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During a back and forth with reporters inside the Oval Office, Donald Trump said that he is going to levy more tariffs on Canadian goods on April 2nd, and then he openly admitted that it is going to cause some "disruptions" for American consumers. He then added "sorry", and immediately moved on to explain that we don't need goods from Canada and that they need us, in spite of our $63 BILLION trade deficit with them. A federal judge this week absolutely demolished the legal team from Donald Trump's Department of Justice, accusing them of lying in court and providing "sham" documents. Ordinarily, this level of contempt would get lawyers sanctioned and possibly even disbarred, so these lawyers had better watch themselves. But that is secondary to the ruling, in which the judge ordered the federal government to immediately "rehire" tens of thousands of workers that they had laid off. A former megachurch pastor and former spiritual adviser to Donald Trump has been indicted in the state of Texas and charged with 5 different counts related to sex crimes involving children. Robert Morris, the former pastor, allegedly carried out most of the abuse a few decades ago, before he rose to national prominence as a major political player in both Texas and in the federal government.Text and and let us know your thoughts on today's stories!Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date on all of Farron's content: https://www.youtube.com/FarronBalancedFollow Farron on social media! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FarronBalanced Twitter: https://twitter.com/farronbalanced Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farronbalanced TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farronbalanced?lang=en

*** And if you're in Melbourne on 22 or 23 March 2025, do yourself a favour and go see the Kegsta perform in the new Flemington Theatre Company show called Murder Before Me. Buy tickets here →Flemington Theatre Company | Murder Before MeHey Blurtstars!We've got a jam-packed show today, starting with "Blurt Around The World":* Australia's-oldest-olive-tree, hint its in Melbourne* Roberta Flack RIP* QLD rains bad for the ReefIn "Across the Dutch", the Kegsta will blurt about Christchurch's Comeback as a Cultural Capital, followed by Wencee's discussion on New Zealand school dinners.Then, in "Blurt On Blighty," Wencee explores will UK change of copyright kill creativity? Kegsta will chat about a new range English Ales released a local bottle shop.Nearly forgot Joke Of the Week. Listen as Wencee loses his mind before telling his joke!Let's get on with the show!Tune in and find out more on https://www.youtube.com/@thenewblurt7773, with Wencee and the Kegsta.Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thenewblurt.substack.com or contact us at blurtstar[at]gmail.com.Blurt Around The WorldWhere can you find the largest, living olive tree in Australia. None other than in Melbourne. To find out more about where it is, read up this news article →CBD News | Rooted in history: Australia's oldest olive treeNorthern Queensland has had severe rain weather events for the past many weeks. Ordinarily that is welcome news, but the dump of fresh rain water has made it's way to the Great Barrier Reef which is bad news →ABC News | Satellite images show floodwater flowing towards parts of Great Barrier ReefVale Roberta Flack. R&B singer, songwriter, performer, has passed away at the age of 88. He most famous songs were Killing Me Softly, Feel Like Makin' Love, Where Is the Love, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face amongst many other songs →Wikipedia | Roberta FlackGuardian News | Roberta Flack, soul and R&B icon behind Killing Me Softly, dies aged 88Across the DutchAfter several major tragedies in Christchurch over the past few years, a music festival is lifting spirits and fortunes for that city →Stuff NZ | Review: Electric Avenue has put Christchurch back on the map and the world is on noticeChange of provider who supply school lunches in some New Zealand schools have principals and students fuming →Radio New Zealand | Eleven days of butter chicken: Principals report more problems with school lunchesBlurt On BlightyRange of English Real Ales launched at a local cellars in Preston, Melbourne →Crafty Pint | Sobremesa Real Ale Launch at Audacious MonkThe UK government is in the process of introducing laws allowing British AI software companies to use copyrighted music for data training. As you can imagine, the music industry is not happy →Guardian AUS | Kate Bush and Damon Albarn among 1,000 artists on silent AI protest albumGuardian Opinion UK | It's grand theft AI and UK ministers are behind it. Oppose this robbery of people's creativityFollow us on our socials:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@thenewblurt7773Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/blurtstar/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/blurtstar/Threads - https://www.threads.net/@blurtstar This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thenewblurt.substack.com

As more and more Americans have begun questioning whether or not Donald Trump was going to do anything to address inflation, the President released a statement this week (via Truth Social, of course) of how he plans to bring down consumer prices. The only problem is that there is nothing in the plan that would actually lower prices, and most of his proposals would actually cause MORE harm to consumers.The Trump administration's freeze on federal loans and grants was put on hold by a judge this week and then immediately rescinded by the Office of Management and Budget that issued the freeze. Ordinarily, this would put an end to the lawsuit before the judge, but thanks to Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, the lawsuit is still alive with fresh ammo against the administration. Leavitt had fired off a social media post explaining the "secret" plan of the administration, and lawyers immediately added that to the lawsuit.Donald Trump has taken the GOP's assault on transgendered people and teachers to a new level this week by signing an executive order that allows the Department of Justice to begin prosecuting teachers who support transgender and nonbinary students. But the order is much darker than it would seem - if a teacher uses pronouns for a student that do not correspond with the gender assigned to them at birth, they will be prosecuted. This is about to lead to all sorts of chaos in the education system.The Trump administration has said multiple times in the last two weeks that they are currently only rounding up immigrants who pose "security risks" to the United States and that their raids were focused on removing violent criminals from the country. That was never true, and now we have confirmation of it. According to officials in Colombia, the flights that they are now accepting from the US have not contained A SINGLE CRIMINAL, but there have been plenty of children and pregnant women aboard that have been deported.Text and and let us know your thoughts on today's stories!Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date on all of Farron's content: https://www.youtube.com/FarronBalancedFollow Farron on social media! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FarronBalanced Twitter: https://twitter.com/farronbalanced Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farronbalanced TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farronbalanced?lang=en

Lisa botched the subway ride to the studio, Atlantic Avenue, DeKalb Avenue, NYC Subway is extraordinary and safe, though there have been recent publicized incidents, Not Dot Dot was a refrain Max and Milo used to repeat, Our family loves racket sports, Tennis, Ping pong, Kadima, Makeshift ping pong table, We ultimately bought an outdoor ping pong table, We hired someone to build the ping pong table, Wouldn't it be great to have lights so we could play ping pong into the night,  Bike ride to Lowes or Home Depot, Purchase flood lights and the wrong bulbs, So distraught, Ordinarily the boys would have worked me over for this mistake, The boys took mercy on me and began the cheer Not Dot Dot, It was a refrain that the boys revived many times over the years, Daryl reveals some strategy, The Idea of Machines' Sweet Lefty

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found Click On Picture To See Larger PictureTrump's Hud nominee lets everyone know that the government cannot fix the homelessness problem, the government is the cause. Bitcoin is going to skyrocket. Elon is showing the people the way, he is teaching people why we have inflation and what is the cause. Soon the [CB] will be restructured. The [DS] has lost the people, they have used almost all their ammunition, they are weak. They will try one more time but Trump will counter it all. Trump and Scavino send a message, its time to wake the rest of the people up, its time to unleash the lion to show the world who is really in charge, it was always the patriots.   (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); Economy https://twitter.com/gatewaypundit/status/1880983137175429558 https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1881127168631353788   https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1880854417366491452 TAKE A LISTEN   Political/Rights https://twitter.com/Rasmussen_Poll/status/1880708707253936306 Fifth Circuit Rules DACA Unconstitutional Setting Up Another Supreme Court Challenge  A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, was illegal but stopped short of allowing a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in Texas to go into effect. The three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit ruling on the case restricted the scope of the injunction to Texas to allow further appeals. DACA is, in my opinion, the toughest part of the illegal immigration catastrophe facing the United States to solve. DACA enrollees arrived in the United States as very young children when their parents or guardians illegally immigrated. They are culturally American and frequently can't speak the language of their home country and have no family or social ties to it. There are an estimated 580,000 DACA enrollees.   DACA, as the Texas judge ruled  has no basis in law. It does not even rise to the level of a regulation. DACA started out as a 2012 memorandum signed by Obama DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. It was never an executive order. It never went through the rule-making process required by the Administrative Procedure Act. It has never been enacted into law by Congress. Ordinarily, any memo by a cabinet secretary ceases to have validity when they leave office, not so with DACA. When President Trump's DHS secretary rescinded the DACA memo based on the advice of the Attorney General of the United States, the Supreme Court held, in a 5-4 vote (guess how the Chief Justice voted), that the Trump administration was required to follow the Administrative Procedure Act to withdraw a memo that was never subjected to that act, see The Supreme Court Rules Trump Can't End the Illegal DACA Program Because Nothing Matters Anymore. This is the second time this particular case has been heard by the Fifth Circuit and the second time the Fifth Circuit has ruled DACA unconstitutional; see Fifth Circuit Rules DACA Is Illegal but Somehow It Keeps on Moving – RedState, The case is headed back to the Supreme Court, minus the rather stupid issue of whether a single memo by a cabinet secretary can masquerade as the law of the land. Source: redstate.com Border Czar Tom Homan Says Raids on Sanctuary Cities to Deport Illegals May be Paused After Plan Was Leaked President Donald Trump's Border Czar, Tom Homan, has said the immigration raids on “Sanctuary Cities,” including Chicago and New York, may be placed on pause after details about the plan were leaked to the media. On Friday,

It's being called Santa Street USA - a neighborhood outside San Diego where almost every home has a giant blow up Santa Claus. But now it's been targeted by a real-life Grinch. And, the drone mystery remains unsolved - and as we've reported, no matter how unnerved you might be about the sightings, it's illegal to shoot a drone. Now the FBI is chiming in to stress in no uncertain terms - if you see a drone, don't shoot it. Plus, it's an indicator of the impact of the United Healthcare killing. Ordinarily, an annual business gathering in New York City would be a non-event, but in the wake of the killing and a hit list that's been circulated, corporate leaders meeting across the street from the murder scene are taking no chances. And the shooting at a Wisconsin school that left three people dead is the 83rd school shooting so far this year. It's a sad sign of the times - but would your child know how to call for help in an emergency? It's estimated more than 26 million children in the U.S. don't know how to call 911.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, countless children face the harsh reality of hunger and a lack of clean water. Many are forced to scavenge through dumps just to find a scrap of food, and the journey to find water often involves walking miles through dangerous conditions. But you have the power to change that. With your generous gift, you can provide a hungry child with two meals a day for an entire year.Ordinarily, a gift of $100 would feed ONE CHILD and help a community get access to water.Thanks to a special meal for meal matching opportunity, your donation will have double the impact in meals! Your gift could be the miracle a mother is praying for right now.Will you help us rush life-saving food and water to children in desperate need? Thank you for your compassion and support! https://foodforthepoor.donorsupport.co/page/FUNYGLSBBSGSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ordinarily, taking time off from the gym may leave you feeling guilty. You might…

Ordinarily, taking time off from the gym may leave you feeling guilty. You might think that taking a break is a one-way ticket to losing all your hard-earned, protein powder-fueled...

Ordinarily, taking time off from the gym may leave you feeling guilty. You might think that taking a break is a one-way ticket to losing all your hard-earned, protein powder-fueled...

Ah, the dawn of a bright new beautiful Monday! Well, somewhere, I guess. How about we take David Waldman and Greg Dworkin and check out some other countries for a while, for a breather? Ordinarily, we would not be looking to the Middle East for inspiration, but suddenly Syria is standing for freedom. You'd hardly know about it from the American mainstream media… you'd hardly know anything from them… but there's plenty of other sources to discover at Blue Sky, Threads, and you know… others. At exTwitter, there's Tammam Aloudat's positive assessment. There's Alex Simon's appraisal of the Syrian prison “system”. Threads has Charles Lister with the international repercussions emanating from Syria's takeover by rebel forces. Blue Sky has more than just savvy individuals as well, it has an excellent news search. Then there's Romania. Romania, Romania, rhymes with Albania, which makes it easy to remember their tasty food, bawdy cooks, NOT chrome, and now election integrity, following a presidential vote recount after discovering Russian interference. Ok, that's the good news. Here are the takeaways from D's Meet the Press interview, which unfortunately did not conclude with him being taken away. The kakistocracy has already filled the bowl up to the seat but isn't close to stopping. The world's most powerful traffic court lawyer, Alina Habba raises the number of blond leggy presidential advisors to “Austin Powers” levels. Journalist David Corn moves up a dozen slots on the administration shitlist with his history of Kash Patel, future director of the US Staatssicherheit.

Dean traveled to D.C. and Virginia. Phil traveled to New Orleans, Mississippi and Memphis. Therefore, this seemed like the perfect week for a pre-recorded Top Ten show! As this is the 10th year of Netflix original movies, your friends in podcasting spend the entire hour discussing their all-time favorite Netflix films. Ordinarily, Dean and Phil […]

Original Release Date: Monday 2 December 2024    Description:   Dean traveled to D.C. and Virginia. Phil traveled to New Orleans, Mississippi and Memphis. Therefore, this seemed like the perfect week for a pre-recorded Top Ten show! As this is the 10th year of Netflix original movies, your friends in podcasting spend the entire hour discussing their all-time favorite Netflix films. Ordinarily, Dean and Phil have some overlap between their lists. This time, they have no favorite films in common! Butter the popcorn and keep those Netflix queues handy because your are bound to learn about some movies you didn't know about, or pay attention to, when they were released!

This episode contains: Devon kicks things off with a Dr. Pepper Zero, or as we like to call it, “the creeping death.” Just caffeine jokes—or maybe there's something deeper to his love for this soda! Steven, on the other hand, brings us a blast from the past with Department Zero, an RPG he created back in 2013. Imagine a Fantasy Men in Black vibe, complete with dragons, aliens, and magical conspiracies. This world has been brewing in Steven's mind for a decade, and it sounds like an adventure for the ages! Ben poses a question for the tech-minded: how long should a computer last? Steven has a “Computer of Theseus” filled with endless upgrades, Devon shrugs off the question with work laptops and a trusty gaming rig, while Ben takes a “separation of concerns” approach, keeping two laptops—one for work and one for personal use. On top of that, Ben has a family tradition of passing down old tech. This leads us to a broader discussion about the best ways to keep our tech alive and kicking. Ben also brings us High Stakes: Las Vegas 2024. Imagine a world where vampires have stolen your blood, and you're forced to win it back. Are you brave enough to play the card game of your life to recover what's yours? This high-stakes adventure invites you to consider just how far you'd go to get your blood back. FUTURE OR NOW Wake Up, Sheeple! Let's Talk Science and Sci-Fi In Devon's Space Report, we delve into a cosmic mystery that's puzzling scientists. A massive structure, dubbed “The Big Ring,” sits 6.9 billion light-years away, defying what we thought we knew about the universe. The Big Ring spans an astounding 1.3 billion light-years and lies near another oddity, the Giant Arc. Ordinarily, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) suggest that structures in space should appear uniform, yet these two anomalies suggest otherwise. Are we seeing evidence of multiple big bangs, the presence of cosmic strings, or could it all just be a cosmic coincidence? Read more about it here. On a lighter note, Ben gives us his take on Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5. Has Lower Decks finally hit its stride, or does Starfleet's most comedic ship need a new direction? Ben has thoughts, and fans of the show won't want to miss them. Meanwhile, Steven shares a rapid-fire lineup of recent reads, including Red Rising, Annihilation, Fallen Dragon, and his thoughts on Agatha All Along's finale. His recommendations cover sci-fi, mystery, and thriller genres, perfect for anyone looking to dive into a new story. BOOK CLUB This week, we dive into Isaac Asimov's “Nightfall,” widely regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi stories of all time. Check it out on Goodreads. Written when Asimov was in his twenties, Nightfall tells the story of a planet that's continuously illuminated by six suns—until an eclipse plunges it into total darkness once every 2,049 years. When that darkness finally arrives, the population, who has never experienced nightfall, is thrown into chaos. The story explores themes of fear, the unknown, and societal breakdown, offering a compelling read that earned its status as a classic. As a bonus, we recommend The End of Eternity, another must-read by Asimov. This novel tackles time travel with Asimov's signature twist and intricate plotting. More on Goodreads. Next week, we'll be exploring Ray Bradbury's “The Crowd,” a haunting look at strange crowd behaviors in urban life. Watch the adaptation here.

Joe & Niall are back this week with two main topics: final thoughts on what could happen in the upcoming US election, not just this week but in the months ahead until a new administration takes the reins in January. Ordinarily, Trump would surely win in a landslide, but with election fraud now so widespread and out-in-the-open, it's possible the Deep State intends to swipe it for Harris. In a separate but related issue, it's also possible that Iran could use the cover of US election...

Today's podcast features Seth Lintz. Seth (“Pitching Doctor”) is a pitching and athletic performance coach.  He was a second-round pick in the 2008 MLB draft, carrying a maximal fastball speed of 104mph.  Seth has trained over a dozen individuals to break the 100mph barrier, using a progressive training system that prioritizes neuro-muscular efficiency, human psychology/brain-science, and intuitive motor learning concepts. To understand the fullness of our potential in any athletic discipline, we need to know not only our primary skill but also similar movements that can teach us more about that skill (outward) and the inner layers of our body and mind that dictate our movement quality and potential (inward). Seth fuses both of these in his approach. On today's podcast, Seth covers his recent work with sprinting, locomotion, and postural balance, and how it fits in with training pitching velocity. We also get into a variety of special strength-oriented movements for sprinting and related throwing aspects, and cover layers of both environmental and internal factors that drive athletic movement to its highest potential. Today's episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr's Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Main Points 5:37- Links Between Sprint Speed and Throwing Velocity 8:34- Efficient Movement Patterns in Athletic Development 14:07- The Role of Intramuscular Coordination in Movement 21:27- Explosive Sprint Training with Squat March Lunge 31:23- Optimizing Sprint Mechanics Through a 45-Degree Start 41:50- Emotional and Physical Integration for Optimal Performance 44:35- Brain Coherence Through Meditative Breathing Technique 54:03- Work Capacity Development for Enhanced Performance Quotes (6:26) “I noticed that as individuals, gait improved, and really, first through myself, as gait improved, and I learned how with a sedentary posture, really, and one where individuals lack the ability to integrate their non dominant side fully, those postural tendencies that result are the same things that I started to see individuals really struggling with when it came to correcting things mechanically within the throw” (8:45) “It's really the intramuscular coordination aspect of it all, that the right parts of the body are working and communicating with other parts of the body in an efficient manner, and that you're not getting a bunch of interference whenever you're trying to throw the ball or walk or sprint or whatever” (14:50) “We can reconstruct that just simply by giving the athletes taking something away and then adding it back in and allowing them to feel the sensation of more power. Because when we experience less resistance and we experience less friction or interference or inefficiency within a movement, we immediately are going to gravitate toward it, because it does feel better for things to be more powerful and for us to put more intent into that movement” (19:20) "If you're doing altitude, drops, and lunge from any kind of height, the amount of force that you're absorbing upon landing far exceeds the amount of force that you're absorbing whenever you're taking a stride”- Seth Lintz (34:17) "It's all rhythms. It's just increasingly complex rhythms, the same way you would experience in music or anything else and dance." - Joel Smith (37:25) “And a five minute isometric lunge. Yeah. You got all your motor units turned on, trust me” (41:55) “Ordinarily the stimulus should create an emotion that recruits an adrenal response and the neurotransmitters necessary wit...

Ordinarily, banana bread is exactly low in fat! But with no butter, only a little oil, unexpected ingredients like cocoa powder and raspberry preserves, and a lot of mashed bananas, this unusual rendition of an exceedingly popular quick bread is lower in fat than more traditional recipes. You need really ripe bananas for this. Choose the ones with the skins that are almost black-in other words, the ones waiting to be thrown out. They provide the flavor, which there is a lot of in this tender cake.A note about storing this cake. Because it is low in fat, it will dry out if stored for any length of time. If you need to hold it overnight, wrap it well in plastic wrap and keep it at room temperature.

