Podcasts about signposts

Last week, Hightower had the absolute pleasure of appearing on Tavis Smiley's live radio talk show—a lot of great laughs, and a lot of good ground covered! From the Texas races, to America at 250, to the idea that fundamental fairness is a sense all humans share, Tavis and Hightower went deep. Tavis and his team have given us permission to share it with you here, and we're so grateful—he's also just started his own Substack newsletter, and we encourage you to subscribe to one of the greats of American media at tavissmiley.substack.com. You can also listen live on KBLA 1580 daily, and subscribe to his podcast. —dzTranscriptEdited lightly for clarityPart 1Tavis Smiley: Tavis Smiley, glad you're with us in the second hour of our program here today.Yesterday, we stepped into what I call the Elders' Skybox to talk to Dr. Johnette Cole. She was absolutely amazing yesterday. If you missed that conversation with Johnnetta Cole yesterday, I encourage you to check out the podcast, now posted. She, of course, is the legendary, the iconic, first African American woman to be president of Spelman. But she's covered so much ground in her amazing career, and she joined us yesterday on the show. And Johnnetta Cole still got it. I mean, she was just blazing yesterday. So if you missed the conversation with Johnnetta Cole yesterday, I encourage you, you will not be disappointed. Check out the podcast, now up, of our dialogue with Dr. Cole yesterday.So we stepped into the Elders Skybox again today to talk to our friend and brother Jim Hightower, the legendary talk show host down in Texas. I quote him oftentimes. When you hear me say that the only thing you find in the middle of the road is a dead armadillo, that was Jim Hightower years ago, and I've never forgotten that line from all those years ago. You can't be middle of the road. We were just talking about that in our hour with Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead about Hakeem Jeffries and some of these Democrats who, on a number of issues, still want to occupy the center, the middle of the road. That is not where one needs to be, especially right about now. Pick a side. Pick a side is my point. And that was Jim Hightower's advice many, many years ago. I never forgot when he said it, and I've held on to it all these years.I invited him on today to talk about this hot Texas Senate race, but more broadly to get his take, as a longtime progressive, on the march that we are witnessing in real time by these progressives after decades of being in the wilderness. With all that said, I'm honored to welcome Jim Hightower to this program. Jim, how are you, sir?Jim Hightower: I'm doing great, Tavis, and all the greater because I get to visit with you.Tavis Smiley: It's my honor to have you on this program. Thank you for those kind words. I meant what I said earlier about having listened to you. I'm at that age now. I just turned 62 a couple of days ago, and I've been at this, what, 35 years. My mom teases me about it, but people come on the show all the time: “Mr. Smiley, I grew up listening to you, I grew up watching you.” So I'm at that age now where I'm getting that. And this is funny, because I can say that to Jim Hightower now. I grew up listening to him and watching him, and so I'm thrilled to have him on this program.Let me just start with this, broadly speaking. I've asked this question of other guests. I've got two minutes now, we've got the rest of the hour when we come forward, but in these first two minutes, I'm asking you the same question I've asked of others. We are inside that eight-week sprint from Labor Day to Election Day. How are you feeling?Jim Hightower: I am feeling more upbeat than I have been in years about Texas politics. Our party has finally come alive down here, as you just indicated. We've had too many corporate centrists trying to dominate our party, thinking we can fool the people if we just tiptoe around our progressivism, rather than recognizing that people themselves are progressive. And if we talk to them in that kind of language, they might respond to us in a more favorable way than they have in the past, or respond at all.I would point out, first of all, Tavis, that Texas is not a right-wing state. It is not a Republican state. It is a non-voting state. And it has not been voting because the Democratic Party, my party, has been over in the ditch somewhere, trying not to be discovered, rather than recognizing that most people are quite progressive. I think of it in terms of my own father, who kept up with politics, but he was not political, particularly. He didn't know he had a political philosophy, but he did, and it was expressed to me many times in these words. He said, “Jim, everybody does better when everybody does better.” And that is what the Democratic Party is supposed to represent.And so that spirit is coming back within the Democratic Party. We have it with James Talarico running for Senate, Gina Hinojosa running for governor, but also let us not forget those down-ballot candidates, who can make such a difference in a campaign. I've been one of those myself, so I can attest to it. And we have a terrific lineup this year, including Clayton Tucker running for agriculture commissioner, a position that most people wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to until you realize, wait a minute, if you eat, you are involved in agriculture. And we need to make that political as well as edible.Tavis Smiley: Love it. He's already on a roll. That is the Jim Hightower that I grew up listening to. He's wise, he drops these one-liners; as we say these days, he's dropping bars. I love his father's edict that everybody does better when everybody does better. It's so simple. But I want to give him some time to unpack this. I want to interrogate this notion that people themselves are progressive. People themselves are progressive. That line resonated with me; I suspect it did with you as well. I'll let him unpack that and a great deal more. I'm glad to have Jim Hightower for the hour on Tavis Smiley.Tavis Smiley, and longtime progressive activist, legendary talk show host, bestselling author Jim Hightower. So we've stepped into the Elders Skybox to tap into his wisdom in this hour as we are hurtling inexorably toward Election Day on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wanted to check in with him on some national issues, but certainly everybody's watching this Senate race in Texas. I talk to my friends down there all the time, and they are so excited about turning Texas blue. You heard Jim Hightower say a moment ago that Texas is not a Republican state, it's not a red state, it's a non-voting state. I'll let him unpack that as we move through this hour.But just some quick updates here. So you saw the Republican convention, that two-day farce they had down in Texas not long ago. Since that convention, a new poll has come out about the race in Texas. Interestingly, the survey happened on September 13th. That was Sunday, my birthday. And it's good news for James Talarico. The latest poll, this is the SoCal Strategies poll, shows Talarico leading Paxton 50 percent to 45 percent. It's a five-point margin. There had been a two-point lead by Paxton over Talarico. It's fascinating. So before the convention, Paxton was leading Talarico by two points in Texas. Post the convention, it flips. Talarico is now leading Paxton by five points. Not sure what Ken Paxton did or said at that convention that made these numbers flip. Obviously it's very, very tight, and these polls are snapshots in time. We still have weeks to go before Election Day. We'll let Jim Hightower unpack a bit more about the tightness of this race in Texas in this hour.But I want to start right now, Jim, where we left off moments ago, and that is with your suggestion that people are themselves a great deal more progressive than we acknowledge or give them credit for. We've got time. Unpack that for me.Jim Hightower: Well, just go back to your childhood. The very first political expression of a child, maybe at two years old, is “That's not fair.” That is a powerful political sentiment, and it's within all of us. And that's what we're seeing today. The unfairness of the billionaires with their data centers invading our communities. The unfairness of the destruction of voting rights, period. Not just the Voting Rights Act, but voting rights. The unfairness of economic plutocracy, really, and just a general unfairness that pervades our society, including the election itself.The idea that money can control. That happened to Texas, just as it did nationally, in the 1980s, when Tony Coelho, a member of Congress from California, decided that the Democrats didn't need to have all this grassroots stuff. We could just get money from rich people and throw it at television ads, and then we could compete with the Republicans. And the powers that be in the Democratic Party here in Texas agreed with that. So they began to shift away from what Ann Richards and myself and Jim Mattox and Garry Mauro and other good, solid Democrats were winning elections with: a focus on the grassroots people of our state. That got abandoned. Instead they turned to money.And when you turn to money, I can tell you, if you get a corporate check, written on the back of it is the corporate agenda. And they're going to cash that check, not you. That is what happened to Texas. The Democrats quit being Democrats because, well, we don't want to upset those money people, so we'll just tone down our message. And by toning down the message, we tone down our public support, our people's support. If we weren't standing for them, why would they stand for us? And so that's what happened. Our solid Democratic constituencies, which were farmers, working-class folks, teachers, environmentalists, didn't hear themselves in the Democratic message. So they quit voting. It's not that they turned Republican.We consistently had among the top one or two worst voting records in the country in the state of Texas. We have the lowest turnout in our country. Ken Paxton, you just mentioned, is now running for the U.S. Senate on the Republican ticket. Paxton got 68 percent of the Republican primary election that made him their nominee. Sixty-eight percent, boy, that sounds good. He must be very popular, until you realize that is 3.4 percent of the voters of Texas. That's who nominated him. That's his basic support: 3.4 percent. Can we not get 3.5 percent? Well, maybe if we began to organize and mobilize and strategize and do something a little stronger than we had been doing.And that's the good news in Texas. That's what has changed this election cycle over previous ones: our Democratic Party, with a new party chair, and a dynamic bunch of candidates running for statewide office and local office as well. We used to have 50 counties in our state that had no Democratic Party chair, much less a Democratic committee. We had state legislative district after district that had no Democratic contender in it. So we weren't even running. But this year we do. We have candidates, good candidates, in all of those districts. We have vibrant party building in every county in the state. You have to have the infrastructure. It's not just handsome candidates like myself, or smart and sassy people, that make the difference. It is grassroots, fundamentally. And if you abandon the grassroots, then there's no one to appeal to.Part 2Tavis Smiley: Let me ask you this. You said a few things, and I want to go back to them right quick. You're on a roll, and that's what he does every day, and I love it. I just have to keep up with him. Let me start with the money. No naiveté here, but my sense is, even though we've seen efforts, I think of McCain-Feingold, other efforts we've seen over the years, my sense is that at this point that horse has left the barn, and I can't imagine how we get money out of our politics. Citizens United, I can do this all day long, as you could, Jim Hightower. But that trade-off that Democrats made to get access to that money, there's no 180 on this. I mean, the Democratic Party is so broke now, as you know. The national Democratic Party is so broke, they've been borrowing money. So even though your indictment about the money in our politics is spot on, can you imagine any way to get money out of our politics at this point?Jim Hightower: Yes, I can, which is to go to the people with it. It is the most popular polling issue in America and has been for some time: getting corporate money out of politics. It's up at the 90 percent level, including something like 75 percent of Republicans who want to get this corporate money out of our system. So we have the base of support, but we have to have a politics that goes out there and collects that base. And that means running on it again. Our party nationally has quit running on that issue. So we've abandoned one of the very best issues we have, an issue of abject plutocracy over democracy, money over people.And that is what's beginning to change. That's why Talarico is up there, running as our Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. He has raised a ton of money, outraised Paxton himself, because he's getting small-dollar donations from people who are mad as hell about money in politics and how government serves money, not people. And again, Clayton Tucker, running for agriculture commissioner, has a theme that says to beat money power, you have to have people power. You have to organize people against organized money. That is a winning topic, and candidate after candidate around the country this time are beginning to grasp that and make hay with it.Tavis Smiley: Let me ask you this. The other thing you said, I want to come back to it. You're saying so much that's just jumping out at me. I want to come back to this notion of fundamental fairness. I find myself time and time again over the course of my career, Jim, on any number of issues, making the point that it's ultimately about fundamental fairness. Pick the issue, and my moral stance on so many of these issues is that it's ultimately about what I term fundamental fairness.And I loved your suggestion that one of the first things that comes out of our mouths as kids... I don't know where we get this, but when you said it, I smiled. I'm sure every parent listening to this program right now smiled. We've all heard kids say, “That's not fair. That's not fair.” I don't even know where that comes from, but we've all heard babies say that line. So I'm glad you used that.I'm wondering whether or not, in this moment, you believe that everyday people in this country care about fundamental fairness. And before you answer, here's my point. I think that we've become more nativist for a lot of reasons. People are turning inward, they're lashing outward. I'm not sure that we actually believe in meritocracy anymore. We see Donald Trump and the big grift. We see him not playing the game by any set of rules that speaks to any kind of fairness. We see the Supreme Court putting its thumb on the scale in favor of Donald Trump too often. We see a Congress that's doing nothing; they're letting Donald Trump run roughshod. In the legislative branch, the executive branch, or the judicial branch, I don't see any semblance of fairness. Tell me whether or not you believe that everyday people in this nation still believe in the notion. Never mind what we say as a two-year-old: as adults, do we believe in fundamental fairness?Jim Hightower: Yes, we do. And in every case that you mentioned there, Trump being a sleaze, Congress not taking any action, the Supreme Court being a corporate subsidiary, et cetera, their popularity has declined in direct proportion to their abandonment of those values of fairness. That still is within the people. We don't appeal to it. For the most part, we've not had a politics nationwide that appeals to that fairness issue. But again, I think it is so fundamental that it is the core of reestablishing a people's democracy in our country: just to focus on that fundamental issue of fairness.You know, again, back to my upbringing in the little town of Denison, Texas. My parents taught egalitarianism. They didn't know what that word was. Probably couldn't spell it, you know. But they understood it. What they said to me was, “Nobody is better than you, and you're not any better than anybody else.” Again, those are powerful moral sentiments that are deeply imbued, I think, in the human experience.And you see it as people rebel against the privatization of our schools, as people rebel against the monopolization of our food economy, our energy economy, any basic economy you want to talk about, controlled by a handful of billionaires. You see it in the public disgust with Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and Jeff Bezos and these sorts of billionaires