Podcasts about southwest

As summer draws to a close across the northern hemisphere, water scarcity has never been a more pressing or visible issue after record heat waves and drought experienced by Americans and Europeans. With hot and unpredictable weather now a reality, and major rivers running dangerously low, WSJ climate and energy editor Ed Ballard discusses the economics of a water crisis, and what can be done to keep taps running, fields productive and industry humming. Subscribe to the WSJ Climate & Energy newsletter. Further Reading El Niño Is the Next Risk Hanging Over the Global Economy Heat Waves Are Becoming a Chronic Drag on the Economy The World Is Running Out of Clean Water. This Technology Promises to Fix It. San Diego Now Has So Much Water That It's Selling It Why the Middle East's Desalination Plants Are Critical Extreme Weather Is Hammering Europe's Summer Harvest, EU Says Europe Chastised Trump's Climate Rollback. Now It's Delaying Its Own Green Goals. How to Put Out Wildfires Fueled by World War II Ammo? Try Driverless Tanks. Water Crisis Deepens on the Colorado River Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Utah got its first-ever Michelin star, but is the honor a blessing or a curse? Host Ali Vallarta, City Cast Salt Lake contributor Kate Groetzinger, and executive producer Emily Means break down what Michelin recognition could mean for Salt Lake's food scene. Plus, Utah scored a $212 million settlement with Meta, and picks of the week. Resources and references: Utah scoops first-ever Michelin star as inaugural Southwest guide unveiled [Gastronomic SLC] Utah among U.S. states to secure settlement with Meta [Axios Salt Lake City] Become a member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It's the best way to support our work and help make sure we are around for years to come.  Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.  Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (801) 203-0137 Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:  Harmons WebRoot City Weekly Beer Fest Cozy Earth - use code COZYSALTLAKE for up to 20% off

HOUR 1 (08/26) - Gary & Shannon kick off the show with Shannon’s anniversary plans and a Southwest app headache before welcoming New Clay into the fold.Then they dig into Meta’s massive $17 billion social media addiction settlement, debate what Gary should tattoo on his “cute little chubby calves,” and turn to the Lindsay Clancy trial as the case appears poised to head to the jury.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Running over squirrels on the way to school. DeHuff gives advice to his neighbor.Dead fish with herpes are causing nuclear problems in South Africa.The Spanish town of Buñol held its annual La Tomatina food fight, with up to 165 tons of overripe tomatoes.A German councilmember (Julian Ferrat) known as the country's “craziest councilor” has proposed throwing sex parties at city hall as part of an effort to turn the burg into a “swingers' paradise.” - Connery's ears perked up on this one.Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams is locked in - on hotdogs.DeHuff is upset that a Las Vegas-bound couple got married mid-flight as a Southwest pilot officiated in front of 178 passengers.49ers owner Jed York got busted in a trailer park prostitution sting. So what's going to happen to him? We hear from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on the situation.

True Crime Tuesday Presents They Shall Not See The Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich's Most Wanted with Historian/Author Charles Lachman! MAY 1945. THE REICH IS IN RUINS. Hitler is dead. Yet for the US Army's Counter Intelligence Corps, the real war has just begun.They Shall Not See the Dawn is the true historical thriller by bestselling historian Charles Lachman that follows a unit of American agents, drawn from every walk of life, hunting Hitler's dangerous henchmen still at large. It was a race against time to capture World War II's most notorious Nazis before they could vanish or rally a new resistance. The CIC men were college students, linguists, an actor, young draftees, and refugees armed with guns, intellect, intuition, and sheer daring. Their quarry included Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the Gestapo chief; Julius Streicher, Hitler's “Jewbaiter”; Robert Ley, master of slave labor; and other war criminals desperate to escape justice. Against all odds, the CIC brought them down, ensuring their places in the dock at Nuremberg.Upon the eightieth anniversary of the Nuremberg hangings, They Shall Not See the Dawn resurrects America's “G-men in khakis,” the men who ensured that the architects of Nazi horror would never walk free.On today's TCT, Charles Lachman joins us to tell us who the Werewolves were and set the scene for the end of the European theater of WWII. And pick up immediately with the days shortly before Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun hunker down for good in the bunker.   We also talk about the CIC and their efforts to hunt down Nazis in those precious few weeks after Hitler has expired,  and the urgency felt to round up as many of Hitler's cabinet as possible before they can escape the country or have the opportunity to take the same way out that Hitler, Goebbels, and others already had! Pre-Order "They Shall Not See The Dawn..." here:  https://bit.ly/4gw5SgCLearn more about Charles Lachman here:  https://charleslachman.com/PLUS AN ALL-NEW DUMB CRIMES/STUPID CRIMINALS WITH JESSICA FREEBURG!Check out the video of Darth Vader in front of the San Diego City Council lobbying FOR Flock cameras here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ng7DAopFAwY&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sirdata.eu%2FGet the full story on the Southwest pilot who got naked and disorderly in the cockpit here: https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2026/08/18/southwest-pilot-reported-a-nked-captain-in-the-cockpit/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=fark&ICID=ref_farkJessica Freeburg is offering a new program on her website! STOP SHRINKING: A 30 Day Path to Calm Inner Authority is for everyone who finds themselves:- Overthinking- People-pleasing- Replaying Conversations for hours- Shrinking when you want to speak- Reacting when you wish you had stayed calm.THIS COURSE WAS CREATED FOR YOU! Find out more here:  https://www.jessicafreeburg.com/stop-shrinkingCheck out Jessica Freeburg's website and get tickets to her events here:  https://jessicafreeburg.com/upcoming-events/And check out Jess on TikTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@jessicafreeburgwritesThere are new and different (and really cool) items all the time in the Darkness Radio Online store at our website! Check out the Darkness Radio Store!   https://www.darknessradioshow.com/store/#crime #truecrime #truecrimepodcasts #truecrimetuesday #charleslachman #theyshallnotseethedawn #themanhuntforthethirdreichsmostwanted #murder #ww2 #nazis #thirdreich #jewishrace #adolphhitler #evabraun #hitlersuicidebunker #joesphgoebbels #heinrichhimmler #cyanide #suicide #selfunalivement  #axissally #lordhawhaw #dumbcrimesstupidcriminals #TimDennis #jessicafreeburg #paranormalauthor  #floridaman #drugcrimes #foodcrimes #stupidcrimes #funnycrimes #bhopalballsworthbucks #sexcrimes 

