Podcasts about English

Want to know your English level? Take our free English-level quiz here to find out what your current English level is.  Do you love All Ears English?  Try our other podcasts here: Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey IELTS Energy Podcast: Learn IELTS from a former Examiner and achieve your Band 7 or higher, featuring Lindsay McMahon and Aubrey Carter with Jessica Beck in previous episodes Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn If you love this podcast, hit the follow button now so that you don't miss five fresh and fun episodes every single week.  Don't forget to leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this explosive episode of Joe Oltmann Untamed, Joe unleashes on the shocking revelation that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche a registered Democrat until 2024 is now in a top DOJ role, and Vance Day's comments raising red flags about loyalty and past rhetoric calling targeted parents “terrorists.” Joe calls it straight: “What the ****?” From Emerald Robinson's video exposing the hypocrisy to Ed Martin's spiritual warning and Dan Bongino's fiery take on grifters, the swamp is deeper than ever. The truth is hitting like a freight train.Graham Moore, our English Constitution expert with 30+ years of deep study, joins to tackle election fraud and mass migration head-on. Comparing England's common law roots to America's constitutional battles, Graham breaks down how unchecked migration erodes voting integrity, dilutes sovereignty, and threatens self-governance in both nations. From the English abolition of slavery to today's identity crisis, he explains why “The Constitution is the Solution!” is the only path to reclaiming justice legally, peacefully, and without the psyop distractions of groups like Freemen on the Land.Communist Colorado chaos: Kyle Clark's biased hit on Trump and Tina Peters, Adam DeRito's spot-on defense of Trump's veto on the costly water project, new gun control bills weaponizing schools and hospitals, activist teachers fueling anti-ICE protests, and the outrageous release of repeat offender Elijah Caudill after ruling him incompetent despite his violent spree on the 16th Street Mall. Colorado Republicans are fighting daily for free elections, safe schools, armed self-defense, and real justice. Don't miss this hard-hitting takedown truth is rising, commies are panicking, and accountability is coming fast. Tune in live!

Former Christian Minister Craig Fentor was in the midst of a deep spiritual void when he first picked up a book of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi's poetry in his local LA bookshop. The writings of Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic have long inspired people across faiths. And Rumi's poetry on divine love and the soul's journey toward God would captivate Craig, inspiring him to leave behind his Californian home, to begin a new life as a whirling dervish in Turkey. The BBC's Emily Wither travelled to meet Craig Fenter - now known as Ismail - in the Central Anatolian city of Konya. Konya is known as Rumi's resting place and is now an important pilgrimage site for his followers. It is here where Ismail joined the Mevleni order, became a disciple of Rumi and converted to Islam. Ismail is now working on a new English translation of Rumi's most famous work, the Masnavi-yi Maʿnavi, 25,000 verses of rhymed couplets in Persian. Ismail believes it is his calling to work on a modern translation of Rumi's greatest work, for which he has the blessing of Rumi's 22nd generation direct descendants. [Photo Description: Whirling dervish Ismail Fentor stands in front of the Mevlana Museum and tomb site of 13th century Persian poet and Islamic scholar, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi in Konya, Turkey.Photo Credit: Emily Wither] Producer/presenter: Emily Wither Series Producer: Rajeev Gupta Editor: Chloe Walker Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno Music: Ismail C Fentor

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 4, 2026 is: diaphanous • dye-AF-uh-nus • adjective Diaphanous is a formal word used to describe fabric of a texture so fine that one can see through it. Diaphanous is also sometimes used figuratively to describe something characterized by extreme delicacy of form. // The bride looked radiant in her floor-length gown and diaphanous veil. See the entry > Examples: "With a bright pattern set on flaming crimson and a diaphanous petticoat underneath, the dress fits her perfectly." — David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025 Did you know? What do the words diaphanous, epiphany, fancy, phenomenon, sycophant, emphasis, and phase all have in common? The Greek word phaínein shows more clearly in some of these words than in others, but it underlies all of them. The groundwork for diaphanous was laid when phaínein (meaning "to bring to light, cause to appear") was combined with the prefix dia- (meaning "through"). From that pairing came the Greek diaphanḗs ("transparent"), parent of the Medieval Latin diaphanus, which is the direct ancestor of the English word.

In tonight's hypnotic bedtime story with Jessica, you're gently carried into the windswept stillness of the English moors, through a calming retelling of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. With softened language and an unhurried pace, this episode explores misty landscapes, quiet interiors, and the slow rhythm of life on the moors - allowing the intensity of the story to settle into something peaceful and grounding for sleep. As always, tonight's episode will start with a relaxing introduction from Jessica, before we sink into tonight's Sleep Hypnosis. If you'd like an extra immersive experience, you can also watch this episode on Spotify, complete with soothing visuals. Want more Sleep Magic? Join Sleep Magic Premium ✨ Enjoy 2 bonus episodes a month plus all episodes ad-free, access to Jessica's complete back catalog of over 60 episodes, and show your support to Jessica.  To Subscribe 

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/Exodus13–14;Psalm32;Mark11 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

Learning English use a limited vocabulary and are read at a slower pace than VOA's other English broadcasts. Previously known as Special English.

Week 4 of the PGA TOUR season is here as the West Coast Swing rolls on to the WM Phoenix Open, one of the most electric stops of the year. In this episode, we recap a historic week at Torrey Pines, highlighted by Justin Rose's dominant, wire-to-wire performance at the Farmers Insurance Open and what it means for the broader PGA TOUR landscape. We discuss why runaway wins are so rare at elite venues, how Rose separated himself under pressure, and where his career now stands among the great English players. We also review what went right and wrong at Torrey Pines from a performance standpoint, breaking down key takeaways from players who impressed, players who disappointed, and what we learned heading into Scottsdale. From there, we shift our focus to TPC Scottsdale, digging into: • Why the WM Phoenix Open is such a unique test • Course fit, scoring expectations, and what tends to matter most statistically • Early-season form trends across the top of the odds board • Veterans vs rising talent on a course that rewards confidence and momentum We also touch on bigger-picture topics, including: • The evolving atmosphere and crowd management at the WM • Brooks Koepka's place in the field and how to evaluate his game right now • Mailbag questions As always, we'll be back at the halfway point with updates, adjustments, and live reads on how the tournament is shaping up. For questions and updates, follow on X at @drmedia59, and for behind-the-scenes content, follow on Instagram at @kingdoctor1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/Exodus19:1–23:33 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

All Shook Up: A Novel by Enid Langbert https://www.amazon.com/All-Shook-Up-Enid-Langbert/dp/1684632641 Enidlangbert.com This YA debut speaks to the continued interest in the teen culture of the 1950s—Elvis Presley, teenage rebellion—with a young girl embarking on adventure and music, ultimately uncovering family secrets. Being fourteen is especially hard in 1956, when the world is changing around you. Honor student Paula Levy was born into a family of historical victims: her mother's youth was lost in the Depression and her father's was destroyed in the Holocaust, an as-yet-unnamed event about which no one speaks. But Paula has heard the new music taking hold of the nation—rock and roll—and it has given her hope. And she has two friends to get her through life's ups and downs: Holden Caulfield, hero of Catcher in the Rye, who shares her view of the world, and Barbara, a “cool” girl in her high school who unexpectedly shares Paula's view of Holden. Paula's mother is not a fan of Barbara, and she prohibits her daughter from associating with her. Paula manages to get around her mother's rule and see Barbara anyway—but when Paula asks the wrong questions about her father's past and Barbara is caught with her “boyfriend,” their private world of Holden, rock, and Elvis Presley crumbles. Angry with the adults in their lives, the two girls run away to find Barbara's real father, a jazz musician. Disappointingly, he does not live in a mansion or socialize with Elvis—but Paula and Barbara may find something even better. About the author Enid Wolfe Langbert was not as adventurous as her protagonist, Paula, in high school, but she made up for it in the sixties by marching, sitting in, and raging against segregation and the war while, in her spare time, raising three children. Eventually, she went to law school. She loved zealously advocating for her clients as an attorney, whether they deserved it or not, until her husband became ill and she closed her practice to care for him. After he passed, she traveled widely and enrolled in an English literature master's program. She is now writing her thesis, tracing the influence of James Joyce's legal issues on his writing of Finnegans Wake—a topic about which she is unambiguously passionate. Enid lives in New York City.

When Jessica Mitford (aka Decca) was eleven, in 1928, she opened a Running Away Account at Drummonds Bank. A few years later she ran away to Spain to help in the fight against Franco, and not long after that moved to the US where she became a naturalised citizen and joined the Communist Party. The Mitford sisters wrote many books and even more have been written about them, but Carla Kaplan's scholarly new biography of Jessica is a welcome addition to the ‘Mitford industry', according to Rosemary Hill, because she approaches her subject as an ‘American communist with an unusual background in the English aristocracy'. In this episode, Rosemary joins Thomas Jones to talk about Decca's eventful life, her work as a civil rights activist and writer, and her complicated relationships with the other Mitfords. When asked whether the bond with her sisters had ‘stood between her and life's cruel circumstances', Decca replied: ‘Sisters were life's cruel circumstances.' Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/mitfordpod Listen and subscribe to Rosemary Hill's Close Readings series: In Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applesignuplr In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/scsignuplr From the LRB Subscribe to the LRB: ⁠⁠https://lrb.me/subslrbpod Close Readings podcast: ⁠https://lrb.me/crlrbpod⁠ LRB Audiobooks: ⁠https://lrb.me/audiobookslrbpod⁠ Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: ⁠https://lrb.me/storelrbpod⁠ Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

This is the Wednesday evening liturgy during Epiphanytide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/.CREDITS:© 2021 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University.SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker.MUSIC:“Compline #7 - Epiphany” by Wen Reagan, © 2020 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Glowing Gaze” by Emily Hanrahan, © 2020 Emily Hanrahan.“Star in the East” by Reginald Heber. English traditional tune arranged by William Walker in Southern Harmony (1820). Arrangement by Bruce Benedict, © 2009 Cardiphonia Music.TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame.SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of Freesound.org.“Match Being Lit.wav” by Jeanet_Henning of

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/Genesis37;Mark7;Job3;Romans7 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

Rabbi Gordon studies one chapter a day from Maimonides' classic legal work of Mishneh Torah. The original Hebrew text is read and then translated and clearly explained in English.

