Podcasts about nicaraguan

"What is key is that many of these pastors and leaders have understood the true gospel." Despite government threats of exile, prison, or death, Pastor Chico, a front-line worker in Nicaragua, says pastors are still preaching the truth of God's Word, no matter the cost. They know, as the Bible says, that "faith comes by hearing" (Romans 10:17). The price of their preaching can be high. Listen as Chico shares about a pastor who lost his Nicaraguan citizenship when he left the country to attend a Christian conference, and pastors imprisoned without a trial or any legal process in which to defend themselves. Nicaragua's government is actively working to co-opt and control churches. Christians who won't cooperate are labelled "terrorists". Listen as Chico explains government efforts to influence and control churches, and why every believer in Nicaragua needs a Bible in their hands. To read more about Nicaragua and other restricted and hostile nations, see our Global Prayer Guide here: https://vom.com.au/news/weekly-prayer-updates/

Colombians are voting in a presidential election after a campaign marred by violence. Also on the programme, the death in prison of Nicaraguan indigenous leader, Brooklyn Rivera; and we hear from John Travolta on his directorial debut.(Photo: Colombia holds first round of presidential election, Bogota - 31 May 2026. Mauricio Duenas Castaneda/EPA/Shutterstock)

Tony and Fingers light up the My Father La Gran Oferta Lancero, a 7.5 x 38 smoke with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Cuban-seed binder, and Nicaraguan filler. The cigar opens with leather, pepper, spice, and a debate over whether the finish is wood or bitter espresso. Because obviously, this is where civilization hangs in the balance. Also on the Happy Hour: Tony talks about his early-morning Indy 500 tradition, Fingers considers upgrading his Masterbuilt Gravity Series grill, and the guys get into Memorial Day barbecue plans, brisket strategy, ribs, grill deals, Cracker Barrel's summer giveaway, Allegiant Air filling part of the Spirit Airlines void, and whether ordering Cracker Barrel for delivery is a crime against the Republic. Plus, Defiance Beef, smoked sirloin tip, reverse-seared steak, brisket logistics, and the eternal truth: there is no one “right” way to barbecue, despite what the brisket weirdos on the internet keep telling you. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.

Tony and Fingers light up The K by Karen Berger Connecticut Toro, a soft box-pressed 6 x 52 Connecticut with an Ecuadorian wrapper, Nicaraguan core, silky presentation, light spice, creaminess, cedar, and a little sweetness. They talk about why Connecticut cigars deserve more respect, when this cigar fits best, and whether it earns a spot in the humidor at around $12. Also on this Happy Hour: the proper way to reheat leftover pizza, why skillet pizza may be the superior method, Tony's appliance-unplugging habits, cigar humidor headaches, Subway's continued decline, Eric Clapton getting hit by a fan-thrown record, concert etiquette, Weird Al, Rod Stewart, and a Defiance Beef road trip that may or may not require a flatbed. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.

This week, Tony and Fingers review the K by Karen Berger Connecticut Toro, a silky Ecuadorian Connecticut with Nicaraguan binder and filler. Connecticut cigars get dismissed too easily, and this one makes the case for why that is a mistake. The Karen Berger Connecticut brings creaminess, cedar, a touch of white pepper, some sweetness, and an easygoing profile that works in the morning, at night, with coffee, or whenever you feel like smoking a Connecticut because you are an adult and can live your life. They also review Mayor Pingree Red Label Bourbon from Valentine Distilling in Ferndale, Michigan. It is a 94-proof bourbon that brings vanilla, oak, honey, spice, pepper, and a little orchard fruit — especially after adding water or putting it over a cube. Also discussed: the best way to reheat pizza, using leftover pizza toppings in an omelet, Tony's toaster paranoia, Subway closing hundreds of locations, Eric Clapton ending a concert early after being hit by a thrown record, whether Malört should be reviewed on the show, the strange human desire to eat painfully hot wings, and which cars thieves love to steal. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.

This week, Tony and Fingers review the K by Karen Berger Connecticut Toro, a silky Ecuadorian Connecticut with Nicaraguan binder and filler. Connecticut cigars get dismissed too easily, and this one makes the case for why that is a mistake. The Karen Berger Connecticut brings creaminess, cedar, a touch of white pepper, some sweetness, and an easygoing profile that works in the morning, at night, with coffee, or whenever you feel like smoking a Connecticut because you are an adult and can live your life. They also review Mayor Pingree Red Label Bourbon from Valentine Distilling in Ferndale, Michigan. It is a 94-proof bourbon that brings vanilla, oak, honey, spice, pepper, and a little orchard fruit — especially after adding water or putting it over a cube. Also discussed: the best way to reheat pizza, using leftover pizza toppings in an omelet, Tony’s toaster paranoia, Subway closing hundreds of locations, Eric Clapton ending a concert early after being hit by a thrown record, whether Malört should be reviewed on the show, the strange human desire to eat painfully hot wings, and which cars thieves love to steal. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony and Fingers review the Esteban Carreras Dictator’s Hand, a Nicaraguan puro formerly known as The Devil’s Hand, and break down its leather, wood, sweetness, white pepper, and harder-to-place flavor notes. They also get into frozen pizza recalls, breakfast pizza, brisket sides, Spirit Airlines shutting down, cruise ship nightmares, and the very real joy of having your basement flood right after it was finished. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony and Fingers review Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey, a seven-year, 90-proof wheat whiskey from Heaven Hill that delivers oak, vanilla, cinnamon, cream, fruit, and serious value for $20 to $30 a bottle. They pair it with the Esteban Carreras Dictator’s Hand, a Nicaraguan puro with leather, wood, sweetness, and building white pepper. Also: Mother’s Day brunch, Fingers’ colonoscopy timing, Hugh Jackman at Ball State, Spirit Airlines, oil prices, basement flooding, vacation water shutoffs, and Tony’s toaster paranoia. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Deep Curts Live host Antoine Reid sits down with Scandinavian Tobacco Group's Justin Andrews to explore his journey from eastern North Carolina tobacco country to helping shape some of the cigar industry's biggest brands and collaborations. From contract manufacturing and blending to Diesel Cigars and industry partnerships, this episode offers an inside look at how modern premium cigar brands are built behind the scenes. In this episode, Justin discusses: Growing up in a tobacco farming family in North Carolina Learning cigar production firsthand in Nicaragua The evolution of cigar marketing and social media restrictions How collaborations changed the premium cigar landscape Building and evolving the Diesel Cigars brand Why construction, consistency, and balance matter in blending The realities of working across factories in Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic Justin also reflects on some of STG's most impactful projects, including collaborations with brands like Espinosa, Room101, Caldwell, and Illusione, while sharing how Diesel evolved from an online catalog brand into one of the industry's most respected Nicaraguan-focused portfolios. Whether you're interested in cigar blending, brand development, factory operations, or the business side of premium cigars, this episode delivers an honest look at the work happening behind the curtain of the modern cigar industry.

Ileana Moro doesn't paint people; she paints what moves through them. The self-taught multidisciplinary artist from Costa Rica, now based in Antwerp, joins us for a conversation about the courage it took to leave architecture and choose the unknown, how she works with invisible forces and what it means to stay long enough with your own darkness to see what lives there. We also explore the fluid edges of creative identity, the alchemical lens she brings to her practice, and how she decides which medium can hold what she's trying to say. A deeply honest conversation for anyone sitting at a threshold of their own.About Ileana MoroIleana Moro (b. 1992, Costa Rica) is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist of Cuban and Nicaraguan heritage, currently based in Antwerp, Belgium. Her practice explores emotional and psychological landscapes through painting, approaching the canvas as a form of visual diary and reflection on inner life.The absence of human figures in her work does not signify absence of humanity; rather, she paints the emotional weather of being human—the storms, the silences, the twilight moods that pass through all of us. Her canvases can be read as portals to the soul's inner climate.A spiritual undercurrent runs through her work. Through the interplay of shadow and light, she evokes the liminal spaces where the sacred might enter, creating thresholds that invite viewers into the deeper layers of themselves.Guided by intuition, her process allows spontaneity, fluidity, and the rise of subconscious material, producing works that hover between control and surrender. By honoring mystery rather than explanation, her paintings remain open-ended, emotionally charged, and resonant with the hidden dimensions of life.WebsiteInstagramAbout mePascale Côté is a creativity guide, therapeutic arts practitioner, artist, and writer who helps creatives meet, understand, and express themselves by guiding them to work *with* their (creative, complex, unconventional) nature instead of against it. She helps artists, visionaries, disruptors and earth stewards break free from the vortex of overthinking and move forward with their bold, rebellious ideas. Her work challenges conventional norms, inviting creatives to explore what's possible when they release outdated narratives and embrace their true, authentic expression. Pascale believes that art is a powerful vehicle for both individual and collective change when it's grounded in truth—created outside the rigid systems that stifle our creative spirit.About the podcastCreative minds are the architects of a new world, and their art holds the keys to reimagining our reality. The challenge is, creative minds often spend just as much time crafting self-limiting narratives as they do creating their art. Dear Creative Mind is a space for creative liberation—a pathway out of the cycle of overthinking, burnout, and stagnation. This podcast is for artists & creative entrepreneurs where Pascale, creativity guide, shares grounding meditations, gentle coaching guidance and heartfelt conversations with inspiring artists. The podcast explores the real challenges that come with being creative—overthinking, self-doubt, burnout—and how to navigate them while staying true to our vision.Get support for your creative mind⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1:1 support for creatives⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New: email guidance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Creative Liberation Portal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free tool: The Creative Confidence Toolkit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book a free clarity call⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join community events⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Receive the monthly prompts⁠ on Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore the full website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Find me on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ A special thank you to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alexandra Moreno⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for the original music of the podcast.

The Micallef Green was released in 2025 at the PCA Trade Show in New Orleans, LA, as another extension of their very successful Color Series.  The Color Series is a line that features cigars in only robusto and toro sizes, using unique wrappers for each series at a sub-$9 price point.  This new line is a replacement for their Bold series, as they wanted to bring manufacturing in-house.  This cigar features a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, a Mexican San Andres Negro binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. Wrapper: Brazilian Mata Fina Binder: San Andrés Negro (México) Filler: Nicaragua Country of Origin: Nicaragua Factory: Fabrica de Micallef Vitola:  Robusto Size:  5 x 52 MSRP:  $8.00 Final Score:  90

The Micallef Green was released in 2025 at the PCA Trade Show in New Orleans, LA, as another extension of their very successful Color Series.  The Color Series is a line that features cigars in only robusto and toro sizes, using unique wrappers for each series at a sub-$9 price point.  This new line is a replacement for their Bold series, as they wanted to bring manufacturing in-house.  This cigar features a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, a Mexican San Andres Negro binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. Wrapper: Brazilian Mata Fina Binder: San Andrés Negro (México) Filler: Nicaragua Country of Origin: Nicaragua Factory: Fabrica de Micallef Vitola:  Robusto Size:  5 x 52 MSRP:  $8.00 Final Score:  90