True Crime Tuesday Presents They Shall Not See The Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich's Most Wanted with Historian/Author Charles Lachman! MAY 1945. THE REICH IS IN RUINS. Hitler is dead. Yet for the US Army's Counter Intelligence Corps, the real war has just begun.They Shall Not See the Dawn is the true historical thriller by bestselling historian Charles Lachman that follows a unit of American agents, drawn from every walk of life, hunting Hitler's dangerous henchmen still at large. It was a race against time to capture World War II's most notorious Nazis before they could vanish or rally a new resistance. The CIC men were college students, linguists, an actor, young draftees, and refugees armed with guns, intellect, intuition, and sheer daring. Their quarry included Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the Gestapo chief; Julius Streicher, Hitler's “Jewbaiter”; Robert Ley, master of slave labor; and other war criminals desperate to escape justice. Against all odds, the CIC brought them down, ensuring their places in the dock at Nuremberg.Upon the eightieth anniversary of the Nuremberg hangings, They Shall Not See the Dawn resurrects America's “G-men in khakis,” the men who ensured that the architects of Nazi horror would never walk free.On today's TCT, Charles Lachman joins us to tell us who the Werewolves were and set the scene for the end of the European theater of WWII. And pick up immediately with the days shortly before Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun hunker down for good in the bunker.   We also talk about the CIC and their efforts to hunt down Nazis in those precious few weeks after Hitler has expired,  and the urgency felt to round up as many of Hitler's cabinet as possible before they can escape the country or have the opportunity to take the same way out that Hitler, Goebbels, and others already had! Pre-Order "They Shall Not See The Dawn..." here:  https://bit.ly/4gw5SgCLearn more about Charles Lachman here:  https://charleslachman.com/PLUS AN ALL-NEW DUMB CRIMES/STUPID CRIMINALS WITH JESSICA FREEBURG!Check out the video of Darth Vader in front of the San Diego City Council lobbying FOR Flock cameras here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ng7DAopFAwY&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sirdata.eu%2FGet the full story on the Southwest pilot who got naked and disorderly in the cockpit here: https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2026/08/18/southwest-pilot-reported-a-nked-captain-in-the-cockpit/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=fark&ICID=ref_farkJessica Freeburg is offering a new program on her website! STOP SHRINKING: A 30 Day Path to Calm Inner Authority is for everyone who finds themselves:- Overthinking- People-pleasing- Replaying Conversations for hours- Shrinking when you want to speak- Reacting when you wish you had stayed calm.THIS COURSE WAS CREATED FOR YOU! Find out more here:  https://www.jessicafreeburg.com/stop-shrinkingCheck out Jessica Freeburg's website and get tickets to her events here:  https://jessicafreeburg.com/upcoming-events/And check out Jess on TikTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@jessicafreeburgwritesThere are new and different (and really cool) items all the time in the Darkness Radio Online store at our website! Check out the Darkness Radio Store!   https://www.darknessradioshow.com/store/#crime #truecrime #truecrimepodcasts #truecrimetuesday #charleslachman #theyshallnotseethedawn #themanhuntforthethirdreichsmostwanted #murder #ww2 #nazis #thirdreich #jewishrace #adolphhitler #evabraun #hitlersuicidebunker #joesphgoebbels #heinrichhimmler #cyanide #suicide #selfunalivement  #axissally #lordhawhaw #dumbcrimesstupidcriminals #TimDennis #jessicafreeburg #paranormalauthor  #floridaman #drugcrimes #foodcrimes #stupidcrimes #funnycrimes #bhopalballsworthbucks #sexcrimes 

FBI Director Kash Patel met with tribal law enforcement partners in Albuquerque, New Mexico last week. The visit comes on the heels of the agency launching a new tool to raise public awareness over missing and murdered Indigenous cases. KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. It is called Voices Not Forgotten, a webpage featuring select, unsolved crimes across Indian Country where the FBI is seeking the public's help by offering $25,000 minimum rewards. That includes the high-profile homicides in Arizona of Maleeka “Mollie” Boone and Emily Pike. But as Deiandra Reid with the Albuquerque nonprofit Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women notes, this tool is not exhaustive. “You know, I looked at this website that they have, and I didn't see my sister on there.” Twenty-two years ago, Navajo teenager Tiffany Reid went missing while walking to high school in Shiprock, New Mexico. Decades prior, a 9-year-old Navajo girl disappeared from nearby Gallup, New Mexico. “Anthonette Cayedito is on there, and she's [been] missing for about 40 years, so I don't see what the difference is between her case and my sister's case. And a lot of times, our relatives fall through the cracks. The visibility is very important, but it's not the finish line.” The Pinyon Plain Mine, as seen from the air in November 2019, is owned and operated by Energy Fuels Inc., which has extensive Canadian roots: (Photo: Ryan Heinsius / KNAU) There has been a surge of mining companies looking to dig for minerals in the Southwest, including near tribal communities. KNAU's Chris Clements explains why so many of these companies are Canadian. It boils down to this: Canada has a unique tax system that allows mining companies that are exploring projects to pass their costs along to investors. John Steen, a professor at the University of British Columbia, says Canada is home to hundreds of those companies. “They’re hearing that the regulatory regime is, you know, maybe as not as tight as it was, and they’re seeing the U.S. as an attractive place for investment and exploration.” Steen says Canadian firms are responding to President Donald Trump's push to end reliance on China for critical minerals. Take Chakana Copper, which is using a subsidiary to explore mining copper on the Navajo Nation. Or Laramide Resources, which wants to mine uranium near the site of the largest release of radioactive mining material in U-S history. James Hopkins, an associate professor at the University of Arizona, says the reason for that is due in part to the rollback of mining regulations. And that's had consequences. “The growth in uranium mining in the United States is unprecedented. With the increased deregulation, you’re seeing these conflicts arising more and more with respect to tribal lands and tribal resources.” Hopkins says the flurry of mining projects, including some proposed by Canadian companies, is causing pushback from tribes who have long borne the environmental consequences of mining. Opponents of a proposed project to drill for uranium in the southern Black Hills listen to a meeting of the Board of Minerals and Environment at the Joe Foss Building in Pierre, South Dakota, Aug. 20, 2026. (Photo: Meghan O'Brien / South Dakota Searchlight) The South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment took actions affecting two proposed uranium projects in the Black Hills. South Dakota Searchlight's Meghan O'Brien has more. The Dewey-Burdock Project has been on hold for more than a decade. Project leaders want to mine for uranium near Edgemont in the southern Black Hills. Uranium is a metallic, radioactive element used as fuel in nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. Interest in uranium exploration and mining has risen recently. That is in response to nuclear energy's potential to supply electricity for data centers. The project needs federal, state, and local permitting. After being held up by legal challenges, it secured the remaining federal permits it needs and will start seeking state permits. The Board of Minerals and Environment approved a socioeconomic study, which will help the board understand the economic, environmental, and community impacts of the project. The board also continued discussions on a separate request to drill holes in search of uranium near Craven Canyon, in the same general area of the southern Black Hills. A new state law requires the board to have language interpretation services available at hearings for those who need it, such as Lakota speakers. Some of the project opponents are members of Lakota tribes. A lawsuit by a project opponent against the board alleges it violated due process because an interpreter was not available on the first day of a May permit hearing. The lawsuit is ongoing in federal court and the hearing is on hold. Opponents to the drilling project say it could endanger the canyon walls which are lined with ancient Native American petroglyphs. Others say Native American spiritual practices at the site could be disrupted and the drilling could endanger local water sources. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, August 24, 2026 — Native in the Spotlight: Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord

Organizations that provide help for low-income Wisconsin residents, as well as the state agencies that help fund the groups, could face audits from a state legislative committee.

Season 3, Episode 12 August 23, 2026 Low Riders Santa Fe, New Mexico More than just cars, lowriders are moving masterpieces of Mexican-American ingenuity and resilience that transformed custom automotive design into a powerful symbol of Chicano pride, cultural identity, and artistic rebellion on the streets of the Southwest. Flight Museum Washington Soar above the clouds at Seattle's Museum of Flight, the largest independent air and space museum in the world, where you can step inside the original 1909 Boeing "Red Barn" factory and stand among legendary aircraft that trace America's journey from pioneering wooden biplanes to the bleeding edge of global aerospace dominance. Square Books Oxford, MS Journey into the heart of Southern literature in Oxford, Mississippi, where the monumental legacy of Nobel laureate William Faulkner intersects with the legendary Square Books, celebrating an author who profoundly re-engineered the American novel and a legendary independent bookstore that keeps his fearless exploration of the nation's complex past vibrantly alive for modern generations. Pittock Mansion Portland, Oregon Perched high above the city, Portland's Pittock Mansion stands as a spectacular symbol of the American entrepreneurial spirit, showcasing how newspaper tycoon Henry Pittock and his philanthropic wife Georgiana helped transform a rugged frontier outpost into a modern industrial powerhouse.

