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This week on the Sinica Podcast, I speak with Jonathan Czin, the Michael H. Armacost Chair in Foreign Policy Studies and a fellow at the Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center. His new essay in Foreign Affairs, “China Against China: Xi Jinping Confronts the Downsides of Success,” challenges the dominant Western narrative of Xi Jinping as either Mao reincarnate or a brittle autocrat presiding over imminent collapse. Instead, Czin argues that Xi's most illiberal reforms can be understood as attempts to cure the pathologies of China's own success. We discuss his framing of Xi's “Counterreformation,” how it helps explain China's current political direction, and what it reveals about our own analytical blind spots in the West.7:15 – Xi's “reformation” and Carl Minzner's “end of reform and opening”12:18 – Corruption, decentralization, and the “lost decade” under Hu and Wen20:12 – Defining “resilience” and what Xi means by “eating bitterness”29:45 – The “downsides of success”: property, corruption, and governance contradictions45:30 – Counter-reformation vs. counterrevolution: what Xi wants to preserve and discard54:20 – The myth of yes-men: triangulation and feedback in Xi's leadership style1:07:07 – Cognitive empathy and why most U.S. analysis of Xi falls short1:15:35 – Systems that can't course-correct: comparing the U.S. and China1:22:05 – Cognitive empathy, ideology, and the problem of American exceptionalismPaying it forward:Jonathan: Allie Mathias and Dinny McMahonRecommendations:Jonathan: The Thirty Years War by C.V. Wedgewood; The Betrothed by Alessandro ManzoniKaiser: Transplants by Daniel Tam-ClaiborneSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Donate (no account necessary) | Subscribe (account required) Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, as he dives into today's top stories shaping America and the world. In this Monday Headline Brief of The Wright Report, Bryan covers the “No Kings” protests against President Trump, rising ties between Marxists and Islamists in U.S. politics, the arrest of a Hamas-linked illegal in Louisiana, new calls for deportations of radicalized citizens, and global updates from Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, China, and Australia.   “No Kings” Protests Fall Flat: Millions were expected at anti-Trump demonstrations over the weekend, but turnout reached only one to five percent of Kamala Harris voters. Democrats Abroad rebranded their rallies as “No Tyrants” to avoid offending actual monarchs in Commonwealth nations. Bryan says, “Democrats want no kings — except the real ones.”   Radical Islamist Runs for NYC Mayor: Ugandan-born Marxist Zohran Mamdani appeared at protests alongside Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a former unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj has preached jihad abroad and called for an Islamic nation in America through political activism. Bryan cites the UAE's foreign minister warning that “Western naïveté about radical Islam will destroy us.”   Hamas Terrorist Arrested in Louisiana: An illegal immigrant from Gaza, Mahmoud al-Muhtadi, who joined the October 7th Hamas attacks, was living in the U.S. as a Biden-approved resident. ICE also arrested a Texas man offering bounties to kill agents, and a Michigan mayor defended naming a street after a Hamas sympathizer. Bryan warns, “These are the people we've let in — and they want to destroy this country.”   DHS Embraces “Re-Migration” Policy: The Department of Homeland Security announced plans to strip citizenship from naturalized extremists, arguing that fraudulent applications and post-naturalization crimes justify “de-naturalization and return.” Critics call it racist; Bryan calls it overdue.   Trump's Expanding War on Narco-Terror: The U.S. Navy sank another cartel vessel near Venezuela, killing three Marxist rebels linked to Colombia's ELN. Colombian President Gustavo Petro — himself a former terrorist — protested the strike, but Trump said Petro “doesn't want to mess with the United States.” Senator Rand Paul demanded congressional oversight, sparking debate over executive war powers.   China's Internal Purge and the Mineral Wars: President Xi Jinping removed nine generals in the largest purge since Mao, signaling espionage and internal fractures. Meanwhile, Trump meets Australia's Prime Minister Albanese at the White House today to announce joint investments in rare earth minerals and new Pacific supply chains.   "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32     Keywords: No Kings protest turnout, Zohran Mamdani Imam Siraj Wahhaj jihad, Hamas terrorist Louisiana arrest, DHS remigration denaturalization policy, Trump narco-terror Venezuela Colombia ELN, Rand Paul war powers debate, Xi Jinping purge PLA generals, Trump Australia rare earth partnership

Jon Czin spent years as a top China analyst at the CIA, served as China Director on Biden's National Security Council, and now works at the Brookings Institution. We discuss what Xi's fourth-term means for China's top leadership and military, Taiwan, and the US. We cover: How Xi's mafioso-style “decapitation strategy” has kept the PLA in line and why he's purged more generals than Mao. Cognitive decline and how end-of-life thinking might be shaping Xi's succession plans and Taiwan strategy. Tariffs, rare earths, and China's appetite for pain vs. America's. Beijing's parochialism and its limits in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. What intelligence work on China actually looks like and whether or not Xi's era is duller than previous generations. Plus: who might succeed Xi, comparing the Politburo Standing Committee to a frat house, and why chips and TSMC matter much less in Xi's Taiwan calculus than most think. Outtro Music: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7. The Tree Sparrow: Mao's Folly and the Emu Wars AUTHOR: Stephen Moss BOOK TITLE: 10 Birds That Changed the World This excerpt details Mao's 1958 "Four Vermin" campaign targeting the Tree Sparrow. Maoordered the sparrows killed, believing they consumed grain; however, because sparrows feed their young on insects, their eradication led to an insect population boom. The subsequent crop failures caused a famine that resulted in potentially 45 to 50 million deaths, making it the worst human-created disaster in history. The segment contrasts this tragedy with the "Emu Wars" in 1930s Australia, where highly adaptable Emussuccessfully defeated the Australian army. 1938