This week on Eat Drink Smoke, Tony and Fingers review the Tatuaje Avion 13 Corojo and Woody Creek Distillers Colorado Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The Tatuaje Avion 13 Corojo is a 6 7/8 x 52 double perfecto with a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and filler. Tony and Fingers break down the cigar’s cedar, red pepper, coffee, cocoa sweetness, creamy texture, spice, draw, construction, and whether it belongs in the humidor at around $13 a stick. Spoiler: this one made a very strong impression. On the drink side, the guys sample Woody Creek Distillers Colorado Straight Bourbon Whiskey, a 90-proof bourbon made with 70% dent corn, 15% rye, and 15% malted barley. They talk oak, honey, vanilla, rye spice, sugar cream pie sweetness, heat, water, a cube, and whether it earns a spot in the liquor cabinet at $50 a bottle. Also this week: Tony and Fingers clear up some confusion over the different Tatuaje Avion blends, debate whether Costco is ruining civilization by offering bottled water with its hot dog combo, discuss TSA officers leaving during the government shutdown, and review a Mother’s Day gift list that somehow includes earplugs, a fish-shaped water pitcher, and a $95 hairbrush. Plus, Chinese EVs with built-in toilets, why Fingers wants one only as a way to avoid driving people places, Tony’s motel bathroom emergency, cigar notebooks, Indy 500 radio coverage, and why Defiance Beef may be the only Mother’s Day gift list anyone really needs. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy light up the Rocky Patel Vintage 2003 Cameroon, a 6.5 x 52 Toro with a Cameroon wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan/Dominican filler. Tony calls it one of the cigars that helped turn smoking from a curiosity into something he genuinely loved, while Fingers wonders why he doesn’t already have a stack of them in his humidor. They break down the cigar’s cedar, spice, sweetness, construction, and why this classic still belongs in the rotation. The guys also pour Montana’s Running Iron Straight Whiskey, a 100% wheat whiskey connected to Dry Hills Distillery/Montana Distillery, and debate whether its honey, vanilla, cinnamon, oak, orchard fruit, and dry finish justify the $50 price tag. Also on the show: 7-Eleven tries to become Wawa, Vegas loses another buffet, lobster researchers ruin dinner, cruise weddings are a crime against friendship, Anheuser-Busch invests $600 million in America, Tony discovers Fingers has never seen Top Gun, and somehow Porky’s 3 becomes part of the cinematic conversation. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy light up the CAO Arcana Stokk Belicoso, a limited-edition 6.5x52 cigar with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and a distinctive filler blend that includes Cyprian Latakia pipe tobacco. The guys talk through the cigar’s odd-looking band, excellent draw, near-perfect burn, and the challenge of pinning down a flavor profile that seems to move between pepper, wood, tea, and a smoky note that keeps getting more interesting as the cigar develops. They also spend time digging into what makes a cigar worth revisiting, why construction matters just as much as flavor, and whether this CAO earns a spot in the humidor at around $13 a stick. Also in this Happy Hour episode: another round of Gas Station Finds with Pop Daddy Birthday Cake Popcorn, which somehow turns out to be both gimmicky and surprisingly good, plus talk about family-farm popcorn, sweet snack regret, and how close a man can get to accidentally eating an entire bag. It’s cigars, snack food, palate talk, and the completely unnecessary honesty that makes Eat, Drink, Smoke Happy Hour what it is. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy light up the CAO Arcana Stokk Belicoso, a limited-edition 6.5x52 cigar with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and a distinctive filler blend that includes Cyprian Latakia pipe tobacco. The guys break down the cigar’s unusual look, easy draw, impressive construction, and evolving flavor profile, while trying to decide whether the smoky, woody character makes this a hidden gem worth keeping in the humidor. Then they crack open Kirkland Signature Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon from Costco, a 92-proof pour with a mash bill of 74% corn, 18% rye, and 8% malted barley. Tony and Fingers dig into the bourbon’s odd but intriguing mix of salt, oak, pepper, and just enough sweetness to make it an easy everyday drinker at a price that’s hard to argue with. Also in this episode: another edition of Gas Station Finds featuring Pop Daddy Birthday Cake Popcorn, a conversation about whether home distilling should have ever been banned in the first place, a look at AI panic and how people are actually using it, why furniture shopping feels like psychological warfare, Hulu folding deeper into Disney+, the Jacksonville Jaguars temporarily heading to Orlando, and what the ongoing Iran conflict could mean for travel, fuel, fertilizer, and everyday prices. It’s cigars, bourbon, snacks, news, and the usual amount of completely unnecessary honesty. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy light up the Alec Bradley Safe Keepings Toro, a 6x52 Nicaraguan puro, and try to figure out exactly what’s going on with a cigar that’s being described as Maduro but doesn’t quite look the part. Along the way, they break down the draw, the construction, the clean, easygoing flavor profile, and whether this stick does enough at around $13 per cigar to earn a place in the humidor. Also in this Happy Hour episode: a spirited discussion about crunchy vs. creamy peanut butter, whether Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were ruined by corporate corner-cutting, and why some companies are determined to “improve” things nobody asked them to touch. The guys also get into whiskey exports, AI cheating in college, airline baggage-fee chaos, and the general decline in common sense. It’s cigars, food, a little outrage, and the kind of conversation that makes Eat, Drink, Smoke Happy Hour what it is. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy light up the Murcielago from Espinosa Cigars, a 6x52 box-pressed Toro with a Mexican San Andreas wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler, and debate whether this bold stick is really a medium or if it lands much closer to full-bodied. The guys break down the cigar’s spice, oak, richness, and strength, while Fingers tries to smoke through a self-inflicted lunch injury that left him with what can only be described as a medically significant fat lip. Then they pour Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye Whiskey Cask Strength, coming in at 115.4 proof, and it immediately becomes one of those bottles that stops the conversation in its tracks. Tony and Fingers talk through the nose, the lack of ethanol heat, the rye spice, oak, citrus, cinnamon-roll sweetness, and whether this cask-strength rye is not only liquor-cabinet worthy, but one of the best pours they’ve had on the show in a long time. Also in this episode: a major Costco cookware recall, Fingers’ continuing cast iron skillet education, a conversation about what to do when a cigar hits a little too hard, and a look at rising prices everywhere from cigars to used cars. The guys also dig into several stories in News of the Week, including Byron Allen buying late-night TV time from CBS, more layoffs at ESPN, gas-powered leaf blower bans, a self-driving car that killed a duck near a park, and Lowe’s investing heavily in training tradespeople for the future. And because it wouldn’t be Eat, Drink, Smoke without it, there’s also talk of Defiance Beef, chest freezers full of meat, YouTube studio upgrades, cigar notebooks, and the kind of wandering conversation that only happens when bourbon, cigars, and a couple of microphones are involved. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"What is key is that many of these pastors and leaders have understood the true gospel." Despite government threats of exile, prison, or death, Pastor Chico, a front-line worker in Nicaragua, says pastors are still preaching the truth of God's Word—no matter the cost. They know, as the Bible says, that "faith comes by hearing" (Rom. 10:17). The price of their preaching can be high. Listen as Chico shares about a pastor who lost his Nicaraguan citizenship when he left the country to attend a Christian conference, and pastors imprisoned without a trial or any legal process in which to defend themselves.  "The main struggle…for people in churches in Nicaragua is that they are afraid to obey the Lord," Chico says. He encourages us that, as followers of Christ, each of us need to decide who is the Lord in our lives.  Nicaragua's government is actively working to co-opt and control churches. Christians who won't cooperate are labeled "terrorists." Listen as Chico explains government efforts to influence and control churches, and why every believer in Nicaragua needs a Bible in their hands. Chico and other Nicaraguan Christians have been inspired by the story of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand and his wife, Sabina, the founders of The Voice of the Martyrs. At a meeting where the communist government of Romania was trying to influence church leaders in the 1940s, Sabina famously challenged Richard to speak out by saying, "I do not wish to have a coward for a husband." Chico says there are many pastors' wives in Nicaragua similarly encouraging their husbands to boldly proclaim the gospel despite the danger of Christian persecution. Chico says, "The best testimony we can have as Christians is: Am I really committed to following Jesus as my Lord and Savior?" Hear how you can pray for specific needs of persecuted Christians in the restricted nation of Nicaragua, and request your free copy of VOM's 2026 Global Prayer Guide to help you know how to pray throughout this year for Christians in India, Iran, Nigeria and many more hostile areas and restricted nations.

Anne Aghion has been praised as a filmmaker of poetic vision and a unique documentarian whose films, in the words of one critic, “pull us deep into the social fabric” of the places she covers. She gained international renown for “The Gacaca Series” (pr. ga-CHA-cha), four films on post- genocide justice and social reconstruction in Rwanda. There, Anne Aghion charted the emotional impact of a controversial system of justice that returned killers to their homes to live side-by-side with the survivors of unimaginable violence. The final film in the series, “My Neighbor My Killer“, premiered in Official Selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival; was nominated for Best Documentary at the Gotham Awards; and earned Aghion the Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Additionally, other films in the series received an Emmy Award and the UNESCO Fellini Prize. The 2008 feature “Ice People” was described by Variety as “staggeringly beautiful,” and New York Magazine's noted critic Bilge Ebiri wrote that “it might be the most immersive documentary I've ever seen.” The film, which explores the physical, emotional and spiritual adventure of living and conducting science in Antarctica, was produced with ARTE France and ITVS International in association with Sundance Channel. Her award-winning 1996 directorial debut “Se Le Movió El Piso: A Portrait of Managua (The Earth Moved Under Him),” examines how Nicaraguan slum dwellers had survived the double ravages of political and natural disasters. In 2024, Anne Aghion finished “Turbulence” which poses the question: How do we overcome the heartbreaks, sorrow and traumas we endure or witness, and come out whole? The film, written, directed and produced by Aghion, is made in association with Arte France – La Lucarne, and with the participation of the French Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, Procirep & Angoa, Jewish Story Partners, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Anne Aghion has collected numerous prestigious awards for her work, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has earned a host of grants from such organizations as the United States Institute of Peace, the National Science Foundation, the French Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, and the Soros and Sundance Institute Documentary Funds. She has had residencies at the MacDowell Colony in the United States, the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, and others. For “Turbulence” she also received a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship to India. She has served as a juror for La Scam's L'Oeil d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the International Documentary Association (IDA), among others. She is an international speaker at universities and has conducted documentary workshops and master classes at film programs in countries including Haiti, India, Morocco, Lebanon, France and the United States. She serves on the board of Camargo Foundation's French association. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0FgITLEiKE Both “My Neighbor My Killer” and “Turbulence may now be streamed on the platform kinema.com.

Magnum photographer and true master of the medium Susan Meiselas joined my for a nice chat to discuss her lifetime of work, as featured in her traveling exhibition "Mediations." We talked about many of her iconic images and series, including "Carnival Strippers" as well as her noteworthy work in a Nicaraguan war zone. Such an honor to speak with a true giant of photography.LinksSusan Meiselas websiteSusan's InstagramCarnival Strippers at the Magnum website"Malatov Man" photography

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy smoke the Alec Bradley Safe Keepings Toro and find out whether this easygoing Nicaraguan cigar earns a spot in the humidor. The guys talk through the cigar’s smooth, clean profile, the lack of big spice or pepper, and whether a simple, steady smoke at around $13 a stick is enough to make it worth keeping around. They also pour LALO Blanco tequila in place of bourbon for Passover and break down whether this bright, smooth sipping tequila belongs in the liquor cabinet, even for people who don’t usually live in the tequila world. Along the way, they get into Hershey’s returning Reese’s to its original recipe, why companies ruin good things in the name of profit, falling American whiskey exports, professors trying to outsmart AI-cheating students, three women arrested after rushing a plane over a baggage fee, TSA wait time tracking in the United app, and Fingers’ ongoing cast iron skillet learning curve. Find everything at Eatdrinksmokeshow.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These women changed the world. Nobody told you about them.In this Women's History Month special, Dali Rivera takes you on a personal journey from her childhood dreams of becoming everything from a pilot to an architect, through 10 years of military service as a mechanic and drill sergeant, all the way to her calling as a bullying prevention educator. Along the way, she spotlights the women from her 2017 book "Embracing Differences: 21st Century Women Debunking Stereotypes" and the trailblazers who deserve a seat at every dinner table conversation this March.You will learn about:Olga Custodio, the first Latina to complete U.S. Air Force military pilot training and the first Latina captain of a commercial airliner at American Airlines.Simone Manuel, the first Black American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming at the 2016 Rio Olympics.Peggy Whitson, a biochemistry researcher who applied to become a NASA astronaut for 10 years before becoming the first woman to command the International Space Station.Misty Copeland, the first African American female principal dancer with a major American ballet company.Isabella Springmuhl Tejeda, a Guatemalan fashion designer with Down Syndrome who became a prominent figure in the global fashion industry at just 19 years old.Aja Brown, the youngest and first female mayor of Compton, California, elected at 31 after defeating 12 candidates.Shayla Rivera, an aerospace engineer and former NASA rocket scientist turned keynote speaker, author, comedian, and TV host.Graciela Tiscareno-Sato, a Mexican American Air Force veteran, KC-135 aviator, award-winning entrepreneur, and author of the Goodnight Captain Mama book series.Stella Prezeres, a researcher who successfully grew passion fruit in desert conditions through a USDA experiment in Riverside, California.Erin Schrode, the youngest woman to run for Congress at 25, and co-founder of the nonprofit Turning Green.And Dali herself, a Nicaraguan-born Army mechanic turned bullying prevention educator, who found her voice through women and gender studies and never stopped using it.This episode is for every parent raising kids who need to know that women have always been builders, leaders, inventors, and pioneers. Share it with them.Connect with DaliTalks: Website: https://www.DaliTalks.comSubscribe for weekly episodes on conscious parenting, family leadership, and raising empowered kids.