More than just cars, lowriders are moving masterpieces of Mexican-American ingenuity and resilience that transformed custom automotive design into a powerful symbol of Chicano pride, cultural identity, and artistic rebellion on the streets of the Southwest.

Welcome to the Charismatic Leader Podcast. In this episode, Brett McDermott sits down with Ashley Stahl, former Pentagon speechwriter turned career coach, TEDx speaker, and founder of Wise Whisper. Ashley shares the exact framework she's used to help more than 100 people land talks on stages like TEDx and South by Southwest—and explains how one viral talk changed her life and business forever.Together, Brett and Ashley explore the art of writing and delivering a powerful presentation. Ashley breaks down why great talks don't start with a “message,” but with your most original thinking. She explains the two main types of talks—message talks and educational talks—and introduces her layer cake speechwriting framework: a captivating opening story, two to three signposted talking points, and a strong close with a call to action. Ashley also shares practical advice on memorization, rehearsal, stage presence, and why less is more with visual aids.This episode is packed with actionable insights for leaders, entrepreneurs, and aspiring speakers who want to craft talks that captivate audiences and have the potential to go viral.Key Takeaways:Why talks should start with original thinking, not just a messageThe difference between message talks and educational talksAshley's layer cake framework: powerful opening, signposted points, strong closeHow to use storytelling to captivate from the startWhy memorization builds confidence and stage presenceThe role of titles, timing, and world events in viralityWhy less is more with visual aids and slides

Photo: Voters at the Black Coal Senior Center say they are voting for tribal candidates and those that support tribal programs like public transportation. (Melodie Edwards / Wyoming Public Radio) Voters in Alaska were not the only ones heading to the polls this week. Primaries were also held Tuesday in Florida and Wyoming. In Wyoming, some voters on the Wind River Reservation told Wyoming Public Radio that transportation to polling places remains an issue. Voters also expressed a desire for more tribal candidates and greater representation of Native culture in schools. Statewide, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, won her party’s nomination for U.S. Senate. In Florida, state Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, scored an upset in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, defeating former national security official Alexander Vindman. Nixon will face Republican Senator Ashley Moody in November. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Florida, also won his party’s nomination for Florida governor. California voters also went to the polls Tuesday in a special congressional election. Dallas Cowboys rookie Shiyazh Pete. (Courtesy University of Kentucky Athletics) It is NFL preseason and the Arizona Cardinals will take on the Dallas Cowboys this Saturday in Glendale, Ariz. As KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, you might see a Navajo rookie take the field at State Farm Stadium. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is optimistic for this season. “I'm even more excited today than I was when we started camp, that our team is going to be one that, if we can have some things go right for us, avoid some injury. We could really be something.” Among those fighting to make the Cowboys' roster is undrafted free agent Shiyazh Pete, who is believed to be the first Navajo player to sign an NFL contract. “I was quite, quite a specimen. I mean, really, didn't really have no one to kind of relate to in terms of height. I've always been asked questions of, you know, how tall are you? How's the weather up there?” Originally from Montana, the 6-foot-8 300-pound offensive lineman went to Shiprock High School on the Navajo Nation. He then walked on at New Mexico State University before transferring to the University of Kentucky, eventually signing with the Cowboys this spring. “It's a great honor – to put on the star is again surreal. But again, I have to earn that star. I wouldn't say I'm an official Cowboy yet.” But Pete has that chance to prove he belongs on “America's Team”. Robert Nutlouis stands in a completed hogan in Navajo Nation. (Courtesy WGBH Educational Foundation) A new PBS documentary is highlighting Indigenous scientific knowledge developed and passed down over thousands of years. The NOVA special “Knowledge Keepers” explores how Native communities have used observation, experimentation, and relationships with the natural world to develop approaches to science. The film looks at practices ranging from ancient sea farming and celestial navigation in the Arctic to ways of adapting to the harsh climate of the desert Southwest. The documentary also examines efforts by Indigenous knowledge keepers to preserve those practices and how that knowledge could help address challenges today. “Knowledge Keepers” was produced in partnership with Vision Maker Media and directed by Fort Yuma Quechan filmmaker Daniel Golding. It premieres September 23 on PBS. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Friday, August 21, 2026 — Native Hawaiians keeping cultural connections to surfing

My guests on this episode are both appearing for the first time. The co-authors of a new book about the Hollywood filmmaker Jonathan Demme, Louis Black and Steve Fore. Jonathan Demme was one of the most accomplished American film directors of his era, yet despite the scope and variety of his work, he remains under appreciated. After apprenticing with the B-movie impresario and former podcast guest Roger Corman, from whom he learned to make films cheaply and quickly, Demme rapidly rose through the Hollywood ranks while retaining his restlessly curious instincts. He directed eighteen feature films and twelve documentaries and music films, as well as numerous shorter works. Among them are critical and cult favorites such as “Something Wild,” blockbusters including “The Silence of the Lambs,” and groundbreaking performance films, notably “Stop Making Sense” This book “The Cinema of Jonathan Demme: Champion of the Soul” offers an in-depth look at Demme's four decades of filmmaking, tracing the core elements that unite the disparate strands of his work. Louis Black and Steve Fore argue that Demme's films share a compassionate, emotionally generous perspective on humanity's flaws and foibles. No matter their scale, style, or subject matter, they show an affection for and fascination with people, as individuals and in communities. Ranging from low-budget productions to the pinnacle of Hollywood success, this book highlights the humanist sensibility, artistic ambitions, keen social criticism, and wry humor that are hallmarks of Demme's work. Lively and comprehensive, The Cinema of Jonathan Demme offers a new lens on a major director. About the Authors Louis Black was the longtime editor of the Austin Chronicle and a cofounder of South by Southwest. A film critic and historian, he has participated in the restoration and rerelease of classic Texas independent films, including Eagle Pennell's “The Whole Shootin' Match”. Steve Fore is retired from the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. He previously taught at the University of North Texas, Ohio University, and the University of Texas.

Southwest's Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson joins Brett Snyder to talk about the certification of the MAX 7, the airline's operational troubles, and yes, even Andrew's responsibilities themselves.Thank you to Points, a Plusgrade company and SkyGo for sponsoring this week's episode.

We share listener Lindsay's family road trip through Northern California, highlighting an itinerary that stretches from Redwood National Park to San Francisco almost entirely on points. Using a creative mix of United, Chase, American Express, Hyatt free night awards, Southwest points, and Companion Passes, Lindsay pieced together six nights of lodging while keeping costs remarkably low.Along the way, the family explored iconic stops including Fern Canyon, the towering redwood groves, Trees of Mystery, Sonoma, and San Francisco favorites like Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Alcatraz, Muir Woods, and Lombard Street. The episode also includes practical tips on planning this route, finding great local restaurants, preparing for Northern California's surprisingly cool summer weather, and maximizing points and free night certificates for an unforgettable family road trip.Find Us On Online:Sign Up for the Y! Wonder Travel NewsletterMary Ellen | JoFacebook GroupAffiliate Links:Relief Band - Use code WONDERLAND for 25% off!Comfrt.com 15% OFFRakuten- Mary Ellen (Get 5000 AMEX or Bilt POINTS)Rakuten- Joanna (Get 5000 AMEX or Bilt POINTS)CardpointersHalara (use code "Wonderland" for 10% off)Our Favorite Credit CardsWe may receive a small commission when you choose to use any of our links to purchase your products or apply for your cards