Cher's confused as Gary Graff breaks down the Grammy Awards, Today Show Savannah Guthrie's missing mom mystery, R. Kelly's urine victim writes memoir, more Epstein revelations, and Kim Kardashian finds new dong. Trudi is BACK with a new robotic shoulder. Drew met some dude named after Oakland/LA/Las Vegas Raiders great Rich Gannon. He's also mad at rounding up. It's Super Bowl week! The event is going to be politically charged. Kid Rock will be headlining the TPUSA Halftime Show. We'll see if Bad Bunny speaks any English. Why is ICE showing up to the big game and the Olympics? The NFL is playing at least 7 international games this year. Gary Graff joins the show to break down the 2026 Grammy Awards. 2026 Grammys: Chappell Roan wore nothing. Billie Eilish made a political statement. Lady Gaga spoke up for women in the studio. Jelly Roll praised Jesus. DJ Gesaffelstein wore blackface. Cher struggled on stage. Miley Cyrus showed up with her “teenage” boyfriend. The girl R. Kelly victimized with his urine is spilling in a new book. Somebody abducted Savannah Guthrie's mother. Drew suspects her brother is to blame… based on one photo. Ryan Seacrest looks like he's on AIDS. A missing boy from Madison Heights was found safely in a neighbor's bathtub. Race car driver Lewis Hamilton the latest to dunk it in Kim Kardashian. He's the 33rd penis on her Who's Dated Who. Kanye and North West performed a boring show together in Mexico City. Super Bowl commercials are leaking left and right. Kendall Jenner is in a stinker of an ad. The latest leak of the Epstein files drops a lot of famous names. The Clintons caved and will testify before the House. Peter Attia is having a bad day, as he's fired from his brand new job on CBS News. Bill Gates allegedly gave Melinda an STD. We're still shocked the Melania film was somewhat a success. Merch can still be purchased. Click here to see what we have to offer for a limited time. If you'd like to help support the show… consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Drew Lane, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels, Jim Bentley and BranDon)

Anti-ICE communist agitators in Minneapolis have set up roadblocks as they check IDs of those passing through. President Trump joins Dan Bongino as the podcaster returns to the microphone. Democrats about to take power back in D.C.? SAVE Act and national voter ID still possible? One Democrat's take on Jesus, Mary, and ancient abortions. Federal takeover in Los Angeles as the city continues its feeble recovery following the fires over a year ago. President Trump rants at Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Florida's driver's license test is now in English only. Andrew Cuomo preaches against overtaxing the rich. Donor fat! Justin Haskins from the Heartland Institute stops by to discuss the latest economic news and his new book, "The Next Big Crash." 00:00 Pat Gray UNLEASHED! 00:39 Minnesota is like Iwo Jima??? 01:32 Minneapolis Papers Please! 07:26 Journalist Accosted by Anti-ICE Protestors 08:47 Dan Bongino is BACK! 11:44 President Trump Discusses Phone Calls with Xi & Putin 14:01 Pete Hegseth on Changes to the Military 17:40 Harry Enten on Democratic Midterms 21:13 Voter ID Filibuster 30:10 Caller Tim 32:14 Fat Five 48:18 LA Law Enforcement to Arrest ICE Agents?! 51:20 James Talarico on Mary and the Virgin Birth 55:50 James Talarico on Abortion 59:32 Lee Zeldin on Palisades Fire Recovery 1:07:09 Trump Attacks Thomas Massie AGAIN 1:13:08 Sad News out of New York City 1:15:16 Winter Blackouts? 1:17:32 Andrew Cuomo Explains why "Tax the Rich!" Doesn't Work 1:20:18 Women Taking Fat Cells from DEAD PEOPLE?! 1:25:57 Justin Haskins Joins the Show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

El 19 de abril del 2024, Henry Choc recibió una noticia devastadora: su hermano menor, Eldin, de 28 años, había desaparecido en San Andrés Itzapa, un pequeño pueblo maya kaqchikel en el centro de Guatemala. Su búsqueda comenzó inmediatamente, y vendría con la revelación de que, en realidad, sabía poco de ese hermano a quien siempre trató de proteger. Una versión de esta historia se publicó originalmente en Plaza Pública. Puedes leerla aquí. En nuestro sitio web puedes encontrar una transcripción del episodio. Or you can also check this English translation.

Want to know your English level? Take our free English-level quiz here to find out what your current English level is.  Do you love All Ears English?  Try our other podcasts here: Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey IELTS Energy Podcast: Learn IELTS from a former Examiner and achieve your Band 7 or higher, featuring Lindsay McMahon and Aubrey Carter with Jessica Beck in previous episodes Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn If you love this podcast, hit the follow button now so that you don't miss five fresh and fun episodes every single week.  Don't forget to leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al's callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory   England's grip on France is collapsing. After more than a century of brutal conflict, English forces across the Channel are exhausted, bankrupt, and beaten down. In London, hopes rest on King Henry VI — now an adult and expected to rescue his father's dying empire. But Henry is no warrior king, and the French are dismantling England's hard‑won gains with shocking ease. Then, a new force enters the fray: Margaret of Anjou. Young, formidable, and newly crowned Queen of England, she becomes a lightning rod for ambition, fear, and bitter factional rivalries. Some believe she can save England's fortunes in France; others fear she is about to upend the entire balance of power at court. As defeat looms and alliances fracture, this episode traces how Margaret of Anjou steps into a failing war — and begins reshaping the fate of the Hundred Years' War, the English crown, and the violent political battles still to come. – And don't forget, you can now WATCH every This Is History episode on YouTube. Subscribe at youtube.com/@thisishistorypod  – A Sony Music Entertainment production.  Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts  To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices.  Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices  – Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole  Production Manager - Jen Mistri  Production coordinator - Eric Ryan  Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the fourth and final episode of our series examining the 1860 Road Hill House murder, the case that gave birth to modern detective fiction. Previous episodes covered the murder of three-year-old Francis Saville Kent, Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher's groundbreaking investigation, and the five years of cold case torment that preceded Constance Kent's confession.The gallery was packed to suffocation. July 21, 1865. Five years they'd waited for this moment. Five years since Francis Saville Kent was found with his throat cut in the family privy. Five years since Inspector Whicher accused Constance Kent of murdering her baby brother—and was destroyed for saying so. When the clerk asked how she pleaded, Constance spoke one word: "Guilty." No mitigation. No excuse. No insanity defense that might have saved her from prison.When Constance Kent stood in the prisoner's dock at Devizes Assizes on July 21, 1865, she refused the insanity defense her counsel had carefully prepared. Instead, she pleaded guilty to murdering her three-year-old half-brother Francis—a single word that silenced the packed courtroom and condemned her to death.But Queen Victoria's government commuted her sentence. At sixteen when she committed the murder, Constance had carried the secret for five years before confessing voluntarily. She served twenty years in Victorian prisons—first at Millbank, then Fulham Refuge—transforming from a troubled teenager into a model prisoner who educated herself and learned nursing skills.In 1886, a woman named Ruth Emilie Kaye boarded the ship Carisbrooke Castle bound for Sydney. Constance Kent ceased to exist. For fifty-eight years, she built a new life in Australia, rising to Matron at several institutions, nursing the sick and elderly, living in quiet anonymity until her death at one hundred years old in 1944. No one in Australia knew they were burying England's most notorious Victorian murderess.Key Case DetailsTrial and Sentencing (July 1865):Thirty-minute trial at Devizes AssizesJustice Willes presiding, John Duke Coleridge defendingGuilty plea rejected insanity defenseDeath sentence commuted to life imprisonmentPrison Years (1865-1885):Twenty years served at Millbank and Fulham prisonsModel prisoner with no disciplinary incidentsSelf-educated in nursing skillsRelease conditional on leaving EnglandAustralian Reinvention (1886-1944):Emigrated as Ruth Emilie Kaye aboard Carisbrooke CastleNursing career spanning four decadesMatron at Parramatta Industrial School for GirlsMatron at Pierce Memorial Nurses' Home for twenty-one yearsDied April 10, 1944, at age 100, identity unknownLiterary Legacy:Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone (1868) directly inspired by the caseSergeant Cuff character modeled on Inspector WhicherFoundation for Sherlock Holmes and entire detective fiction genreInspector Whicher died June 29, 1881—exactly twenty-one years after the murder nightFrancis Saville Kent was three years and ten months old when he died. He was not a plot device or a mystery to be solved. He was a child with dark hair and bright eyes who ate his porridge at a small table by the window, who played in the June sunshine of a Wiltshire garden, whose small voice fell silent on a night that would echo through a century and a half of English history. He was not the mystery. He was the cost.Historical Context & SourcesThis series draws extensively from Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (2008), the definitive modern account based on extensive primary research. Original trial transcripts from the National Archives and contemporary newspaper coverage from The Times and Morning Post (1860-1865) provided additional verification. Bernard Taylor's Cruelly Murdered (1979) contributed alternative perspectives on William Saville-Kent's potential involvement—a mystery that remains unresolved.Resources & Further ReadingKate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detectiveremains the essential text for understanding this case. Readers interested in the literary legacy should explore Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone (1868), widely considered the first modern English detective novel. The Victorian crime history section at the National Archives maintains original documents from the investigation and trial.Our Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/foul-play-crime-series/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 3, 2026 is: hornswoggle • HORN-swah-gul • verb To hornswoggle someone is to trick or deceive them. // I think we were hornswoggled by that magician. See the entry > Examples: "Netflix users have been warned to look out for an insidious, AI-powered email scam that looks nearly indistinguishable from the real deal. ... If you have been already hornswoggled by such a scheme, Netflix advises changing your password and reaching out to your bank." — Ben Cost, The New York Post, 3 Mar. 2025 Did you know? Hornswoggle is a slang word of some considerable mystery, at least where its etymology is concerned. The word appears to have originated in the southern United States in the early 19th century. The earliest known written record comes from an 1829 issue of The Virginia Literary Magazine in its glossary of Americanisms. The magazine states that hornswoggle comes from Kentucky, and that its oddness matches nicely with other 19th-century Americanisms, such as sockdolager, absquatulate, callithump, slumgullion, and skedaddle. While the exact point at which hornswoggle entered our language, and the way in which it was formed, may remain unknown, it is a charming addition to our language, joining bamboozle and honeyfuggle as colorful ways to say "to deceive."