In the Messiah Galatians 2:11-21 by William Klock We're all familiar with the image of the two masks, side-by-side, representing tragedy and comedy—one face frowning and the other smiling.  The image represents the theatre, whether it's on playbills, or carved on the outside of a building, or use to mark the location of a theatre on a map.  That image is something that goes all the way back to ancient Greece.  Back then all the actors were men, there was no makeup, and many people sat far enough away that it was hard to see who was who.  So that the audience would know who was on stage and what they were about, the actors held masks in front of their faces—a bit larger than life and with exaggerated features and expressions.  The Greeks had a name for this sort of acting and it's come straight into English: hypocrites—hypocrite, hypocrisy.  By St. Paul's day the word had evolved beyond describing actual actors in a play.  It still did, but it commonly referred to someone who was playing a deceitful game of false pretences and pretending to be someone they really weren't. As we move on in Galatians 2, Paul levels this charge at Peter.  Not very long before Paul got word of what was going on in the Galatian churches and wrote this letter, Peter had travelled up to Antioch from Jerusalem.  This was a church of both Jews and gentiles and hat may be why Peter visited.  As we saw last week, Peter and Paul had agreed that Peter had been sent to the Jews and Paul to the gentiles, so here's Peter going to visit the Jews in Antioch. You would think after what had happened when Paul visited Jerusalem, after he stood firm against the “circumcision party” and found that he and Peter were ultimately in agreement with each other, you would think this visit to Antioch by Peter would have gone smoothly, but it did not.  Look at what Paul write in Galatians 2:11-14. But when Cephas [again, that's Peter's Greek name just like Paul is Saul's Greek name] came to Antioch, I stood up to him face to face.  He was in the wrong.  Before certain persons came from James, Peter was eating with the gentiles.  But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcision people.  The rest of the Jews did the same, joining him in this play-acting.  Even Barnabas was carried along by their sham.  But when I saw that they weren't walking straight down the line of gospel truth, I said to Cephas in front of them all: “If you're a Jew, but you've been living like a gentile, how can you force gentiles to become Jews?”   This issue of Jews and gentiles just wouldn't go away.  Paul thought it was settled after his visit to Jerusalem, but then it happened again when Peter came to visit in Antioch, and now, like a cancer, it's spread to the churches in Galatia.  No doubt, the agitators in Galatia had already told the churches there their version of what had happened in Antioch, so now Paul tells them what really happened. Before all this, Jewish and gentile believers in Antioch—and Galatia, for that matter—gathered as one people to worship, to pray, and maybe most importantly, to eat the Lord's Supper.  It helps to remember that in those early days, the Lord's Supper was part of or at least attached to an actual meal where the people would fellowship with each other.  This gathering together, this eating together was a profound living out of the power of the gospel.  When Jesus died and rose again, he dealt with sin and that put everyone, Jew and gentile alike, on an even footing.  There was no longer clean and unclean, just and sinner: all in Jesus were clean and just.  And this bringing together of the two peoples, it was God's new creation made visible in the life of the early church—a powerful witness of the gospel itself. We might not think much of it, but it was a big deal.  Jews had been raised, steeped in observance of the law.  Gentiles were sinners and their food was unclean—even their fellowship was unclean.  Think of Peter and his vision in Acts of the sheet let down from heaven full of unclean animals and the Lord telling him to eat.  Revulsion had been instilled in Peter from his birth.  There was a massive “ick” factor.  Our culture, in contrast, has become so accepting of everything that there's not much left we can compare it to, but maybe you can think of the current conspiracy theories about Klaus Schwab telling everyone to “Eat ze bugs”.  It gets people worked up, because of the deeply ingrained revulsion we have in our culture to eating bugs.  It would have been something like that for Jews to fellowship with, to eat with gentiles. On the other end of things, the gentiles knew full well about those Jewish weirdos and their over-the-top purity laws.  Jews were everywhere spread through the Greco-Roman world, so the pagans encountered them regularly in daily life and in business and were well aware of the revulsion they had to eating with them.  So, that the early Jesus people were not only gathering together to worship and pray, but also gathering together around the same table to share bread and wine.  It was a really big deal.  It got everyone's attention. And so Peter came to visit Antioch and, Paul says, he worshipped and he prayed and he came to the Lord's Table with his gentile brothers and sisters.  Everything was fine.  And then the cancer that Paul thought had been stomped out in Jerusalem, the cancer came to Antioch.  Certain people from James came.  Paul doesn't elaborate on what that means, since the Galatians probably knew who those people were.  Maybe they were sent by James.  Probably they came and claimed authority from James that they didn't really have.  Whatever the case, they carried the cancer with them.  Paul calls them “circumcision people”.  They had some connection with the pseudo-family members who had been smuggled into the meeting in Jerusalem and who had insisted that Titus be circumcised.  And Peter caved into their pressure.  He “drew back” and “separated himself” and then when the other Jews in Antioch saw Peter do that, they followed suit.  Even Barnabas.  We get a sense of Paul's shock and dismay that even his partner Barnabas whom he knew knew better, even he went along with this sham.  This is where Paul uses that play-acting term.  Peter and Barnabas and the other Jews acted like hypocrites.  They knew better.  But under pressure from these agitators they withdrew and gathered separately.  They put up masks to placate the agitators and in doing that—not realising what they'd done—they become the people-pleasers so despised by their tradition.  They were gospel people, but to keep the peace they held up anti-gospel masks in front of their faces. Paul knew that this wasn't the real Peter—or the real Barnabas for that matter. They knew better.  Peter had known this for years before Paul had.  The real Peter behind the mask, the real Peter knew in his bones that the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection created one family in which Jews and gentiles stood on equal footing in the Messiah.  This new reality wasn't easy for Jews steeped for a lifetime in torah to adjust to.  There was a massive “ick” factor to overcome.  But the gospel is a powerful thing and so is God's Spirit and adjust they had.  And now, inexplicably to Paul, Peter and the others were dividing what Jesus had made one. Paul says that they weren't walking the straight line of gospel truth.  The word is orthopodeo—where we get our word “orthodpaedic”.  The gospel draws a straight line and they should have been walking it, but they weren't.  So Paul says to Peter, “Look here, you're a Jew, but you've been living like a gentile.”  He means that Peter's been eating with gentile believers and that almost certainly also means that Peter's been eating gentile food that was off-limits to Jews.  “So then,” Paul asks, “How can you force gentiles to become Jews.” Peter probably would have answered that, no, he wasn't trying to force anyone to be a Jew.  They could each just do their own thing.  But that brings up images of the temple, where Jews could enter the temple court, while gentiles were stuck outside in the Court of the Gentiles—they weren't really members of the community, of God's people.  That's why Paul is so insistent here.  There is one people—and Peter knew this and Paul knew—there is one people in Jesus the Messiah, not two.  In the Messiah.  This new community is defined not by ethnicity or ethnic markers but messianically by faith in Jesus and nothing else.  If we're going to divide it up again, well, what's the point?  To do so undermines the gospel itself and we might as well just throw in the towel. So beginning at verse 15 Paul lays out the argument he gave Peter, because it's this same gospel-killing cancer that has infected the Galatian churches.  They need to hear it too.  So Paul writes in verse 15: We are Jews by birth, not “gentile sinners”. For Jews there were two groups of people on this earth: the just or righteous—the Greek word carries both those meanings—and sinners.  Jews were the just, the righteous, chosen by God and marked out by obedience to the torah.  Everyone else was a sinner and this is why they kept themselves separate.  But, Paul goes on: But we know that a person is not declared “righteous” by works of the [Jewish] law, but through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah.   So God had chosen the Jewish people and then gave them his law so that be living it, they'd be set apart.  It's what marked them out as different from gentile sinners.  And they expected that one day, the Lord would send his Messiah and the Messiah would vanquish the gentile sinners and lead the righteous into God's new age.  But instead—and this was what Paul had to work through after meeting the risen Jesus—instead, the Messiah came and sinners crucified him.  That wasn't how anyone thought the whole Messiah thing would go.  Ordinarily, being crucified would mean Jesus wasn't really the Messiah.  Other men claimed to be the Messiah, they were killed, and that was the end of their messianic claims.  But then God raised Jesus from death.  In doing that he overturned the charge of false messiah laid against him and proved that Jesus was, in fact, the real deal, the Messiah.  Jesus did, in fact, inaugurate God's new age, his new creation.  So why did he have to die?  That's when Paul—and the others—realised that as much as torah provided both a righteous way of living and a means of atonement when they failed to be 100% obedient—there was more to righteousness that torah could never provide.  The very fact that torah was necessary to set apart God's people, highlights that both Jew and gentile alike are subject to the slavery of sin and death.  So Jesus the Messiah let sin rise up and do its worst at the cross, then rose triumphant over it.  Jesus did something that torah could never but do, but in light of Jesus Paul realised, it was something torah had been pointing to all along. Now, there's an unspoken subtext going on here that we need to understand.  Remember that Messiah mean's God's anointed king—the king.  And for Jews, a king represented his people.  So what was true of a king is also true of his people.  This is why godly kings brought blessing on Israel and wicked kings brought curses and ultimately exile.  A king represents his people.  Paul likes to talk about being “in the Messiah” and when he says that, this is what he's getting at.  We'll need to know this as Paul goes on. So as much as Paul and his fellow Jews had always thought that righteousness came through the law, it turns out that God had something greater in store.  A greater righteousness, true righteousness comes through the faithfulness—through the faithfulness of the Messiah.  Jews had been faithful to torah and to the Lord's covenant and that faithfulness marked them out as the “righteous”, but their faithfulness to God was but a shadow of the loving, gracious, self-giving faithfulness to God that Jesus displayed on the cross.  That's the faithfulness that has created a new people of God, a new and “righteous” or “just” people defined by faith in Jesus.  So Paul goes on: That is why we too believed in the Messiah, Jesus: so that we might be declared “righteous” on the basis of the Messiah's faithfulness, and not on the basis of works of the [Jewish] law.  On that basis, you see, no creature will be declared “righteous”.   Peter and now the Galatians had forgotten what it was all about.  Peter seems just to have wanted to avoid conflict—which we see is a problem in other places in Peter's story, not least at Jesus' trial.  For the Galatians it was likely fear of persecution.  Remember that in the ancient word, “religion” wasn't some nice box you opened up on Sunday, and then closed up the rest of the week.  It wasn't something you did in private.  The gods were everywhere and a part of every aspect of life.  The fastest growing cult of the time was the cult of Caesar and if you weren't part of that, well, you were disloyal and unpatriotic.  Jews had a special exemption from all this pagan stuff, but these gentile converts to Christianity were in a tough spot.  When they became Christians they withdrew from all this paganism.  They stopped going to the temples and offering incense to Caesar and doing all the other little things people did throughout daily life and that got them into trouble.  So since Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and following him was sort of a new way of being Jewish, they claimed the Jewish exemption and pretty soon the “real” Jews were insisting that if they were going to call themselves Jews, they'd better at least by circumcised.  But once they did that and strayed off the straight line of gospel truth, they started to forget what the gospel was all about. So Paul reminds Peter and he reminds the agitators in Galatia: this greater righteousness found in the faithfulness of the Messiah, remember, this is why we believed in him!  In light of Jesus death for sins on the cross—remember?—we realised that in the end, torah won't cut it.  Righteousness is found in the faithfulness of King Jesus.  He goes on in verses 17 and 18: Well, then, if in seeking to be declared righteous in the Messiah, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make the Messiah an agent of sin?   This is the accusation of the agitators and of the “people from James”.  As part of living out the life of the gospel, Paul and Peter have been eating and fellowshipping with gentiles.  The agitators, stuck in the old, pre-Jesus and pre-gospel way of Jewish thinking, for them that makes Peter and Paul and all the others to be “sinners”—because they're disregarding torah and the boundary markers that have always been there.  If eating with gentile believers for the sake of the Messiah makes them sinners, then that would make the Messiah an agent of sin.  Paul's trying to show them how absurd their accusations are.  No, he's saying:   Certainly not!  If I build up once more the things which I tore down, I demonstrate that I am a lawbreaker. They've forgotten that Jesus has changed everything.  Jesus' death has dealt with sin—for both Jew and gentile.  Gentile believers are no longer sinners.  They're clean.  Paul's reminding them that the boundary markers of God's people have changed because of that.  What now counts is being “in the Messiah”.  They're trying to rebuild what the old walls and in doing so they're undermining the very saving gospel in which they've trusted.  It's a senseless thing to do.  It's like calling the police chief to help you bury the body of the guy you just killed.  It's not going to end well for you. So now, finally, we get to Paul's familiar and glorious text about incorporation into Jesus the Messiah.  Look at verse 19: Let me explain it like this: Through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with the Messiah.  I am, however, alive—but it is no longer I; it's the Messiah who lives in me.  And the life I do still live in the flesh, I live within the faithfulness of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.   I think the best way to see this is as Paul telling the story of the Messiah's death and resurrection as his own story.  This is what it means to be “in the Messiah”. Notice how Paul doesn't just dismiss the law, torah.  One of the first heresies—and one that pops up perennially in church history—was the teaching of Marcion who dismissed the law and the whole Old Testament as irrelevant.  For Paul, though, you can't have the new covenant without the old.  Torah was building towards Jesus and the cross and the giving of the Spirit all along.  So Paul doesn't just say he died to law—which we might think means the law doesn't matter.  He says that through the law, he died to the law.  In Jesus the law fulfilled its purpose and so in Jesus, Paul is now fully alive to God.  How does that work.  Well, Jesus was crucified and in that he dealt with sin.  Remember, again, that the king represents his people.  So Paul says, he has been—in Greek it's literally—"co-crucified” with the Messiah.  Through faith in Jesus, through identification with the Messiah, Paul has died to sin.  And then he says, “I am—however—alive.”  Of course he is.  If he is in the Messiah, if he has been co-crucified with the Messiah, then he has also been co-raised with the Messiah.  I am alive—but—it is no longer I; it's the Messiah who lives in me. Brothers and Sisters, notice how Jesus has changed Paul's identity.  That's what he's getting at here.  By faith he has been incorporated into the Messiah so that even though he still lives in the flesh—that final day when we will be made completely new still awaits us—but even though Paul still lives in the flesh, because he is in the Messiah, he now lives within the faithfulness of the Messiah—the son of God—and now Paul makes it more personal—not just that the son of God died, but that he loved me and gave himself for me.  This isn't just abstract theology.  Jesus, the son of God, was faithful to fulfil torah, and gave himself not just generally for humanity (although that is true), but he gave himself for Paul—for me—for you—out of love, again for you, for me.  Sometimes we need that reminder.  All the theology, all the explanation, all the argumentation to bring false teaching and false gospels to heel is necessary, but in the midst of all that, never forget that Jesus died for you, for me, because  he loves us—not just that he loves humanity as a whole in some general sense, but that he knows and loves each one of us.  He died for you.  He rose for you.  And he's baptised you into his own Holy Spirit so that you can share in his resurrection life. Paul drives home this very personal aspect of the gospel.  Peter knew this.  The Galatians new this.  And that makes it all the more powerful when he ends his argument saying in verse 21: I don't set aside God's grace.  If “righteousness” comes through the law, then the Messiah died for nothing.”   He's reminded them that in his grace, God sent his son to die for you.  But if you start rebuilding that old wall, if you start acting like “righteousness”—he means membership in the community of God's people—if you start acting like “righteousness” comes through the law and the old boundary markers, then what you're really saying is that Jesus died for nothing.  Whether Jews and gentile would eat together might seem like a small thing, but it wasn't.  Eat separately undercut the very foundation of the gospel.  That's not really an issue for us today—although there are some modern-day groups that do add torah to Jesus.  But Paul would have the same thing to say to anyone today who would divide up the people of God or who would exclude these people or those people based on something added to the gospel.  Our identity, Brothers and Sisters, whatever it was in the past or whoever the world around us tell us we are, our real identity, the identity that matters is in Jesus the Messiah and nothing else.  We have died and now live in Jesus. This is especially relevant to us today in the mist of our post-modern culture.  Our world is rapidly tribalizing over identity: things like race and sex and sexual orientation.  The new thing is creating our own identities contrary to those that God had given us.  In other cases we've turned our sins into identities.  And we find these identities so powerfully defining that we bring them into the church and we hyphenate ourselves.  We're black-Christians or we're white-Christians.  There's an ongoing controversy about those who call themselves gay-Christians.  But Paul reminds us that if we are by faith in the Messiah, we have but one identity.  We have died with the Messiah and while we still live, it is no longer we—whatever our colour or language or sex or past sin—it is the Messiah who lives in us—because he loves each of us so dearly that he gave himself for us.  Brothers and Sisters, that's the straight line of the gospel.  Come to the Tablet this morning.  Eat the bread and drink the wine and be reminded that Jesus died and rose again for you and that in him, you have died and been raised.  His life, his faithfulness, his love and grace and mercy are now your identity.  No more masks, no more play-acting, just Jesus the Messiah. Let's pray again our Collect: Lord, give your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

When we mention Zen practice these days, we usually mean sitting in Zen meditation, or zazen. It was not always so. In Bodhidharma's time, “practice” meant observing the Precepts in daily life, discerning to what degree our behavior is comporting to their admonitions. If memory serves, this is found in “The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma” by Bill Porter, AKA Red Pine. Similarly, when we speak of studying the Dharma, we typically mean reading the written record. It was not always so. When Buddha was alive, the teachings were spoken. You literally had to go listen to live lectures and, later, memorized recitation, to hear the Dharma. This was apparently true of all teachings of all sects at that time; the oral tradition prevailed. It was some four centuries after the Buddha's death, when his utterances were first committed to written form. With the advent of the Internet we have many more opportunities to “hear the true dharma” — a Dogen coinage with a deeper meaning — as expounded by others in the form of podcasts such as UnMind, audiobooks and other modern marvels. But we have to call into question whether we are hearing the Dharma truly. Whether the meaning we extract from listening to the efforts of others to express this subtle and inconceivable teaching is anywhere near to the original meaning that the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, intended, or for that matter that of any of his many successors in India, China, Korea and Japan, and the other countries of origin. I am not suggesting that we engage in a scholarly examination of the provenance and evolution of the Three Baskets — or Tripitaka in Sanskrit. I propose that we are challenged to attempt to render the meaning in the modern idiom, which involves extracting them from their original cultural context, and embedding them in ours, as well as expressing them in the vernacular, including the language of modern science and philosophy. For one thing, this means divesting the ancient liturgical passages of jargon — primarily the obscure and seemingly mystical terms, mostly from Sanskrit — such as “samadhi” for example — that some contemporary writers seem prone to sprinkle liberally throughout their publications. The downside to this tendency is that it creates an impression that the author actually knows what these terms mean, whether you, dear listener,understand them or not. Another consideration is what is called the “theory-laden” aspect of the semantics of language, as well as our interpretation of direct perception. This conditions the impact that Zen masters' behavior, as well as that of their “turning words” — in Japanese, wato — can have on their students. This concept was introduced to me by George Wrisley georgewrisley.com, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Georgia, author of texts on Dogen and Zen, who generously made several technical contributions to my books, “The Original Frontier” and “The Razorblade of Zen.” Professor Wrisley pointed out that, in the now-famous records of Zen students' exchanges with their masters, including extreme gestures they resorted to, in trying to help the student wake up to the reality of Zen — shock tactics such as shouting, and sometimes striking with a fist or staff — each student's reaction to the abuse was entirely dependent upon their belief, or innate “theory,” that the teacher was enlightened, and so could “do no wrong,” to oversimplify the point. Ordinarily, if someone hits you with a stick, your reaction would not be one of profound insight, and undying gratitude for the “grandmotherly kindness” of your abuser. Today it would likely trigger a lawsuit. The ancient ancestors of Zen seem to have an intuitive grasp of the importance of language and its effect on our perception of reality, as indicated in lines from the early Ch'an poems, such as: Darkness merges refined and common wordsBrightness distinguishes clear and murky phrases And: Hearing the words understand the meaningDo not establish standards of your own In Zen, of course, experience comes first, expression a distant second. The interim state, and where we can get it wrong, consists in our interpretation of direct experience, both on the cushion and off. As another ancient Ch'an poem has it: The meaning does not reside in the wordsbut a pivotal moment brings it forth And yet another: Although it is not constructedit is not beyond words Hopefully we have, or will have in future, experienced this pivotal moment. Meanwhile, we are dependent upon words to parse this teaching, and to express it, both to ourselves as well as to others. We can use words to encourage all to go beyond language, and even ordinary perception, in direct experience in zazen. In the face of this design intent of the Dharma, the past efforts to translate it into various languages, and the present effort to paraphrase it into the modern idiom, seem worth the time and trouble. In this spirit, let me share with you my paraphrase of the Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra, or Great Heart of Wisdom Teaching, with which, hopefully, you are familiar. This is a work in progress, subject to revision. The typographical layout available on the UnMind podcast page is designed to facilitate scanning and reading the text while chanting it aloud, usually accompanied by drum and gongs. You might follow it with your eyes, while you follow my words with your ears. In this way, you will absorb a multi-sensory experience, which may be more revealing than hearing or reading alone. I will simply recite it here, a capella: ESSENTIAL TEACHING OF PERFECTING WISDOM When any and all Awakening Beingsdeeply and directly experience the process of perfecting wisdom,they clearly see that all five traditional components of sentienceare fundamentally free of permanence and separate self-existence;this insight relieves all unnecessary suffering. Respected seekers of the truth, know that:the apparent form of our world is not separate from its impermanence;impermanence is not separable from appearances;“form,” or particles of matter, is innately “emptiness,” or waves of energy;conversely, emptiness is innately form.All sensations, perceptions, and underlying mental formations,as well as consciousness itself, also manifest as complementary.All existent beings manifest elemental impermanence,imperfection, and insubstantiality:they neither arise nor cease, as they appear to do;they are neither defiled nor pure, but nondual in their nature;they neither increase nor decrease in value or merit.Therefore know that, given the relativity of the material and immaterial,there can be no fixity of form; no tangibility of sensation;no persistence of perception; no infallibility of mental formations;finally, there can be no absolute entity of consciousness.More immediately, the principle of complementarity entails that there can beno eyes, ears, nose, or tongue, as such; and thus, no body;likewise there can be no “mind,” as a separate substance;it follows that, in spite of appearances,there can be no independent functions ofseeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching;nor can there be unconstructed objects of the mind;no independent realm of sight, nor that of any other sense organ;nor any realm of mind-consciousness as a whole. This means that there can be neither ignorance in the absolute sense,nor any extinction of ignorance in the relative sense.Neither can there be sickness, old age and death as absolute states;Nor any extinction of sickness, old age and death as relative states.In light of the implications of this insight,suffering intentionally inflicted upon oneself and / or others can come to an end,stemming as it does from confusion as to root causes;while natural suffering such as aging, sickness, and death cannot end. Thus there can be no isolated “path” leading to cessation of suffering;there can be no essential “knowledge” to gain, in any conclusive sense;and no “attainment,” of any consequential kind. Since there is nothing to attain,all Awakening Beings rely totally on simply perfecting their wisdom;their body-mind drops away, functioning fully with no further hindrances; with no dualistic hindrances, no root of fear is to be found;far beyond confused worldviews,they abide in nondual spiritual liberation. All Awakening Ones of past, present, and futurerely on the perfecting of this deepest wisdom,thereby attaining unsurpassed, complete, insightand letting go of the attainment. Rest assured that perfecting wisdomis the most excellent method;the serene and illuminating discipline; the unsurpassable teaching;the incomparable means of mitigating all suffering;and that this claim is true, not false. We proclaim the transformational perfecting of wisdom: Gone, gone to the other shore; attained the other shore; altogether beyond the other shore, having never left; the other shore comes to us; wisdom perfected! I do not claim to have captured the essence of the original chant. The afore-mentioned Buddhist scholar and Ch'an translator Red Pine, in his modern translation “The Heart Sutra,” tells us that this condensed version of the larger sutra extolling the emptiness of all existence, including the Dharma, was published in China around 900 CE. This was done in order to counter a prevailing trend toward erudition as the indicator of enlightenment, a distortion of the true Dharma that has occurred more than once in history. Another famous example is that of Master Huineng, sixth ancestor in China, who publicly tore up copies of the sutras to make a similar point. Buddha-dharma is manifest in nondual reality as lived, not contained in writing as doctrine. In a future segment of UnMind, we will take up another of my hopeful efforts at paraphrasing the Dharma. Meanwhile I encourage you to try your own hand — or more precisely, your mouth and mind — at putting one of the historical teachings into your own words. You might want to compose your own version of the Precepts, for example. When and if you do so, it may force you to consider the true meaning of these teachings which — through the sheer repetition of chanting them repeatedly over time — begin to sink into our stubborn monkey minds. But the downside of repetition is that they may become rote recitation, in which their deeper meaning and direct relevance to our contemporary lives may be lost. Not to worry, however — combined with the nonverbal silence and deep stillness of zazen, where we can begin to experience the meaning of the expression — we cannot go far wrong.

Ordinarily Sarah by Sarah Elizabeth RoseStrange incantations, death threats, curses, a towering dragon, a hidden garden located in a sea of burnt ashes, soul-grabbing owls with talons razor sharp, a secret world of dark-winged creatures tearing at the sky, and a screeching Prince ordering the dark-winged creatures to kill and destroy . . .This is the strange new world that ordinary Sarah, wife and mother, homemaker, school teacher, and part time children's pastor, finds herself in on a cold winter day after her young adult daughter called to say that she could no longer be a part of Sarah's life—ever.How will Sarah exist in her new world? How will she battle the dark-winged creatures and the soul-grabbing owls with talons, razor sharp? How will Sarah rescue her daughter? How will Sarah find the hidden garden, the only place where she can find a measure of comfort and peace? And how will Sarah find God in her new world of burnt ashes—where everything she has known and loved has disappeared?Sally M. Meyer. Wife. Mother. School Teacher. Ordained Pastor. Grew up in the Mid West. Graduated from the University of Illinois and The Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Illinois. Taught School and then Co-Pastored a number of churches with her husband in the Mid West. Speaker. Educator. Pastor. Author.https://www.amazon.com/Ordinarily-Sarah-Elizabeth-Rose/dp/1620205653/https://www.amazon.com/Ordinarily-Sarah-Book-Ii-Relentless/dp/1489728686/https://sarahrosesilentnomore.com/   http://www.LitPrime.com   http://www.bluefunkbroadcasting.com/root/twia/91224serlp.mp3  

You can support this work at https://patreon.com/kindmind and access bonus content.'At the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit. And that center is really everywhere. It is within each of us.' -Black ElkWe all have an often underused and therefore latent power of concentration. It is like the aperture of a camera which controls how much light comes through the lens. When it is smaller, it yields marvelous depth of field but a blurring of the periphery.Similarly, the light of conscious attention can be directed like a laser to penetrate the phenomenal world to reveal deeper insights and master an aspect of life.Ordinarily, our understanding and attentional interests are coming from the environment and outer conditioning with the illusion of one's willful direction, just as the tides appear to be the work of the ocean and not the invisible gravity of the moon.Concentration also represents the sixth limb in the philosophy of yoga. Dharana is the Sanskrit word with its root "dhar" meaning "to hold." But this is not the same as meditation, which in some ways is the opposite, like the large aperture full of light due to having no specific focus.This episode explores various creative and contemplative paths to concentration, it's material and spiritual benefits as well as it's relationship to meditation and other limbs of yoga.(original artwork on episode website and music "Eight Hours" by Bing Satellites)

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers That brings our look at the early years of Suspense to a close. Suspense would remain a hollywood production until the waning days of radio drama in 1959 when Bill Robson was directing it and this happened. Ordinarily here's where you'd get a sneak peek at next month's episode of Breaking Walls. Next month's episode, however, is significant. Sometimes you've got to go back to the beginning in order to know where you've been. Next month on Breaking Walls we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the show with what? Well, I can't reveal everything, you'll just have to stay tuned.