In this episode, we kick things off by examining a major cold chain infrastructure investment at one of the Atlantic seaboard's fastest-growing container gateways. Americold has opened a roughly eighty million dollar import-export hub at Port Saint John, stitching together DP World and CPKC into one seamless cold chain and eliminating the inefficient routing of Canadian-bound refrigerated freight through U.S. ports. This temperature-controlled facility, which provides twenty-two thousand pallet positions, is the only one in Eastern Canada directly connected to a port without drayage, arriving just as Port Saint John's container volumes surged one hundred seventy-five percent since 2021. Shifting gears to the rails, we examine how BNSF is aggressively capturing truck freight between two of the Southwest's fastest-growing metropolitan areas. The Class I railroad has expanded its intermodal rail service between Phoenix and North Texas to six days a week, completing the route in just over three days as domestic peak shipping season approaches. The enhanced service is explicitly designed to convert over-the-road truck freight to rail as shippers face tighter highway capacity and higher rates, while BNSF simultaneously builds out Logistics Park Phoenix, its second intermodal facility in the region. Finally, we explore a major routing shift that positions UPS to strengthen its Asia-Pacific freight network as the logistics giant grows aggressively in the region. The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved UPS's transfer of six Hong Kong flying rights to Clark Airport in the Philippines, where a hub expansion project is expected to be completed later this year. The move comes as UPS's Asia-to-Asia export volume surged thirteen point six percent year over year in the second quarter, enabled by recent investments including a major expansion project for its Hong Kong hub and terminal upgrades at Incheon airport in Seoul. Follow the FreightWaves NOW Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A series of questions have been sparked by the indigenous urgency of the moment: What does it mean to live through a world coming undone? How do people carry on amid rupture, loss, and grief? Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2026) explores these questions through the turbulent lives of Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers in China's Eastern Himalayas, bordering Myanmar and Tibet. Like many of China's Indigenous borderlands, this mountainous region has long borne the force of encroaching Chinese state power. Since the 1980s, the Chinese state has been compelling the Lisu to give up their subsistence lifeways, move into urban settlements, and send their children to government boarding schools. In exchange for the so-called gifts of development—healthcare, income, and education—they suffer environmental and social catastrophes such as mass landslides, strange new illnesses, and toxic food. Drawing on over a decade of engagement with the Lisu, Ting Hui Lau takes readers into the world of ex-shamans, heart-pained mothers, restless spirits, and demon-mad migrants as they grapple with the fallout from state development, which Lau argues is the latest phase in a centuries-long project of settler colonialism along China's Southwest frontier. At once a portrayal of loss and an ethnography of hope, Lau chronicles Lisu worldmaking amid this destruction, centering their quiet resistance through everyday acts of communal caretaking. In a time of escalating geopolitical and ecological crisis, this book calls for a new decolonial politics rooted in the transformative power of endurance. Ting Hui Lau (email address: lau.th@nus.edu.sg) is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. She studies sociocultural, psychological, and medical anthropology, development and environmental change, Indigeneity and colonialism, and the borderland areas of East and Southeast Asia. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A series of questions have been sparked by the indigenous urgency of the moment: What does it mean to live through a world coming undone? How do people carry on amid rupture, loss, and grief? Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2026) explores these questions through the turbulent lives of Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers in China's Eastern Himalayas, bordering Myanmar and Tibet. Like many of China's Indigenous borderlands, this mountainous region has long borne the force of encroaching Chinese state power. Since the 1980s, the Chinese state has been compelling the Lisu to give up their subsistence lifeways, move into urban settlements, and send their children to government boarding schools. In exchange for the so-called gifts of development—healthcare, income, and education—they suffer environmental and social catastrophes such as mass landslides, strange new illnesses, and toxic food. Drawing on over a decade of engagement with the Lisu, Ting Hui Lau takes readers into the world of ex-shamans, heart-pained mothers, restless spirits, and demon-mad migrants as they grapple with the fallout from state development, which Lau argues is the latest phase in a centuries-long project of settler colonialism along China's Southwest frontier. At once a portrayal of loss and an ethnography of hope, Lau chronicles Lisu worldmaking amid this destruction, centering their quiet resistance through everyday acts of communal caretaking. In a time of escalating geopolitical and ecological crisis, this book calls for a new decolonial politics rooted in the transformative power of endurance. Ting Hui Lau (email address: lau.th@nus.edu.sg) is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. She studies sociocultural, psychological, and medical anthropology, development and environmental change, Indigeneity and colonialism, and the borderland areas of East and Southeast Asia. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies

A series of questions have been sparked by the indigenous urgency of the moment: What does it mean to live through a world coming undone? How do people carry on amid rupture, loss, and grief? Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2026) explores these questions through the turbulent lives of Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers in China's Eastern Himalayas, bordering Myanmar and Tibet. Like many of China's Indigenous borderlands, this mountainous region has long borne the force of encroaching Chinese state power. Since the 1980s, the Chinese state has been compelling the Lisu to give up their subsistence lifeways, move into urban settlements, and send their children to government boarding schools. In exchange for the so-called gifts of development—healthcare, income, and education—they suffer environmental and social catastrophes such as mass landslides, strange new illnesses, and toxic food. Drawing on over a decade of engagement with the Lisu, Ting Hui Lau takes readers into the world of ex-shamans, heart-pained mothers, restless spirits, and demon-mad migrants as they grapple with the fallout from state development, which Lau argues is the latest phase in a centuries-long project of settler colonialism along China's Southwest frontier. At once a portrayal of loss and an ethnography of hope, Lau chronicles Lisu worldmaking amid this destruction, centering their quiet resistance through everyday acts of communal caretaking. In a time of escalating geopolitical and ecological crisis, this book calls for a new decolonial politics rooted in the transformative power of endurance. Ting Hui Lau (email address: lau.th@nus.edu.sg) is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. She studies sociocultural, psychological, and medical anthropology, development and environmental change, Indigeneity and colonialism, and the borderland areas of East and Southeast Asia. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/southeast-asian-studies

A series of questions have been sparked by the indigenous urgency of the moment: What does it mean to live through a world coming undone? How do people carry on amid rupture, loss, and grief? Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2026) explores these questions through the turbulent lives of Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers in China's Eastern Himalayas, bordering Myanmar and Tibet. Like many of China's Indigenous borderlands, this mountainous region has long borne the force of encroaching Chinese state power. Since the 1980s, the Chinese state has been compelling the Lisu to give up their subsistence lifeways, move into urban settlements, and send their children to government boarding schools. In exchange for the so-called gifts of development—healthcare, income, and education—they suffer environmental and social catastrophes such as mass landslides, strange new illnesses, and toxic food. Drawing on over a decade of engagement with the Lisu, Ting Hui Lau takes readers into the world of ex-shamans, heart-pained mothers, restless spirits, and demon-mad migrants as they grapple with the fallout from state development, which Lau argues is the latest phase in a centuries-long project of settler colonialism along China's Southwest frontier. At once a portrayal of loss and an ethnography of hope, Lau chronicles Lisu worldmaking amid this destruction, centering their quiet resistance through everyday acts of communal caretaking. In a time of escalating geopolitical and ecological crisis, this book calls for a new decolonial politics rooted in the transformative power of endurance. Ting Hui Lau (email address: lau.th@nus.edu.sg) is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. She studies sociocultural, psychological, and medical anthropology, development and environmental change, Indigeneity and colonialism, and the borderland areas of East and Southeast Asia. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