Welcome to our Polish Podcast. Hosts Roy and Anja discuss a series of "what if" scenarios — from the collapse of the EU, a third world war, rising pension numbers, human microchips and hidden cancer cures, to space tourism, internet control and home robots.   “Co jeśli” is the Polish way to ask “What if…?”—and in this bite-sized episode you'll say it like a native day-dreamer. First you hear the phrase at real speed, then slowed down so you can copy the soft “ć” and the gentle “jeśli.” We drop it into three imagination-ready sentences: – “Co jeśli zdam ten egzamin?” (What if I pass this exam?) – “Co jeśli się pomylę?” (What if I'm wrong?) – “Co jeśli to zadziała?” (What if it works?) Repeat-along track included—perfect while you stare out the window or plan your next big move. Challenge: DM us your boldest Polish “Co jeśli…” question and we'll answer it in next week's episode.  

En este episodio hablamos sobre el miedo y las distintas situaciones que lo provocan, como las alturas y las multitudes, compartiendo experiencias personales y reflexiones a lo largo de la conversación.If you'd like to listen to our episodes ad-free and get the full word-for-word transcript of this episode — including English explanations and translations of Mexican slang and colloquial expressions — visit us on Patreon.You can also find more content and resources on our website: nohaytospodcast.comIf the podcast has been helpful to you, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts — it really helps!And if you prefer video, check out our YouTube ch No Hay Tos is a Spanish podcast from Mexico for students who want to improve their listening comprehension, reinforce grammar, and learn about Mexican culture and Mexican Spanish. All rights reserved.

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/Exodus12;Psalm31;Mark10 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

Learning English use a limited vocabulary and are read at a slower pace than VOA's other English broadcasts. Previously known as Special English.

Harry, Stelios and Josh discuss the bizarre efforts of the mainstream media and influencers to downplay Epstein, the ethnic cleansing of the English countryside, and the first court victory against transitioning.

Something embarrassing or frustrating could lead to a facepalm moment. Learn how to use this expression here.FIND A TRANSCRIPT: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2026/ep-260202 BEATING SPEAKING ANXIETY: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/beating_speaking_anxiety SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newsletters FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ Learning English Grammar ✔️ Learning English from the News ✔️ 6 Minute English They're all available by searching in your podcast app. (Photo: Getty)