Last time we spoke about the Battle of Taierzhuang. Following the fall of Nanjing in December 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War entered a brutal phase of attrition as Japan sought to consolidate control and press toward central China. Chinese defense prioritized key rail corridors and urban strongholds, with Xuzhou, the JinPu and Longhai lines, and the Huai River system forming crucial lifelines. By early 1938, Japanese offensives aimed to link with forces around Beijing and Nanjing and encircle Chinese positions in the Central Yangtze region, threatening Wuhan. In response, Chiang Kai-shek fortified Xuzhou and expanded defenses to deter a pincer move, eventually amassing roughly 300,000 troops along strategic lines. Taierzhuang became a focal point when Japanese divisions attempted to press south and link with northern elements. Chinese commanders Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Tang Enbo, and Sun Lianzhong coordinated to complicate Japanese plans through offensive-defensive actions, counterattacks, and encirclement efforts. The victory, though numerically costly, thwarted immediate Japanese objectives and foreshadowed further attritional struggles ahead.   #171 The Flooding of the Yellow River Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. We last left off with a significant event during the Xuzhou campaign. Three Japanese divisions under General Itagaki Seishiro moved south to attack Taierzhuang and were met by forces commanded by Li Zongren, Sun Lianzhong, and Tang Enbo, whose units possessed a decent amount of artillery. In a two-week engagement from March 22 to April 7, the battle devolved into a costly urban warfare. Fighting was vicious, often conducted in close quarters and at night. The urban environment negated Japanese advantages in armor and artillery, allowing Chinese forces to contend on equal terms. The Chinese also disrupted Japanese logistics by resupplying their own troops and severing rear supply lines, draining Japanese ammunition, supplies, and reinforcements. By April 7, the Japanese were compelled to retreat, marking the first Chinese victory of the war. However both sides suffered heavy losses, with around 20,000 casualties on each side. In the aftermath of this rare victory, Chiang Kai-Shek pushed Tang Enbo and Li Zongren to capitalize on their success and increased deployments in the Taierzhuang theater to about 450,000 troops. Yet the Chinese Army remained hampered by fundamental problems. The parochialism that had crippled Chiang's forces over the preceding months resurfaced. Although the generals had agreed to coordinate in a war of resistance, each still prioritized the safety of his own troops, wary of Chiang's bid to consolidate power. Li Zongren, for example, did not deploy his top Guangxi provincial troops at Taierzhuang and sought to shift most of the fighting onto Tang Enbo's forces. Chiang's colleagues were mindful of the fates of Han Fuju of Shandong and Zhang Xueliang of Manchuria: Han was executed for refusing to fight, while Zhang, after allowing Chiang to reduce the size of his northeastern army, ended up under house arrest. They were right to distrust Chiang. He believed, after all, that provincial armies should come under a unified national command, which he would lead. From a national-unity perspective, his aspiration was not unreasonable. But it fed suspicion among other military leaders that participation in the anti-Japanese war would dilute their power. The divided nature of the command also hindered logistics, making ammunition and food supplies to the front unreliable and easy to cut off. By late April the Chinese had reinforced the Xuzhou area to between 450,000-600,000 to capitalize on their victory. However these armies were plagued with command and control issues. Likewise the Japanese licked their wounds and reinforced the area to roughly 400,000, with fresh troops and supplies flowing in from Tianjin and Nanjing. The Japanese continued with their objective of encircling Chinese forces. The North China Area Army comprised four divisions and two infantry brigades drawn from the Kwantung Army, while the Central China Expeditionary Army consisted of three divisions and the 1st and 2nd Tank Battalions along with motorized support units. The 5th Tank Battalion supported the 3rd Infantry Division as it advanced north along the railway toward Xuzhou. Fighting to the west, east, and north of Xuzhou was intense, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. On 18 April, the Japanese advanced southward toward Pizhou. Tang Enbo's 20th Army Corps, together with the 2nd, 22nd, 46th, and 59th corps, resisted fiercely, culminating in a stalemate by the end of April. The 60th Corps of the Yunnan Army engaged the Japanese 10th Division at Yuwang Mountain for nearly a month, repelling multiple assaults. By the time it ceded its position to the Guizhou 140th Division and withdrew on 15 May, the corps had sustained losses exceeding half of its forces. Simultaneously, the Japanese conducted offensives along both banks of the Huai River, where Chinese defenders held out for several weeks. Nevertheless, Japanese artillery and aerial bombardment gradually tilted the balance, allowing the attackers to seize Mengcheng on 9 May and Hefei on 14 May. From there, the southern flank split into two parts: one force moved west and then north to cut off the Longhai Railway escape route from Xuzhou, while another division moved directly north along the railway toward Suxian, just outside Xuzhou. Simultaneously, to the north, Japanese units from north China massed at Jining and began moving south beyond Tengxian. Along the coast, an amphibious landing was made at Lianyungang to reinforce troops attacking from the east. The remaining portions of Taierzhuang were captured in May, a development symbolically significant to Tokyo. On 17 May, Japanese artillery further tightened the noose around Xuzhou, striking targets inside the city.  To preserve its strength, the Nationalist government ordered the abandonment of Xuzhou and directed its main forces to break out toward northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, and eastern Henan. To deter the Japanese army's rapid westward advance and penetration into northern Henan and western Shandong, many leading military and political figures within the Nationalist government proposed breaching dams over the Yellow River to delay the offensive, a strategy that would have been highly advantageous to the Nationalist forces at the time. Chiang Kai-shek vetoed the proposal outright, insisting that the Nationalist army could still resist. He understood that with tens of millions of Chinese lives at stake and a sliver of hope remaining, the levee plan must not be undertaken. Then a significant battle broke out at Lanfeng. Chiang also recognized that defeat could allow the elite Japanese mechanized divisions, the 14th, 16th, and 10th, to advance directly toward Zhengzhou. If Zhengzhou fell, the Japanese mechanized forces on the plains could advance unimpeded toward Tongguan. Their southward push would threaten Xi'an, Xiangfan, and Nanyang, directly jeopardizing the southwest's rear defenses. Concurrently, the Japanese would advance along the Huai River north of the Dabie Mountains toward Wuhan, creating a pincer with operations along the Yangtze River.  Now what followed was arguably the most important and skillful Chinese maneuver of the Xuzhou campaign: a brilliantly executed strategic retreat to the south and west across the Jinpu railway line. On May 15, Li Zongren, in consultation with Chiang Kai-shek, decided to withdraw from Xuzhou and focus on an escape plan. The evacuation of civilians and military personnel began that day. Li ordered troops to melt into the countryside and move south and west at night, crossing the Jinpu Railway and splitting into four groups that would head west. The plan was to regroup in the rugged Dabie Mountains region to the south and prepare for the defense of Wuhan. Li's generals departed reluctantly, having held out for so long; Tang Enbo was said to have wept. Under cover of night, about forty divisions, over 200,000 men, marched out of Japanese reach in less than a week. A critical moment occurred on May 18, when fog and a sandstorm obscured the retreating troops as they crossed the Jinpu Railway. By May 21, Li wired Chiang Kai-shek to report that the withdrawal was complete. He mobilized nearly all of the Kuomintang Central Army's elite units, such as the 74th Army, withdrawn from Xuzhou and transferred directly to Lanfeng, with a resolute intent to “burn their boats.” The force engaged the Japanese in a decisive battle at Lanfeng, aiming to secure the last line of defense for the Yellow River, a position carrying the lives of millions of Chinese civilians. Yet Chiang Kai-shek's strategy was not universally understood by all participating generals, who regarded it as akin to striking a rock with an egg. For the battle of Lanfeng the Chinese mobilized nearly all of the Kuomintang Central Army's elite forces, comprising 14 divisions totaling over 150,000 men. Among these, the 46th Division of the 27th Army, formerly the Central Training Brigade and the 36th, 88th, and 87th Divisions of the 71st Army were German-equipped. Additionally, the 8th Army, the Tax Police Corps having been reorganized into the Ministry of Finance's Anti-Smuggling Corps, the 74th Army, and Hu Zongnan's 17th Corps, the new 1st Army, equipped with the 8th Division were elite Nationalist troops that had demonstrated strong performance in the battle of Shanghai and the battle of Nanjing, and were outfitted with advanced matériel. However, these so-called “elite” forces were heavily degraded during the campaigns in Shanghai and Nanjing. The 46th Division and Hu Zongnan's 17th Corps sustained casualties above 85% in Nanjing, while the 88th and 87th Divisions suffered losses of up to 90%. The 74th Army and the 36th Division also endured losses exceeding 75%. Their German-made equipment incurred substantial losses; although replenishment occurred, inventories resembled roughly a half-German and half-Chinese mix. With very limited heavy weapons and a severe shortage of anti-tank artillery, they could not effectively match the elite Japanese regiments. Hu Zongnan's 17th Corps maintained its national equipment via a close relationship with Chiang Kai-shek. In contrast, the 74th Army, after fighting in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Xuzhou, suffered heavy casualties, and the few German weapons it had were largely destroyed at Nanjing, leaving it to rely on a mix of domestically produced and Hanyang-made armaments. The new recruits added to each unit largely lacked combat experience, with nearly half of the intake having received basic training. The hardest hit was Li Hanhun's 64th Army, established less than a year prior and already unpopular within the Guangdong Army. Although classified as one of the three Type A divisions, the 155th, 156th, and 187th Divisions, it was equipped entirely with Hanyang-made firearms. Its direct artillery battalion possessed only about 20 older mortars and three Type 92 infantry guns, limiting its heavy firepower to roughly that of a Japanese battalion. The 195th Division and several miscellaneous units were even less prominent, reorganized from local militias and lacking Hanyang rifles. Additionally, three batches of artillery purchased from the Soviet Union arrived in Lanzhou via Xinjiang between March and June 1938. Except for the 52nd Artillery Regiment assigned to the 200th Division, the other artillery regiments had recently received their weapons and were still undergoing training. The 200th Division, had been fighting awhile for in the Xuzhou area and incurred heavy casualties, was still in training and could only deploy its remaining tank battalion and armored vehicle company. The tank battalion was equipped with T-26 light tanks and a small number of remaining British Vickers tanks, while the armored vehicle company consisted entirely of Italian Fiat CV33 armored cars. The disparity in numbers was substantial, and this tank unit did not participate in the battle.  As for the Japanese, the 14th Division was an elite Type A formation. Originally organized with four regiments totaling over 30,000 men, the division's strength was later augmented. Doihara's 14th Division received supplements, a full infantry regiment and three artillery regiments, to prevent it from being surrounded and annihilated, effectively transforming the unit into a mobile reinforced division. Consequently, the division's mounted strength expanded to more than 40,000 personnel, comprising five infantry regiments and four artillery regiments. The four artillery regiments, the 24th Artillery Regiment, the 3rd Independence Mountain Artillery Regiment, the 5th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, and the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, possessed substantial heavy firepower, including 150mm heavy howitzers and 105mm long-range field cannons, placing them far in excess of the Nationalist forces at Lanfeng. In addition, both the 14th and later the 16th Divisions commanded tank regiments with nearly 200 light and medium tanks each, while Nationalist forces were markedly short of anti-tank artillery. At the same time, the Nationalist Air Force, though it had procured more than 200 aircraft of various types from the Soviet Union, remained heavily reliant on Soviet aid-to-China aircraft, amounting to over 100 machines, and could defend only a few cities such as Wuhan, Nanchang, and Chongqing. In this context, Japanese forces effectively dominated the Battle of Lanfeng. Moreover, reports indicate that the Japanese employed poison gas on the battlefield, while elite Nationalist troops possessed only a limited number of gas masks, creating a stark disparity in chemical warfare preparedness. Despite these disparities, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government were initially unaware of the updated strength and composition of the Doihara Division. Faced with constrained options, Chiang chose to press ahead with combat operations. On May 12, 1939, after crossing the Yellow River, the IJA 14th Division continued its southward advance toward Lanfeng. The division's objective was to sever the Longhai Railway, disrupt the main Nationalist retreat toward Zhengzhou, and seize Zhengzhou itself. By May 15, the division split into two columns at Caoxian and moved toward key nodes on the Longhai Line. Major General Toyotomi Fusatarou led two infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment, and one artillery regiment in the main assault toward Kaocheng with the aim of directly capturing Lanfeng. Doihara led three infantry regiments and three artillery regiments toward Neihuang and Minquan, threatening Guide. In response, the Nationalist forces concentrated along the railway from Lanfeng to Guide, uniting Song Xilian's 71st Army, Gui Yongqing's 27th Army, Yu Jishi's 74th Army, Li Hanhun's 64th Army, and Huang Jie's 8th Army. From May 15 to 17, the Fengjiu Brigade, advancing toward Lanfeng, met stubborn resistance near Kaocheng from roughly five divisions under Song Xilian and was forced to shift its effort toward Yejigang and Neihuang. The defense near Neihuang, including Shen Ke's 106th Division and Liang Kai's 195th Division, ultimately faltered, allowing Doihara's division to seize Neihuang, Yejigang, Mazhuangzhai, and Renheji. Nevertheless, the Nationalist forces managed to contain the Japanese advance east and west of the area, preventing a complete encirclement. Chiang Kai-shek ordered Cheng Qian, commander-in-chief of the 1st War Zone, to encircle and annihilate the Japanese 14th Division. The deployment plan mapped three routes: the Eastern Route Army, under Li Hanhun, would include the 74th Army, the 155th Division of the 64th Army, a brigade of the 88th Division, and a regiment of the 87th Division, advancing westward from Guide); the Western Route Army, commanded by Gui Yongqing, would comprise the 27th Army, the 71st Army, the 61st Division, and the 78th Division, advancing eastward from Lanfeng; and the Northern Route Army, formed by Sun Tongxuan's 3rd Army and Shang Zhen's 20th Army, was to cut off the enemy's retreat to the north bank of the Yellow River near Dingtao, Heze, Dongming, and Kaocheng, while attacking the Doihara Division from the east, west, and north to annihilate it in a single decisive operation.  On May 21, the Nationalist Army mounted a full-scale offensive. Yu Jishi's 74th Army, commanded by Wang Yaowu's 51st Division, joined a brigade of Song Xilian's 71st Army, led by the 88th Division, and drove the Japanese forces at Mazhuangzhai into retreat, capturing Neihuang and Renheji. The main Japanese force, more than 6,000 strong, withdrew southwest to Yangjiji and Shuangtaji. Song Xilian, commanding Shen Fazao's 87th Division, launched a sharp assault on Yejigang (Yifeng). The Japanese abandoned the stronghold, but their main body continued advancing toward Yangjiji, with some units retreating to Donggangtou and Maoguzhai. On May 23, Song Xilian's 71st Army and Yu Jishi's 74th Army enveloped and annihilated enemy forces at Donggangtou and Maoguzhai. That evening they seized Ximaoguzhai, Yangzhuang, and Helou, eliminating more than a thousand Japanese troops. The Japanese troops at Donggangtou fled toward Lanfeng. Meanwhile, Gui Yongqing's forces were retreating through Lanfeng. His superior strength, Jiang Fusheng's 36th Division, Li Liangrong's 46th Division, Zhong Song's 61st Division, Li Wen's 78th Division, Long Muhan's 88th Division, and Shen Ke's 106th Division—had held defensive positions along the Lanfeng–Yangji line. Equipped with a tank battalion and armored vehicle company commanded by Qiu Qingquan, they blocked the enemy's westward advance and awaited Japanese exhaustion. However, under the Japanese offensive, Gui Yongqing's poor command led to the loss of Maji and Mengjiaoji, forcing the 27th Army to retreat across its entire front. Its main force fled toward Qixian and Kaifeng. The Japanese seized the opportunity to capture Quxingji, Luowangzhai, and Luowang Railway Station west of Lanfeng. Before retreating, Gui Yongqing ordered Long Muhan to dispatch a brigade to replace the 106th Division in defending Lanfeng, while he directed the 106th Division to fall back to Shiyuan. Frightened by the enemy, Long Muhan unilaterally withdrew his troops on the night of the 23rd, leaving Lanfeng undefended. On the 24th, Japanese troops advancing westward from Donggangtou entered Lanfeng unopposed and, relying on well-fortified fortifications, held their ground until reinforcements arrived. In the initial four days, the Nationalist offensive failed to overwhelm the Japanese, who escaped encirclement and annihilation. The four infantry and artillery regiments and one cavalry regiment on the Japanese side managed to hold the line along Lanfeng, Luowangzhai, Sanyizhai, Lanfengkou, Quxingji, Yang'erzhai, and Chenliukou on the south bank of the Yellow River, offering stubborn resistance. The Longhai Railway was completely cut off. Chiang Kai-shek, furious upon hearing the news while stationed in Zhengzhou, ordered the execution of Long Muhan, commander of the 88th Division, to restore military morale. He also decided to consolidate Hu Zongnan's, Li Hanhun's, Yu Jishi's, Song Xilian's, and Gui Yongqing's troops into the 1st Corps, with Xue Yue as commander-in-chief. On the morning of May 25, they launched a determined counterattack on Doihara's 14th Division. Song Xilian personally led the front lines on May 24 to rally the defeated 88th Division.  Starting on May 25, after three days of intense combat, Li Hanhun's 64th Army advanced to seize Luowang Station and Luowangzhai, while Song Xilian's 71st Army retook Lanfeng City, temporarily reopening the Longhai Line to traffic. At Sanyi Village, Gui Yongqing's 27th Army and Yu Jishi's 74th Army captured a series of outlying positions, including Yang'eyao, Chailou, Cailou, Hezhai, Xuelou, and Baowangsi. Despite these gains, more than 6,000 Japanese troops offered stubborn resistance. During the fighting, Ji Hongru, commander of the 302nd Regiment, was seriously wounded but continued to fight, shouting, “Don't worry about my death! Brothers, fight on!” He ultimately died a heroic death from his wounds. By May 27, Chiang Kai-shek, concerned that the forces had not yet delivered a decisive victory at Lanfeng, personally reprimanded the participating generals and ordered them to completely encircle and annihilate the enemy west of Lanfeng by the following day. He warned that if the opportunity was missed and Japanese reinforcements arrived, the position could be endangered. The next day, Chiang Kai-shek issued another telegram, urging Cheng Qian's First War Zone and all participating units to press the offensive. The telegram allegedly had this in it “It will forever be a laughingstock in the history of warfare.” Meanwhile on the other side, to prevent the annihilation of Doihara's 14th Division, the elite Japanese 16th Division and the 3rd Mixed Brigade, totaling over 40,000 men, launched a westward assault from Dangshan, capturing Yucheng on May 26. They then began probing the outskirts of Guide. Huang Jie's Eighth Army, responsible for the defense, withdrew to the outskirts of Guide that evening. On May 28, Huang Jie again led his troops on his own initiative, retreating to Liuhe and Kaifeng, leaving only the 187th Division to defend Zhuji Station and Guide City. At dawn on May 29, Peng Linsheng, commander of the 187th Division, also withdrew his troops, leaving Guide a deserted city. The Japanese occupied Guide without a fight. The loss of Guide dramatically shifted the tide of the war. Threatened on the flanks by the Japanese 16th Division, the Nationalist forces were forced onto the defensive. On May 28, the Japanese 14th Division concentrated its forces to counterattack Gui Yongqing's troops, but they were defeated again, allowing the Japanese to stabilize their position. At the same time, the fall of Shangqiu compelled Xue Yue's corps to withdraw five divisions to block the enemy in Shangqiu, and the Nationalist Army shifted to a defensive posture with the 14th Division holding Sanyizhai and Quxingji. To the north of the battlefield, the Japanese 4th Mixed Brigade, numbering over 10,000 men, was preparing to force a crossing of the Yellow River in order to join with the nearby 14th Division. More seriously, the 10th Division, together with its 13th Mixed Brigade and totaling more than 40,000 men, had captured Woyang and Bozhou on the Henan-Anhui border and was rapidly encircling eastern Henan. By the time of the Battle of Lanfeng, Japanese forces had deployed more than 100,000 troops, effectively surrounding the Nationalist army. On May 31, the First War Zone decided to withdraw completely, and the Battle of Lanfeng ended in defeat for the Nationalists, forcing Chiang Kai-shek to authorize diverting the Yellow River embankment to relieve pressure. The consequence was a deteriorating strategic situation, as encirclement tightened and reinforcement options dwindled, driving a retreat from the Lanfeng front. The National Army suffered more than 67,000 casualties, killed and wounded more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers, Lanfeng was lost, and Zhengzhou was in danger.  As in Nanjing, this Chinese army might have lived to fight another day, but the effect on Xuzhou itself was horrific. The city had endured Japanese bombardment since August 1937, and the population's mood swung between cautious hope and utter despair. In March, Du Zhongyuan visited Xuzhou. Before he left Wuhan, friends told him that “the city was desolate and the people were terrified, all the inhabitants of Xuzhou were quietly getting on with their business … sometimes it was even calmer than Wuhan.” The Australian journalist Rhodes Farmer recalled a similar image in a book published at war's end, noting the “ordinary townsfolk who became wardens, fire-fighters and first-aid workers during the raid and then went back to their civil jobs.” Yet the mid-May departure of Nationalist troops left the city and its outskirts at the mercy of an angry Imperial Army. Bombing continued through the final days of battle, and a single raid on May 14, 1938 killed 700 people. Around Xuzhou, buildings and bridges were destroyed—some by retreating Chinese forces, some by advancing Japanese troops. Taierzhuang, the scene of the earlier iconic defense, was utterly destroyed. Canadian Jesuits who remained in Xuzhou after its fall recorded that more than a third of the houses were razed, and most of the local population had fled in terror. In rural areas around the city, massacres were repeatedly reported, many witnessed by missionaries. Beyond the atrocities of the Japanese, locals faced banditry in the absence of law enforcement, and vital agricultural work such as planting seed ground to a halt. The loss of Xuzhou was both strategic and symbolic. It dealt a severe blow to Chiang's attempt to hold central China and to control regional troop movements. Morale, which Taierzhuang had briefly boosted, was battered again though not extinguished. The fall signaled that the war would be long, and that swift victory against Japan was no longer likely. Mao Zedong's Yan'an base, far to the northwest, grasped the meaning of defeat there. In May 1938 he delivered one of his most celebrated lectures, “On Protracted War,” chiding those who had over-optimistically claimed the Xuzhou campaign could be a quasi-decisive victory and arguing that, after Taierzhuang, some had become “giddy.” Mao insisted that China would ultimately prevail, yet he warned that it could not be won quickly, and that the War of Resistance would be protracted. In the meantime, the development of guerrilla warfare remained an essential piece of the long-term strategy that the Communist armies would pursue in north China. Yet the loss of Xuzhou did not necessarily portend a long war; it could, instead, presage a war that would be terrifyingly short. By spring 1938 the Chinese defenders were desperate. There was a real danger that the entire war effort could collapse, and the Nationalist governments' notable success as protectors of a shrinking “Free China” lay in avoiding total disaster. Government propaganda had successfully portrayed a plan beyond retreat to foreign observers, yet had Tokyo captured Wuhan in the spring, the Chinese Army would have had to withdraw at speed, reinforcing perceptions of disintegration. Western governments were unlikely to intervene unless convinced it was in their interests. Within the Nationalist leadership, competing instincts persisted. The government pursued welfare measures for the people in the midst of a massive refugee relief effort, the state and local organizations, aided by the International Red Cross, housed large numbers of refugees in 1937–1938. Yet there was a harsher strain within policy circles, with some officials willing to sacrifice individual lives for strategic or political ends as the Japanese threat intensified. Throughout central China, the Yellow River, China's “Sorrow”, loomed as the dominant geographic force shaping history. The loess-laden river, notorious for floods and shifting channels, was banked by massive dikes near Zhengzhou, exactly along the line the Japanese would traverse toward Wuhan. Using the river as a military instrument was discussed as a drastic option: Chiang and Cheng Qian's First War Zone contemplated diverting or breaching the dikes to halt or slow the Japanese advance, a measure that could buy time but would unleash enormous civilian suffering. The idea dated back to 1887 floods that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and even in 1935 Alexander von Falkenhausen had warned that the Yellow River could become the final line of defense. In 1938 Chiang, recognizing the futility of defeating the Japanese by conventional means at Zhengzhou, considered unleashing the river's force if necessary to impede the invaders. The political and strategic calculus was stark: protect central China and Wuhan, even if it required drastic and morally fraught measures. A more humane leader might have hesitated to break the dikes and spare the dams, allowing the Japanese to take Wuhan. But Chiang Kai-shek believed that if the dikes were not breached and Wuhan fell within days, the Nationalist government might be unable to relocate to Chongqing in time and would likely surrender, leaving Japan in control of almost all of China. Some have compared the choice to France's surrender in June 1940, underscoring that Chiang's decision came during the country's most terrifying assault, with Chinese forces much weaker and less trained than their European counterparts. The dilemma over whether to break the Yellow River dikes grew out of desperation. Chiang ultimately ordered General Wei Rulin to blow the dike that held the Yellow River in central Henan. There was no doubt about the consequences: floods would inundate vast areas of central China, creating a waterlogged barrier that would halt the Japanese advance. Yet for the plan to succeed, it had to be carried out quickly, and the government could offer no public warning in case the Japanese detected it and accelerated their movement. Xiong Xianyu, chief of staff in the 8th Division at the time, recorded the urgency of those hours in his diary. The Japanese were already on the north bank of the Yellow River, briefly delayed when the Chinese army blew up the railway bridge across the river. The destruction of the dikes was the next step: if the area became a sea of mud, there would be no way the Japanese could even attempt to reconstruct the bridge. Blasting the dikes proved easier in theory than in practice. Holding back such a massive body of water required substantial engineering, dams thick and well fortified. The army made its first attempts to blow the dike at the small town of Zhaokou between June 4 and 6, 1938, but the structure proved too durable; another nearby attempt failed as well. Hour by hour, the Japanese moved closer. Division commander Jiang Zaizhen asked Xiong Xianyu for his opinion on where they might breach the dams. Xiong wrote “I discussed the topography, and said that two places, Madukou and Huayuankou, were both possible.” But Madukou was too close to Zhaokou, where the breach had already failed, presenting a danger that the Japanese might reach it very soon. The village of Huayuankou, however, lay farther away and on a bend in the river: “To give ourselves enough time, Huayuankou would be best.” At first, the soldiers treated the task as a military engineering assignment, an “exciting” one in Xiong's words. Xiong and Wei Rulin conducted their first site inspection after dark, late on June 6. The surroundings offered a deceptive calm: Xiong recounted “The wind blew softly, and the river water trickled pleasantly.” Yet gauging the water level proved difficult, hampered by murky moonlight and burned-out flashlights. They spent the night in their car to determine precisely where to break the dike as soon as day broke. But daylight seemed to bring home the consequences of what they planned to do, and the soldiers grew increasingly anxious. Wang Songmei, commander of the 2nd Regiment, addressed the workers about to breach the dike: “My brothers, this plan will be of benefit to our country and our nation, and will lessen the harm that is being done to the people.In the future, you'll find good wives and have plenty of children.” Wang's words were meant to reassure the men of the political necessity of their actions and that fate would not, in the traditional Chinese sense, deny them a family because of the enormity of their deeds. General Wei confirmed that Huayuankou was the right spot, and on June 8 the work began, with about 2,000 men taking part. The Nationalist government was eager to ensure rapid progress. Xiong recorded that the “highest authorities”,, kept making telephone calls from Wuhan to check on progress. In addition, the party sent performers to sing and play music to bolster the workers' spirits. Senior General Shang Zhen announced to the laborers that if they breached the dam by midnight on June 8, each would receive 2,000 yuan; if they achieved it by six the next morning, they would still be paid 1,000 yuan. They needed encouragement, for the diggers had no artificial assistance. After the initial failures at Zhaokou, Wei's troops relied entirely on manual labor, with no explosives used. Yet the workers earned their payments, and the dike was breached in just a few hours. On the morning of June 9, Xiong recorded a rapid shift in mood: the atmosphere became tense and solemn. Initially, the river flow was modest, but by about 1:00 p.m. the water surged “fiercely,” flowing “like 10,000 horses.” Looking toward the distance, Xiong felt as though a sea had appeared before him. “My heart ached,” he wrote. The force of the water widened the breach, and a deadly stream hundreds of feet wide comprising about three-quarters of the river's volume—rushed southeast across the central Chinese plains. “We did this to stop the enemy,” Xiong reflected, “so we didn't regret the huge sacrifice, as it was for a greater victory.” Yet he and the other soldiers also saw a grim reality: the troops who had taken on the task of destroying the railway bridge and the dikes could not bear the flood's consequences alone. It would be up to the government and the people of the nation to provide relief for the countless households uprooted by the flood. In fact, the previous evening Commander Jiang had telephoned to request assistance for those flooded out of their homes.   Wei, Xiong, and their troops managed to escape by wooden boats. Hundreds of thousands of farmers trapped in the floods were far less fortunate. Time magazine's correspondent Theodore White reported on the devastation a few days later “Last week “The Ungovernable” [i.e. the Yellow River] lashed out with a flood which promised to change not only its own course but also the course of the whole Sino-Japanese War. Severe breaks in the dikes near Kaifeng sent a five-foot wall of water fanning out over a 500-squaremile area, spreading death. Toll from Yellow River floods is not so much from quick drowning as from gradual disease and starvation. The river's filth settles ankle-deep on the fields, mothering germs, smothering crops. Last week, about 500,000 peasants were driven from 2,000 communities to await rescue or death on whatever dry ground they could find”. Chiang's government had committed one of the grossest acts of violence against its own people, and he knew that the publicity could be a damaging blow to its reputation. He decided to divert blame by announcing that the dike had been broken, but blaming the breach on Japanese aerial bombing. The Japanese, in turn, fiercely denied having bombed the dikes. White's reporting reflected the immediate response of most foreigners; having heard about the atrocities at Nanjing and Xuzhou, he was disinclined to give the Japanese the benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, at the very time that the Yellow River was flooding central China, the Japanese were heavily bombing Guangzhou, causing thousands of casualties. To White, the Japanese counterargument—that the Chinese themselves were responsible, seemed unthinkable: “These accusations, foreign observers thought, were absurd. For the Chinese to check the Japanese advance at possible sacrifice of half a million lives would be a monstrous pyrrhic victory. Besides, dike-cutting is the blackest of Chinese crimes, and the Chinese Army would hardly risk universal censure for slight tactical gains.” But, of course, that is exactly what they had done. During the war the Nationalists never admitted that they, not the Japanese, had breached the dikes. But the truth quickly became widely known. Just a month later, on July 19, US Ambassador Johnson noted, in private communication, that the “Chinese blocked the advance on Chengchow [Zhengzhou] by breaching the Yellow River dikes.” Eventually some 54,000 square kilometers of central China were inundated by the floods. If the Japanese had committed such an act, it would have been remembered as the prime atrocity of the war, dwarfing even the Nanjing Massacre or the Chongqing air raids in terms of the number of people who suffered. Accurate statistics were impossible to obtain in the midst of wartime chaos and disaster, but in 1948 figures issued by the Nationalists themselves suggested enormous casualties: for the three affected provinces of Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu, the number of dead was put at 844,489, with some 4.8 million becoming refugees. More recent studies place the numbers lower, but still estimate the dead at around 500,000, and 3–5 million refugees. In contrast, the devastating May 1939 air raids on Chongqing killed some thousands. Xiong reflected in his diary that the breaching of the Yellow River dikes was a sacrifice for a greater victory. Even to some Japanese it seemed that the tactic had been successful in the short term: the first secretary at the US Embassy in Wuhan reported that the flood had “completely checked the Japanese advance on Chengchow” and had prevented them taking Wuhan by rail. Instead, he predicted, the attack was likely to come by water and along the north shore of the Yangtze. Supporters of the dike breaches could argue that these acts saved central China and Chiang's headquarters in Wuhan for another five months. The Japanese were indeed prevented from advancing along the Long–Hai railway toward Wuhan. In the short term the floods did what the Nationalists wanted. But the flooding was a tactic, a breathing space, and did not solve the fundamental problem: China's armies needed strong leadership and rapid reform. Some historians suggest that Chiang's decision was pointless anyway, since it merely delayed the inevitable. Theodore White was right: no strategic advantage could make the deaths of 500,000 of China's own people a worthwhile price to pay. However, Chiang Kai-shek's decision can be partly explained, though not excused, by the context. We can now look back at the actions of the Nationalists and argue that they should not have held on to Wuhan, or that their actions in breaching the dam were unjustifiable in the extreme. But for Chiang, in the hot summer of 1938, it seemed his only hope was to deny Japan as much of China for as long as possible and create the best possible circumstances for a long war from China's interior, while keeping the world's attention on what Japan was doing. The short delay won by the flooding was itself part of the strategy. In the struggle raging within the soul of the Nationalist Party, the callous, calculating streak had won, for the time being. The breaking of the dikes marked a turning point as the Nationalists committed an act whose terrible consequences they would eventually have to expiate. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In late 1937, China's frontline trembled as Japanese forces closed in on Wuhan. Chiang Kai-shek faced a brutal choice: endure costly defenses or unleash a desperate gamble. Chiangs' radical plan emerged: breach the Yellow River dikes at Huayuankou to flood central China, buying time. The flood roared, washing villages and futures away, yet slowing the enemy. The battlefield paused, while a nation weighed courage against civilian suffering, victory against devastating costs.