A series of questions have been sparked by the indigenous urgency of the moment: What does it mean to live through a world coming undone? How do people carry on amid rupture, loss, and grief? Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2026) explores these questions through the turbulent lives of Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers in China's Eastern Himalayas, bordering Myanmar and Tibet. Like many of China's Indigenous borderlands, this mountainous region has long borne the force of encroaching Chinese state power. Since the 1980s, the Chinese state has been compelling the Lisu to give up their subsistence lifeways, move into urban settlements, and send their children to government boarding schools. In exchange for the so-called gifts of development—healthcare, income, and education—they suffer environmental and social catastrophes such as mass landslides, strange new illnesses, and toxic food. Drawing on over a decade of engagement with the Lisu, Ting Hui Lau takes readers into the world of ex-shamans, heart-pained mothers, restless spirits, and demon-mad migrants as they grapple with the fallout from state development, which Lau argues is the latest phase in a centuries-long project of settler colonialism along China's Southwest frontier. At once a portrayal of loss and an ethnography of hope, Lau chronicles Lisu worldmaking amid this destruction, centering their quiet resistance through everyday acts of communal caretaking. In a time of escalating geopolitical and ecological crisis, this book calls for a new decolonial politics rooted in the transformative power of endurance. Ting Hui Lau (email address: lau.th@nus.edu.sg) is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. She studies sociocultural, psychological, and medical anthropology, development and environmental change, Indigeneity and colonialism, and the borderland areas of East and Southeast Asia. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine

A series of questions have been sparked by the indigenous urgency of the moment: What does it mean to live through a world coming undone? How do people carry on amid rupture, loss, and grief? Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2026) explores these questions through the turbulent lives of Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers in China's Eastern Himalayas, bordering Myanmar and Tibet. Like many of China's Indigenous borderlands, this mountainous region has long borne the force of encroaching Chinese state power. Since the 1980s, the Chinese state has been compelling the Lisu to give up their subsistence lifeways, move into urban settlements, and send their children to government boarding schools. In exchange for the so-called gifts of development—healthcare, income, and education—they suffer environmental and social catastrophes such as mass landslides, strange new illnesses, and toxic food. Drawing on over a decade of engagement with the Lisu, Ting Hui Lau takes readers into the world of ex-shamans, heart-pained mothers, restless spirits, and demon-mad migrants as they grapple with the fallout from state development, which Lau argues is the latest phase in a centuries-long project of settler colonialism along China's Southwest frontier. At once a portrayal of loss and an ethnography of hope, Lau chronicles Lisu worldmaking amid this destruction, centering their quiet resistance through everyday acts of communal caretaking. In a time of escalating geopolitical and ecological crisis, this book calls for a new decolonial politics rooted in the transformative power of endurance. Ting Hui Lau (email address: lau.th@nus.edu.sg) is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. She studies sociocultural, psychological, and medical anthropology, development and environmental change, Indigeneity and colonialism, and the borderland areas of East and Southeast Asia. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

A series of questions have been sparked by the indigenous urgency of the moment: What does it mean to live through a world coming undone? How do people carry on amid rupture, loss, and grief? Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism (Stanford University Press, 2026) explores these questions through the turbulent lives of Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers in China's Eastern Himalayas, bordering Myanmar and Tibet. Like many of China's Indigenous borderlands, this mountainous region has long borne the force of encroaching Chinese state power. Since the 1980s, the Chinese state has been compelling the Lisu to give up their subsistence lifeways, move into urban settlements, and send their children to government boarding schools. In exchange for the so-called gifts of development—healthcare, income, and education—they suffer environmental and social catastrophes such as mass landslides, strange new illnesses, and toxic food. Drawing on over a decade of engagement with the Lisu, Ting Hui Lau takes readers into the world of ex-shamans, heart-pained mothers, restless spirits, and demon-mad migrants as they grapple with the fallout from state development, which Lau argues is the latest phase in a centuries-long project of settler colonialism along China's Southwest frontier. At once a portrayal of loss and an ethnography of hope, Lau chronicles Lisu worldmaking amid this destruction, centering their quiet resistance through everyday acts of communal caretaking. In a time of escalating geopolitical and ecological crisis, this book calls for a new decolonial politics rooted in the transformative power of endurance. Ting Hui Lau (email address: lau.th@nus.edu.sg) is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. She studies sociocultural, psychological, and medical anthropology, development and environmental change, Indigeneity and colonialism, and the borderland areas of East and Southeast Asia. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

The Prime Minister's due to announce a package of support to help farmers in England cope with the drought. The measures will include putting an extra £50 million of Defra's budget towards this year's Sustainable Farming Incentive and offering up to £15 million for on-farm reservoirs, to enable farmers to store water in the winter which they can use in the summer. As well as drought and heat, livestock farmers are staving off an outbreak of bluetongue - it's a disease which affects cattle and sheep, but not humans. The South West is dealing with hundreds of cases, mostly in sheep in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. However there've been cases in Northern England and Wales as well, and for the first time ever, a couple of cases in Scotland.Brassica growers say the sector's in crisis. Farmers say crops like brocolli and cauliflower are dying in the fields because of the drought and extreme heat.The hot weather means demand for salad is up but when it's too hot, the crops don't like it - and nor do the pickers. We visit a grower in Lancashire where workers are picking by torch-light to avoid the heat.Vitamin B12 is essential for our diets, it's found in meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, but not in plants, or not until now, that is: scientists have developed a way of fortifying peashoots with B12 and hope to get them in supermarket salad bags in the next year or two. This summer marks the end of an era for the Thompson family and their berry farm at Blairgowrie, in Perthshire, one of Scotland's most important soft fruit growing areas. The Thompsons have decided to end commercial production because they say the business is no longer economically viable. Presenter = Caz Graham Producer = Rebecca Rooney

In this episode of Sasquatch Odyssey, Brian welcomes Carl from Maine, whose lifelong fascination with Bigfoot took a much darker turn after he moved from Hawaii to southwest Utah in 2017. Living near Dixie National Forest and becoming involved in local church leadership brought Carl into contact with people who had their own unsettling stories, including Bigfoot researcher Jack McCarty.Carl describes being shown unusual evidence from the area, including an enormous 24-inch track with an estimated 60-inch stride that appeared to cross a barbed-wire fence before abruptly ending in the middle of a snow-covered meadow. He also recalls seeing a massive handprint pressed into damp dust, complete with what appeared to be visible fingernails.Around the same time, he overheard local ranchers quietly discussing something killing calves during drought cycles and heard a trusted acquaintance from church describe a huge figure crossing Highway 18 near Dammeron.Then Carl had an encounter of his own. At dusk, he spotted two towering beings near the roadside with faces he describes as disturbingly human yet chimp-like. What stayed with him was not only what he saw, but the overwhelming fear that followed and an intrusive thought that seemed to enter his mind: “You're not supposed to see me.”That experience forced Carl to reconsider everything he believed about Sasquatch. Rather than viewing the phenomenon as simply an undiscovered flesh-and-blood animal, he began questioning whether something stranger—and possibly malevolent—might be involved.His conclusions also brought new meaning to an earlier encounter experienced by his brother at a Scout camp, an event Carl believes profoundly changed the course of his brother's life.Email BrianJoin Our FREE NewsletterGet Brian's Books Leave Us A VoicemailVisit Our WebsiteBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sasquatch-odyssey--4839697/support.Have you had a Bigfoot encounter, Sasquatch sighting, Dogman experience, or other cryptid or paranormal encounter? We'd love to hear your story. Email brian@paranormalworldproductions.com to be featured on a future episode of Sasquatch Odyssey.Sasquatch Odyssey is a leading Bigfoot and cryptid podcast exploring real encounters, field research, and scientific analysis of the Sasquatch phenomenon.Follow the show and turn on automatic downloads so you never miss an episode.