Jesse shares a fun way to handle "fun money" from long-time YNAB software engineer Kyle. Kyle suggests creating separate bank accounts for fun money with separate budgets as well. His method evolved from the desire to keep the visibility of fun money separate from his spouse, so they could 1.) take any judgment or guilt away from spending fun money, and 2.) spend on fun things for each other without ruining the surprise!   Ordinarily, Jesse advocates for simplifying your bank accounts as much as possible, but Kyle is a veteran YNAB'er and his method may be a fun experiment for you to try in your own family!   Got a question for Jesse? Send him an email: askjesse@ynab.com   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com   Follow YNAB on social media: Facebook: @iYNAB Instagram: @youneedabudget Twitter: @ynab Tik Tok: @ynabofficial

Evelyn's Task: 100 shags in 2 days. By BradentonLarry - Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Evelyn remembered that there were four or five high stools arranged around her table and looking down she saw that there were three faces smiling up at her, watching her move in the light. There were two men and a woman. One of the men looked Latino and the other was black with a slightly light complexion. Both men seemed naked from Evelyn's viewpoint. The woman seemed Chinese or Vietnamese, or possibly Thai, but had curly blonde hair brushing her lovely neck, she seemed younger than the two guys by maybe a decade. She was wrapped in a white towel for some reason, but it had slipped down to expose her left breast.Evelyn casually looked around to see how her fellow dancers were doing. Though one of the guys was still dancing much as she was, the other girl and guy had moved into much more suggestive styles. The guy was reclining on his haunches, bending back so his rather impressive erection was standing straight up as several members of his audience reached out to run their hands over his muscular thighs. The girl was on her hands and knees wiggling her ass and exposing her vulva for the people on that side of her table. Evelyn decided she should be having more fun with this situation. Spreading her feet wide apart on the table, with her back to the two men, she slowly bent at the waist until she had placed her hands flat on the table. Her long red-brown hair cascaded around her head and brushed the tabletop. She felt a hand moving up over her right ankle and then a moment later one caressing her left. Smiling, Evelyn, took her right hand and lifted her hair from her face and had a closer look at the pretty Asian woman who was smiling back at her. Letting the Latino and black guys, she assumed, continue to caress her feet, ankles, and strong calves, as well as admire her exposed pussy, Evelyn crooked her left index finger at the woman, beckoning her closer. Letting her towel fall away, the woman leaned forward over the illuminated tabletop. Evelyn caught her face in a light grasp and gave her a lingering kiss. Releasing the woman's face, Evelyn slowly stood and went back to her dancing for a moment, slowly turning until she was facing the Latino guy, and then repeated her slow bending, including giving a kiss, which was a bit less lingering than the first one. She went through the same routine for the black guy. She was planning to change things up but by then a third man had joined her audience. This was a guy who seemed Indian or Pakistani, and who was admiring Evelyn with quite obvious lust, over and above the admiration the others were exhibiting. Ordinarily, she would have thought 'This one's trouble,' but under the circumstances the way the new guy was looking at her just turned her on more and emboldened her further. This time, while facing the new guy, Evelyn backed up toward the edge of the table, nearest the Latino gentleman, then lowered herself to her hands and knees, and then crawled the short distance to the new guy who met her with a passionate kiss. Evelyn let herself enjoy the feeling of his tongue against hers for a long moment, but then backed up, rolling back until she was sitting closer to the Asian woman. With her hands and feet planted firmly beneath her, Evelyn lifted herself up into a table-position, her thighs spread so the woman could see her pussy clearly. Very slowly, Evelyn lowered herself, sinking toward the woman who was watching her with a smile. Watching the woman's expressions, Evelyn slid her hand down over her taut belly until her fingers were moving over her labia. Then she found herself slowly fingering herself, pressing her palm tightly against her clit. She might have just laid back there on the table and brought herself off, but just then the pretty Asian woman crooked her finger at her, copying the gesture Evelyn had used on her just minutes ago. With a broad smile, Evelyn crab-walked herself to the edge of the table right in front of the woman, who ran her hands along the inside of Evelyn's thighs before leaning in to kiss her very ready pussy. The woman's tongue slipped between Evelyn's lips and flickered over her clit, sending shivers all through her body. Momentarily forgetting the three men and the rest of the situation, Evelyn lay back and enjoyed what the woman's tongue and lips were doing to her. Evelyn slipped her legs around the woman's shoulders to hold her close and clasped her own tits tightly, pinching her nipples a bit. She was content to stay there and let the lovely woman lick her to an orgasm, at least, but then she felt a warm hand on her left thigh, which was the one on the side toward the newer guy. Looking down, she saw that that man was saying something to the woman, who stopped what she was doing to Evelyn to smile and nod to him. Then, reluctantly, Evelyn relaxed her legs' grasp on the woman so she could pull away and be replaced by the gentleman with lust in his eyes. Fortunately, he picked up right where the pretty Asian had left off, which earned him a happy smile from Evelyn. Then she watched as the Latino guy helped the Asian woman climb up onto the table with Evelyn. Her pale, slender body was beautiful in the bright light as she crawled over to kiss Evelyn, who relaxed and enjoyed being pleasured by two affectionate mouths. Too quickly, though, the woman broke the kiss and moved to straddle Evelyn's face. Smiling up at the woman, Evelyn grasped her tight ass and helped her get into just the right position so Evelyn could run her tongue between her lips, tasting her sweet nectar and licking at her hard little clit. The guy between her legs wasn't exactly the best, but he wasn't bad, and he was clearly intent on making Evelyn come. Evelyn felt her legs resting on his shoulders and her heels pressing against his back, holding him there, as she tried to concentrate on licking and sucking at the pussy and clit on her face. She felt her orgasm approaching as she saw the Latino guy moving up in front of the Asian woman. Evelyn wondered a bit how many people this table could hold, but went on with what she was doing, trying to make this pretty woman come for her. By now the man between Evelyn's legs was fucking at least two fingers in and out of her pussy rather violently as his tongue lashed at her clit, and she could see the Asian woman on her face was sucking the Latino guy's cock. She thought what a nice spectacle this must be for the people watching, and then she was coming. Her body clenched and spasmed as Evelyn rode a wave of tumbling ecstasy. She stopped licking at the woman on her face's clit and just moaned into her pussy as she shook. Only when she came back down did she manage to get back to work, squeezing the woman's ass in her hands as she continued licking and sucking. Evelyn was barely aware of the fact that the man between her legs was shifting around. Then, she felt the unmistakable sensations that came with having a cock moving between her lips and then pushing into her pussy. Evelyn wondered how the man, who she was assuming was the same guy who'd just been licking her, managed to get up high enough to fuck her, but put that concern out of her head and let herself enjoy being fucked. She felt her legs being lifted up, held in a V, as the man shoved into her with increasing force. Soon, it was all Evelyn could do to keep the woman's clit in place enough for her to keep licking at it, as she was driven into again and again. She found herself wishing she could get a hold of something to encourage her fucker to ram into her even harder, or that he had a bigger cock. Even so, she thought she was likely to come again before she was able to make the woman on top of her come. She was wrong. The woman had been pressing down on Evelyn's mouth and tongue more insistently, when suddenly she was shaking and rubbing herself on Evelyn's face as her juices flowed freely. Evelyn found herself bathed in sweet wetness as the woman shuddered and gasped on her face. Then she felt the man fucking her filling her pussy with his cum. As the woman carefully moved away and Evelyn felt the cock being pulled away from her pussy, she remembered where she was and thought it was extremely hot that she had been putting on such a display for everyone in the club. She also thought that she needed more cock. Rather than just lay there sprawled out at the edge of her table and wait for someone to put his dick in her, which was sure to happen soon enough, Evelyn thought she should do something more proactive about the situation. Wiping her face a bit with the back of her hand, Evelyn sat up and looked around. She saw that the table had actually lowered quite a bit while she'd been distracted. It was now at a level where it would be quite easy for the average man to fuck her as she was. While that was convenient, Evelyn wanted to go on with her performance. Knowing that she must look pretty wild with her mane of hair all messed up and wet, she twisted around and cast her eye to the people around her table-stage. The lusty guy who had licked her and then, she presumed, fucked her was still there, and had a contented smile on his face. The black guy was there too, but the Latino and Asian woman were gone. A new guy caught her eye. He was a young man, maybe early twenties, white, with short black hair. After crawling to the center of her table, Evelyn beckoned to this new guy and the black guy who'd been waiting so patiently. She knelt there in the middle of her brightly lit little stage as they came up to stand in front of her, presenting their cocks. The black cock was nice and long, and very thick, while the white one was even longer, but not so thick. Before she even began to kiss and lick at these beautiful phalluses before her, Evelyn had a plan. She took her time, really trying to make a show of things, licking and sucking on both cocks. After a bit, she gestured for the black guy to lie down on his back for her. Holding on to the long white cock for support and to keep him from wandering off, Evelyn straddled the muscular black man and sank slowly down on his wonderfully fat cock. Groaning a bit as she impaled herself, feeling herself so blissfully filled, Evelyn reached down with her free hand to stroke her clit. There on the illuminated platform, on top of a muscular man with his big thick cock in her pussy, another man standing next to her, his long cock tightly in her hand, Evelyn brought herself off in a brief but sweet orgasm. Then she was riding slowly up and down on that thick column of hard flesh, fingers stroking her clit furiously, while her other hand twisted and stroked at the other cock, until she threw her head back and her muscles tensed all over as she came loudly for everyone to see. She really let herself go with it, squeezing herself on that cock and arching her back and crying out incoherently, gasping and shuddering. When Evelyn was able to think again, she smiled down at the man underneath her and began to rock herself against him, working his thick cock in and out of herself again. She pulled the waiting guy over to her mouth, quickly going back to sucking hungrily at his long cock. She tried to get as much as she could of that length down her throat, but there was quite a bit left over. When she had that cock nice and slippery with her saliva, she looked up at its owner and tossed her head over her shoulder, hoping he would take the hint. He did. In another moment, Evelyn braced herself with both hands on the black guy's firm chest as the guy behind her began to push his long prick slowly up her ass. She loved the feeling of being so completely filled – a sensation she hadn't appreciated so well before that orgy on the Riverboat. For the first time since climbing onto her little stage, Evelyn said something. She groaned and said, “God yes! That feels so good! Fuck me boys, fuck me!” It took a moment for them to get the right rhythm, but soon the two men were working well together, pistoning in and out of Evelyn's body as they succumbed to their carnal desire to fuck her until they came inside her. She came and came again, shuddering and crying out between them, before someone else joined their party. An Asian guy with a long cock, but not as long as the guy who was vigorously fucking her ass, came up and offered himself to Evelyn's mouth. Without hesitating, she opened her mouth and let him slide past her lips, over her tongue and into her throat. Evelyn was now merely hanging on, letting the three men move in and out of her. She let herself go, merely riding along as the sensations and pleasure had their way with her. Oddly enough, it was the man fucking her face who came first, pumping what seemed like a lot of cum down her throat and then splashing across her face. Before Evelyn could wipe any of the jizz off her forehead, she felt the big cock under her pumping hot cum up into her pussy, and then, before the first was finished, the guy behind her was coming deep inside her bowels, hot cum rushing up inside her. This was all too much for Evelyn's body to resist and she came again, this time in an explosive wrack of clenching muscles, shaking limbs, and wordless crying out. “I came so … fucking … hard,” Evelyn breathed. She had worked the end of her staff up into her ass and was fucking the fingers of her left hand in and out of her pussy, as she strummed at her clit with the fingers of her right. “Fuck! I'm going to come again, Don! Come with me!” Don had stripped out of his Batman costume and was stroking his very hard cock as he listened to her story and watched her. Although she had brought herself off earlier during the story, he had held off, but now, at her urging, he gave in. “Yes,” he nodded, arching his back, pushing his cock upward, “yes! I'm going to… oh fuck, yes!” “Yes, baby!” she cried out. “YES!” Across the room, in her chair, Evelyn was shaking and moaning, while Don's cock swelled and erupted spraying a flood of hot, white cum all over his belly and chest. He clenched and shuddered as the orgasm went on and on. “Wait,” Toshia said. “She used the end of the staff as a dildo?” Don nodded, “It was a good size for it, and smooth, no splinters.” “Damn,” she grinned. “I kind of wish I'd thought of that.” “Hum,” Evelyn purred, laying in her chair, legs splayed widely, staff sticking out of her butt, fingers idly stroking her labia. “I do wish we could play.” “Believe me, me too!” Don grinned as he used his discarded costume to wipe cum off himself. “Was that the end of your story?” “Well,” she said as she slowly drew the staff out of her ass. “Hey, note that I have now taken the stick out of my ass.” Don laughed and said, “Duly noted.” “Well, the rest of that session just became an orgy, which was a lot of fun, but for me that was the best part.” “Excellent!” “The rest of the week passed with more of the same, basically – nothing more intense and very little of it was boring.” “What about the rest of the Resort? You said you had time off every day.” “Yeah, I think I've been into every one of the clubs,” she nodded. “I didn't stay long in all of them, but I made a point to check out every one I found.” “Any favorites? Or particularly hot events?” “I had a good time in Ladies Night,” she winked. “And I bring the hot event with me, you know.” Don laughed, “I do know!” “Nothing really stands out as particularly noteworthy… I'm sure I'll think of more stories to tell you, but I should tell you about my next mission. Did you want to take a break and get properly cleaned up, though? I could use a drink and a bite to eat.” “Sounds good!“ Don smiled, grabbing a vest to hang his sheriff's star on. "Hey, where's that deputy girl?” “Hell if I know,” shrugged Don. “She seems to have gone with the previous sheriff.” “‘Seems like you should have someone to watch over things when you're sleeping.” “Want the job?” “Sorry, lover,” she chuckled. “I can't stay that long.” “Well, that sucks.” “Don't you think it would be even more frustrating for us to spend this year here together but not getting to have sex?” “Good point,” Don agreed. They had come to the Jungle Room, and Evelyn suggested they pop in to see if India was about. She wasn't, and neither was Jaden, but they took the opportunity to clean up in the pool before deciding to walk and talk. “I can call this doing my rounds,” Don smiled. “Now, that was your first mission, right?” “Yes,” she nodded. “The next one was very straightforward: fuck one hundred men in two days.” “Ah, what? Seriously?” Evelyn grinned at his reaction and said, “Well, not exactly. The exact phrasing was more like ‘Have one hundred men come in or on you within 48 hours.'” Thinking back to her own escapades in Eros, which she had considered impressive, Toshia laughed and exclaimed, “There goes my slut of the year title!” “I don't remember that being official,” Don laughed. “But, hey, you left early, and you've got Sarah.” “That's true,” she smiled. “Still, I'm a bit jealous, and I was fond of that title.” “Maybe you can find a way to win it back later,” Don grinned. “Oh, you can count on it!” Toshia laughed. “A hundred?!" Don gaped. "Yep,” Evelyn nodded. “I didn't think it would even be difficult. I just planned to head down to the huge-ass orgy downstairs. It would be easy to get twenty-five guys in the morning, twenty-five in the afternoon, twenty-five in the evening… Hell, I'd be done early.” “Well, yeah, when you put it that way. But I take it things didn't go quite so easily.” She laughed, “Yeah, that woman, Pamela, added something; I couldn't do it either in the Pleasure Dome or at the on-going orgy here in the Temple.” “That would make things a bit trickier,” nodded Don. “Yeah, but 'the timer' started with the first guy to come, and they picked where they would send me.” “Hum, they could be real dicks and put you in the middle of nowhere.” “Yeah, but they didn't,” she smiled. “They sent me to a place you're familiar with, the Manor.” “Oh! Fun!" Don grinned. "I turned up outside the front door, but I could tell where I was from your description. I wanted to get my task done as quickly as possible, but I remembered our system, so I went in and found the library as quickly as possible. Thanks to what you told me about getting around in there it was pretty easy. Sure enough, Robert was there and had a lot of questions. I tried to fill him in as best as I could, and then I let him fill me in, if you follow my meaning,” she winked at him. Don grinned, “I'm sure he appreciated both things.” “I think he did,” she smiled. “I rode him right there on his chair.” “Nice. That's one.” “You're going to give up on that pretty quickly,” laughed Evelyn. “Once I got that first dose of cum, I was on the hunt. There was a slender young guy wandering around in the stacks just outside the Scholar's office, over to the right of those tables, remember?” “The place, but not the guy,” nodded Don. “Yeah, smart ass. Well, I just went up to him, dropped to my knees and blew him right there.” “Two.” Evelyn rolled her eyes, “Do I have to shove you in?” They were walking hand-in-hand by the side of the giant pool in the middle of the Resort. When Don just laughed, Evelyn continued with, “I found two more guys there on that floor of the library. I got them together and had one fuck me from behind while I sucked the other one off, right there in the stacks.” “Nice,” Don said, adding under his breath, “Four.” Ignoring him, Evelyn said, “I was able to find eleven more guys… well, eighteen, but seven of them were busy. So, I fucked six of them and sucked off the others. There were two more threesomes in there, and the last three were all at once, which was fun.” “Did you come while you were with these, fifteen guys?” “Oh, a few times,” she grinned, “but that wasn't what I was after. When I left the library, I was thinking I needed to find someplace where people were more likely to congregate, and I thought about some of the things you'd mentioned. So, I thought I'd try that steam room. I found it quickly enough, and had a dip in that big bathtub, or pool, or whatever you want to call it, then headed into the steam room. "There were eight guys in there, not including four guys who were ganging up on this one pretty little thing in the corner. I thought she looked like she was having a good time, so I dove in. I just said, 'Any of you guys want to party?' Before I knew it, I was surrounded by cocks. I started out sitting on that first bench, moving from cock to cock, sucking each one some before moving to the next. Then I was laying back as they started taking turns fucking me. After a couple of them came in my pussy and a couple on my face and tits, the others got me down on the floor on my hands and knees. They just took me from both ends, either fucking my pussy or ass while I sucked a cock.” “Hot!” Don breathed. “It was!” Evelyn grinned. “I noticed that one guy who'd fucked me earlier was waiting his turn to get some head, so I stopped and told them it was one orgasm to a customer, but they should go send any friends my way.” Don laughed, “How did they take that?” “Cheerfully, actually. That guy and the others who had come already left and soon I was down to just two guys. I was jerking this guy's cock until he came on my face, and the other was about to come in my pussy, when other guys started coming into the steam room and heading in my direction. (I had completely lost track of what was going on with the girl in the corner.) As I was wiping some of the cum off my face, but before the last of my original eight buddies came, I saw six more guys standing around me. I smiled and said 'Welcome boys! I'll take you however you want, but just one orgasm each, okay?' They all smiled and nodded, stroking a wonderful variety of cocks for me. "So, there I was, getting gangbanged in the steam room, first by the original eight, then the second wave of six, and then four more. I had changed position half a dozen times, and taken loads in my pussy, ass, and down my throat, not to mention having it splashed on my face, tits, butt… well, pretty much everywhere.” “Damn, that's fucking hot!” Don grinned. "Orgasms?“ "Too many to count, though I was really just focusing on making each man come.” “Damn,” he breathed again. “And you were already a third of the way to your goal. How long was all that?” “Since Robert? I'd guess about three or four hours. By then I was quite a mess. The steam room guys had been all in one long go, and I needed cleaning up and a break. So, I went back to the bath and devoted myself to a nice long soak and wash. Of course, while I was there, I had to take breaks when men came in to bathe.” “Of course. How many times did that happen?” “Four, but two of those times included more than one guy. Okay, okay, the first break was just one guy, then there were two, then just one again, and then four guys came in all at once. Actually, that last one was pretty hot. I got one guy to sit up on the edge of the pool so I could give him a blow job and his friends each fucked me from behind, in the water. Uh, now I'm thinking we should spend some more time by the pool tonight.” Don grinned, “I like that idea, though I had another spot in mind.” “Oh?” “No, carry on,” he laughed. “I think you're at forty-one.” “Fine, fine,” she shook her head. “So, by then I was hungry and thirsty, so I decided to look for that lounge you mentioned. I went down to the ground floor and found it in no time. I got some fruit and a drink. I was in no hurry to get back to my hunt for cock, since I was sure I was doing well enough, timewise. So, I took a look around, just out of curiosity. There were some couples having sex, a few people actually just taking a nap, and up on the top level there was a group of people actually playing pool. There were three or four women who looked like swimsuit models, a couple of less interesting guys, and a tall, thin black guy with a nice sized dick between his legs. This guy seemed to be the ringleader of the group.” Don smiled, “That sounds very familiar.” “Yeah, that's what I thought, too,” she laughed. “When he saw me watching, he asked if I would like to play. I said I didn't have time for any complicated games, but I was willing to give it a try if he'd agree to make things interesting.” Laughing, Don said, “He must have loved that.” “Yeah, he grinned and said, 'Of course. What did you have in mind?' And I said, 'Simple 8-Ball. If I win, you and these two other gentlemen cum in my pussy. He smiled and said, 'And if we win?' 'Then,' I said, 'you cum in my ass.'” “I did tell you how well-hung he and Igor were, right?” “Yeah, but I was feeling reckless, and I kind of underestimated things, to be honest. Not my pool skills, mind you,” she laughed. “I suck at pool! I was pretty sure I would lose, but I was feeling cocky, so to speak. The Player's posse watched as we played, and I did better than I thought I would, but still, yeah, he won. I took Peter first, bent over the edge of the pool table, while the girls got Igor and the Player nice and ready, both hard and wet. Then the Asian girl…” “Keiko.” “Right. Keiko got under me and played with my clit as Igor pushed that big cock of his into my ass. I thought I was going to pass out, and then I was coming so hard. He just started fucking me while I was coming, and he kept at it until I felt him pumping a crazy amount of cum up inside me. Then it was the Player's turn. He picked me up and laid me back on the pool table, lifting my butt up so he could fuck my ass and look into my eyes, like you did that night on the Riverboat. The girls got up on the table around me and started kissing and fondling my body while the Player slowly filled my ass and then got down to fucking me. I must have come half a dozen times during this whole thing. When he came it felt like someone had flooded my ass with cum. "When he was done, I was lying there sprawled on the table with cum running out of my ass and a ridiculous smile on my face. I thanked the girls and then said I needed to repay them. I know I was supposed to be focusing on making men come, but they had been so sweet and helpful.” “Naturally.” “Naturally,” Evelyn nodded. “So, I had them each sit on my face so I could make them come, too. While I was licking one, the other two were busy using their mouths and tongues to clean the fellows and me up. They were very thorough! "Anyway, when I was done, they invited me to come along with them to find new games to play, but I explained that I was on a mission, and then what that mission was. At the time, I was thinking I might actually finish my hundred before bedtime. The Player thought this was a fun idea and suggested that I try the theater next door because it was movie night. After grabbing a couple more strawberries and a nice glass of water, I headed over.Evelyn continues telling Don of her task adventures. “It was a bit weird to see so many people gathered to watch porn there in Eros. I mean, they live porn 24/7, right? But there they were. The place wasn't packed but there were quite a few people scattered around in there. When I came in, the scene on the screen was of a young blonde girl giving an enthusiastic blow job to two well hung gentlemen, and in the front row I could see half a dozen men sitting by themselves, idly stroking their hardons. I could see women in the audience too, but I was focused on the gents.“I decided to go right for the middle of the front row. There was a dark-haired guy dead center of the row stroking a long, thick cock for me. It wasn't anywhere near as big as Igor's or the Player's of course, so it looked just the right size. Giving him a smile, I knelt down between his legs and ran my hands over his thighs, then leaned in to kiss and lick his heavy balls and then his shaft. He had gotten it nice and hard already, so I didn't waste too much time before pulling it away from him so I could suck it. This was just an appetizer for me, though, and in another minute, I climbed up on his lap and sank down on his cock. I made a point of riding up and down on him as theatrically as possible. I wanted to get some attention. It helped that he was enthusiastic about helping me out, holding onto my ass and sucking at my tits. "There was a guy sitting in the next row behind us who was now watching me grinding on my new favorite prick more than he was watching the movie. I smiled at him and gestured for him to come closer. He stood up and I saw that he had a hard cock, too.” “What a surprise!” Don chuckled. “I know, right? So, then I was leaning over the guy I was riding to suck on this new cock behind him. If anyone minded someone standing up in front of them no one said anything. It didn't take too long before that guy in row two to hold my head and start fucking himself in and out of my mouth until he was coming. I sucked it all down and gave him a smile as he pulled away. It was then that I noticed that the guys on either side of us had moved closer, to get a better look at the action. Before I knew it, they were on either side of me, perched a bit precariously on the theater chairs so I could suck and stroke their cocks for them. They were also running their hands over my back and butt, which was seriously turning me on. "I turned to the guy on my left and suggested he fuck my ass. He was pretty quick to get down there and push himself up into me. I really tried to concentrate on making the men come, but with that nice big cock up inside me and the cocks in my mouth and ass, I came pretty hard before any of them did. After that, I got pretty busy. The guy in my ass came, and the guy I'd been sucking took his place, but by then there were two more guys on either side of me. I took a moment to ask the guy under me how he was doing but he just grinned and said he was having a great time. "When the guy fucking my ass came, I decided to change things up a bit. I reluctantly climbed off that sweet cock, turned around and sat back on his lap, taking him up my ass. God, that felt good right then! Then, the two guys on either side who I'd been stroking each fucked my pussy until they came. When the second of these guys pulled away, I saw that there was a semi-circle of ten guys standing there watching me all stroking themselves. "I leaned forward and started sucking cock after cock. After a couple of them came down my throat, the next guy pushed me back and shoved himself up into my pussy. He didn't last long and was replaced by the next guy, and then the next. All in all, two of those ten guys came in my mouth and the rest came inside my pussy. I was feeling so insanely slutty, and I just wanted more. "Then I remembered the guy whose hard, thick cock was up my ass. I asked him what he needed to come, and then I was on my hands and knees, getting my ass fucked hard and fast. I played with myself as he banged me, and I came really hard as he pumped a huge load of cum into me. "Damn!” Don breathed again, painfully aware of how hard his cock was as it swayed in front of him while they walked. Evelyn laughed, “Want me to stop?” “Hell no!” “Okay, then… Well, I decided I needed to get cleaned up again, so I left the theater and went down the hall to find that pool you mentioned. You didn't tell me there was a shower room there, though. When I found that, I took the time to get washed up and then went for a swim. Of course, that water was reinvigorating, so I went back on my hunt. "I scored another four guys in the hot tub, and then a train of eight guys while I laid on my back on a weight machine bench. Then it was back to the showers, where I found another three donors for the cause. I was starting to feel a bit worn out by then, though, and wanted to be somewhere I could sleep comfortably before I ran out of steam completely. So, I headed upstairs to check out the bedrooms. "Wouldn't you know it, but I found a room with a nice little nine-person orgy going on. There were five men and four women. I knew I was way over my count for the first day, so I decided I would join this party, maybe get all five of the guys to come for me, but call it quits for the night after that. Since I was the only one with any kind of specific goal in mind, it wasn't too hard to arrange things so each of the guys came for me. I made two of the girls come too, which was nice. After all the hard cocks and fucking, it was very nice to fall asleep between two lovely women with my head resting on a soft breast.” “Nice!” Don smiled. “And if my count is right, you were at eighty already.” “Don, who would be counting such things?” “You would,” he laughed. “I can tell you were keeping score, just from the fact that you can give me all these details.” “Hey, I knew you'd want the story!” Don held up his hands, “Oh, I am definitely not complaining!” “You better not be,” she smirked back at him. “Now, where was I?” “The second day, I think.” “Yeah, well, I woke up the next day and decided to continue my exploration, and found the garden, where I took a swim and cleaned up yet again. I grabbed some fruit and water, then got back to work. I thought about trying that maze game but thought it would take too much time. Still, it looks like fun.” “It is,” Don nodded. “We should try it together sometime.” “I'd like that,” she smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. “Well, I played some more in the pool… I seem to really like fucking in the water here. I got six more guys to give me their cum: four orally and two in my pussy. Then I went back into the Manor and just started looking for available cocks to pounce upon. I blew one guy right in the middle of a hallway, another took me from behind as I leaned against a wall. At one point I was on my hands and knees on a bench in the hallway with a guy behind me and a guy in front of me. When the guy in front of me came, another guy came out of nowhere and took his place. I was still sucking him when the guy behind me came and was replaced by yet another guy. "I came across three guys wandering the halls looking for trouble and led them into the nearest bedroom where I tried to get them all to cum at the same time, but my ass is just too hot, I guess. When I left them, I was in need of yet another shower, and headed for the main bath and steam room. When I got there, there was something of a little orgy going on in the pool, and I dove right in, managing to get fucked there in the water again, but this time being held up between two really fit young men, one in my ass and one in my pussy. That was one of the better orgasms that day. "I went from the pool into the steam room and picked three of the guys there, waving them over to me on the main floor. Once they got down to me, I dropped to my knees and proceeded to move from one to the other, sucking and stroking until they were coming all over me, hot cum splashing all over my face and tits. That was one hundred, I was sure, but I was honestly still horny, so I grabbed one of the guys and had him fuck me from behind as I leaned against a bench and played with myself till I came. "Then, without bothering to get cleaned up, I headed for the front door. As soon as I stepped through, I found myself back in that crazy courtyard outside the Pleasure Dome.” “That's quite a successful mission, I'd say,” Don said. “Yeah,” she smiled at him, and then drew him in for a kiss. “Do you mind if I take a break before I tell you about the next one?” Don noticed that they had walked back around to the poolside. There were a few couples playing leisurely down the way, but closest to them were several single men, just relaxing on their chaise lounges. At least one of them, a tall guy who looked Arabic or Turkish to Don, though he had brown hair rather than black, was eyeing Evelyn openly with a hard cock lying on his belly. Don smiled down at Evelyn, who was already stripping out of her clothes, tossing her top onto the closest lounger, and said, “Mind if I watch?” “You better!” she laughed as she kicked off her boots. Then she was shimmying out of her skirt and diving into the pool. Don saw the tall fellow was both watching Evelyn as she broke the surface, water running over her shoulders and breasts, and looking to see if Don was going to follow her. Don smiled and gestured to indicate that the man could join her if he liked. By the time Don had sat down on the end of the lounger on which Evelyn had deposited her clothes, the tall guy had slipped into the water and moved over to stand talking with her. The man was tall enough that the tip of his erect cock was actually poking up out of the water, and Evelyn was short enough that the water came up to just under her perfect breasts. Don could tell that Evelyn had maneuvered herself so Don could see both of her and the man talking to her. She smiled up at the stranger, and then reached out to start stroking his cock. For just a brief moment she bent down to suck on the head as it bobbed there above the water. She looked up at the tall guy and said something with a smile, and then bent down again to suck him more seriously, dipping her face under the water as she did. Don looked back to the lounges to either side of him and saw that there were now three naked men watching Evelyn and her tall new friend in the water. There were two black guys, the lighter skinned of whom seemed about a decade older than Don, but both of whom were in great shape, and an east Asian man who, going against stereotype, had the longest dick of the bunch. Don caught the eye of the older black guy, who had been sitting beyond the tall guy in the water, and tossed his head to the side, suggesting that he get in there too. With a smile, the man got up and moved to the pool. Don turned to the other side and managed to convey the same idea to the other two guys. Back in the pool, the older black fellow had gotten into the pool and was moving over to next to the tall man. He must have picked up on Don's desire to watch, because he made sure to go to the far side of the couple. Evelyn looked up at him and smiled, then flashed Don a smile, before going back to talk to her two new friends. From the way her body was moving, Don guessed that she was now stroking both cocks, though one of them was a bit lower than the other. Then the other two guys were moving up to join the party. Evelyn looked at them and laughed, smiling again in Don's direction. She was surrounded by eager men who were obviously making themselves busy touching her body under the water. Don gave his aching erection a squeeze but kept things at that for now. In the pool, Evelyn had gone back to sucking on the tall guy's half submerged cock, and the Asian fellow had moved behind her. He seemed to be reaching down to stroke her pussy, and then he was clearly pushing himself into her. Meanwhile, the other two guys continued to caress and fondle her body. Don suspected she was stroking their cocks. Evelyn raised her head and said something that made the tall guy laugh and nod his head. The Asian pulled back and then the four guys were moving with Evelyn over to the side of the pool, not in front of Don, but off to his right just past the nearest corner. The tall guy lifted Evelyn out of the water and sat her on the edge of the pool. As she parted her legs for the darkest fellow to slip up between them and begin going down on her, Evelyn caught Don's eyes and blew him a kiss. Then, the tall guy was kneeling beside her and she turned her head to begin sucking his cock in earnest. The other two guys climbed up next to her and continued to caress and tease her body. The older black guy leaned in and started sucking on one of Evelyn's breasts. Don watched intently as Evelyn took all of the tall guy's cock into her mouth and throat. Then she was coming, her body tensing and her legs clasping the man between them to her tightly. When she finished shaking, she pulled herself up off the cock she'd been sucking and said something to her admirers. While the guy in the pool quickly got up out of the water, the other three helped Evelyn up and moved over to the lounger right next to Don. She gave Don a grin and a wink and told the tall guy, “Farouk, lie down on your back. Excellent.” She straddled the man's long body and lifted his cock so she could push it up into her pussy. She looked over at Don and said, “Do you like watching me suck and fuck, baby?” “God, yes!” Don nodded. “You're amazing.” “His cock feels good up inside me,” she said as she ground on Farouk, working his cock in and out of her. “I'm going to make each of these cocks come. Do you want to see that?” “Hell yeah, I do.” “Good!” she smiled. “Bring that cock over here, Phil. Damn, that's long! Were you fucking me with this? Let me taste it.” Don's own cock ached in his lap as he watched Evelyn's mouth suck in the head of Phil's long organ and then move down it until she had at least half of it in her mouth and down her throat. She pulled back off it and said, “Uh, I like it! Would you like to fuck my ass with this beauty, Phil?” Before Phil could respond she lowered her mouth on him again, bobbing her head up and down on him enthusiastically. When she came back up for air, she looked up at Phil and said, “Get back there, and give me all of this beautiful cock of yours.” As Phil hurried to comply, she said, “Marcus, you gave me such a nice orgasm; you're next. Come over here.” As Phil began to push himself slowly up into Evelyn's ass, she groaned and said, “God, yes, that feels so good. Baby, I've got cock in my pussy and ass, and they're going to fuck me so hard. Aren't you, boys?” The men all nodded enthusiastically and murmured their agreement. “Give me all of that cock, Phil!” she said before turning her attention to the dark black cock Marcus offered her. Don watched as Evelyn's taut muscular body rocked between Farouk and Phil. He watched her legs flexing and her hips grinding against their bodies. He watched her arms as she pushed and pulled against Farouk's shoulders. He watched as her breasts swayed beneath her, her nipples brushing against Farouk's chest. He watched as her throat swallowed occasionally, and her lips moved up and down on Marcus's hard, dark cock. He couldn't resist giving his own hard cock another squeeze. This time, he didn't let it go. Before anyone could come, Evelyn pushed Marcus back and said, “I want to try something, guys. I don't know if it'll work but I've seen it done, so it should be possible.” In a moment, Phil had pulled out of her, and Evelyn had turned around, sinking down on Farouk again, this time with his cock in her ass. “Okay,” she breathed. “Now Phil, fuck my pussy. Damn that feels good! Okay now, pull back almost all the way out. Marcus, can you get between me and Phil now, so you can get your cock in there too?” Don groaned a bit at the very thought of what she was attempting, though he did think Toshia had done something like this in her gangbang with the Sisterhood's men. Watching this though, in person, was so intensely arousing. While Marcus and Phil got themselves all sorted out, Evelyn said, “Come over here, Jeremy. I don't want to leave you out.” She held onto Jeremy's hard cock for a moment as she said, “Okay, nice and easy guys, push in… oh fuck, fuck, fuck! No, don't stop, keep … FUCK!” She dropped her head back onto Farouk's chest as a series of spasms shook her body. Marcus was holding her legs up and Don watched her toes curl up tightly. Her fingers dug into Farouk's forearm just below where he was holding her waist. She must have been squeezing Jeremy's cock very tightly, but he didn't complain. “Oh god,” she breathed. “Okay, fuck me, guys. Give me all you got!” Then, as Phil tried to follow Marcus's lead in moving in and out of Evelyn's tight pussy, and Farouk held on for dear life, Evelyn pulled Jeremy's cock to her mouth and sucked him in hungrily. Soon the two guys fucking her were moving in unison, and Jeremy was holding Evelyn's head in his hands, fucking himself in and out of her mouth. Don's cock was rock hard and aching in his hand. He knew that if he moved it just a bit he would come, but he wanted to wait. He wanted Evelyn to see. Then Evelyn was moaning and shaking again. This time it went on and on, her body clenching and shuddering between the four men, who kept fucking her as she shook, their cocks moving in and out of her body as she came and came. Then, before Evelyn was finished coming, Jeremy groaned, and Don watched as Evelyn tried to swallow the sudden flood of cum being pumped down her throat. There was too much too quick, though, and she choked a bit. Jeremy pulled back, shooting a last gout of pearly white cum over Evelyn's cheek and neck as quite a bit of spunk also spilled out of her mouth. She smiled up at Jeremy and said, “Thank you!” Next, she turned to smile at Don with her cum covered face and said, “One down, baby. How do I look?” “Like a goddess,” he said earnestly. “Damn right,” she grinned. Then she turned her attention to the guys between her legs, who were still fucking steadily in and out of her. “I don't suppose one of you guys likes getting fucked in the ass, do you?” “Sounds fun,” Marcus grinned. “I like your attitude!” Evelyn smiled. “Would you mind fucking Marcus in the ass while he fucks me, Phil?” “No, I could do that,” Phil laughed. “Try to save your cum for me, though, Phil,” she added. Soon, Phil had drawn out of Evelyn and pushed himself up into Marcus's ass. Marcus went back to fucking in and out of Evelyn, and Phil shoved into Marcus each time Marcus drove into her, pulling back in time with his partner. “Yes, that's it!” Evelyn called out, “Fuck me through Marcus! You guys are all going to make me come again! Don, they're going to … oh god!” Then she was climaxing again, and so was Marcus, shoving up into her and groaning as she grabbed at his ass and pulled him in. Don watched as Phil drew out of Marcus, and Marcus pulled out of Evelyn. “No, come here and let me taste that,” Evelyn said before Marcus could collapse on the next lounger over, next to Jeremy. Phil didn't wait for further instructions, but quickly moved in to push himself deep into Evelyn's messy pussy. He must have been about ready to blow when he was fucking Marcus, because it only took a few shoves into Evelyn before he groaned and pulled his long cock out to spray several big splashes of cum onto her belly and tits. “Hum, nice!” she grinned. “Thank you, boys! Now Farouk, you need to come. How do you want me?” In very short order, Evelyn was lying on her back as Farouk lifted her up so he could push his cock into her pussy. She was basically upside down, with her shoulders on the lounger and her head and long red hair over the edge. She was looking at Don as she squeezed her left breast and reached down, or, really, up, to play with her clit as Farouk fucked her hard and fast. She was talking steadily, “Baby, he's fucking me so hard! I'm all covered and full of cum… I'm going to come so hard. Your cock is hard… Won't you come for me, baby? Yes, that's it! Come closer. Come on me, baby! Oh fuck, I'm coming again! Oh god!” Then Farouk and Evelyn were coming together, and Don joined them. He could hold back no longer, and a torrent of hot cum shot out of him to splash over Evelyn's beautiful chest and throat as she cried out with her own climax. Don fell back on his lounger, grinning broadly at Evelyn, who was smiling and laughing in post-orgasmic bliss. He watched her, as Farouk withdrew and as she fell onto the lounger, and as she played with the cum all over her. “I needed that,” she smiled at him. “It turns me on when you watch me.” “I'm glad,” Don laughed. “It really turns me on to watch you.” “Excellent,” she laughed. “Okay, I need to get cleaned up.” “And then you have another story to tell.” “Yes, I do,” she smiled. “Come on, let's have a swim, first.” Chapter 9. The Dark Labyrinth Evelyn shivered a little. She found herself standing naked, her staff in hand, on a broken sheet of granite at the apex of a dreary mountain pass. Looking behind, she saw a long, rocky climb she was happy not to have made. Ahead of her lay a large valley swathed in a grey fog. The path at her feet wound down the slope in front of her until it disappeared in the scraggly trees and low hills. The moist air was unusually cold for Eros, and there was a light breeze chilling her skin, but which seemed to not bother the fog in the valley. Evelyn had been teleported to this remote location at the conclusion of her meeting with the watcher's council, as Don called them. Her assignment was straightforward, if rather enigmatic: “Reach the center of the Dark Labyrinth.” She supposed the labyrinth must be ahead, probably in the valley below. It didn't really make sense for the council to put her here otherwise. With a shrug to herself, she started down the trail. Given the nature of the unpaved and sometimes slippery path, Evelyn was obliged to keep her eyes on the ground and didn't really notice until she was well into it that she had descended into the fog. Looking around, she found herself struck by how actually creepy the landscape appeared in the thick mist. The mostly bare trees were twisted in attitudes that suggested they were clutching upward at the unseen sky above. The rolling, rocky ground was ideal to hide any number of potential hazards. Everything had taken on the grey of the fog; any hint of color was washed out in the twilight. At least without the breeze it was a bit warmer. Still, the mist was XYZ and inevitably Evelyn found herself growing frisky again. After all the sex she'd had lately, particularly during what she was now thinking of as her cock hunt in the Manor just a day ago, she had thought she might be good-to-go for at least a few days, but the moisture gathering on her naked flesh and slowly soaking her thick auburn hair covered her body in a glistening aphrodisiac sheath lightly caressing her with every motion. For a moment, Evelyn considered stopping there on a moss covered rock to relieve some tension, but then remembered her earlier thought about those potential hazards hiding among the rocks and decided she could wait at least a bit longer - perhaps even until she got through the fog. Besides, she thought, one orgasm would only satisfy her for a little while in this situation. As it turned out, it took her over an hour to climb down through the fog until she could look out and see the rest of the valley spread out before her underneath the grey cloud blanketing it. Casting a quick look around to make sure she could actually see her surroundings clearly, Evelyn found a soft enough spot to recline upon. With one hand gripping her staff and her gaze sweeping the area around her, at least to begin with, she slipped her fingers between her legs and then up into herself. Soon she had let go of the staff so she could use both hands - one to shove three fingers into her grasping pussy and the other to frantically stroke her clit. Momentarily careless of the fact that she was out in the open and vulnerable, Evelyn closed her eyes tightly as a blistering orgasm tore through her body, nerves firing wildly and muscles clenching tightly. Her fingers kept fucking and rubbing furiously as she pushed herself on and on, prolonging her ecstasy until she collapsed back on the ground, grinning up at the clouds so close over her. Remembering where she was, Evelyn sat up and looked around frantically, half convinced she would see a bear or wolf creeping up on her. When she was quite sure she was still alone, she noticed that she was still slowly frigging herself. She decided she wanted something harder, more rigid, inside her. Her eyes lit upon her staff then, and she noticed that the end was nicely round and smooth. Soon, Evelyn was lying there on the ground underneath the heavy, leaden cloud cover, naked and pale in the wild grey landscape, strong legs spread, arms taut and reaching downward, incidentally pushing her small, firm breasts together, as she played with her clit and fucked herself with the end of her staff. She cried out as she came again, arching her back and shoving that wooden shaft up into her pussy, squeezing it intensely. Then her teeth were clenching as the orgasm's second and third waves rolled over her. When she finally found herself relaxing, she laughed at how ridiculous she must look, naked in the open with a long wooden stick up her pussy. After Evelyn collected her wits, and took her ersatz dildo out of her vagina, she got up and got a more careful look at her situation. Walking a bit further down the path she'd been following, she came to a tall, bare tree at the head of a long series of rough, uneven stone steps leading down into the valley. Without the masking effect of the fog, she could make out the maze that had been cut or built into the vast majority of the valley. At her crude estimation there were at least fifty miles of twisting pathways there waiting for her. She could see that there were occasional openings and other aberrations, but none of those things allayed her apprehensions. To be continued. By BradentonLarry for Literotica