This week's episode of Wealth Formula features an interview with Claudia Sahm, and I want to share a quick takeaway before you listen — because she's often misunderstood in the headlines. First, a quick explanation of the Sahm Rule, in plain English. The rule looks at unemployment and asks a very simple question:Has the unemployment rate started rising meaningfully from its recent low? Specifically, if the three-month average unemployment rate rises by 0.5% or more above its lowest level over the past year, the Sahm Rule is triggered. Historically, that has happened early in every U.S. recession since World War II. That's why it gets cited so much. And to be clear — it's cited a lot. The Sahm Rule is tracked by the Federal Reserve, Treasury economists, Wall Street banks, macro funds, and economic research shops globally. When it triggers, it shows up everywhere. That's not by accident. Claudia built one of the cleanest early-warning indicators we have. But here's the part that often gets lost. The Sahm Rule is not a market-timing tool and it's not a prediction machine. Claudia emphasized this repeatedly. It was designed as a policy signal — a way to say, “Hey, if unemployment is rising this fast, waiting too long to respond makes things worse.” In other words, it's a call to action for policymakers, not a command for investors to panic. What makes this cycle unusual — and why talking to Claudia directly was so helpful — is what's actually driving the data. We're not seeing mass layoffs. Layoffs remain low by historical standards. What we're seeing instead is very weak hiring. Companies aren't firing people — they're just not expanding. That distinction matters. And this is where I think the big picture comes in — not just for understanding the economy, but for investing in general. When you step back, the big picture includes a government with massive debt loads that needs interest rates to come down over time. It includes fiscal pressures that make prolonged high rates politically and economically painful. And it includes the reality that if the current Fed leadership won't ease fast enough, future leadership will. History tells us that governments eventually get the monetary conditions they need — even if it takes time, even if it takes new appointments, and even if it takes a shift toward a more dovish Federal Reserve. That doesn't mean reckless money printing tomorrow. But it does mean that structurally high rates are unlikely to be permanent. And when you combine that with investing, the question becomes less about this month's headline and more about what's positioned to benefit when the environment normalizes. That's why I continue to focus on real assets that are already deeply discounted — things like multifamily real estate — assets that were repriced brutally during the rate shock, but still sit at the center of a growing, rent-dependent economy. This conversation with Claudia reinforced something I've been talking about for a long time:The biggest investing mistakes usually happen when people zoom in too far and forget to zoom back out. I've made this mistake myself. If you want a thoughtful, non-sensational, data-driven discussion about where we actually are in this cycle — and what the indicators really mean — I think you'll get a lot out of this episode. Transcript Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI and may not be 100% accurate. If you notice any errors or corrections, please email us at phil@wealthformula.com. Welcome everybody. This is Buck Joffrey with the Well Formula Podcast coming to you from Montecito, California. Before we begin today, I wanna remind you, uh, listen, we’re back in, uh, back in the saddle in here in, uh, 2026. I know it’s takes some time to get used to it, but we’re, gosh, we’re at the end of the month actually by the time this plays. I think we’re in February. It’s time again to start thinking about investing. And so if you are interested in potentially using this year, which I believe and which many believe to potentially be the last year, uh, big discounts, uh, in real estate and, uh, various other types of offerings. Make sure. To sign up for the Accredit Investor group, our investor club, as we call it wealthformula.com. You do need to be an accredit investor and then you get onboarded. An accredit investor is just defined by who you are. If you make over $300,000 per year filing jointly, or 200 by yourself, every reasonable expectation to do so in the future. Or you have a net worth of a million dollars outta your personal, outside of your personal residence, you’re an accredit investor. Congratulations. Join the club wealthformula.com. Interesting podcast. Today we have, uh, Claudia Sahm She’s a Big Deal, Claudia Sahm. You may recognize that last name som, for this som rule. And what is a som rule in plain English. You actually have heard of the som rule multiple times from other economists who’ve been on the show. The som rule looks at unemployment. And asks a very simple question. Now, has the unemployment rate started rising meaningfully from its recent low? So specifically, if the three month average unemployment rate rises 0.5% or more above its lowest level, over the past year, this som rule is triggered. Now, historically, that has happened early in every US recession since the World War ii. That’s why it gets cited so much. It gets cited a lot. By the way, the sum rule is tracked by the Fed treasury economists, wall Street Banks, macro funds, economic research shops globally, and when it triggers, it shows up everywhere, and that’s not by accident. Uh, Claudia has built one of the cleanest early warning indicators we have, but here’s the part that often gets lost. The som rule is not a market timing tool, and it’s not a prediction machine. Claudia, uh, emphasized that repeatedly. It was designed as a policy signal, a way to say, Hey, if unemployment’s rising this fast, wait, waiting too long to respond makes things worse. In other words, it’s call to action for policy makers, not a command for investors to panic per se. So what makes this cycle unusual and why talking to Claudia directly was so helpful? Well, it’s what’s actually driving the data. We’re not seeing mass layoffs. Layoffs remain low by historical standards. Um, what we’re seeing instead is very weak. Hiring companies aren’t firing people, they’re just not expanding, and that distinction matters. This is where the big picture comes in, not just for understanding the economy. For investing in general and when you step back, the big picture includes a government with massive debt loads that need interest rates to come down over time. It includes fiscal pressures that make prolonged high rates politically and economically painful. I’ve mentioned this before and it includes the reality that have to fed, fed, uh, if the current Fed leadership won’t ease fast enough. I am likely the case that future leadership appointed by. Donald Trump himself, uh, will, so history tells us that governments eventually get the monetary conditions they need, even if it takes time, even if it takes new appointments. And even if it takes a shift towards a more dovish federal reserve. Uh, that doesn’t mean, uh, reckless money printing tomorrow, but it does mean that structurally. High interest rates are unlikely to be permanent. Okay? And when you combine that with investing, the question becomes less about this month’s headline and more about what’s positioned to benefit when the environment normalizes. Okay? That’s really, really important, and that’s why I continue to focus on things like real estate, right? Real estate is currently. Not for long, in my opinion, but deeply discounted things like multifamily real estate, um, that were repriced brutally during the rate shot, uh, but are still at the center of a growing and, and rent dependent economy. And again, uh, this conversation with Claudia reinforced something that I’ve been talking about a long time, which is the biggest investing mistakes usually happen when people zoom in too far and forget to zoom back out. I’ve made that mistake myself. I am not immune. I have made lots of mistakes, and that’s one of them. So this is a great conversation. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it, especially if you want a thoughtful, nons sensational data-driven discussion. Where we are actually at in this cycle and what these indicators really mean. I think you’ll get a lot of this episode and we will have this conversation for you right after these messages. Wealth formula banking is an ingenious concept powered by whole life insurance, but instead of acting just as a safety net. The strategy supercharges your investments. First, you create a personal financial reservoir that grows at a compounding interest rate much higher than any bank savings account. As your money accumulates, you borrow from your own bank to invest in other cash flowing investments. Here’s the key. Even though you borrowed money at a simple interest rate, your insurance company keeps. Paying you compound interest on that money even though you’ve borrowed it at result, you make money in two places at the same time. That’s why your investments get supercharged. This isn’t a new technique. It’s a refined strategy used by some of the wealthiest families in history, and it uses century old rock solid insurance companies as its backbone. Turbocharge your investments. Visit Wealthformulabanking.com. Again, that’s wealth formula banking.com. Welcome back to the show, everyone. Today my guest on Wealth Formula podcast is Dr. Claudia Sahm. Uh, she’s an American, uh, macroeconomic expert, uh, known for her work, uh, on monetary and fiscal policy and real-time economic indicators. She developed this som rule, which I think, uh, people have mentioned on this show before, so this is a great opportunity to talk to her about that. Uh, it’s a widely, uh, followed recession signal based on unemployment. She’s also a former Federal Reserve economist and senior policy advisor in government. Um, so welcome, uh, Dr. Sahm. Great. Happy to be here. Thank you. Well, let’s, let’s kind of start out with this som rule because, uh, you know, it’s funny, we, we have had a few different people, uh, at various times bring up the SOM rule, and I think one had actually said that it was triggered, but I don’t don’t think it was at any rate, let’s, let’s start with that. What is the som rule? Lemme start with why is there a som rule, and then we’ll then we’ll get to specifically what the, what the rule is itself. So when I started out on the project, it wasn’t so much about. Calling a recession, like there are some really fancy technical ways that economists like look at the tea leaves and the data and either try to forecast a recession, which is incredibly hard, or even just say we’re in a recession in real time. So like that’s a useful endeavor. But what actually was behind the development of my recession indicator was more of a call to action. How do we develop policies that, that the Congress can put into place very quickly if a recession comes? So these kind of what are referred to as automatic stabilizers, so they’re decided upon ahead of time, but then you do need a trigger that says a recession is here. So now that enhance the unemployment benefits, send out the stimulus checks, whatever it is that we kind of have as our typical tools that are used in recessions, we could have those ready to go as kind of guardrails. Then like you, you turn the policy on. So that was really my emphasis was on how do we do better policy and recessions, get the support out quickly. ’cause that’s the best chance of kind of stabilizing the situation. And then it’s like, well it was in a, it was in a policy volume that they asked for, like a really concrete proposal. So if I’m gonna say an automatic stabilizer, I need to have a proposal for what a trigger could be. So that’s really where the som rule came. So I think it is important. It’s definitely important to me to, I always remember like what the kind of reason for it’s sure. Now that also guided what the indicator itself looks like. So again, it was gonna be in, in fiscal policy. It needs to be simple, it needs to be something that we track it and it needs to, I felt it was important that it capture the reason that we. Fight recessions, why there’s such a bad, uh, you know, outcome. And so it looks at the, the unemployment rate. I use the national unemployment rate, take a three month average. ’cause we wanna smooth out, like there’s bumps and wiggles in the data from month to month. So you kind of, you know, three month average. One way to smooth it out. So you take that series of three month averages, you look at the current value, you compare to the lowest value over the prior 12 months, if you’ve seen an increase of a half, a percentage point or more. Which is really pretty modest, but half a percentage point or more. Historically, we have been in the early months of a recession, so it’s not a forecast. It’s supposed to be like we’re in it. Let’s go. It’s an empirical pattern. It’s one that’s worked in the United States. It reflects kind of our labor market institutions, the way unemployment rate moves and recessions. It historically is the case that once you get past a certain threshold of increased unemployment rate, it tends to build on itself. And in a typical recession, we see increases of. Two, three or more percentage points in the unemployment rate. Uh, so that’s, that’s what the summer rule is. And in fact, it did trigger in the summer of 2024. At that time I had said like, look around, we are not in a recession. GP is still expanding. Job creation is still happening. We don’t see the other hallmarks of a recession. And pointed to the fact that we’d had a very disrupted labor market after the pandemic in particular. You know, there had been a lot of immigration at that point. The unemployment rate is the total number of unemployed. So people who don’t have a job but are actively looking for one out of the labor force, right? And so these people that have to either be employed or looking for jobs, and so we actually saw from the pandemic. Both with the pandemic and then later with the surge and now the reversal in immigration. We’ve seen a lot of movement in the, in the labor force, which makes unemployment rate a little tricky to interpret. And then I’d also argue, we saw early in the pandemic, the unemployment rate dropped very rapidly. We even had labor shortages. So in some ways unemployment rate rising and it has risen over. I mean, it continued to rise last year in 2025. A lot of that’s also normalization. We’d had a very low unemployment rate. So I think the, the pandemic recession has a lot of features that were very unusual. We’ll talk probably more about the labor market continued to be kind of unusual. So the, you know, the somal was not the only recession indicator to fall flat on its face in the cycle. Um, but I think it’s still a useful, useful guide and I, and. You know, even if it’s not a recession, the, the unemployment rate is a full percentage point above, its low in 2023. So, I mean, that, that could, that could be a reason for policymakers to respond, even if it’s not responding to a recession. Right. That was the first time that it, that triggered and, and actually didn’t. End up in a recession, right? There’s some back in the 1950s, earlier, but it’s, it’s the first time where there’ve been some false positives in the past or, or near false positives. Like in 2003. It was kind of close, uh, is like the unemployment rate rises a little bit and then it falls back down. What we saw after it triggered in 2024 is it stabilized. Then last year it continued to rise. So this the pattern that we’ve seen since the pandemic of rapid recovery dropping unemployment rate and then it’s like gradually rising and yet has risen a full percentage point that you go all the way back in the post World War II period. We don’t see anything that looks like that. So that is a very unusual. Paris. So something’s more is going on in the labor market than just our typical business cycle, boom, bust, recession type dynamics. So what is that? What is the thing that’s happening that’s unusual right now in the labor market? Right? So the thing that is driving the unemployment rate up, I think this is a good lesson, a reminder to all of us. It’s not about layoffs. The rate of layoffs in the United States is really quite low. You look at unemployment insurance claims, they’re also quite low. What’s been pushing the unemployment rate up over the last two and a half years has been a very low rate of hiring and, and it’s, and it is something that over time will at least gradually put upward pressure on the unemployment rate and frankly. Until hiring picks up and we really don’t have many signs of it. Even as we enter 2026 unemployment rate’s gonna probably keep drifting up ’cause we’re not keeping job creation’s, not keeping up with, you know, people coming into the, into the labor market and, and that what’s, I think the puzzle right now is that hiring has been very low. But what we’ve seen in terms of consumer spending, business investment, so the kind of the big pieces of GDP, they’ve really held up pretty well, so. Business. It’s not, again, not that recession of the customers have disappeared. And so we’re not hiring, or we may even be firing workers. The customers are there for the businesses, but they’re choosing in this environment not to add, uh, to their payrolls. And that’s slowly pushing up down point rate. Yeah. Um, you know, it, it’s interesting what you’re, you’re talking about, but essentially you’re, people aren’t getting fired. They’re just, when they retire or leave, they’re just not replacing those. Individuals, you know, makes me think a little bit about what’s going on in the big, you know, in the tech push with artificial intelligence and that kind of thing, and increased in efficiency. Certainly you see that in the larger companies like Amazon and all that, where they’re just becoming massively more productive and cutting expenses essentially by, you know, using tech. Do you think that this is sort of an early indication, potentially of that kind of movement? So it. It’s possible, but I think we’re at the very front end of AI disrupting the labor market. This low hiring rate that we’ve talked about. You see this across all kinds of industries, including ones that don’t show high levels of AI adoption, and frankly, a AI adoption is pretty low. I mean, there are some sectors like tech and increasingly finance and some professional services have higher adoption rates. Uh, but in terms of it being able to explain the low hiring. I think it’s pretty tough ’cause the low hiring is such a, such a broad based, um, phenomenon. Now, AI might be, I think, indirectly contributing in that one of, one of the hypotheses about why, um, businesses have been, uh, not hiring despite, you know, economic activity. Continuing to push ahead could be that there’s a lot of uncertainty. Now there is a long list that we could draw of, of factors that might be causing businesses to be uncertain and hesitant to add to their payrolls. Uh, a lot of times you talk about things with tariffs or, you know, economic policy, regulations changing, you know, so there’s a lot going on there. But it could also be, there’s a lot of uncertainty about what this technology means for the future. Maybe you don’t need to bring on more workers because your ability to kind of use and adapt this technologies coming online. And so like that could be part of it. I think there’s another piece, you know, we have a lot of discussion about ai, but I do think that there’s, there could be a, a technology angle to this that’s, that is. Not in the AI technologies, but maybe just some of the more basic kind of automation is again, right after, you know, the, the pandemic recession as we came out of a, you know, very rapid recovery, uh, there was, there was a lot of hiring or that, ’cause businesses had done a lot of firing and they needed to bring back workers really rapidly and we actually had a period of labor shortages. There were workers moving around a lot and there were, that also put a lot of pressure on some employers, particularly in service sector, to automate more ’cause they just couldn’t get the workers, so they needed to bring technology. Online to help, you know, fill the gap. And over time, you know, businesses though, they haven’t done as much hiring, they have been firing. So the workers, they have longer tenures, have more experience, they’re probably more productive. So maybe businesses can kind of, you know, get away with not doing more hiring. ’cause the people they have there can kind of keep up with it. Um, and they’ve done some more automation. I don’t think those are sustainable. I think we’re going to need to see hiring pickup in terms of, of staying with, um, you know, as expanding, uh, demand from customers. But I won’t pretend to know what AI means for the future of the labor force. Right. So like there could be, I think that’s a big conversation about we’re headed, where we’re headed. I think it’s probably a pretty small slice of explaining. Where we’re at right now. You know, it’s interesting because obviously there was a lot of concerns about rising inflation, and particularly in the context of, you know, tariffs and, and among those types of things that were, were, um, coming down the pipe. And as it turns out, inflation seems to be coming down. How do you explain that from where you sit? Because it, it, it seems sort of to contradict a lot of what, you know, many economists believe to be likely. So when thinking about the effects of tariffs on inflation and this, this idea that it didn’t end up being as much of a factors we had really feared, uh, you know, a year ago. I think there’s a few things to keep in mind. One, the announced tariffs, uh. Didn’t come to pass fully. Right? So there’s a big difference between some of the, the, the initial announcements, whether it was on Liberation Day, April 2nd, or the initial kind of retaliation tit for tat with China, where we ended up with some triple digit, uh, tariff numbers. Those didn’t end up being where we, we ended now tariff, the effect of tariff rate. Is much higher than it was before. Right. Uh, president Trump came into office for the second time, so like, I don’t wanna minimize the, the, the increase in tariffs and the US government collected about $200 billion last year in, in additional tariffs. But there is a, there’s a good bit of daylight between what was announced and where we actually ended up. Businesses also proved very capable of trying to avoid those tariffs and not in like a. Illegal kind of way of avoiding them, but, but using inventories like trying to get ahead of them. We know the tariffs are tariffs. There’s been some evidence that, that it’s businesses are gonna start passing on the tariff cost increase when it’s actually tied to the inventories that they’re putting out in front of customers. And for some of our goods, like say apparel or things that have long seasons or come from, you know, all across the world, it actually takes quite a bit of time from the inventories being what actually shows up in front of customers. So there’s been the ability to. Kind of get around the tariffs ’cause they were rolling in. And so do be smart in terms of your inventories. And then it just takes time for those inventories to be, you know, um, to come down. Mm-hmm. By, there’s been several studies at this place, at this point that, that demonstrate that the, the tariffs, the cost of the tariffs is coming into the us. So the, it’s always the importer that pays the tariff, like literally writes the check to the US government. But it’s possible that the foreign producer could say, reduce their prices on what they’re, you know, paying or what they’re asking to be paid for that, uh, imported good. And then that would be a way of the foreign producer sharing the cost of the tariff. But everything that we see from the M Court data suggests that a very small fraction, probably less than 10%. Of the total tariff burden is being born by, at least at this point, born by the foreign producers. So it’s coming into the us. It’s sitting with either US businesses that are importing the goods or have the goods at some point in their, you know, in their supply chains and, and with us customers, the consumers we have, we’ve seen. I think you can really look at the inflation data. You can see the goods prices, which often are kind of a drag on inflation that they did turn around. They’re, they’re putting upward pressure on inflation. It’s not massive. It doesn’t explain all of these, you know, 200 billion in tariff costs, but then it is, it’s sitting with businesses. The effects still, it’s still just not that long enough to really understand. You know what, what the implications. It’s possible. I, I think that’s true with any, with any big policy change. Like it doesn’t happen overnight. I think that’s one thing that a lot of, a lot of economic models that, like, they’re, they’re very sensitive, right? Like as soon as a policy change happens, the models will kind of tell us something pretty dramatic in terms of adjustments. But this last year was a reminder, like when there’s, when there’s a big cost, there’s gonna be a lot of attempts to adjust around it to try to minimize that cost and then. It takes time, like in the real world, like the interactions are much more complex. You know, inventory lags all of the, like, it takes time to move its way through. So I think we’re not done with the pass through. I think we’ll probably still see more come to consumers, but businesses could decide to bear that cost. They, they could, you know, with profit margins. I mean some of, some of the inflationary environment in the pandemic did allow. There were very broad base increases in prices. You did see some companies be profitable from that because it was, there was a, you know, some of the costs were more targeted, but the, you know, the, the