While doing research for his bike rally, John stumbled upon an age discriminant wet t-shirt contest that got him thinking, just how long does it take to elongate? With the technology of today, calcium cannons are holding up better than ever and we are surely thankful. Long gone are the days of grandma's over the shoulder boulder holders, but who on the crew has the fastest wrist in the Southwest?   Thanks for joining us for this week's #JCWPodcast #JCWArchive. Please don't forget to Like, Share, and most importantly, Subscribe--to make sure you get the latest John Clay Wolfe Show materials as soon as they're released! So keep an eye out for those come alongs...and we'll see you Saturday

In episode 501, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb dig into the parable of the watchful doorkeeper in Mark 13:32–37 — four tightly packed verses that Jesus uses to call his servants to alertness before his return. But this isn't a passage about spiritual caffeine and white-knuckling your way through the Christian life. Tony and Jesse unpack what "stay awake" actually means through the lens of Reformed theology: active, differentiated stewardship in the ordinary means of grace, faithful vocation in every sphere of life, and a corporate ecclesial readiness that belongs to the whole church, not just the individual. This episode reorients the familiar language of watchfulness away from anxiety and date-setting toward the sturdy, quiet confidence of a believer who knows who they are, whose house they serve in, and why that identity drives everything. Key Takeaways "Stay awake" is a command about identity, not performance. The doorkeeper doesn't do what he does to become the doorkeeper — he's already the doorkeeper. Christians are watchful because of who they already are in Christ, not to earn or secure that status. Vocation is not optional waiting — it's active, differentiated stewardship. Christ's ascension corresponds to the master's departure, and the interim period is characterized by each servant being given his own work, reflecting Calvin's doctrine of vocation and the Reformed insistence that the Christian life between the ascension and the Parousia is not passive. Watchfulness is corporate, not merely individual. The church, as the pillar and buttress of truth, is called to a collective readiness. In Presbyterian polity, every act of a valid church jurisdiction is an act of the whole church — meaning each member has a genuine stake in the faithfulness of the whole body. The ordinary means of grace are the means of watchfulness. Prayer, the Word, the sacraments, fellowship, and sitting under preaching are not supplementary to vigilance — they are the very instruments by which God preserves and prepares his people. Two errors must be avoided: speculative date-setting and practical indifference. Uncertainty about the hour of Christ's return is neither an invitation to calculate nor an excuse for carelessness. It is the very grounds for sustained, ordinary faithfulness. The warnings of Scripture are themselves a means of grace. Following Westminster Confession of Faith 17, the sobering warning of verse 36 is not a threat to the elect's final security but a pastoral instrument by which God preserves his people in living, active faith. The rooster-crowing language of Mark 13 anticipates the Passion narrative. The clustering of watchfulness, the night watches, and the crowing rooster in this chapter echoes the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter's denial — a connection particularly resonant given Mark's traditional association with Peter's testimony. Explanatory Paragraphs Vocation and the Active Interim One of the most theologically rich observations in this episode is the way Jesse frames the master's departure as corresponding directly to the ascension of Christ. The key phrase in verse 34 — "each one his task" — is not incidental detail. It reflects the Reformed doctrine of vocation at full strength: every believer, in every sphere of influence, has been given particular work to do on behalf of the Lord during Christ's bodily absence. This is not a passive waiting room existence. It is an active, differentiated stewardship that is deeply personal and yet accountable to the master who owns the whole house. The ascension does not mean abandonment, and the parable makes that clear by the fact that the servants are left in charge — trusted, commissioned, and expected to be about their work when the master returns. The Church's Corporate Readiness A standout contribution of this episode is Tony's move from the individual to the ecclesial. Drawing directly from OPC Book of Church Order, Chapter 3, he argues that church power is not vested in officers alone but in the whole body of believers. This means that when any legitimate church jurisdiction acts — whether in discipline, instruction, or governance — it is the whole church acting. The parable's doorkeeper is therefore not just a figure for personal piety; he is a figure for the corporate watchfulness that belongs to every member of the household. Tony's point is that a Christian who is disconnected from his local church, indifferent to what is being taught and decided elsewhere in the visible church, is not simply failing at individual holiness — he is failing to be awake in the fullest sense the parable intends. The Ordinary Means of Grace as Watchfulness Itself Perhaps the most pastorally stabilizing insight of the episode is Jesse's observation that watchfulness is not some extraordinary spiritual heroism layered on top of normal Christian life — it is normal Christian life. The ordinary means of grace are ordinary precisely because they are the regular, appointed instruments through which God delivers his grace to his people. Prayer, the Word, the sacraments, and fellowship are not preparatory disciplines that get you ready for the real work of being watchful. They are the work. Tony reinforces this by noting that a person who persistently refuses the ordinary means of grace is not simply being unwise — they are declining the offer of God's grace, which is a far more serious matter than mere spiritual lethargy. Memorable Quotes The doorkeeper doesn't do what he does to become the doorkeeper in this parable. He's already the doorkeeper, and the fact that he's the doorkeeper explains why he's given certain responsibilities and certain commands. That's the way it is for us as Christians. - Tony Arsenal The warnings of Scripture are themselves among the ordinary means by which God preserves His people... the sobering possibility of being found asleep functions pastorally not to threaten the loss of the elect, but to press home the seriousness of watchfulness as the fruit and evidence of genuine faith." - Jesse Schwamb When I go into a patient encounter at the hospital, or when I pull up to a red light, or when I order a sandwich at McDonald's and they get it wrong — I bring with me the fact that I am a Christian, the fact that I am a servant of Christ, that I am a doorkeeper in the house of the living God. - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript Jesse Schwamb: [00:01:00] Welcome to episode 501 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse.  Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony, and this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey, brother.  Jesse Schwamb: Hey, brother. Well, we've got some more kingdom teaching on tap right from the mouth of Jesus. We're going through all the parables, if you haven't been tracking with us so far, and we're finding ourselves in Mark chapter 13. And as J- only Jesus can do, packs four verses with all kinds of rich, robust theology, and it's all in this kind of strange setting, actually. A guy heads out of town. He hands his servants the keys. He tells the doorman, "Hey, watch the place," with the same kind of e- enigmatic and vague energy that I imagine, like, your cable internet provider gives you when they give you an arrival time between now and Friday. And then Jesus lists literally, like, every possible hour He might show up, evening, midnight, rooster clock, dawn. And all of this is for His glory and for our benefits. [00:02:00] And we're gonna somehow try to see if we can take all of these four verses, which are so jam-packed, and fit them into our conversation. That's our challenge, and it's gonna be yours to listen to. So welcome to this episode.  Affirm or Deny Segment Jesse Schwamb: But before we do all of that, it is everybody's favorite time. Well, except for Wicked Scriptures. That is really everybody's favorite time. Second favorite time is where we find something in our lives, Tony, that we either affirm with because it's awesome, it's exciting, want everybody to know about it, or conversely, we deny against something because it's just not that great. We don't like it. Don't waste your time with it. So everybody longs to know, in this conversation, are you affirming with or denying against?  