who seem to think that because they've got money, they've got brains, and they can just run things. But you can't run over the American people. You know, Lincoln said it: you can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time. And I think those people are on the move.And again, if we have a politics that appeals to “we're going to be a unified country that believes in egalitarianism, that believes in fairness, that believes in economic justice, social justice,” then people will respond. They won't respond to those words, but they will respond to the reality that you put forward. Here's what we mean by that.Part 3Tavis Smiley: I hear it, I hear it. Jim Hightower, still on fire all these decades later. As I said earlier, in case you've just tuned in, people tell me all the time, “I grew up listening to you, I grew up watching you,” and I can say that about Jim Hightower, and now you see where I got it from. So much of the way I approach these issues I learned from Jim Hightower. He just speaks plain. I call it KISS MIP: keep it simple, make it plain. KISS MIP, keep it simple, make it plain. I love his parents' edict that everybody does better when everybody does better. There's a reason why he is the legendary Jim Hightower. You see why I want him on this program. I hope when I achieve his age, my mind is still as sharp as his and still on point the way his is. I am honored to have another half hour with Jim Hightower when we come forward on Tavis Smiley.I just saw the numbers. People are signing up by the hundreds to join us on Saturday, October 3rd. I'm inviting you once again, right now: mark your calendar. This is history in the making, the California Voices Town Hall and Ballot Forum, live from L.A., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. All the candidates are showing up, and you should too. The event is free, but you must register. Go to KBLA1580.com right now and get your seat. California Voices, Saturday, October 3rd. Come be a part of history, brought to you by KBLA Talk 1580 and the Community Voter Education Project.And this is what I call wisdom speaking. Wisdom speaking. I am honored to be in conversation with the legendary, the iconic talk show host Jim Hightower, New York Times bestselling author, syndicated columnist, who has his own Substack called the Hightower Lowdown that I encourage you to sign up for: the Hightower Lowdown on Substack, by Jim Hightower. He's still dropping bars as often as he can. And again, I'm just thrilled to have him on this program for the hour. In case you missed the first half hour, you missed a good one. I love this homespun wisdom that he's sharing with us. There are thankfully a few more minutes to go in this dialogue, but check out the podcast of the entire conversation, posted later this evening, if you missed any of the brilliance of Jim Hightower in this first half hour.I want to play a clip for you. Jim and I were talking a little bit ago about the Republican convention, the midterm convention, the first time in 50-plus years that somebody did one of these in the midterms. And it was in Texas, of course, in Dallas. James Talarico is running for Senate in Texas as a Democrat against Ken Paxton. He didn't go to the convention, but post the convention, Talarico got a bump. Typically the guy featured at the convention gets a bump. Didn't work that way. Paxton did not get a bump. Post the convention, the poll indicates that Talarico is now leading Paxton in Texas by five points.If you were listening earlier, you heard Jim Hightower say that Texas is not a red state, not a Republican state, it's a non-voting state. And when you break down the numbers, as he did so brilliantly earlier, you'll see that Texas really is a non-voting state. I was thinking, when Jim was making that point, that if we did the data on every state, we may find out that most of these 50 states are not blue or red. They're all non-voting states. It ain't just Texas. I think Jim is on to something. We should stop this red and blue nonsense, even the purple nonsense, and just call them non-voting states. Jim Hightower once again is giving us something to think about.But Talarico gets a bump out of their convention. He goes up. He's up by five points right now. So all of my friends in Texas are excited about the chance for Texas to turn blue this time around. We will see if Talarico can pull that off.But back to that convention. I want you to listen very carefully. I'm just setting this up now. There was a heckler at this convention when Ted Cruz was speaking. And maybe heckler is the wrong word, because in the Black church we say you've got your amen corner. So I'm not sure he's a heckler as much as he is an amen corner for Ted Cruz, who did nothing to chin-check this guy, to stop this guy from what he was saying repeatedly while Ted Cruz was speaking. Cruz heard it loud and clear. You can hear it on the tape. And at no point did Ted Cruz stop to correct him. But listen to Ted Cruz, and just listen very carefully. You're going to hear it two or three times; see if you can't pick it out for yourself. Give it to me, Miles.Ted Cruz (audio clip): When Mamdani says he wants to seize the means of production, he means it. When Abdul El-Sayed says he has a quote “obligation to comply with Sharia law,” he means it. And when James Talarico says he wants to dismantle capitalism, he means it.Tavis Smiley: Have Miles play it one more time. I want you to hear it now. I'll tell you exactly what you should have heard. Every time he calls out the name of Mamdani, then Abdul El-Sayed, then James Talarico, there's a guy standing not too far from Ted Cruz who yells out, “He should be shot.” Mamdani: “He should be shot.” Abdul El-Sayed: “He should be shot.” James Talarico: “He should be shot.” Now listen again; see if you hear it.Ted Cruz (audio clip, replayed): When Mamdani says he wants to seize the means of production, he means it. When Abdul El-Sayed says he has a quote “obligation to comply with Sharia law,” he means it. And when James Talarico says he wants to dismantle capitalism, he means it.Tavis Smiley: Going back, Jim Hightower, to all of the pronouncements made after the death, the murder, of Charlie Kirk, and now on national television, at a Republican convention, you have someone yelling three times, no less, “He should be shot, he should be shot, he should be shot,” and ain't nobody said nothing about it, Jim Hightower.Jim Hightower: Yes, the silence is the evil. And that's all about Trump. You know, almost no Republican will stand up and say Trump is just full of it. He is espousing hatred, he is espousing misogyny, he is espousing racism, he's espousing xenophobia. He's espousing everything that America is against. Everything America stands for is being rejected by Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton and Donald Trump, et cetera. You know, I heard on TV recently, Tavis, some Republican saying about Ted Cruz, “Well, you know, sometimes Ted is his own worst enemy.” And I said, “Not while I'm alive, he's not.”We have to take on these people. We progressives can't just say, “Well, they're just talking.” No, they're not. They're spewing a doctrine of hatred and of violence, really, as you just portrayed in that amazing work of audio technology that you pulled off. It's very, very telling. And again, you know, I keep coming back to the positive side of it. That is not America. That's what gets portrayed most, but that is not who we are.Part 4Tavis Smiley: Not who we are. You see why I love Jim Hightower. I mean, he said Ted's his own worst enemy? Not as long as I'm living. I love, love, love Jim Hightower. All right, and that's why I invited him on this program for an hour. Let me circle back, Jim, to something else you said earlier, and actually I opined on it myself. I thought about what you said during the break. Based on your analysis and based on your framing, Texas ain't the only non-voting state. So why are we stuck on this red, blue, sometimes purple narrative when the truth is that all of these states are non-voting states?Jim Hightower: Yes. Well, the media, the political consultants, they're the ones who drew this red-blue color map on us. And it is not true. It has never been true. I've got a great story from my campaigning days of going into an area with people who are supposedly right-wing, and being able to talk to them. And we have candidates today doing that. Talarico is doing it, Clayton Tucker is doing it, Gina Hinojosa is doing it: going into areas where people have been told, “You're right-wing,” and they're saying, “Wait a minute, we like what this person is saying. Can't we talk about that?” And so we just have to keep saying it. But that requires, Tavis, that we go back to grassroots people politics again, to where we're talking to the people, not talking through consultants and PR people.You know, I'll tell you, today I'm sitting in my kitchen in Austin, Texas. But I live on the south side of Austin, and we're a little more irreverent over here. We're just a little more spunky. In fact, our slogan over here is “We're all here because we're not all there.”Tavis Smiley: I love Austin, and I'm glad to know that you are in that part of town. As a matter of fact, Austin's my favorite city in Texas. I didn't realize that until 25, 30 years ago, when I started going to the Texas Book Festival, one of the best book festivals in the country. I've been honored to be invited to speak there a number of times over the course of the 24 or 25 books I've written. I've been going to the Texas Book Festival for years. It's in Austin, the state capital. And I remember the first time I went there, I wanted to know where Barbara Jordan sat. That's what I wanted to know. In what seat did Barbara Jordan sit, before she went to Congress, of course? I wanted to find that out. But I've been to Austin a number of times over the years, and I like Austin. It's my favorite city in Texas. I didn't know that's where Jim was today, but I'm glad to know he's there.When we come forward... We've been talking about Texas, and of course a lot of national issues, and I don't want to color this any more than this. I want to give Jim all the canvas he needs to paint. I am curious, given all the years he's been out here espousing these progressive POVs, these progressive points of view, what he makes of the march that progressives are on right now across the country. Call them progressives, call them DSA. What does Jim Hightower think of this march by progressives right about now? And I'm also curious to get his take more broadly on how he sees America at 250. He's been on the front lines as a progressive fighter for a long time, but here we are, 250 years in. What does Jim Hightower make of this moment in this republic? You're listening to Tavis Smiley.Tavis Smiley, with Jim Hightower. Jim Hightower, you've been out here a long time on the front lines of this fight as an unapologetic progressive. What's your read of, as I would term it, this progressive march literally all across the country?Jim Hightower: Well, it is the most encouraging thing I've seen in a long, long time. And it is happening for real reasons, because the powers that be are running roughshod over the powers that ought to be. And people are catching on to that. So they're beginning to rebel, and not just liberals, and not just progressives or populists like me, but everyday working people are saying, as we started our conversation, Tavis, “That's not fair. This ain't right. This is not America.”And so we've been battling for years. We win fights. Again, you know, I was elected in the 1980s, two terms as Texas agriculture commissioner, elected with Ann Richards running for treasurer, Mattox running for attorney general, Garry Mauro running for land commissioner. We ran a unified campaign, because we could then go to people and say, “It's not just about electing poor old Hightower here. It's about electing a government. We can make change.” And that is what's missing in our politics: people believing that change can actually happen. Because, as you indicated so rightly early on, Congress doesn't do anything, the Supreme Court just follows the corporate agenda, and the White House, of course, is the mess that it's in.So we have to have results coming from our work. And that means a long-term view of politics. You know, I ran for office the first time and I lost. I came very close, but I lost. But I was able to turn it around, because even a losing campaign creates energy. It creates new people. It creates talent. And you can apply that to the next campaign, not just for one individual, but for many, many others. As Willie Nelson put it to me once, he said, “Hightower, the early bird might get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.”Tavis Smiley: You can't fade Jim Hightower. You cannot fade Jim Hightower, coming with wisdom of his own, wisdom from his parents, wisdom from Willie Nelson. Love me some Jim Hightower. We'll close this conversation when we come forward with his thoughts on America at 250. You're listening to Tavis Smiley.I've got three minutes left in this hour, which I have enjoyed immensely, stepping into the Elders Skybox. Again, yesterday Johnnetta Cole was here, former president of Spelman. Check out the podcast if you missed that brilliant conversation. And if you missed any of this dialogue with Jim Hightower, there's so much richness in this thing, man. You'll want to hear it again if you heard it once. And if you didn't hear it, check out the podcast, posted tonight. You will not be disappointed in this conversation with Jim Hightower. As they say in Washington, I want to yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Texas. I've got three minutes left. It's all yours, Jim Hightower. Three minutes. Talk to me about America at 250 as you see it, my friend.Jim Hightower: I think America is healthy in a fundamental way. It's very active right now. You know, there are all kinds of great groups out there making fundamental changes, groups that are progressive and inclusive. And all the bad words we're not supposed to say, again: diversity and equity. I mean, what's wrong with diversity? What's wrong with equity? What are they talking about? And I think more and more people are asking that. And we need to have a constant politics that asks that question. Why should we be afraid of diversity? Unless you're a Native American, you are an immigrant. Stop pretending.And I'm talking to our people now, our progressive people. Stop thinking that it's dangerous to say this stuff. It's not dangerous. People want to hear it, and they will be better for hearing it. You'll get called an agitator. Our wonderful friend and mentor Jesse Jackson spoke brilliantly about being an agitator. You know, after all, it was agitators that built America: Thomas Paine, Shays' Rebellion, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, the populists, right on through. And Jesse put it like this. He said the agitator is the center post in the washing machine that gets the dirt out. We need a lot more of that. We need a lot more of that. And people are ready for it.And I would add just another Jesse Jackson moment, which, again, he did brilliantly. He said, “We might not all have come over on the same boat, but we're in the same boat now.” And that is a powerful political reality. So he was able to rally farmers, and I was with him at some of those events in his presidential campaign, and in his Rainbow Coalition and the other coalitions related to the Rainbow Coalition. They all built together. Jesse Jackson had an intentional program to create a little-d democratic, diverse populist movement based on equality for all. Those are old-time American themes. And we have fought for them, and we have won again and again. Let us not forget that we have won this battle before. It's in front of us, but we've got to do it again.Tavis Smiley: There you go, Jim. We say around here all the time, when we fight, we win. When we fight, we win, and you can't win it if you ain't in it. America needs more of Jim Hightower. I declare it. I knew I hadn't talked to Jim in a long time. I knew it'd be a great hour. I didn't know how great it would actually be, but he still got it. And I am pleased that he put me on his schedule for a full hour today. How blessed are we to have heard the insights of this longtime, unapologetic progressive, Jim Hightower, who's feeling himself these days, and I ain't mad at him, about this march that progressives are on. And I close with what his parents said to him many, many years ago: everybody does better when everybody does better. Jim Hightower, thank you, thank you, thank you, my friend.Jim Hightower: Thank you, Tavis.Tavis Smiley: Good to have you on. More of Tavis Smiley when we come forward.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