LOUNGE LIZARDS PRESENTED BY FABRICA5 - Brilliant Honduran Cigars - Visit Fabrica005.com and use code LIZARDPOD at checkout for 10% off THE ENTIRE STORE! Free worldwide shipping from Miami on all orders over $125. See website for more information and terms.SMALL BATCH CIGAR - SAVE 15% - Exclusive Cigar Retail Partner of the Lizards - Visit SmallBatchCigar.com and use code LIZARD15 for 15% off your order. Free shipping and 5% rewards back always. Standard exclusions apply. Simple. Fast. Small Batch Cigar.Recorded at Ten86 Cigars in Hawthorne, New Jersey, the Lizards pair XXX with XXX. The guys do a first-time review from a major cigar brand, Rooster shares another wildlife encounter and we get an update on Bam's Fundie dinner plans.PLUS: Perdomo's History, Perdomo and Opus Defying the Wrapper Odds, Brands Lizards Avoid, Can Time Fix a Bad Blend?, Rooster's Cigar Pairings, Camping and Cigars, Indoor vs. Outdoor Smoking, Macallan 12 110 Proof & MoreJoin the Lounge Lizards for a weekly discussion on all things cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban), whiskey, food, travel, life and work. This is your formal invitation to join us in a relaxing discussion amongst friends and become a card-carrying Lounge Lizard yourself. This is not your typical cigar podcast. We're a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.website/merch/rating archive: loungelizardspod.comemail: hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!instagram: @loungelizardspodGizmo HQ: LizardGizmo.com

Altadis USA just released its newest line, an extension of the Romeo y Julieta line called the Reserva Real Nicaragua Profundo. This new cigar is a collaboration between AJ Fernandez and Rafael Nodal, rolled at AJ Fernandez's factory in Nicaragua (though which one is not disclosed), from tobacco grown on his farm. The cigar features an “extra-fermentated” Nicaraguan Oscuro wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers. Retail on the robusto is $11.25. Here is a part of the article on Cigar Coop: “Continuing to build on the success of the Reserva Real family, the Profundo was developed to offer aficionados a new expression that reflects their evolving taste and growing appreciation for Nicaraguan tobaccos, while preserving the signature smoothness that defines the brand,” said Mariana Hinestrosa, Senior Brand Manager for Romeo y Julieta Wrapper: Nicaraguan Oscuro Binder: Nicaraguan Filler: Nicaraguan Country of Origin: Nicaragua Factory: AJ Fernandez (specific factory not disclosed) Vitola: Robusto MSRP: $11.25 Final Score: 89

Altadis USA just released its newest line, an extension of the Romeo y Julieta line called the Reserva Real Nicaragua Profundo. This new cigar is a collaboration between AJ Fernandez and Rafael Nodal, rolled at AJ Fernandez's factory in Nicaragua (though which one is not disclosed), from tobacco grown on his farm. The cigar features an “extra-fermentated” Nicaraguan Oscuro wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers. Retail on the robusto is $11.25. Here is a part of the article on Cigar Coop: “Continuing to build on the success of the Reserva Real family, the Profundo was developed to offer aficionados a new expression that reflects their evolving taste and growing appreciation for Nicaraguan tobaccos, while preserving the signature smoothness that defines the brand,” said Mariana Hinestrosa, Senior Brand Manager for Romeo y Julieta Wrapper: Nicaraguan Oscuro Binder: Nicaraguan Filler: Nicaraguan Country of Origin: Nicaragua Factory: AJ Fernandez (specific factory not disclosed) Vitola: Robusto MSRP: $11.25 Final Score: 89

On today's show, we're flipping the script. Producer Sara Gabler interviews Monday host, Douglas Haynes, about his new book, Teaching Toward Slow Hope: Place-Based Learning in College and Beyond.  If you listen to this show regularly, you know that Haynes is a Professor of English and cares deeply about the state of higher education in Wisconsin and beyond. His book is an ode to the hopeful and resilient educational practices at work across the Midwest in places like UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, Northland College, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College.  As college students experience rising rates of mental health disorders, food and financial insecurity, and eco-anxiety, some educators are turning to place-based learning to prepare students for a changing world. Whether through urban mapping projects, culinary and food share programs, or novel interdisciplinary outdoor learning cohorts, the classes Haynes' profiles are prioritizing deep listening, reciprocity, collaboration, and embodied cognition. And they're successful and popular.  Haynes shares anecdotes from his research into the five place-based learning projects in the book and how they are changing students' lives by reducing the separation between education and ordinary life, combining disciplines from the humanities to the sciences, centering Indigenous knowledges, and taking students emotional needs as seriously as their intellectual ones. Contrary to the extractive model of education which treats students like consumers and parades AI as the next horizon, place based learning is human-centered and teaches students the crucial skills of relationship building, resilience, and self-efficacy.  Teaching Toward Slow Hope: Place-Based Learning in College and Beyond will be published tomorrow by Johns Hopkins University Press.  Douglas Haynes teaches environmental humanities, creative nonfiction and poetry writing at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. He's also written a poetry collection called Last Word and a nonfiction exploration of inequality and the climate crisis called Every Day We Live Is the Future: Surviving in a City of Disasters, about two Nicaraguan families' quests to reinvent their lives in Managua, one of the world's most disaster-prone cities. Featured image of the cover of Teaching Toward Slow Hope. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Healing the Crisis of Isolation in Higher Ed appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

English description This week we have Erica Cunningham, a member of the Nicaraguan women's national soccer team. Interestingly, Erica played other sports before soccer, and she tells us how soccer came into her life. We also discuss her arrival on the Nicaraguan national team and her most recent match against Jamaica during this year's FIFA international break. We talk about the evolution of women's soccer, what it needs to reach its full potential, and much more. Descripción en español Esta semana tenemos a la seleccionada nacional de fútbol femenino de Nicaragua; ella es Erica Cunningham. Un dato curioso es que Erica hizo otros deportes antes del futbol y nos cuenta cómo el futbol llegó a su vida. No dejamos fuera su llegada a la selección de Nicaragua y su más reciente participación vs. Jamaica en fecha FIFA este año. La evolución del fútbol femenino, qué le falta para llegar al próximo, entre otras cosas más. Dato importante: Este podcast es full en Ingles. REDES Eroca Cunningham https://www.instagram.com/ericacunningham__?igsh=eXY3d3JzMzluZWJ5 Desde La Línea Podcast https://linktr.ee/DesdeLaLineaPod?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=0c3413a1-1132-4d8d-91f5-d6168547f11b

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy light up the Crux Marblehead Toro (6x50) and immediately run into one of the most confusing cigar caps you’ll ever see. The Marblehead name comes from the 109-style Cuban cap, which sits somewhere between a traditional rounded cap and a belicoso tip. Translation: it looks cool… but it also raises an important question. Where exactly are you supposed to cut the thing? Tony and Fingers break down the cap design, the cutting strategy, and whether this cigar might actually be a V-cut kind of smoke. Along the way, they dig into the blend: Ecuadorian Habano wrapper Indonesian binder Nicaraguan filler Right out of the gate, the flavor profile surprises them. Instead of a spice bomb, the cigar opens with wood notes, a touch of leather, and a balanced spice that stays controlled rather than overpowering. And here’s the real surprise. At around $8 per stick, the Crux Marblehead might be one of the better value cigars they’ve smoked recently. The guys even float the idea that it could land on a future value list if the profile holds steady through the rest of the smoke. Also in this episode: • A frozen food recall involving possible glass contamination in chicken fried rice• The ongoing debate over prime rib in a smoker vs the oven• Whether reverse-searing a steak actually improves it• The surprising return of an old-school steakhouse memory from a trip to 801 Chop House It’s cigars, food, and the kind of debates that only happen when two guys sit down with a good smoke and start arguing about meat. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host Grant Mona breaks down a massive 24 hours for Los Angeles sports, from a clinical blowout at the Intuit Dome to a blockbuster trade that has the Rams officially back in "all-in" mode. Segment One: Clippers Coast Past the Pacers The Los Angeles Clippers secured their third straight win on Wednesday night, dismantling the Indiana Pacers 130–107. Grant dives into the postgame audio from Kawhi Leonard, who put up an efficient 29 points, and Darius Garland, who looked right at home in his first game in front of the LA crowd with 12 points and a handful of flashy assists. We also hear from Tyronn Lue on the team's defensive intensity and the historic moment for Norchad Omier, who became the first Nicaraguan to score in an NBA game. Segment Two: Before the McDuffie Megadeal In a look back at the calm before the storm, we revisit Rams GM Les Snead's comments from the NFL Combine regarding his offseason strategy. Snead discusses his "macro philosophy" of using free agency to fill roster holes so the team isn't "desperate in the draft." Grant analyzes these quotes in the context of Wednesday's shocking trade for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie. How did Snead's hint about "addressing the secondary" turn into a blockbuster deal involving the No. 29 overall pick? We break down the masterplan to maximize Matthew Stafford's window. Produced by: Grant Mona Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Did the Dietary Guidelines ignore culture?In this special roundtable episode, I'm joined by four registered dietitians from Indian, Mexican, Filipino, and Nicaraguan backgrounds to unpack a major concern in the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans: the absence of explicit cultural inclusivity.Because food isn't just carbs and protein. It's identity, tradition, and community. And when guidelines ignore that, it impacts how we counsel patients in the exam room.In this episode, we discuss:How Eurocentric nutrition messaging shapes clinical recommendationsWhy telling patients to “cut the rice” or “switch to whole wheat bread” can miss the markThe consequences of removing cultural language from national nutrition guidelinesHow to balance evidence-based nutrition with cultural food traditionsSimple, open-ended questions clinicians can use to practice cultural humilityCultural humility isn't optional. It's foundational to effective healthcare.Listen to episode 76 next!  Are Your Assumptions Hurting Your Patients? Rethinking Ethnic FoodsConnect with my guests:Areli GutierrezVandana ShethPatti Castillo Jerianne CusipagAny Questions? Send Me a MessageSupport the showConnect with Colleen:InstagramLinkedInSign up for my FREE Newsletter - Nutrition hot-topics delivered to your inbox each week. Disclaimer: This podcast is a collection of ideas, strategies, and opinions of the author(s). Its goal is to provide useful information on each of the topics shared within. It is not intended to provide medical, health, or professional consultation or to diagnosis-specific weight or feeding challenges. The author(s) advises the reader to always consult with appropriate health, medical, and professional consultants for support for individual children and family situations. The author(s) do not take responsibility for the personal or other risks, loss, or liability incurred as a direct or indirect consequence of the application or use of information provided. All opinions stated in this podcast are my own and do not reflect the opinions of my employer.

Episode Topic: A Conversation with Adela NajarroEmbark on an evocative journey through “split geographies” with poet Adela Najarro in an oral history interview with director of Letras Latinas Francisco Aragón '03 MFA. From the boarding houses of mid-century San Francisco to the classrooms of Los Angeles, experience how deep ties to family history transform into precise, body-centered poetry. Discover a narrative of motherly and grandmotherly resilience that bridges Nicaraguan heritage with the American literary landscape. Featured Speakers:Adela Najarro, poetRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/42e18a.This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled Letras Latinas. Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

The Bible Savvy Podcast team welcomes Gabby and Guillermo Morales, Christ Community Church’s Nicaraguan ministry partners. Together, they explore the call of John 4 to share the gospel with anyone thirsting for the living water only Jesus provides. Want more context for the book of John? Check out the Bible Project videos found here: John – Part 1 | John – Part 2 Want to learn how you can join a GO Team? Check out upcoming trips at ccclife.org/go.

This week on Eat, Drink, Smoke, Fingers Malloy goes full bargain-hunter mode… and somehow drags Tony Katz into a cigar experiment that starts with one simple question: How cheap is too cheap? Fingers scored a five-pack of the Ave Maria Excalibur on CigarBid for about $16.50 — a price that’s borderline suspicious when the same cigar can run roughly $16 a stick. So the guys break down the whole “Free Fall” bidding experience (and yes, they make it crystal clear: CigarBid is not a sponsor… which they find disturbing). From there, it’s a real cigar review:Cameroon wrapper, Habano binder, Nicaraguan filler… and a smoke that comes out swinging with spice, heavy tobacco, and a “big cigar” presence that may or may not justify the premium price — unless you get it at “five for one” levels. Then the show swerves into everything else you didn’t know you needed: Why big game parties are terrible for people who actually want to watch the game The sacred truth that a boneless wing is a nugget A tour through lazy snack recipes (including a dip that should come with a bathroom warning label) A Valentine’s gift guide featuring Lego roses, shower steamers, and the eternal question: should romance ever be described as a puck? And for the pour: the guys try something different — an American single malt, Clermont Steep (from the Beam family). It’s sweet on the nose, smooth on the palate, and somehow delivers pear, honey, oak, and warm chest heat… then changes again once you add water or a cube. Also in the mix: bourbon industry turbulence (Kentucky Owl’s parent company moving toward liquidation), layoffs and AI creep (UPS cutting jobs), and the weirdest economic indicator of all — snack prices dropping. Find everything at eatdrinksmokeshow.com. Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media! X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy light up a cigar that’s been getting a lot of buzz: the Oz Family Cigars Karatoba Robusto (5x52 box press)—Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan/Dominican filler. Early impressions land in the sweet spot: cedar spice, nutty creaminess, and that “chew the cashew” texture that turns into an instant running joke. At around $12, the big question becomes simple: is this a daily-humidor staple? Then they pour something neither of them expected to like as much as they do: Old Soul High Rye Bourbon (90 proof) from Cathead Distillery (with MGP in the mix). The nose screams vanilla cake, but the palate surprises with rye spice, tongue-tingle heat, and a cinnamon edge—plus a full debate over whether oak is even present. Water changes the profile, the pairing clicks, and both hosts land on the same conclusion: at about $45, it’s a yes. Also in this episode: The winter weather misery report (and Fingers’ snowblower betrayal: reverse-only) Why humidor “rules” are mostly nonsense—and why your perfect humidity is whatever makes your cigars smoke right A restaurant empire with $1.3 billion in debt and a portfolio that reads like a food court fever dream (Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Fazoli’s, Twin Peaks, Smokey Bones… and yes, Hot Dog on a Stick is real) A quick hit on Real ID and the new $45 TSA fee for travelers without a compliant ID U-Haul migration rankings: who’s leaving, who’s winning, and why The “classy person” list that somehow turns into Frasier, jealousy therapy, and “don’t be weird” It’s cigars, bourbon, winter frustration, humidor truth, bankrupt restaurant chains, and just enough nonsense to make it feel like home. Find everything at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com — and follow along for more episodes, videos, and subscriber-only extras. Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media! X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

- perspective https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/2016287855509680261 - 1m mau bitchat https://primal.net/e/nevent1qqswxnrd0gkawyz5s0r08sru88gdzxugv4nkgpv8z7v3zdfa8cahdagrgntay - tether gold https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-28/tether-is-shaking-up-the-gold-market-with-massive-metal-hoard - sni dinner https://primal.net/e/nevent1qqstcm3mgphzvg2q8yaxqj4jl57u0j5644gmd394gd260836gmn482c5s8lju - Nicaragua | Economic Control Sustains the Ortega-Murillo Regime In an investigative series published by Confidencial, reporters identify economic control as one of the four central pillars sustaining the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The regime increasingly relies on restrictive controls over civil society's monetary flows to punish dissent. In 2023, the regime froze the bank accounts of institutions affiliated with the Catholic Church, which led a Nicaraguan seminary to cease operations. Since 2018, thousands of NGOs have been forced to close or had their assets seized for alleged financial violations. In Nicaragua, authoritarian financial control is a primary way to stifle civil society. FinancialFreedomReport.org - cove android https://x.com/covewallet/status/2016172119751594243?s=46 - opensats year in review https://opensats.org/blog/2025-year-in-review - Trump's acting cyber chief uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/27/cisa-madhu-gottumukkala-chatgpt-00749361 - tiktok us immediately starts data collection after acquisition https://primal.net/e/nevent1qqsw56zur9g00dq55xlsawjgyh7yd4syd34zdy8a7ek6aavkhnnq5zs8ed70a 3:59 - No dooming 12:14 - Perspective 16:29 - Dashboard & demand response 34:34 - 1M active bitchat 42:29 - Tether gold 51:29 - SNI Dinner 53:59 - HRF Story of the Week 55:34 - Cove Wallet 1:02:24 - OpenSats 1:05:39 - Boosts 1:10:29 - CISA GPT goof 1:15:24 - TikTok spying in new ways 1:17:04 - The Banter Section™ Shoutout to our sponsors: Coinkite https://coinkite.com/ Stakwork https://stakwork.ai/ Obscura https://obscura.net/ Salt of the Earth https://drinksote.com/rhr Follow Marty Bent: Twitter https://twitter.com/martybent Nostr https://primal.net/marty Newsletter https://tftc.io/martys-bent/ Podcast https://tftc.io/podcasts/ Follow Odell: Nostr https://primal.net/odell Newsletter https://discreetlog.com/ Podcast https://citadeldispatch.com/

AP's Lisa Dwyer reports on 911 calls made in the death of an ICE detainee.