price increases were broad. So it could be a time where businesses see that, you know, consumers are more price sensitive now than they were in 21, 20 21, 20 22, so they’re not passing as much on it. Could be that that’s part of where. Like the cost businesses are dealing with that cost by maybe doing less hiring as opposed to passing it on to consumers. Uh, you know, they could be taking a hit with their profits. They, you know, so like, it doesn’t have to go all the way through to consumers. There are different levers that can be pulled. I do think we’ll still see some pass through in the, in probably the first half of this year, and that’s assuming that our whole tariff regime. Sit still, right? It looks like once again we might be, uh, increasing those tariffs, but, um, so yeah, I think it’s just tracing, you know, the tariffs through the system is really complicated. And one last thing I’ll say about the tariffs is they’re not just tariffs on goods that go to consumers. These tariffs have been broad enough that we’re also taring imported goods that are used by our manufacturers used for our, by our businesses in their production. So then it can take a really long time for that to end up with the, you know, the end customer could be a business to start with, and then it moves its way down. So I think these are just, you know, the costs are real. We can see the tariffs have been collected, the costs are there. We can see in the import data, there haven’t been import price data, there haven’t been a lot of adjustments by the foreign suppliers. So then it’s just a question of, we have these costs. Where did the cost go? I believe the last GEP was 4.3% and, uh, inflation was around 2.6, 2.7, or at least core. You’ve obviously, uh, worked at the Fed. Um, give us a sense of the situation that the Fed is trying to figure out here. Like what do they do with these numbers and, you know, all of the issues that surround them. The work at the Fed, I mean, it, it’s laser focused on the, the response, the mandates that the Fed has. So with maximum employment and price stability and with maximum employment, that’s not something that can be easily defined. It’s not like it’s a particular unemployment rate, it’s not a particular payroll number. But I mean, broadly speaking, it’s, you know, do, are, you know, the people who wanna work, are they working? In such a way that it’s not putting pressure on inflation, right? Like labor shortages that end up with wage increases that just, you know, end up with inflation. Like that would be a situation where the Fed would actually want to kind of help restrain some of the. Uh, employment growth. And we, we saw that in this cycle. I mean, the Fed raised rates a lot in 2022 and 2023. Uh, so that’s the maximum employment on the stable prices. The Fed has set a target of the 2%, uh, year over year PCE inflation. So a little different than the CPI inflation, but very much related. And, and it’s one, I mean, that’s, that’s the goal, right? And it, uh. So it starts with those two pieces and, and what’s been, I think what’s been challenging in say the last year as the Fed was, you know, trying to figure out what it was gonna do with interest rates was the fact that it, there was pressure on both sides of the mandate. Mm-hmm. Um, and not necessarily the, well, I mean, inflation itself has, was above the 2%. It continues to be above the 2%. Target has been. Since 2021. Now the Fed’s policy doesn’t have a look back, but I mean, they do worry that the longer inflation stays closer to three than two businesses. Consumers are gonna start to kind of embed three into their actions, their expectations. Then you kind of get stuck there. So like that, that both, you know, they were missing on the inflation mandate and there were, there were concerns that the, that we might see inflation get stuck above the mandate and the way you dislodge it if it gets stuck. Could end up risking a recession, right? So the Fed doesn’t want that to happen. So that’s a real concern. But then on the employment side, you know, we started out talking about the small rule, the rising unemployment rate. We’ve seen the unemployment rate rising. And then last year in particular, it wasn’t just the unemployment rate rising, we saw job creation just really take a leg down. Um. Some of that probably is less immigration population aging, so less supply of workers, which isn’t something the Fed would react to. ’cause that, I mean, if you don’t have as many people that wanna work, you don’t need to create as many jobs. But the unemployment rate was rising, so it’s clear, like there just wasn’t, there wasn’t enough job creation to keep up with, um, the workers who were there, uh, to work. And, and there was a concern that this could, could spiral out. Those small increased unemployment rate that, that very low level of job creation. And frankly, if you look at, I mean the, I mean, we have multiple months and probably more after revisions of declines in payroll employment. Mm-hmm. Like if you looked at the labor market data, you’d be like, aren’t we in a recession or like on the edge of one? Again, that’s not where we’re at, but it, it certainly gave that, that risk. Things could be slowing down. And, and the, the last piece that was really important in the Fed’s decisions was where, where’s the federal funds rate? Where are the interest rate, the policy interest rate they control? And it was still relatively high. For, for recent history, right. Not in the long history of the Fed, but mm-hmm. And so, like the Fed had raised, they’d raised interest rates quite aggressively to fight the inflation in 2022. They’d very gradually lowered it. Some was taken out in 2023 because made some pro, made quite a bit of progress on inflation in, or in 2024, they lowered the rates in 2025, the 75 basis points of cuts that the Fed did. It was out of concern. Of the labor market unraveling a risk, not a, not saying, hey, the labor market is unraveling, but saying the risk that the downside risk to employment are larger and more worrisome than the upside risk to inflation. So this inflation getting stuck, is that still the case as a going into 2026 here? So, you know, even, even last year we saw, we listened to Fed officials, there’s quite a bit of disagreement. Because it was a tough situation to read. There are some Fed officials that were more focused on inflation, some that were more focused on the employment side. Uh, and it really was just a matter of kind of reading the economy and trying to figure out this, a very unusual situation, like where, where was this headed? What did the Fed need to do? In the end, the consensus on the Fed was to do the rate cuts, kind of front load them. They talked a lot about it as insurance. They’re taking out insurance against the labor market deteriorating. And I think with that approach, in all likelihood, and there’s been certainly signaling of this, that when they meet at the end of January, it’ll, they’re unlikely to move again. That this is, this will be an opportunity to hold steady, be patient the Fed has, has taken out their restriction. So they don’t have the higher rates, so they’ve pulled rates down. We also know that early this year there’s various kinds of fiscal support that are coming online or tax cuts to households and to businesses that should give a little extra lift, uh, to the economy. So I think it’s a period of the Fed waiting to see what the effects of their policy changes are, seeing what the effects of the fiscal policy with the expectation this will be enough to stabilize the labor market. Even help get it back on track and really what the Fed would like. I mean, we’ll see what they get, but they’d really like the next cut to be a good news cut. Like inflation. Oh look, it’s moving back down again. We’re making clear progress back to 2%. I think that’s probably gonna take maybe even till the middle of this year to build that case. A strong case for the disinflation. Mm-hmm. But that’s, that’s what they would, would like to do. But they’re gonna keep an eye on the labor market. But nothing we’ve seen in the most recent data suggests that they gotta get moving like that. There’s some, you know, real pressure building. Um, in fact, the labor market looks a little bit better probably than when they met in December and inflation. Showing some signs of progress, but it, it’s pretty bumpy in terms of, there’s a lot of noise in the data at the moment. You mentioned, um, the Fed’s mandate and you know, certainly that’s something, um, that, uh, you know, that, that we know the Fed looks at these unemployment numbers that look at inflation. I’m curious though, that there’s, you know, there is this push and pull with the treasury. In particular, you know, looking at the amount of, of, of, of bonds that need to be refinanced, that kind of thing. I mean, presumably that’s one of the reasons why the Trump administration is pushing so hard, uh, on the Fed to reduce, um, you know, to reduce rates so that you know, this sovereign debt can be refinanced at a, something a little bit more palatable. How much of that actually. I know it’s not supposed to play a part in the Federal Reserve’s actions, but in reality is there, is there that kind of, you know, thinking that, you know, they have to, they, they may try to play ball a little bit with the, with the situation, with the debt. Yeah. There, the, the Fed is not playing ball right now with the administration. Uh, but, but there have been, there have been times in our past. So during World War II, there was an explicit cooperation between the Fed and the Treasury. The Fed kept interest rates low. Both the federal funds rates, so the short term interest rates, they also did, uh, some purchases of longer term to help keep longer term rates down. Right. So I mean, the, the Fed really, they, their policy was oriented exactly on this objective, keeping the borrowing cost of the US government low because it was financing the war effort. So, so there have been times where the Fed has cooperated with treasury. Now, when they came out of World War ii. What happened is, you know, treasury wants to keep interest rates low. This is good for, you know, the economy, good for growth, but it was, it really was creating a lot of inflationary pressures and it took until the early 1950s for the Fed to kind of regain its kind of operational independence from treasury and then go back to pursuing, you know, inflation as a key goal. And then also in the late seventies and maximum employment was added as an explicit goal. So we’re in a place now where. It’s employment, it’s inflation, it, there was quite, um, I mean, president Trump and some other officials have been, you know, very open about saying rates should be low to help with the deficit, with funding the gov. So like, it’s, it’s been in the discussion in the air. But that’s not, that’s not a mandate that Congress has given the Fed. That’s not what they’re pursuing. It does, you know, but things can change at the Fed. We’re gonna see a change in leadership this year with a new Fed chair. Um, the Fed always, I mean, Congress created the Federal Reserve. It’s changed its abilities, its responsibilities over time. I don’t wanna say that we’ll never get back to a place where the Fed thinks about. Its effect on the deficit. I mean, they’re watching it, they know, right? They’re tracking all these aspects of the economy. But in terms of what’s driving the Fed’s decisions about what the, the federal funds rate should be, that’s not part of the calculus right now. Yeah. Um, you know, another, just another question is for clarity. You know, the, the, um, officially right now there’s, there’s no quantitative easing. However, there is. Uh, you know, I’ve been reading, uh, about even, I think even today, there was a, a fair amount of liquidity, uh, being injected in by the Fed. Can you, for people who don’t understand the mechanics of this and what the difference in terminology is, can you explain to us maybe what the difference is between quantitative easing and what’s being done right now? So just as for context, where quantitative easing even came from. So if we go back to the global financial crisis in 2008, the Federal Reserve, in response to that recession, pulled the federal funds rate all the way to zero. Cut rates to zero And as sure many of us remember that that recession was a very deep and long recession. So, and the unemployment rate was, you know, 10% and inflation was not a problem. So the, the Fed would want in that environment to do more to support the economy. But when the federal funds rate is at zero, that’s, its, that has been its primary tool. Well, that’s, that’s. Stepped out. So then as a question of, well, what else could we do to help support the economy? And, and there, there were. Different possibilities. Uh, some European central banks looked at, you know, they actually did negative interest rates or tried to pull their policy rates, and that’s not what the US did. What was done was to do purchases of, uh, treasuries. Uh, there’s also been purchases of mortgage backed securities, and this is where the Fed is. I mean, and, and they’re creating reserves. So the fed, I guess, secretary, uh. Treasury doesn’t refer to it as magic money. Um, you know, they create reserves and then they’re going out and they’re buying tr so they’re pushing that liquidity, that demand into markets. And if you’re, if there’s a lot more demand for treasuries, well, the price of the treasuries will go up. The yield comes down. Interest rates go down. Yep. Interest rates go down. So they. They were, the Fed wanted to support the economy more. That was the tool that they used to do it. So when, when the Fed talks about quantitative easing, it’s not just the tool, the asset purchases, it’s also the intent, right? They wouldn’t do quantitative easing right now. ’cause if the Fed thought they really need to stimulate the economy more, they’ve still got like. More than three percentage points they could cut from the federal funds rate. Like if the issue were right now, we need to like get the economy going, they’re gonna like cut the funds rate and do it that way. They wouldn’t be pur like purchasing assets, purchasing treasuries to do that. But what what happened is between the global financial crisis, the Great recession, so all the asset purchases done then. There was some, some runoff of the balance sheet, but then again, in the pandemic there were a lot of asset purchases. Uh, the Fed has a really big balance sheet, and it has, uh, it, it kind of changes the way that the Fed can even just move around the federal funds rate. Like, I don’t wanna get too much into the, the technicals, but it’s, it’s just, you know, when the Fed says, well, we wanna lower the, the funds rate to 3.5%. In the old days, they could kind of do, you know, with the bank reserves and they could like, make these small purchases and it would, it would make that stick. Now with, there’s, uh, banks have a lot of reserves, so they’re not as responsive. And so just to kind of, there’s like the, the technical, the tools, the Fed has to just make it happen. In terms of operationally, it means that they have to do some purchases now and then they call their, I mean the new name they have for these are reserve management. Purchases. So it’s really about operations. It’s not about, but it does mean they’re purchasing assets. So if you’re just focused on like the Fed’s purchasing assets, they’re putting liquidity into the system. Yes, they are doing that, but it’s not with the intent to kind of push the economy to run harder. It’s just enough liquidity to keep. The federal funds rate stable at the level that they wanted to be at, to just make sure that all these operations are short in the very short term lending markets amongst banks, that it’s all kind of working as mm-hmm. As it should be. So it’s more about operations and it’s about stimulus policy. Right. A lot of our, um, a lot of our listeners are real estate owners, investors, and they’re, you know, they think about, um. Mortgage rates and that kind of thing. There was recently a, a pretty significant, well, I don’t know how significant it really was. I think it was about, was it maybe $250 billion worth of mortgage backed securities purchased by Fannie Mae. Um, that ca can you talk about the purpose of that and really the, you know, what kind of effect that would actually, we could actually expect from that. It’s certainly been, I mean it’s, it is clear. You know, we talked about one reason that the administration would want interest rates down. It’d be like financing the deficit. Right. Another reason that very much pulls into kind of the affordability debate is we want interest rates lower, one of them lower for consumers. Now the White House has put a lot of pressure on the Fed for them to lower rates even faster than they have. Has not played ball with that. But then the Fed has lowered its rates. The Feds rates are very short term rates, and the federal funds rate is like an overnight rate with between banks. Right. So it, and it has an effect on, you know. Credit card rates, short term rates, but it’s not one, it, it has an effect, but it’s really not like driving necessarily 30 year mortgage rates or you know, some of the longer term rates. There’s a lot of other factors that go into that, and so in this kind of, you know, push for lower mortgage rates. Pushing on the Fed is not the only lever to pull, right? The administration has other levers that they could potentially pull, um, in trying to influence mortgage rates. Now, there, I’d argue the administration’s tools here, like the, the $200 billion, Fannie and Freddie purchase that you mentioned. That really is about trying to reduce the spread. Between mortgages and treasuries. So in some ways it sounds similar, like, oh, fed and Franny, which are, you know, GSEs. So part, part of the, you know, government right now, at least they were privatized during the global financial crisis. You think, oh, they’re going out and purchasing this Sounds a lot like the Fed going out and purchasing. There are there, there’s some parallels, but we need to remember, Fannie and Freddie don’t create money. The Fed, when they start, when they start the process of their quantitative easing, they’re creating reserves like they’re actually creating liquidity and money supply. Fannie and Freddie have authorization to be able to make these purchases, but they’re not like the fed. They’re not creating reserves, but they can, so I don’t wanna think about them like bringing down the whole set of interest rates, but they can affect this spread between mortgages and say treasuries. Right? And so, because again, if you’re, if the. If the GSEs are going out, they’re purchasing mortgage backed securities, well that’s increasing demand for those, and that can push down the rates, that can like squeeze that spread. And, and while the announcement has been made, you know, I mean they’re, they’re in the early stages of putting that in place, but we even on the announcements, saw a response in financial markets and you’re seeing some movement down, uh, in mortgage rates now. It was. Pretty modest, right? And, and 200 billion while, you know, not nothing, uh, really pales in comparison to like the scale of say, the quantitative easing that the Fed did. Um, and there are probably other, but the, you know, the administration’s not done. It doesn’t necessarily have to be that Fannie and Freddie do more purchases. The the spread between mortgage rates and treasuries is pretty substantial. There’s other places where, you know, the fees that go into getting a mortgage are quite a bit larger than they were before the, the global financial crisis. So maybe they go in and try to chip away at the fees and, you know, so there’s, there’s different levers. And I fully expect, and I think we’re gonna get some announcements here again soon on the White Houses. Housing affordability agenda. So there may be other, other ways that they’re trying to, uh, influence, uh, the mortgage spreads. But that’s, that’s what that is all about. And it, it should have, and it looks like, you know, it’s having some effect in terms of bringing rates down, but it likely, it’d be modest, like in the 10 basis points, maybe 20 if they ramp up the program some. But like, it, you know, it’s, it, it, you know, every, every bit counts. But this is not a. Uh, this won’t be enough to, you know, move rates down, dramatic mortgage rates down dramatically, uh, when you, when you look at the economy. Um, and I, I, I think just, you know, one last question. I mean, I just in terms of, you know, the people listening to this are. They’re, they’re people, you know, with jobs and who are trying to invest their money, and they’re trying to, you know, build long-term wealth, but they’re, you know, everybody’s worried about what’s happening with the economy. What, what, what do you think, like, just as, um, um, you know, perspective for people to understand or try to have some framework for how to look at what’s going on in the economy. How they should judge it. Like what would you suggest, like just for mom and pop investors trying to, what is happening with the economy? I’m not an economist. What, what are the, what are the things that you think they should consider studying up on, looking into a little bit? One challenge for a lot of investors, I mean, frankly, it’s, it’s been a challenge that I try to deal with too. Uh, we’re, we’re in an environment where there’s just. There’s so much news coming out of DC uh, with the White House and policies and the Fed, and you know, I mean, like, there’s just, there’s a lot. The headlines are big. And like I talked about with the tariffs, we had like really big tariff announcements. The really scary numbers were, and then it like dialed back and then we pushed through it and it’s like, and it’s this remembering that, um. There’s always a tendency to have this idea that the, the president really runs the economy. I mean, that’s not just about this administration. That’s like a longstanding, you know, the president gets, uh, blame or credit for the economy when really, right. Like we have a over 33, $30 trillion economy, hundreds of millions of workers, tens of millions of businesses. Like this is not about one administration. And so we always need to be careful about. Putting too much weight on the policies coming out of dc. Uh, and you know, last year if you really just listened to all the, you know, we’re cutting immigration, we’re raising tariffs, we’re doing, you know, all, there’s a lot of uncertainty in Doge. Well then you might have missed, like, there’s a bunch of AI investment happening and we’ve got a lot of growth in the economy and while consumers are still pretty resilient, so you, it’s kind of like. Tuning down the volume, some coming out of Washington, especially the like every twist and turn. Uh, and then kind of focusing in on the fundamentals. I will say, you know, you don’t wanna turn down DC too far because we, we do have some like big picture events that could play out over many years. Right. So kind of keeping an eye on it, but for the long game. As opposed to reacting to every twist and turn, every policy announcement, because a lot of this clearly is more of a negotiation than it is like, we’re gonna actually do this. So, you know, as investors, you don’t wanna get whipped around by the latest headline, but you also can’t put your head in the sand. Like you gotta kind of try and find a way to pull the signal out of the noise. And it is really. It’s really hard. Yeah. Like this has been a challenging time and the, the US economy’s been doing things that are not typical. We talked about some of the things with the labor market and we are running some policy experiments that haven’t been run in a long time, so things could change pretty dramatically. But I think it’s just trying to absorb the information, not get too wound up about it, but like also keep an eye on like what’s good for long-term growth. Yeah. Because it’s good for long-term productivity. Thank you so much Dr. Sahm. It’s uh, it’s been a pleasure talking to you on, uh, wealth Formula Podcast today. Great. Thank you so much. You make a lot of money but are still worried about retirement. Maybe you didn’t start earning until your thirties. Now you’re trying to catch up. Meanwhile, you’ve got a mortgage, a private school to pay for, and you feel like you’re getting further and further behind. Now, good news, if you need to catch up on retirement, check out a program put out by some of the oldest and most prestigious life insurance companies in the world. It’s called Wealth Accelerator, and it can help you amplify your returns quickly, protect your money from creditors, and provide financial protection to your family if something happens to you. The concept. Here are used by some of the wealthiest families in the world, and there’s no reason why they can’t be used by you. Check it out for yourself by going to wealthformulabanking.com. Welcome back to the show everyone. Hope you enjoyed it. It was Claudia Sahm. She is, uh, she’s a very, very smart lady. And, uh, just a reminder, if you have not done so, uh, I, I don’t frequently ask to do, do this, but, uh, make sure you give the show. Five stars and a positive review because that’s how we’re getting, you know, really high quality people like Claudia on the show, I’ve been around for a long time. It helps that the show is, you know, like over a decade old and all that stuff too. But, uh, anything you can do to support would be very helpful. And also one more reminder, uh, if you have not done so and you weren’t a credit investor, make sure you sign up for that investor club. At Wealth formula.com. That’s it for me. This week on Wealth Formula Podcast. This is about Joffrey signing out. If you wanna learn more, you can now get free access to our in-depth personal finance course featuring industry leaders like Tom Wheelwright and Ken m. Visit wealthformularoadmap.com.

