Podcasts about Policy

Episode 2720 - Vinnie Tortorich welcomes Dr. Tony Hampton to discuss focusing on policy, advocating for change, use of GLP-1s, and more. https://vinnietortorich.com/2025/11/focusing-on-policy-episode-2720 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Pure Vitamin Club Pure Coffee Club NSNG® Foods VILLA CAPPELLI EAT HAPPY KITCHEN YOU CAN WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE - @FitnessConfidential Podcast Focusing On Policy Dr. Tony Hampton has been a guest on the show several times—he has a long history of advocating in the low-carb space. (2:00) Being policy-focused rather than party-focused in governmental policy should be the focus. (8:30) Dr. Hampton describes his career focus on improving metabolic health, including how to incentivize doctors to help people discontinue medications and reduce the cost of care. (12:00) RFK Jr. may not always speak clearly to the mainstream public in a way that resonates. Dr. Hampton still faces challenges in the mainstream medical space, where other doctors struggle to embrace certain concepts; for example, many of his peers continue to have trouble accepting the idea that saturated fat is not harmful. (14:00) Despite the benefits of a low-carb or ketogenic diet and its positive effects on things like diabetes and other metabolic diseases, it is still not accepted by many doctors. Apparently, they didn't get the memo! (16:00) They discuss food deserts and their effects on the community. (21:00) Advocating and Taking Action Dr. Hampton describes a current concept in healthcare being initiated by Advocate Trinity. (22:00) Much of it is educating people about food and lifestyle, and helping them to change their habits for the better (28:00) Vinnie admits he is not a fan of GLP-1s, but he understands how they can be a valuable tool for teaching and helping people adopt new habits. (31:00) They discuss the negative aspects of GLP-1s. The muscle loss associated with GLP-1 is more pronounced than that observed with natural weight loss. Muscle is essential for so many reasons, including boosting insulin sensitivity. (38:00) It is the metabolic engine of the body! Increasing muscle mass prevents you from becoming fragile. (38:00) Dr. Hampton offers two programs: NEST, which stands for Nutrition, Exercise, Less Stress/More Sleep, and How You Think/Less Trauma. ROPE is for Relationships, Organism (avoiding bad/adding good), Pollutants, and Emotions. (46:00) @drtonyhampton is on Instagram, and his linktree is https://linktr.ee/drtonyhampton YouTube is the best place to find him: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTonyHampton If you are interested in the NSNG® VIP group, it will be reopening soon. But you can get on the wait list -https://vinnietortorich.com/vip/ More News If you are interested in the NSNG® VIP group, it will be reopening soon. But you can get on the wait list -https://vinnietortorich.com/vip/ Don't forget to check out Serena Scott Thomas on Days of Our Lives on the Peacock channel. "Dirty Keto" is available on Amazon! You can purchase or rent it here.https://amzn.to/4d9agj1 Please make sure to watch, rate, and review it! Eat Happy Italian, Anna's next cookbook, is available! You can go to https://eathappyitalian.com You can order it from Vinnie's Book Club. https://amzn.to/3ucIXm Anna's recipes are in her cookbooks, website, and Substack–they will spice up your day! https://annavocino.substack.com/ Don't forget you can invest in Anna's Eat Happy Kitchen through StartEngine. Details are at Eat Happy Kitchen. https://eathappykitchen.com/ PURCHASE DIRTY KETO (2024) The documentary launched in August 2024! Order it TODAY! This is Vinnie's fourth documentary in just over five years. Visit my new Documentaries HQ to find my films everywhere: https://vinnietortorich.com/documentaries Then, please share my fact-based, health-focused documentary series with your friends and family. Additionally, the more views it receives, the better it ranks, so please watch it again with a new friend! REVIEWS: Please submit your review after watching my films. Your positive REVIEW does matter! PURCHASE BEYOND IMPOSSIBLE (2022) Visit my new Documentaries HQ to find my films everywhere: https://vinnietortorich.com/documentaries REVIEWS: Please submit your review after watching my films. Your positive REVIEW does matter! FAT: A DOCUMENTARY 2 (2021) Visit my new Documentaries HQ to find my films everywhere: https://vinnietortorich.com/documentaries FAT: A DOCUMENTARY (2019) Visit my new Documentaries HQ to find my films everywhere: https://vinnietortorich.com/documentaries

We're doing something a little different this week. My guest is my friend and financial planner Georgia Lee Hussey, founder and CEO of Modernist Financial, and together we're unpacking the Big Beautiful Bill and what it means for your taxes in 2025 and beyond.We explore how this new legislation could impact everyday taxpayers, what it reveals about our national priorities, and how we can each align our financial decisions with our values. It's a thoughtful and, yes, sometimes political conversation—because as Georgia reminds us, taxes are political. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

973. Laura answers a listener's question about when it makes sense to convert term life insurance to a whole life policy.Find a transcript here. Have a money question? Send an email to money@quickanddirtytips.com or leave a voicemail at (302) 364-0308.Find Money Girl on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to the newsletter for more personal finance tips.Money Girl is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/money-girl-newsletterhttps://www.facebook.com/MoneyGirlQDT Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this compelling episode, Mariann Sullivan speaks with three passionate advocates working to protect farmed animals through legislative action. Brian Hackett (Director of Government Relations at Associated Humane Societies), Amit Dhuleshia (co-founder of Strategic Action for Animals), and Hannah Truxell (Senior Policy Counsel with The Humane League) share their experiences fighting against the EATS Act—federal legislation that threatens to overturn state…

Ivey Gruber, President of the Michigan Talk Network, joins the show to discuss the recent decision to restrict gender designations on passports to biological sex, calling it a perfectly sensible and necessary policy for national consistency and security. The conversation turns to the failures of Obamacare, as even some Democrats admit the program hasn't lived up to its promises. Ivey and Steve highlight how the left is attempting to shift blame onto Trump, while he continues working to improve healthcare access and affordability. They wrap up by noting Trump's broader policy successes and what they mean heading into the next election cycle.

Did you know that immigrant labor is critical to our food system, and most of the food that gets to our plates was grown, harvested and processed by the hands of immigrants? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Daniel Costa, JD, attorney, and Director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at the Economic Policy institute. Costa explains details of immigration policy, our dependence on immigrants for economic growth, and policies that affect immigrants' quality of life. Costa was featured on the Investigate Midwest webinar on immigrant labor in the food system:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbqm6J1jAEA. If you'd like to comment on immigrant work visas, go to the Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/10/2025-17390/agency-information-collection-activities-comment-request-revision-of-h-2a-temporary-agricultural, and if you'd like to better understand how Trump's anti-immigrant policies could collapse the U.S. food industry, see this recent article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/17/how-many-immigrants-food-industry-workersRelated Websites: https://www.epi.org/people/daniel-costa/