This past week, our friends at Farm Aid celebrated the 40th anniversary of the United Farmer and Rancher Congress, held in St. Louis. The country was in the middle of one of the worst farm crises we'd ever seen, and solutions from America's leaders were not plentiful, nor particularly helpful. As Hightower put it in his 1984 speech to the DNC:Since 1981 when this guy took office, it's been hog-feedin' time at the Reagan White House. The hogs that just got feeding at the trough in Washington DC today, they have climbed up in the trough and they're wallowing in it up in there. If you're an international banker who made bad loans, no problem, Ronny Reagan will give you a multibillion-dollar bailout. If you're Ed Meese and you get caught in an embarrassing personal financial situation, no problem. Ronny Reagan will make you Attorney General. And if you're any right-wing Latin American dictator with a pair of sunglasses, this administration will give you enough money to burn a wet mule.But if you're just an old dirt farmer out there, needing a little bit of extra loan because your prices don't even cover expenses, this bunch slams the door of your own government right in your own face.After the success of the first Farm Aid concert in 1985, Willie Nelson and his crew didn't stop there— they kept organizing. In the spirit of the four farmers in Lampasas, Texas, getting together in the early 1870s to figure out how they were going to fight the banks and policies that were screwing them, Farm Aid brought together nearly 2,000 farmers and ranchers in 1986 to fight that same fight once again. Michael Foley, Farm Aid's current Cultural Impact Director, wrote up a wonderful article exploring the groundbreaking work that was accomplished:But organizers did not spend months pulling together the United Farmer and Rancher Congress only to issue forceful condemnations of the powerful. They came with solutions, the most fundamental of which was to stand together and transcend all of their differences. The Congress was incredibly diverse, made up of white, black, Latino and Tribal producers and coming from nearly all 50 states, producing every type of farm product imaginable. When Wayne Cryts of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM) spoke at the first plenary session and appealed for unity, he took off his AAM cap and put on a white UFRC trucker cap. The symbolism of every delegate in the auditorium following suit and taking off their own hats and putting on the UFRC caps may seem trivial, but it signaled a desire to overcome presumed differences and solidarity in spite of everything.No one spoke more pointedly, or with more authority, about surmounting difference than Jesse Jackson. “Unless we come out of isolation…unless we build a movement of farmers and consumers and workers and other allies, these monopolies will without mercy drive us beneath the soil.” He called on everyone in the room to hold hands and to hold their hands up high and to “turn to each other, not on each other” as the powers that be would want. That unity, he argued, is the basis for real political power.Make sure you check out the whole piece—and the next time someone tells you they think all those farmers out there are “conservative,” show them this work. ✊Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for joining us on The Voice of Truth, an Apostolic Tabernacle Podcast. If you would like more information on this, or any of our other podcasts, simply go to ATWILMINGTON.COM.Support the show