The other day I sat down with Pastor Doug Wilson in Moscow, Idaho to have a conversation on all things China. I was excited to get his perspective, since he has personally lived through much of China’s modern communist history. I was not disappointed. In our 30+ minute conversation, we touched on many topics including the Great Leap Forward, Mao’s Great Famine, Doug’s Submarine Adventures with a Taiwanese crew, the China Legacies of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, the Tiananmen Square massacre (and revival), China’s modern-day revival, C.S. Lewis’s 1946 China optimism vs. Doug’s (short-term) pessimism, Hebrews 13:3 and how to pray for the persecuted, and PrayforChina.us’s helpful strategy! Follow me on X (@chinaadventures) where I post new China city prayer profiles every single day. Feel free to send any notes or comments via email @ bfwesten at gmail dot com Find much more about our work in Asia, including my missionary biographies, at PrayGiveGo.us! Frank Dikotter (Dutch, not German) on China https://www.frankdikotter.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Maos-Great-Famine-Devastating-Catastrophe/dp/1408886367 Jimmy Carter’s Complicated China Legacy https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/jimmy-carters-complicated-china-legacy The C.S. Lewis China Letters https://chinacall.substack.com/p/the-cs-lewis-china-letters C.S. Lewis, Burnt Marshwiggle, and the Brainwashing of Richard Wurmbrand https://chinacall.substack.com/p/cs-lewis-burnt-marshwiggle-and-the The NBA, LeBron James, and China https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/nba-back-in-bed-with-china Pray for China places of the week (Follow @chinaadventures for daily updates) https://open.substack.com/pub/chinacall/p/pray-for-china-oct-13-19-2025 Subscribe to China Compass and leave a review on your preferred podcast platform. Follow us on X (@chinaadventures), and find much more @ PrayGiveGo.us. Luke 10, verse 2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Talk again soon!