How well do you know primary stress? In today's lesson, we're doing a quiz to test your knowledge of just how much you know.  For more primary stress practice, check out these videos! How to Find the Primary Stress in Words https://hadarshemesh.com/magazine/how-to-find-the-primary-stress-in-words/ Everything you need to know about WORD STRESS in English https://youtu.be/QR50k5Kz63o  Keep practicing with my FREE Accent Crash Course: https://bit.ly/3BnPC0S

George Saunders is one of America's most celebrated writers. His worlds and characters often live in a reality just beyond or behind our own, and his latest novel “Vigil,” is no exception. The novel opens with an angel falling to earth with the task of comforting an unrepentant oil tycoon in his final hours alive. What spills forth from this zany setup is a comic novel about climate change, personal responsibility, and the kind of honesty that matters most. Guests: George Saunders, author, "Vigil"; MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow; his previous books include "Lincoln in the Bardo," "Tenth of December" and "Liberation Day; English professor, Syracuse University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From figuring out which bus to take to knowing when and how to signal the driver, we walk you through the reality of using urban buses in Mexico. We talk about routes, schedules (or the lack of them), payment methods—from cash to modern app-based systems like Mérida's Va y Ven—and the essential Spanish phrases you'll actually need on board. Along the way, we share etiquette tips, safety advice, and personal stories that will help you avoid common mistakes and turn public transportation into a fun, immersive travel experience instead of a stressful one.Key Takeaways:How to choose the right bus route and get reliable information when Google Maps isn't enoughWhat to say and do to make the bus stop, get off correctly, and pay without confusionPractical etiquette and cultural tips to ride buses in Mexico confidently and respectfullyRelevant Links And Additional Resources:Level up your Spanish with our Podcast MembershipGet the full transcript of each episode so you don't miss a wordListen to an extended breakdown section in English going over the most important words and phrasesTest your comprehension with a multiple choice quizSupport the show