Smaller church, deeper discipleship - right? Lifeway surveyed 2,130 Protestant churchgoers, and both extremes came out on top. Today, we'll unpack the church-size discipleship paradox, and why being in a group matters more than church size. ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 1:46 - The Methodology - 8 Signposts of Discipleship 3:38 - 1. Both Extremes Win 7:08 - 2. Small Churches Have Relational Gravity 7:53 - 3. Small Churches Still Have Blind Spots 13:27 - 4. Large Churches Build Discipleship Infrastructure 15:39 - 5. Groups Matter More Than Size 18:14 - The Seafood Boil - Deep Knowing Relationships 23:23 - 6. Different Sizes Need Different Mechanisms 27:37 - 7. Every Church Can Borrow From the Other Extreme 31:19 - 8. Size Is Context, Not Destiny THE 167 NEWSLETTER

In this episode, recorded at the Farnborough Airshow 2026, we speak with Christoph Pereira, CEO of Software as a Service (SaaS), Aerospace Carbon Solutions and Sustainability at GE Aerospace, about how one of the world's largest engine maker is using software, data and hybrid electric propulsion to decarbonise aviation.He discusses:Why GE Aerospace runs a software business alongside its engine franchise, and how software focused on safety, efficiency and resilience can leverage more capacity from constrained airspace immediately.How GE Aerospace, NASA and BETA Technologies demonstrated hybrid-electric propulsion at 30,000 feet aboard a modified Saab aircraft.How the collaboration with BETA, struck less than a year earlier, put a jointly developed turbogenerator on display in BETA's autonomous MV250 eVTOL at the Farnborough Airshow. The vehicle offers a longer range, higher speed and much lower cost than traditional helicopters.How tools like SIGNPOST help airlines with environmental compliance at the lowest marginal cost, whilst DecisionX delivers aviation-specific weather insight on contrails, icing and turbulence.How GE Aerospace's FLIGHT DECK manages a 20-year engine development cycle alongside six-month software builds.If you LOVED this episode, you'll also love the conversation we had with Kyle Clark, Founder and CEO of BETA Technologies, who shares the realities of bringing electric aircraft into operation. Check it out here.Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry's challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2. Click here to learn more.Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website simpliflying.com/green and join the movement. It's about time.Links & More:GE Aerospace NASA, GE Aerospace work enables hybrid-electric flight demonstration - NASA GE Aerospace partners with NASA, BETA Technologies, and Boeing on world's first high-altitude hybrid electric flight - GE Aerospace BETA Technologies unveils MV250, delivering greater range, higher speed, and lower costs for military logistics - BETA Technologies 

Message from Aaron Elmore on August 30, 2026

The harvest of combinable crops is almost complete and for this episode of The Tillage Edge, Michael Hennessy speaks with Tillage Signpost farmers Tom Tierney (Kildare), Don Somers (Wexford) and Tom Barry (Cork) about their 2026 harvests. Don was somewhat disappointed by yields but emphasises that a diverse crop rotation helps reduce risk. Tom Barry reported good yields, which he attributes to high fertility and the use of organic manures. And Tom Tierney teamed up with his neighbour for harvesting — a collaboration he described as very successful this year.For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

An early conversation with one of our favorite guests. This “Best of” episode is from the first few years of this show's existence–back when it was called Signposts–with a guest we've had on many times since, Andrew Peterson. The conversation was recorded in 2016 (without cameras, so you won't be able to watch this one on YouTube) in front of a live audience. You'll hear shifting in seats, coughing, and even the sound of soda cans being opened.  The conversation wasn't centered on a new book or new music or some new project, it was just an agendaless exchange about creating art from seasons of darkness, Buechner (par for the course with Russell and Andrew), burnout in leadership, marriage, and more.  Take a seat, grab a Diet Coke, and enjoy this conversation with Andrew Peterson. Keep up with Russell: Subscribe to Russell on Substack⁠ Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter⁠  Submit a question for the show at ⁠questions@russellmoore.com⁠  Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: ⁠Click here⁠ for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christian dating defined: A mutual commitment between a Christian man and woman to test their relationship for marriage. “How Do We Know If We’re Ready to Get Married?”