In this powerful and wide-ranging episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins sits down with Ken Behr, author of One Step Over the Line: Confessions of a Marijuana Mercenary. Behr tells his astonishing life story—from teenage marijuana dealer in South Florida, to high-level drug runner and smuggler, to DEA cooperating source working major international cases. Along the way, he offers rare, first-hand insight into how large-scale drug operations actually worked during the height of the War on Drugs—and why that war, in his view, has largely failed. From Smuggler to Source Behr describes growing up during the explosion of the drug trade in South Florida during the 1970s and 1980s, where smuggling marijuana and cocaine became almost commonplace. He explains how he moved from street-level dealing into large-scale logistics—off-loading planes, running covert runways in the Everglades, moving thousands of pounds of marijuana, and participating in international smuggling operations involving Canada, Jamaica, Colombia, and the Bahamas. After multiple arrests—including a serious RICO case that threatened him with decades in prison—Behr made the life-altering decision to cooperate with the DEA. What followed was a tense and dangerous double life as an undercover operative, helping law enforcement dismantle major trafficking networks while living under constant pressure and fear of exposure. Inside the Mechanics of the Drug Trade This episode goes deep into the nuts and bolts of organized drug trafficking, including: How clandestine runways were built and dismantled in minutes How aircraft were guided into unlit landing zones How smuggling crews were paid and organized Why most drug operations ultimately collapse from inside The role of asset seizures in federal drug enforcement Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. Transcript [00:00:00] well, hey, all your wire taps. It’s good to be back here in studio of Gangland Wire. I have a special guest today. He has a book called, uh, title is One Step Over the Line and, and he went several steps over the line, I think in his life. Ken Bearer, welcome Ken. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Now, Ken, Ken is a, was a marijuana smuggler at one time and, and ended up working with the DEA, so he went from one side over to my side and, and I always like to talk to you guys that that helped us in law enforcement and I, there’s a lot of guys that don’t like that out there, but I like you guys you were a huge help to us in law enforcement and ended up doing the right thing after you made a lot of money. So tell us about the money. We were just starting to talk about the money. Tell us about the money, all those millions and millions of dollars that you drug smuggler makes. What happens? Well, I, you know, like I said, um, Jimmy Buffett’s song a pirate looks at 40, basically, he says, I made enough money to to buy Miami and pissed it away all so fast, never meant to last. And, and that’s what happens. I do know a few people that have [00:01:00] put away money. One of my friends that we did a lot of money together, a lot of drug dealing and a lot of moving some product, and he’s put the money away. Got in bed with some other guy that was, you know, legal, bought a bunch of warehouses, and now he lives a great life, living off the money he put away. Yeah. If the rents and stuff, he, he got into real estate. Other guys have got into real estate and they got out and they ended up doing okay. ’cause now they’re drawing all those rents. That’s a good way to money. Exactly what he did. Uh, my favorite, I was telling you a favorite story of mine was the guy that was a small time dealer used to hang out at the beach. And, uh, we en he ended up saving $80,000, which was a lot of money back then. Yeah. And then put it all, went to school to be a culinary chef and then got a job at the Marriott as a culinary chef and a chef. So he, you know, he really took the money, made a little bit of money, didn’t make a lot Yeah. But made enough to go to school and do something with his life. That’s so, um, that’s a great one. That’s a good one [00:02:00] there. That’s real. Yeah. But he wasn’t a big time guy. Yeah. You know what, what happens is you might make a big lick. You know, I, I never made million dollar moves. I have lots of friends that did. I always said I didn’t want to be a smuggler. ’cause I was making a steady living, being a drug runner. If you brought in 40, 50,000 pounds of weed, you would come to me and then I would move it across the country and sell it in different, along with other guys like me. Having said that, so I say I’m a guy that never wanted to do a smuggling trip. I’ve done 12 of them. Yeah. Even though, you know, and you know, if you’ve been in the DEA side twelve’s a lot for somebody usually. Yeah. That’s a lot. They don’t make, there’s no longevity. Two or three trips. No. You know, I did it for 20 years. Yeah. And then finally I got busted one time in Massachusetts in 1988. We had 40,000 pounds stuck up in Canada. So a friend of mine comes to me, another friend had the 40,000 pounds up there. He couldn’t sell it. He goes, Hey, you wanna help me smuggle [00:03:00] this back into America? Which, you know, is going the wrong direction. The farther north it goes, the more money it’s worth. I would’ve taken it to Greenland for Christ’s sakes. Yeah. But, we smuggled it back in. What we did this time was obviously they, they brought a freighter or a big ship to bring the 40,000 pounds into Canada. Mm-hmm. He added, stuffed in a fish a fish packing plant in a freezer somewhere up there. And so we used the sea plane and we flew from a lake in Canada to a lake in Maine where the plane would pull up, I’d unload. Then stash it. And we really did like to get 1400 pounds. We had to go through like six or seven trips. ’cause the plane would only hold 200 and something pounds. Yeah. And a sea plane can’t land at night. It has to land during the day. Yeah. You can’t land a plane in the middle of a lake in the night, I guess yourself. Yeah. I see. Uh, and so we got, I got busted moving that load to another market and that cost, uh, [00:04:00] cost me about $80,000 in two years of fighting in court to get out of that. Yeah. Uh, but I did beat the case for illegal search and seizure. So one for the good guys. It wasn’t for the good guys. Well the constitution, he pulled me over looking for fireworks and, ’cause it was 4th of July and, yeah. The name of that chapter in the book is why I never work on a holiday. So you don’t wanna spend your holiday in jail ’cause there’s no, you can’t on your birthday. So another, the second time I got busted was in 92. So just a couple years later after, basically I was in the system for two years with the loss, you know, fighting it and that, that was for Rico. I was looking at 25 years. But, uh, but like a normal smuggling trip. I’ll tell you one, we did, I brought, I actually did my first smuggling trip. I was on the run in Jamaica from a, a case that I got named in and I was like 19 living down in Jamaica to cool out. And then my buddies came down. So we ended up bringing out 600 pounds. So that was my first tr I was about 19 or [00:05:00] 20 years old when I did my first trip. I brought out 600 pounds outta Jamaica. A friend of mine had a little Navajo and we flew it out with that, but. I’ll give you an example of a smuggling trip. So a friend of mine came to me and he wanted to load 300 kilos of Coke in Columbia and bring it into America. And he wanted to know if I knew anybody that could load him 300 kilos. So I did. I introduced him to a friend of mine that Ronnie Vest. He’s the only person you’ll appreciate this. Remember how he kept wanting to extradite all the, the guys from Columbia when we got busted, indict him? Yes. And of course, Escobar’s living in his own jail with his own exit. Yeah. You know, and yeah. So the Columbian government says, well, we want somebody, why don’t you extradite somebody to America, to Columbia? So Ronnie Vest had gotten caught bringing a load of weed outta Columbia. You know, they sent ’em back to America. So that colo, the Americans go, I’ll tell you what you want. Somebody. And Ronnie Vests got the first good friend of mine, first American to be [00:06:00] extradited to Columbia to serve time. So he did a couple years in the Columbian prison. And so he’s the one that had the cocaine connection now. ’cause he spent time in Columbia. Yeah. And you know, so we brought in 300 kilos of Coke. He actually, I didn’t load it. He got another load from somebody else. But, so in the middle of the night, you set up on a road to nowhere in the Everglades, there’s so many Floridas flat, you’ve got all these desolate areas. We go out there with four or five guys. We take, I have some of ’em here somewhere. Callum glow sticks. You know the, the, the glow sticks you break, uh, yeah. And some flashing lights throw ’em out there. Yeah. And we set up a, yeah, the pilot came in and we all laid in the woods waiting for the plane to come in. And as soon as the pilot clicks. The mic four times. It’s, we all click our mics four times and then we run out. He said to his copilot, he says, look, I mean, we lit up this road from the sky. He goes, it looks like MIA [00:07:00] behind the international airport. But it happens like that within a couple, like a minute, we’ll light that whole thing up. Me and one other guy run down the runway. It’s a lot, it’s a long run, believe me. We put out the lights, we gotta put out the center lights and then the marker lights, because you gotta have the center of the runway where the plane’s gonna land and the edge is where it can’t, right? Yeah. He pulls up, bring up a couple cars, I’m driving one of them, load the kilos in. And then we have to refuel the plane because you don’t, you know, you want to have enough fuel to get back to an FBO to your landing airport or real airport. Yeah. Not the one we made in the Everglades. Yeah. And then the trick is the car’s gotta get out of there. Yeah, before the plane takes off. ’cause when that plane takes off, you know you got a twin engine plane landing is quiet, taking off at full throttle’s gonna wake up the whole neighborhood. So once we got out of there, then they went ahead and got the plane off. And then the remaining guys, they gotta clean up the mess. We want to use this again. So we [00:08:00] wanna clean up all the wires, the radios. Mm-hmm. Pick up the fuel tanks, pick up the runway lights, and their job is to clean that off and all that’s gonna take place before the police even get down the main road. Right? Mm-hmm. That’s gonna all take place in less than 10 minutes. Wow. I mean, the offload takes, the offload takes, you can offload about a thousand pounds, which I’ve done in three minutes. Wow. But, and then refueling the plane, getting everything else cleaned up. Takes longer. Yeah. Interesting. So how many guys would, would be on that operation and how do you pay that? How do you decide who gets paid what? How much? Okay. So get it up front or, I always curious about the details, how that stuff, I don’t think I got paid enough. And I’ll be honest, it was a hell of a chance. I got 20 grand looking at 15 years if you get caught. Yeah. But I did it for the excitement. 20 grand wasn’t that much. I had my own gig making more money than that Uhhuh, you know, but I was also racing cars. I was, there’s a [00:09:00] picture of one of my race cars. Oh cool. So that costs about six, 7,000 a weekend. Yeah. And remember I’m talking about 1980s dollars. Yeah. That’s 20,000 a weekend. A weekend, yes. Yeah. And that 20,000 for a night’s work in today’s world would be 60. Yeah. Three. And I’m talking about 1985 versus, that was 40 years ago. Yeah. Um. But it’s a lot of fun and, uh, and, but it, you kind of say to yourself, what was that one step over the line? That’s why I wrote the book. I remember as a kid thinking in my twenties, man, I’ve taken one step over the line. So the full name of the book is One Step Over the Line Con Confessions of a Marijuana Mercenary. That’s me actually working for the DEA. That picture was at the time when I was working for the DEA, so the second time I got busted in 1992 was actually for the smallest amount of weed that I ever got, ever really had. It was like 80, a hundred pounds. But unfortunately it was for Rico. I didn’t know at the [00:10:00] time, but when they arrested me, I thought, oh, they only caught me with a hundred pounds. But I got charged with Rico. So I was looking at 25 years. What, how, what? Did they have some other, it must have had some other offenses that they could tie to and maybe guns and stuff or something that get that gun. No, we never used guns ever. Just other, other smuggling operations. Yeah, yeah. Me, me and my high school friend, he had moved to Ohio in 77 or 78, so he had called me one time, he was working at the Ford plant and he goes, Hey, I think I could sell some weed up here. All right. I said, come on down, I’ll give you a couple pounds. So he drives down from Ohio on his weekend off, all the way from Ohio. I gave him two pounds. He drove home, calls me back. He goes, I sold it. So I go, all right. He goes, I’m gonna get some more. So at that time, I was working for one of the largest marijuana smugglers in US History. His name was Donny Steinberg. I was just a kid, you know, like my job, part of my [00:11:00] job was to, they would gimme a Learjet. About a million or two and I jump on a Learjet and fly to the Cayman Islands. I was like 19 years old. Same time, you know, kid. Yeah, just a kid. 19 or 20 and yeah. 18, I think. And so I ended up doing that a few times. That was a lot of fun. And that’s nice to be a kid in the Learjet and they give me a million or two and they gimme a thousand dollars for the day’s work. I thought I was rich, I was, but people gotta understand that’s in that 78 money, not that’s, yeah. That was more like $10,000 for day, I guess. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It was a lot of money for an 18, 19-year-old kid. Yeah. Donnie gives me a bail. So Terry comes back from Ohio, we shoved the bale into his car. Barely would fit ’cause he had no big trunk on this Firebird. He had, he had a Firebird trans Am with the thunder black with a thunder, thunder chicken on the hood. It was on the hood. Oh cool. That was, that was a catch meow back then. Yeah. Yeah. It got it with that [00:12:00] Ford plant money. And uh, by the way, that was after that 50 pounds got up. ’cause every bail’s about 50 pounds. That’s the last he quit forward the next day. I bet. And me and him had built a 12 year, we were moving. Probably 50 tons up there over the 12 year period. You know, probably, I don’t know, anywhere from 50 to a hundred thousand pounds we would have, he must have been setting up other dealers. So among his friends, he must have been running around. He had the distribution, I was setting up the distribution network and you had the supply. I see. Yeah. I was the Florida connection. It’s every time you get busted, the cops always wanna grab that Florida connection. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You gotta go down there. I there, lemme tell you, you know, I got into this. We were living in, I was born on a farm in New Jersey, like in know Norman Rockwell, 1950s, cow pies and hay bales. And then we moved to New Orleans in 1969 and then where my dad had business and right after, not sure after that, he died when I was 13. As I say in the book, I [00:13:00] probably wouldn’t have been writing the book if my father was alive. Yeah. ’cause I probably wouldn’t have went down that road, you know? But so my mother decides in 1973 to move us to, uh, south Florida, to get away from the drugs in the CD underside of New Orleans. Yeah. I guess she didn’t read the papers. No. So I moved from New Orleans to the star, the war on where the war on drugs would start. I always say if she’d have moved me to Palo Alto, I’d be Bill Gates, but No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was so, uh, and everybody I knew was running drugs, smuggling drugs, trying to be a drug deal. I mean, I was, I had my own operation. I was upper middle level, but there were guys like me everywhere. Mm-hmm. There were guys like me everywhere, moving a thou, I mean, moving a thousand, 2000 pounds at the time was a big thing, you know? That’s, yeah. So, so about what year was that? I started in 19. 70. Okay. Three. I was [00:14:00] 16. Started selling drugs outta my mom’s house, me and my brother. We had a very good business going. And by the time I was got busted, it was 19 92. So, so you watched, especially in South Florida, you watched like where that plane could go down and go back up that at eventually the feds will come up with radar and they have blimps and they have big Bertha stuff down there to then catch those kinds of things. Yeah. Right, right. Big Bertha was the blimp. Uhhuh, uh, they put up, yeah. In the beginning you could just fly right in. We did one trip one time. This is this, my, my buddy picked up, I don’t know, 40 or 50 kilos in The Bahamas. So you fly into Fort Lauderdale and you call in like you’re gonna do a normal landing. Mm-hmm. And the BLI there. This is all 1980s, five. You know, they already know. They’re doing this, but you just call in, like you’re coming to land in Fort Lauderdale, and what you do is right before you land, you hit the tower up and you tell ’em you wanna do a [00:15:00] go around, meaning you’re not comfortable with the landing. Mm-hmm. Well, they’ll always leave you a go around because they don’t want you to crash. Yeah. And right west of the airport was a golf course, and right next to the golf course, oh, about a mile down the road was my townhouse. So we’re in the townhouse. My buddies all put on, two of the guys, put on black, get big knives, gear, and I drive to one road on the golf course and my other friend grows Dr. We drop the guys off in the golf course as the plane’s gonna do the touchdown at the airport. He says, I gotta go around. As he’s pulling up now, he’s 200 feet below the radar, just opens up the side of the plane. Mm-hmm. The kickers, we call ’em, they’re called kickers. He kicks the baskets, the ba and the guys on, on the golf court. They’re hugging trees. Yeah. You don’t wanna be under that thing. Right. You got a 200, you got maybe a 40 pound package coming in at 120 miles an hour from 200 feet up. It’ll break the bra. It’ll yeah. The [00:16:00] branches will kill you. Yeah. So they pull up, they get out, I pull back up in the pickup truck, he runs out, jumps in the back of the truck, yells, hit it. We drive the mile through the back roads to my townhouse. Get the coke in the house. My buddy rips it open with a knife. It’s and pulls out some blow. And he looks at me, he goes, Hey, let’s get outta here. And I go, where are we going? Cops come and he goes, ah, I got two tickets. No, four tickets to the Eddie Murphy concert. So we left the blow in this trunk of his car. Oh. Oh, oh man. I know. We went to Eddie Murphy about a million dollars worth of product in the trunk. Oh. And, uh, saw a great show and came back and off they went. That’s what I’m trying to point out is that’s how fast it goes down, man. It’s to do. Yeah. Right in, in 30 minutes. We got it out. Now the thing about drug deals is we always call ’em dds delayed dope deals because the smuggling [00:17:00] trip could take six months to plan. Yeah. You know, they never go, there’s no organized crime in organized crime. Yeah. No organization did it. Yeah. And then, then of course, in 1992 when I got busted and was looking at Rico, a friend of mine came up to me. He was a yacht broker. He had gotten in trouble selling a boat, and he said, Hey, I’d you like to work for the DEA. I’d done three months in jail. I knew I was looking at time, I knew I had nothing. My lawyers told me, Kenny, you either figure something out or you’re going to jail for a mm-hmm. And I just had a newborn baby. I just got married three weeks earlier and we had a newborn baby. I said, what are you crazy? I mean, I’m waiting for my wife to hear me. You know, he’s calling me on the phone. He goes, meet me for lunch. I go meet him for lunch. And he explains to me that he’s gonna, he’s got a guy in the, uh, central district in Jacksonville, and he’s a DEA agent, and I should go talk to him. And so the DEA made a deal with the Ohio police that anything that I [00:18:00] confiscated, anything that I did, any assets I got, they would get a share in as long as they released me. Yeah. To them. And, you know, it’s all about the, I hate to say this, I’m not saying that you don’t want to take drugs off the street, but if you’re the police department and you’re an agent, it’s about asset seizures. Yeah. Yeah. That’s how you fund the dr. The war on drugs. Yeah. The war begets war. You know, I mean, oh, I know, been Florida was, I understand here’s a deal. You’re like suing shit against the tide, right? Fighting that drug thing. Okay? It just keeps coming in. It keeps getting cheaper. It keeps getting more and more. You make a little lick now and then make a little lick now and then, but then you start seeing these fancy cars and all this money out there that you can get to. If you make the right score, you, you, you hit the right people, you can get a bunch of money, maybe two or three really cool cars for your unit. So then you’ll start focusing on, go after the money. I know it’s not right, but you’re already losing your shoveling shit against the tide anyhow, so just go after the goal. [00:19:00] One time I set up this hash deal for the DEA from Amsterdam. The guy brought the hash in, and I had my agent, you know, I, I didn’t set up the deal. The guy came to me and said, we have 200 kilos of hash. Can you help us sell it? He didn’t know that I was working for the DEA, he was from Europe. And I said, sure. The, the thing was, I, so in the boat ready to close the deal, now my guy is from Central. I’m in I’m in Fort Lauderdale, which is Southern District. So he goes, Hey, can you get that man to bring that sailboat up to Jacksonville? I go, buddy, he just sailed across the Atlantic. He ain’t going to Jacksonville. So the central district has to come down, or is a northern district? I can’t remember if it’s northern or central. Has to come down to the Southern district. So, you know, they gotta make phone calls. Everybody’s gotta be in Yep. Bump heads. So I’m on the boat and he calls me, he goes, Hey, we gotta act now. Yeah. And I’m looking at the mark, I go, why? He [00:20:00] goes, customs is on the dock. We don’t want them involved. So you got the two? Yeah. So I bring him up, I go, where’s the hash? He goes, it’s in the car. So we go up to the car and he opens the trunk, and I, I pull back one of the duffle bags I see. I can tell immediately it’s product. So I go like this, and all hell breaks loose, right? Yeah. I could see the two customs agents and they’re all dressed like hillbillies. They, you know. So I said to my, my handler, the next day I called them up to debrief. You know, I have to debrief after every year, everything. I goes, so what happened when customs I go, what’d they want to do? He goes, yep. They wanted to chop the boat in threes. So they’re gonna sell the boat and the 2D EA offices are gonna trade it. Yeah. Are gonna shop the money. Yeah. I remember when I registered with the DEA in, in, in the Southern district, I had to tell ’em who I was. They go, why are you working for him? Why aren’t you working for us? I’m like, buddy, I’m not in charge here. This is, you know? Yeah. I heard that many [00:21:00] times through different cases we did, where the, the local cop would say to me, why don’t you come work for us? Oh yeah. Try to steal your informant. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So how about that? So, can you get a piece of the action if they had a big case seizure? Yeah. Did they have some deal where you’d get a piece of that action there? Yep. That’s a pretty good deal. Yeah. So I would get, I, I’d get, like, if we brought down, he would always tell everybody that he needed money to buy electronics and then he would come to me and go, here’s 2000. And to the other cis, he had three guys. I saw a friend of mine, the guy that got me into the deal. Them a million dollar house or a couple million dollar house. And I saw the DEA hand him a suitcase with a million dollars cash in it. Wow. I mean, I’m sorry, with a hundred thousand cash. A hundred thousand. Okay. I was gonna say, I was thinking a million. Well, a hundred thousand. Yeah, a hundred thousand. I’ve heard that. I just didn’t have any experience with it myself. But I heard that. I saw, saw Open it up, saw money. I saw the money. It was one of those aluminum halla, Halliburton reef cases and Yeah, yeah. A [00:22:00] hundred thousand cash. But, uh, but you know, um, it’s funny, somebody once asked me out of, as a kid I wanted to be a cowboy, a race car driver, and a secret agent. Me too. Yes. Yeah. I didn’t want, I wanted to be a, I grew up on a farm, so I kind of rode a horse. I had that watched Rowdy, you got saved background as me, man. Yeah. You know, we watched, we watched, we grew up on westerns. We watched Gun Smoke, rowdy. Oh yeah. You know, uh, bananas, uh, you know, so, um. So anyway, uh, I got to raise cars with my drug money, and I guess I’m not sure if I was more of a secret agent working as a drug dealer or as the DEA, but it’s a lot of I, you know, I make jokes about it now, but it’s a lot of stress working undercover. Oh, yeah. Oh, I can’t even imagine that. I never worked undercover. I, that was not my thing. I like surveillance and putting pieces together and running sources, but man, that actual working undercover that’s gotta be nerve wracking. It’s, you know, and, and my handler was good at it, but [00:23:00] he would step out and let, here’s, I’ll tell you this. One day he calls me up and he goes, Hey, I’m down here in Fort Lauderdale. You need to come down here right now. And I’m having dinner at my house about 15 minutes away. Now he lives in Jacksonville. I go, what’s he doing in Fort Lauderdale? So I drive down to the hotel and he’s got a legal pad and a pen. He goes, my, uh, my, my seniors want to, uh, want you to proffer. You need to tell me everything you ever did. And they want me to do a proffer. And I go, I looked at him. I go, John, I can’t do that. He start, we start writing. I start telling him stuff. I stop. I go, I grew up in this town. Everybody I know I did a drug deal with from high school, I go, I would be giving you every single kid, every family, man, I grew up here. My, I’m gonna be in jail, and my wife and my one and a half year old daughter are gonna be the only people left in this town, and they’re not gonna have any support. And I just can’t do this to all my friends. Yeah. So he says, all right, puts the pen down. I knew [00:24:00] he hated paperwork, so I had a good shot. He wasn’t gonna, he goes, yeah, you hungry? I go, yeah. He goes, let’s go get a steak. And right across the street was a place called Chuck Steakhouse, which great little steak restaurant. All right. So we go over there, he goes, and he is a big guy. He goes, sit right here. I go, all right. So I sit down. I, I’m getting a free steak. I’m gonna sit about through the steak dinner, it goes. Look over my shoulder. So I do this. He goes, see the guy at the bar in the black leather jacket. I go, yeah. He goes, when I get up and walk outta here, when I clear the door, I want you to go up to him and find a talk drug deal. See what you can get out of him. I go, you want me to walk up to a complete stranger and say, he goes, I’m gonna walk out the door. When I get out the door. You’re gonna go up and say, cap Captain Bobby. That was his, he was a ca a boat captain and his nickname, his handle was Captain Bobby. And he was theoretically the next Vietnam vet that now is a smuggler, you know?[00:25:00] Yeah. And so he walks out the door and I walked out and sat with the guy at the bar and we started, I said, hi, captain Bobby sent me, I’m his right hand man, you know, to talk about. And we talked and I looked around the bar trying to see if anybody was with him. And I’m figuring, now I’m looking at the guy going, why is he so open with me? And I’m thinking, you know what? He’s wearing a leather jacket. He’s in Florida. I bet you he’s got a wire on and he’s working for customs and I’m working for the DEA, so nothing ever came of it. But you know, that was, you know, you’re sitting there eating dinner and all of a sudden, you know, look over my shoulder. Yeah. And, you know, and I’m trying to balance all that with having a newborn that’s about a year old and my wife and Yeah. Looking at 25 years. So a little bit of pressure. But, you know, hey and I understand these federal agencies, everybody’s got, everybody is, uh, uh, aggressive. Everybody is ambitious. And you just are this guy in the middle and right. And they’ll throw you to the [00:26:00] wolves in a second. Second, what have you done for a second? Right? It’s what have you done for me lately? He’s calling me up and said, Hey, I don’t got any product from you in a minute. I go, well, I’m working on it. He goes, well, you know, they’ll kick you outta the program. Yeah. But one of the things he did he was one of, he was the GS 13. So he had some, you know, he had level, you know, level 15 or whatever, you know, he was, yeah. Almost at the head of near retirement too. And he said, look, he had me, he had another guy that was a superstar, another guy. And we would work as a team and he would feed us all the leads. In other words, if David had a case, I’d be on that case. So when I went to go to go to trial or go to my final, he had 14 or 15 different things that he had penciled me in to be involved with. The biggest deal we did at the end of my two years with the DEA was we brought down the Canadian mob. They got him for 10,000 kilos of cocaine, import 10,000 kilos. It was the Hell’s Angels, the Rock something, motorcycle [00:27:00] gang, the Italian Mafia and the, and the Irish mob. Mm-hmm. And the guy, I mean, this is some badass guys. I was just a player, but. The state of Ohio, they got to fly up there and you know, I mean, no words, the dog and pony show was always on to give everybody, you know. Yes. A bite at the apple. Oh yeah. But I’ll tell you this, it’s been 33 years and the two people that I’m close to is my arresting officer in Ohio and my DEA handler in Jacksonville. The arresting officer, when he retired, he called to gimme his new cell phone. And every year or so I call him up around Christmas and say, Dennis, thank you for the opportunity to turn my life around, because I’ve got four great kids. I’ve started businesses, you know, he knows what I’ve done with my life. And the DEA handler, that’s, he’s a friend of mine. I mean, you know, we talk all the time and check on each other. And, you know, I mean, he’s, [00:28:00] they’re my friends. A lot of, not too many of the guys are left from those days that will talk to me. Yeah, probably not. And most of them are dead or in jail anyhow. For, well, a lot of ’em are, maybe not even because of you, I mean, because that’s their life. No, but a lot of them, a number of ’em turned their lives around, went into legal businesses and have done well. Yeah. So, you know, there really have, so not all of ’em, but a good share of ’em have turned, because we weren’t middle class kids. We were, my one friend was, dad was the lieutenant of the police department. The other one was the post guy. We weren’t inner city kids. Yeah. We weren’t meeting we, the drug war landed on us and we just, we were recruited into it. As young as I talk about in my book. But I mean, let’s talk about what’s going on now. Now. Yeah. And listen, I’m gonna put some statistics out there. Last year, 250,000 people were charged with cannabis. 92% for simple possession. There’s [00:29:00] people still in jail for marijuana doing life sentences. I’ve had friends do 27 years only for marijuana. No nonviolent crimes, first time offender. 22 years, 10 years. And the government is, I’ve been involved with things where the government was smuggling the drugs. I mean, go with the Iran Contra scandal that happened. We were trading guns for cocaine with the Nicaraguans in the Sandon Easterns. Yeah. Those same pilots. Gene Hassen Fus flew for Air America and Vietnam moving drugs and gun and, and guns out of Cambodia. Same guy. Air America. Yeah. The American government gave their soldiers opium in Civil War to keep ’em marching. You know, I mean, we did a deal with Lucky Luciano, where we let ’em out of prison for doing heroin exchange for Intel from, from Europe on during World War II and his, and the mob watching the docks for the, uh, cargo ships. So the government’s been intertwined in the war on drugs on two [00:30:00] sides of it. Yeah. You know, and not that it makes it right. Look, I’ve lost several friends to fentanyl that thought they were doing coke and did fentanyl or didn’t even know there was any. They just accidentally did fentanyl and it’s a horrible drug. But those boats coming out of Venezuela don’t have fentanyl on ’em. No. Get cocaine maybe. If that, and they might be, they’re probably going to Europe. Europe and they’re going to Europe. Yeah, they’re going, yeah. They’re doubt they’re going to Europe. Yeah. Yeah. And so let’s put it this way. I got busted for running a 12 year ongoing criminal enterprise. We moved probably 50 tons of marijuana. You know what? Cut me down? One guy got busted with one pound and he turned in one other guy that went all the way up to us. So if you blew up those boats, you know, you’re, you need the leads. You, you can’t kill your clients. Yeah. You know, how are you gonna get, not gonna get any leads outta that. Well, that’s, uh, well, I’m just saying [00:31:00] you right. The, if they followed the boat to the mothership Yeah. They’d have the whole crew and all the cargo. Yeah. You know, it’s, those boats maybe have 200 kilos on ’em. A piece. Yeah. The mothership has six tons. Yeah. That’s it. It’s all about the, uh, the, um, uh, optics. Optics, yeah. That’s the word. It’s all about the optics and, and the politic, you know, in, in some way it may deter some people, but I don’t, I I, I’ve never seen anything, any consequence. In that drug business, there’s too much money. There is no consequence that is really ever gonna deter people from smuggling drugs. Let me put it this way, except for a few people like yourself, there’s a few like yourself that get to a certain age and the consequence of going to prison for a long time may, you know, may bring you around or the, all the risk you’re taking just, you know, you can’t take it anymore, but you gotta do something. But no, well, I got busted twice. Consequence just don’t matter. There is no consequence that’s gonna do anything. Here’s why. And you’re right. [00:32:00] One is how do you get in a race car and not think you’re gonna die? Because you always think it’s gonna happen to somebody else. Exactly. And the drug business is the same. It’s, I’m not, it’s not gonna happen to me tonight. And those guys in Venezuela, they have no electricity. They have no water. Yeah. They got nothing. They have a chance to go out and make a couple thousand dollars and change their family’s lives. Yeah. Or they’re being, they’re got family members in the gar, in the gangs that are forcing them to do it. Yeah. It’s the war on drugs has kind of been a political war and an optics war from the seventies. I mean, it’s nobody, listen, I always say, I say in my book, nobody loved it more than the cops, the lawyers and the politicians. No shit. In Fort Lauderdale, they had nothing, and all of a sudden the drug wars brought night scopes and cigarette boats and fancy cars and new offices. Yes. And new courthouses, and new jails and Yep. I don’t have an answer. Yeah. The problem is, [00:33:00] you know what I’m gonna say, America, Mexico doesn’t have a drug problem. Columbia doesn’t have a drug problem. No. America has a drug problem. Those are just way stations to get the product in. In the cover of my book, it says, you don’t sell drugs, you supply them like ammunition in a war. It’s a, people, we, how do we fix this? How do we get the American people? Oh, by the way, here’s a perfect example. Marijuana is legal in a majority of states. You don’t see anybody smuggling marijuana in, I actually heard two stories of people that are smuggling marijuana out of the country. I’ve heard that. I’ve heard that. Yeah. They’re growing so much marijuana in America that it’s worth shipping to other places, either legally or illegally. Yeah. And, and, and you know, the biggest problem is like, what they’ll do is they’ll set up dispensaries, with the green marijuana leaf on it, like it’s some health [00:34:00] dispensary. But they, they just won’t it’ll be off the books. It just won’t have the licensing and all that. And, you know, you run that for a while and then maybe you get caught, maybe you don’t. And so it’s, you know, it’s, well, the other thing is with that dispensary license. It’s highly regulated, but you can get a lot of stuff in the gray. So there’s three markets now. There’s the white market, which is the legal Yeah. Business that, you know, you can buy stocks in the companies and whatnot. Yeah. There’s the black market, which is the guy on the street that Kenny Bear used to be. And then there’s the gray market where people are taking black market product and funneling it through the white markets without intact, you know, the taxes and the licensing and the, the, uh, testing for, you know, you have to test marijuana for pesticides. Metals, yeah. And, and the oils and the derivatives. You know, there’s oil and there’s all these derivatives. They have to be tested. Well, you could slide it through the gray market into the white market. So I know it’s a addiction, you know, whether it’s gambling or sex or Right. Or [00:35:00] there’s always gonna be people who are gonna take advantage and make money off of addiction. The mafia, you know, they refined it during the prohibition. All these people that drink, you know, and a lot, admittedly, a lot of ’em are social drinkers, but awful lot of ’em work. They had to have it. And so, you know, then gambling addiction. And that’s, uh, well here’s what I say. If it wasn’t for Prohibition Vegas, the mob never would’ve had the power and the money to build Vegas. No, they wouldn’t have anything. So when you outlaw something that people want, you’re creating a, a business. If, if somebody, somebody said the other day, if you made all the drugs legal in America, would that put out, put the drug cartels in Mexico and Columbia and out of business? Yeah, maybe. How about this statistic? About 20 to 30,000 people a year die from cocaine overdose. Most have a medical condition. Unknown unbe, besides, they’re not ODing on cocaine. Yeah. Alright. 300,000 people a year die from obesity. Yeah. And [00:36:00] another, almost four, I think 700, I don’t know, I might be about to say a half a million die from alcohol and tobacco. Mm-hmm. I could be low on that figure. So you’re, you probably are low. Yeah. I could be way more than that. But on my point is we’re regulating alcohol, tobacco, and certainly don’t care how much food you eat, and why don’t we have a medical system that takes care of these people. I don’t know that the answer if I did, but I’m just saying it, making this stuff more valuable and making bigger crime syndicates doesn’t make sense. Yeah. See a addiction is such a psychological, spiritual. Physical maldy that people can’t really separate the three and they don’t, people that, that aren’t involved and then getting some kind of recovery, they can’t understand why somebody would go back and do it again after they maybe were clean for a while. You know, that’s a big common problem with putting money into the treatment center [00:37:00] business. Yep. Because people do go to treatment two and three times and, and maybe they never get, some people never, they’ll chase it to death. No, and I can’t explain it. And you know, I, I’ll tell you what, I have my own little podcast. It’s called One Step Over the Line. Mm-hmm. And I released a show last night about a friend of mine, his name is Ron Black. You can watch it or any of your listeners can watch it, and Ron was, went down to the depths of addiction, but he did it a long time ago when they really spent a lot of time and energy to get, you know, they really put him through his system. 18 months, Ron got out clean and he came from a good family. He was raised right. He didn’t, you know, he had some trauma in his life. He had some severe trauma as a child, but he built one of the largest addiction. He has a company that he’s, he ran drug counseling services. He’s been in the space 20 or 30 years, giving back. He has a company that trains counselors to be addiction specialists. He has classes for addiction counseling. He become certified [00:38:00] members. He’s run drug rehabs. He donates to the, you know, you gotta wa if you get a chance to go to my podcast, one step over the line and, and watch this episode we did last night. Probably not the most exciting, you know, like my stories. Yeah. But Ronnie really did go through the entire addiction process from losing everything. Yeah. And pulling himself out. But he was also had a lot of family. You know, he had the right steps. A lot of these kids I was in jail with. Black and brown, inter or inner city youth, whatever, you know, their national, you know, race or nationality, they don’t have a chance. Yeah. They’re in jail with their fathers, their cousins, their brothers. Mm-hmm. The law, the war on drugs, and the laws on drugs specifically affect them. And are they, I remember thinking, is this kid safer in this jail with a cement roof over his head? A, a hot three hot meals and a bed than being back on the [00:39:00] streets? Yeah. He was, I mean. Need to, I used to do a program working with, uh, relatives of addicts. And so this mother was really worried about her son gonna go to jail next time he went to court. And he, she had told me enough about him by then. I said, you know, ma’am, I just wanna tell you something he’s safer doing about a year or so in jail than he is doing a year or so on the streets. Yeah. And she said, she just looked at me and she said, you know, you’re right. You’re right. So she quit worried about and trying to get money and trying to help him out because she was just, she was killing him, getting him out and putting him back on the streets. This kid was gonna die one way or the other, either shot or overdosed or whatever. But I’ll tell you another story. My best friend growing up in New Orleans was Frankie Monteleone. They owned the Monte Hotel. They own the family was worth, the ho half a billion dollars at the time, maybe. And Frankie was a, a diabetic. And he was a, a junk. He was a a because of the diabetic needles. [00:40:00] He kind of became a cocaine junkie, you know, shooting up coke. You know, I guess the needle that kept him alive was, you know, I, you know, again the addict mentality. Right, right. You can’t explain it. So he got, so he got busted trying to sell a couple grams. They made it into a bigger case by mentioning more product conspiracy. His father said, got a, the, the father made a deal to give him a year and a half in club Fed. Yeah. He could, you know, get a tan, practice his tennis, learn chess come out and be the heir to one of the richest families in the world, all right. He got a year and a half. Frankie did 10 years in prison. ’cause every time he got out, he got violated. Oh yeah. I remember going to his federal probation officer to get my bicycle. He was riding when he got violated. Mm-hmm. And I said, I said, sir, he was in a big building in Fort Lauderdale or you know, courthouse office building above the courthouse. I go, there’s so many cops, lawyers, [00:41:00] judges, that are doing blow on a Saturday night that are smoking pot, that are drinking more than they should all around us. You’ve got a kid that comes from one of the wealthiest families in America that’s never gonna hurt another citizen. He’s just, he’s an addict, not a criminal. He needs a doctor, not a jail. And you know what the guy said to me? He goes but those people aren’t on probation. I, I know. He did. 10 years in and out of prison. Finally got out, finally got off of paper, didn’t stop doing drugs. Ended up dying in a dentist chair of an overdose. Yeah. So you, you never fixed them, you just imprisoned somebody that would’ve never heard another American. Yeah, but we spent, it cost us a lot of money. You know, I, I, I dunno what the answer is. The war on drugs is, we spent over, we spent 80, let’s say since 1973. The, the DEA got started in 73, let’s say. Since that time we’ve, what’s that? 70 something years? Yeah. We’ve done [00:42:00] no, uh, 50, 60. Yeah. 50 something. Yeah. Been 50. We spent a trillion dollars. We spent a trillion dollars. The longest and most expensive war in American history is against its own people. Yeah. Trying to save ’em. I know it’s cra it’s crazy. Yeah, I know. And it, over the years, it just took on this life of its own. Yeah. And believe me, there was a, there’s a whole lot of young guys like you only, didn’t go down the drug path, but you like that action and you like getting those cool cars and doing that cool stuff and, and there’s TV shows about it as part of the culture. And so you’re like, you got this part of this big action thing that’s going on that I, you know, it ain’t right. I, I bigger than all of us. I don’t know. I know. All I like to say I had long hair and some New Orleans old man said to me when I was a kid, he goes, you know why you got that long hair boy? And this is 1969. Yeah, 70. I go, why is that [00:43:00] sir? He goes, ’cause the girls like it. The girls didn’t like it. You wouldn’t have it. I thought about it. I’m trying to be a hippie. I was all this, you know, rebel. I thought about it. I go, boy, he’s probably right. Comes down to sex. Especially a young boy. Well, I mean, I’m 15 years old. I may not even how you look. Yeah. I’m not, listen, at 15, I probably was only getting a second base on a whim, you know? Yeah. But, but they paid attention to you. Yeah. Back in those days you, you know, second base was a lot. Yeah. Really. I remember. Sure. Not as, not as advanced as they are today. I don’t think so. But anyway, that’s my story. Um, all right, Ken b this has been fun. It’s been great. I I really had a lot of fun talking to you. And the book is 1, 1, 1 took over the line. No one, no, no. That’s a Friday slip. One step over that. But that was what I came up with the name. I, I believe you, I heard that song. Yeah. I go, I know, I’m, I’ve just taken one step over the line. So that’s where the book actually one step over the line confessions of a marijuana mercenary. [00:44:00] And I’ll tell you, if your listeners go to my website, one step over the line.com, go to the tile that says MP three or the tile that says digital on that website. Put in the code one, the number one step, and then the number 100. So one step 100, they can get a free, they can download a free copy. Yeah, I got you. Okay. Okay. I appreciate it. That’d be good. Yeah, they’ll enjoy it. Yeah. And on the website there’s pictures of the boats, the planes. Yeah. The runways the weed the, all the pictures are there, family pictures, whatever. Well, you had a, uh, a magical, quite a life, the kinda life that they, people make movies about and everybody watches them and says, oh, wow, that’s really cool. But they didn’t have to do it. They didn’t have to pay that price. No. Most of the people think, the funny thing is a lot of people think I’m, I’m, I’m lying or I’m exaggerating. Yeah. I’m 68 years old. Yeah. There’s no reason for me to lie. And you know, the DEA is, I’m telling that. I’m just telling it the way it [00:45:00] happened. I have no reason to tell Phish stories at this point in my life. No, I believe it. No, no, no. It’s all true. All I’ve been, I’ve been around to a little bit. I, I could just talk to you and know that you’re telling the truth here I am. So, it’s, it’s a great story and Ken, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you for having me. It’s been a very much a, it is been a real pleasure. It’s, it’s nice to talk to someone that knows both sides of the coin. Okay. Take care. Uh, thanks again. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