What score would you get if you took the IELTS tomorrow? Get your estimated IELTS Band Score now with our free 2-minute quiz. Want to get a guaranteed score increase on your next IELTS Exam? Check out our 3 Keys IELTS Online course. Check out our other podcasts: All Ears English Podcast: We focus on Connection NOT Perfection when it comes to learning English. This podcast is perfect for listeners at the intermediate or advanced level. This is an award-winning podcast with more than 4 million monthly downloads. Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All US Families, please take the time to fill out the ProMMiS Survey. It takes 5 minutes. It's super important. Even if you haven't been there, we need your feedback. English: https://curesyngap1.org/SurveyProMMiS   Spanish: https://curesyngap1.org/encuestaProMMiS   Our funding priorities for 2026 are Genetics, Behaviors & Isoforms. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/graglia_syngap1-curesyngap1-grants-activity-7421952845693788160-EHeK    Pubmed 2026 is at 6! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=syngap1&filter=years.2026-2026&sort=date   Coolest paper on Pubmed… GC rich areas were missed, so not only do we need to push for testing, but also REtesting. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41577710/   Bravo to CURE SYNGAP1 Poland (please send me a shirt) & thank you to CAMP4 Event: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/curesyngap1_it-was-a-day-to-remembera-perfect-combination-activity-7422379922578587648-wNBP   Don't move to or from US/EU/LatAm etc.  This question keeps coming.  Please stay where you are and advocate like crazy.  Set up CURE SYNGAP1 [Your location]   Biorepository needs more samples.  Check out the list and map here https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IjaHILXj7AlBDlbTJgvYrkBS_0bnI8VCnTIiPXJ7JGM/edit?usp=sharing and contribute blood.  The data and research we do with these samples is invaluable.   Annual update to Champions of Hope! https://curesyngap1.org/champions-of-hope/    May 28, San Francisco, CA: cureSYNGAP1.org/SF26    SOCIAL MATTERS 4,661 LinkedIn.  https://www.linkedin.com/company/curesyngap1/  1,520 YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/@CureSYNGAP1    11.2k Twitter https://twitter.com/cureSYNGAP1  45k Insta https://www.instagram.com/curesyngap1/    $CAMP stock is at $3.83 on 27 Jan. ‘26 https://www.google.com/finance/beta/quote/CAMP:NASDAQ   Like and subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen.  https://curesyngap1.org/podcasts/syngap10/ Episode 197 of #Syngap10 #CureSYNGAP1 #Podcast

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/Exodus15:22–18:27 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

The purpose of Matan Torah is to bring holiness into everyday life, so that ordinary activities are not separate from serving Hashem. What is considered “hidden” or “revealed” Torah depends on the needs of the generation, and in our time the teachings of Chassidus must be openly learned. Our generation's main spiritual challenge is excess ego, and Chassidus is the remedy that breaks down that excess. Physical health and material success are not rewards for spirituality, but tools meant to give a person the strength to serve Hashem with joy. This class, taught by Rabbi Shais Taub, is based on Parshas Yisro in Likkutei Sichos Vol. 1.

Do you have people who challenge your thinking? Are you in the right room for your next level?In this episode of The Business Ownership Podcast I interviewed Liz Scully. Liz Scully spent 20 years working on big Hollywood films - she's won an Emmy and her work is multi-Oscar nominated.Now, she's a business strategist and a Mastermind coach and KNOWS business can be ridiculously fun as well as highly effective.She's Irish, nomadic and as confused as everyone else why she has an English accent.What if your growth depended on the right group? Check this out!Liz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizpscully/Liz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rethinkcentral/Rethink Central Website: https://www.rethinkcentral.com/Book a call with Michelle: https://go.appointmentcore.com/book/IcFD4cGJoin our Facebook group for business owners to get help or help other business owners!The Business Ownership Group - Secrets to Scaling: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessownershipsecretstoscalingLooking to scale your business? Get free gifts here to help you on your way: https://www.awarenessstrategies.com/ 

The conversation continues and we talk about being more confident as we get older, learning to be happier in the writer's room, Linda Lavin, bad table reads, dealing with notes, notes are not helpful, politics in shows, Ryan Murphy's genius, trying to make multi camera sitcoms in a world that may not want them, being high school friends, Sidney Pollack, David getting the writer's job, Jay was polished, Alan Zweibel, being 22 and wearing a sport coat, being a team who loves each other, shabbat, wives don't want to hear their husbands complain, shows that don't use the writing staff, getting on board a story, the big idea of a story, fighting for your money, paying the price for fighting, trying to avoid the fight and winning anyway, juries love them despite being fancy guys, Jeff Zuker's wife predicted Zuker's loss, bicycles, live performance, and how nice it is to hang with old friends.    Bio: David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are the creators and executive producers of "MidCentury Modern", and are perhaps best known for the 16-time Emmy Award-winning comedy series “Will & Grace,” which ended its 11-season run on NBC in April 2020. The trailblazing series is still praised for its significant social impact and groundbreaking representation of queer characters. High school friends Mutchnick and Kohan started their entertainment careers almost 25 years ago as writers for “Dream On”, “The Dennis Miller Show”, and “The Wonder Years”. Mutchnick graduated from Emerson College and currently serves on its Board of Trustees. Kohan is a proud alumnus of Wesleyan University, where he majored in English and philosophy. Mutchnick is married to entertainment lawyer Erik Hyman. They live in Beverly Hills with their twin daughters, Evan and Rose, named for the couple's maternal grandmothers. Kohan is also co-creator and producer of daughters Olivia and Nora. He currently lives in Los Angeles with Nora and his wife, Blair, a board member and motion picture agent at UTA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Tuesday evening liturgy during Epiphanytide for the Compline podcast from the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. For more about the Center for Worship and the Arts, as well as the resources we provide, visit us at https://www.samford.edu/worship-arts/.CREDITS:© 2021 Center for Worship and the Arts, Samford University.Engineered and produced by Wen Reagan for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University.SPOKEN WORD:Wen Reagan, Stacy Love, Tracy Hanrahan, Meagan Kennedy, Pierce Moffett, Eden Walker.MUSIC:“Compline #7 - Epiphany” by Wen Reagan, © 2020 Sursum Corda Music (BMI).“Glowing Gaze” by Emily Hanrahan, © 2020 Emily Hanrahan.“Star in the East” by Reginald Heber. English traditional tune arranged by William Walker in Southern Harmony (1820). Arrangement by Bruce Benedict, © 2009 Cardiphonia Music.TEXTS:The liturgical words for this podcast series include original phrasings, but were primarily curated and designed from several public domain sources, including “An Order for Compline” from the Anglican and Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and collects collected from Grace Cathedral and the University of Notre Dame.SOUNDS:The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA."Door, Front, Opening, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org."Door, Front, Closing, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org.“06 – Crackling Candle.wav” by 14GPanskaLetko_Dominik of Freesound.org.“Lights a Candle Light with a Match” by straget of Freesound.org.The following sound effects were used in this podcast series and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.“Soft Shoes Walking on a Dirt Road” by Nagwense of Freesound.org.“Match Being Lit.wav” by Jeanet_Henning of