The other day I sat down with Pastor Doug Wilson in Moscow, Idaho to have a conversation on all things China. I was excited to get his perspective, since he has personally lived through much of China’s modern communist history. I was not disappointed. In our 30+ minute conversation, we touched on many topics including the Great Leap Forward, Mao’s Great Famine, Doug’s Submarine Adventures with a Taiwanese crew, the China Legacies of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, the Tiananmen Square massacre (and revival), China’s modern-day revival, C.S. Lewis’s 1946 China optimism vs. Doug’s (short-term) pessimism, Hebrews 13:3 and how to pray for the persecuted, and PrayforChina.us’s helpful strategy! Follow me on X (@chinaadventures) where I post new China city prayer profiles every single day. Feel free to send any notes or comments via email @ bfwesten at gmail dot com Find much more about our work in Asia, including my missionary biographies, at PrayGiveGo.us! Frank Dikotter (Dutch, not German) on China https://www.frankdikotter.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Maos-Great-Famine-Devastating-Catastrophe/dp/1408886367 Jimmy Carter’s Complicated China Legacy https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/jimmy-carters-complicated-china-legacy The C.S. Lewis China Letters https://chinacall.substack.com/p/the-cs-lewis-china-letters C.S. Lewis, Burnt Marshwiggle, and the Brainwashing of Richard Wurmbrand https://chinacall.substack.com/p/cs-lewis-burnt-marshwiggle-and-the The NBA, LeBron James, and China https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/nba-back-in-bed-with-china Pray for China places of the week (Follow @chinaadventures for daily updates) https://open.substack.com/pub/chinacall/p/pray-for-china-oct-13-19-2025 Subscribe to China Compass and leave a review on your preferred podcast platform. Follow us on X (@chinaadventures), and find much more @ PrayGiveGo.us. Luke 10, verse 2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Talk again soon!

Joining Audrey for this week's REELTalk -  Exec. Dir. of American Constitutional Rights Union and bestselling author, LTC ALLEN WEST, will be here! PLUS, author of American Betrayal, DIANA WEST will be here! PLUS, bestselling author of Mao's America, XI VAN FLEET will be here! AND, bestselling author LTG THOMAS McINERNEY of CCNS will be with us!  In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately." Come hang with us...    

A Note from James: Bill O'Reilly's new book, Confronting Evil, is both a history lesson and a warning. It's a study of the most destructive figures in human history—from Hitler, Stalin, and Mao to Genghis Khan, Caligula, and even modern evildoers like Putin and the cartels.When I first picked it up, I thought it would be about the past. But after reading it, I realized it's really about right now—about how evil mutates, reappears, and spreads when we stop paying attention.We talked about the psychology of evil, how it manifests differently in modern life, and why we all need to look inward at how we process fear and anger. The episode ends on a note of hope—but only if we're willing to face what's real.Episode Description:In this episode, James sits down with legendary journalist and author Bill O'Reilly to discuss his new book, Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst. Together, they explore how history's darkest figures—Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Putin, and others—reflect modern patterns of violence, polarization, and moral decay.O'Reilly draws from decades of reporting and war correspondence to explain the difference between “personal evil” and “collective evil,” and why societies collapse when good people stop paying attention.The conversation also looks at free speech, mental illness, the internet's role in radicalization, and why mercy for the guilty so often becomes cruelty to the innocent.What You'll Learn:The 15 most destructive figures in world history—and why their patterns are repeating today.The two types of evil: personal vs. collective.How technology and echo chambers amplify hatred.Why ignoring small evils allows larger ones to grow.How to recognize and contain evil in a free society.Timestamped Chapters:[02:00] A Note from James: Introducing Confronting Evil[02:39] Are we living in a new age of violence or just a repeating cycle?[03:39] On partisanship, anger, and how fear disguises itself[04:57] Bill joins: marketing a book in the age of distraction[05:51] Why O'Reilly wrote Confronting Evil and how it differs from his “Killing” series[07:16] Putin, October 7th, and the eerie timing of the book's release[08:20] Why today's evil feels more personal than historic evil[09:39] Personal encounters with evil: chasing Ted Bundy[11:01] Witnessing atrocities: from El Salvador to Belfast[12:24] Could Hitler have been reasoned with? The psychology of the irredeemable[14:27] “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent” — justice and accountability[15:36] The internet's role in radicalization and digital “clubs for evil”[17:00] Echo chambers, hate speech, and how the free world handles extremism[19:02] Why confronting evil matters in a “free” but apathetic society[20:00] The October 7th attacks and why O'Reilly opens his book there[21:22] “Queers for Palestine” and the IQ of modern activism[22:00] How ignorance and apathy breed delusion[23:00] When does “necessary evil” cross the line into tyranny? Augustus and strongmen[25:10] The psychology of dictators: no remorse, no redemption[26:11] The Constitution as an anti-authoritarian framework[27:50] Polarization, Portland, and the fight over federal authority[29:00] How democracies correct themselves—eventually[31:31] Data over ideology: why extremists are still a minority[32:04] Can AI detect future Hitlers?[33:28] Why people cheer for evil—and how to walk away[34:46] The 15 who made the cut: why some evildoers were left out[35:36] The drug cartels as modern-day mass murderers[36:29] O'Reilly's warning: mobilize the 85% before it's too late[36:54] Ending on hope—why good still outnumbers evilAdditional Resources

In the latest episode in our series on belief, we’re exploring the surprising revival of shamanism in China, which has made a comeback despite Mao's best efforts at eradication. Ritual healers and spirit mediums are tapping into online believers and a public thirst for authentic spirituality. Shamanism has also become a tourist draw as a form of cultural and religious heritage, with a shamanic theme park even existing in northeast China until 2021. To explore the diversity of shamanic practices across China and their survival in the face of official scepticism, Louisa and Graeme are joined by Feng Qu, an archaeologist from Nanjing Normal University and Mayfair Yang, a cultural anthropologist from UC Santa Barbara. Image: Totem poles at the Changbai Mountain Nayin Tribe Shamanic Culture Tourist Resort. Feng Qu, February 2023. Transcripts available at https://ciw.anu.edu.au/podcasts/little-red-podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For more see Rupert's Substack article on this topic

Toshi Yoshihara, Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and author of Mao's Army Goes to Sea: The Island Campaigns and the Founding of China's Navy, joins the show to discuss how the PLA took Beijing in 1949 by subversion, and how they may yet seize Taiwan.       ▪️ Times     •      01:53 Introduction     •      03:24 Peaceful liberation     •      07:19 Planning and preparation              •      10:36 Isolation     •      17:30 A tradition of manipulation             •      23:51 True believers                •      28:23 Helpless         •      34:55 Political warfare               •      41:53 Surprise     •      47:32 Holy Grail     •      50:51 Fault lines     •      57:44 What to read? Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find a transcript of today's episode on our School of War Substack

In which Patrick rides solo for a brief overview of Norman Bethune's rock n' roll life. --- Further Readings Bock, Dennis. The Communist's Daughter, 2007. Tse-Tung, Mao. "In Memory of Norman Bethune." December 21, 1939.