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit jimhightower.substack.comIn 1982, the Dallas Morning News editorial page had a name for a guy who wanted to bring back farmers markets in Texas: socialist.Not Medicare for All. Not a wealth tax. Farmers markets. The kind with watermelons and a guy selling tomatoes off a folding table.Hightower ran for Texas Agriculture Commissioner with the idea as a key part of his platform anyway. He won. And in his first year in office, he and a staff of six built a hundred of them across the state.Forty-some years later, Democratic strategists are still having the same panic attack about socialism. Turns out the “radical” thing was never the label itself; it was whether the guy delivered on campaign promises.Here, Hightower tells the story himself: the watermelon stand outside Weatherford that started it all, how Hightower's staff created the market access for the farmers, and the line he used to shut the haters up for good — “the word ‘free' in ‘free enterprise' is not an adjective. It is a verb.”

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit jimhightower.substack.comGreetings, Lowdowners! When I was down visiting with Hightower in May, I asked him a question that I've always wanted to know the answer to, but never put directly to him: Why did he decide to run for office? Before he became Agriculture Commissioner, he had been a legislative aide to Sen. Ralph Yarborough in Washington, the founder and co-director of the Agribusiness Accountability Project (which produced Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times), then a journalist and editor at the Texas Observer. What brought on the desire to become an elected official? And why this office?His answer took us through an adventure of what activism can look like when you take the outside inside, and you run a real grassroots campaign based on the values of the people you're hoping to represent.Transcript:Well, for me, I was born a populist. I didn't know it. And I was taught about populism.The essential political essence of populism is that too few people control too much of the money and power, and they use that control against the rest of us to get more money and power for themselves. So that's the great fight of American politics, in the big scale, but also in the very local scale.

Chris Whalen joins Julia La Roche on this week's episode of "The Wrap with Chris Whalen" to break down what he calls a "slow motion train wreck" in private credit, where public and private funds alike are getting hammered with redemption requests just as the firms behind them sit on impaired assets like DSCR business-purpose loans. Whalen argues we're living through a replay of 2005 — high tide before the crack — and predicts a housing reset by 2027-2028 ("misery on the eights"), with home prices falling 10-20% and recent borrowers landing underwater. Along the way he covers double-digit inflation driven by energy supply shocks from the Strait of Hormuz, why Chair Warsh can't slow-walk rate hikes, the volatility added by agentic AI trading and ETFs, his long-term bull case for gold and silver, the unwinding of Wall Street's crypto trade, the futility of Mamdani's NYC rent freeze, and viewer questions on inflation measurement and Annaly's common vs. preferred shares. Links:    The Institutional Risk Analyst: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/  The Wrap: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/post/theira861Fred Ramberg interview: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/post/theira860 Signed copy of Seeing Around Corners: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/shopTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/rcwhalen    Use the code TheWrap2026 for 25% off your first year of The Institutional Risk Analyst https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/plans-pricingTimestamps:00:00 — Intro01:09 — Private credit: the "slow motion train wreck" and redemptions02:24 — Rates higher-for-longer, double-digit inflation & the Strait of Hormuz04:02 — The hidden cost of war and inflation as a tax05:33 — Private credit shops buying insurers & DSCR loans06:46 — "It's 2005 again" and the road to misery on the eights07:46 — Signposts: institutional fraud in business-purpose loans08:45 — What a DSCR loan is vs. a residential mortgage11:55 — The private credit gates connection12:32 — Predicting the 2028 housing reset & price declines14:52 — How rising prices have masked defaults15:27 — A 10-20% home price reset explained15:46 — Which markets crack first (Florida, Miami, blue-state Northeast)17:10 — Mom-and-pop investors and fix-and-flips17:49 — Advice for homebuyers: stay below the conforming limit18:42 — AI & semiconductor stock volatility19:15 — Agentic trading bots and market manipulation20:35 — Precious metals: gold below 4,000, silver near 5722:37 — PCE data, sticky inflation & the gold-silver case23:13 — Crypto falling apart, MicroStrategy & BlackRock selling24:33 — CME suing over perps (perpetual futures)25:34 — The NYC rent freeze / Mamdani hot take26:49 — Viewer mail: changing the definition of inflation28:20 — Viewer mail: is the debasement trade over?29:08 — Viewer mail: Annaly common vs. preferred31:03 — What's ahead next week (plus World Cup talk)32:46 — Wrap-up

Greetings, Lowdowners—Deanna here!Last week we gave you the pesticide hearing story — Willie Nelson, Barbara Jordan, and a fight Hightower and his team won by building a movement before he ever needed the movie stars. This week, we're going back further. All the way back to where the whole populist tradition in this country actually started.Here's Hightower telling it: in the 1870s, four farmers in Lampasas, Texas, were getting squeezed out of existence. Railroads gouging them on getting crops to market. Bankers gouging them on their mortgages. So they did the only thing they could — they sat down around a kitchen table and started talking about it.That conversation didn't stay in Lampasas. It spread to neighboring counties, then across Texas, then into 43 states. It elected U.S. senators and members of Congress. It built cooperative banks and grain storage so farmers didn't have to sell at the bottom of the market just to survive. Historians call it the Populist Movement. Hightower calls it people figuring out they had to organize or get run over.We're telling you this story right now for a reason. Tonight, Hightower's on the main stage at the Texas Democratic Convention, introducing a candidate he's worked with for years: Clayton Tucker, who's running for the same office Hightower once held — Texas Agriculture Commissioner.Clayton's from Lampasas.No one planned that. Texas just keeps producing people who grow up with that kitchen table in their blood and decide to do something about the Powers That Be. Clayton's campaign is built around the same basic fight those four farmers were having: rural Texans getting run over by power they have no say in. Corporate data centers draining water and electricity from small towns that never got a say. Federal regulators sitting on tools Texas ranchers need right now to fight the New World Screwworm, leaving the state to fight it understaffed and underequipped while the threat spreads. Different villains, same basic math — somebody with more power than you, making decisions about your land and your livelihood from somewhere else.Almost a hundred and fifty years on, same county, new fights, same fight.This is the kind of connection-the-dots storytelling our paid subscribers get from us regularly — the history that explains the present, not just the outrage of the week. If you've been thinking about upgrading, this is a good week for it.Thanks for being in the fight with us, as always!Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Kris discusses the signposts on the path to spiritual fulfilment; Disquiet, The Search, The Answer, Crisis, Renewal, Detachment and Reconnection. Taking lessons from these signposts can lead us to becoming wiser, kinder, more loving people.

Stephen - The Signpost to Jesus | Acts 6:7-15 | 7 June 26 | Philip Deller | AM | Acts 2026 by Campden Baptist Church

Fear is often treated as something to overcome, avoid, or eliminate. Kris Land sees it differently.In this conversation, Kris reflects on the experience that shaped a question he spent decades exploring: What happens after success, and what are we actually here to do? After building and selling a software company as a teenager, he found himself confronting a deeper sense of uncertainty that achievement alone could not resolve.We discuss the ideas behind his novel, The Infinity Within, including the relationship between fear and doubt, the concept of the soul, the stories we inherit about who we are, and why curiosity may be more useful than certainty. Kris also shares the three simple principles that have guided his life for decades, his views on synchronicity, and the practical habits that help him approach each day with intention.This is a conversation about purpose, self-trust, personal responsibility, and the possibility that some of the answers we seek are closer than we think.