What if there's one part of your job you're uniquely built for—and it checks all these boxes?   Others consistently see you as exceptional at it You genuinely enjoy it and want more time doing it It gives you energy, even on hard days You never feel "done" improving at it   If you know what this activity is, you've identified your unique ability, as defined by business coach Dan Sullivan. Unfortunately, most people spend their entire careers without ever pinpointing it—robbing both themselves and those around them of their natural strengths.   Many construction owners, project managers, and superintendents feel exhausted, frustrated, and stretched thin—not because they lack discipline or skill, but because they're spending the majority of their time working outside their unique ability.   In this episode, Bradley Hartmann breaks down a powerful leadership mental model using an unexpected case study—Michael Scott from The Office—to show how leaders can create more impact, energy, and results without trying to be good at everything.   By listening to this episode, you'll learn:   How to identify your unique ability—and why it matters more than fixing weaknesses Why burnout is often an energy problem, not a workload problem How great construction leaders design roles and teams around strengths to build loyalty, culture, and performance     Press play to discover how leveraging your unique ability can transform the way you lead, energize your team, and reclaim focus in your construction business.   At Bradley Hartmann & Company, we help construction teams improve sales, leadership,  and communication by reducing miscommunication, strengthening teamwork, and bridging language gaps between English and Spanish speakers. To learn more about our product offerings, visit bradleyhartmannandco.com.   The Construction Leadership Podcast dives into essential leadership topics in construction, including strategy, emotional intelligence, communication skills, confidence, innovation, and effective decision-making. You'll also gain insights into delegation, cultural intelligence, goal setting, team building, employee engagement, and how to overcome common culture problems—whether you're leading a crew or managing an entire organization.   Have topic ideas or guest recommendations? Contact us at info@bradleyhartmannandco.com.   New podcasts are dropped every Tuesday and Thursday.     This episode is brought to you by The Construction Spanish Toolbox —the most practical way for construction teams to learn jobsite-ready Spanish in just minutes a day over 6 months.      

02/01/26 Fr Daniel Shaba - 4th Sunday of Epiphany (English) by St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic Diocese

02/01/26 Fr Tristan Farida - 4th Sunday of Epiphany (English) by St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic Diocese

02/01/26 Fr Simon Esshaki - 4th Sunday of Epiphany (English) by St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic Diocese

02/01/26 Abbot Ankido Sipo - 4th Sunday of Epiphany (English) by St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic Diocese

Kelsi talks with English professor and Christian apologist, Louis Markos, about the importance of myth, storytelling, and imagination within Christian apologetics. Using C.S Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as guides, Dr. Markos argues Christianity is the truest myths and therefore Christ is the fulfillment of the pagan hope for a savior as seen in the great myths throughout time. The two also discuss the shift in apologetics in late modernity and Dr. Markos forthcoming book, My Apologetics Dinner Party. Show Notes: 1517's Faith and Reason ConferenceSupport 15171517 PodcastsThe 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts1517 on YouTube:Kelsi KlembaraFollow Kelsi on InstagramFollow Kelsi on TwitterKelsi's NewsletterSubscribe to the Show:Apple PodcastsSpotifyYoutube More from Lou: Preorder My Apologetics Dinner PartyAbout Louis Markos

The first Catholic Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate into English was the one known today as the Douay Rheims Bible. This episode covers a brief history of the Bible, English translations, and the Douay.

How does storytelling build authority - and where's the line between authenticity and vulnerability? On this episode of Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder, Dave Bookbinder is joined by Autumn Karen - filmmaker, journalist, ghostwriter, educator, and author of The Surrogate Author - for a deep dive into the power of narrative and the responsibility that comes with it. Autumn explains why “words are power,” how storytelling shapes credibility, and why leaders often misunderstand what it really means to be authentic. The conversation explores how personal and professional narratives are constructed, curated, and sometimes compromised in the pursuit of visibility and influence. Dave and Autumn unpack the craft and ethics of ghostwriting, including empathy-driven collaboration, capturing a client's voice through a method-acting approach, editorial decision-making, contracts, and what business owners should know before hiring a ghostwriter or committing to a book project. They also discuss the current and future role of AI in writing and creative work, mentorship and teaching lessons from the classroom, and why writing a book can bring clarity, confidence, and authority to leaders - when done the right way. Autumn shares insights from her deeply personal animated short Infinity Care, offering a candid look at balancing creative ambition with emotional labor, and explains what readers can expect from The Surrogate Author - a practical, textbook-style guide covering craft, business practices, and ethics for ghostwriters in the age of AI. Learn more about Autumn at autumnkaren.com, and connect with her on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok (@autumnkaren). Subscribe to Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, please share it with your network and leave a review - it helps more business owners and advisors discover the show. About Our Guest: Autumn Karen is a filmmaker, journalist, ghostwriter, and educator who uses writing to elevate traditionally unheard stories. She's English faculty and QEP Co-Director at High Point University and founder of Woven Lines Publishing and Medusa's Gaze Films. Her comprehensive guide to ghostwriting, The Surrogate Author: The Craft, Business, and Ethics of Ghostwriting in the Age of AI, was published by Kendall Hunt in 2025. Autumn's award winning work as a journalist, author, and screenwriter centers on themes such as systematic oppression, grief, and complex societal relationships.   About the Host: Dave Bookbinder is known as an expert in business valuation and he is the person that business owners and entrepreneurs reach out to when they need to know what their most important assets are worth. Known as a collaborative adviser, Dave has served thousands of client companies of all sizes and industries.    Dave is the author of two #1 best-selling books about the impact of human capital (PEOPLE!) on the valuation of a business enterprise called The NEW ROI: Return On Individuals & The NEW ROI: Going Behind The Numbers.    He's on a mission to change the conversation about how the accounting world recognizes the value of people's contributions to a business enterprise, and to quantify what every CEO on the planet claims: “Our people are this company's most valuable asset.” Dave's book, A Valuation Toolbox for Business Owners and Their Advisors: Things Every Business Owner Should Know, was recognized as a top new release in Business and Valuation and is designed to provide practical insights and tools to help understand what really drives business value, how to prepare for an exit, and just make better decisions. He's also the host of the highly rated Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder business podcast which is enjoyed in more than 100 countries.  

Join us for an intimate conversation with Dr. Keri Smotrich, Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Counselor, about the emotional challenges of fertility struggles, pregnancy loss, and the journey to parenthood. We dive into the identity crisis that often comes with infertility, what to expect from those first medical appointments, and how to be kind to yourself through the process. Dr. Smotrich shares practical advice on setting boundaries with friends and family, managing the emotional roller coaster of hope and disappointment, and finding safe people to talk to. Throughout it all, Dr. Smotrich reminds us that seeking help is actually a sign of strength.*Please note: we briefly discuss pregnancy loss and miscarriage.Resources Mentioned:* Postpartum Support International (PSI) - Offers support groups, virtual meetings, and peer mentor programs for fertility challenges, pregnancy loss, and perinatal mental health* Penn Fertility Care in Philadelphia and surrounding areasConnect with Dr. Smotrich:Licensed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 45+ states via SciPact for telehealth services. Visit her website for more information. https://keri-smotrichpsyd.clientsecure.me/Remember: Seeking support is a sign of strength, not weakness. You don't have to white knuckle through this journey alone.Thanks for reading A Mind of Her Own! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Find Dr. Reid on Instagram: @jenreidmd, LinkedIn, and YouTubeYou can also order Dr. Reid's book, Guilt Free! (If you are in the UK, you can order here and here.)Also check out Dr. Reid's regular contributions to Psychology Today: Think Like a ShrinkSeeking a mental health provider? Try Psychology TodayNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255Dial 988 for mental health crisis supportSAMHSA's National Helpline - 1-800-662-HELP (4357)-a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.Disclaimer:The views expressed on this podcast reflect those of the host and guests, and are not associated with any organization or academic site. Also, AI may have been used to create the transcript and notes, based only on the specific discussion of the host and guest and reviewed for accuracy.The information and other content provided on this podcast or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this website is for general information purposes only.If you or any other person has a medical concern, you should consult with your health care provider or seek other professional medical treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something that have read on this website, blog or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or emergency services (911) immediately. You can also access the National Suicide Help Line at 1-800-273-8255 or call 988 for mental health emergencies. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amindofherown.substack.com

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/Genesis35–36;Mark6;Job2;Romans6 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

In 2022, Jennette McCurdy shook the culture with I'm Glad My Mom Died, a brutally honest memoir that spent more than 80 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, sold more than 3 million copies, and is now being adapted as a series for Apple TV+. But more than anything, the book marked a turning point for McCurdy as she reclaimed writing—not acting—as her true creative home.   Now, she's pushing her passion even further with her debut novel, Half His Age. The book follows Waldo, a 17-year-old student who enters an affair with her married English teacher. It's an unsettling, razor-sharp examination of power, consent, female rage, class, and consumerism.   In this conversation, McCurdy unpacks her writing process (it's a full-body endeavor), the discomfort she's intentionally leaning into, and what it means to take full authorship—and creative control—of her career. For more of the latest business and innovation news, go to https://www.fastcompany.com/news To listen to the latest episodes of Creative Control on Fast Company:https://www.fastcompany.com/podcasts/creative-control

Rabbi Gordon studies one chapter a day from Maimonides' classic legal work of Mishneh Torah. The original Hebrew text is read and then translated and clearly explained in English.