(00:00-22:06) Joined by Greg Amsinger of the MLB Network. Heading to St. Louis on Wednesday. Talking Chaim Bloom and the need to focus on starting pitching. Nolan Arenado getting moved. Alex Bregman to the Cubs. Wanting to believe in the idea that Bloom and Marmol have something special here. Lindenwood athletics. Heading towards a work stoppage? Rob Manfred and the players. The Cardinals TV situation.(22:14-48:25) Lix isn't on but Shrewsbury Seminary Student is on hold with questions about drops. Whoa, new cat, take it easy. Nobody cares about your parlay. Save us, Mr. Lix. Uh oh, Lix lost his spot reading. Talking PGA vs. LIV. No one pivots like Tim. Jackson explains majority rules to Lix. American Fraudster. Audio of Nevin Shapiro and he sounds intense. The Hoosiers vs. Nicaraguans. We're hot pink, mister. Cuban sandwiches. A soppings elitist.(48:35-1:03:44) Tupac night at Camden Yards. Celebrating the ten year anniversary of the Rams leaving St. Louis. Stan Kroenke in litigation with the city of Inglewood. Hunting for PAWGs. Velvet monkeys running around St. Louis. Vervet, not velvet, Doug.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Tuesday, January 13th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Kevin Swanson Venezuelan authorities release 800 pastors and others from prison Over 800 pastors and other so-called political prisoners were released from Venezuelan jails over the weekend.  Psalm 68:1-3 declares, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered. Let those also who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.” 3 pastors released from Nicaraguan prisons And, also, at least three pastors have been released from Nicaraguan prisons. That includes Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas, the founder of La Roca de Nicaragua Church Association, his sister, two brothers-in-law, a member of the church worship team and a family friend. They were part of a block of 20 political prisoners released over the weekend, reports Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Noteworthy however was this: Another pastor, serving 23 years on false charges, was not among those released. Efrén Antonio Vílchez López was arrested when he condemned the government's treatment of protesters in 2018. 540 protestors killed by Iranian authorities The body count is ratcheting up in the anti-government protests continuing across Iran. As of Monday, at least 540 people have died, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.  The protests have hit 585 locations across the country in 186 cities located in 31 provinces. These casualties rival the Black Friday revolution of 1978 in Iran where at least 500 died in the turmoil. Iranian government blocks satellite signals into country Today marks the fourth day of government shutdown of the internet across Iran — including a military grade level block of Elon Musk's Starlink system. The SpaceX organization has received authorization to double the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to 15,000. Already, Starlink commands 66% of active satellites orbiting Earth. Bible sales up in United Kingdom This in from the United Kingdom. Premier Christian News announced that Bible sales have doubled since 2019, with a 28% surge in just the last year.  Sam Richardson, CEO of the Christian publisher SPCK Group, explained that “[The Bible sales] are evidence of a significant cultural shift regarding matters of faith and religion in this country.” Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” Trump wants Greenland President Donald Trump is serious about including Greenland under American holdings. He announced that “We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not. I would like to make a deal.  … If we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way." The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederickson, responded over the weekend. He said this would mean the collapse of NATO.  Trump vs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell The battle between the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve Board has heated up.   The Trump Justice Department has issued grand jury summons and threatened Chairman Jerome Powell with a criminal indictment relating to the scope of the Fed's ongoing renovation project.   Mr. Powell published a video over the weekend on the matter: In his words, “This [legal proceeding] is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.” POWELL: “This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress's oversight role. The Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public.” Supreme Court examines transgender issue The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today on whether states should be able to ban men, pretending to be women, from participating in female sports. The Idaho and West Virginia laws under scrutiny are concerned with regulating public school sports — not private school sports. The transgender lobby wants to apply Title IX to the matter.  Almost double Gen Zers converted to Christ vs. Millennials And finally, some good news on the Gen Z generation from Pew Research,  but only moderately so.   Pew Research has some recent numbers, comparing Gen Z with the Millennial group 10 years ago. Three percent of Millennials converted to Christianity and 5% of Gen Z'ers say the same thing. Plus, 31% of Millennials raised in the Christian faith left the faith. And 26% of Gen Z'ers raised in the Christian faith have left the faith. In addition, 42% of Millennials remain Christian while 41% of Gen Z'ers remain Christians. All that to say -- the bloodletting in the generational faith retrograde continues, but there has been a slight correction for the youngest adult population. Close And that's The Worldview on this Tuesday, January 13th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

New year. Same rules: we don’t do a Top 10. We barely do a Top 5.We do a Top 3 because we’re grown and tired. In Part 1 of our “Bourbons of the Year” special, Fingers Malloy lays out his list — built on one sacred principle: keep it under $50… because we live in a world where “affordability crisis” is a real phrase people say with a straight face. We’re also smoking an all-time favorite: Oliva Master Blends 3 (Churchill, 7x50) — Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder/filler — and breaking down the flavors (with the official Eat Drink Smoke Notebook Method). Fingers’ Top 3 (Under $50): #3: Kirkland Bottled-in-Bond (Costco) — $27 #2: 2XO American Oak — $49 #1: Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye — $35 Tony also explains why he’s still mad at Vegas… even though he can’t wait to go back. Part 2 drops next: Tony’s Top 3. Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media! X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcast The Podcast is Free! Click Below! Apple PodcastsAmazon MusicStitcher SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Tuesday, December 30th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Kevin Swanson Trump bombed Nigerian ISIS camps It was a first in United States history. President Donald Trump authorized US military action against ISIS-linked camps in northwestern Nigeria for the purposes of defending Christians who have been the brunt of a genocide that's taken place over the last decade. At least two camps, run by the Muslim terrorists, were hit by 18 precision missiles last Thursday on Christmas Day, reports The Guardian. Nicaragua banned Bibles Nicaragua has banned Bibles at the border.  Tourists may not carry Bibles in any form into the country, according to new regulations. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that the list of forbidden items now includes Bibles, newspapers, magazines, books of any kind, drones and cameras. The Nicaraguan government has also shut down 1,300 religious organizations since April 2018. Repression has picked up since the 2021 election when Daniel Ortega was elected for a fourth consecutive term in office.  Leading opposition candidates were jailed before the sham election.   Nicaragua has the fourth worst economy in South America, just above Cuba, Venezuela, and Haiti. Scottish pro-life grandmother arrested outside abortion mill A 75-year-old grandmother is the first to be arrested in Scotland for coming within 656 feet of an abortion mill. This comes after an anti-protesting law was passed last year.   The Times reported that Rose Docherty was holding a sign that simply stated: “Coercion is a crime. Here to talk, only if you want.” In John 3:20, Jesus said, “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” Puerto Rico recognizes pre-born baby as a person Puerto Rico will now recognize the human fetus as a natural person from conception. That's the substance of a new law which is intended to provide the unborn child with dignity, rights of inheritance, and legal recognition. Sadly, the country still allows abortion for reasons connected to the alleged “life and health of the mother.” Iran's skyrocketing inflation and war with U.S., Israel, & Europe External and internal pressures are increasing on nations worldwide. Iran has edged up into 53 percent year-on-year inflation. That's the fifth worst in the world.  The economy is exasperated by water and energy shortages. And the nation is dealing with rising numbers of protests and strikes. In a published interview late last week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was in a "full-scale" war with the U.S., Israel and Europe. Russia's unrelenting attacks on Ukraine And Russia continues its war on Ukraine. Russia Today reported an additional 32 settlements in the Donbas area came under Russia control in December. United States sold $11 billion of arms to Taiwan Following the U.S. sale of $11 billion of arms to Taiwan, the Chinese armed forces have initiated an aggressive military exercise in the South China Sea.  It's the largest scale blockade and attack simulation ever conducted to date. The communist nation is conducting live-fire exercises extremely close to the shores of Taiwan.  The official People's Liberation Army news site announced that the drills include “task forces of bombers, amphibious assault ships, and anti-ship missiles.” But keep in mind Isaiah 40:15. The prophet wrote, “The nations are as a drop in a bucket and are counted as the small dust on the scales; [The Lord]  lifts up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.” U.S. blocks Venezuela's oil exports Things are heating up in Venezuelan waters — as the U.S. military continues its blockade of the nation's oil exports.  Tankertruckers.com reports  about $1 billion of oil, or about 8-10 tankers, have been held up in the Caribbean by the current blockade.   The Venezuelan government relies on oil exports for about two-thirds of its financing. Venezuela is pushing 250 percent inflation, year-over-year. That qualifies as the absolutely worst conditions in the world. Private Texas schools applying for $10,000 government grants Now, in stateside news, private schools in Texas are signing up for state funding. At least 600 private schools have applied for grants under a new law, for the 2026-27 school year, according to Center Square.  The pilot program is offering $10,000 grants to 100,000 students in the Lone Star state. U.S. dollar less desirable Will the dollar retain supremacy in the world market? The U.S. dollar is less and less desirable by national banks around the world.  The percent of the world's foreign exchange reserve, held in U.S. assets, has dropped off from 72 percent to 57 percent since 1999.  Oklahoma college teacher fired for penalizing Biblical worldview The teacher at the University of Oklahoma who had given a Christian student a zero score on her paper for advocating a biblical view of gender has been fired.  The university issued a statement charging the teacher assistant, by the name of William Curth, with arbitrary grading. The student, Samantha Fulnecky, had appealed to the Bible in her essay, noting that, “God created men in the image of His courage and strength, and He created women in the image of His beauty. He intentionally created women differently than men.” Dad rescued daughter from kidnapper on Christmas And finally, a Texas dad rescued his daughter from a kidnapper on Christmas Day, reported WDBJ7.com.   The 15-year-old was walking her dog, when she was abducted at knife point. Her father traced her location by the phone — and found his daughter in the suspect's truck, rescued her, and called the authorities. Praise God she was not physically harmed.  What a courageous father! Close And that's The Worldview on this Tuesday, December 30th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Eat Drink Smoke closes out 2025 with a bold pairing: the Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu, a TAA exclusive cigar from Espinosa Premium Cigars and celebrity chef Guy Fieri, and Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea Rye (Voyage 26, Double Barrel Dry). Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy smoke the 6x54 box-pressed Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu, featuring a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and filler. The cigar delivers a full-bodied profile with earthy, smoky notes described as bonfire and wet leaves, making it one of the most distinctive Knuckle Sandwich releases. The bourbon is Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea Rye, Voyage 26, a 96-proof double-barrel rye known for its sweetness, creamy mouthfeel, and lighter rye spice—an ideal holiday pour. The episode also covers the end of the bourbon boom, industry production slowdowns, TSA security theater, airport guest passes, Vegas travel costs, Costco changes, food recalls, and one of the strangest news stories of the week. Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media! X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcast The Podcast is Free! Click Below! Apple PodcastsAmazon MusicStitcher SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Wednesday, December 17th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Nicaragua prohibits tourists from bringing Bibles Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that Nicaragua now prohibits tourists from bringing Bibles into the country. This is part of a broader deterioration of religious freedom in the Central American nation. Religious leaders often face arbitrary detention, and officials generally prohibit public religious events. The authoritarian government has also shut down over 1,300 religious groups since 2018. Anna Lee Stangl with Christian Solidarity Worldwide said, “The Nicaraguan government's efforts to restrict the entry of Bibles, other books, newspapers and magazines into the country are highly concerning given the current context of repression. We call on the government of Nicaragua to lift this ban immediately.” The country is ranked 30th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.  Chile elects conservative, pro-life president Chile elected José Antonio Kast, a conservative former lawmaker, as their president on Sunday, reports NBC News. He won 58 percent of the vote, defeating communist rival Jeanette Jara. Kast is a practicing Catholic, the father of nine children, and a pro-life activist.  He said in his victory speech, “But nothing would be possible if we didn't have God. And that's something we can't fail to acknowledge.” He added a prayer for “wisdom, temperance, and strength” in the challenges ahead. Kast campaigned on dealing with growing crime and illegal migration into the South American country, primarily from Venezuela.  Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” America seized a Venezuelan oil tanker related to terrorism The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week. It's the first time the U.S. has seized Venezuelan oil since imposing sanctions on the South American country in 2019. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X, “For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.” U.S. oil production hits historic level The U.S. oil and natural gas industry set production records last month, reports The Center Square. Crude oil output reached about 5.9 million barrels per day, the highest ever recorded in U.S. history. Texas led the production of crude oil and natural gas. So far this year, the Lone Star state's production increased by 5.8 percent despite operating 20 percent fewer rigs. Two Texas cities outlawed abortion Two Texas cities outlawed abortion last week. The City of Springlake, Texas became the 90th city in the nation to pass a Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance last Thursday. And the city council of Tira, Texas became the 91st city to pass such an ordinance on Sunday. Both ordinances passed unanimously.  Tira Mayor Allen Joslin and his wife, Councilwoman Tami Joslin, shared, “We believe this to be the most important item that has come across our forum to vote on, which truly empowers the residents of the Tira community in the battle to protect the unborn.” 60 percent of Americans identify as Christian Pew Research released a new survey on religion in America. The study found that the religious composition of U.S. adults has remained steady over the past five years. During that time, over 60 percent of Americans consistently said they identify as Christians. Previously, affiliation with Christianity was declining, but it appears to be plateauing now.  The study did not find a widespread resurgence of religiosity among young people. Indiana quarterback gives glory to God And finally, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday. He's the first Indiana Hoosier to take home college football's top individual award. Mendoza led the Hoosiers through an undefeated season. They won their first Big Ten Championship since 1967 and become the number one ranked team for the first time.  Listen to comments from Mendoza after winning the Heisman Trophy. MENDOZA: “I'm at a loss of words. Wow! I mean. Thank you. Thank you to everybody. First, I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to chase a dream that once felt the world away. Standing here tonight, holding this, holding this bad boy, representing Indiana University, still doesn't feel real.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, December 17th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

On this episode of Eat Drink Smoke, Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy power through sickness, sarcasm, and a chest-cold-induced remote setup to deliver a packed show covering cigars, bourbon, holiday drinks, money, travel, and the absurdities of modern life. Tony fires up an El Rey del Mundo’s “The Appointment” cigar, a 5x60 Gordo featuring a Cameroon wrapper by the Eiroa family, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a complex Honduran, Ecuadorian, and Nicaraguan blend. The guys break down flavor notes, including caramel, cedar, spice, and rich tobacco, debate ring gauge preferences, and ask the big question: Is this one of the best cigars under $10? (Spoiler: at $8.50, it might be.) Because Fingers is under the weather, the drinks diverge this week. Tony revisits the Blue Run High Rye Bourbon (111 proof), calling it a must-have bottle with notes of caramel, butterscotch, spice, and rye heat. Fingers opts for holiday comfort, sipping Evan Williams Peppermint White Chocolate Eggnog, a surprisingly delicious seasonal pour made with bourbon, rum, and brandy — and available for under $10. The conversation widens into the news of the week, including: Amazon Prime Video launching a news hub, and what it means for media companies Spirit Airlines selling O’Hare gate space, and why budget airlines feel riskier than ever The true cost of modern travel, nonstop flights, and airline reliability Why Americans are struggling to retire — and what the numbers really say How AI is reshaping jobs, careers, and spending habits The rise of 7- and 8-year car loans, $1,000/month car payments, and why used trucks suddenly make more sense The psychological traps of consumerism, Starbucks math, and “keeping up with the Joneses” Along the way, the guys debate foot rubs, socks, Amazon impulse buys, holiday gift nonsense, and why financial literacy still isn’t taught when it matters most. It’s classic Eat Drink Smoke: cigars, bourbon, food, money, culture, and humor — delivered even when Fingers probably should’ve stayed in bed. Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media! X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcast The Podcast is Free! Click Below! Apple PodcastsAmazon MusicStitcher SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Happy Hour episode of Eat, Drink, Smoke, Tony Katz and Fingers Moley review the Battleborn cigar, a military-inspired smoke with a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper and Nicaraguan filler. They discuss the cigar's unique characteristics, including its rich tobacco flavor and subtle fruit notes. Tony shares his thoughts on the cigar's value, saying it's worth the price for the good cause it supports, the Fisherhouse Foundation. The guys also dive into current events, including the impact of AI on the job market and the trend of "car spreading" in Europe. All that, and more, on an all-new Eat Drink Smoke! Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media!X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcast The Podcast is Free! Click Below! Apple PodcastsAmazon MusicStitcher SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Katz and America’s favorite amateur drinker, Fingers Malloy, fire up the E.P. Carrillo Battleborn Warrior—a Connecticut Broadleaf-wrapped, double-binder, Nicaraguan-filled cigar created in tribute to the military, with proceeds supporting Fisher House Foundation. At $23 a stick, they dig into whether the profile (rich, tobacco-forward, hints of dark fruit, wood, a touch of floral on the retrohale) and story justify the price—and why you should never panic if a cigar feels a little dry coming out of the humidor. In the glass, they pour Maker’s Mark 101 (Special Proof)—a 101-proof take on a classic bourbon. Tony and Fingers break down the nose (caramel, oak, a little fruit), the surprising melon/citrus notes on the palate, how the heat presents for a 101-proofer, and how a cube of ice changes the entire experience. They land on an easy verdict: this is exactly the kind of “always-have-it-on-hand” bottle every holiday liquor cabinet needs. From there, the guys dive into a run of real-world nonsense and news: Target’s Black Friday swag-bag backlash (gummies, Uno cards, travel shampoo and lip oil after waiting in line since 3 a.m.), the rise of oversized vehicles in Europe and the U.S. and what “car spreading” and policies like Vision Zero really signal, and why economic numbers—from jobs reports to Black Friday spending to AI layoffs—feel completely out of whack. They also tackle the never-ending wave of food recalls, including shredded cheese and milk, and ask whether we’re just better at catching problems or worse at making the food in the first place. And in a truly gross moment of modern life, they break down the viral DoorDash “dropped wing” video—where a driver picks a boneless wing up off the concrete, tosses it back in the box, licks his fingers, and walks away—plus what basic decency in food handling should look like. Along the way: cigar-notebook tips, why shredded cheese might haunt your dreams, talk of big steaks in Iowa, and a very real threat to road-trip to Memphis for King Jerry Lawler’s barbecue. In this episode, you’ll hear: A full review of the E.P. Carrillo Battleborn Warrior cigar: construction, flavor notes, strength, burn, and value. A tasting of Maker’s Mark 101—how it compares to classic Maker’s, what flavors pop neat vs. over ice, and if it belongs in your home bar. The Black Friday Target swag-bag outrage and how to build a promo that doesn’t insult your customers. “Car spreading,” Vision Zero, and the cultural war over big vehicles, comfort, and personal freedom. Why food recalls (cheese, milk, and more) feel constant—and what that says about quality control. The DoorDash chicken wing disaster and Tony’s…let’s just say strong feelings about consequences. Perfect for cigar lovers, bourbon fans, and anyone who enjoys a little economic confusion and consumer-culture madness with their smoke. All that, and more, on an all-new Eat Drink Smoke! Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media!X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcast The Podcast is Free! Click Below! Apple PodcastsAmazon MusicStitcher SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Slowed down, stuffed, and still smoking — Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy ride out Thanksgiving weekend with a rare Arturo Fuente and a whole lot of cultural madness. Tony and Fingers ease into the holiday haze with the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink “Sophisticated Hooker” — a 7¼ x 53 Diadema with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and a white-pepper spice that works its way across the palate. They break down why Rare Pinks are so coveted, whether they’re worth the chase, and how MSRP ($17.75) becomes fantasy once the secondary market gets involved. The guys also recap Tony’s Thanksgiving cigar marathon (yes, six cigars in 30 hours), the joys of brisket smoking overnight, and why cold-weather cigar logistics separate the casuals from the committed. From there, they swing into a deeply fun, deeply ridiculous cultural grab bag: Influencers behaving badly — including a chronic dine-and-dash “Instagram star” arrested six times for scamming New York restaurants, even trying to barter stolen kitchen shears at Peter Luger’s. The decline of thank-you notes and the rise of singing telegrams — including Fingers’ nightmare scenario of receiving one. Black Friday memories, mayhem, and today’s endless “deals” — from 98-inch TVs under $1,000 to conversations about whether any of us really need designer sneakers, more AirPods, or another laptop. PC vs. Mac truce negotiations, because do either of them even know what version of Windows exists anymore? Throughout, Tony and Fingers keep the Rare Pink smoke rolling, noting shifts from spice to hay to wood, and reflecting on how this year’s cigars and bourbons stack up heading into their Top Cigars & Top Bourbons of 2025 lists. It’s the perfect post-holiday episode: relaxed, flavorful, a little silly, and full of those classic Eat! Drink! Smoke! left-turn conversations you can’t get anywhere else. All that, and more, on an all-new Eat Drink Smoke! Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media!X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcast The Podcast is Free! Click Below! Apple PodcastsAmazon MusicStitcher SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Please enjoy today's Tea Talk with Renée Camila and Sam Roberts, co-founders of Now and Then Herb School and co-producers of the Planting Medicine podcast and radio show on 94.1 KPFA! The Now and Then Herb School focuses on guiding modern herbalism to old magic within a social justice framework.

On this Happy Hour, Tony and Fingers explore the Rocky Patel Thirtieth Anniversary Toro. This episode takes you on a flavorful journey through this beautifully crafted box-pressed cigar, featuring a deep Mexican San Andreas wrapper and a seven-year-aged Nicaraguan binder. The hosts dive into the rich tobacco-forward profile that evolves throughout the smoking experience, revealing subtle notes of cocoa, wood, and a gentle spice that develops as the cigar progresses. Their candid conversation captures both the artistry behind Rocky Patel's milestone release and whether this $18 stick deserves a place in your humidor. Key Takeaways: First impressions of the Rocky Patel 30th Anniversary's appearance and construction.Initial flavor profile discussion: rich tobacco with subtle cocoa and wood notes.The importance of keeping cigar tasting notes and how the weather affects your experience.Second-third flavor development with increased cedar notes.Final thoughts on value and whether this cigar belongs in your collection. "Oreo Gate" - The hosts' hilarious misadventure with overpriced holiday-themed cookies.News of the week: Economic indicators and what they mean for consumers. Whether you're a seasoned aficionado or curious newcomer to premium cigars, this episode offers valuable insights into cigar appreciation while delivering plenty of laughs along the way. Light up your favorite stick and join Tony and Fingers for this entertaining exploration of Rocky Patel's anniversary celebration. All that, and more, on an all-new Eat Drink Smoke! Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media!X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcast The Podcast is Free! Click Below! Apple PodcastsAmazon MusicStitcher SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.