A new report shows that the cost of rural crime has fallen. Insurer NFU Mutual paid out £41.5 million in claims in 2025, compared to £44.1 million in 2024. However the theft of quad bikes has risen - and police warn that rural crime is organised and carried out by international criminal gangs.They are a relic of a world long before Sat nav or even A to Zs, the black and white fingerposts which guided the nation's first drivers to their destinations. Now largely redundant, many are in a poor state of repair and are disappearing from our rural landscape. That's why the Northumberland branch of the charity the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, or CPRE, is running a course to teach people how to restore them.All week we're looking at local food networks, where food is grown as near as possible to the people who are going to eat it. Despite being nicknamed ‘the garden of Wales' Carmarthenshire has a shortage of fruit and vegetable production. The county council is now using a former dairy and turkey farm which it owns, as a pilot to grow fresh produce for the local community, including care homes and schools. The 100-acre farm is part of a wider local food partnership called Bwyd Sir Gar Food.Presenter = Anna Jones Producer = Rebecca Rooney

What if some of the most important applications of AI today have nothing to do with productivity, marketing, or enterprise automation, and everything to do with helping people survive crisis, displacement, and uncertainty? In this episode, recorded at, I sit down with André Heller Pérache to explore how technology originally designed for customer service has evolved into humanitarian infrastructure supporting refugees and displaced communities around the world. André shares the story behind Signpost, a global digital initiative from the International Rescue Committee that now operates across roughly 30 countries and 25 languages, helping register more than 20 million users while supporting over 500,000 digital social work consultations. But this conversation goes much deeper than technology. We discuss what happens when trusted information becomes as important as food, shelter, or medical support during times of crisis. André explains how Signpost was born from the realization that vulnerable communities were already living digitally through smartphones, WhatsApp, Facebook, and social platforms while much of the humanitarian sector still relied on traditional offline systems. We also explore the responsible use of AI in high-stakes environments where mistakes can have real-world consequences for refugees, families, and vulnerable populations. André shares why the IRC sees AI as one of the humanitarian sector's biggest bets at a time when armed conflict, climate disasters, and shrinking budgets are putting enormous pressure on aid organizations globally. From misinformation and trust to reducing cognitive burden and scaling empathy through technology, this episode offers a powerful reminder that behind every AI conversation are ultimately human beings searching for dignity, safety, clarity, and hope.

Fr Dave Callaghan MGL says a street sign pointing home is not the home itself but the pointer for your destination. In the same way, the good things of the world are expressions of divine love, signs meant to lead us to God, not become ends in themselves

Dr. Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute and Austrian economist, returns to the show to deliver a sweeping macro warning rooted in Austrian business cycle theory. After 16 years of Fed-fueled boom, he argues we are somewhere in the middle of a cycle that ends in crisis. He unpacks the Cantillon Effect and its direct link to the K-shaped economy, explains why gold is both a canary in the coal mine and a personal financial fire extinguisher, and makes the case that the petrodollar is unraveling in real time — pushing us further down what he calls "the highway to hyperinflation." Despite the dark outlook, Dr. Thornton closes with genuine optimism: Austrian economics is experiencing a rebirth, and the bottom-up solutions it champions are resonating louder than ever.LinksX: https://x.com/DrMarkThorntonFree Hayek book: https://store.mises.org/Hayek-for-the-21st-Century-P11367.aspxMises Institute: https://mises.org/profile/mark-thorntonTimestamps: 0:00 Intro and welcome Dr. Mark Thornton 1:24 – 16 years of boom: What the Fed has really been doing 3:45 – The K-shaped economy and who's actually winning 6:32 – Where are we in the cycle? Signposts that worry him most 8:17 – Private equity, private credit & "sequestered capital" 10:20 – How Dr. Thornton discovered Austrian economics 7:57 – The Cantillon Effect explained: Who gets new money first 20:48 – The Skyscraper Index: Record buildings predict crises 23:25 – Bubbles, billionaires & trillion-dollar fortunes 25:23 – Federal Reserve outlook: Rate cuts off the table? 27:15 – Kevin Warsh, the Fed's "real mandate" & what they won't admit29:40 – Gold, silver & oil: What precious metals are telling us now 31:30 – Gold as a "canary in the coal mine" AND a "fire extinguisher" 37:02 – Are gold and silver going much higher from here? 38:24 – Why record stock markets are actually dangerous 40:45 – The highway to hyperinflation: Has anything changed? 44:46 – The end of the petrodollar and US reserve currency status 47:16 – BRICS, crypto & the unraveling of dollar dominance 49:39 – The Middle East war's hidden impact on food, fertilizer & global supply chains 53:46 – Where to find the Mises Institute & parting thoughts

Speaker: Dane BurgessScripture: 1 John 1:1-4Episode Overview:What does it mean to truly know and experience the life God offers—not as an abstract idea, but as something real, tangible, and shared? This message walks through 1 John 1:1–4, where the apostle points to what was seen, heard, and touched in Jesus Christ. The focus is on the reality of the “Word of Life,” the invitation into fellowship with God and His people, and the kind of joy that flows from a life rooted in that truth. Rather than settling for secondhand knowledge or distant belief, this passage calls us into a lived, relational experience that transforms how we speak, connect, and live.Key Highlights:• The gospel is grounded in real, historical experience—something witnessed, not imagined• Knowing Christ is not merely intellectual; it is relational and shared• True fellowship flows both vertically (with God) and horizontally (with others)• Joy is not manufactured—it is the natural result of abiding in what is true• A life changed by Christ cannot help but speak about HimCall to Action:Consider where your faith has become distant, routine, or purely informational. Take a step toward deeper fellowship—spend intentional time with God in His Word, and pursue honest, Christ-centered connection with others. Let what you've truly experienced shape what you talk about, how you live, and who you invite into that same life.Redeemer Church211 Northshore Dr. Bellingham, WA 98226www.redeemernw.org

Website(s): foursignposts.com Daniel Revisited makes the case that the ancient book of Daniel reveals four specific events to occur in the Middle East in the end times prior to the Tribulation. This new look at old assumptions about prophecy and plain reading of Scripture combines a comprehensive study of relevant history with the fresh perspective of today's current events. Not only does it show that the Antichrist will be Muslim, it also identifies four events the author calls Signposts which will occur in a series leading right up to the Tribulation. The first event involving Iraq has already occurred. The second of the four events will be the invasion of the whole Middle East by Iran. The fourth event will witness the Antichrist's emergence.

Brent Johnson, founder and CEO of Santiago Capital and creator of the Dollar Milkshake Theory, joins The Julia La Roche Show in-studio for a wide-ranging conversation on why the world most investors grew up in is over. Johnson argues that power now matters more than economics — that the old framework of spreadsheets and cash flows is no longer sufficient when supply chains, national security, and geopolitical competition determine outcomes. He breaks down the US-China power competition, the implications of the Iran conflict for energy, food prices, and portfolios, and why he remains in US equities despite the consensus rotation into emerging markets. He also updates his Dollar Milkshake Theory, makes a provocative case that what comes after the American Republic is the American Empire, and explains why stablecoins may be the most underappreciated geopolitical tool the US has right now.Links: Twitter/X: https://x.com/SantiagoAuFundYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@milkshakespodSubstack: https://research.santiagocapital.com/0:00 Intro & welcome Brent Johnson1:05 Current macro picture: the world has changed & power matters more than economics4:37 Signposts reinforcing the thesis — Trump as symptom, not cause5:42 What the paradigm shift means for investors — the law of one price is gone8:25 The high angst/low drawdown paradox — markets only down 10% but everyone's acting like it's 30%9:43 Conviction vs. confliction — investing for what will happen vs. what you want to happen13:23 Iran: thinking through the probabilities without the certainty16:27 The US is still the most powerful country in the world — what that means for portfolios18:01 Portfolio implications of the Iran scenarios — energy, food prices, the Strait of Hormuz21:23 It's all about US-China — the prisoner exchange and the technology race29:16 Where Brent is putting money right now — capital preservation, cash, gold, US equities31:12 Why he's NOT rotating into emerging markets — the four scenarios framework34:09 The Dollar Milkshake Theory explained — and how it's held up in 2025-2639:29 Stablecoins: what Brent got wrong and why they matter more than he thought46:26 CBDCs vs stablecoins — and the coming conflict between the Fed and the Treasury50:05 The Fed: cut, hike or hold? 52:48 Japan: the yen trap, JGBs, and why it matters for everyone54:46 What question nobody asks Brent but should56:33 What keeps him up at night and what makes him optimistic57:44 The Roman Republic vs the Roman Empire — is America heading toward empire not collapse1:01:40 Parting thoughts: find a community of people you trust who disagree with you