We start with a federal judge's ruling on coverage for food stamp benefits this month amid a government shutdown. The Supreme Court clears way for President Donald Trump's transgender passport policy. A verdict has been reached in a lawsuit filed by a former Virginia teacher shot by her student. We'll break down the White House's deals that promise to lower prices for some weight loss drugs. Plus, the latest on a case challenging federal agents' crackdown tactics in Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Open enrollment for 2026 is underway — and for millions of Americans managing chronic or rare diseases, understanding your health insurance options is essential. In this episode of The Health Advocates, Steven Newmark breaks down what open enrollment is, what’s new this year, and how to navigate changes in your plan. Drawing from Aimed Alliance’s 2026 Open Enrollment guide, Steven explains key terms like deductibles and out-of-pocket limits, explores what to watch for in your plan’s formulary, and outlines the impact of potential changes to ACA subsidies. Whether you’re reviewing employer coverage or shopping through HealthCare.gov, this episode will help you make informed, patient-centered choices for the year ahead. Listen and learn: What to look for in your 2026 plan How to protect your access to medications and providers Why ACA subsidies and transparency rules matter for affordability Contact Our Host Steven Newmark, Chief of Policy at GHLF: snewmark@ghlf.org A podcast episode produced by Ben Blanc, Director, Digital Production and Engagement at GHLF. We want to hear what you think. Send your comments in the form of an email, video, or audio clip of yourself to podcasts@ghlf.org Listen to all episodes of The Health Advocates on our website or on your favorite podcast channel.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boring Problems, Big Wins, Community‑Driven AI Adoption AI is not overhyped, it is under-implemented. Ken Roden and Erin Mills chat with Sheena Miles on how to move from tool obsession to behavior change, her three stage framework, and the practical KPIs that prove progress before revenue shows up. We also talk AI policy that unlocks safe experimentation, community as an accelerator, and Sheena demos how she spins up n8n workflows from a prompt. Chapter markers 00:00, Cold open and disclaimer 01:00, Is AI overhyped, what is really failing 03:20, Early indicators versus lagging revenue, set better goals 04:20, Exec view, target 3 percent faster time to market 06:00, Avoid AI slop, find repetitive, boring work 07:00, Guest intro 09:00, Real state of adoption, dual speed orgs and siloed champions 10:45, Teach concepts, not tools 12:00, Policy, security review, AI council 14:00, Behavior beats features 15:30, Community for accountability and shared assets 17:30, Live n8n demo, import a skeleton workflow and adapt 35:00, AI first versus AI native, embed into workflows 36:30, Influence without authority, solve a champion's boring problem 38:00, Inclusion and usage gaps, why it matters to the business 40:00, Skills that matter now, prompting, rapid testing, communicating thought process 43:00, Why to be optimistic 45:00, Lightning round 48:00, Host debrief and takeaways Key takeaways Hype versus reality, most failures are vague goals and tool-first rollouts, not AI itself. • Measure what you can now, speed to market, cycle time, sprint throughput, ticket deflection, before revenue. • Framework, Activate, Amplify, Accelerate, start small, spread what works, then institutionalize. • Policy unlocks velocity, simple rules for data and tool vetting plus a cross functional council. • Behavior over features, learn inputs and outputs so skills transfer across tools. • Community compounds, accountability and shared templates speed learning. • Start with boring problems, compliance questionnaires, asset generation, ticket clustering, call insights. • AI first versus AI native, move from sidecar to embedded with human review gates. • Inclusion is a business lever, close usage gaps or accept a productivity gap. Sheena's three stage framework Activate, prove value safely • Define the problem, validate AI fit, run a small pilot. • Track accuracy thresholds and time saved. • Example, auto draft responses to repetitive compliance questionnaires from a vetted knowledge base. Amplify, spread what works • Connect adjacent teams, add light governance, share patterns. • Run cross team pilots and publish playbooks. • Example, connect support tickets, payments, compliance, partner success to detect issues proactively. Accelerate, institutionalize • Assign ownership, embed training, integrate tools, set ROI guardrails. • Roll out across channels and systems with quality gates. • Example, ad copy system owned by demand gen, content as QA, used across paid, email, social. Hot Takes from Sheena “Policy enables speed if you write it to unblock safe experiments.” “Stop memorizing tool steps, learn the concepts so they transfer.” “Solve the boring problem first, that is where AI pays for itself.” “If NRR belongs to someone, it belongs to everyone.” Resources & Links Sheena Miles on LinkedIn Women Defining AI, podcast and community n8n About FutureCraft Stay tuned for more insightful episodes from the FutureCraft podcast, where we continue to explore the evolving intersection of AI and GTM. Take advantage of the full episode for in-depth discussions and much more. To listen to the full episode and stay updated on future episodes, visit our website, https://www.futurecraftai.media/ Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent those of any company or business we currently work for/with or have worked for/with in the past. Music: Far Away - MK2

Ironton Education Association President Daniel Murphy and his fellow educators in their rural community live in a deep red part of Ohio - Donald Trump won 75% of the vote in Lawrence County in 2024. But Murphy says partisan labels mean nothing when it comes to making sure rural students' needs are met. In this episode, he shares what he wants all lawmakers to understand about the challenges facing rural schools. He also shares his message to his local members about the importance of electing pro-public education leaders, regardless of political party.SEE WHERE YOUR LAWMAKERS STAND | Click here to see how your representatives in the Ohio House and Senate vote on public education issues with the OEA Legislative Scorecard tool.DONATE TO THE OEA FUND | The OEA Fund is the state political action committee (PAC) for members of the Ohio Education Association. It is funded with voluntary donations from OEA members, members' families, and OEA staff to support pro-public education, pro-labor candidates, regardless of political affiliation or anything else. Dues funds are never used to make contributions to candidates or political parties. SUBSCRIBE | Click here to subscribe to Public Education Matters on Apple Podcasts or click here to listen on Spotify so you don't miss a thing. You can also find Public Education Matters on many other platforms. Click here for some of those links so you can listen anywhere. And don't forget you can listen to all of the previous episodes anytime on your favorite podcast platform, or by clicking here.Featured Public Education Matters guest: Daniel Murphy, Ironton Education Association PresidentDaniel is a proud father, first and foremost. To his children, Jasmine and Kingston, he is a hero, a teacher, and a source of unconditional love. It is from this foundational role that his mission to nurture, protect, and empower others flows. As a Physical Education teacher at Ironton Middle School, he has spent the last decade channeling that paternal energy into the gymnasium and onto the playing fields, understanding that building strong character is just as important as building strong bodies.But his classroom has no walls. For twenty years, he has been a pillar on the football field, coaching at multiple levels. In the grit and grind of practice, he has taught young athletes about discipline, teamwork, and resilience—lessons that extend far beyond the final whistle. This same unwavering dedication is offered to his faith community, where he serves as a deacon, providing spiritual guidance and support.Recognizing that his duty of care extended to the very colleagues who shape Ironton's future, he stepped into a new role three years ago as President of the Ironton Education Association. Here, he found a new arena for his passion. The same fire he brings to his students, his players, and his church, he now brings to serving his union members every single day.His mission is clear and profound: to better the work environment and culture for everyone involved in the Ironton City Schools District. He fights not just for teachers, but for the dedicated support staff, the students they all serve, and the entire ecosystem that makes education possible. He understands that a thriving school is built on respect and fairness for all.His guiding light in this work is a powerful conviction, echoed in one of his favorite quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”He has chosen a life of purposeful noise. He is not silent about fair treatment. He is not silent about safe and supportive schools. He is not silent about the things that matter to his family, his students, his fellow educators, and his community.Through his roles as a father, teacher, coach, deacon, and union leader, he demonstrates that true impact is measured not by a single grand gesture, but by the sum of a thousand daily commitments. He is a builder—of stronger bodies, sharper minds, fairer workplaces, and a more compassionate community. His story is a powerful reminder that one person's dedicated life can be the catalyst for a better world for all. Connect with OEA:Email educationmatters@ohea.org with your feedback or ideas for future Public Education Matters topicsLike OEA on FacebookFollow OEA on TwitterFollow OEA on InstagramGet the latest news and statements from OEA hereLearn more about where OEA stands on the issues Keep up to date on the legislation affecting Ohio public schools and educators with OEA's Legislative WatchAbout us:The Ohio Education Association represents nearly 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio's schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio's children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio's schools.Public Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May 2020, after a ten-year career as an Emmy Award-winning television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children. This episode was recorded on September 11, 2025.

Today on Truth in Politics and Culture, exit polling data in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia reveal a growing radicalism among younger voters as women, independents, and immigrants fuel democrat victories. What, if anything, does this mean for the 2026 midterm elections? Also, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the constitutionality of Trump's tariff policies. What is the likely outcome and how will it affect Americans in the short term and the long term?

Rep. Don Bacon: Conservatism vs. Populism, Israel, Anti-Semitism, Immigration & the GOP's FutureFormer Air Force Brigadier General and five-term Congressman Don Bacon (NE-02) joins us to talk candid conservatism: calling out Trump and the populist right, defending liberal-democratic norms, Israel and anti-Semitism on campus, immigration policy, faith in public life, and what's next for the Republican Party.If you value nuanced, good-faith conversations, hit Like and Subscribe—it helps us bring on high-caliber guests like Rep. Bacon.Guest: Rep. Don Bacon — 30 years USAF; member of Congress, Nebraska's 2nd District.Chapters00:32 Who is Don Bacon? Air Force → Congress; NE-0201:01 Why he critiques Trump & the populist right02:05 Values over tribalism: January 6, Ukraine, tariffs03:11 Faith, Constitution, and old-school conservatism05:00 Congress, Article I, and executive overreach07:00 Early connections to Jews & Israel; Genesis 12:309:05 First trip to Israel, Yad Vashem, and “never again”11:15 Missile defense cooperation & deterrence12:17 Why support for Israel is fraying (left & right)15:18 Conservatives vs. national populists20:07 Policy tells: free markets, trade, Ukraine, Israel21:28 Post–Oct 7: bipartisan support & where it slipped23:18 The real value of U.S.–Israel ties (intel, tech, industry)30:00 Faith in public life & pluralism33:22 Anti-Semitism Awareness Act & speech on campus37:36 Immigration: stop illegal inflow, expand legal pathways40:24 Why he's retiring from Congress (and what's next)42:48 The GOP after Trump: the coming contest43:41 Final thoughts: issue-by-issue integrityKey topics & SEODon Bacon interview, conservative vs populist right, Trump criticism, January 6, Ukraine aid, Israel support, Iron Dome, anti-Semitism on campus, free speech, Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, immigration reform, evangelical faith and politics, future of GOP, liberal democracySupport the show• Subscribe + comment with your biggest takeaway• Share this episode with a friend who follows U.S.–Israel policy#tuckercarlson #stevebannon #maga #conservatism #israel #antisemitism #immigration #gop #politics #liberaldemocracy