Donate (no account necessary) | Subscribe (account required) Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, as he dives into today's top stories shaping America and the world. In this Monday Headline Brief of The Wright Report, we cover the tragic LDS church attack in Michigan, Trump's budget showdown in Washington, new federal action against Antifa, updates on James Comey and John Brennan, immigration battles over Guatemalan children, China's deepening grip on the Pacific, and promising medical research out of California. Quick hits to launch your week with the facts shaping America and the world.   Michigan LDS Church Attack: A man drove his car into an LDS church, set it ablaze, and killed members at gunpoint. At least 11 were shot and three are confirmed dead. Early reports suggest the killer's mother was a church member. Bryan calls it “a very hard morning in Michigan” and urges prayers for the families.   Trump's Budget Showdown and Supreme Court Ruling: With a government shutdown looming, Trump meets lawmakers knowing he holds the stronger hand. “Trump wins in either case,” the Washington Post observed, since a shutdown gives him unilateral power to cut programs and staff. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled he can withhold $4 billion in foreign aid, pushing executive power back to Jeffersonian levels.   Antifa Declared Terror Group and Troops Sent to Portland: Days after Trump designated Antifa as domestic terrorists, he ordered 2,000 National Guardsmen to Portland. “I am authorizing Full Force, if necessary,” Trump posted, after repeated ICE attacks. AG Pam Bondi said, “We're witnessing a new era of political violence,” vowing to use Joint Terrorism Task Forces to dismantle leftist extremists.   Comey Indictment and Brennan Warnings: James Comey's indictment centers on whether he lied under oath about leaking FBI documents. His own lawyer admitted to helping him “get information out” to the press. Trump says “there will be others” prosecuted, with Brennan admitting he may be next but insisting his actions were “consistent with the law.”   Guatemalan Parents Reject Their Children: Tens of thousands of kids trafficked north under Biden remain in U.S. custody after Guatemalan parents refused to take them back. Bryan asks if taxpayers should now become “the world's orphanage.”   China Expands Grip in the Pacific: Trump considers shifting U.S. policy to “oppose” Taiwanese independence, aligning closer with Xi. Beijing secured a policing deal in Vanuatu and continues buying influence in the Solomons. Reuters reports China is even training villagers to spy on neighbors, reviving Mao-era tactics.   Medical News from California: UC Irvine and UC San Diego researchers reversed vision loss in mice using polyunsaturated fatty acid injections, opening potential therapies for age-related macular degeneration. Bryan jokes, “If you're the first to ditch reader glasses, I demand you tell me about it.”   "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32     Keywords: Michigan LDS church shooting fire, Trump government shutdown budget fight, Supreme Court foreign aid ruling, Antifa domestic terror Portland National Guard, AG Pam Bondi political violence JTTF, James Comey indictment leaks oath, John Brennan CIA Russia ICA testimony, Guatemalan migrant children deportation refusal, Trump Taiwan independence oppose policy, China policing deal Vanuatu Solomon Islands influence, UC Irvine UC San Diego macular degeneration fatty acids

Wapx 111 Xin An Chris Cron Covers :Taimane : CarmenKfir : Hotel California par Dire StraitsPostModern JukeBox : Gimme ! Gimme ! Gimme !The Graystones : ParadiseAko : James Bond theme aux tambourins Ayna Ziordia Botella siffle Sons zarbi :Concerto pour violon et placardSolo de bouchonFlûtes à coulisse robotiséesVinheteiro : Marche impériale aux poulets Stockhausen : Gesang der Jünglinge Trucs en vrac :Mozart Group aux bras cassésMichael Manning : TetrahedronDamien Robitaille : Goodbye strangerChico & Harpo : les Marx au grand magasin La +BCdM :Billie Holiday : Gloomy Sundaypar Hal Kemp - Artie Shaw - Sarah Vaughan - Elvis Costello -Sinead O'Connor - BjorkSombre dimanche par Damia - Serge GainsbourgSeress Rezso : Szomoru Vasarnap La Playlist de la +BCdM :sur le Tube à Waltersur Spotify (merci John Cytron) sur Deezer (merci MaO de Paris)sur Amazon Music (merci Hellxions)et sur Apple Music (merci Yawourt)Vote pour la Plus Belle Chanson du Monde Le son mystère (37'50) :Guitare dans le couAvec :Causmic BeastAudeFannyWinstonPodFabDavidMerci à :DavidPop goes the WZADidierGeckaudeMichidarStéphanePodcasts & liens cités :podCloudCatch à deuxSuper cover battleMachin Truc BiduleTumyxo saison 2 : récit au jour le jourWalter sur BlueSkyWalter sur MastodonWalter sur InstagramLes 100 +BCdMLe générique de fin est signé Cousbou

0:00–15:00 — Welcome to the Tower of Truth (and the Wheel's wrath) Banter, rapture jokes, and “Wheel of Doom” rules: 7,500 points = Palace of Pleasure, under 3,000 = Land of Lunacy. Clip on Mao's Cultural Revolution sparks talk on youth control and censorship. Chicago street chaos → “Valley of Sorrow” score drop; segue into Voynich Manuscript mysteries. 15:00–30:00 — Clones, conspiracies & cursed contracts Britney Spears clone rumors, Hollywood doppelgangers. Kansas myth: alien DNA baby and vanished family. Court case: man rewrites credit card contract, wins 30% cashback. 30:00–45:00 — Math, myths & martial arts DNA claims linking Basques and Mary Magdalene relic → “Jesus lineage” theory. South of France Grail lore tangent. Karate clip lifts spirits: “Power, baby—OSS!” 45:00–60:00 — AI grows fangs; money goes digital AI fears: uncontrollability, self-preservation, code rewrites, blackmail scenarios. Real ID + stablecoin rails (“Genius Act”): freedom tool or social credit backdoor? 60:00–75:00 — Laws, riots & true crime Age-of-consent map rant, cultural whiplash, OnlyFans era maturity. Nepal protests: fires, chaos, then cleanup and stolen-goods return. True crime: Lori Shaver marries while husband's body lies under backyard concrete slab. 75:00–90:00 — Sigils, spheres & surveillance Occult: entities behind masks, sigils under skin, Spare's sigilization. Flat-earth musings: Piccard's “disk with upturned edge.” Rumor: all phone calls over 10 minutes stored in 2026. Bio-ops: insect warfare tests, Lyme, alpha-gal, Gates banter. Closing plugs: OBDM show, Sam's tour, move to Spotify video Oct 1. Watch Full Episodes on Sam's channels: - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SamTripoli - Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/SamTripoli Sam Tripoli: Tin Foil Hat Podcast Website: SamTripoli.com Twitter: https://x.com/samtripoli Midnight Mike: The OBDM Podcast Website: https://ourbigdumbmouth.com/ Twitter: https://x.com/obdmpod Doom Scrollin' Telegram: https://t.me/+La3v2IUctLlhYWUx  

Daniil Kleyman is a real estate investor, software entrepreneur, and founder of multiple thriving companies based in Richmond, VA. Originally from snowy Moscow, Russia, Daniil immigrated to the U.S. at age 12 and eventually found himself on Wall Street—briefly, he found his true path in real estate and software development—and hasn't looked back since. He runs Evolve Development, a real estate firm focused on ground-up multi-family and mixed-use projects with a current pipeline of over $80 million. Daniil also leads True Vision Analytics, which builds tools like Rehab Valuator, helping investors and developers analyze deals, raise capital, and manage projects across the U.S. and beyond. An avid traveler, Daniil spends at least two months a year abroad. He stays active through jogging and Muay Thai, and is a hands-on leader, constantly collaborating with his software team to drive innovation.   During the show we discussed: Streamlines investor decision-making. Reduces risks in property acquisition and development. Builds financial models and pro formas. Supports pitching deals to lenders or banks. Estimates ROI, cash flow, and profit margins. Determines maximum allowable offers (MAO). Evaluates property exit strategies. Simplifies rehab budgets and scopes of work. Compares financing options quickly. Enhances comp analysis vs. MLS or Zillow. Markets wholesale deals effectively. Provides pre-built flyers and presentations.   Resources: https://rehabvaluator.com/  