Greetings, Lowdowners—Deanna here!In January, paid subscribers got 45 minutes of unfiltered Hightower at our Happy Hour Q&A. If you missed it—or if you're a free subscriber wondering what these gatherings are like—here's a taste.We asked readers to bring questions, stories, anything. What we got was one of the best evenings we've had: Hightower on organizing in red states, the horror of what's happening with ICE, why the Democrats need big ideas, and—because it's Hightower—some absolutely wild stories from campaigning across Texas in small planes held together with duct tape and optimism. The clip above is one of my favorite all-time stories: the famous beer run with Melvin Lowry out in West Texas. When you're a broke statewide candidate in Texas, you get where you're going however you can. In Hightower's case, that meant farmers with planes, county roads as landing strips, and pit stops for six-packs. "The secret to the high wire is never look at the high wire. You just land."If you thought the beer run was something, wait until you hear about the plane where Hightower's passenger seat was a kitchen chair with a seatbelt—and the only way to get airborne was for two guys to hold up the tail and run down the runway. “I am a serious candidate for statewide office in the state of Texas.”One last gem from that night covers while the Populist movement of the late 1800s was so successful: they knew that politics couldn't be just a bunch of committee meetings. They created fun. Here, Hightower shares an insight that Pete Seeger once told him about how he discovered politics through the Chautauqua movement.These are the kinds of evenings paid subscribers get—stories you won't hear anywhere else, and a chance to actually ask Hightower what's on your mind.The full 45-minute video, including Hightower on why organizing together beats just calling your red state Senator, how Democratic leadership is responding to our grassroots pressure, and the vision for getting money out of politics, is is available to paid subscribers here.If last week's C-SPAN video was a window into Hightower's world, this is a seat at the table. More on that next week.Happy Friday, everyone.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Pamela Wyn Shannon "Song Of Slow Emerging" - Nature's Bride www.pamelawynshannon.com Kyle Carey "Sios dhan an Abhainn" - North Star www.kyleannecarey.comDebra Cowan & John Roberts "Drive Dull Care Away" - Ballads Long & Short www.debracowan.com Anais Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer "Tam Lin" (Child 39) - Child Ballads www.anaismitchell.comYe Vagabonds "On Sitric Road" - All Tied Together www.yevagabonds.comRise "Love At The Five & Dime" - Posing As HumanJosh Lederman y Los Diablos "A Dram For The Boys" - It's A Long And Lonely Time Until The Train Will Bring You HomeJosh Lederman y Los Diablos "Fish's Eddy" - The Town' Old Fair *********************Charlie Nieland "Today" - Stories From The Borderlines www.charlielnieland.comThe Matthew Show "Theme From Texas II" - Texas II www.thematthewshow.comGrace Morrison "Just A Kid On Parkwood Drive" - Saltwater Country www.gracemorrison.comErin Ash Sullivan "Don't Want To Keep Score" - Signposts & Marks www.erinashsullivan.comScott Cook "Leave A Light On" - Tangle Of Souls www.scottcook.netHelene Cronin "Not The Year" - Maybe New Mexico www.helenecronin.comValerie June "A Rest Between Breaths"********************Jess Novak Band "Kissed Goodnight" - Tattoo www.jessrocknovak.comMarcello Di Luna "Hanalei Bay"The Ashtrays "SportMINTH" www.ashtrays.chSammy Volkov "Strangest Thing" - Songs rom The Goodbye Garden www.sammyvolkov.comPhantogram "It Wasn't Meant To Be" - Memory Of A Day www.phantogram.comFrenchy & The Punk Mr. Scorpion" - Midnight Garden www.frenchyandthepunk.comJaguero "Twentyfour7" - Make Ne Feel Alive Again www.jaguero.comWe Might Die "Iced Out" www.wemightdiemusic.comKuarantine "Unholy" www.kuarantine.com************************

Vi virrar om vildar, surrar om särskiljningar, pratar om panoramafrihet, särskådar säkerhetshål, babblar om blockeringar och delar ut medaljer i massor. Shownotes Aktuellt från svenska Wikipedia Är Katja Nyberg vilde? Ur led är tiden Uppföljning panoramafrihet i Sverige Wikimediarörelsen internationellt Säkerhetsincident: officiell rapport, Signpost rapport, reportage Inloggning blockerat i Indonesien (workaround) Veckans mall Jan: MedaljStart Wikifikor, meetups och träffar i närtid Fredag: Wikdiataverktyg Lördag: Wiki Loves Africa: fotoessäer Erkännanden Bild: Sdjurovic, CC BY-SA 4.0 Musiken och ljudklippen är från Surf Shimmy Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 3.0, samt Wikimedia Sound Logo Finalist VQ97, Thaddeus Osborne, CC BY-SA 4.0, och ljudet från Wikidata’s 10th birthday video intro animation, Lea Lacroix (WMDE), CC BY-SA 4.0. Avsnittet hittas också på Wikimedia Commons. Diskutera avsnittet på projektsidans diskussion.

What rattles your peace?Signposts for navigating Mark 13:I. This prophecy is primarily about the TEMPLE.II. This prophecy is for DISCERNING the TIMES.III. This prophecy is meant to provide HOPE.IV. This prophecy includes TEACHING on Jesus' RETURN.Three commands from Jesus to survive the storms of life:I. Respond CALMLY.II. Respond CAUTIOUSLY.III. Respond CONSCIOUSLY.

Our usual Following Signposts faces its biggest challenge yet: Lorwyn Eclipse's crazy draft structure! Part traditional set, part hybrid nonsense, with 8 archetypes instead of 5 or 10. Tons of hybrid talk, which is looking to be a key part of the UB small set era. Khord's stuff: https://linktr.ee/Khord22 Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes and Images: https://beaconofcreation.com Intro music by Dee Culp

Post your thoughts here. If you want a reply email me at connectTFJ@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you.Field Notes for February 5, 2026 covers how to open your heart to the companionship of God in daily life and a review of Mel Robbins book "Let Them Theory." In the section called Finding the Hidden One, you'll hear about a way to handle life in our troubling times with a key insight from the story of two disciples. The book review of Let Them Theory brings an overview of this powerful book for better emotional adjustment.  The Field Notes webcast shares the best material from recent editions of my newsletter, blog, and publications. Tracks for the Journey and Signposts for the Journey are dedicated to your well-being through spirituality, psychology, and ethics.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast for only $5 per month to get a monthly bonus episode, access to exclusive subscriber-only episodes, and the POSTINGS weekly newsletter on Substack with more resources for well-being! Subscribe at https://tracksforthejourney.buzzsprout.comEnjoy the Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@tracksforthejourney77

Welcome to Walking the Way. My name is Ray, and I really want to say thank you to everyone for listening in as we continue to explore what it means to have a regular rhythm of worship.CreditsOpening PrayerRay Borrett Bible verseIsaiah 33:18           Thought for the dayRay Borretthttps://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/britains-homelessness-shame-cold-hard-facts Bible PassageIsaiah 33Holman Christian Standard Bible Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved. Prayer Handbookprayer handbook WTW 2026.pdf Supporting Walking the WayIf you want to support Walking the Way, please go to: https://ko-fi.com/S6S4WXLBBor you can subscribe to the channel: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/walkingtheway/subscribe To contact Ray:Please leave a comment or a review. I want to find out what people think and how we make it better.www.rayborrett.co.ukwalkingthewaypodcast@outlook.comwww.instagram.com/walkingtheway1@raybrrtt

Support this podcast. Help me reach others by supporting this podcast.To support my mission work, click this link now! http://BuyMeACoffee.com/brotherbosanchez

Sometimes you might feel as though something is holding you back in life. Today, I want to ask you a challenging question.Is your diagnosis what's keeping you from moving forward?What does that mean? From my perspective, receiving a diagnosis should act like a signpost—it helps guide you toward what you need to do to reach your goals. Yet, many people treat a diagnosis as if it's a stop sign—a reason to avoid taking action. I want to explore this idea further and see where the conversation leads.❤️ Support & Resources