Ordinarily we do not carry out any activity before we have prayed in the morning. Preparation for Shabbat is an exception as it is considered in the "interests of Heaven".

Today, we are continuing our conversation with Evan Wisheropp. If you missed part one, I highly recommend checking it out first. It provides a foundation for understanding who Evan is as a climber and how he achieved the objectives we're discussing today.In this episode, we'll dive into Evan's two main passions: desert offwidth splitters and route development.First, we'll discuss Evan's recent send of The Cleaver, a 13b offwidth roof crack that, as Evan puts it, "contains all the hardest transitions of sizes that offwidth can offer, jumping from a splitter #2 to a #6 in less than 10 feet." We chat about the logistics and skills involved in sending not only this particular climb but all offwidths. We'll also dive into his next offwidth project, an extension to the infamous Belly Full of Bad Berries.Next, we'll explore Evan's passion for route development. Initially, Evan started developing routes because he ran out of 5.12s to climb in his local area. This quest for more climbs turned into a huge passion. Over the last nine years, he has established an impressive 475 routes in the Northwest region of California, investing nearly $60,000 of his own money. Many of these areas remain largely unknown to the public, offering hundreds of cleaned, bolted classic routes up to grade 5.13 with only a handful of ascents.Evan lives near the Redwoods, the largest trees in the world, situated on the Pacific coastline. His local crags are nestled in these magical areas, featuring rocky coastlines and massive Jurassic trees towering hundreds of feet tall. He recently published a guidebook for these areas, which you can check out in the show notes.Our conversation with Evan is a reminder of how much we can take for granted as climbers. We often show up to a climb that has been found, cleaned, and bolted, and leave without a thought of all the work that went into making that happen and who that person was. We feel honored to tell Evan's story and hope to spread some awareness, not only of his accomplishments and significant contributions to the sport of climbing but to route developers everywhere.----Don't forget to check our our full video episodes on Youtube!The TCM movement is growing but we need your help to spread the word! Please share this podcast with your friends and family. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to support the show. If you enjoyed the show we'd really appreciate it if you could rate and review us on your favorite podcatcher.We are always looking for new guests. If you or someone you know would be a great fit for the show please don't hesitate to reach out. You can reach us on IG or email us directly @ theclimbingmajoritypodcast@gmail.com---Cover Photo: @amanda_paintsResourcesThe CleaverEvan's InstagramEvan's YoutubeA Climbers Guide to Northwest CaliforniaEvan's Photography

Today, we are sitting down with Evan Wisheropp, a part-time professional photographer with a full-time passion for climbing.Evan's climbing journey began like many of ours—in a gym. From there, he explored various climbing disciplines until he found his true passions: desert offwidths and route development.Off-width climbing, takes Evan  to Indian Creek and Moab, Utah, every year to tackle massive desert offwidth splitters. His latest project, The Cleaver, a 13b offwidth roof Evan spotted while scouting…. After several failed attempts, he handed the first ascent to the Wide Boyz but returned the next season to redpoint the route and film a short documentary about the experience.When he is not suffering up desert offwidths Evan spends his time climbing and developing new routes in the Northwest region of California. He began developing routes back in 2014. Since then, he has created an impressive 4,775 routes. Over the past nine years, Evan has personally invested nearly $60,000 to develop the limestone crags of Northern California. Many of these areas remain largely unknown to the public, offering hundreds of cleaned, bolted classic routes with only a handful of ascents.This conversation is split into two parts. First, we'll journey back in time to explore how Evan became the climber he is today. We'll dive into three traumatic climbing accidents that shaped his progression, his relationship with trad gear, and his perspective on taking risks. Our conversation reminds us how dangerous climbing can be, but more importantly, how we can learn and grow from our mistakes and still recover a deep passion for climbing and the outdoors. ----Don't forget to check our our full video episodes on Youtube!The TCM movement is growing but we need your help to spread the word! Please share this podcast with your friends and family. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to support the show. If you enjoyed the show we'd really appreciate it if you could rate and review us on your favorite podcatcher.We are always looking for new guests. If you or someone you know would be a great fit for the show please don't hesitate to reach out. You can reach us on IG or email us directly @ theclimbingmajoritypodcast@gmail.com---ResourcesEvan's InstagramEvan's YoutubeA Climbers Guide to Northwest CaliforniaEvan's Photography

There are rumors swirling that ex-President Donald Trump may pull an unexpected maneuver ahead of the inaugural presidential debate with incumbent Joe Biden. Citing sources with knowledge about the matter who wish to remain anonymous, NBC News has speculated that Trump's surprising move may involve the early revelation of his vice presidential running mate – a strategic reveal slated to take place before the titanic face-off on the debate stage at CNN's headquarter. Ordinarily, such an announcement is reserved for the Republican National Convention, set to happen in Milwaukee beginning July 15. However, there seems to be a strategic shift in the timeline. Insiders suggest Trump's intent in unveiling his VP pick early is a tactical move. It's a designed effort thrown in the mix to unsettle Biden, possibly making him stumble in what remains an already uncertain terrain for him. Prior sources have given different perspectives about the impending pre-debate announcement. Some suggest that Trump's key motivation is to have his team in place before he goes on the debate stage with Biden. On the other hand, another source indicates Trump's interest in rattling Biden with a sudden shake-up before the debate, although he realizes it could present certain logistical and political hurdles. According to the NBC report, it must be noted that the credibility of such news depends heavily on the reliability of its anonymous sources, and as such, elements of doubt cannot entirely be discounted. Nevertheless, the idea of Trump finalizing a running mate selection before the debate is an undeniable newsmaker. It's a strategy capable of stealing thunder from the Atlanta showdown. This move is quintessentially Trump – bold, unexpected, and a surefire attention grabber. It harks back similar stunts from his initial presidential campaign launched from the elevator at Trump Tower back in 2015.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This latest episode is my quarterly conversation with Like the Wind magazine co-founder and editor Simon Freeman. We recorded the episode back in April and I put it out yesterday. Ordinarily it coincides with the release of a new issue of LtW, in which an excerpt of the conversation usually appears, but the latest edition of the magazine is “by women, about women, for everyone,” so Simon and I sat this one out. (You can buy a copy or subscribe here.) We still had a great chat, however, about a few topics that both of us have spent quite a bit of time thinking about: how we handle change, shifting priorities over time, defining our values, and emphasizing quality in our work. We quite enjoyed it, and hope you do too, so tune in wherever you listen to podcasts.This episode is brought to you by: — Tracksmith, New Balance, Precision Fuel & Hydration, and Final Surge. All of these brands have missions I believe in and products that I trust and use myself on a regular basis. One of the best ways to support the morning shakeout is by patronizing the partners that help keep them going week in and week out. Check out this page some of the discount codes and special offers available exclusively to readers and listeners of the morning shakeout.Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

D-Day, June 6th, 1944 was a Tuesday. Ordinarily on Tuesday evenings NBC had a comedy lineup that rivaled the greatest in history. A main part of it was the man you just heard, Jim Jordan, who starred on Fibber McGee and Molly. The normal Fibber McGee and Molly show was canceled on D-Day. Instead, they presented a special musical program at 9:30PM featuring Billy Mills and the King's Men, leaving room for late-breaking news bulletins. Opposite, CBS presented the first in a new series, The Doctor Fights, starring Raymond Massey in a new portrait each week of a doctor on some far-flung battlefield. The purpose of The Doctor Fights was two-fold: to honor the nation's one-hundred eighty-thousand doctors, one-third of whom were in the theaters of battle, and to acquaint the public with penicillin. The sponsor, Schenley Laboratories, was one of twenty-two companies making penicillin, and often the stories described wondrous cures resulting from its use by doctors in distant and primitive outposts. Many listeners at that time had never heard of the drug.

S6 EP 2 (FULL AUDIO) In this episode, host Brandon Avery has the honor of engaging in an intimate conversation with the legendary Melba Tolliver, an American journalist and former New York City news anchor and reporter. Born on December 8, 1938, in Rome, Georgia, Melba's journey from playing with tin dollhouses and card games to breaking barriers as the first African American woman to anchor a regularly scheduled news program on a major television network at ABC-owned WABC-TV is nothing short of inspiring. The old adage "Thursday's child has far to go" certainly rings true for Melba. Throughout our conversation, we delve into numerous thought-provoking topics such as the complexities of idolizing public figures, the essence of humanity, the importance of trust, the pitfalls of surrounding oneself with 'yes men,' the power of vulnerability, challenging stereotypes, addressing problematic language, being present in the moment, making impactful choices, and so much more. Join us for an insightful and enriching discussion with a true pioneer in journalism. Visit Melba's website at melbatolliver.com and get ready for her upcoming audiobook, "Accidental Anchorwoman, A Memoir Of Change, Choice, and Connection" recorded in Easton, PA at The Social Tour. This is a conversation you dont want to miss. dont be selfish, share this! 

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch. 3 Hidden Forces Around, pp. 62-64 This episode is also available as a blog post at https://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com/2024/04/21/physical-senses-beyond-the-five-we-ordinarily-recognise/ YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/@santoshkrinsky871 More information about Sri Aurobindo can be found at http://www.aurobindo.net The US editions and links to e-book editions of Sri Aurobindo's writings can be found at http://www.lotuspress.com 

In a shocking episode on a freeway in Southern California, a man fired a bullet at a car during an altercation, taking the life of a young child on his way to school. The offending individual, Marcus Anthony Eriz, 27, residing in the city of Costa Mesa, faced grave repercussions for this tragic event. In January, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder and firing into an occupied vehicle, resulting in the death of six-year-old Aiden Leos. Judge Richard King in the Superior Court sentence Eriz to the harshest possible punishment of 40 years to life imprisonment. He underscored the vulnerability of the victim, expressing deep sorrow over this heart-rending loss. In Judge King's words, the innocent 6-year old boy on his way to kindergarten, seated in the back seat and taken care of by his mother, was the 'most helpless victim one could even imagine'. According to the authorities, the incident happened when Eriz's girlfriend, who was also on the freeway and driving their car, veered off Aiden's mother on State Route 55. Aiden's mother responded with an offensive hand gesture to the girlfriend's making a peace sign after the traffic altercation. Following this incident, Eriz, seated in the back seat, brought his window down and fired his gun at her car. As the mother drove further, gunshots rang out from the car following them. Suddenly, she heard her son cry out from the back seat. Little Aiden, securely fastened in his car seat in the back of their car, was hit by the bullet. During the court hearing, Eriz took the opportunity to express his deep regret for the horrific incident. In a raw, heartfelt statement, he said, 'The small boy was a son, a little brother, and a friend to many. Everywhere he went, he illuminated the world around him and truly seemed like one of God's small angels.' He continued, 'And I am full of severe remorse for ever causing him pain, and for the agony that he faced because of my action.' He further asserted that Aiden 'never deserved it. Neither did his family.' This regretful confession by Eriz, though, can do little to alleviate the grief of a family robbed of their joy and a child's promising future now snuffed out. Ordinarily, the sentence for the crime committed by Eriz would have been 15 years-to-life. But an additional sentencing enhancement, yielding an extra 25 years to life, was imposed on him. Judge King rejected a defense attempt to strike out this enhancement. He also declared that he found no mitigating factors, such as past childhood trauma or his age at the time of the crime. The judge explained that none of these factors could be correlated with the horrid actions undertaken by Eriz. Present in the courtroom was Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who emphasized the severity of the act. He stated emphatically that what happened cannot be classified as an unfortunate mistake, rather, it is a calculated, cold-blooded murder. In a post-sentencing statement, Spitzer elaborated saying, 'Marcus Eriz purposefully brought out his gun and fired at a moving vehicle with a clear intention of showing the world his capabilities. He stole the life of a little six-year-old boy and shattered the sense of safety held by everyday drivers that a journey on our freeways may turn into a death sentence, not necessarily because of a crash, but due to a bullet.' Eriz's girlfriend, Wynne Lee, has been indicted with a count each of accessory after the fact and possession of a concealed firearm within a vehicle. Her case is still up for hearing, on which she pleaded 'not guilty'. In case of a conviction on both charges, Lee could face a sentence up to three years in a state's prison and one year in the Orange County Jail, according to the district attorney's office details. The fatal and unspeakable act of violence on the state freeway spurred a wide-scale manhunt that culminated in the arrest of the accused pair on June 6, 2021. This was approximately two weeks after the shooting incident. A substantial reward of over $300,000 had been put together for any information related to the case, escalating the urgency of the search. This case serves as a chilling reminder that anger, when given a place in our daily driving routines, can lead to devastating consequences. Too often do we forget that our actions on the road have real impacts on real lives. Perhaps such a tragic incident can serve as a wake-up call, urging motorists to maintain their cool, and always bear in mind the human lives at stake when behind the wheel. Article: https://www.realnewsnow.com/california-man-who-killed-6-year-old-sentenced/ Real News Now Website Connect with Real News Now on Social Media Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealNewsNowApp/ X Twitter: https://twitter.com/realnewsapp Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realnews/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realnewsnowapp Threads: https://www.threads.net/@realnews/ Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/realnewsnow Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@RealNews YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@realnewsnowapp End Wokeness: https://endthewokeness.com #realnewsnow See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a Text Message.Ordinarily the word nun doesn't conjure up images of cocaine, theft, sex and murder, BUT Mariam Soulakiotis and Cecile Bombeek were no ordinary nuns. The vows they took were  just words,  quickly forgotten.  The seven deadly sins were just a starter course for these wayward sisters. Join us as we walk back and time and look at an evil like nun other..........Email- Beyondtheshadows207@gmail.com Beyond the Shadows (@beyondtheshadowspodcast) | Instagram profilePodcast Merchandise https://beyond-the-shadows.myspreadshop.com/Beyondtheshadowspodcast.comIntro by C10 C10 | Spotify C10 | Omaha NE | FacebookFirepit music by Lucid Dixon Lucid Dixon | SpotifyThanks for listening and please consider giving us a good review on apple podcast!

Ordinarily, evading food rationing in times of war is considered a crime. There are times when it must be accepted as a necessity.

James 2:14-26 Two farmers got down on their knees to pray.  One lived on the east of the village and the other on the west.  The farmer living in the east of the village longed so much for it to rain — it hadn't rained for months! The crops were perishing and the livestock was famished.  He prayed, “O God, I believe with all my heart that you are going to send rain on Monday!!” News travelled fast of this farmer's praying efforts and it reached the ears of the farmer living on the other side of the village.  Ordinarily, he would have been the first to join his fellow farmer in prayer for he longed to see rain also; only on this occasion there was a problem.  Monday he had planned a great celebration, “...by all means let it rain on Tuesday or Wednesday or Friday — any day except for Monday or the planned celebration will be a washout!” Thus he got down on his knees and prayed, “O God, I believe with all my heart that you won't send rain on Monday!!”  Allow me please if I may, to ask a question; which farmer had his prayer answered?  If I were to ask that question in the vast majority of Christian circles, do you know what answer I would get?  The farmer with the most faith!  Now on the surface, this might well seem to be a good and proper answer, but it's only half the picture, and if left incomplete, it is an unbiblical answer!  In this sermon, we look at the Biblical nature of true faith.

//The Wire//2300Z February 2, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF: U.S. BEGINS RETALIATORY STRIKES IN SYRIA// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Europe: Farmer protests continue to cause widespread disruptions throughout much of mainland western Europe. Major roads remain blocked surrounding government buildings in Brussels, Paris, and Arnhem as demonstrations become more organized and widespread. International border crossings between many European nations have also been blockaded by demonstrators as a result of climate agenda trade policies. Last night, mass farmer protests began in earnest in Ireland, contributing to the millions of people demonstrating against the climate agenda throughout Europe.Middle East: American forces have begun retaliatory strikes against Iranian proxy forces in Syria. So far, bombings have been reported near Deir ez-Zor and al-Mayadeen, and limited strikes have been reported in Abu Kamal. CENTCOM has confirmed that 85 targets were struck throughout Syria.-HomeFront-NY: A construction worker was killed when a basement collapsed during a construction project in Brooklyn. No further information at this time.TX: Border posture continues as before, with TXNG continuing to improve obstacles along the border. Florida has authorized the deployment of FLNG resources to assist with border fortifications, along with Florida State Guard (FLSG) forces, which are being deployed for the first time. Roughly 1,000 FLSG troops are being deployed to Texas.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The value of citizen-monitored ADS-B receivers has been demonstrated by the latest strikes against Iranian targets in Syria. Even though operational prudence would obviously result in bomber aircraft turning off transponders, this did not happen. The electronic signatures presented by dozens of military aircraft in the lead up to this attack was obvious to anyone who bothered to open up a flight tracking app. Additionally, press releases from defense officials confirmed that bombers were in the air, and on the way to their targets in Syria. Ordinarily, openly giving an adversary this much intelligence would be utter madness, but this was almost certainly done to provide Iran as much warning as possible (to avoid retaliation). The side benefit for taxpayers is that this allows the real-time monitoring of real-world operations.Analyst: S2A1//END REPORT//

Ordinarily this would be our monthly Bandcamp special, but something has come up that is even bigger than that. Please read on for Bruce’s statement on Palestine solidarity. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven't alerted you to the episode's availability yet, you can listen to it as digital audio courtesy of the […]

Ordinarily, when we see a film that's a remake of a previous movie, we tend to say that the original was better. But in this second of two episodes, we discuss a pair of films in which the remake was the superior version, at least in our humble opinions. Here in Part One, we're looking at The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), directed by John McTiernan and starring Pierce Brosnan and René Russo. There are several differences between the two, but most noticeable is the chemistry between the two leads. In Part Two, we'll be reviewing the 2001 version of Ocean's Eleven. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

Oh what a lucky fellow I am. Today OG Heather Graham joins me on OutWithDan. Ordinarily wouldn't say OG, but truthfully Heather Graham is an Original. One Of A Kind! SHADOW OF DEATH is the latest book in the Four Horseman series. But we discuss so much more than this book. We chat about Heather.

India controls numerous islands in the Indian Ocean, and they have a strange set of rules for North Sentinel Islands -- a tiny, remote place most people wouldn't visit anyway. You see, the Indian government maintains a 'zone of exclusion' surrounding the island, with no ships, helicopters or people allowed within miles of the shore. Ordinarily one might assume this is a secret military base or the site of an environmental disaster -- but the real answer is even stranger. Tune into to learn more about the mystery of North Sentinel Island.They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the world is distracted, members of Congress are writing bills designed to steal Russia's money and give it to Ukraine. In this episode, listen to the pitch being made to Congress as we examine if this is a good idea. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via Support Congressional Dish via (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes Taking the Russian money: is it legal? Lee C. Buchheit and Paul Stephan. October 20, 2023. Lawfare. Chelsey Dulaney and Andrew Duehren. October 11, 2023. The Wall Street Journal. Lawrence H. Summers, Philip Zelikow, and Robert B. Zoellick. June 15, 2023. Foreign Affairs. Paul Stephan. April 26, 2022. Lawfare. Laurence H. Tribe and Jeremy Lewin. April 15, 2022. The New York Times. April 15, 2021. President Joe Biden. White House Briefing Room. What we're being told about Ukraine Secretary of State Anthony Blinken [@SecBlinken]. November 3, 2023. Twitter. Visual Journalism Team. September 29, 2023. BBC News. June 2023. Reuters. Biden wants to hide weapons deals with Israel Sharon Zhang. November 2, 2023. Bills Audio Sources October 31, 2023 Senate Appropriations Committee Witnesses: Antony Blinken, Secretary, U.S. Department of State Lloyd Austin, Secretary, U.S. Department of Defense Clips 1:05:05 Secretary of State Antony Blinken: If you look at total assistance to Ukraine going back to February of 2022, the United States has provided about $75 billion our allies and partners $90 billion. If you look at budget support, the United States has provided about $22 billion during that period, allies and partners $49 billion during that period; military support, we provided about $43 billion allies and partners $33 billion; humanitarian assistance, the United States $2.3 billion allies and partners 4.5 billion, plus another $18 to $20 billion in caring for the many refugees who went to Europe and outside of Ukraine. October 19, 2023 Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (The Helsinki Commission) Witnesses: Eliav Benjamin, Deputy Head of Mission, The Embassy of Israel to the United States Jamil N. Jaffer, Founder and Executive Director, National Security Institute at George Mason University Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Dr. Dan Twining, President, International Republican Institute Oksana Markarova, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States of America Clips 19:25 Eliav Benjamin: Understanding in the most unequivocal manner and in the clearest way that these are evil people. If we can even call them people. This is Israel's 9/11, only if you take the proportion of the size of Israel, this is 9/11 times 10, at least. 20:45 Eliav Benjamin: Because these terrorist organizations are not only against Israelis or against Jews, and not only in Israel, they are against mankind and anything which calls for decency, any entity and anybody who calls for protecting human rights and protecting individuals and protecting civilians. 21:25 Eliav Benjamin: Hamas have no value for human life, while Israel is doing its utmost to protect human life, including Palestinians in Gaza by even calling for them to go down south so that they won't be affected by the war. Hamas is doing everything in its power to harm civilians, to harm its own civilians. And everything that Hamas is committing -- and committed -- is no less than war crimes. And if you want crimes against humanity, and this is while Israel is working within the international human rights law, and within the military law. 28:15 Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN): Ambassador we have attempted to get some monies to from Putin and from the Soviet Un -- the oligarchs, to help rebuild Ukraine. Do you have any new information about that, or concerns? Oksana Markarova: Thank you for this question. First of all, I think it's very just that all this horrible destruction, which only for the first year of the war the World Bank estimated at $411 billion -- just the physical destruction -- has to be compensated and paid for by the Russians. So with regard to the Russian oligarchs and everyone who finances this war, supports this war, thanks to Congress we already have the possibility to confiscate it through the courts and DOJ has already moved forward with one confiscation of malfeasance money -- $5.4 million, and others. It is going to take time. But I think the major question right now to discuss with all the G7 is the Russian sovereign assets. We know that there are at least in the vicinity of 300-400 billion, or maybe even more, frozen by G7 countries. Not only that, but we recently discovered there are about $200 billion that are frozen in the Euroclear system in Belgium. So I'm very glad that there are more renewed talks right now between the G7 Ministers of Finance on how to confiscate and how to better use this money even now. I think we have to join forces there because again, we're very grateful for the American support, we are very much counting on this additional supplementary budget, but at the end of the day, it's not the American, or Ukrainian, or European taxpayers who have to pay for this, it is the Russians who have to pay for their damages. We look forward to working with Congress and we're working very actively with the administration, the State Department and Treasury, on how to better do it. As the former Minister of Finance, I not only believe -- I know -- that it can be done and I know this is a very specific case, that will not jeopardize the untouchability of the Sovereign Money, which is normal in the normal circumstances. This is a very specific case of a country that has been condemned by 154 countries in the UN for the illegal aggression. We have in all three major cases, the cases against Russia on both aggression and genocide and everything else. And it's only natural and just to use the sovereign assets as well as the private assets of Putin's oligarchs to compensate and to pay this. 32:50 Eliav Benjamin: Look at the charter of Hamas, which calls for destruction, annihilation of Jews, of Israel and yes, wants to control everything from the Mediterranean Sea until the Jordan River. 33:00 Eliav Benjamin: That is their aspiration, that is what they want to do, with zero care about civilians, including their own whom they take us human shields. As we're speak now, they're firing rockets from underneath hospitals, from underneath schools, from underneath mosques, from within residential areas, putting their own people at risk and sending them to die as well. This is not what Israel is about, but this is what Hamas is about and has been about. And now once and for all, unfortunately, really unfortunately, it took such a horrific war that they launched on Israel for the whole world to realize what Hamas is really about and what we've been saying for so many years that Hamas stands for. But it's not only Hamas: it's Hamas, it's the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, it's Hezbollah, it's all of these terrorist organizations who have zero care about human beings. This is who we should go after, and make sure they don't do any more harm. 39:10 Jamil Jaffer: It was the single deadliest day in Israel's history, single deadliest day for the worldwide Jewish community since the Holocaust. The equivalent of over a dozen 9/11 attacks on a population adjusted basis. Let me say it again. On the day of the 9/11 attacks, we had about 280 million Americans and we lost approximately 3000 Americans that day. Israel has lost 1400 have their own in a population of approximately 9 million -- over a dozen 9/11 attacks. 41:15 Jamil Jaffer: There's a key connection between these two fights. We know that Iran today supplies all manner of drones to Russia in its fight in Ukraine. We know that Iran has troops on the ground in Ukraine, training Russians on the use of those drones. We know that Iran is considering providing short range ballistic missiles to Russia, in that conflict. Russia, for its part, has provided Iran with its primary source of Conventional Munitions and nuclear technology for the vast majority of the time. Now, the key connection between these organizations is important to note. It's not just Russia and Iran; it's China and North Korea as well. These are all globally repressive nation states. They repress their own people, they hold them back, they give them no opportunity, and then they seek to export that repression to other parts of the globe, first in their immediate neighborhood, and then more broadly across the world. These nations are increasingly working together. We see China and Russia's no-limits partnership. We see President Xi saying to President Putin, in an off hand conversation that the world heard, that there are changes that haven't been seen in 100 years, and Russia and China are leading those changes. We know that for decades, Iran and North Korea have cooperated on ballistic missile and nuclear technology. We know that today in the fight in Gaza, Hamas is using North Korean rocket propelled grenades. So the reality is these globally repressive nation states have long been working together. And it is incumbent upon the United States to stand with our friends in Ukraine and our allies in Israel in this fight against global repression. 41:35 Dr. Dan Twining: It's vital not to mistake Hamas's control of Gaza with legitimacy. There have been no elections in Gaza since 2006. Hamas will not hold them because it thinks it will lose. Polling from September, a month ago, shows that only a quarter of Palestinians support Hamas leading the Palestinian people. Before the conflict, 77% of Palestinians told pollsters they wanted elections as soon as possible. A super majority tells pollsters that Hamas is corrupt. It is a terrorist organization, not a governing authority that seeks better lives for Palestinians. Residents of Gaza suffer poverty, isolation, and violence at its hands. 43:25 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: Israel has just suffered in Iran-sponsored massacre, Ukraine is struggling to repel Russian forces, and Taiwan watches with grave concern as China threatens to invade. America must view these three embattled democracies as important assets. And it must view these three adversaries as a threat to the US-led world order. As we speak, there is a very real possibility of a regional war erupting in the Middle East. The Islamic Republic of Iran has armed and funded Hamas and Hezbollah along with other factions in the region. Recent reports point to the existence of an Iranian-led nerve center in Beirut that is designed to help these terrorist groups target Israel more efficiently. Fortunately, the IDF has thwarted Iranian efforts to create a new terror proxy in the Golan Heights. Israel has repeatedly destroyed most, if not all, of what Iran is trying to stand up there. However, Iran-backed militias do remain in Syria, and Russia's presence in Syria is complicated all of this. Moscow's missile defense systems have forced Israel to take significant precautions in the ongoing effort to prevent the smuggling of advanced Iranian weapons from Syria to Lebanon. These are precision guided munitions. We've never seen a non-state actor or a terrorist group acquire these before and Russia is making this more difficult. The operations to destroy these weapons in Syria are ongoing. They often take place with Russian knowledge. It's an uneasy arrangement and because of that, the Syrian front is still manageable, but Russia's role in the region is far from positive. Moscow continues to work closely with both Iran and Hezbollah. In fact, Russian-Iranian relations have deepened considerably since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This goes beyond the sanctions busting that was the basis of their relationship before all this started. Russia has received UAVs from Iran, which we've heard today, Tehran has sent advisors to train Russian personnel, and since last summer, Russia has launched over 2000 Iranian UAVs into Ukraine. Moscow now wants to produce some of these UAVs domestically and so Russia and Iran are currently working together to increase the drones' range and speed. Iran has supplied other material to Russia like artillery shells and rockets. In return, Tehran wants Russia to provide fighter jets, attack helicopters, radar and combat trainer aircraft, and more. Moscow has sent to Tehran some captured Western weapons from Ukraine. These include javelin, NLAW anti-tank guided missiles, and Stinger MANPADS. Amidst all of this, on top of it all, concerns are mounting about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Beijing has openly intimidated the island nation. Within a 24 hour time span in July, 16 PLA warships approached Taiwan, accompanied with over 100 different aircraft sorties. China's calculus about an invasion of Taiwan could be influenced heavily right now by what the United States does in Ukraine and in Israel. Ihe landscape is clear: China, Iran and Russia are working together. Our policy must be to deny them the ability to threaten our friends and our interests. 47:45 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: It's great news. I was gonna recommend it, but it's already happened: the United States has sent two of its Iron Dome batteries based in Guam to Israel, en route already. 52:15 Dr. Dan Twining: If America's three greatest adversaries are going to actively collaborate in armed attacks on our allies, that's all the more reason for us to ensure that friendly democracies prevail in the fight. Giving Ukraine and Israel what they need to restore their sovereignty and security is essential. Appeasing aggression in one theater only invites belligerence in another. Make no mistake, China is watching our reaction to the wars on Ukraine and Israel with great interest. If we don't show the will and staying power to help our friends win, we only embolden Chinese designs in Asia. Defeating aggression in Europe and the Middle East is central to deterring aggression in Asia. 1:09:55 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: I am going to use the current crisis right now to sort of explain how America can get a win. That attack by Hamas was sponsored by Iran. Hamas is an Iran-back terrorist organization that also enjoys the support of China and Russia. As Israel has now readied to go into the Gaza Strip and to destroy this terrorist organization with the support of the United States, we're now seeing Iran-backed proxies threaten a much wider war. We're watching Hezbollah and Lebanon, Shiite militias in Syria, potentially other groups in other parts of the region. What needs to happen here right now is America needs to determine the outcome of this conflict. And by that, I mean it needs to deter Iran, it needs to deter Hezbollah and any other actor that might intervene, and force them to watch helplessly as our ally destroys Hamas. Watch them look on helplessly as one of their important pieces is removed from the chessboard. If we can do that, then I think we're now in the process of reestablishing deterrence after having lost it for many years. 1:14:15 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Along with Ranking Member [Jim] Risch, I'm the lead on the what we call the REPO Act, which would authorize the President to work with other countries in Europe that are also home to frozen Russian sovereign assets, and create a procedure for seizing those assets and directing them to Ukraine to be used for rebuilding and other purposes. I think there are mixed feelings in the administration about this, but they seem to be moving our way. I'd love to have your thoughts on the value of grabbing those sovereign assets, not just as additional resources for Ukraine, but also as a powerful signal to Putin that his behavior is going to have real punishment and hitting him good and hard right in the wallet, I think, would be a good added signal. 1:15:20 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): The second is simply to make sure that we do a better job of grabbing Russian oligarch assets. We have a predicament right now, which is that if you're a US citizen, and you're driving down the highway and you've got $400,000 in unexplained cash in your car, the police can pull you over and they can seize that. If you are a foreign, Russian, crooked oligarch, and you have a $400 million yacht someplace, you have more rights than that American citizen, in terms of defending your yacht. It's a very simple procedure, it's called "in rem." You move on the yacht rather than having to chase through all the ownership structures. And I would very much like to see us pass a bill that allows us to proceed against foreign oligarchs', criminals', and kleptocrats' assets in rem. 1:16:50 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: The seizing of assets and redirecting them to Ukraine, I think, sounds like a solid thing for the United States to do. I think, though, it would make sense to do this with a coalition of countries. So that the US is not singled out -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): That's what the legislation requires. In fact, the bulk of the funds are actually held in European countries, so acting on our own would not be sensible. Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: It wouldn't be effective, correct. So getting the Europeans on board, and by the way, getting the Europeans to chip in a bit more, just as we are, I think is also a very sound policy. As far as targeting the oligarch assets, I fully understand your frustration. When I worked at the Treasury Department trying to track those kinds of assets was never easy. We did work with a sort of shorthand version of, if we're 80% sure that we know what we're dealing with we're going to move first and then adjudicate after it's been done. And by and large, that worked out very well during the height of the war on terror. And there was an urgency that I think needs to be felt now, as we think about targeting Russian assets too. 1:18:00 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): To follow me on my path of in rem Latinate legal terms. There's also qui tam out there, which allows individuals to bring fraud actions in the name of the United States, and if it turns out there really is fraud, they get a share of it. It would be nice to have people who work for, let's say, a Russian oligarch to be able to be paid a bit of a bounty if they come in and testify and say, "Yep, definitely his boat every time we go out, he's on it. Every time the guests come they're his guests and we call him boss." Things like that can make a big difference, so we're trying to push that as well. Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: That sounds like something for the Rewards for Justice program at the State Department. They might be able to expand it. We already have bounties for those that provide evidence leading to arrests of terrorists, why not oligarchs? Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Correct. 1:24:40 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: Qatar has, for the last 10 or 12 years, had a an external headquarters. Some of [Hamas's] political leadership has been based there: Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal both call Qatar home. Of course, this is not new for the Qataris. They've also hosted all manner of other terrorist organizations in that country. It's the Taliban, al Qaeda, ISIS. It's well known at this point that Qatar is a hospitable place. They just don't agree with our definition of terrorism. Fundraising takes place there, all sorts of organizational activities take place there, and people are free to come and go. It is a safe haven for them. It is extremely dangerous that we have bestowed upon that country the label of major non-NATO ally, and that this is allowed to continue. They're offering right now their "good offices" -- I'll put those in air quotes -- to try to negotiate the release of the 302 hostages. This is not in Qatar's is interest. They are advocating on behalf of Hamas, as they have been for a long time. This should not be allowed to stand. 1:28:10 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: Hezbollah is based in Lebanon primarily, although they've got a significant base of operations in Latin America right now, and of course they've got a lot of operatives running around in Tehran. They are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the regime in Iran. Just to give you a sense of the threat, right now Hezbollah is threatening to open up a second front with Israel. While the fighting rages in Gaza, in the north of Israel there is a second front that could very well be open. There have been dozens of rockets that have been fired, dozens of anti-tank missiles infiltrations into northern Israel. This is very disconcerting. This is one of the things that I think the President is trying to deter at this moment, to deter a second front from opening. Hezbollah is considered to have an army that is equal in strength to the average European army. It has 150,000 rockets right now facing south at Israel. It's got precision guided munitions that could hit strategic targets, like Israel's nuclear facility, or like its chemical plant. These are things that could create catastrophic attacks, and we could be hours or days or weeks away from watching those threats materialize. And so this is why it is imperative right now that the US mount the deterrence that is necessary to stare down Iran and to stare down Hezbollah and to allow Israel to be able to do what it needs to in Gaza and hopefully end this crisis. 1:31:15 Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX): What does it look like if a Palestinian family of four is being interviewed for safe passage into a neighboring country or nearby country? What exactly does that look like? What does that processing and that vetting look like? Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: I'm going to make a suggestion here. I don't know how that kind of vetting can happen. You know, you're looking at a territory roughly the size of Washington DC, with 2.2 million people that had been subjected to Hamas rule for 16 years. How you start to figure out who's okay and who's not at this stage in the game, who's a threat and who isn't, is going to be really challenging. I wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal with a colleague of mine, Mark Dubowitz, our CEO, on Monday. I want to make this suggestion: I've already identified a number of the countries that have been Hamas supporters over the years, those that have financed and provided the weapons and the training to Hamas. I think there should be significant pressure on those countries to take in the refugees. Have a clear message from the United States that they created this problem, and it is now their problem to take care of these 2 million people. Quite frankly, I don't care who's radicalized when they go to these countries that have been supporting a radical cause for as long as they have. I think this would be justice. October 18, 2023 House Committee on Foreign Affairs Witnesses: Philip Zelikow, Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia Rebeccah Heinrichs, Senior Fellow and Director of the Keystone Defense Initiative at the Hudson Institute Clips 14:35 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX): The Russian sovereign assets is a winner in my judgment. If we can tap into the right -- the very people who started this war and this conflict, in my judgment, should be paying for the cost, and not as much the US taxpayer. And that's why I introduced the REPO Act, the bipartisan, bicameral legislation that demands that the Biden administration transfer frozen Russian sovereign assets to the Ukraine effort. It's beyond time that Russia pay for the war that it created. My bill prohibits the Biden administration from unfreezing Russian sovereign assets until Russia ends its unprovoked war of aggression and agrees to compensate Ukraine for the damages it has inflicted. 16:05 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX): To be clear, the war crimes and genocide committed by Russia cannot be reversed by money alone. 22:30 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): My approach was crafted to be consistent with US Policy and International Law by amending the International Emergency Economic Powers Act IEEPA, and using its established framework and existing definitions. As a former Treasury official, in my view, this is a better legislative approach. This is consistent with well established international precedent, whereby the United States work with international partners to establish a fund like we saw in Afghanistan in 2022. The Iran-US Claims Tribunal in 1981, the UN compensation fund for Kuwait in 1991, following the invasion by Iraq. 22:40 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): I too have introduced a bill on this topic, HR 5370. And I appreciate the Foreign Affairs staff working with me on that. My bill would give the President authority to seize and transfer title of Russian sovereign assets within the United States jurisdiction into an international fund for the sole purpose of Ukraine's eventual reconstruction and humanitarian relief. I'm grateful to Chairman McCaul and I co-sponsor his bill on this topic, as well for his leadership. 24:10 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): Considering most Russian sovereign assets are actually located outside the United States, it's important for our partners and allies around the world to introduce and pass similar companion legislation rather than having the US act unilaterally. 24:30 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): Let me be clear, I consider Russian Federation sovereign assets inclusive of all state owned enterprise assets and those of Russian publicly traded companies, like Gazprom, that are controlled by more than 50% by the Russian Federation. 26:30 Philip Zelikow: Economic warfare is the real center of gravity in this war. Economic warfare is the center of gravity in the war. I know we all watch the daily updates from the battle front lines. You know, this movement here, that movement there. This is a war of attrition. It's going to be decided by economic and industrial staying power as the war continues almost certainly into 2025 and perhaps beyond. 27:00 Philip Zelikow: In that struggle, the economic warfare against Russia has achieved some gains, and will have some more gains over the long haul. Russia's economic warfare against Ukraine has been devastating and is not sufficiently appreciated. Ukraine lost 30% of its GDP in the first year of the war. 1/3 of the population of Ukraine is displaced, half externally half internally. Russia is waging economic warfare on three main fronts. It's destroying Ukraine's infrastructure, and will do another energy infrastructure war this winter, for which it's gearing up, including with North Korean weapons and Iranian weapons. Point two: they've destroyed Ukraine's ability to export through the Black Sea except for a trickle, which was the fundamental business model of a commodity exporting country. Point three: they have destroyed Ukraine's civil aviation. Ukraine has no civil aviation. Any of you who've traveled, as I have, to Ukraine will notice that you can't fly in the country, which makes travel and business in the country now back to the era of the railroads before there were airplanes. So the the Russian economic warfare against Ukraine is devastating. And as time passes, this is going to have deep effects on the ability of Ukraine's economy and society to hold together, which will play out politically. So point one: economic warfare is the true center of gravity in the war. 28:35 Philip Zelikow: Two, the Russian assets are the key strategy to change the outcome. The Russian assets are at least $280 billion. Now, even in our debased day and age, that's a lot of money. It's a lot of money in the context of the Ukrainian economy. Even using very conservative multipliers of how much private investment the public investment can unlock, let's say one to one, the impact of this money on the whole future prospects of Ukraine and its staying power are decisive. Otherwise, they're relying on US and European taxpayers whose readiness you can gauge. So this is potentially the decisive fulcrum of the economic warfare and Ukraine's prospects in the war. 29:25 Philip Zelikow: So, third point, why has this been so hard? First reason was there was a knee jerk neuralgia on the part of bankers and financiers to the actual confiscation of Russian assets in the foreign exchange holdings, with much talk of losing confidence in the dollar in the euro. On analysis, these worries quickly fall away, which is one reason that I worked with my colleagues, Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary, and Bob Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, who do know something about international finance to debunk those concerns. And I'd be glad to go into more detail about why the concerns about the dollar or the euro turn out to be overblown when they're analyzed. 30:10 Philip Zelikow: The other concern was how do we do this legally? There's been a ton of legal confusion about this. This bill will help dispel that legal confusion. 30:30 Philip Zelikow: What about sovereign immunity? Sovereign immunity is a doctrine that only exists in the context of national courts trying to usurp sovereign authority in a situation where it's sovereign on sovereign, whereas in this bill, there would be an act of state that goes after Russian sovereign property. There is no such thing as immunity; there is no doctrine of sovereign immunity. Ordinarily, under international law, if one sovereign takes another sovereign's property, then the loser is entitled to compensation for that nationalization or expropriation. So why isn't Russia entitled for that compensation in this case? Because it's a lawful state countermeasure. Countermeasures are different from sanctions. And countermeasures -- and this is a well recognized body of law -- you are allowed to do things that would ordinarily violate your sovereign obligations to a fellow sovereign, because that sovereign has committed such extreme outlaw behavior, that the countermeasure is a lawful recourse. And that is exactly the extreme case we have here. There is a well codified body of law on this, and Russia has hit every one of the marks for a set of lawful state countermeasures that deprives them of any right to compensation when states take their money and then use it, putting it in escrow to compensate the victims of Russia's aggression. 37:35 Rebeccah Heinrichs: The United States directly benefits from Ukraine's battlefield successes as Russia remains a top tier adversary of the United States. These are the weapons that Americans made and designed specifically to go after the kinds of things that the Ukrainians are destroying in the Russian military. 39:55 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX): The EU has a plan just to tax frozen assets and send those proceeds to Ukraine. Our Treasury Secretary, Miss Yellen recently claimed that transferring sovereign assets to Ukraine was not legal. Do you agree with that, and if not, what is your opinion from a legal standpoint? Philip Zelikow: I think Secretary Yellen has now revised her view of this matter, having had a chance to be informed by some of the legal work that's been done since she first made that impromptu remark. There is the legal authority both under domestic law and international law, and the bill this committee is considering would reaffirm, consolidate, and elaborate that authority. So legally, this can be done. 40:55 Philip Zelikow: What the EU came up with in May was the idea -- they were encountering a lot of resistance to actually taking the Russian money, so they said, Well, can we come up with something, since a lot of these as the securities have now matured and are in cash and Euroclear, mainly -- the clearing house in Brussels -- is now managing the cash on behalf of Russia, because Russia is no longer able to manage it. So can we do something with the interest? And by the way, the EU couldn't get that through in June. Ursula von der Leyen couldn't get that adopted over, principally, French and German opposition at the time. So they're talking about just taking this interest. As a legal matter, if you have the legal right to take the interest, you have the legal right to take the principle. This was a cosmetic idea trying to overcome the opposition they had there. It's kind of a situation where, as one of my colleagues in this effort, Larry Tribe, has put it as well, instead of crossing the Rubicon, they're kind of wading in. From a legal point of view, it's actually clearer to do the transfer for Ukraine than to try to expropriate the money using tax authorities, which makes it look like you're expropriating it for your country, rather than for the benefit of the victims, which is a much cleaner, legal way to do it. So they ended up, for political reasons, with a half measure that takes only a tiny fraction of what they should and does so in ways that are actually legally awkward. I understand why they are where they are, but as they process this, I think they're just going to have to step up to going ahead and crossing the Rubicon. 50:20 Philip Zelikow: The whole argument that I made in an article with Summers and Zoellick in Foreign Affairs is that actually, this is a strategy for victory. You put this enormous war chest and the multiplier of private investment into play. And what you can envision is a whole new European recovery program, anchored on the rebuilding of Ukraine that not only saves Ukraine, revitalizes it, but links it to the EU accession process, to the enlargement of the European Union. In other words, to the victory of the whole cause of freedom, in a way almost regardless of where the final battle line ends up being in Ukraine, Ukraine will be growing with bright prospects, part of a Europe with brighter prospects, because of its alignment with the free world. 51:25 Philip Zelikow: When people worry about the significance of this in foreign exchange, I ask them to just remember two numbers 93 and three. If you look at the percentage of foreign exchange holdings held in the world today, 60% United States, 23% Euro, 6% yen, 4% Sterling: that's 93. The percentage of foreign exchange holdings in Chinese renminbi: three. And the Chinese were really encouraged that it's gone up from 2.5 to 3 in recent years. So when you look at 93 to three, that's what you get when we work with our allies in a concerted economic strategy. We can move on the Russian assets, and there's really no choice except to stick with the currencies of the free world because they're still the only basis for being a participant in the world economy. 54:20 Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI): Who actually has the authority to take possession of it? Because as you point out, if you've got the legal right to the interest, you got the legal right to the principal. Who is granted that authority? And then who is granted the authority to distribute that? Philip Zelikow: So the theory is that the national governments can transfer any of the Russian state assets in their jurisdiction into escrow accounts for the benefit of the victims, as a state countermeasure to Russia's aggression. So the way that would work is under the President's IEEPA authority, he could transfer all this -- and there are precedents for this -- into an escrow account held in the States and then an international escrow account, with this limited purpose of compensating the victims of Russian aggression, then you need to create an international mechanism, which the US would participate in creating, to then manage that distribution, which needs to have a proactive urgent speed of relevance. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI): That was what I was afraid of. If it just simply takes one participant to bog the whole thing down, guess what? It's not going to work, in my humble opinion. Philip Zelikow: When they're debating this in the EU, some people say we should have a new EU directive to govern this, but under our Common Foreign and Security Policy, one member like Hungary, for example, could botch that. So if you create something perhaps managed by the G7 Donor Coordination Platform, that is a relatively simple instrument in which the United States could play a part. One thing that you've done in the bill you've drafted, Mr. Chairman and Congresswoman Kaptur, is you're creating mechanisms in which Congress has insight and some oversight into how the United States participates in that process, and what the mechanism does and how the money is spent, which I think is an appropriate role for the Congress. There are precedents for how to do this. The design of this international mechanism I'm discussing is both policy driven, but also has a reactive claim side, but can have some conditionality on reform and the EU accession process. That's a heavy lift. Building that mechanism will be the biggest job since we built the Economic Cooperation Administration to run Marshall Plan aid 70 years ago. That serious work has not really begun, because we're just working on the preliminary phase of mobilizing and using this money. 58:25 Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): You believe the Administration, even without this bill, has authority right now to transfer the frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. Philip Zelikow: Yes, it does. It has it under the existing IEEPA authorities that the President has already invoked. The Renew Democracy Initiative has put out a really extensive legal brief that goes into great detail about this. I think actually the administration's lawyers are coming around to the view that yes, they do have the authority under existing law. What the REPO Act does is, one, it reaffirms that, but two, it makes Congress a partner in this with regulation and oversight that's an appropriate Congressional role. So by both reaffirming the authority and getting Congress to join the executive and doing this together I think it makes it a truly national effort with an appropriate Congressional part. 59:20 Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): How would you respond to critics who say this would make it harder for other folks in the future to want to invest in the United States? Philip Zelikow: You can look at the numbers. After we froze Russian assets, everybody understood the political risks that might be involved with putting their money into dollar holdings. The Chinese called in all their bankers and asked them, "Do we have any other options?" That happened last year. You can just simply track what's happened in the international financial markets and see how folks have now priced in that political risk. But the result is still very strong demand and interest in the dollar. But here again, to come back to Congressman [Gregory] Meeks point, by working with the Euro and the yen and Sterling, we give them no place to go. If they want to participate in the world economy, then they're just going to have to invest in assets like that. 1:00:30 Rebeccah Heinrichs: The other thing that's very interesting and good in the REPO bill that is different is this provision, Section 103, that would prohibit the release of blocked Russian sovereign assets. I think that's an incredibly important element of this bill. That would remove the temptation for any kind of sweetener for the Russians to have access to these funds and leave Ukraine in a lurch whenever they have to rebuild their society. That's a very important part of the bill. 1:01:10 Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX): Why would it be better to transfer these assets for Ukraine's direct benefit than to use them for leverage in negotiations and ending this conflict at some point? Rebeccah Heinrichs: It comes back down to the fundamental question at the end: who's going to foot the bill for rebuilding Ukrainian society? Somebody's going to have to do it. It should not be the American people primarily. They're footing a pretty significant bill. I think that benefits American industry and benefits our own military, but this particular piece should be carried out by the perpetrators of this act. So I think that it'd be a mistake to hold that out as a sweetener to get the Russians to come to the end or the conclusion. 1:01:55 Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX): Mr. Zelikow, you mentioned earlier in response to one of my colleague's questions that it looks like that under current law under the IEEPA authorities, the president can do this activity now. Do you know why the President is not doing that? And if he chose to do that, could he do it immediately? Or is there any delay in that? Philip Zelikow: They could act immediately. They've delayed a long time, partly, to be very blunt -- because I've been talking to a lot of people about this -- they had very deep interagency disagreements inside the administration over how to proceed and they found that their bandwidth was totally overwhelmed by other Ukrainian-related concerns, and they didn't give this heavy attention until fairly recently. And now that they have given it sustained attention, I think the President has actually settled, at a fundamental level, those interagency disputes and they are now moving forward to try to find a way to make this work. 1:02:50 Philip Zelikow: I think the point you raised a minute ago about whether we want to hold this back as leverage was one factor in the back of the minds of some people. I think as the war has continued on through this year, hopes of a quick settlement of the war have dissipated. I think they realize that this is going to be a long war. That sobering realization has kind of sunk in. Also, from a legal point of view, if you want to, you could credit the Russians in any peace negotiation. You can basically say this is a credit against your liability for the for rebuilding Ukraine. 1:04:55 Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA): As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, we have been to many European nations. To a nation, they say the United States is the indispensable partner here, and they say that with all humility and not blowing smoke. We visited the Hague and sat with lead prosecutor Khan, and everyone is talking about waiting us out. Not just waiting out Congress's support, but waiting out the outcome of the next election. They asked us specifically about that. Mr. Putin is clearly waiting for the outcome of the next election in hopes that it will not be the reelection of Joe Biden, who I'm really proud is in Israel right now. Timing. How does this work? You already said it's going to be into 2025. How do we use this leverage, this economic warfare as the center of gravity in this conflict, to bring the timing tighter to a successful conclusion for Ukraine? Philip Zelikow: So that's a great question. And this is why action on this issue is so urgent now, because the operational timeline to stand this up on a massive multi 100 billion dollar scale is if we move on this in the next couple of months and mobilize the money. We could get an enormous operation up and running with a relatively secure source of funding by next year. If we get that up and running by the middle of next year, we then insulate ourselves, to some extent, against the kind of electoral risk to which you gently alluded. 1:07:55 Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. (R-NJ): If the United States did transfer Russian sovereign assets to Ukraine, how could Ukraine best use these in the near term? Philip Zelikow: In the near term, what they would do, I think, is begin undertaking a comprehensive program to shore up their infrastructure, withstand the coming Russian campaigns to further damage that and begin to rebuild the basic transportation infrastructure and other things that can then begin to unlock a really bright future for the rest of the Ukrainian economy. There are things that can be done then to move Ukrainian industry into new sectors. I think the Ukrainian goal is not just to restore what they had five years ago, but actually to use this as a way to build back better, to imagine a brighter future in partnership with Europe. And then if the money is managed well, this gives leverage to encourage the Ukrainian reform process as part of the EU accession. Putin's whole effort here is, "if I can't conquer Ukraine, I will wreck it and make it ungovernable," and we'll show decisively that that objective cannot be achieved. 1:10:35 Rebeccah Heinrichs: If I may, sir, another principle that has been misunderstood throughout this conflict is this notion of escalation. Escalation is not bad. It's only bad if it's the adversary who's escalating to prevail. We want Ukraine to escalate to win, to convince the Russians to end the war. If you do not permit the Ukrainians to escalate, then you only have a long protracted war of attrition that none of us can afford. 1:12:05 Philip Zelikow: Whenever you do a large thing in international affairs, there are going to be unintended consequences from that, and rather than be dismissive about that concern, I'll say if you embark on this, then people will be tempted to try to use these sorts of precedents against us. They'll be limited in their ability to do that because of the fundamental places where money is held in the world economy. A lot of people don't do business with the United States because they love us; they do business with us because they think it's necessary. If they could expropriate our property with no penalty, they would. Venezuela tried that. Most of the world doesn't want to follow Venezuela's example. So yes, there are some potential unintended consequences of people trying to use this precedent. But one reason we've tried to set this under international law is to use the standards of international law to govern this countermeasure. International law allows these countermeasures, but it says you can only do this if the target country's outlaw behavior is extreme, and there's a standard for that. It turns out Russia totally meets that standard. This is the most extreme case of international aggression since the Second World War, bigger than Korea, bigger than Kuwait. But by setting that kind of standard, it makes that slippery slope a little less slippery. 1:14:25 Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ): There are some concerns that if we were to transfer these assets, use it for the benefit Ukraine, would there be an impact on the US dollar? Just get your thoughts on that? Philip Zelikow: Yeah, that's why we got in some of the best people we could on international plans, just to do the analysis on that. 93% of the foreign exchange holdings are held in G7 countries and only 3% in renminbi. Running to the renminbi because they're worried about the dollar is something people would do if they wanted to do it already. They've already priced in the political risk of dollar holdings after they've seen what we've done. And you can see their asset allocations. Now, the dollar is involved in 88% of all foreign commercial transactions on one side of the transaction or another. So it's hard to run away from it, especially if the Euro, Yen, and Sterling are in there with you. There's really kind of no place to go if you want to participate in the international economy. Working with Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary, Robert Zoellick, with Brad Setser, who studies international finance, we ran some numbers about worst case scenarios and so on, and we think that concern, which sounds good as a soundbite, it turns out on analysis, it fades away. 1:16:10 Philip Zelikow: The US only holds a fraction of the relevant Russian money because the Russians tried to get their money out of our jurisdiction. But when you go to Europe and ask them what's holding them up, they all say "We're waiting for the American lead." So even though we may only hold a fraction of the money, we hold a lot more than a fraction of the relevant clout, and we need to go together, exactly as you imply. September 28, 2023 House Committee on Foreign Affairs Witnesses: Victoria Nuland, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, United States Department of State Christopher P. Maier, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, United States Department of Defense Caroline Krass, General Counsel, United States Department of Defense Richard C. Visek, Acting Legal Adviser, United States Department of State Clips 33:00 Victoria Nuland: First with regard to the Taliban, we've been very clear we're going to judge the Taliban by their actions. It is our assessment that the Taliban have partially adhered to their counterterrorism commitments. We've seen them disrupt ISIS-K, for example. But there's obviously plenty more to to do to ensure that Afghanistan doesn't become a safe haven, or return to safe haven, or persist as a safe haven. That said, I would note that the director of the National Counterterrorism Center Christy Abizaid recently said publicly that al Qaeda is at its historic nadir in Afghanistan, and its revival is unlikely. 34:20 Victoria Nuland: Iran is obviously a state sponsor of terrorism; it is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Music by Editing Production Assistance

RR The Wire 2330Z November 03, 2023 PRECEDENCE: ROUTINE RRDTG: 233003Z NOV 23ICOD: 223003Z NOV 23CONTROLS: Public ReleaseQQQQBLUF: WAR CONTINUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST, HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GAZA WORSENS.-----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East Front: The situation in Northern Gaza remains fluid as the invasion continues. Hamas has made claims that Israeli forces have withdrawn numerous times in response to failed assaults, whereas Israel has not addressed specific engagements during this invasion. The UN reports that the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza is not enough, and fuel shortages in particular have resulted in substantial issues at UN hospitals.This afternoon, the Pentagon has reportedly suspended all official Congressional flights into Israel citing the deterioration of the security situation on the ground. Dozens of members of Congress have visited Israel via AIPAC-sponsored delegations since the war began.Pacific: The US conducted a test of the LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM last night. The test was a failure which resulted in the US Air Force safely terminating the exercise. The last failure of this missile system was in 2021, in which the test was aborted on the ground. The last in-flight failure of this system was in 2018.-HomeFront-USA: Domestic threats remain a constant as Pro-Palestine protests/rallies continue around the US. Since hostilities in the Middle East began, many domestic terror groups such as ANTIFA/BLM have been observed to increase hostile online rhetoric, to include direct threats of terrorism.SC: An assailant tried to breach the perimeter of the Oconee Nuclear Station last night by conducting a vehicle ramming attack on the ECP. After his unsuccessful breach attempt he fled the facility where a local homeowner fired warning shots at him as he attempted to trespass down their driveway, before fleeing again. Local authorities have identified the suspect as Doyle Wayne Whisenhunt, who remains at large. A BOLO notice has been issued for his 2002 Toyota Camry with Arkansas plate: 380-VDR.-Analyst Comments-Notes on sources: As Palestinian civilians continue to be targeted by Israeli forces, most of the least-biased information sources on the ground are UN aid workers. Ordinarily the UN would not be considered to be a reliable information source, but in this special circumstance official press statements are the best we can do, as most media on all sides remains agenda-driven. Consequently, UN workers are going to become a primary source for documenting the increasingly desperate humanitarian crisis that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of refugees. If the cessation of official Congressional flights into Israel is true, this is likely related to Hezbollah and/or Hamas increasing usage of MANPADs. So far, several Igla-1 (NATO: SA-18 GROUSE) and Strela-2 (NATO: SA-7 GRAIL) launches have been confirmed by posts on social media. Details on the success of these attacks have been largely unverifiable, though Hamas has claimed to have downed several IDF helicopters and drones.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst: S2AEND REPORTNNNN

Ordinarily, you wouldn't want to visit a whole bunch of hipster coffee shops across the U.S. before bedtime. It would be time-consuming and expensive plus all that coffee would make you all jittery. But if you're being softly guided through these places by the gentle voice of the hilarious Aparna Nancherla, it makes for a perfect bedtime journey. Aparna has a new book, Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome. And she really knows her hipster coffee joints.Links Aparna Nancherla websiteGet Aparna's book: Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Imposter SyndromeAparna would love to learn about bougie coffee shops in YOUR city. She will take your recommendations on Instagram or Twitter.IG @AparnapkinTwitter @Aparnapkin Mentioned in the Show7 Corners, Minneapolis10000 Coffee, New York CityCeremony Coffee Roasters, BaltmoreOnyx Tonix in Burlington, VermontThinking Cup, BostonElixr Coffee, PhiladelphiaLess and More Coffee, Portland, ORHey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you'd like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber? Email us at:  sleepwithcelebs@maximumfun.org.Follow the Show on:Instagram @sleepwcelebsTwitter @SleepWithCelebsTikTok @SleepWithCelebsJohn is on Twitter @johnmoe.John's acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. Join | Maximum FunIf you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you're the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member. 

-- Finches Diversify in Decades, Opals Form in Months,  Man's Genetic Diversity in 200 Generations, C-14 Everywhere: Real Science Radio hosts Bob Enyart and Fred Williams present their classic program that led to the audience-favorites rsr.org/list-shows! See below and hear on today's radio program our list of Not So Old and Not So Slow Things! From opals forming in months to man's genetic diversity in 200 generations, and with carbon 14 everywhere it's not supposed to be (including in diamonds and dinosaur bones!), scientific observations fill the guys' most traditional list challenging those who claim that the earth is billions of years old. Many of these scientific finds demand a re-evaluation of supposed million and billion-year ages. * Finches Adapt in 17 Years, Not 2.3 Million: Charles Darwin's finches are claimed to have taken 2,300,000 years to diversify from an initial species blown onto the Galapagos Islands. Yet individuals from a single finch species on a U.S. Bird Reservation in the Pacific were introduced to a group of small islands 300 miles away and in at most 17 years, like Darwin's finches, they had diversified their beaks, related muscles, and behavior to fill various ecological niches. Hear about this also at rsr.org/spetner. * Opals Can Form in "A Few Months" And Don't Need 100,000 Years: A leading authority on opals, Allan W. Eckert, observed that, "scientific papers and textbooks have told that the process of opal formation requires tens of thousands of years, perhaps hundreds of thousands... Not true." A 2011 peer-reviewed paper in a geology journal from Australia, where almost all the world's opal is found, reported on the: "new timetable for opal formation involving weeks to a few months and not the hundreds of thousands of years envisaged by the conventional weathering model." (And apparently, per a 2019 report from Entomology Today, opals can even form around insects!) More knowledgeable scientists resist the uncritical, group-think insistence on false super-slow formation rates (as also for manganese nodules, gold veins, stone, petroleum, canyons and gullies, and even guts, all below). Regarding opals, Darwinian bias led geologists to long ignore possible quick action, as from microbes, as a possible explanation for these mineraloids. For both in nature and in the lab, opals form rapidly, not even in 10,000 years, but in weeks. See this also from creationists by a geologist, a paleobiochemist, and a nuclear chemist. * Finches Speciate in Two Generations vs Two Million Years for Darwin's Birds?  Darwin's finches on the Galapagos Islands are said to have diversified into 14 species over a period of two million years. But in 2017 the journal Science reported a newcomer to the Island which within two generations spawned a reproductively isolated new species. In another instance as documented by Lee Spetner, a hundred birds of the same finch species introduced to an island cluster a 1,000 kilometers from Galapagos diversified into species with the typical variations in beak sizes, etc. "If this diversification occurred in less than seventeen years," Dr. Spetner asks, "why did Darwin's Galapagos finches [as claimed by evolutionists] have to take two million years?" * Blue Eyes Originated Not So Long Ago: Not a million years ago, nor a hundred thousand years ago, but based on a peer-reviewed paper in Human Genetics, a press release at Science Daily reports that, "research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today." * Adding the Entire Universe to our List of Not So Old Things? Based on March 2019 findings from Hubble, Nobel laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and his co-authors in the Astrophysical Journal estimate that the universe is about a billion years younger than previously thought! Then in September 2019 in the journal Science, the age dropped precipitiously to as low as 11.4 billion years! Of course, these measurements also further squeeze the canonical story of the big bang chronology with its many already existing problems including the insufficient time to "evolve" distant mature galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, enormous black holes, filaments, bubbles, walls, and other superstructures. So, even though the latest estimates are still absurdly too old (Google: big bang predictions, and click on the #1 ranked article, or just go on over there to rsr.org/bb), regardless, we thought we'd plop the whole universe down on our List of Not So Old Things!   * After the Soft Tissue Discoveries, NOW Dino DNA: When a North Carolina State University paleontologist took the Tyrannosaurus Rex photos to the right of original biological material, that led to the 2016 discovery of dinosaur DNA, So far researchers have also recovered dinosaur blood vessels, collagen, osteocytes, hemoglobin, red blood cells, and various proteins. As of May 2018, twenty-six scientific journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, PLoS One, Bone, and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, have confirmed the discovery of biomaterial fossils from many dinosaurs! Organisms including T. Rex, hadrosaur, titanosaur, triceratops, Lufengosaur, mosasaur, and Archaeopteryx, and many others dated, allegedly, even hundreds of millions of years old, have yielded their endogenous, still-soft biological material. See the web's most complete listing of 100+ journal papers (screenshot, left) announcing these discoveries at bflist.rsr.org and see it in layman's terms at rsr.org/soft. * Rapid Stalactites, Stalagmites, Etc.: A construction worker in 1954 left a lemonade bottle in one of Australia's famous Jenolan Caves. By 2011 it had been naturally transformed into a stalagmite (below, right). Increasing scientific knowledge is arguing for rapid cave formation (see below, Nat'l Park Service shrinks Carlsbad Caverns formation estimates from 260M years, to 10M, to 2M, to it "depends"). Likewise, examples are growing of rapid formations with typical chemical make-up (see bottle, left) of classic stalactites and stalagmites including:- in Nat'l Geo the Carlsbad Caverns stalagmite that rapidly covered a bat - the tunnel stalagmites at Tennessee's Raccoon Mountain - hundreds of stalactites beneath the Lincoln Memorial - those near Gladfelter Hall at Philadelphia's Temple University (send photos to Bob@rsr.org) - hundreds of stalactites at Australia's zinc mine at Mt. Isa.   - and those beneath Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance. * Most Human Mutations Arose in 200 Generations: From Adam until Real Science Radio, in only 200 generations! The journal Nature reports The Recent Origin of Most Human Protein-coding Variants. As summarized by geneticist co-author Joshua Akey, "Most of the mutations that we found arose in the last 200 generations or so" (the same number previously published by biblical creationists). Another 2012 paper, in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (Eugenie Scott's own field) on High mitochondrial mutation rates, shows that one mitochondrial DNA mutation occurs every other generation, which, as creationists point out, indicates that mtEve would have lived about 200 generations ago. That's not so old! * National Geographic's Not-So-Old Hard-Rock Canyon at Mount St. Helens: As our List of Not So Old Things (this web page) reveals, by a kneejerk reaction evolutionary scientists assign ages of tens or hundreds of thousands of years (or at least just long enough to contradict Moses' chronology in Genesis.) However, with closer study, routinely, more and more old ages get revised downward to fit the world's growing scientific knowledge. So the trend is not that more information lengthens ages, but rather, as data replaces guesswork, ages tend to shrink until they are consistent with the young-earth biblical timeframe. Consistent with this observation, the May 2000 issue of National Geographic quotes the U.S. Forest Service's scientist at Mount St. Helens, Peter Frenzen, describing the canyon on the north side of the volcano. "You'd expect a hard-rock canyon to be thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years old. But this was cut in less than a decade." And as for the volcano itself, while again, the kneejerk reaction of old-earthers would be to claim that most geologic features are hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, the atheistic National Geographic magazine acknowledges from the evidence that Mount St. Helens, the volcanic mount, is only about 4,000 years old! See below and more at rsr.org/mount-st-helens. * Mount St. Helens Dome Ten Years Old not 1.7 Million: Geochron Laboratories of Cambridge, Mass., using potassium-argon and other radiometric techniques claims the rock sample they dated, from the volcano's dome, solidified somewhere between 340,000 and 2.8 million years ago. However photographic evidence and historical reports document the dome's formation during the 1980s, just ten years prior to the samples being collected. With the age of this rock known, radiometric dating therefore gets the age 99.99999% wrong. * Devils Hole Pupfish Isolated Not for 13,000 Years But for 100: Secular scientists default to knee-jerk, older-than-Bible-age dates. However, a tiny Mojave desert fish is having none of it. Rather than having been genetically isolated from other fish for 13,000 years (which would make this small school of fish older than the Earth itself), according to a paper in the journal Nature, actual measurements of mutation rates indicate that the genetic diversity of these Pupfish could have been generated in about 100 years, give or take a few. * Polystrates like Spines and Rare Schools of Fossilized Jellyfish: Previously, seven sedimentary layers in Wisconsin had been described as taking a million years to form. And because jellyfish have no skeleton, as Charles Darwin pointed out, it is rare to find them among fossils. But now, reported in the journal Geology, a school of jellyfish fossils have been found throughout those same seven layers. So, polystrate fossils that condense the time of strata deposition from eons to hours or months, include: - Jellyfish in central Wisconsin were not deposited and fossilized over a million years but during a single event quick enough to trap a whole school. (This fossil school, therefore, taken as a unit forms a polystrate fossil.) Examples are everywhere that falsify the claims of strata deposition over millions of years. - Countless trilobites buried in astounding three dimensionality around the world are meticulously recovered from limestone, much of which is claimed to have been deposited very slowly. Contrariwise, because these specimens were buried rapidly in quickly laid down sediments, they show no evidence of greater erosion on their upper parts as compared to their lower parts.- The delicacy of radiating spine polystrates, like tadpole and jellyfish fossils, especially clearly demonstrate the rapidity of such strata deposition. - A second school of jellyfish, even though they rarely fossilized, exists in another locale with jellyfish fossils in multiple layers, in Australia's Brockman Iron Formation, constraining there too the rate of strata deposition. By the way, jellyfish are an example of evolution's big squeeze. Like galaxies evolving too quickly, galaxy clusters, and even human feet (which, like Mummy DNA, challenge the Out of Africa paradigm), jellyfish have gotten into the act squeezing evolution's timeline, here by 200 million years when they were found in strata allegedly a half-a-billion years old. Other examples, ironically referred to as Medusoid Problematica, are even found in pre-Cambrian strata. - 171 tadpoles of the same species buried in diatoms. - Leaves buried vertically through single-celled diatoms powerfully refute the claimed super-slow deposition of diatomaceous rock. - Many fossils, including a Mesosaur, have been buried in multiple "varve" layers, which are claimed to be annual depositions, yet they show no erosional patterns that would indicate gradual burial (as they claim, absurdly, over even thousands of years). - A single whale skeleton preserved in California in dozens of layers of diatom deposits thus forming a polystrate fossil. - 40 whales buried in the desert in Chile. "What's really interesting is that this didn't just happen once," said Smithsonian evolutionist Dr. Nick Pyenson. It happened four times." Why's that? Because "the fossil site has at least four layers", to which Real Science Radio's Bob Enyart replies: "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha", with RSR co-host Fred Williams thoughtfully adding, "Ha ha!" * Polystrate Trees: Examples abound around the world of polystrate trees:  - Yellowstone's petrified polystrate forest (with the NPS exhibit sign removed; see below) with successive layers of rootless trees demonstrating the rapid deposition of fifty layers of strata. - A similarly formed polystrate fossil forest in France demonstrating the rapid deposition of a dozen strata. - In a thousand locations including famously the Fossil Cliffs of Joggins, Nova Scotia, polystrate fossils such as trees span many strata. - These trees lack erosion: Not only should such fossils, generally speaking, not even exist, but polystrates including trees typically show no evidence of erosion increasing with height. All of this powerfully disproves the claim that the layers were deposited slowly over thousands or millions of years. In the experience of your RSR radio hosts, evolutionists commonly respond to this hard evidence with mocking. See CRSQ June 2006, ICR Impact #316, and RSR 8-11-06 at KGOV.com. * Yellowstone Petrified Trees Sign Removed: The National Park Service removed their incorrect sign (see left and more). The NPS had claimed that in dozens of different strata over a 40-square mile area, many petrified trees were still standing where they had grown. The NPS eventually removed the sign partly because those petrified trees had no root systems, which they would have had if they had grown there. Instead, the trees of this "fossil forest" have roots that are abruptly broken off two or three feet from their trunks. If these mature trees actually had been remnants of sequential forests that had grown up in strata layer on top of strata layer, 27 times on Specimen Ridge (and 50 times at Specimen Creek), such a natural history implies passage of more time than permitted by biblical chronology. So, don't trust the National Park Service on historical science because they're wrong on the age of the Earth. * Wood Petrifies Quickly: Not surprisingly, by the common evolutionary knee-jerk claim of deep time, "several researchers believe that several millions of years are necessary for the complete formation of silicified wood". Our List of Not So Old and Not So Slow Things includes the work of five Japanese scientists who proved creationist research and published their results in the peer-reviewed journal Sedimentary Geology showing that wood can and does petrify rapidly. Modern wood significantly petrified in 36 years these researchers concluded that wood buried in strata could have been petrified in "a fairly short period of time, in the order of several tens to hundreds of years." * The Scablands: The primary surface features of the Scablands, which cover thousands of square miles of eastern Washington, were long believed to have formed gradually. Yet, against the determined claims of uniformitarian geologists, there is now overwhelming evidence as presented even in a NOVA TV program that the primary features of the Scablands formed rapidly from a catastrophic breach of Lake Missoula causing a massive regional flood. Of course evolutionary geologists still argue that the landscape was formed over tens of thousands of years, now by claiming there must have been a hundred Missoula floods. However, the evidence that there was Only One Lake Missoula Flood has been powerfully reinforced by a University of Colorado Ph.D. thesis. So the Scablands itself is no longer available to old-earthers as de facto evidence for the passage of millions of years. * The Heart Mountain Detachment: in Wyoming just east of Yellowstone, this mountain did not break apart slowly by uniformitarian processes but in only about half-an-hour as widely reported including in the evolutionist LiveScience.com, "Land Speed Record: Mountain Moves 62 Miles in 30 Minutes." The evidence indicates that this mountain of rock covering 425 square miles rapidly broke into 50 pieces and slid apart over an area of more than 1,300 square miles in a biblical, not a "geological," timeframe.  * "150 Million" year-old Squid Ink Not Decomposed: This still-writable ink had dehydrated but had not decomposed! The British Geological Survey's Dr. Phil Wilby, who excavated the fossil, said, "It is difficult to imagine how you can have something as soft and sloppy as an ink sac fossilised in three dimensions, still black, and inside a rock that is 150 million years old." And the Daily Mail states that, "the black ink was of exactly the same structure as that of today's version", just desiccated. And Wilby added, "Normally you would find only the hard parts like the shell and bones fossilised but... these creatures... can be dissected as if they are living animals, you can see the muscle fibres and cells. It is difficult to imagine... The structure is similar to ink from a modern squid so we can write with it..." Why is this difficult for evolutionists to imagine? Because as Dr. Carl Wieland writes, "Chemical structures 'fall apart' all by themselves over time due to the randomizing effects of molecular motion."Decades ago Bob Enyart broadcast a geology program about Mount St. Helens' catastrophic destruction of forests and the hydraulic transportation and upright deposition of trees. Later, Bob met the chief ranger from Haleakala National Park on Hawaii's island of Maui, Mark Tanaka-Sanders. The ranger agreed to correspond with his colleague at Yellowstone to urge him to have the sign removed. Thankfully, it was then removed. (See also AIG, CMI, and all the original Yellowstone exhibit photos.) Groundbreaking research conducted by creation geologist Dr. Steve Austin in Spirit Lake after Mount St. Helens eruption provided a modern-day analog to the formation of Yellowstone fossil forest. A steam blast from that volcano blew over tens of thousands of trees leaving them without attached roots. Many thousands of those trees were floating upright in Spirit Lake, and began sinking at varying rates into rapidly and sporadically deposited sediments. Once Yellowstone's successive forest interpretation was falsified (though like with junk DNA, it's too big to fail, so many atheists and others still cling to it), the erroneous sign was removed. * Asiatic vs. European Honeybees: These two populations of bees have been separated supposedly for seven million years. A researcher decided to put the two together to see what would happen. What we should have here is a failure to communicate that would have resulted after their "language" evolved over millions of years. However, European and Asiatic honeybees are still able to communicate, putting into doubt the evolutionary claim that they were separated over "geologic periods." For more, see the Public Library of Science, Asiatic Honeybees Can Understand Dance Language of European Honeybees. (Oh yeah, and why don't fossils of poorly-formed honeycombs exist, from the millions of years before the bees and natural selection finally got the design right? Ha! Because they don't exist! :) Nautiloid proves rapid limestone formation. * Remember the Nautiloids: In the Grand Canyon there is a limestone layer averaging seven feet thick that runs the 277 miles of the canyon (and beyond) that covers hundreds of square miles and contains an average of one nautiloid fossil per square meter. Along with many other dead creatures in this one particular layer, 15% of these nautiloids were killed and then fossilized standing on their heads. Yes, vertically. They were caught in such an intense and rapid catastrophic flow that gravity was not able to cause all of their dead carcasses to fall over on their sides. Famed Mount St. Helens geologist Steve Austin is also the world's leading expert on nautiloid fossils and has worked in the canyon and presented his findings to the park's rangers at the invitation of National Park Service officials. Austin points out, as is true of many of the world's mass fossil graveyards, that this enormous nautiloid deposition provides indisputable proof of the extremely rapid formation of a significant layer of limestone near the bottom of the canyon, a layer like the others we've been told about, that allegedly formed at the bottom of a calm and placid sea with slow and gradual sedimentation. But a million nautiloids, standing on their heads, literally, would beg to differ. At our sister stie, RSR provides the relevant Geologic Society of America abstract, links, and video. *  Now It's Allegedly Two Million Year-Old Leaves: "When we started pulling leaves out of the soil, that was surreal, to know that it's millions of years old..." sur-re-al: adjective: a bizarre mix of fact and fantasy. In this case, the leaves are the facts. Earth scientists from Ohio State and the University of Minnesota say that wood and leaves they found in the Canadian Arctic are at least two million years old, and perhaps more than ten million years old, even though the leaves are just dry and crumbly and the wood still burns! * Gold Precipitates in Veins in Less than a Second: After geologists submitted for decades to the assumption that each layer of gold would deposit at the alleged super slow rates of geologic process, the journal Nature Geoscience reports that each layer of deposition can occur within a few tenths of a second. Meanwhile, at the Lihir gold deposit in Papua New Guinea, evolutionists assumed the more than 20 million ounces of gold in the Lihir reserve took millions of years to deposit, but as reported in the journal Science, geologists can now demonstrate that the deposit could have formed in thousands of years, or far more quickly! Iceland's not-so-old Surtsey Island looks ancient. * Surtsey Island, Iceland: Of the volcanic island that formed in 1963, New Scientist reported in 2007 about Surtsey that "geographers... marvel that canyons, gullies and other land features that typically take tens of thousands or millions of years to form were created in less than a decade." Yes. And Sigurdur Thorarinsson, Iceland's chief  geologist, wrote in the months after Surtsey formed, "that the time scale," he had been trained "to attach to geological developments is misleading." [For what is said to] take thousands of years... the same development may take a few weeks or even days here [including to form] a landscape... so varied and mature that it was almost beyond belief... wide sandy beaches and precipitous crags... gravel banks and lagoons, impressive cliffs… hollows, glens and soft undulating land... fractures and faultscarps, channels and screes… confounded by what met your eye... boulders worn by the surf, some of which were almost round... -Iceland's chief geologist * The Palouse River Gorge: In the southeast of Washington State, the Palouse River Gorge is one of many features formed rapidly by 500 cubic miles of water catastrophically released with the breaching of a natural dam in the Lake Missoula Flood (which gouged out the Scablands as described above). So, hard rock can be breached and eroded rapidly. * Leaf Shapes Identical for 190 Million Years?  From Berkley.edu, "Ginkgo biloba... dates back to... about 190 million years ago... fossilized leaf material from the Tertiary species Ginkgo adiantoides is considered similar or even identical to that produced by modern Ginkgo biloba trees... virtually indistinguishable..." The literature describes leaf shapes as "spectacularly diverse" sometimes within a species but especially across the plant kingdom. Because all kinds of plants survive with all kinds of different leaf shapes, the conservation of a species retaining a single shape over alleged deep time is a telling issue. Darwin's theory is undermined by the unchanging shape over millions of years of a species' leaf shape. This lack of change, stasis in what should be an easily morphable plant trait, supports the broader conclusion that chimp-like creatures did not become human beings and all the other ambitious evolutionary creation of new kinds are simply imagined. (Ginkgo adiantoides and biloba are actually the same species. Wikipedia states, "It is doubtful whether the Northern Hemisphere fossil species of Ginkgo can be reliably distinguished." For oftentimes, as documented by Dr. Carl Werner in his Evolution: The Grand Experiment series, paleontogists falsely speciate identical specimens, giving different species names, even different genus names, to the fossil and living animals that appear identical.) * Box Canyon, Idaho: Geologists now think Box Canyon in Idaho, USA, was carved by a catastrophic flood and not slowly over millions of years with 1) huge plunge pools formed by waterfalls; 2) the almost complete removal of large basalt boulders from the canyon; 3) an eroded notch on the plateau at the top of the canyon; and 4) water scour marks on the basalt plateau leading to the canyon. Scientists calculate that the flood was so large that it could have eroded the whole canyon in as little as 35 days. See the journal Science, Formation of Box Canyon, Idaho, by Megaflood, and the Journal of Creation, and Creation Magazine. * Manganese Nodules Rapid Formation: Allegedly, as claimed at the Wikipedia entry from 2005 through 2021: "Nodule growth is one of the slowest of all geological phenomena – in the order of a centimeter over several million years." Wow, that would be slow! And a Texas A&M Marine Sciences technical slide presentation says, “They grow very slowly (mm/million years) and can be tens of millions of years old", with RWU's oceanography textbook also putting it at "0.001 mm per thousand years." But according to a World Almanac documentary they have formed "around beer cans," said marine geologist Dr. John Yates in the 1997 video Universe Beneath the Sea: The Next Frontier. There are also reports of manganese nodules forming around ships sunk in the First World War. See more at at youngearth.com, at TOL, in the print edition of the Journal of Creation, and in this typical forum discussion with atheists (at the Chicago Cubs forum no less :). * "6,000 year-old" Mitochondrial Eve: As the Bible calls "Eve... the mother of all living" (Gen. 3:20), genetic researchers have named the one woman from whom all humans have descended "Mitochondrial Eve." But in a scientific attempt to date her existence, they openly admit that they included chimpanzee DNA in their analysis in order to get what they viewed as a reasonably old date of 200,000 years ago (which is still surprisingly recent from their perspective, but old enough not to strain Darwinian theory too much). But then as widely reported including by Science magazine, when they dropped the chimp data and used only actual human mutation rates, that process determined that Eve lived only six thousand years ago! In Ann Gibbon's Science article, "Calibrating the Mitochondrial Clock," rather than again using circular reasoning by assuming their conclusion (that humans evolved from ape-like creatures), they performed their calculations using actual measured mutation rates. This peer-reviewed journal then reported that if these rates have been constant, "mitochondrial Eve… would be a mere 6000 years old." See also the journal Nature and creation.com's "A shrinking date for Eve," and Walt Brown's assessment. Expectedly though, evolutionists have found a way to reject their own unbiased finding (the conclusion contrary to their self-interest) by returning to their original method of using circular reasoning, as reported in the American Journal of Human Genetics, "calibrating against recent evidence for the divergence time of humans and chimpanzees,"  to reset their mitochondrial clock back to 200,000 years. * Even Younger Y-Chromosomal Adam: (Although he should be called, "Y-Chromosomal Noah.") While we inherit our mtDNA only from our mothers, only men have a Y chromosome (which incidentally genetically disproves the claim that the fetus is "part of the woman's body," since the little boy's y chromosome could never be part of mom's body). Based on documented mutation rates on and the extraordinary lack of mutational differences in this specifically male DNA, the Y-chromosomal Adam would have lived only a few thousand years ago! (He's significantly younger than mtEve because of the genetic bottleneck of the global flood.) Yet while the Darwinian camp wrongly claimed for decades that humans were 98% genetically similar to chimps, secular scientists today, using the same type of calculation only more accurately, have unintentionally documented that chimps are about as far genetically from what makes a human being a male, as mankind itself is from sponges! Geneticists have found now that sponges are 70% the same as humans genetically, and separately, that human and chimp Y chromosomes are  "horrendously" 30%

You might think the topic of Project Management would be boring. Ordinarily, you might be right. And yet, the people behind this disruptive technology are anything but boring! What can you learn from a woman who's a partner in the development and distribution of a start-up app that's project-management based? A LOT. Her journey is something as she doesn't have a college degree, but she was playing in the big-kids' sandbox at Proctor and Gamble and Starbucks. Her app is something as it's AI-based and streamlines the logistics timeline for builders. And her heart-centered giving is something, employing a company devoted to helping trafficked women. April Moss is awesome and DigiBuild is a company to keep an eye out for! April@DigiBuild.comwww.DigiBuild.com

Ordinarily, the New England Patriots earning their first preseason victory would be the lead storyline taken from their contest against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday evening at Lambeau Field. However, the 21-17 final score appropriately paled in comparison to the collective concern for the well-being of Pats rookie Isaiah Bolden, who suffered a serious injury. Host Mike D'Abate welcomes Thomas ‘Murph' Murphy of E2G Sports to recap Pats-Packers, provide a positive update on Bolden and discuss potential solutions for the team's offensive line woes. Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQ Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D'Abate on Twitter, where he'll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans. Twitter: @mdabateNFL Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Harry's Get your best shave ever this summer with Harry's razors and skin care products. Get a $13 Starter Set for just $3 at harrys.com/NFL.   Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. birddogs Go to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNFL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a white tech hat with any order. You won't want to take your birddogs off we promise you. BetterHelp This podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/Lockedon today to get 10% off your first month. Underdog Fantasy This episode is sponsored by Underdog Fantasy! Sign up HEREwith the promo code LOCKEDON to get your first deposit DOUBLED up to $100. Must be 18+ (19+ in Alabama and Nebraska, 21+ in Massachusetts and Arizona) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www dot ncpgambling.org; In Arizona call 1-800-NEXT-STEP; in New York, Call 1-877-8-HOPENY; in Tennessee, call 1-800-889-9789 eBay Motors For parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let's ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. LinkedIn LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Make Every Moment More. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG(CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat(CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ordinarily, the New England Patriots earning their first preseason victory would be the lead storyline taken from their contest against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday evening at Lambeau Field. However, the 21-17 final score appropriately paled in comparison to the collective concern for the well-being of Pats rookie Isaiah Bolden, who suffered a serious injury. Host Mike D'Abate welcomes Thomas ‘Murph' Murphy of E2G Sports to recap Pats-Packers, provide a positive update on Bolden and discuss potential solutions for the team's offensive line woes.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriotsAnd follow host Mike D'Abate on Twitter, where he'll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Harry'sGet your best shave ever this summer with Harry's razors and skin care products. Get a $13 Starter Set for just $3 at harrys.com/NFL.  GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.birddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNFL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a white tech hat with any order. You won't want to take your birddogs off we promise you.BetterHelpThis podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/Lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.Underdog FantasyThis episode is sponsored by Underdog Fantasy! Sign up HEREwith the promo code LOCKEDON to get your first deposit DOUBLED up to $100.Must be 18+ (19+ in Alabama and Nebraska, 21+ in Massachusetts and Arizona) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www dot ncpgambling.org; In Arizona call 1-800-NEXT-STEP; in New York, Call 1-877-8-HOPENY; in Tennessee, call 1-800-889-9789eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let's ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG(CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat(CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's guest is Jeff Love.   Jeff is a Partner at Gibbs Giden Locher Turner Senet & Wittbrodt, which has been named one of the Best Law Firms in the U.S. for construction law, construction litigation, and real estate law by U.S. News. Join Sam and Jeff in today's episode.  -------------------------------------------------------------- Intro [00:00:00] Tenant Estoppel Certificates in Commercial Real Estate [00:05:14] Reviewing Leases and Ensuring Accuracy [00:06:53] Challenges with Obtaining Tenant Signatures [00:08:24] Tenant Estoppel Certificates [00:09:04] Common Pitfalls in Construction Contracts [00:11:45] Importance of Communication and Documentation in Construction [00:17:22] The importance of timing in real estate transactions [00:19:12] Adjusting timelines in real estate agreements [00:20:04] Closing [00:21:26] -------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with Jeff:  LinkedIn (personal) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-love-65a5951a/  LinkedIn (company) - https://www.linkedin.com/company/gibbs-giden-locher-turner-&-senet-llp/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/gibbsgiden Web: https://www.gibbsgiden.com/attorneys/jeffrey-b-love/   Connect with Sam: I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.     Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HowtoscaleCRE/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samwilsonhowtoscalecre/ Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com   SUBSCRIBE and LEAVE A RATING. Listen to How To Scale Commercial Real Estate Investing with Sam Wilson Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-scale-commercial-real-estate/id1539979234 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4m0NWYzSvznEIjRBFtCgEL?si=e10d8e039b99475f -------------------------------------------------------------- Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below: Jeff Love (00:00:00) - And really understanding what you're getting from your contractor because and there's pros and cons to all of them. You know, the cost plus contract, you know, typically tell investors and clients, look, basically the contractor is passing on the cost to you, plus their premium, which is their profit and which is nothing wrong with it at all. But you got to understand that there is no maximum price if prices increase, their costs increase. So to yours. So you need to make sure you understand that and work that into your budget and your business plan. Welcome to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate Show. Whether you are an active or passive investor, we'll teach you how to scale your real estate investing business into something big. Jeff Love is a partner at Gibbs Garden, which has been named one of the best law firms in the US for construction law, construction litigation and real estate law by US News. Jeff, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. The pleasure is mine.   Jeff Love (00:00:56) - Jeff There are three questions I ask every guest who comes on the show in 90s or less. Can you tell me where did you start? Where are you now and how did you get there? I started with building blocks when I was when I was a little dude, apparently. I've always liked real estate, wanted to get into real estate. Once college, UCLA thought, Hey, why not go to law school to learn about contracts? I could, you know, help me be a real estate developer. I went to law school, realized I actually like helping investors more than doing it myself, kind of like being behind the scenes, different clients, different stages. So instead of pivoting to be the real estate developer after a couple of years, which was my plan ten years later, I am a real estate transactional attorney dealing with corporate issues, securities issues and everything real estate from your mom and pop investor to your large national syndicator. Wow, That's a that's a lot to deal with. What's your favorite part about what you do? I like to think really helping investors.   Jeff Love (00:01:53) - You know, a lot of times they come to me. It's their first project. You know, they've listened to a podcast. They say, you know, I'm a successful doctor, but I want to invest in this ten unit multifamily building and helping them do it, avoiding the pitfalls and really seeing them grow, not just real estate, but, you know, other clients companies we have seeing them start, you know, ten years later what they've been able to achieve. That's really the cool thing for me. That's awesome. What are some of the what are some of the common things that people come to you with? And you say, all right, here's how to go back and get your ducks in a row before you come back to me. Are there are there some things that you see repeated over and over that you're helping these first time people kind of that are venturing into larger scale commercial projects that you can help us kind of short circuit some of that. Yeah, and it's common sense, but it's it's hard to know what you don't know.   Jeff Love (00:02:42) - Right? So the first thing I tell people is, you know, having your team in place, you've watched podcasts, you've you've read about it, you may be owning your home, but it's different when you get into kind of commercial real estate or investment real estate. And you really need to have a good insurance broker. You need to have an accountant that understands what you're doing, especially if you have investors and you're offering some type of preferred return. You need to have good real estate broker helping you find those deals. Oftentimes a good attorney that can help you make sure that you're protecting your other assets. So what I tell a lot of first time investors is make sure you have a good team around you so they can help you with the things that you don't know and you rely on your strengths. You rely on your advisors to help you, just like you would in any other facet of life. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So you work on everything from, like you said, mom and pop large scale syndications.   Jeff Love (00:03:35) - You really love the kind of first timer and watching them, watching them grow through that process. What does it look like for you? You invest as well in real estate. So what's it like on the legal side? You know, as you look at investments that you're getting into reverse, to say a lot of the times when it's me personally, I don't read half the agreements. I'm like, Oh, it's just me. No one's really relying on me. So I'm like, just sign on the dotted line. But, you know, we invest in multifamily. It's something that, you know, I like that. I like a lot of different asset classes. But for me, that's one that my wife and I, you know, kind of we understand, you know, we're not having to do allowances or brokers and manage kind of commercial. Everyone needs somewhere to live and we invest locally. So I'm in Redondo Beach City, right. You know, about 30 minutes south of LAX in Los Angeles.   Jeff Love (00:04:24) - And we're reinvest in the city where we lived. We were renters. So we kind of know what things rent for, what we looked for. We can kind of manage it ourselves. I can lease, you know, show it, I can lease it. And what we did is really thought, you know, the buildings that we have are not as much for cash flow, which is really hard in Los Angeles, if not most of California, but appreciation. And we we've done it structured it in a way where we've kind of gifted our kids, you know, small interests every year. So eventually, you know, it gets it out of our estate for estate planning purposes. But it also helps them, you know, kind of get their feet wet. They're really little now, but as they grow, they'll they'll have little portions of these buildings, hopefully spur the bug with them and kind of save that for them or their retirement one day. Right? Oh, that's.   Sam Wilson(00:05:13) - Really, really cool.   Sam Wilson(00:05:14) - So I guess you probably never want to hear your attorney say you don't read all of it, but I bet you read. I bet you read the important parts. Are there things that you really focus in on when you do dig into the documents?   Jeff Love (00:05:26) - I do. So a lot of times there's certain things that I've seen a thousand times, you know? So those are the ones that I probably don't read. It probably should. But reading for clients, but myself, you know, I've seen them over and over again, but with multifamily in particular, you know, also retail. You could make the case for any tenant is really looking at a tenant estoppel certificate in the leases because a lot of times, especially with smaller buildings, you may have ideals. A landlord may have promised a tenant certain things, you know, they could stay there for another year, but it's not in the lease. And myself or client as an investor, I want to know exactly what I'm buying. So what a tenant estoppel certificate does is it makes the tenant basically confirm certain statements in the lease.   Jeff Love (00:06:12) - This is the rent, this is the term. There's no defaults. So that once I close, I buy the building. I know what I'm getting. The tenant can't come to me later and say, you know, sorry, you know, the old landlord said, I have a five year lease at a thousand bucks a month when it was supposed to be a one year lease for $10,000 a month. That's a big difference. The problem is I can always go after the seller, but then I'm stuck with that tenant and depending on what my investment plan is, I may have wanted to try to get the building vacant because it was a one year lease. That really protects me and just make sure I know exactly what I'm buying and I know that what is in the lease is actually the terms.   Sam Wilson(00:06:53) - Now, that that would, I would think, help me clarify this, but that would work on a maybe single tenant situation. Or is this something where you ask for a review of these leases before you ever close and actually look for those things and then put that tenant estoppel in place? Is that is that even word that correctly or am I missing something?   Jeff Love (00:07:13) - No, you did.   Jeff Love (00:07:14) - And it's it's it's more practical and, you know, kind of the more tenants you get because then you have all these different leases to review Terms may have changed. I could get it for a multifamily building, for a retail shopping center, industrial building. I really want I just want to know if the lease that I'm getting, which is a very important part of commercial real estate, you know, is accurate and there's no side deals.   Sam Wilson(00:07:38) - Right? And so you sign that estoppel certificate or the seller signs that estoppel certificate, is that right? Saying, hey, look, these are the terms and then you can come after me If we find out post closed that there are terms with other tenants that vary from what I've defined here.   Jeff Love (00:07:56) - Sometimes it's a seller. Even better is having the actual tenant sign it because if the tenant doesn't sign it, I have a claim against the seller because it's not accurate. But the tenant, if this was the deal, the tenants, you know their in their right to stay.   Jeff Love (00:08:12) - So I typically want the tenant to tell me that everything and this is accurate. If can't get that for whatever reason, then I'll have the seller sign it. But one of the two parties and that protects me as the buyer.   Sam Wilson(00:08:24) - So let's assume it's a 200 unit multifamily complex. How do you practically get the tenants to sign all of this if it's not? How do you how does that work? Like, how do you get that in writing from the tenants before you close?   Jeff Love (00:08:39) - Usually it's a requirement of the lease, but when you get to that scale, there are going to be some tenants you just can't track down. So when you get to 50, 100, 200 units, it may be a certain threshold seller is going to be required to get 75%, 80% of the tenants to sign the estoppel certificate for those that they can't get, the seller is going to sign the remaining, say, 20% because it's just not going to happen. If I have a 200 unit building, I'm just some tenants going to be gone.   Jeff Love (00:09:04) - I'm not going to track them down. I'm not going to blow the deal over that. But I want the majority of them to sign it. That's something that's usually negotiated as part of a purchase agreement when you get to that type of large, large scale. But most multifamily leases, most leases in general, I should say, have a requirement that a tenant is going to sign an estoppel certificate. Because a lot of times if you're getting commercial debt, the lender is going to want to see it as well. Got it.   Sam Wilson(00:09:30) - Got it. Okay. That's that's really, really interesting. So there should be already an agreement in place in the lease that the tenant says, hey, look, if I need to sign this certificate, I will when that time comes. Or is it signed? Typically when they sign the lease.   Jeff Love (00:09:46) - It is signed. When that time comes, usually they have ten days to do it and you'll be doing that. Seller will usually do that during the process and that'll be one of the last items of due diligence.   Sam Wilson(00:09:56) - How often do you feel like this important step is skipped?   Jeff Love (00:10:01) - A lot, especially with smaller buildings and, you know, smaller, you know, maybe you talk to the tenant, you know, but you just, you know, you never know. And that's the problem, especially depending on what you're doing with the property. You know, if you're buying it for, you know, long term investment, maybe it's not as big of a deal. But if your strategy is, you know, I'm going to buy it, I'm going to, you know, rehab it tenant might leave, you know, rent it for a higher amount, then it's a big problem. If that one tenant's, you know, in there for five years and you didn't know about that. So I think it is overlooked but it is an important aspect of do your due diligence process for any real estate acquisition, along with, you know, environmental and tidal issues that we should be looking at as well.   Sam Wilson(00:10:44) - Yeah, absolutely.   Sam Wilson(00:10:45) - No, that's a great that's a great nugget. And these are things that when you look at a deal as a passive investor, you say, hey, I want to I want to find out, you know, do we have these estoppel certificates? I think if I'm using the right terminology here, do we have those signed?   Jeff Love (00:11:01) - You are. And yes, yes, you should.   Sam Wilson(00:11:03) - Okay, That's cool. Wow. I have I learned something new here today as a passive investor myself in multiple multifamily deals. I can't say I've ever asked that question. So there we go. Tip pro tip from Jeff Love here today. For those of you who are listening, that's that's awesome. Thank you for sharing really the inside scoop on that and what some of the things are that you look for. Let's talk a little bit about construction. I know there in your bio we mentioned the word construction. You guys handle a lot of things on the construction side of it. When I say that and you talk about commercial real estate construction, give us kind of some inside scoops on what it is you're looking for there, how you help clients out, common pitfalls, all of those things.   Jeff Love (00:11:45) - Starting from the beginning. I think it's, you know, a lot of times, you know, maybe we do residential construction on our own home. But when you start investing and you have larger deals, the construction becomes kind of a different animal, so to speak. The first thing, you know, a lot of clients come to me and they don't understand is the different types of construction contracts that are just out there and what's the difference between a cost plus versus a guaranteed maximum price called sometimes you hear it called a gap and really understanding what you're getting from your contractor because and there's pros and cons to all of them. You know, the cost plus contract, you know, typically tell investors and clients, look, basically the contractor is passing on the cost to you, plus their premium, which is their profit and which is nothing wrong with it at all. But you got to understand that there is no maximum price if prices increase, their costs increase. So to yours. So you need to make sure you understand that and work that into your budget and your business plan, especially lately with inflation and rising costs.   Jeff Love (00:12:46) - Really something to think about. And on the other side, I'll tell clients, well, yes, you could have a gap, which is it's my fixed price, but if the contractor has a fixed price, are they going to be cutting corners because they can get things cheaper? Is it the quality that you want and you expect or is it a different type of materials that they're using that you weren't expecting? So the first most important and probably most important thing is just to understand the relationship with the contractor, what you're getting from them, how they're billing it and how that's documented in a contract so that there are no surprises later on.   Sam Wilson(00:13:23) - Yeah, I would imagine. I would imagine so. Yeah, there are. I mean, I've been a been a contractor and have contracted a lot in my life. And you're right, there's there's costs or there's benefits to both. I think the cost plus one, like you said, there's no maximum price. And it's and it's in its own right. I like it.   Sam Wilson(00:13:41) - But it's also. You're basically giving your contractor a blank check. All right. Right. Hey, man, you know what and where? Ordinarily, if there's a maxed or a max price in the deal where they say, okay, you know what, maybe we don't have to order an extra, you know, truckload of whatever it is, OSB or whatever the project is. I'm just dreaming out loud here. But whereas if it's like, hey, it's cost plus it's like, yeah, sure, we'll take an extra semi load of OSB because maybe we'll need it when we're doing roofing repairs or whatever it is we're up against and oh well, just tack it on and there goes an extra 20 grand. No big deal. Right. So it's it's, it's a, it's a catch, a catch 22 there. On which way is the absolute right way to do it. What are some common not maybe the disputes isn't the wrong word but common uh things you see people getting wrong in that contract side of things that could have been worked out ahead of time.   Jeff Love (00:14:35) - I don't know that would say getting wrong. A lot of times we'll use, you know, form as American Institute of Architects that are kind of common forms out in California and are pre-printed, but just not understanding the contract. You know, one of the big ones that we get, you know, defaults and kind of disputes over are termination clauses because timing is a huge issue. You know, I've got investors or even for myself, you know, I'm losing rent because I'm waiting for this to be done. And the contractor, for whatever reason, not not putting on the contractor, but they're delays. That could be the you know, the contractor is understaffed or can't get the subs out there. It could be materials. They're not coming in. But as the owner, you know, I may not be fully informed and just. I don't understand what's taking so long. So making sure you understand that. And if it doesn't work out, what does the termination section look like? I had a client, you know, a couple of weeks ago that was entering into, you know, rather small contract.   Jeff Love (00:15:35) - But, you know, for what it was, it was, you know, maybe, you know, a couple million dollars, but it was for a single family residence. And what this contract had is it had a fixed fee. It was cost plus. But the contractor basically had a fixed fee in there of $200,000 that no matter when I terminated the deal, if for any reason, no reason, he got that $200,000. So to me and to the client, he had no idea that was in there and said, Well, you know what? If I just want to, you know, stop and flip the property, I've got a lot of interest. I said, If you sign this tomorrow, you owe your contractor $200,000, right? So making sure, you know, is there something like that in there or is it more common where if I terminate, I'll pay my contractor everything I owe him to date? You know, maybe there's some lost profit, but I'm not on the hook for the whole thing and that I understand that because those delays do lead a lot of times to default and desires to terminate.   Jeff Love (00:16:33) - And that's where we see a lot of disputes between both sides.   Sam Wilson(00:16:37) - Yeah, I can only imagine. And again, coming at it from I mean, I've been on both sides of the equation, both the the contractor doing the work in a previous life and then also the one now as the as the contractor or the general contractor, if you will, or the property owner, rather, that is, you know, contracting this this work out. And you do run into delays, be it. My problem, be it their problem, be it other subs, be it weather, be it all these things. And I think I think what I'm hearing you say and tell me if I'm wrong, but is that it's just imperative to have a clear line of communication where you guys are talking back and forth saying, hey, this is why we're slowing down. This is why it's taking more time. There is. And do you recommend if that conversation does happen, is it important to get those things in writing?   Jeff Love (00:17:22) - Absolutely.   Jeff Love (00:17:23) - And that's probably, if not the most biggest takeaway. You know, those listeners can communicate in every single deal because most of the problems that we have, you know, when it gets to litigation and I'll bring one of my partners say, hey, this dispute, I can't handle it now. It's not transactional. It's litigation because you can communicate whether you're contractor, you're investors, you know, whatever party it is, they didn't know what was going on, so you left them with no choice. So to your construction contract is communicate. And if there is something that changes or documenting it, you know, put it in an email, have the conversation, you know, a phone call and then follow up with an email, just, you know, confirming what we talked about. So you have that paper trail if it ever becomes an issue. And hopefully it wasn't, because now you guys you talked through it. You everyone is aware of what's going on and no one's left in the dark.   Sam Wilson(00:18:14) - Yeah, absolutely.   Sam Wilson(00:18:16) - Absolutely. Cool. We've talked about a lot of really great stuff here so far. We've talked about the Estoppel certificates and what you look for in opportunities. We've talked about construction and just kind of some things we should be looking for and how to how to avoid the common problems that happen on large scale commercial projects. Is there anything else that comes to mind, I guess, from the legal side of things that you think about that you say, man, here's here's the way the world is changing or stuff that you are making sure are now in deal decks or or pens maybe that weren't there a year ago. Anything any new updates on that front?   Jeff Love (00:18:50) - It's a timing is a big one. I think the last couple of years when things really slowed down have showed us, you know, things take longer. A lot of times now with clients, purchase agreements, leases, we're kind of building in extra kind of contingency periods, so to speak, because I can't get someone I can't get my inspector out there.   Jeff Love (00:19:12) - He's taking longer. I've had a number of clients kind of run up against hard deadlines where they're, you know, in a purchase agreement, they're forced to waive contingencies and risk their money being non-refundable, but they haven't been able to get everything done. And seller or buyer aren't cooperative. So we're really just kind of thinking that things from a 10,000 foot level and saying, can I get this done in this time period? Can I raise money from investors? Can I get my lender to respond? Can I get my property inspector out there? And if not, you know, working in can have a 30 day extension, even if I have to pay for it to make sure that that doesn't affect my deal. And that really goes across the real estate spectrum is making sure that you have adequate timing for what you need. Things are moving slower. Make sure that you're going to be prepared for that.   Sam Wilson(00:19:58) - I think that's a great word. It's funny you say that because even yesterday we're sending out some LOI.   Sam Wilson(00:20:04) - We kind of had a verbal agreements on things and we were changing the timelines. It was just like before it was, you know, 30 days and maybe it was 15 days, 30 days to close. And now it's, you know what we're doing 30 and 30 with a 15 day extension on the due diligence period, due diligence period, because all of the above things you just mentioned. And so it was funny just having that conversation yesterday afternoon, just slowing things down, saying, you know what, we're going to we're going to need more time for all of the aforementioned reasons. So thanks. Thanks for pointing that out because that is something that probably even six months ago I wouldn't have thought was really going to be an issue. But now it is. It's just it's just taking everybody surveyors, you name it. I mean, oh, sorry. We're four weeks out. We'll shoot. We're under. I mean, what do you do? You just you got to just, you know, get in line and wait.   Sam Wilson(00:20:51) - So. That's right. That's the way it goes. Well, Jeff, thank you for taking the time to come on the show here today. Certainly learned a lot from you. A lot of great homes here for us to practically employ. So I appreciate that. If our listeners want to get in touch with you or learn more about you, what is the best way to do that?   Jeff Love (00:21:06) - Check out our website. It's Gibbs Gedcom or feel free to email me J. Love at Gibbs Gate and always happy to answer real estate questions.   Sam Wilson(00:21:15) - Fantastic. And for those of you who are listening, Gibbs is Gibbs getting giddy in? So Gibbs giving Jeff, thank you again for coming on today. I do appreciate it.   Jeff Love (00:21:26) - Thank you.   Sam Wilson(00:21:26) - Hey, thanks for listening to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate podcast. If you can do me a favor and subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, whatever platform it is you use to listen. If you can do that for us, that would be a fantastic help to the show.   Sam Wilson(00:21:43) - It helps us both attract new listeners as well as rank higher on those directories. So appreciate you listening. Thanks so much and hope to catch you on the next episode.