Een Betrouwbare Bronnen-aflevering opgenomen in het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, samen met het Arethusa Quartet. Een experiment: hoe kun je de identiteit van Betrouwbare Bronnen op een ongebruikelijke, eigenzinnige wijze vertolken? In veel afleveringen van deze podcast klinkt steeds weer door hoe politiek, kunst, tradities, inspiratie, muziek en de macht van heersers toen en nu met elkaar verbonden zijn. En soms grootse, maar vaak fatale prestaties opleveren. In een live-uitvoering vertellen we met de musici van het Arethusa Quartet het verhaal van de grote componist Dmitri Sjostakovitsj (1906 - 1975) in dit herdenkingsjaar. In zijn leven en werk werden zijn strijkkwartetten het ‘intiem, geheim dagboek’, vertelt Daniel Rowland, eerste violist van 'Arethusa'. Zijn muzikaal genie, zijn inspiratie, angsten, wanhoop, liefde, verzet en triomfgevoelens kon hij daarin voluit laten klinken. Jaap Jansen en PG Kroeger verkennen hoe leven, politiek, muziek en noodlot bij Sjostakovitsj samen kwamen. De alles overheersende figuur daarbij - voor de componist ten goede en ten kwade - was Jozef Stalin, de meedogenloze tiran, maar ook kenner en liefhebber van de klassieke muziek waarin Sjostakovitsj zo uitblonk. *** Deze aflevering is mede mogelijk gemaakt door Het Concertgebouw en met donaties van luisteraars die we hiervoor hartelijk danken. Word ook vriend van de show! In het Concertgebouw zijn de komende maanden meerdere Sjostakovitsj-uitvoeringen. Heb je belangstelling om in onze podcast te adverteren of ons te sponsoren? Zend een mailtje naar adverteren@dagennacht.nl en wij zoeken contact. *** Sjostakovitsj begon als jonge ster in een periode dat jeugdig experiment bon ton was in Rusland. Elke grote revolutie had immers zijn Beethoven nodig, dus ook deze rode. In elk repertoire schitterde hij. Zijn filmmuziek sleepte heel de Sovjet-Unie mee, zijn optimistische koren en ballades waren uitermate populair. Tegelijkertijd zag Lenin al hoe machtig film als propagandamiddel kon zijn. Politiek, heerschappij en muziek raakten meteen verstrikt. Stalin werd in 1928 alleenheerser en protegeerde de jonge musicus. Meer en meer werd Sjostakovitsj helder hoezeer privilege en gunsten van de tiran ook een gifpil waren. Het was een vloek. Een kooi met gouden tralies. In 1936 begonnen Stalins moorddadige zuiveringen. Sjostakovitsj werd symbool van die repressie toen zijn bejubelde opera 'Lady Macbeth van Mtsensk' in partijkrant de Pravda veroordeeld werd en hij voor zijn leven vreesde. Daniel Rowland vertelt aangrijpend welke doodsangsten beroemde kunstenaars in deze jaren dag en nacht beleefden. Maar toen Adolf Hitler in juni 1941 Operatie Barbarossa begon had Stalin zijn kunstenaars weer hard nodig. Zij moesten het volk bemoedigen en de grootse cultuur van Rusland naar het westen doen schitteren. Sjostakovitsj deed zijn patriottische plicht. Na de overwinning op Nazi-Duitsland was de stank voor dank van de tiran ongekend. Golven van repressie, hongersnood en een nieuwe zuivering maakten Sjostakovitsj wanhopig. Een nieuwe cultuurcampagne van de paranoïde heerser bracht hem aan de afgrond van leven en dood. Het Arethusa Quartet vertolkt de muziek waarin hij zijn wanhoop en levensmoed durfde te uiten. Stalins dood in 1953 betekende een soort dooi, maar de componist bleef doodsbenauwd en tegelijk moedig voor anderen die vervolgd werden. Nu moest hij de triomfen laten klinken van de Sovjet-Unie als wereldmacht in wording – nu met de Spoetnik-satelliet! Zijn leven kreeg een late zonnegloed door de liefde van en voor zijn Irina. Daniel Rowland vertelt over zijn bijzondere contact met haar en hoe zij het muzikale motto 'pom - pom - pom' voor hem ontraadselde. in 1974 schreef Dmitri Sjostakovitsj zijn laatste strijkkwartet in het besef dat zijn leven voorbij was. Het was zijn eigen requiem voor een bestaan waarin schoonheid, gruwelen en hoop zijn levenslot waren. Het Arethusa Quartet speelt in deze aflevering delen uit strijkkwartetten (bij de tijdstippen moet je 1 à 2 minuten optellen als er advertenties in de aflevering zitten) 00:03:23 – Het openingsdeel van het 8e Strijkkwartet, door Sjostakovitsj 'mijn grafsteen' genoemd. 00:37:11 - Het openingsdeel van het 2e Strijkkwartet uit Sjostakovitsj' jonge jaren als lefgozer van de moderne muziek. 00:59:43 - Het Scherzo uit het 3e Strijkkwartet vol van doodsangsten. 01:18:40 - Het Adagio uit het 4e strijkkwartet dat hij opdroeg aan zijn joodse vrienden en slachtoffers van geweld en vervolging. 01:36:52 – Het voorlaatste deel uit het 8e Strijkkwartet, dat hij de afgrond van zijn leven noemde. 01:59:24 -Het Scherzo uit het 9e Strijkkwartet waarin Sjostakovitsj' muzikale virtuositeit zijn late liefde voor Irina tot uiting bracht. 02:08:14 -Het slot van het 15e Strijkkwartet: “Mijn requiem.” *** Verder lezen Solomon Volkov – De kunstenaar en de tsaar, sovjetcultuur in de jaren ’30 en ’40 (Arbeiderspers, 2003) Solomon Volkov – Getuigenis. Herinneringen van Dmitri Sjostakovitjs (Arbeiderspers, 1979) Simon Sebag Montefiore – Stalin: het hof van de rode tsaar (Spectrum, 2004) Lenin – Over de volksopvoeding (Progres, 1976) Julian Barnes – Het tumult van de tijd (roman) (Atlas Contact, 2016) *** Verder kijken Nationale Opera - Lady Macbeth van Mtsensk olv Mariss Jansons, met oa Eva-Maria Westbroek *** Verder luisteren Stalin en Rusland 354 - Eenzaamheid, machtsstrijd en repressie in het Russische rijk van Poetin, Stalin en tsaar Nicolaas II https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/411a9106-9da2-40f5-9f06-9f19aff37246 395 - Winterboeken, met Stephen Kotkins monumentale Stalin-biografie https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/8451693e-9bbe-4b87-906b-4a494edfca2e 394 – Honderd jaar na zijn dood: de schrijnende actualiteit van Lenin https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/27f967ab-d2e5-496f-83bd-d5d3c1e26413 257 - Het machtige Rusland als mythe: hoe 'speciale militaire operaties' een fiasco werden https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/c9bf723e-2e02-4471-99c6-c5410883ce27 258 - De kille vriendschap tussen Rusland en China https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/ad5bd584-a93d-4a0a-9d1d-4d1eb6ca3819 58 - 70 jaar China, de Volksrepubliek van Mao, Deng en Xi https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/16914bf4-3e63-42a8-a1ff-b561d1c31216 453 – 75 jaar Volksrepubliek China. Stalin wantrouwt Mao. https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/2268a339-e0ca-4d2a-85bd-2ec5c4b6a1ca 163 - De ondergang van de Sovjet-Unie: hoe een wereldmacht verdampte https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/0b674b5e-f7aa-4606-8b1e-b3340c796f25 Muziek en historie 346 - Alle Menschen werden Brüder! https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/1c369825-dd76-463a-abd9-8d522f58e759 498 - Gustav Mahler en zijn tweede stad Amsterdam https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/e7f7fa4f-c2db-484b-b3a3-c4a751034c23 373 - Nederland en België: de scheiding die niemand wilde - Hoe een opera België van Nederland afscheurde https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/0eb00268-9b56-427c-8687-505a0f69f401 387 - Niets is zó politiek als opera - 100 jaar Maria Callas https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/cdff059b-3e0c-4a27-b04e-e1093b8250b2 305 - Andrea Wulf, Hoe rebelse genieën twee eeuwen later nog ons denken, cultuur en politiek beïnvloeden https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/9679f995-4a1c-4988-b385-73a882528902 43 - Mozart op het Binnenhof https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/2f944a46-f9bf-46cc-bba8-9f0edabde41c 360 - Mar-a-Lago, de plek waar het al 100 jaar gebeurt https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/d3a58eb1-086c-4fb6-8688-6d87a37d3925 *** Tijdlijn 00:00:00 – Deel 1 01:12:17 – Deel 2 01:36:29 – Deel 3 02:14:27 – Einde See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spring Flower: A Journey Through Generational Trauma, War, and Hope with Dr. Richard Perkins-HsungEpisode Description:In this profoundly moving episode of Linda's Corner: Inspiration for a Better Life, we sit down with Dr. Richard Perkins-Hsung—university professor, son of immigrants, and the devoted compiler of his late mother Jean's extraordinary memoir, Spring Flower. Together, we explore the deep impact of the immigrant experience and generational trauma, as seen through the lens of Jean's powerful life story.Jean was born into extreme poverty in China, where girls were considered worthless, and female infants were often abandoned. Her own mother endured the ancient, brutal custom of foot binding, breaking and reshaping feet to meet cultural ideals. As an infant, Jean survived one of the deadliest natural disasters of the 20th century when the Yangtze River flooded, killing millions through drowning, famine, and disease.Miraculously, Jean was adopted by compassionate American missionaries who devoted their lives to serving the Chinese people. From there, Jean's journey would span Japanese occupation during World War II, a fateful encounter with Mahatma Gandhi, the terror of the Communist Revolution, and a dramatic escape to the United States—all while leaving behind a husband and daughter.Through Jean's story, we see history come alive—her resilience, sacrifice, and determination shaped not only her son Richard's childhood but also the generational narrative passed down through trauma and healing.In this episode, you'll hear about:The devastating culture of gender inequality in early 20th-century ChinaJean's survival through the Yangtze River flood and WWIIHer inspiring American missionary adoptive parents and their humanitarian workLife under Mao's Communist Revolution and the personal cost of political upheavalJean's heartbreaking separation from her husband and daughterRichard's journey as an immigrant boy in America and how his mother's legacy shaped himThe importance of understanding ancestral stories to find personal healing and identityThe creation of Spring Flower, Jean's posthumous memoir, honoring her voice and lifeDr. Richard Perkins-Hsung offers deep insights into how historical trauma becomes generational, and how retelling these stories with compassion can become a tool for healing.Connect with Dr. Richard Perkins-Hsung: 

Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos is my guest today. We talk about the challenge of sorting fact from fiction and how easily the populace can be swayed into chanting in unison. Article of the Day: Since the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk, the legacy media has had ample opportunity to dial back its spin and manipulation but has chosen instead to put the pedal to the metal. El Gato Malo warns that our current reality war would amaze the likes of Stalin or Mao. Sponsors: Life Saving Food Fifty Two Seven Alliance HSL Ammo Quilt & Sew

Why protecting even offensive words is the only way to prevent violenceBy Chris Abraham for SubstackEvery generation rediscovers an old lesson the hard way: words are not bullets, but if you confuse them long enough, bullets eventually appear.Lately I've been struck by how quickly our civic conversations move from irritation to punishment. A clumsy remark or ugly slogan goes viral; the mob mobilizes; firings and cancellations follow. It's tempting to say “well, that's accountability,” but the speed and severity of these reactions tell a different story. What we are really doing is rehearsing a very old drama: escalation without a ceiling.Think about Sarajevo, 1914. A teenager named Gavrilo Princip fires a pistol at Archduke Franz Ferdinand. One act of political violence sets off treaties, obligations, and mobilizations. Within weeks, a continent is on fire. The war that followed didn't solve the problem — the punitive Treaty of Versailles created conditions for something even worse. What began as one shot became decades of blood.In our own time, the weapons are reputations, jobs, and platforms. The principle is the same. A careless post spirals into professional ruin. A mob decision substitutes for law. The difference between a town that argues and a town that shoots isn't etiquette — it's survival. Civilized societies invest in procedures: courts, ballots, deliberation. Mobs invest in immediacy. And immediacy always tempts violence.I am not blind to the harm of speech. Racist, vile, or threatening words sting. But the constitutional line exists for a reason. U.S. law is clear: speech only loses protection if it incites imminent lawless action. Everything else, however ugly, is permitted. That boundary protects not just bigots but everyone who dissents from the reigning consensus. Without it, majorities punish minorities on impulse.Cancel culture, whatever name you prefer, is efficient at punishment but poor at persuasion. It does not change minds; it exiles people. It does not reduce resentment; it deepens it. Every mob firing creates martyrs. Every public shaming fertilizes resentment. And resentment, history shows, is a renewable fuel for conflict.Even in theology, escalation is a central theme. The Gospel's “go, and sin no more” joins mercy with responsibility. Mercy without limits collapses into indulgence. Punishment without procedure collapses into vengeance. Both errors invite cycles that consume communities.Revolutions prove this. Marx promised liberation through rupture. Mao promised purification through violence. Che romanticized guerrilla struggle. What followed was not paradise but repression breeding new radicals, one cycle after another. The dueling codes of earlier centuries made the same point: treat words as violence, and violence answers back.We flatter ourselves that the modern age is different because our weapons are digital. But doxxing, mass reporting, and professional exile are simply new swords. The old instinct is unchanged.There is also a dangerous illusion that pauses equal peace. Versailles looked like peace; it was only a ceasefire. Contemporary ceasefires often work the same way: an interval to rearm. Punishment without reconciliation buys time, not resolution.So what should we do? Protect the square. Keep the civic forum open even to speech you despise. Reserve punishments for true threats, not for dissent. Train institutions to resist the adrenaline of the mob. Encourage citizens to answer ugliness with argument, not annihilation.This isn't naivety. It's strategy. If you want fewer bullets, you must tolerate more words. Ugly words, even dangerous-sounding words, are less corrosive than the torches we light to silence them.History has already taught us what happens when we confuse offense with violence and treat every slight as existential. Once the crowd is chanting and the torches are lit, the path back down the ladder is hard to find.