Your diagnosis is a signpost NOT an excuse | Mark MI Words | Mark MI Words

This talk was given by Diana Clark on 2025.12.17 at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. ******* For more talks like this, visit AudioDharma.org ******* If you have enjoyed this talk, please consider supporting AudioDharma with a donation at https://www.audiodharma.org/donate/. ******* This talk is licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License

Joel Styzens "Ascendence II" - Resonance www.relax-your-ears.comMaya de Vitry "Reverie" - How To Break A Fall www.mayadevitry.comOrdinary Elephant "Before" - Before I Go www.ordinaryelephant.netLowland Hum "Eden (Part 1)" - s/t www.lowlandhum.comJulian Loida "December Dreams" (featuring Don Mitchell of Darlingside) www.julianloida.comDarlingside "Ancestor" - Pilot Machines www.darlingside.com*************************Jess Klein "In The Arms Of A Song" - When We Rise www.jessklein.comAbigail Dowd "Papa 45" - Saints & Warriors www.abigaildowd.comJonathan Byrd "Coyote" - The Law & The Lonesome www.jonathanbyrd.comGrace Morrison "Gloria" - Saltwater Country www.gracemorrison.comCatie Curtis "Long Night Moon" - Long Night Moon www.catiecurtis.comErin Ash Sullivan "Nobody's Business" - Signposts & Marks www.erinashsullivan.comWilliam Matheny "Christian Name" - That Grand, Old Feeling www.williammatheny.comTret Fure "This And So Much More" - Lavender Moonshine www.tretfure.com*************************Vendredi sur Mer "Malabar Princess" Laurie Black "Scars" - Angst Music www.laurieblack.co.ukFaster Pussycat "Don't Change" www.fasterpussycat.comTuk Smith & The Restless Hearts "Troubled Paradise" www.tuksmithandtherestlesshearts.comOut Of The Ashes "Love Gun" www.outoftheashesrocks.comTRNDS "Moth To A Flame" Silverstein "Live Like This" - Misery Made Me www.silversteinmusic.com

We're back again on the trail, following where the signposts lead us in draft. This new Avatar set has some new twists on the uncommon gold "archetype" cards and overall has some new ideas on structure. How do you structure a set with four types of elements in a game with five colors and ten color pairs? We dive in and give our breakdown. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes and Images: https://beaconofcreation.com Intro music by Dee Culp

This is a companion podcast for this morning's mantra. Life often whispers through coincidences — small moments that feel divinely aligned. Today’s meditation invites you to notice these signs of serendipity, to trust their guidance, and to follow where your soul feels light and alive. Your Morning Mantra: Serendipity is a signpost for my soul Jennifer Cray is a life coach, meditation teacher and yoga teacher for Living Lit Up, based in Brisbane. You can deepen your meditation practices with her on Insight Timer. Insight TimerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life often whispers through coincidences — small moments that feel divinely aligned. Today’s meditation invites you to notice these signs of serendipity, to trust their guidance, and to follow where your soul feels light and alive. Your Morning Mantra: Serendipity is a signpost for my soul Jennifer Cray is a life coach, meditation teacher and yoga teacher for Living Lit Up, based in Brisbane. You can deepen your meditation practices with her on Insight Timer. Insight TimerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we expound upon last week's topic and address the idea of planned obsolescence...are most things made with a planned "expiration date"? We also discuss some preseason deer scouting and how some popular thoughts, such as the significance of signpost rubs, may or may not play into your deer hunting game plan. And lastly, we discuss the first Florida bear season in a decade and the opposing points of view that are applicable to all hunters who care about the sport. Enjoy!#plannedobsolescence #signpostrubs #deerhunting Check us out on the web at:https://www.maineoutdoorenthusiast.comContact:maineoutdoorenthusiast@gmail.com

A conversation with Tim Keller from 2021, in honor of his birthday. Watch the full conversation on YouTube. Tim Keller would have turned 75 years old this week (September 23rd). To mark this, we are bringing back an episode from early in 2021 (back when the show was called Signposts). At the time of the conversation, Keller was a few months removed from learning of the cancer that eventually took his life and had just released a new book, Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter. They also talk about the recent article Tim wrote for The Atlantic, wrestling with mortality, how to order our loves in this life, and finding hope in the midst of suffering. Ultimately, this is a conversation upholding the comfort of the resurrection, and reminds us that through it, nothing truly good is ever lost.  Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com  Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Original airdate: July 11, 2023 Have you ever experienced something so inexplicable that you knew it had to be more than just a coincidence? Experiences like this make us believe that a benevolent force of energy is available to guide and direct our lives. My guest, Cheryl Richardson, calls this energy grace. She believes that every event we experience, and every person we meet has been put in our path for a reason. She's here to speak more about the transformational power of grace. Cheryl Richardson is the NYT bestselling author of several books, including, Take Time for Your Life, Life Makeovers and The Unmistakable Touch of Grace. She was the first president of the International Coach Federation. Her work has been covered widely in the media, including Good Morning America, The Today Show, New York Times and O Magazine. She was the team leader for the Lifestyle Makeover Series on the Oprah Winfrey Show and accompanied Ms. Winfrey on the “Live Your Best Life” nationwide tour. During our conversation, Cheryl and I discuss the significance of coincidences and how to recognize and interpret them through the lens of grace. She also talks about tapping into grace so that we can feel vibrant and balanced as we age. **Important note: Certain segments of the audio are disrupted because of an unstable internet connection. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.**

Beau Martonik sits down with Derrick Dixon, the creator of the Whitetail Research YouTube channel, to dive into how thermal drones are changing the way we understand deer behavior. Derrick shares his bold decision to leave a secure job and dedicate an entire season to tracking whitetails with advanced technology. From morning movement patterns to the individuality of mature bucks, Derrick reveals fascinating discoveries about how deer respond to wind, weather, and human pressure. He also breaks down the myths surrounding technology in hunting—showing how traditional woodsmanship and modern tools can work hand in hand. Whether you're a hunter looking to sharpen your skills or simply curious about the science of whitetails, this episode will inspire you to see the woods in a whole new way. Topics: 00:00:00 - Introduction  00:04:37 – Derek's Journey into Deer Research 00:13:39 – The Passion To Observe 00:18:48 – Terrain and Deer Movement 00:28:51 – Morning Movement Patterns 00:48:17 – Individuality of Mature Bucks 00:55:40 – Thermal Switch Insights 01:12:59 – Scrapes and Signposts 01:18:34 – The Impact of Human Pressure 01:32:11 – Technology vs. Woodsmanship 01:40:48 – Applying Research to Hunting 01:49:40 – Future Plans and Resources Resources: Whitetail Research Links: IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/whitetailresearch/ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@WhitetailResearch Instagram:   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@eastmeetswesthunt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@beau.martonik⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook:   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠East Meets West Outdoors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop Hunting Gear and Apparel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.eastmeetswesthunt.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: Beau Martonik - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQJon93sYfu9HUMKpCMps3w⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Partner Discounts and Affiliate Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.eastmeetswesthunt.com/partners⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Amazon Influencer Page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/shop/beau.martonik⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By Steve K Buchanan - This sermon identifies three types of unbelief within the Church. Understanding these types of unbelief can help us understand the prophetic markers of the future.

Helping everyday people tell the stories of what's happening in the US right now

Find your local protest, and other ways to contribute if you're not able to attend

Harry talks with Andrea Pitzer, who has reported extensively on democratic decline in countries such as Chile, Russia, and Hungary, and has written extensively about historical examples especially Nazi Germany. She discusses signal developments in authoritarian democracy that degraded into authoritarian rule, bringing the illustrations back to compare and contrast with Trump's first few days of rule and the landscape ahead. The two discuss the most important developments that signify dramatic social and political degradations, as well as the most important indications of decline so severe as to take countries to the other side of the democracy/authoritarian divide. Harry analyzes the particular assaults on the department of justice and the judiciary that Trump is pursuing, and how they dovetail with strong man moves in authoritarian regime. A fair bit of a discussion concerns the potential analogy between Hitler's brownshirts, who played such a major role in destroying the rule of law in Germany, and the hundreds of pardoned January 6 rioters who now stand ready to resume their violent support of Trump's agenda.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.