In this episode of the Heart to Heart podcast, Dr. Mike Hart interviews Dr. Corey Peacock, an exercise physiologist and department chair at Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Peacock discusses his diverse background, from establishing the Fight Science Laboratory to working with elite MMA fighters at Kill Cliff Fight Club. The conversation covers advanced training methods, including zone-based cardio, strength and conditioning exercises, and recovery protocols. Listeners gain insights into the importance of athletic balance, the role of power versus strength in MMA, and the efficacy of various recovery tools such as cold plunges, sauna, and red light therapy. Dr. Peacock emphasizes the tailored approach needed for different fighters and the benefits of continually evolving training strategies.   Dr. Corey Peacock is an exercise physiologist, sports scientist, and performance coach who bridges academic research with elite MMA training. He holds a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from Kent State University and serves as Department Chair of Health and Human Performance at Nova Southeastern University, where he co-founded the Fight Science Lab. As Director of Athlete Performance for Kill Cliff Fight Club, Dr. Peacock helps world-class fighters optimize strength, endurance, and recovery through science-driven performance methods. Connect with him on Instagram @drcpeacock and LinkedIn. Links: American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Kill Cliff Fight Club (formerly Blackzilians and Sanford MMA)  Dr. José Antonio – Co-founder of Fight Science Lab Norwegian 4x4 Interval Method    Show Notes: 00:00 Welcome back to the Hart2Heart podcast with Dr. Mike Hart 00:47 Dr. Corey Peacock's Background 02:52 Cardio Training for MMA Fighters 17:41 Strength and Conditioning Essentials 30:35 Reverse Hypers and Posterior Chain Training 34:17 Balancing Strength and Power in MMA 36:44 Training Insights from Anthony Rumble Johnson 42:42 The Role of HRV in Training Adjustments 47:13 Recovery Tools: Cold Plunges, Sauna, and Red Light Therapy 52:57 Upcoming Events and Contact Information — The Hart2Heart podcast is hosted by family physician Dr. Michael Hart, who is dedicated to  cutting through the noise and uncovering the most effective strategies for optimizing health,  longevity, and peak performance. This podcast dives deep into evidence-based approaches to  hormone balance, peptides, sleep optimization, nutrition, psychedelics, supplements, exercise  protocols, leveraging sunlight light, and de-prescribing pharmaceuticals—using medications only when absolutely necessary.   Beyond health science, we tackle the intersection of public health and politics, exposing how  Policy decisions shape our health landscape and what actionable steps people can take to reclaim control over their well-being.   Guests range from out-of-the-box thinking physicians such as Dr. Casey Means (author of "Good Energy") and Dr. Roger Sehult (Medcram lectures) to public health experts such as Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Dr. Marty Mckary  (Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and high-profile names such as  Zuby and Mark Sisson (Primal Blueprint and Primal Kitchen).   If you're ready to take control of your health and performance, this is the podcast for you. We cut through the jargon and deliver practical, no-BS advice that you can implement in your daily life, empowering you to make positive changes for your well-being.   Connect on social with Dr. Mike Hart: Instagram: @drmikehart Twitter: @drmikehart Facebook: @drmikehart  

We're want to talk about climate change, and more specifically whether policy makers are throwing in the towel on the climate battle. It's a question we're asking because Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has announced changes to the Climate Change Response Act. The biggest amendment seems to be the proposal to end the current requirement for the Climate Change Commission to advise the Government on the country's emissions reduction plans. It would also mean the public would no longer be consulted on national emissions budgets. Across the ditch, Australia's conservative political parties are looking at dropping their commitment to hit net zero emissions by 2050. These changes got us wondering whether our individual actions can still make a difference.

On the eve of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's historic meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington on Nov. 10, Al-Monitor spoke with former US Ambassador Barbara Leaf, the first senior US official to formally meet with him after the fall of the Assad regime.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pentagon leaders came under fire Tuesday for quietly reorganizing part of the Defense Department's policy office without notifying Congress. Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis is here with more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this week's episode of  A Climate Change, host Matt Mattern welcomes comedian and writer Bill Kessler for a spirited, no-filter take on the intersection of climate politics, policy, and everyday life. Blending wit with insight, they dissect the week's environmental headlines, from viral AI spectacles to the deeper economic and moral choices shaping our planet's future.   Matt and Bill unpack the $700 million clean energy project cancellations, exploring what that means for America's battery manufacturing, job creation, and energy independence. They examine the lawsuits around Cancer Alley, where weakened EPA air pollution standards are hitting vulnerable communities hardest, and talk about the human cost behind those policy shifts.   From public transport funding shortfalls to the environmental price of ultra-processed foods, the conversation connects personal choices with systemic change and lands on practical optimism. Bill's closing thought? Go buy a two-year-old electric vehicle; it's smart economics and smart for the planet.   It's a grounded, funny, and thought-provoking exchange that reminds us that humour and hope still belong in the climate conversation.   Want to boast to your friends about trees named after you? Help us plant 30k trees? Only a few trees left! Visit aclimatechange.com/trees to learn more. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Watch the full conversation:  https://www.youtube.com/@aclimatechange/?sub_confirmation=1   Bill Kessler Bio Bill Kessler is a seasoned comedian, writer, and producer known for his sharp observational humour and cultural commentary. His television credits include Hollywood Squares and Funny You Should Ask, where his quick wit and smart satire earned him recognition for blending comedy with social insight. With a career spanning stand-up, television, and content development, Kessler's work reflects a distinctive ability to dissect everyday absurdities with intelligence and humour, making him a respected voice in contemporary American comedy.   Episode Resources Bill Kessler on LinkedIn  Matt Matern on LinkedIn A Climate Change on Apple A Climate Change on Spotify A Climate Change on YouTube    More About A Climate Change with Matt Matern A Climate Change with Matt Matern is a podcast dedicated to addressing the pressing issue of climate change while inspiring action and fostering a sustainable future. Each episode dives deep into the environmental challenges of our time, rising global temperatures, extreme weather events, and resource degradation, breaking down complex topics into digestible insights. The podcast goes beyond merely raising awareness. It serves as a trusted resource for practical, actionable solutions that empower listeners to reduce their carbon footprint and drive change in their communities. With a strong focus on environmental science and expert perspectives, host Matt Matern brings influential voices to the forefront, highlighting innovative ideas and collaborative efforts shaping global sustainability initiatives. More than just a source of information, A Climate Change is a movement. It builds a coalition of like-minded individuals committed to preserving the planet for future generations. Listeners are invited to participate actively in creating a legacy of positive environmental impact through informed decision-making and collective action. The podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, provides a platform for science-backed discussions, global perspectives, and community building. Whether you want to learn about renewable energy, sustainable living practices, or climate policy, A Climate Change with Matt Matern equips you with the tools and knowledge to make a tangible difference. Tune in, take action, and join the fight for a brighter, greener future.   Curated List of Episodes If you enjoyed this episode of A Climate Change, here is a list of some recent episodes curated especially for you: Simulating the Future: How Climate Models Shape Policy Decisions with Andrew Jones [Link] How Personal Change Sparks Global Impact: Joshua Spodek's Sustainability Secrets [Link] Bill McKibben on Renewable Energy, Political Battles & Hope for the Planet [Link]

WABC Host & economist Larry Kudlow calls into the morning show to touch upon the end of the NYC mayoral race, expressing concerns about the new mayor's potential socialist policies, and their impact on public safety and law enforcement. He underscores the importance of Jessica Tisch's leadership within the NYPD, criticizes the idea of a civilian review board and social workers handling domestic calls, and shares worries about the future of crime reduction. Kudlow further touches on potential financial challenges, such as funding cuts and the impracticality of the new mayor's free services proposals, emphasizing the likelihood of continued tax increases and their negative impact on New York's affordability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marty sits down with Connor Brown to discuss his work as a Bitcoin policy advisor on Capitol Hill, the strategic Bitcoin reserve legislation, America's race to lead in Bitcoin, and how sound money can offer a middle path between political extremism. Conner on Twitter: https://x.com/BitcoinConner BPI: https://www.btcpolicy.org/donate STACK SATS hat: https://tftcmerch.io/ Our newsletter: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/ TFTC Elite (Ad-free & Discord): https://www.tftc.io/#/portal/signup/ Discord: https://discord.gg/VJ2dABShBz Opportunity Cost Extension: https://www.opportunitycost.app/ Shoutout to our sponsors: Bitkey https://bit.ly/TFTCBitkey20 Unchained https://unchained.com/tftc/ Obscura https://obscura.net/ SLNT https://slnt.com/tftc CrowdHealth https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/tftc Salt of the Earth: https://drinksote.com/tftc Join the TFTC Movement: Main YT Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/TFTC21/videos Clips YT Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUQcW3jxfQfEUS8kqR5pJtQ Website https://tftc.io/ Newsletter tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/ Twitter https://twitter.com/tftc21 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tftc.io/ Nostr https://primal.net/tftc Follow Marty Bent: Twitter https://twitter.com/martybent Nostr https://primal.net/martybent Newsletter https://tftc.io/martys-bent/ Podcast https://www.tftc.io/tag/podcasts/

Democrats knew they were funding healthcare for illegal immigrants — and lied about it. The federal government says Washington State can’t force foster parents to accept their children's gender identity. Guest: National political director for the Republican Jewish Coalition Sam Markstein reacts to the horrifying prospect of an antisemite like Zohran Mamdani becoming mayor of New York. // Big Local: A look at some of the key local races around the Puget Sound region tonight. // You Pick the Topic: A University of Chicago professor that was previously arrested at an anti-ICE protest posted vile comments about Dick Cheney moments after his death was announced today.