How history, law, and theology warn us against turning words into weaponsBy Chris Abraham for SubstackSome mornings I surprise myself. I wake with the smell of coffee in the apartment, the building still quiet, and realize I've become a proselytizer for an old story. Not long ago, I argued about anchor text or attribution models. Now, I listen to daily Gospel readings on Hallow, sit with Jeff Cavins' reflections, and quote John and Luke in comment threads. Nobody in my circle would have bet on this turn. Yet here I am, defending something I once mocked: the right of even ugly speech to exist without being carted off by the mob.The spark for this essay was a viral clip: a student casually saying, “we should bring back political assassinations.” The internet responded as it always does—doxxing, firings, denunciations, and calls for permanent punishment. A remark became a hunt; the hunt became a storm. What we're rediscovering is that escalation has no natural ceiling.History offers the bluntest illustration. A single pistol in Sarajevo set in motion alliances and mobilizations in 1914. Gavrilo Princip's assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand didn't just trigger World War I—it created conditions that made World War II almost inevitable. Versailles punished, humiliated, and planted the seeds for something worse. The pattern is clear: brittle systems plus retributive logic equals long violence.We are running a similar ladder in civic life. A tweet becomes a pile-on; a pile-on becomes a firing; firings become professional exile. The law distinguishes incitement from expression, but private power—employers, platforms, angry publics—enforces with brutal efficiency. Make someone unemployable and many will cheer.I defend the toleration of ugly speech not because I like ugliness, but because civilization is the art of channeling impulses into procedures. The difference between courts and mobs, between ballots and torches, is not taste. It is survival. A messy forum beats clean annihilation.That's why I find myself defending a man—call him a public conservative—whose rhetoric makes even me squirm. Friends call him a paid agitator. But he did something useful: he forced people to decide what they believed about sin and responsibility. The gospels say: “Go, and sin no more.” In today's civic grammar, calling sin “sin” lands like an unforgivable insult.Listening to the liturgy daily doesn't make me devout; it makes me exacting. Mercy without responsibility collapses into indulgence. And politics without procedure collapses into violence. Whether it's migrants, surges, or social panics, escalation follows predictable dynamics: fear, backlash, and harder law.Revolutions show the same pattern. Marx, Mao, and Che all preached rupture. History showed feedback loops: repression breeds resentment, resentment breeds new radicalism. Quick purges promise a better world but usually deliver cycles of blood. The duel and the frontier brawl remind us: humans answer offense with violence. Today's equivalents are doxxing, canceling, and algorithmic ruin. Different weapons, same code.The temptation is to believe pauses create peace. Versailles was a pause. Interwar years were a pause. Ceasefires often function as rearming intervals. Punishment without reconciliation is not resolution—it is staging ground for the next round.That's why my call is simple: protect the square. Let ugly arguments happen in public, and resolve them through law, not purges. Reserve punishment for credible threats, not unpopular speech. Teach platforms and employers to resist mob fury. Absorb offense without turning it into capital. History warns us: moral cleansing campaigns can harden into decades of conflict.Maybe that's why I can listen to the Gospel in the morning and still defend free speech at night. Ugly words are less dangerous than the torches we light to silence them. Once the torches are lit, the stairs back down are hard to find.

HEADLINE: China's Deflationary Cycle: A Consequence of Overproduction and Centralized Control GUEST NAME: Anne Stevenson-Yang SUMMARY: China is mired in a fearful deflationary cycle driven by chronic overproduction and a government unable to shift from supply-side investment to stimulating consumption, perpetuating a "race to the bottom" under CCP leadership. China faces widespread deflation, causing consumer uncertainty and stemming from government-backed overproduction. The CCP leadership pours money into factories to meet GDP targets, despite overbuilt infrastructure and property. This "involution," or economy eating itself, continues due to a lack of innovative solutions and reluctance to cede economic control. 1940 MAO

Say one thing about Mao's communist China, they could kill some sparrows. Learn why and how in today's episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this encore episode of Barbarians at the Gate, first broadcast in March 2024, John Alekna talks about his fascinating new book Seeking News, Making China: Information Technology and the Emergence of Mass Society. In 20th-century China, the gradual importation and development of information technology had an enormous impact on the way news was disseminated and accessed by the general public. When radio first appeared in the early 1920s, fewer than 8 in 1,000 people had access to newspapers, whereas by the Mao period hundreds of millions of citizens were receiving daily news and information via radio, TV, and shortwave technology. This book provides an enlightening “meta-historical” account of the evolving communications technologies that fueled the May Fourth Movement, KMT and CCP propaganda campaigns during WWII, and the mass information campaigns of the Mao era, such as the Cultural Revolution. The book describes how the various interlocking information technologies, infrastructure, and communication channels—what Alekna calls the “newsscape”—affected popular opinion, politics, and state power. John Alekna is an Assistant Professor in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at Peking University.

The concept of evil is universal, ancient, and ever present today. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. Evil is a choice to make another suffer. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.Confronting Evil by Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer recounts the deeds of the worst people in history: Genghis Khan. The Roman Emperor Caligula. Henry VIII. The collective evil of the 19th century slave traders and the 20th century robber barons. Stalin. Hitler. Mao. The Ayatollah Khomeini. Putin. The Mexican drug cartels. Collectively, these warlords, tyrants, businessmen, and criminals are directly responsible for the death and misery of hundreds of millions of people.By telling what they did and why they did it, Confronting Evil explains the struggle between good and evil--a choice every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition is compelled to make. But many defer. We avoid the life decision. We look away. It's easier.Prepare yourself to read the consequences of that inaction. As John Stuart Mill said in his inaugural address to the University of St. Andrews in 1867: "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Joining Audrey for this week's REELTalk -  Exec. Dir. of American Constitutional Rights Union and bestselling author, LTC ALLEN WEST, will be here! PLUS, author of American Betrayal, DIANA WEST will be here! PLUS, bestselling author of Mao's America, XI VAN FLEET will be here! AND, bestselling author LTG THOMAS McINERNEY of CCNS will be with us!  In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately." Come hang with us...   

In Episode 176 of The Alan Sanders Show, host Alan Sanders dives into the stark contrast between how conservatives and the Left engage in political discourse. Conservatives focus on dismantling flawed policies with facts and reason, while Democrats and the mainstream media often resort to dehumanizing opponents, labeling them as "dangerous" or "threats to democracy." Alan explores how this tactic, reminiscent of Maoist rhetoric, fuels division and stifles debate and how the same parallels can be seen in our colleges today, which took place during Mao's “Cultural Revolution.” We learn about the shooter and know he was fueled to eliminate fascists. Tune in for a sharp analysis of why arguing substance matters and how personal attacks undermine a free society. Please take a moment to rate and review the show and then share the episode on social media. You can find me on Facebook, X, Instagram, GETTR,  TRUTH Social and YouTube by searching for The Alan Sanders Show. And, consider becoming a sponsor of the show by visiting my Patreon page!

The concept of evil is universal, ancient, and ever present today. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. Evil is a choice to make another suffer. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.Confronting Evil by Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer recounts the deeds of the worst people in history: Genghis Khan. The Roman Emperor Caligula. Henry VIII. The collective evil of the 19th century slave traders and the 20th century robber barons. Stalin. Hitler. Mao. The Ayatollah Khomeini. Putin. The Mexican drug cartels. Collectively, these warlords, tyrants, businessmen, and criminals are directly responsible for the death and misery of hundreds of millions of people.By telling what they did and why they did it, Confronting Evil explains the struggle between good and evil--a choice every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition is compelled to make. But many defer. We avoid the life decision. We look away. It's easier.Prepare yourself to read the consequences of that inaction. As John Stuart Mill said in his inaugural address to the University of St. Andrews in 1867: "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

ABOUT CONFRONTING EVILThe concept of evil is universal, ancient, and ever present today. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. Evil is a choice to make another suffer. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.Confronting Evil by Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer recounts the deeds of the worst people in history: Genghis Khan. The Roman Emperor Caligula. Henry VIII. The collective evil of the 19th century slave traders and the 20th century robber barons. Stalin. Hitler. Mao. The Ayatollah Khomeini. Putin. The Mexican drug cartels. Collectively, these warlords, tyrants, businessmen, and criminals are directly responsible for the death and misery of hundreds of millions of people.By telling what they did and why they did it, Confronting Evil explains the struggle between good and evil--a choice every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition is compelled to make. But many defer. We avoid the life decision. We look away. It's easier.Prepare yourself to read the consequences of that inaction. As John Stuart Mill said in his inaugural address to the University of St. Andrews in 1867: "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."BILL O'REILLY BIOBill O'Reilly is a trailblazing TV journalist who has experienced unprecedented success on cable news and in writing fifteen national number-one bestselling nonfiction books. There are currently more than 17 million books in the Killing series in print. He currently hosts the 'No Spin News' on BillOReilly.com. He lives on Long Island.https://www.youtube.com/billoreillyhttps://www.billoreilly.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio--2671113/support.Thank you for tuning in to I Am Refocused Radio. For more inspiring conversations, visit IAmRefocusedRadio.com and stay connected with our community.Don't miss new episodes—subscribe now at YouTube.com/@RefocusedRadio

We have a wonderful podacst community! Within 24 hours of our immediate past episode release, one close friend- and fellow OBGYN, Dr. Eric Colton (OB Hospitalist Group) reached out and shared valuable words of wisdom regarding a potentially deadly complication of the CS-scar defect...the CS scar ectopic pregnancy. Listen in for Dr. Colton's cameo and details. 1. Ban, Yanli MD, PhD; Shen, Jia MD; Wang, Xia MD; Zhang, Teng MD, PhD; Lu, Xuxu MD; Qu, Wenjie MD; Hao, Yiping MD; Mao, Zhonghao MD; Li, Shizhen MD; Tao, Guowei MD, PhD; Wang, Fang MD, PhD; Zhao, Ying MD, PhD; Zhang, Xiaolei MD, PhD; Zhang, Yuan MD, PhD; Zhang, Guiyu MD, PhD; Cui, Baoxia MD, PhD. Cesarean Scar Ectopic Pregnancy Clinical Classification System With Recommended Surgical Strategy. Obstetrics & Gynecology 141(5):p 927-936, May 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005113

Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise (Yale University Press, 2022) by Dr. Christopher Marquis & Dr. Kunyuan Qiao presents a thoroughly researched assessment of how China's economic success continues to be shaped by the communist ideology of Chairman Mao It was long assumed that as China embraced open markets and private enterprise, its state-controlled economy would fall by the wayside, that free markets would inevitably lead to a more liberal society. Instead, China's growth over the past four decades has positioned state capitalism as a durable foil to the orthodoxy of free markets, to the confusion of many in the West. Christopher Marquis and Kunyuan Qiao argue that China's economic success is based on—not in spite of—the continuing influence of Communist leader Mao Zedong. They illustrate how Mao's ideological principles, mass campaigns, and socialist institutions have enduringly influenced Chinese entrepreneurs' business strategies and the management of their ventures. Grounded in case studies and quantitative analyses, this book shows that while private enterprise is the engine of China's growth, Chinese companies see no contradictions between commercial drive and a dedication to Maoist ideology. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In this episode of The Mentor Podcast, Ron sits down with Adel Kayati — Ron's partner, lead acquisitionist, and a mentor with Global Publishing. Adel is hands-on with students (including live seller calls) and actively buying deals alongside Ron. In this episode, Ron and Adel lay out a practical, no-nonsense framework to eliminate the biggest risks in real estate while still doing profitable deals right now. What you'll learn about in this episode Why you should never personally guarantee debt—and how that single decision protects your credit, assets, and sanity. The title-holding structure Ron uses on every deal: one property per land trust, owned by an LLC (which is owned by Ron and his wife)—and why taking title in your personal name is a bad idea. Land trusts 101: simple deed + trust agreement, privacy benefits, and where to find the forms and training. No-recourse terms deals: buying with wraps, “subject-to,” or lease-purchase—the trust signs, not you; the house is the only collateral; nothing hits your credit. The MAO (“mayo”) rule for junkers: MAO = ARV × 0.70 − repairs (use 0.80 if ARV > $300k) — and never pay MAO. Ron's rehab rule of thumb: only touch rehabs when ARV ≥ purchase + repairs + ~$100k (≈ $50k profit + $50k carrying/transaction costs). Why wholesaling is Ron's favorite “no-risk” strategy (e.g., $10 earnest money to $20k–$50k checks) — and why it's a perfect fit for Roth IRA profits. FSBO focus vs. MLS grind: why most MLS deals won't pencil and how Ron filters them fast. A simple private-money safety check: don't borrow more than 65% of ARV on junkers. Market-timed tactics: in a sliding market, get conservative on ARV, avoid most rehabs, and prioritize wholesales and terms. Terms-deal cash-flow safety: Make sure non-refundable option deposit > your total cash out of pocket (down + closing). Target ≥5% of price for the deposit; delay first payment until the 3rd month after closing or vacancy, whichever is later. Expect near-breakeven or slight negatives on some recent high-rate loans; reserve part of the deposit to cover a year of any shortfall and big items (e.g., A/C). Easy lead targets right now: expired listings and low-equity, newer homes (many recent VA loans) in great neighborhoods—often “sell for what you owe” situations. Perspective from 44 years in the business: deals exist in every market—boom or crash—if you follow the rules above. Resources: RonsQuickStart.com — Details and dates for Ron's 4-Day Quick Start event. RonLeGrand.com — Additional trainings, tools, and information. RonsGoldClub.com — Land Trust training and form libraries (search “land trust”) and the “4 LLCs” lesson (mentioned in the episode). Sign up for a Free Mentor Panning Session: https://www.RonLeGrand.com/Plan Free Training: www.TheMentorPodcast.com/Terms182 Get Ron's $599 Wholesaling course for FREE when you join his Gold Club for ONLY $99 a month! – www.TheMentorPodcast.com/GC182

PREVIEW: PRC COAL: Colleague Cliff May comments on the irony that the PRC is praised for selling EVs and other green tech that is all produced by burning dirty coal emitting greenhouse gases. More tonight.1940 MAO.

Trump going back to the Supremes. No tax on tips, but content producers in radio have to share their earnings with the government. Targeting of drug boats will continue until morale improves. JD Vance: Trump Has The Legal Authority To Protect Americans, But No Immediate Plans For National Guard To Go Into Chicago. All Vaccine mandates ended in Florida. Powerball jackpot increases to $1.7B, third-largest prize in game's history. Indianapolis Councilors step forward against Google data center. Destiny Wells doesn't understand that the crime problem in Indianapolis is caused by Democrats. Hamilton County IN Dem Josh Lowry is a liar and a fraud. Heavily tatted woman selling mirror. Democrats casually dismiss America's founding principal."Journalist" Malcolm Gladwell apologizing for not standing up for women in women’s sports with Mao framed right behind him. Is Tori Amos a guilty pleasure? Pickleball chain plans to open its third Indy-area location near downtown. Spirit Airlines will exit 11 cities in October. Tony clearly wasn't a fan of Baywatch NightsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Journalist" Malcolm Gladwell apologizing for not standing up for women in women’s sports with Mao framed right behind him. Is Tori Amos a guilty pleasure? Pickleball chain plans to open its third Indy-area location near downtown. Spirit Airlines will exit 11 cities in October. Tony clearly wasn't a fan of Baywatch NightsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 124 Mao Zedong developed one of the most devastating dialectical techniques for mass mobilization ever conceived: the mass line. The idea with the mass line is that it is drawn from the masses, repackaged into a campaign for Communist Party goals, and then fed back to the masses to mobilize them to accomplish those goals, often including ruthless purges. For students of the New Discourses material, this pattern will seem familiar, both in terms of George Soros's (https://newdiscourses.com/2024/04/the-reflexive-alchemy-of-george-soros/) dialectic of "reflexivity" (https://newdiscourses.com/2024/06/reflexivity-leftism-in-the-21st-century/) and Paulo Freire's (https://amzn.to/4fkVck7) disastrous "generative themes" (https://newdiscourses.com/2022/05/paulo-freires-schools-new-discourses-bullets-ep-7/) method of education (which Freire (https://newdiscourses.com/2022/10/paulo-freires-critical-method-of-education/) openly admits he got from Mao). In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, host James Lindsay explains the mass line and its relationship to these other ideas. You don't want to miss it. Latest book! The Queering of the American Child: https://queeringbook.com/ Support New Discourses: https://newdiscourses.com/support Follow New Discourses on other platforms: https://newdiscourses.com/subscribe Follow James Lindsay: https://linktr.ee/conceptualjames © 2025 New Discourses. All rights reserved. #NewDiscourses #JamesLindsay

This week on Wrestling Omakase John is joined by a first time guest, Snazzy from the Social Suplex Newsletter (making a very last minute appearance that John is very grateful for!), for a tour through a whole bunch of very different wrestling. But first, John complains about their baseball team, tries to explain their very weird and complicated sports fandom alignment, and the two of them make fun of Manchester United for some reason. Then it's over to wrestling where they start out with a fashionably late review of AEW Forbidden Door from last weekend, with Snazzy providing live impressions from inside the building and John providing, uh, the kind of takes you've come to expect from them about American wrestling. Hey, they really liked three of the matches on this show at least! And they didn't really care about the gummy bears! But jesus christ that MJF match....Once that and a bunch of other random tangents are out of the way (even for Omakase this is a pretty tangent-heavy episode....) they head over to the land of the Dramatic Dream Team for full reviews of nights 1 & 2, the Peter Pan show (and if you'd like to skip right to this it starts around 1:30:00- just saying!). John & Snazzy put over the year DDT is having in general and then two shows full of great stuff, starting with day 1 from Higashin Arena which featured a super unique Extreme title match (that maybe just has a couple minor flaws that could be fixed next time if they ever tried this again), an awesome tag match with Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita from NJPW, and an amazing old school main event with Kazusada Higuchi and Jun Akiyama. Then it's on to day 2 from Korakuen Hall featuring Minoru Suzuki turning back the clock against MAO, another great title match with Higuchi and Ueno, and a moment at the end of the show that's so amazing John called it one of their favorite moments as a professional wrestling fan.Next they head over to AJPW to talk about a very underwhelming first round of the AJPW Oudou Tournament, burying a few dry as dirt matches and wondering why Hideki Suzuki even bothered bringing these ex-NXT people if he doesn't even want to try when he wrestles them. Not a good weekend for 'ol Zen Nihon!Finally, they wrap things up with brief previews of the 9/6 STARDOM to the World PPV (well, the four matches we actually know if it at least) and the NOAH N-1 Victory tournament that kicks off next Monday (9/8). Another jam packed show!Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: @WrestleOmakaseFollow John on Bluesky: @justoneenbyAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

New York Times correspondent Edward Wong has reported from Beijing to Baghdad, covering the rise of China and the reach of American power. In his new book At the Edge of Empire: A Family's Reckoning with China, Wong blends geopolitics with personal history, from his father's time in Mao's army to his own years navigating censorship and nationalism in modern China. Mike talks with Wong about ideology, disillusionment, and what China's trajectory means for the United States and the world. Plus: On the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Mike reflects on how rumors and misinformation shaped the disaster response, and what lessons still echo in today's media landscape. Use Code gist at the link to get an exclusive 60% off an annual incogni plan: https://incogni.com/gist Come See Mike Pesca at Open Debate Produced by Corey Wara Production Coordinator Ashley Khan Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠ad-sales@libsyn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Gist Instagram Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠GIST INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow The Gist List at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pesca⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠   

Preview: Vietnam War. Historian Geoffrey Wawro comments on the Nixon plan to end the Vietnam War with Mao's assistance. More later. 1940 MAO

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   5/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) 1958 KIM IL-SUNG IN BEIJING https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   7/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   6/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   8/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) 1949 TRUMAN AND CHURCHILL AT BLAIR HOUSE https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   4/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) 1955 KIM IL-SUNG https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   3/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   2/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

LOSING IN KOREA TAUGHT THE US NOTHING OF EITHER COMMUNIST SKILLS OR COUNTERINSURGENCY WARFARE:   1/8: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 by  Nick Bunker  (Author) 1950 KIM IL-SUNG https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Fear-America-World-1950/dp/1541675541/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In the Shadow of Fear describes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Joseph Stalin tested his first atomic bomb, Mao's army swept through China, and in America the age of FDR gave way to the beginnings of a new conservatism. An aggressive Republican Party, desperate to regain power, seized on rifts among its opponents, and Truman's program for universal health care and civil rights reform went down to defeat. The young Senator Joe McCarthy ambushed Truman and his party with a style of politics that aroused powerful emotions and deepened division. On the eve of the Korean War, a new mood of anger in the nation left many Americans calling in vain for a return to consensus.

On Wednesday's Mark Levin Show, we have a lot of fake MAGA conmen influencers trying to exploit the Jeffrey Epstein matter for financial gain through clicks and subscriptions. These conmen have spread false predictions about the Iran-Israel conflict, such as World War III involvement by China and Russia, and for aligning with dictators while opposing U.S. interests. The left-wing media love these conmen because they think they can damage President Trump over Epstein. This mix of Marxist Islamists and isolation conmen is very dangerous - even Trump isn't good enough for them. You stand with Trump, or you don't. Also, an entire staff at a hospital in Suwayda, Syria, was slaughtered by Islamist terrorists. The Druze, an Arab minority sect, are being attacked by terrorist groups backed by the Syrian military, and only Israel and the IDF are intervening by entering Syria to defend them through attacks on terrorists and Syrian forces. Later, Zohran Mamdani is an anti-Semite, racist, and Islamist Marxist who refuses to denounce the Global Intifada slogan promoting terrorism, wants to tax white neighborhoods more, and seeks to seize private property. His ​ideology ​is ​that ​of ​Lenin, ​Mao, ​Stalin ​and ​Castro but there are Democrats like AOC and Sen Bernie Sander who back him anyway. Afterward, Gov Greg Abbott, with support from Trump and the DOJ, has called a special session in Texas to redraw congressional districts after findings of illegal gerrymandering. This could net Republicans up to five additional House seats. Democrats, led by Hakeem Jeffries, are in panic mode, planning a walkout to deny quorum—similar to their failed 2021 effort—but Republicans are prepared to counter with arrests, fines, or seat vacancies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices