that AI threatens white-collar jobs like doctors and lawyers while reinforcing bipartisan authoritarian policing. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silverFor 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHTFind out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.
01:00:46 – Trump–Putin Summit & Global TensionsAnalysis of the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin, with focus on egos driving geopolitics, the EU's role backing Zelensky, and risks of escalation. 01:05:39 – Clinton Foundation Investigations BuriedNineteen separate Clinton Foundation probes were shut down under Biden's DOJ, tied to Haiti operations, bribery, and “pay-to-play” dealings. 01:16:57 – Land-for-Peace RejectedPutin's offer to freeze front lines in exchange for recognition of eastern Ukraine was rejected by Zelensky and EU leaders, raising questions of loyalty to their citizens. 01:19:30 – Crimea's History & NATO InterestsCrimea's deep historical and cultural ties to Russia are explored, alongside NATO's strategic motives and Europe's role in blocking peace. 01:23:44 – Zelensky, the “Prostitute President”European leaders rush to prop up Zelensky ahead of his U.S. visit, while critics paint him as corrupt and willing to trade his people's lives for power. 01:40:36 – Mail-In Voting & Rigged ElectionsCriticism of mail-in voting as inherently insecure and ripe for fraud. Reference is made to Jimmy Carter's past warnings, contrasted with today's widespread ballot distribution. 02:17:30 – USDA, PRIME Act & Food FreedomDebate over the PRIME Act, which would allow states to distribute locally slaughtered meat. Strong critique of the USDA as unconstitutional overreach, arguing food safety should be handled at the local and state level. 02:52:34 – Near-Death Experiences & Hospice WorkAnecdotes about patients suddenly regaining lucidity before death, described as common in hospice care. Discussion highlights spiritual elements of dying, along with the emotional toll on caregivers. 03:02:59 – Farming, Trucking & Corporate AccountabilityListeners discuss livestock care, dangers of trucking, and frustration with corporations escaping accountability. The segment ends with a transition to brewing unrest in the UK over government double standards. 03:07:15 – Migrant Crime & Police Double StandardsA migrant trespasses into a woman's home in England and is released without charges, while a woman is arrested multiple times for silently praying outside an abortion clinic, highlighting a two-tiered justice system. 03:12:59 – Crackdown on Protesters vs. Protection for MigrantsPolice arrest locals protesting a migrant hotel while shielding the trespassing asylum seeker, fueling concerns of authoritarian policing and civil unrest in Britain. 03:19:56 – DC Police Roadblocks & Martial LawFocus on U.S. checkpoints in Washington, D.C. and erosion of Fourth Amendment rights, tied to Trump's accelerationist law-and-order policies. 03:31:21 – AI Dependence & Human AtrophyReliance on AI is compared to physical atrophy, with references to “WALL-E” and stroke recovery, warning that outsourcing thought undermines human capability. 03:52:44 – AI Surveillance & Metadata ControlExplores radar eavesdropping, Stingray devices, and Palantir's metadata systems, warning that AI-driven surveillance empowers state control. 03:57:17 – AI Job Loss & Police State ExpansionNotes that AI threatens white-collar jobs like doctors and lawyers while reinforcing bipartisan authoritarian policing. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silverFor 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHTFind out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-david-knight-show--5282736/support.
Ilona Joy Saari, a former showroom model on Seventh Avenue in NYC, is a freelance writer who's worked in many genres, from television/film to essayist to rock'n'roll press to political campaigns. She was a NY Deputy Press Secretary for President Jimmy Carter, a press liaison for both Jimmy Carter's Democratic Presidential conventions and has written many speeches for celebrities stumping for presidential candidates and women's issues for the Clinton Gore campaigns and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Her essays have been published in newspapers such as the NY Daily News and others across the country and she is a past contributor to HuffPost. As the author of three novels in her series "Mystery Chronicles of NY Women," she is currently working on her 4th book for the series, titled "Seventh Avenue". Now living in Ojai California, she is the food and wine columnist for the glossy magazine, Ojai Quarterly and feature writer for the Ojai Monthly. in this episode, Ilona discusses her first book, Freeze Frame, originally written as a screenplay and then expanded into a mystery book… her roots as a New Yorker who loves the city… writing her second novel, White Gloves and Rob Roys, a mystery about a young reporter and four older women, characters who had been on Ilona's mind for many years… feminism and the women's movement… the importance (and challenge) she faces in keeping track of the many threads she creates in writing her mystery novels… how her work in story development and television, especially as a story editor, made it easier for her to write her mysteries… persevering and not giving up… her gratitude for having a supportive husband… and the advice that we first understand what we want to do and then find other women who are successfully doing that.You can learn more about Ilona Joy Saari's books at her author website-> ilonajoysaari.com
Jimmy Carter sent his daughter to its public schools; pictures of Obama still grace businesses' walls; and now Trump has taken an interest in Washington, D.C…by deploying the National Guard, reassigning FBI agents, vowing to evict the city's homeless population. Guest: Jenny Gathright, reporter at the Washington Post covering the D.C. region. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jimmy Carter sent his daughter to its public schools; pictures of Obama still grace businesses' walls; and now Trump has taken an interest in Washington, D.C…by deploying the National Guard, reassigning FBI agents, vowing to evict the city's homeless population. Guest: Jenny Gathright, reporter at the Washington Post covering the D.C. region. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jimmy Carter sent his daughter to its public schools; pictures of Obama still grace businesses' walls; and now Trump has taken an interest in Washington, D.C…by deploying the National Guard, reassigning FBI agents, vowing to evict the city's homeless population. Guest: Jenny Gathright, reporter at the Washington Post covering the D.C. region. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. 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
Keith fields listener questions on: changes to realtor fees, down payment strategies for investment properties, and how the new 100% bonus tax depreciation really works, then staggering inflation statistics that motivate you to invest in real assets. He explains that realtor fees have shifted from a 6% listing fee to a 3% seller fee, with potential buyer contributions negotiable. For down payments, he advises maximizing leverage while avoiding over-leverage. Bonus depreciation allows for significant tax deductions in the first year, benefiting high-income investors. Resources: Connect with a recommended cost segregation engineer to take advantage of bonus depreciation here. Show Notes: GetRichEducation.com/566 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments. You get paid first: Text FAMILY to 66866 Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search “how to leave an Apple Podcasts review” For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— text ‘GRE' to 66866 Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript: Automatically Transcribed With Otter.ai Keith Weinhold 0:00 Welcome to GRE. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, fielding your listener questions on changes to realtor fees, your down payment strategy, and how the new 100% bonus tax depreciation really works, then staggering inflation statistics that motivate you to invest in real assets today on Get Rich Education. Keith Weinhold 0:26 Since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors, and delivers a new show every week. Since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads of 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki, get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast, or visit get rich education.com Speaker 1 1:12 You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education. Keith Weinhold 1:22 Welcome to GRE from Athens, Pennsylvania to Athens, Georgia to Athens, Greece, and with listeners across 188 world nations. You are listening to get rich Education. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, yeah, you and I are back together for a 566th wealth building week. This is not where you learn how to create wealth through careful sports wagering at DraftKings. We also don't try to do everything like WalMart. We talk about investing actually pretty aggressively yet reasonably and responsibly at the same time. Usually those attributes are opposites, but because we are leveraging the most proven wealth building vehicle of all time, real estate, where you don't have to be the landlord. You don't need to get deeply hands on with house flipping, and you don't need to own property in your local market, though you could. We are not day trading. We are decade trading. There's not a get rich quick element here at GRE, because that doesn't work. We're owning mostly long term rental properties, bringing the financially free beats debt free approach and cognizant that compound leverage Trumps compound interest. And from the day you start focusing on this, you can retire in five to 10 years, and you can take it as far as you want, because unlike many professional sports, the sport of real estate investing doesn't have any salary cap at all. I'm starting off with three of your listener questions today. You write into the show with your questions and what I've got a few that I think could help a lot of you. I answer them here. And as usual, I start with the more introductory question, and then I proceed to the more advanced. The first one comes from Sherry In Sellersburg, Indiana. I know where that is. It's just across the river and to the north of Louisville, Kentucky. Sherry asks when I go to sell my duplex, how have last year's changes in realtor fees affected my sale costs? Yeah, thanks for the question, Sherry. And a lot of people still wonder about this first and a big little technical here, but this benefits other listeners Sherry is that a realtor means that they are a member of the NAR, the National Association of Realtors. So not all people that you enlist to help you market and sell your property are realtors, because not all agents belong to the NAR. In fact, the best catch all term for this person is not an agent. Depending on the state you're doing business in, it's probably licensee, someone licensed to act as your professional intermediary in a real estate transaction. And by the way, the name of an NAR member is a realtor. It is not pronounced real utter it's realtor, like doctor and lawyer. You wouldn't call a doctor a doctor two syllables, realtor, but to get to the crux of your question, Sherry, the changes to realtor compensation took effect almost exactly a year ago. It was last August, and it has less. Of an effect on the industry than many thought. I stated last year that it likely wouldn't affect things much, especially here on the investor side, and it really hasn't. The simplified version is that the old landscape was that when you used to list the property for sale, the listing agent charged you a fee, traditionally, 6% they offered half of that to any cooperating broker that brought the buyer to you. That was simple, and that worked for decades. That changed one year ago now, when any realtor or really licensee, when they work with you, now they simply contract with you for their fee, only like 3% as a seller of the property, you no longer have an obligation to pay for the buyer side agent as well, like you used to. But when you sign a listing agreement, you can indicate that you may be willing to concede and give an allowance to the buyer when they engage a licensee on their side to help them purchase your property. So Sherry, your voluntary contribution to the buyer side is negotiable, and it's part of the offer that the buyer presents to you. Now that's what you'll see as the seller and what you should expect as a buyer. The new landscape is that buyers negotiate a personal service agreement upfront with their licensee. Their service isn't free. I mean, these people can't work for free, and the buyer side licensee acknowledges that they will try to negotiate to get the seller to pay that fee. So Sherry, in reality, that's still what often happens. So the seller still pays that fee. In the end, the reason why is that not only is this traditional, but buyers cannot normally afford to pay for their own representation on top of their down payment and closing costs. They're often spread pretty thin already, but sellers can typically afford it. They have the upper hand financially in the form of equity in the property. And here, when you're buying properties at GRE marketplace, you don't have to pay any of those fees. We use a direct model without a licensee. So that's sort of the short version of the change, and why. I hope that helps sherry. It's a good question. Even licensees are struggling with the new rules. Keith Weinhold 7:38 The next question comes from Jezebel in Yonkers, New York. Jezebel asks, what is the ideal percent down payment that I should make on a rental property? I'm trying to figure out the trade off between debt level, cash flow, leverage and risk. I'm still trying to get past the mindset that paid off property is best. All right, that's Jezebel's question, and Jezebel The short answer is that you want to make the smallest down payment possible while avoiding over leverage. Over leverage, meaning that your monthly payments are so big that you struggle to make them. Now, many investors that buy rental property, they're going to make a 20% down payment on a conventional loan for a single family rental. At last check on duplexes and up the down payment has to be at least 25% now you can make a down payment as low as 15% at least on a single family rental, although you would then be subject to an extra fee a PMI premium. Now, why would one do such a thing for the leverage? Because leverage is almost seven to one at 15% down, but you've got to balance that with a PMI premium. Run the numbers and see what works for you. Now, since you can make just a 20% down payment on a single family rental, conversely, why would you put 25% down? Your leverage position would slide from five to one down to four to one, where you can often get a slightly lower interest rate if you put 25% down. But when you run the numbers, you'll find that it's often better to maintain strong leverage and only put 20% down. Now, Jezebel, as soon as you start putting 30% down on a property that is questionable at 30% or more, because at that point you really have to start asking why the rate of return from home equity is always zero. It actually makes your risk go up, like I've discussed extensively before, with 30% down, your leverage ratio has been cut to 3.3 maybe the answer could be that 30% down is what it takes to produce. Positive cash flow, but putting 30% or more down is clearly not ideal. Think about how good we've got it as real estate investors here, for example, imagine that you're attracted to a dividend paying stock because it pays a 4% yield, unless you're borrowing on margin, you would need to make a 100% down payment to get that 4% cash on cash return from a dividend paying stock, 100% sunk into this, which isn't even a down payment anymore. That's just an outright free and clear stock purchase. Well, instead, in real estate, when you realize that property prices rise or fall in value regardless of how much equity is in a property, you don't have an incremental increase in your equity growth. It's a quantum leap. And here's what I mean. Jezebel, say you're investing 100k in real estate, that's how much you're going to put into it, and it appreciates at 5%. All right, there are two scenarios with that. Scenario A, you put that 100% down into just one 500k property, well, then you've got just a 25k gain after a year. Instead, with Scenario B, you put 20% down on five 500k properties, then you've got a 25k gain after a year, not just 5k Said another way more powerfully. Scenario A, you only got a 5% return on one property. In Scenario B, you got a 25% return on all of five properties. Wow. That's why the leverage light bulb, when that goes off, that is an incredible flex that you've got. That's why I say it is not an incremental gain in your wealth. It is a quantum leap. So I hope that some of those considerations really help temper your strategy there. Jezebel, that really helps you see how financially free beats debt free and exposes the opportunity cost of a paid off property. Thanks for the question. Keith Weinhold 12:19 The next question comes from Ed, and he is a personal friend of mine, so he submitted this question by text message to me, but I wanted to address his question here, because I've had other people in my friend group ask me about this. It's about bonus depreciation, what it is. It's about bonus depreciation, what it is and how it works. And what's interesting here is that even those that aren't active real estate investors have been asking me about bonus depreciation. This was part of Trump's OB BBA, the one big, beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law back on the Fourth of July, and I told you about that last month, but because of all the questions about it and the lack of clarity around people's understanding of bonus depreciation, although it gets a little busy, let me give you a real world example with numbers on how bonus depreciation really works and how you can put 10s of 1000s of dollars in your pocket with it the next time you file your taxes. And by the way, my friend Ed that asked this question is a cargo pilot, so he is probably the most well traveled friend that I have. Yeah, through our chats and on social media, I often see that he's in China or Vietnam or a bunch of other places, but he lives in the US. In fact, bonus depreciation is encouraging more people that haven't even been real estate investors previously to newly invest in real estate because it is for properties acquired January, 20, 2025, or later, Trump's inauguration day for his second term or later. And I expect this to be effective for at least four years from that date. I think I mentioned that part to you a few weeks ago. All right, the property has got to be newly placed in service, not something that you bought, say, five years ago. Bonus depreciation does not apply to primary residences. We're talking about rental property, although it does apply to more than just rental property, because it can apply to property used in a business, like equipment, machinery and furniture, but within rental property, it applies to certain components of the real estate, not the building itself. That is on a regular depreciation schedule, and not the bare land. Land cannot be tax depreciated at all. All, neither through regular depreciation or bonus depreciation. You probably already know that a residential building itself can be depreciated over 27 and a half years. That works out to 3.6% of the value each year that can be depreciated or written off on your taxes, right? Well, what if there were portions of your building that you could write off faster, like over just five years, meaning 20% of their value each year you can, and others over seven years, meaning 14% of their value each year you can. And there's 15 year items as well. All right, so what if, instead of all that, you could take those five seven and 15 year components and just write them all off in the first year of ownership, so that you didn't even have to wait the five seven in 15 years, you can, you can write them all off in year one of your ownership of the property, and that is what 100% bonus depreciation is right there. That is in addition to writing off the main building over 27 and a half years. All right, with that understanding generally, let me break this down in more detail. Use an example, and that will also help reinforce what I just taught you, the components of rental property that bonus depreciation applies to, include the stuff that wears out faster than the building, and they are indoor items, appliances, flooring and cabinetry. At times, it can include HVAC systems, all right, that is written off in five to seven years. And then outdoor items known as land improvements, that includes fences, parking lots and landscaping. They're typically written off over 15 years. All right, let's look at a real world example on how this can benefit you. You can use bonus appreciation on single family rentals, duplexes, fourplexes and larger buildings. Let's use an example of an apartment building that you purchase for $1.2 million one we'll say the land value is 200k that is not depreciable. So the building, the depreciable asset, has a value of $1 million you must have performed what is called a cost segregation study in order to break down that $1 million building into those erstwhile faster depreciating components. And no, you cannot do the cost seg study yourself. You need to pay a few $1,000 to hire a Cost Segregation engineer to do this study. All right, let's look at the cost seg breakdown, the result of what he or she finds for you, let's say the personal property that's worth 150k its recovery period is five to seven years, and yes, it is eligible for bonus depreciation. Then you have the land improvements say that's another 50k over 15 years for a recovery period. And yes, it is bonus depreciation eligible. And then finally, you have the structure, or the building worth 800k It has a recovery period of 27 and a half years. No, it is not eligible for bonus depreciation, just the regular type. All right. Well, let me define more of this personal property for you here these five or seven year assets, these are what are eligible for 100% bonus depreciation in qualifying years. So we're looking inside the units, appliances like refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, microwaves, washers and dryers, also flooring, carpet, vinyl and removable floating floors, not typically hardwood or tile, cabinetry and countertops in some cases, especially if they're not load bearing. Window treatments like blinds, drapes and curtain rods, ceiling fans and light fixtures, they've got to be detached from the structure and furniture, if it's a furnished rental, like perhaps a midterm rental or short term rental. So we're talking about things like beds, couches, in chairs and then in common areas. This five to seven year personal property includes fitness equipment in the gym, leasing office, computers, desks, chairs, clubhouse furniture or TVs, package lockers, like places where your tenants have their Amazon packages, playground equipment and trash compactors. All right, to be clear, that was all personal property that can be depreciated over five to seven years. And then there are those land improvements, the. 15 year assets also eligible for bonus depreciation, sidewalks, fencing, landscaping and irrigation, parking lots and striping, outdoor lighting, retaining walls and signage. Okay again, those are the land improvements, the 15 year items, things that are not eligible for bonus depreciation are the building structure itself, like I mentioned. That includes the roof framing, drywall foundations, and also things like elevators, structural plumbing and wiring and HVAC systems that serve the whole structure. Okay, all that stuff falls in the category of regular 27 and a half year depreciation. All right, so what is the 100% bonus depreciation effect? All right, well, your eligible amount in our example is 150k of personal property plus 50k of land improvements. That's 200k that you can deduct all in one year, rather than having to spread it over five and seven and 15 years. But all in year one of you owning the property that's 200k and again, the remaining 800k structure is depreciated over 27 and a half years. That works out to about 29k a year. This is where it gets exciting. Here we go. So your total year one depreciation, the year that you bought this asset and put it into service, with your bonus depreciation items adding up to 200k and your regular building depreciation at about 29k your total year one deduction is about $229,000 Wow, before I break that down some more and tell you about how it really helps you, let's just be really clear. How did you really get to the 200k of bonus depreciation. All right, let's say the cost segregation study allocated 80k to appliances, flooring and fixtures. Remember, they are the five to seven year items. Another 70k to common area, furniture and office equipment, that was the seven year stuff. All right, so there's 150k or personal property, and then another 50k to that outdoor stuff, the depreciable items known as land improvements, like the parking, landscaping and fencing, those 15 year items, that's how we got to 200k all bonus depreciation eligible, all fully deductible in year One under the 100% bonus depreciation rules, all right, so here it is. Here's the takeaway. You have front loaded an extra 200k of deductions in year one, and you have greatly reduced your taxable income. This is the outcome. This is the result. You just reduced it by 229k between the bonus appreciation and the regular depreciation. All right, so what is the effect of you reducing your taxable income by 229k in one year? Well, if you're in the, say, 32% tax bracket, you keep an extra $73,000 in your pocket. That's $73,000 that you would have had to send to the IRS for the next tax year. But no, you don't, and that is the power of bonus depreciation. That's how it works. Ed, and for all of you that asked about it, I know it's not that simple, and there were a lot of numbers flying around there, it got a little heavy, but that's a complete breakdown. That's why so many people are excited about the return of 100% bonus depreciation, as laid out in law with the one big, beautiful Bill Act, as you can see, it's going to help higher income people more than anyone. If you'd like to get this going and connect with GRE recommended Cost Segregation engineer, or just check and see if it's worth paying several $1,000 for the cost segregation study, we can help you with that. In fact, you might remember that I interviewed him on the show last year, and we will make that introduction for you and help ensure that you have a successful cost seg and bonus depreciation experience regardless of the size of your portfolio, even if you don't own million dollar apartment buildings. You don't have to have a huge income for this to benefit you. It just benefits those people the most. Well, you can set up a time to chat with us about that completely free of charge at GRE investment coach.com I think you know that's where you can also get a completely free strategy session about growing your overall real estate investment portfolio. You might as well do that at the same time at GRE. Investment coach.com. More next, I'm Keith Weinhold. You're listening to get rich education. Keith Weinhold 25:07 The same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties, they help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequel and even chat with President Chaley Ridge personally. While it's on your mind, start at Ridge lendinggroup.com. That's Ridge lendinggroup.com. Keith Weinhold 25:39 You know what's crazy your bank is getting rich off of you, the average savings account pays less than 1% it's like laughable. Meanwhile, if your money isn't making at least 4% you're losing to inflation. That's why I started putting my own money into the FFI liquidity fund. It's super simple. Your cash can pull in up to 8% returns, and it compounds. It's not some high risk gamble like digital or AI stock trading. It's pretty low risk because they've got a 10 plus year track record of paying investors on time in full every time. I mean, I wouldn't be talking about it if I wasn't invested myself. You can invest as little as 25k and you keep earning until you decide you want your money back, no weird lockups or anything like that. So if you're like me and tired of your liquid funds just sitting there doing nothing, check it out. Text family 266, 866, to learn about freedom family investments, liquidity fund. Again, text family to 66866, Blair Singer 26:49 this is Rich Dad, sales advisor, Blair singer. Listen to get rich education with Keith Weinhold. And above all, don't quit your Daydream. Keith Weinhold 27:07 welcome back to get rich Education. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold, if you have a listener question that you'd like to have answered on air, get a hold of us at get rich education.com/contact that's where you can either leave a voicemail or write in to us. I'd like to tell you the frequent guests that we have here on the show, all from the rich dad school, if you will, are going to be speaking in person at Penn State University in just a few weeks. Here it is on the 29th of this month. Yes, an event you can attend in person. It's going to be Robert Kiyosaki, Garrett Sutton and his son Ted Sutton and Tom wheelwright, the four of them speaking live and in person, sponsored by Penn State's Borrelli Institute for real estate studies. The event is named Rich Dad revealed Real Estate Wealth and wisdom. If that's of interest, look it up and check it out. From listening to the show and being a savvy investor that's inflation aware, you know that the mission is to turn a really fake asset, a conjured into existence asset, like $1 convert that into a real asset. Here is some astonishing clarity on why. That's the mission in this could leave you flabbergasted. Since 1980 The United States has one and a half times more homes, two times more gold today, and 42 times more dollars today. My gosh, that is almost laugh out loud material here. Yes, since 1980 the year that Jimmy Carter was president and Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, was the top grossing movie. The US has 56% more residential housing units today. So basically, since the year that Darth Vader told Luke Skywalker, I am your father, there are about one and a half times more homes, twice as much gold mined and brought into existence, and 42 times more dollars created out of thin air for the future, all of these trends are expected to continue at roughly the same trajectory and proportion to each other. Now, there's a reason that people use precious metals to measure inflation. It makes a particularly good measuring stick because commodities like gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium and copper, they don't change over time. Unlike a car or a bottle of soda, these items are on the periodic table of the elements, an ounce of gold 1000 years ago is exactly the same. As an ounce of gold today. That's why commodities like this are such good long term inflation measuring sticks. And then there's Bitcoin, something that didn't even exist until 2009 there will only ever be 21 million of them in existence, and 95% of Bitcoins, about 20 million have already been mined into existence. So yes, only 5% more will be issued, and it's going to take about the next 100 years to do that. If bitcoins were the size of a quarter, all 21 million of them could fit inside a single shipping container. There's some fixed supply scarcity. Let's listen to this. It's about 30 seconds long, and it's called all there will ever be. Speaker 2 30:50 Every day the Fed prints an average of $465 million that's 26,000 shipping containers a year, created out of thin air. Maybe that's why the dollar loses value over time. But there's one thing they can never print more of Bitcoin at the size of a quarter. This is all there will ever be. Shouldn't the store of value hold its value? Keith Weinhold 31:16 That's actually a Coinbase video advertisement that we just listen to the audio of there together. Yes, what they show at the end is a shipping container where, if bitcoin were the size of a quarter, all of them that will ever exist would fit in one shipping container. And like it said, every single year, on average, the Fed prints enough dollars to fill 26,000 shipping containers, just staggering. There are so many dollars now, I'm thinking of replacing my insulation with stacks of ones. Same R value, better liquidity. Pretty soon, we won't count dollars anymore. We'll just weigh them. Welcome to the Zimbabwe starter kit. We have gone from sound money to clown money. That's another way to think of it. Oh, they say money doesn't grow on trees. That's true. It grows in spreadsheets. Now, though, one keystroke at the Fed and poof, there's another trillion just like that. Just hit the control, plus the print key. That's all it takes. All right. Well, let's take a look and see how this manifests in your life as a consumer and as a real estate investor and as a worker since January of 2020 to today, a $100,000 salary has the same buying power as 125k today. Guess over just the last five years, the dollar has lost 25% of its value, and now I'm talking in terms of the CPI here, the consumer price index. So of course, all these figures I'm using could really be higher, like we say, therefore these figures are only the inflation rate that the government is willing to admit to. How does this break down by region? So yes, we have 25% national inflation over five years, but different regions have different rates of inflation, including the region where you are, and this is due to reasons like climate and the composition of industries and even cultural preferences. For example, a southern climate with a lot of air conditioner use spends more on electricity. So if electricity costs are high there, then that region's inflation rate could be higher than that of a northern climate. A place like Omaha, Nebraska is proximous to a lot of agricultural crops and beef, but a place far from where those items are sourced could be more sensitive to changes in beef prices or less sensitive. So over the past five years, here's how much annual inflation in these select cities have experienced again, per the CPI from lowest to highest San Francisco is just 3.3% per year. So in San Fran your 100k salary in 2020 would need to be almost 118k today just to maintain purchasing power. New York City, 3.9% annual inflation over the last five years. Chicago, 4.2% Philly, 4.3 Seattle is at 4.8 Dallas, Fort Worth 4.9 St Louis, 5% Atlanta, 5.1 Miami, 5.4 we're really getting up there now. Phoenix, 5.9 San Diego, 6.1 and the major. Major city with the highest inflation rate over the past five years is Tampa, Florida, at 6.4% annually, Tampa's had some of the highest real estate appreciation over the past five years as well. So this means that a 100k salary five years ago in Tampa would have to be 128k today just to maintain purchasing power due to its 28% cumulative inflation the past five years. But that's the CPI. The real figure could be 40% plus in Tampa. All right, now this information is useful, because even if you believe that the CPI is understated, which most everyone that's looked at it does, as long as the methodology is consistent, you can see the regional variation here. Again, San Francisco was lowest at 3.3 Tampa about double at 6.4% the ever present force of inflation. It's merely surreptitious, until you have a big wave of it peaking in 2022 that everyone noticed. Let's look at how it's contributed to the real estate price run up since 2020 All right, so in the first quarter of this century, you might find this unbelievable in itself, in the year 2000 the median priced Florida home was 195k I mean, that's the median price. Then the investor sweet spot is usually lower than that. It might have been 130k in Florida in the year 2000 so again, 195k in Florida for the median home price as recently as 2000 today, it is 412k gosh, almost as surprising in Texas, It was just 153k in 2000 and it's 338k now, I mean, don't these prices like 153k in Texas, make it seem like the price for a dog house already, New York, 276k up to 576k Also from the year 2000 to today, Washington, DC, 293k up to 643k Colorado, 377, up to 582k Florida, more than doubling 393, up to 833 And Washington State also more than doubling 313k up to 630k my gosh, price increases like this. They're a function of both monetary inflation and appreciation, and it's really a chief reason that the Fed has not cut interest rates this year. It's because the memory of soaring inflation is still much too recent. Keith Weinhold 38:05 To review what you've learned on this week's episode. Changes to realtor fees have made less industry impact than many expected. The smaller your down payment, the more powerful your leverage fulcrum. The return of 100% bonus depreciation has many investors, and even non investors, interested in adding income property to their portfolio, and staggering inflation is a motivator for adding real assets to your life. Hey, if you would, I would love it, and it would mean the world to me. If you found this episode valuable enough that you would share it with a friend. I put a lot of thought into it, just like I do every single week, friends are probably going to find explanations about realtor fees and bonus depreciation highly helpful this week, you can either share the episode by word of mouth or take a screenshot of this episode and put it on your social media. You might want to write out that it's get rich education in your social posts, because it only shows GRE on our podcast, cover image in some views. Thanks for telling a friend about the show. Until next week, I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream. Unknown Speaker 39:23 nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC exclusively. Keith Weinhold 39:47 You know, whenever you want the best written real estate and finance info, oh, geez, today's experience limits your free articles access and it's got paywalls and pop ups and push Notes. Vacations and cookies, disclaimers, it's not so great. So then it's vital to place nice, clean, free content into your hands that adds no hype value to your life. That's why this is the golden age of quality newsletters. And I write every word of ours myself. It's got a dash of humor, and it's to the point because even the word abbreviation is too long, my letter usually takes less than three minutes to read, and when you start the letter, you also get my one hour fast real estate video course, it's all completely free. It's called The Don't quit your Daydream. Letter. It wires your mind for wealth, and it couldn't be easier for you to get it right now. Just text gre to 66866, while it's on your mind, take a moment to do it right now. Text gre to 66866 Keith Weinhold 41:02 The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building, getricheducation.com.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comScott is a war correspondent and author. His non-fiction books include Lawrence in Arabia, Fractured Lands, and The Quiet Americans, and his novels include Triage and Moonlight Hotel. He's also a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. His new book is King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation.For two clips of our convo — on Jimmy Carter's debacle with the Shah, and the hero of the Iran hostage crisis — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: growing up in East Asia and traveling the world; his father the foreign service officer; their time in Iran not long before the revolution; Iran a “chew toy” between the British and Russian empires; the Shah's father's affinity for Nazi Germany; Mosaddegh's move to nationalize the oil; the 1953 coup; the police state under the Shah; having the world's 5th biggest military; the OPEC embargo; the rise of Khomeini and his exile; the missionary George Braswell and the mullahs; Carter's ambitious foreign policy; the US grossly overestimating the Shah; selling him arms; Kissinger; the cluelessness of the CIA; the prescience of Michael Metrinko; the Tabriz riots; students storming the US embassy; state murder under Khomeini dwarfing the Shah's; the bombing of Iran's nuke facilities; and Netanyahu playing into Hamas' hands.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: a fun chat with Johann Hari, Jill Lepore on the history of the Constitution, Karen Hao on artificial intelligence, and Katie Herzog on drinking your way sober. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.
Former President and Georgia native Jimmy Carter created the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Emergency Management Agency back in 1979. But now President Donald Trump is calling for these two departments, among others, to be dismantled. On this week’s episode of “Plugged In,” hosts Sam Gringlas and Rahul Bali look at how debates over the shape of the federal government during Carter’s time can shed light on what’s happening today. Plus, a look at bathroom parity at the State Capitol, off-schedule redistricting appears to be off the table for Georgia Republicans, an update on drama over appointments to the Fulton County Board of Elections and census data suggests that Metro Atlanta’s population boom may be slowing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The explosive inside story of the October Surprise conspiracy, a stunning act of treason that changed American history. New York Times bestselling author Craig Unger reveals his thirty-year investigation into the secret collusion between Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign and Iran, raising urgent questions about what happens when foreign meddling in our elections goes unpunished and what gets remembered when the political price for treason is victory.It was a tinderbox of an accusation. In April 1991, the New York Times ran an op-ed alleging that Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign had conspired with the Iranian government to delay the release of 52 American hostages until after the 1980 election. The Iranian hostage crisis was President Jimmy Carter's largest political vulnerability, and his lack of success freeing them ultimately sealed his fate at the ballot box. In return for keeping Americans in captivity until Reagan assumed the oath of office, the Republicans had secretly funneled arms to Iran. Treasonous and illegal, the operation—planned and executed by Reagan's campaign manager Bill Casey—amounted to a shadow foreign policy run by private citizens that ensured Reagan's victory.Investigative journalist Craig Unger was one of the first reporters covering the October Surprise—initially for Esquire and then Newsweek—and while attempting to unravel the mystery, he was fired, sued, and ostracized by the Washington press corps, as a counter narrative took hold: The October Surprise was a hoax. Though Unger later recovered his name and became a bestselling author on Republican abuses of power, the October Surprise remained his white whale, the project he—as well as legendary investigative journalist, the late Robert Parry—worked on late at night and between assignments.In Den of Spies, Unger reveals the definitive story of the October Surprise, going inside his three-decade reporting odyssey, along with Parry's never-before-seen archives, and sharing startling truths about what really happened in 1980. The result is a real-life political thriller filled with double agents, CIA operatives, slippery politicians, KGB documents, wealthy Republicans, and dogged journalists. A timely and provocative history that presages our Trump-era political scandals, Den of Spies demonstrates the stakes of allowing the politics of the moment to obscure the writing of our history.https://amzn.to/4ohW3GhBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.
Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House Craig Unger The explosive inside story of the October Surprise conspiracy, a stunning act of treason that changed American history. New York Times bestselling author Craig Unger reveals his thirty-year investigation into the secret collusion between Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign and Iran, raising urgent questions about what happens when foreign meddling in our elections goes unpunished and what gets remembered when the political price for treason is victory.It was a tinderbox of an accusation. In April 1991, the New York Times ran an op-ed alleging that Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign had conspired with the Iranian government to delay the release of 52 American hostages until after the 1980 election. The Iranian hostage crisis was President Jimmy Carter's largest political vulnerability, and his lack of success freeing them ultimately sealed his fate at the ballot box. In return for keeping Americans in captivity until Reagan assumed the oath of office, the Republicans had secretly funneled arms to Iran. Treasonous and illegal, the operation—planned and executed by Reagan's campaign manager Bill Casey—amounted to a shadow foreign policy run by private citizens that ensured Reagan's victory.Investigative journalist Craig Unger was one of the first reporters covering the October Surprise—initially for Esquire and then Newsweek—and while attempting to unravel the mystery, he was fired, sued, and ostracized by the Washington prehttps://amzn.to/4o97NLjBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.
In 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage, sparking a 444-day international crisis. Caught between shifting politics and fierce anti-American sentiment, the hostages endured beatings, mock executions, and months of isolation. Meanwhile, the world watched as President Jimmy Carter struggled to negotiate their release amid rising tensions and oil shocks. Discover how a daring CIA operation — involving a fake sci-fi movie called Argo — helped smuggle six diplomats to freedom. Dive into the behind-the-scenes drama of Iran's revolution, U.S.-Iran relations, and the unexpected heroes who changed history. Perfect for fans of political thrillers, Cold War stories, and true tales of courage under fire. Don't miss this gripping episode on one of the most intense hostage crises in modern history. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS House of Atlas - https://houseofatlas.com with promo code CHAOS for 20% off everything. SelectQuote - Life insurance is never cheaper than it is today. Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, and save more than fifty percent at https://selectquote.com/chaos Thrive Market - Go to https://ThriveMarket.com/CHAOS, to get thirty percent off your first order, plus a FREE sixty dollar gift just for signing up. BlueChew - Make life easier by getting harder and discover your options at https://BlueChew.com! And we've got a special deal for our listeners: Try your first month of BlueChew FREE when you use promo code CHAOS -- just pay $5 shipping. Christories Disclaimer* it is important to note that Christories knowledge and understanding of historical events, facts, and figures may not be 100% accurate or complete! Note that information in this episode has been lightly researched and we encourage you to continue your learning outside of this episode too, Babes! Follow us Muffin Butt!