Thank you for tuning in for another episode of Life's Best Medicine. Dr. David Cavan is a leading diabetes specialist and author dedicated to helping people take control of their blood sugar and reverse type 2 diabetes through practical lifestyle changes. A former Director of Policy and Programmes at Diabetes UK, he has over 25 years of clinical experience and has advised globally on diabetes prevention and management. Dr. Cavan is the author of several influential books, including Reverse Your Diabetes and Take Control of Type 1 Diabetes, empowering patients with evidence-based, sustainable strategies for better health.   In this episode, Drs. Brian and David talk about… (00:00) Intro (04:07) Diabetes reversal (08:34) The history of managing diabetes with low carb diets (12:50) How Dr. Cavan discovered the power of diet for managing diabetes (22:52) Systemic issues in medicine related to nutritional advice and chronic disease (28:15) The growing acceptance of low carb diets as a therapy for diabetes (30:15) CGMs (31:05) Metabolic psychiatry (37:55) Type 1 Diabetes care (45:36) CGMs (49:56) Diabetes in Africa and lifestyle intervention (58:09) Outro   For more information, please see the links below. Thank you for listening!   Links:   Dr. David Cavan: The Diabetes Doctor: https://www.thediabetesdoctor.co.uk   Dr. Brian Lenzkes:  Arizona Metabolic Health: https://arizonametabolichealth.com/ Low Carb MD Podcast: https://www.lowcarbmd.com/ Brain Bootcamp: https://prescott-now.com/event/brain-bootcamp-resource-event/   HLTH Code: HLTH Code Promo Code: METHEALTH • • HLTH Code Website: https://gethlth.com

In this episode of Longevity by Design, host Dr. Gil Blander sits down with Dr. Kerry Burnight, Gerontologist, Chief Gerontologist, New York Times best-selling author, and researcher. They explore what it truly means to age well, focusing less on resisting the passage of time and more on embracing vitality, curiosity, and joy throughout life's second half.Dr. Burnight explains why the common “decline” mindset around aging misses the full story. She shares research showing that meaningful growth, strong social connections, adaptability, and a sense of giving can shape both how long and how well we live. Dr. Burnight offers practical examples for building these habits, from maintaining friendships across generations to finding purpose in everyday acts.Throughout the conversation, Dr. Burnight urges listeners to rethink their beliefs about aging and to prepare for later life with intention. She shows that nurturing joy and purpose is just as important as physical health, and that everyone can take steps to build a more satisfying, resilient, and joyful future. Guest-at-a-Glance 

Lynn McKee, director of the Master of Science in commercial real estate program at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business, joins Host Carol Morgan on the Atlanta […] The post The Atlanta Beltline, Power Lines & Policy: What's Driving Growth appeared first on Atlanta Real Estate Forum.

In this episode of Diabetics Doing Things, host Rob Howe sits down with Allan Coukell, Chief Government Affairs and Public Policy Officer at Civica Rx, to discuss one of the most significant healthcare developments in years: California's announcement that insulin pens will be available for $11 each ($55 for a five-pack) beginning January 1, 2026. They unpack how CalRx and Civica Rx partnered to manufacture biosimilar insulins—beginning with insulin glargine, the long-acting insulin—and how this effort represents a national, non-profit model for lowering drug costs. The conversation explores how these low-cost insulins will reach patients across the U.S., how Civica Rx's unique business model disrupts traditional pharmaceutical pricing, and what's next for rapid-acting insulins (aspart, Humalog, Novolog) and other affordable drugs in Civica's pipeline. Rob and Allan also dive into the broader implications of nonprofit manufacturing, state partnerships, and how patients, advocates, and policymakers can support the movement toward transparent, sustainable drug pricing. Chapters & Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 01:51 – CalRX announcement 02:40 – Meet Allan Coukell 03:16 – Policy and Affordability 04:40 – Breaking down the CalRx Announcement 05:12 – How the Partnership Works 07:03 – Scaling Access Nationwide 08:34 – The Role of State Partnerships 10:08 – Beyond Insulin: Civica's Drug Pipeline 13:02 – The Timeline and Transparency 14:47 – What's Next for Patients 15:32 – Advocacy and How to Help Resources: * CivicaRx.org * CalRx.gov Key Takeaways * Insulin Glargine (long-acting) launches January 1, 2026 for $11/pen in California and nationwide. * Rapid-acting insulin (aspart) is in development with no public release date yet. * Civica Rx's nonprofit model eliminates rebates and profit markups, targeting transparency and affordability. * Other Civica products already cut prices on cancer, MS, and chronic care drugs by over 90%. * Patients can help by requesting coverage, spreading awareness, and advocating for more states to partner with Civica.

Our 224th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news!Recorded on 10/31/2025Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and co-hosted by Gavin Purcell (check out AI For Humans and AndThen!)Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at contact@lastweekinai.com and/or hello@gladstone.aiRead out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/In this episode:OpenAI completes its for-profit restructuring, redefining its relationship with Microsoft and securing future investments. Meanwhile, Qualcomm and other tech giants announce new AI chips aimed at competing with Nvidia and AMD, marking major advancements in AI hardware capabilities. Amazon and Google deepen their partnerships with Anthropic, providing extensive computing resources to enhance AI research and applications. These developments signal significant growth and competition in the AI industry. Major AI tools and models were released and updated, including Cursor 2.0, CLAUDE coding capabilities, and open-source options from Minimax. These new tools offer a range of functionalities for coding, design, and more. Legal battles around AI copyright issues persist, as OpenAI faces ongoing lawsuits from authors over text generation using copyrighted material. Universal Music Group settles a copyright suit with AI music startup UDO, transitioning to a licensed model for AI-generated music. This shift reflects broader challenges and adaptations in the AI-generated content space, where copyright and ethical usage remain highly contentious issues.Timestamps:(00:00:10) Intro / Banter(00:02:44) News PreviewTools & Apps(00:03:44) Cursor 2.0 shifts to in-house AI with Composer model and parallel agents(00:07:44) Anthropic brings Claude Code to the web | TechCrunch(00:10:01) Microsoft's Mico is a 'Clippy' for the AI era | TechCrunch(00:14:20) Anthropic's Claude catches up to ChatGPT and Gemini with upgraded memory features | The Verge(00:18:46) Canva launches its own design model, adds new AI features to the platform | TechCrunch(00:21:07) Elon Musk's Grokipedia launches with AI-cloned pages from Wikipedia | The VergeApplications & Business(00:25:10) OpenAI completed its for-profit restructuring — and struck a new deal with Microsoft | The Verge(00:31:25) Qualcomm announces AI chips to compete with AMD and Nvidia(00:34:02) Amazon launches AI infrastructure project, to power Anthropic's Claude model | Reuters(00:38:52) Google and Anthropic announce cloud deal worth tens of billions(00:39:46) Google partners with Ambani's Reliance to offer free AI Pro access to millions of Jio users in India | TechCrunchProjects & Open Source(00:41:17) MiniMax Releases MiniMax M2: A Mini Open Model Built for Max Coding and Agentic Workflows at 8% Claude Sonnet Price and ~2x Faster - MarkTechPost(00:45:22) [2510.25741] Scaling Latent Reasoning via Looped Language Models(00:47:59) OpenAI's gpt-oss-safeguard enables developers to build safer AI - Help Net SecurityResearch & Advancements(00:49:51) [2510.15103] Continual Learning via Sparse Memory Finetuning(00:54:01) [2510.18091] Accelerating Vision Transformers with Adaptive Patch Sizes(00:57:46) [2510.18871] How Do LLMs Use Their Depth?Policy & Safety(01:01:07) AMD, Department of Energy announce $1 billion AI supercomputer partnership | The Verge(01:03:03) Synthetic Media & Art(01:09:34) Universal partners with AI startup Udio after settling copyright suit | The Verge(01:16:04) OpenAI loses bid to dismiss part of US authors' copyright lawsuit | ReutersSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us a textWe question “zero emissions” labels, unpack Colorado's coal-to-gas reality, and explore why propane often outperforms grid-charged EVs on lifecycle emissions. Michael Baker joins to decode the shutdown, Clean Cities funding, and how to keep energy policy pragmatic.• Ride-and-drive insights on propane vehicles versus EVs• The Comanche coal plant's debt, timelines, and grid impact• Lifecycle versus tailpipe emissions clarity for fleets• Growth in demand from data centers and population• Gates's pivot to poverty and health over pure climate targets• Shutdown timelines, LIHEAP stakes, and travel impacts• Policy pendulum and durable strategies for propane• Clean Cities funding outlook and all-of-the-above approach• School bus wins and local chapter engagement• Zion's propane buses and an EV tow truck• Montana VW funds: 25% toward new propane vehiclesGet 25% of a new vehicle paid for by the Montana DEQ by getting rid of one of your diesel trucks and buying a propane-powered truck. That funding request ends December 4th.https://deq.mt.gov/energy/Programs/fuels

Mary Vought joins Ryan Wrecker to unpack Democratic wins in California, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, plus the passage of Proposition 50. They debate the party's strategy of running against Donald Trump, the rise of progressive figures like AOC, and concerns about socialist leaning candidates. Policy talk includes healthcare, immigration, government spending, and wealth redistribution, with a focus on how messaging shapes voter expectations.

ACLU Senior Policy Counsel Chad Marlow: Trump's National Security Memo Labels His Enemies Terrorists, Orders InvestigationsCenter for Budget and Policy Priorities Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Development Peggy Bailey: Judge Forces Trump to use Contingency Funds to Restore SNAP Benefits to Nation's Poor FamiliesArtist and activist Robert Shetterly: ‘Americans Who Tell the Truth' Portraiture Project Aims to Inspire Courageous CitizenshipBob Nixon's Under-reported News Summary• Russia's war on Ukraine has ravaged the nation's forests• Ethiopia opens new dam threatening Egypt's water security• US-Mexico border wall imperils region's pollinatorsVisit our website at BTLonline.org for more information, in-depth interviews, related links, transcripts and subscribe to our BTL Weekly Summary and/or podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday at 12 noon ET, website updated Wednesdays after 4 p.m. ETProduced by Squeaky Wheel Productions: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus, Bob Nixon, Anna Manzo, Susan Bramhall, Jeff Yates and Mary Hunt. Theme music by Richard Hill and Mikata.

Governor Tim Walz joins co-hosts Heidi and Joel Heitkamp to discuss the mounting economic and social challenges facing rural America. The conversation covers the farm economy, rural health care, trade policy, and how political messaging affects rural communities. You'll hear firsthand stories about the impact of national policy decisions on small-town life and agriculture.Heidi Heitkamp and Joel Heitkamp lead a candid discussion about trust, messaging, and what rural voters really want from their leaders. Gov. Tim Walz offers lessons from Minnesota and challenges both parties to listen better, prioritize common sense, and rebuild partnerships across political divides.Join us on The Hot Dish every week, where we serve up hearty conversations that resonate with every corner of the country.The Hot Dish is brought to you by the One Country Project, making sure the voices of the rest of us are heard in Washington. To learn more, visit https://onecountryproject.org or find us at https://onecountryproject.substack.com/.

In this special live episode of Transit Unplugged, recorded at TCRP Day in Washington, DC, Paul Comfort sits down with a powerhouse panel of transit leaders:Sarah Meyer — EVP, Chief Customer Officer at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Jamaal Schoby — Senior Program Manager at Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Art Guzzetti — Vice President, Policy at American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Matt Daus — Partner & Chair, Transportation Practice Group (Windels Marx) They dive into the critical role of research in shaping the future of public transit—how the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) delivers actionable insights, not just academic studies. From fare policy to safety, from AI to workforce development, hear how these leaders are using data and research to make real-world decisions that impact millions of riders.Whether you're in operations, policy, planning, or innovation, this episode will show you why research isn't just important—it's urgent.https://nap.nationalacademies.org/trb/165/transit-cooperative-research-program-research-report

Formal Chinese can be a bit tricky at first. In this lesson, your trusty ChinesePod hosts dissect a typical announcement from HR, explaining in everyday terms what that formal language about "flexible work hours" is trying to say. Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/1742

In this week's episode of then & now, David Myers moderates a panel discussion from the recent Urban History Association meeting in Los Angeles.  The panel discussed two important questions: What is distinctive about Los Angeles as an urban experience and experiment? And what does L.A. tell us or teach us about urban life at this critical moment in U.S. history?Panelists included a mix of distinguished experts and commentators: historian Becky Nicolaides, L.A. Times journalist Gustavo Arellano, architect Brenda Levin, and political scientist Raphael J. Sonenshein. Historian Becky Nicolaides traces L.A.'s evolution beyond its classic “sunshine and noir” dichotomy, highlighting its history as a sanctuary for immigrants, a hub for labor rights, and a place where grassroots activism reshaped civic life. Journalist Gustavo Arellano examines L.A. as a city under political siege, describing how Angelenos have united against authoritarian overreach through local organizing and cultural solidarity. Arellano argues that multiculturalism is L.A.'s future and that its people “el pueblo no se raja” (do not back down). Architect Brenda Levin explores L.A.'s constructed environment as both memory and reinvention, showing how landmarks like the Griffith Observatory and Grand Central Market embody the city's ongoing negotiation between preservation and progress. Finally, political scholar Raphael Sonenshein portrays Los Angeles as a proving ground for urban reform and “home rule,” arguing that local governance may be the last firewall for American democracy. Dr. Becky Nicolaides is an expert on the history of the 20th century, and author of several award-winning studies of suburban life in America, including The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles After 1945, came out in January 2024. Gustavo Arellano is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, covering Southern California, the West, and beyond. Brenda Levin is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. AIA / Los Angeles selected her to receive the 2010 Gold Medal. Levin studied architecture at Harvard and founded Levin & Associates architecture and urban design firm in 1980.Dr. Raphael J. Sonenshein is the executive director of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation. 

ACLU Senior Policy Counsel Chad Marlow: Trump's National Security Memo Labels His Enemies Terrorists, Orders InvestigationsCenter for Budget and Policy Priorities Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Development Peggy Bailey: Judge Forces Trump to use Contingency Funds to Restore SNAP Benefits to Nation's Poor FamiliesArtist and activist Robert Shetterly: ‘Americans Who Tell the Truth' Portraiture Project Aims to Inspire Courageous CitizenshipBob Nixon's Under-reported News Summary• Russia's war on Ukraine has ravaged the nation's forests• Ethiopia opens new dam threatening Egypt's water security• US-Mexico border wall imperils region's pollinatorsVisit our website at BTLonline.org for more information, in-depth interviews, related links and transcripts and to sign up for our BTL Weekly Summary. New episodes every Wednesday at 12 noon ET, website updated Wednesdays after 4 p.m. ETProduced by Squeaky Wheel Productions: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus, Bob Nixon, Anna Manzo, Susan Bramhall, Jeff Yates and Mary Hunt. Theme music by Richard Hill and Mikata.

Illinois Farm Bureau Collegiate Discussion Meet winner Gracie Murphy.Monthly chat with Licensed Professional Counselor and Mental Health Specialist Rachel Brown.Paul Wappel at the Illinois Department of Transportation cautions about deer-vehicle collisions.University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator Ken Johnson discusses overwintering potted plants.  

John Hancock & Michael Kelley join Chris and Amy following a wave of Democrats winning elections on Tuesday; what will the US deportation policy do to America?; young Americans aren't communicating; show wrap up.

Oral arguments over the Trump administration's "reciprocal tariffs" are set for tomorrow, in a test over limits to a president's power to act without Congress. Whichever way the high court decides, however, the co-founder of True Places, a Pennsylvania-based folding camp chair company, thinks that likely won't be the end of the tariff rollercoaster. Plus, Norway's massive sovereign wealth fund has voted against Elon Musk's pay package from Tesla. Why?

Oral arguments over the Trump administration's "reciprocal tariffs" are set for tomorrow, in a test over limits to a president's power to act without Congress. Whichever way the high court decides, however, the co-founder of True Places, a Pennsylvania-based folding camp chair company, thinks that likely won't be the end of the tariff rollercoaster. Plus, Norway's massive sovereign wealth fund has voted against Elon Musk's pay package from Tesla. Why?

Texas Tribune reporters Terri Langford and Gabby Birenbaum join the Tribcast to discuss how Texans are coping with the loss of SNAP benefits, chaos at airports and rising health care premiums amid partisan fighting in Washington.

Abby Smith is the President and CEO of Team Pennsylvania, where she leads statewide efforts to build strategic public-private partnerships that address long-term challenges no single sector can solve alone. With more than 20 years of experience in policy, strategy, and cross-sector collaboration, Abby has held leadership roles advancing economic development, education, and workforce initiatives in Pennsylvania and beyond. She previously served as Team Pennsylvania's Vice President of Policy & Programs and Senior Advisor to the Foundation, and earlier in her career worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Teach For America, and as a 7th grade social studies teacher. Abby holds degrees from Yale University, The Johns Hopkins University, and Carnegie Mellon University. A recipient of the Above & Beyond Award honoring Pennsylvania women of public and civic leadership, she also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg and the Jewish Community Center, where she led the acquisition of the Alexander Grass Campus for Jewish Life. She lives in Hershey, Pennsylvania with her husband, twin sons, and dog, Comet.

The library made no attempt to accommodate his religious beliefs as required by Title VII law. Constitutional expert, lawyer, author, pastor, and founder of Liberty Counsel Mat Staver discusses the important topics of the day with co-hosts and guests that impact life, liberty, and family. To stay informed and get involved, visit LC.org.

At one point, the state was among the leaders in clean energy policy, but there's been a retrenchment in those efforts and renewed investment in fossil fuels.

Here we go again! Progressive cities are hemorrhaging BILLIONS as retail crime explodes 93% since 2019, yet they keep telling us crime is down. Right. New York tourism tanks by $4 billion while San Francisco's downtown sits at a staggering 34.8% vacancy rate. But hey, let's double down on the same failed policies!We're diving into the real cost of soft-on-crime leadership - from Seattle's $9 billion budget managed by someone who's never run a business, to Portland's iconic Big Pink selling for 90% below market value. When stores lock up contact solution but leave adult toys accessible, you know we've lost the plot. These aren't just shoplifting statistics - we're talking food deserts, business exodus, and property owners suing cities for decimating their investments.Is anyone surprised that billion-dollar corporations would rather retreat than keep bleeding money? What happens when you elect leaders who think defund the police was a stroke of genius? The numbers don't lie, folks - this is what happens when ideology trumps common sense.

Hour 4 begins with Jonathan Savage from Fox News Radio on President Trump's warning to Nigeria and the possibility of US military action, claims of Christian persecution, and the complex religious and political dynamics driving the conflict. Ryan Wiggins joins to break down SNAP spending, federal budget priorities, and election predictions in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. The hour wraps with Cole's segment highlighting New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and what were described as disastrous policy positions.

What if the future of money isn't about creating new currencies, but redefining what money really is?In this episode, Arjun sits down with Tony McLaughlin, CEO and Founder of Ubyx Inc, to talk about why he believes the bank account is dead and how the next version of money could live on public blockchains.They break down what stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and CBDCs really mean, and how they could quietly replace the systems we've used for decades.

This week's episode features Lundin Mining President and CEO Jack Lundin in conversation with host Adrian Pocobelli on the major challenges facing miners as the world races to secure critical minerals. Lundin shares his insights on managing a global mining company, the looming copper market deficit, and his unique experience running in the World's Deepest Marathon at Boliden's Garpenberg zinc mine in Sweden. Organized by education company BecomingX, the International Council on Mining and Metals and Boliden, the event is poised to set Guinness World Records for the deepest marathon and the deepest underground marathon distance run, pending final verification. All this and more with host Adrian Pocobelli. This week's Spotlight features Becker Mining Systems Canada CEO Albert Bower on the company's cutting edge communications technologies for both overground and underground mining, as well as how artificial intelligence is helping improve outcomes on mine sites. To learn more, visit: https://www.becker-mining.com/ “Rattlesnake Railroad”, “Big Western Sky”, “Western Adventure” and “Battle on the Western Frontier” by Brett Van Donsel (⁠www.incompetech.com⁠). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0⁠ Apple Podcasts:⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-northern-miner-podcast/id1099281201⁠ Spotify:⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/78lyjMTRlRwZxQwz2fwQ4K⁠ YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernMiner⁠ Soundcloud:⁠ https://soundcloud.com/northern-miner

In this episode of the Leading Voices in Food podcast, host Norbert Wilson is joined by food and nutrition policy economists Will Masters and Parke Wilde from Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy. The discussion centers around the concept of the least cost diet, a tool used to determine the minimum cost required to maintain a nutritionally adequate diet. The conversation delves into the global computational methods and policies related to least cost diets, the challenges of making these diets culturally relevant, and the implications for food policy in both the US and internationally. You will also hear about the lived experiences of people affected by these diets and the need for more comprehensive research to better reflect reality. Interview Summary I know you both have been working in this space around least cost diets for a while. So, let's really start off by just asking a question about what brought you into this work as researchers. Why study least cost diets? Will, let's start with you. I'm a very curious person and this was a puzzle. So, you know, people want health. They want healthy food. Of course, we spend a lot on healthcare and health services, but do seek health in our food. As a child growing up, you know, companies were marketing food as a source of health. And people who had more money would spend more for premium items that were seen as healthy. And in the 2010s for the first time, we had these quantified definitions of what a healthy diet was as we went from 'nutrients' to 'food groups,' from the original dietary guidelines pyramid to the MyPlate. And then internationally, the very first quantified definitions of healthful diets that would work anywhere in the world. And I was like, oh, wow. Is it actually expensive to eat a healthy diet? And how much does it cost? How does it differ by place location? How does it differ over time, seasons, and years? And I just thought it was a fascinating question. Great, thank you for that. Parke? There's a lot of policy importance on this, but part of the fun also of this particular topic is more than almost any that we work on, it's connected to things that we have to think about in our daily lives. So, as you're preparing and purchasing food for your family and you want it to be a healthy. And you want it to still be, you know, tasty enough to satisfy the kids. And it can't take too long because it has to fit into a busy life. So, this one does feel like it's got a personal connection. Thank you both for that. One of the things I heard is there was an availability of data. There was an opportunity that seems like it didn't exist before. Can you speak a little bit about that? Especially Will because you mentioned that point. Will: Yes. So, we have had food composition data identifying for typical items. A can of beans, or even a pizza. You know, what is the expected, on average quantity of each nutrient. But only recently have we had those on a very large scale for global items. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of distinct items. And we had nutrient requirements, but only nutrient by nutrient, and the definition of a food group where you would want not only the nutrients, but also the phytochemicals, the attributes of food from its food matrix that make a vegetable different from just in a vitamin pill. And those came about in, as I mentioned, in the 2010s. And then there's the computational tools and the price observations that get captured. They've been written down on pads of paper, literally, and brought to a headquarters to compute inflation since the 1930s. But access to those in digitized form, only really in the 2000s and only really in the 2010s were we able to have program routines that would download millions and millions of price observations, match them to food composition data, match that food composition information to a healthy diet criterion, and then compute these least cost diets. Now we've computed millions and millions of these thanks to modern computing and all of that data. Great, Will. And you've already started on this, so let's continue on this point. You were talking about some of the computational methods and data that were available globally. Can you give us a good sense of what does a lease cost diet look like from this global perspective because we're going to talk to Parke about whether it is in the US. But let's talk about it in the broad sense globally. In my case the funding opportunity to pay for the graduate students and collaborators internationally came from the Gates Foundation and the UK International Development Agency, initially for a pilot study in Ghana and Tanzania. And then we were able to get more money to scale that up to Africa and South Asia, and then globally through a project called Food Prices for Nutrition. And what we found, first of all, is that to get agreement on what a healthy diet means, we needed to go to something like the least common denominator. The most basic, basic definition from the commonalities among national governments' dietary guidelines. So, in the US, that's MyPlate, or in the UK it's the Eat Well Guide. And each country's dietary guidelines look a little different, but they have these commonalities. So, we distilled that down to six food groups. There's fruits and vegetables, separately. And then there's animal source foods altogether. And in some countries they would separate out milk, like the United States does. And then all starchy staples together. And in some countries, you would separate out whole grains like the US does. And then all edible oils. And those six food groups, in the quantities needed to provide all the nutrients you would need, plus these attributes of food groups beyond just what's in a vitamin pill, turns out to cost about $4 a day. And if you adjust for inflation and differences in the cost of living, the price of housing and so forth around the world, it's very similar. And if you think about seasonal variation in a very remote area, it might rise by 50% in a really bad situation. And if you think about a very remote location where it's difficult to get food to, it might go up to $5.50, but it stays in that range between roughly speaking $2.50 and $5.00. Meanwhile, incomes are varying from around $1.00 a day, and people who cannot possibly afford those more expensive food groups, to $200 a day in which these least expensive items are trivially small in cost compared to the issues that Parke mentioned. We can also talk about what we actually find as the items, and those vary a lot from place to place for some food groups and are very similar to each other in other food groups. So, for example, the least expensive item in an animal source food category is very often dairy in a rich country. But in a really dry, poor country it's dried fish because refrigeration and transport are very expensive. And then to see where there's commonalities in the vegetable category, boy. Onions, tomatoes, carrots are so inexpensive around the world. We've just gotten those supply chains to make the basic ingredients for a vegetable stew really low cost. But then there's all these other different vegetables that are usually more expensive. So, it's very interesting to look at which are the items that would deliver the healthfulness you need and how much they cost. It's surprisingly little from a rich country perspective, and yet still out of reach for so many in low-income countries. Will, thank you for that. And I want to turn now to looking in the US case because I think there's some important commonalities. Parke, can you describe the least cost diet, how it's used here in the US, and its implications for policy? Absolutely. And full disclosure to your audience, this is work on which we've benefited from Norbert's input and wisdom in a way that's been very valuable as a co-author and as an advisor for the quantitative part of what we were doing. For an article in the journal Food Policy, we use the same type of mathematical model that USDA uses when it sets the Thrifty Food Plan, the TFP. A hypothetical diet that's used as the benchmark for the maximum benefit in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is the nation's most important anti-hunger program. And what USDA does with this model diet is it tries to find a hypothetical bundle of foods and beverages that's not too different from what people ordinarily consume. The idea is it should be a familiar diet, it should be one that's reasonably tasty, that people clearly already accept enough. But it can't be exactly that diet. It has to be different enough at least to meet a cost target and to meet a whole long list of nutrition criteria. Including getting enough of the particular nutrients, things like enough calcium or enough protein, and also, matching food group goals reasonably well. Things like having enough fruits, enough vegetables, enough dairy. When, USDA does that, it finds that it's fairly difficult. It's fairly difficult to meet all those goals at once, at a cost and a cost goal all at the same time. And so, it ends up choosing this hypothetical diet that's almost maybe more different than would feel most comfortable from people's typical average consumption. Thank you, Parke. I'm interested to understand the policy implications of this least cost diet. You suggested something about the Thrifty Food Plan and the maximum benefit levels. Can you tell us a little bit more about the policies that are relevant? Yes, so the Thrifty Food Plan update that USDA does every five years has a much bigger policy importance now than it did a few years ago. I used to tell my students that you shouldn't overstate how much policy importance this update has. It might matter a little bit less than you would think. And the reason was because every time they update the Thrifty Food Plan, they use the cost target that is the inflation adjusted or the real cost of the previous edition. It's a little bit as if nobody wanted to open up the whole can of worms about what should the SNAP benefit be in the first place. But everything changed with the update in 2021. In 2021, researchers at the US Department of Agriculture found that it was not possible at the old cost target to find a diet that met all of the nutrition criteria - at all. Even if you were willing to have a diet that was quite different from people's typical consumption. And so, they ended up increasing the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan in small increments until they found a solution to this mathematical model using data on real world prices and on the nutrition characteristics of these foods. And this led to a 21% increase in the permanent value of the maximum SNAP benefit. Many people didn't notice that increase all that much because the increase came into effect at just about the same time that a temporary boost during the COVID era to SNAP benefits was being taken away. So there had been a temporary boost to how much benefits people got as that was taken away at the end of the start of the COVID pandemic then this permanent increase came in and it kind of softened the blow from that change in benefits at that time. But it now ends up meaning that the SNAP benefit is substantially higher than it would've been without this 2021 increase. And there's a lot of policy attention on this in the current Congress and in the current administration. There's perhaps a skeptical eye on whether this increase was good policy. And so, there are proposals to essentially take away the ability to update the Thrifty Food Plan change the maximum SNAP benefit automatically, as it used to. As you know, Norbert, this is part of all sorts of things going on currently. Like we heard in the news, just last week, about plans to end collecting household food security measurement using a major national survey. And so there will be sort of possibly less information about how these programs are doing and whether a certain SNAP benefit is needed in order to protect people from food insecurity and hunger. Parke, this is really important and I'm grateful that we're able to talk about this today in that SNAP benefit levels are still determined by this mathematical program that's supposed to represent a nutritionally adequate diet that also reflects food preferences. And I don't know how many people really understand or appreciate that. I can say I didn't understand or appreciate it until working more in this project. I think it's critical for our listeners to understand just how important this particular mathematical model is, and what it says about what a nutritionally adequate diet looks like in this country. I know the US is one of the countries that uses a model diet like this to help set policy. Will, I'd like to turn to you to see what ways other nations are using this sort of model diet. How have you seen policy receive information from these model diets? It's been a remarkable thing where those initial computational papers that we were able to publish in first in 2018, '19, '20, and governments asking how could we use this in practice. Parke has laid out how it's used in the US with regard to the benefit level of SNAP. The US Thrifty Food Plan has many constraints in addition to the basic ones for the Healthy Diet Basket that I described. Because clearly that Healthy Diet Basket minimum is not something anyone in America would think is acceptable. Just to have milk and frozen vegetables and low-cost bread, that jar peanut butter and that's it. Like that would be clearly not okay. So, internationally what's happened is that first starting in 2020, and then using the current formula in 2022, the United Nations agencies together with the World Bank have done global monitoring of food and nutrition security using this method. So, the least cost items to meet the Healthy Diet Basket in each country provide this global estimate that about a third of the global population have income available for food after taking account of their non-food needs. That is insufficient to buy this healthy diet. What they're actually eating is just starchy staples, oil, some calories from low-cost sugar and that's it. And very small quantities of the fruits and vegetables. And animal source foods are the expensive ones. So, countries have the opportunity to begin calculating this themselves alongside their normal monitoring of inflation with a consumer price index. The first country to do that was Nigeria. And Nigeria began publishing this in January 2024. And it so happened that the country's national minimum wage for civil servants was up for debate at that time. And this was a newly published statistic that turned out to be enormously important for the civil society advocates and the labor unions who were trying to explain why a higher civil service minimum wage was needed. This is for the people who are serving tea or the drivers and the low wage people in these government service agencies. And able to measure how many household members could you feed a healthy diet with a day's worth of the monthly wage. So social protection in the sense of minimum wage and then used in other countries regarding something like our US SNAP program or something like our US WIC program. And trying to define how big should those benefit levels be. That's been the first use. A second use that's emerging is targeting the supply chains for the low-cost vegetables and animal source foods and asking what from experience elsewhere could be an inexpensive animal source food. What could be the most inexpensive fruits. What could be the most inexpensive vegetables? And that is the type of work that we're doing now with governments with continued funding from the Gates Foundation and the UK International Development Agency. Will, it's fascinating to hear this example from Nigeria where all of the work that you all have been doing sort of shows up in this kind of debate. And it really speaks to the power of the research that we all are trying to do as we try to inform policy. Now, as we discussed the least cost diet, there was something that I heard from both of you. Are these diets that people really want? I'm interested to understand a little bit more about that because this is a really critical space.Will, what do we know about the lived experiences of those affected by least cost diet policy implementation. How are real people affected? It's such an important and interesting question, just out of curiosity, but also for just our human understanding of what life is like for people. And then of course the policy actions that could improve. So, to be clear, we've only had these millions of least cost diets, these benchmark 'access to' at a market near you. These are open markets that might be happening twice a week or sometimes all seven days of the week in a small town, in an African country or a urban bodega type market or a supermarket across Asia, Africa. We've only begun to have these benchmarks against which to compare actual food choice, as I mentioned, since 2022. And then really only since 2024 have been able to investigate this question. We're only beginning to match up these benchmark diets to what people actually choose. But the pattern we're seeing is that in low and lower middle-income countries, people definitely spend their money to go towards that healthy diet basket goal. They don't spend all of their additional money on that. But if you improve affordability throughout the range of country incomes - from the lowest income countries in Africa, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, to middle income countries in Africa, like Ghana, Indonesia, an upper middle-income country - people do spend their money to get more animal source foods, more fruits and vegetables, and to reduce the amount of the low cost starchy staples. They do increase the amount of discretionary, sugary meals. And a lot of what they're eating exits the healthy diet basket because there's too much added sodium, too much added sugar. And so, things that would've been healthy become unhealthy because of processing or in a restaurant setting. So, people do spend their money on that. But they are moving towards a healthy diet. That breaks down somewhere in the upper income and high-income countries where additional spending becomes very little correlated with the Healthy Diet Basket. What happens is people way overshoot the Healthy Diet Basket targets for animal source foods and for edible oils because I don't know if you've ever tried it, but one really delicious thing is fried meat. People love it. And even low middle income people overshoot on that. And that displaces the other elements of a healthy diet. And then there's a lot of upgrading, if you will, within the food group. So, people are spending additional money on nicer vegetables. Nicer fruits. Nicer animal source foods without increasing the total amount of them in addition to having overshot the healthy diet levels of many of those food groups. Which of course takes away from the food you would need from the fruits, the vegetables, and the pulses, nuts and seeds, that almost no one gets as much as is considered healthy, of that pulses, nuts and seeds category. Thank you. And I want to shift this to the US example. So, Parke, can you tell us a bit more about the lived experience of those affected by least cost diet policy? How are real people affected? One of the things I've enjoyed about this project that you and I got to work on, Norbert, in cooperation with other colleagues, is that it had both a quantitative and a qualitative part to it. Now, our colleague Sarah Folta led some of the qualitative interviews, sort of real interviews with people in food pantries in four states around the country. And this was published recently in the Journal of Health Education and Behavior. And we asked people about their goals and about what are the different difficulties or constraints that keep them from achieving those goals. And what came out of that was that people often talk about whether their budget constraints and whether their financial difficulties take away their autonomy to sort of be in charge of their own food choices. And this was something that Sarah emphasized as she sort of helped lead us through a process of digesting what was the key findings from these interviews with people. One of the things I liked about doing this study is that because the quantitative and the qualitative part, each had this characteristic of being about what do people want to achieve. This showed up mathematically in the constrained optimization model, but it also showed up in the conversations with people in the food pantry. And what are the constraints that keep people from achieving it. You know, the mathematical model, these are things like all the nutrition constraints and the cost constraints. And then in the real conversations, it's something that people raise in very plain language about what are all the difficulties they have. Either in satisfying their own nutrition aspirations or satisfying some of the requirements for one person or another in the family. Like if people have special diets that are needed or if they have to be gluten free or any number of things. Having the diets be culturally appropriate. And so, I feel like this is one of those classic things where different disciplines have wisdom to bring to bear on what's really very much a shared topic. What I hear from both of you is that these diets, while they are computationally interesting and they reveal some critical realities of how people eat, they can't cover everything. People want to eat certain types of foods. Certain types of foods are more culturally relevant. And that's really clear talking to you, Will, about just sort of the range of foods that end up showing up in these least cost diets and how you were having to make some adjustments there. Parke, as you talked about the work with Sarah Folta thinking through autonomy and sort of a sense of self. This kind of leads us to a question that I want to open up to both of you. What's missing when we talk about these least cost diet modeling exercises and what are the policy implications of that? What are the gaps in our understanding of these model diets and what needs to happen to make them reflect reality better? Parke? Well, you know, there's many things that people in our research community are working on. And it goes quite, quite far afield. But I'm just thinking of two related to our quantitative research using the Thrifty Food Plan type models. We've been working with Yiwen Zhao and Linlin Fan at Penn State University on how these models would work if you relaxed some of the constraints. If people's back in a financial sense weren't back up against the wall, but instead they had just a little more space. We were considering what if they had incentives that gave them a discount on fruits and vegetables, for example, through the SNAP program? Or what if they had a healthy bundle of foods provided through the emergency food system, through food banks or food pantries. What is the effect directly in terms of those foods? But also, what is the effect in terms of just relaxing their budget constraints. They get to have a little more of the foods that they find more preferred or that they had been going without. But then also, in terms of sort of your question about the more personal. You know, what is people's personal relationships with food? How does this play out on the ground? We're working with the graduate student Angelica Valdez Valderrama here at the Friedman School, thinking about what some of the cultural assumptions and of the food group constraints in some of these models are. If you sort of came from a different immigrant tradition or if you came from another community, what things would be different in, for example, decisions about what's called the Mediterranean diet or what's called the healthy US style dietary pattern. How much difference do this sort of breadth, cultural breadth of dietary patterns you could consider, how much difference does that make in terms of what's the outcome of this type of hypothetical diet? Will: And I think, you know, from the global perspective, one really interesting thing is when we do combine data sets and look across these very different cultural settings, dry land, Sahelian Africa versus countries that are coastal versus sort of forest inland countries versus all across Asia, south Asia to East Asia, all across Latin America. We do see the role of these cultural factors. And we see them playing out in very systematic ways that people come to their cultural norms for very good reasons. And then pivot and switch away to new cultural norms. You know, American fast food, for example, switching from beef primarily to chicken primarily. That sort of thing becomes very visible in a matter of years. So, in terms of things that are frontiers for us, remember this is early days. Getting many more nutritionists, people in other fields, looking at first of all, it's just what is really needed for health. Getting those health requirements improved and understood better is a key priority. Our Healthy Diet Basket comes from the work of a nutritionist named Anna Herforth, who has gone around the world studying these dietary guidelines internationally. We're about to get the Eat Lancet dietary recommendations announced, and it'll be very interesting to see how those evolve. Second thing is much better data on prices and computing these diets for more different settings at different times, different locations. Settings that are inner city United States versus very rural. And then this question of comparing to actual diets. And just trying to understand what people are seeking when they choose foods that are clearly not these benchmark least cost items. The purpose is to ask how far away and why and how are they far away? And particularly to understand to what degree are these attributes of the foods themselves: the convenience of the packaging, the preparation of the item, the taste, the flavor, the cultural significance of it. To what degree are we looking at the result of aspirations that are really shaped by marketing. Are really shaped by the fire hose of persuasion that companies are investing in every day. And very strategically and constantly iterating to the best possible spokesperson, the best possible ad campaign. Combining billboards and radio and television such that you're surrounded by this. And when you drive down the street and when you walk into the supermarket, there is no greater effort on the planet than the effort to sell us a particular brand of food. Food companies are basically marketing companies attached to a manufacturing facility, and they are spending much more than the entire combined budget of the NIH and CDC, et cetera, to persuade us to eat what we ultimately choose. And we really don't know to what degree it's the actual factors in the food itself versus the marketing campaigns and the way they've evolved. You know, if you had a choice between taking the food system and regulating it the way we regulate, say housing or vehicles. If we were to say your supermarket should be like an auto dealership, right? So, anything in the auto dealership is very heavily regulated. Everything from the paint to where the gear shift is to how the windows work. Everything is heavily regulated because the auto industry has worked with National Transportation Safety Board and every single crash investigation, et cetera, has led to the standards that we have now. We didn't get taxes on cars without airbags to make us choose cars with airbags. They're just required. And same is true for housing, right? You can't just build, you know, an extension deck behind your house any way you want. A city inspector will force you to tear it out if you haven't built it to code. So, you know, we could regulate the grocery store like we do that. It's not going to happen politically but compare that option to treating groceries the way we used to treat the legal services or pharmaceuticals. Which is you couldn't advertise them. You could sell them, and people would choose based on the actual merit of the lawyer or the pharmaceutical, right? Which would have the bigger impact. Right? If there was zero food advertising, you just walked into the grocery store and chose what you liked. Or you regulate the grocery store the same way we regulate automotive or building trades. Obviously, they both matter. There's, you know, this problem that you can't see, taste or smell the healthiness of food. You're always acting on belief and not a fact when you choose something that you're seeking health. We don't know to what extent choice is distorted away from a low-cost healthy diet by things people genuinely want and need. Such as taste, convenience, culture, and so forth. Versus things that they've been persuaded to want. And there's obviously some of both. All of these things matter. But I'm hopeful that through these least cost diets, we can identify that low-cost options are there. And you could feed your family a very healthy diet at the Thrifty Food Plan level in the United States, or even lower. It would take time, it would take attention, it would be hard. You can take some shortcuts to make that within your time budget, right? And the planning budget. And we can identify what those look like thanks to these model diets. It's a very exciting area of work, but we still have a lot to do to define carefully what are the constraints. What are the real objectives here. And how to go about helping people, acquire these foods that we now know are there within a short commuting distance. You may need to take the bus, you may need carpool. But that's what people actually do to go grocery shopping. And when they get there, we can help people to choose items that would genuinely meet their needs at lower cost. Bios Will Masters is a Professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition, with a secondary appointment in Tufts University's Department of Economics. He is coauthor of the new textbook on Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Before coming to Tufts in 2010 he was a faculty member in Agricultural Economics at Purdue University (1991-2010), and also at the University of Zimbabwe (1989-90), Harvard's Kennedy School of Government (2000) and Columbia University (2003-04). He is former editor-in-chief of the journal Agricultural Economics (2006-2011), and an elected Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition (FASN) as well as a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). At Tufts his courses on economics of agriculture, food and nutrition were recognized with student-nominated, University-wide teaching awards in 2019 and 2022, and he leads over a million dollars annually in externally funded research including work on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy (https://www.anh-academy.org), as well as projects supporting government efforts to calculate the cost and affordability of healthy diets worldwide and work with private enterprises on data analytics for food markets in Africa. Parke Wilde (PhD, Cornell) is a food economist and professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Previously, he worked for USDA's Economic Research Service. At Tufts, Parke teaches graduate-level courses in statistics, U.S. food policy, and climate change. His research addresses the economics of U.S. food and nutrition policy, including federal nutrition assistance programs. He was Director of Design for the SNAP Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) evaluation. He has been a member of the National Academy of Medicine's Food Forum and is on the scientific and technical advisory committee for Menus of Change, an initiative to advance the health and sustainability of the restaurant industry. He directs the USDA-funded Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Partnership. He received the AAEA Distinguished Quality of Communication Award for his textbook, Food Policy in the United States: An Introduction (Routledge/Earthscan), whose third edition was released in April 2025. 

Reagan's Pragmatic Cold War Victory, Don Regan's Disastrous Tenure, and the Iran-Contra Near-Death Experience. Max Boot discusses how Ronald Reagan had no patience for communism, and in his first term, his policy toward the Soviet Union was somewhat unsuccessful, though it improved in 1985 with the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan's genius was recognizing that Gorbachev was a different communist leader he could "do business with," and they established a rapport that allowed them to constructively reduce nuclear armaments and peacefully end the Cold War. The transition into Reagan's second term saw a catastrophic personnel decision when Reagan allowed Jim Baker and Don Regan to swap jobs. Regan lacked political instincts and presided over problems that culminated in the Iran-Contra scandal. Reagan was highly exercised by American hostages seized by Hezbollah, and National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane suggested shipping weapons to supposed Iranian moderates in exchange for hostage releases, which was a fiasco. The scandal intensified when McFarlane's successor, John Poindexter, and Oliver North diverted the profits from the weapon sales to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua. This incident could have led to impeachment, but Reagan's salvation was his reputation for being hands-off and disengaged. Reagan also faced criticism over a human rights double standard, speaking eloquently about violations behind the Iron Curtain but being less exercised about apartheid in South Africa.

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