Tony Affirms Psalm Music Tony Arsenal: I'm affirming something tonight. Uh, the listener might remember, I don't know, maybe a month and a half back, I affirmed a particular setting of Psalm 63 in the Trinity Psalter Hymnal. And as I was kind of, you know, looking around for, I wanted to find a track to sort of maybe add to the end of the episode just to sort of, [00:03:00] like, put a point on that. I stumbled on, um, a song, singer, I don't know if you'd call him a songwriter, 'cause he's mostly just writing song- psalms. But he's, he's arranging them. He's, you know, writing the guitar line for it or whatever. Uh, his name is Matthew David Montgomery. Uh, I don't know that you would know him from anywhere, but he's on, um- Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify, wherever. Uh, he does an arrangement of O God Show Mercy to Us, which is Psalm 63, uh, setting A, I believe, in the Trinity Psalter hymnal. But, um, it's, it's in other hymnals, other psalters, uh, under the same name with the same tune. Uh, he has a beautiful singing voice. He does a lot of, uh, what's typically called, like, finger style, uh, guitar picking, uh, which is just very melodious and very gentle and soft. Um, it would be a great addition to, like, your morning devotional time to just, like, pick a psalm that he sings, that he's, he's recorded. Um, you can get most of his stuff for free on, uh, YouTube, or again, if you have Apple [00:04:00] Music or Spotify, it's available there. Uh, again, his name is Matthew David Montgomery, and he's got several, uh, several albums. He has ones that specifically is psalms called Psalms for Singing. Um, and then he has a couple finger style hymn songs, uh, hymn albums that are like, you know, like I don't know, more modern hymns, He Will Hold Me Fast, Only Holy God- Right kinda like Getty, um, Getty-style and City Alight songs, those kinds of sort of that complex of modern hymnody. Um, but he's excellent, and it's excellent theologically rich sound music. Um, I haven't listened to everything, but he seems like he's in kind of that, uh, sort of vein of worship music production producer peoples, um, that are just putting out good, accessible music. I know, like, a lot of small churches, uh, have in the past have had to resort to using tracks like this actually to sort of lead their vocal music. Um, that would be something to think [00:05:00] about. It's simple. It's arranged in a straightforward fashion. Many times it's arranged according to the psalters, which are by, almost by definition are designed for congregational singing. So it's good. It's great. Use it for family worship, listen to in your car. I don't know, workout music. I don't know if you would work out to this, but I guess you could try. Um- I love it ... but yeah, I usually, I usually listen to, um, Oh God, Show Mercy To Us probably, like, once a day. I listen to it usually in the morning to kinda center my day and get my head in the right space. Um, but yeah, it's just good stuff. David, um, Mi- Matthew David Montgomery, uh, the specific one was Psalms for Singing, but, um, all of his stuff is really great.  Jesse Schwamb: All right.  Jesse Affirms Hymn Devotional Jesse Schwamb: People are gonna think we're totally conspiring now, but I promise we're not. This is just how our minds work in collective fashion, that we never speak about stuff together. So my affirmation is right in the same vein. So I'm actually excited about this one because it might just be the golden age of daily books about, like, theological meditation. It might be. And [00:06:00] so this one is really good, and I'm super stoked because I'm kind of on the cusp of this one because I got an advance copy of this book, and it's just out now. It's called Awake My Soul, and it's daily readings, 365 hymn texts taken throughout church history from the Middle Ages to 1900. And each hymn for the day includes s- a suggested tune and then, like, a short historical slash, like, theological meditation. The beauty of this- Wow One, I'm learning all kinds of new hymns that are not my favorite. Two, you can either read them or... There's no music included in this, except that in the back there's an index that will give you... There's, like, a little code every day. This is like a s- it's your own treasure hunt. There's a little code on each day, and if you take that code and go back to the end of the book, what you'll find there is names of popular hymns or songs that you do know the, the tune to, and then you can take that same tune and use the same poetic meter that the hymn is in that you don't know, and guess what? You can actually sing it. So you're prepared every day to sing [00:07:00] music and to sing brand-new music with great confidence and high conviction. So this is, like, the bridge here. Go listen to some good music. And I would say if you wanna buy this, because it is brand new, go to hymnworks.com. It's by P&R Publishing. That's where you'll find the best price. It's, like, 25 bucks. It's a beautiful clothbound, like, handsome two-color printing with a ribbon. And also Passion Week and Advent are clearly marked and can be adapted for use in any calendar year. So there you go. Like, it's the double-barreled affirmation for good singing, good hymns. By the way, for all the brothers and sisters of exclusive psalmody, we see you raising your hands in the back. Actually, if you're doing exclusive psalmody, you're in the front. So we see you in the front, and this- And you're  Tony Arsenal: probably not raising your hands.  Jesse Schwamb: You're definitely not raising your hand. We see your hands  Tony Arsenal: in your pockets. Jesse Schwamb: We see you standing there  Tony Arsenal: stoically.  Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. We see your hands in your pockets, never coming out. That's fine. Yeah. Uh, this book also is for you because so much of it is actually just, uh, the psalms adapted for kind of [00:08:00] more, when I say contemporary, between the Middle Ages and 1900 worship. So, uh, there you go. I think this is lovely. Uh, we didn't plan it, but you've got two great resources for daily living and daily singing.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Building Daily Liturgy Tony Arsenal: And, you know, I think, um, there is sort of an element, and I'll be quick about this, where we are set up... We have such a, like, a dearth of riches in terms of accessibility to musical worship. And y- you know, used to think of it as, like, daily devotions, but I think the more, I think the more accurate and I think a, a more theologically rich term is a daily liturgy. Right. Um, you know, with books like Be Thou My Vision, um, by I think it's David Gibson, or, you know, he has, like, the Christmas version and the, um, I think there's an Easter version of it where it really walks you through a, a full daily liturg- liturgy with, like, a call to worship and a, a confession of sin. And, [00:09:00] um, and you could take these resources, whether it's an album like David, uh, or, like, um, David Michael Montgomery. That's a country singer, I think. Whatever the guy is that I recommend. I don't have his name in front of me. Uh, whether it's an album like that or whether it's- Right ... this resource Jesse's talking about, or like I've said before, like, just the trendy Psalter Hymnal app on your phone which will play the music for you and display the words. You can take this and there... I, I hate to say it this way because I know there's a lot of people that, that make good profitable use of sort of like evangelical, I would call it, like, fluffy devo kinda stuff. Uh, which ironically on my list of affirmations of things that are in the queue, there's, there's a devotional resource that even kinda falls into this category. Yeah, there is. But, um, there really is no good excuse for not having some sort of robust daily worship pattern. Right. Um, because you can, you can really make use of these resources to create a pretty cohesive, well put-together, pleasurable kind of [00:10:00] daily worship set or liturgy or experience, I don't know, whatever word you wanna slot in there. Um, a- and really get... Like, really just have an excellent experience out of it, really have good resources. So yeah, I'm, I'm on board. I think it's great. I would love to, I would love to be able to, uh, to take a look at that. So maybe next time we're in the same geographical location you'll have to show me. Jesse Schwamb: Oh, I'll bring it. We'll, we'll do it. It actually doubles as a hymnal because it's all indexed, so you can actually- Yeah ... just use it as a hymnal. I love books that give you two purposes. Oh, that's a double threat book right there. And that means, like, for the spaces taken up in your life and on your shelf it can do more than one thing. That's like having a kitchen appliance that, like, I don't know, is like an air fryer and it brews beer. Like, that's worth- Yeah ... the space all the time  Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I, I just recently found out that they make washers that are also dryers, and they're in the same machine, and- Wow.  Jesse Schwamb: That's transformative ... I  Tony Arsenal: would feel like a millionaire if I had one of those- Reading Mark 13 Parable Jesse Schwamb: 'cause- Well, speaking of [00:11:00] feeling like a millionaire, and I think what you challenge us with is settling in some patterns of daily worship and living for God, it just so happens that Jesus has some instruction for us in that same way- Nice ... in Mark chapter 13. So let me start beginning in verse 32. And if you're tracking along or keeping score at home and you've gone to this chapter, what you're probably gonna find is we're actually in the, the parable of the fig tree, or just at the end. But w- we're not gonna touch that one, not yet, so don't get too excited. We're actually coming right at the end of that. So picking up in verse 32: "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Now, this is Jesus speaking: "See to it, keep on the alert, for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It's like a man away on a journey who, leaving his house and giving authority to his slaves, each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake – for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the [00:12:00] evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning – lest he come suddenly and find you sleeping. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake." Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  What Stay Awake Means Tony Arsenal: Yeah, it's a good, uh, it's a good parable. And, you know, this is covering a lot of the same ground as other parables that we've, uh, approached. I think what's a little bit, uh, unique or different about this one is that some of the, some of the cautions that we, um, brought out with the other parables, because they were actually longer and had more details, um, some of those cautions don't necessarily apply the same way here. Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: Right? We, we talked about the parable of the 10, of the 10 virgins, or the wise and foolish virgins, whatever you wanna call it, and we talked a lot about how this language of, like, stay awake seemed to be misapplied, uh, as, like, falling asleep is foolish. Because in that para- that particular parable, [00:13:00] um, both the wise and the foolish virgins fall asleep. It's not the falling asleep that was the problem, it was the being prepared, um, for the master's return. Uh, in that case, having the proper equipment, having your, you know, your lamps trimmed, your oil ready, all that stuff. In this parable, um, it really is about being awake. Like, being awake is the task. Yes. It's the specific command. That's right. And so our task tonight is to unpack a little bit about what it even means to be awake, what does this parable say to us about that. Um, but I, I think this one falls a little bit more in line with kind of what we maybe... I know this is weird to say. It falls a little bit more in line with what we've been talking about as a, sort of like a little bit of a legalistic approach to some of the parables. This one really does have, I th- I think, has more to do with, uh, the, the sort of production that Christians are expected to have.  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: The, the, the holiness, the good works we're expected to have, and how [00:14:00] that plays into kind of our alertness, our, our fittedness for service, uh, and, and maybe ultimately even the way that we're rewarded in the last, the last times or in, in heaven. All of that kinda plays in here, and this is kind of like Mark's equivalent to sort of like the eschatological parables that we talked about at, at the end of Matthew in, you know, Matthew 25 and, and sort of that area  Jesse Schwamb: I totally agree.  Vocation and Stewardship Jesse Schwamb: I think this bad boy, even just the first verse, it's like a compact statement of the doctrine of vocation and providence all wrapped into one. And it's easy to read it and just kind of fly by that stuff and say, "Of course, I need to be aware of what's going on. I need to be aware of God's presence or seek Him in worship." All that's true, but there's a lot in this because, of course, the master's departure here corresponds clearly to Christ's ascension. There's like a real bodily absence that nonetheless does not amount to like abandonment. And then to your point, what I think starts to differentiate us from some of like the [00:15:00] other parables where we've been very careful about parsing this, has been this assignment, each his own work. It's reflecting like a really traditional like Reformed, I think, emphasis, even from like Calvin's doctrine of vocation, that the Christian life between the ascension and the Parousia is not one of like passive waiting, but there is like an active differentiated stewardship, and it's every believer. And even though it's just a sentence, there's like a lot of particularity in this to remind us that each one has a task, and that task is something that you should undertake on behalf and for the Lord  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, and this, um, the other element of this, um, that I think is interesting is, you know, we don't wanna, um We wanna be careful not to try to build entire theological, like edifices, edifices. I'm not sure which word is right. Edifice. We don't wanna build huge theological structures on top of like slight variations in words. And, and I know that, um, that can [00:16:00] sometimes be very popular in our circles and, and I'm, I s- absolutely support the grammatical historical interpretive method. I don't think it's the only el- only, you know, hermeneutic we should think about. But I definitely agree with the words matter and the meanings of the words matter. Right. But we can also go too far in, like, making an entire theological point hang on the particular choice of a verb pars- like a verb tense or mood or whatever. But I think it's interesting, um, w- the sort of what we might call the parable proper starts in verse 34, but in verse 33 it says, "Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come." That's not the parable. That's Christ giving a command to his immediate audience, and then I think vicariously therefore for us. When we get into the parable and it, and it says, uh, that the command for the doorkeeper, right? So the, he, he takes his servants, he puts his servants in charge, and I s- I take that to mean, [00:17:00] like, he leaves the house to them. Like, he leaves them to their task. They're, they're not, they're not having to report to anybody. They just manage the household- Right ... autonomously or independently. Um, each with his work, so there's this idea that, like, each of the servant has their own proper sort of realm of the house that they manage, right? The gardener's managing the garden, the, the house, you know, the, the, um, the, the person who's in charge of the money is managing that. And the doorkeeper, which is a particular role, his task, his charge, his, he is commanded to stay awake. Now, the phrase, the word for stay awake in verse 30, uh, 34 is not the same word that's used in verse 33. Now, I, I have not done the word study on this or, or the c- commentary work to know how significant that is, but we do affirm that the Holy Spirit inspires each individual word.  Jesse Schwamb: That's right.  Tony Arsenal: And I think we could make an argument that sometimes a word is just used, um, at least on a, on a [00:18:00] human level. It, it's just you don't wanna use the same word multiple times. Like, just like anyone writing any sort of pi- piece of work, you don't use the same word repetitively. You vary the words. You use, use synonyms to, to spice it up and to give it some variety. But also, I think there may be some significance in the fact that within the story, within the parable, the command to stay awake is a particular word, and then a different word to stay awake and to be watchful, and there's this repetition, "Be on guard. Keep awake." Like, those are parallel statements. Um, those, that's a significant thing that that word is different  Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. It's a huge, I think, reminder that there's all... The- even, again, I can't believe how much is packed. Now that I think about this, we start talking about it into, like, a single sentence. But every believer, like every servant in this house, has been given some kind of task suited to his place. I believe that's what Jesus is trying to impress us with. And that idleness is not an option countenanced by the text because the doorkeeper's [00:19:00] particular charge to watch, like you were saying, functions to me, I think, almost like a synecdoche. Like, it's f- for the whole- Yeah ... household's duty. His vigilance stands for what is in fact required of every servant, since verse 37 will then extend this command to, like, everybody. So just- Yeah ... within, like, this little space of writing or this little space of teaching, I think what we have here is, like, it's realistic for us to say we've got the twin realities that ground really biblical ecclesiology in the interim period. We have Christ's real absence, but that's, like, against, I would say, any collapsing of the already into a fully realized eschatology. And then you have Christ's ongoing ownership and authority over his house, which is the church, against any notion that the church is left to autonomous self-governance. So the house, in other words, re- remains Christ's, and the servants remain accountable to him, not to themselves, like you've just said, and each one is accountable to God in a unique way according to the task that he's given them. So again, this beautiful marriage of [00:20:00] both the responsibility, the providence, and the responsibility that we have before God in being responsible to him, but also that he is governing all things for his good and for his glory.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Doorkeeper Role Explained Tony Arsenal: And you know, I think, um, the word doorkeeper here too, uh, you know, as I peek at the Greek a little bit, the word doorkeeper is also a much broader term than, uh, it might seem. You know, like I think, you know, one of my kid's favorite shows is like Curious George, and there's a character in the, the story that's literally named Doorman, and he's just the guy that like opens the door in the apartment that- Right ... Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat. But the word doorkeeper in, uh, in the Greek here, when applied to a, a female, is understood to be like the janitor. So the doorkeeper might even be considered something more like the master of the house. Like think of like, um-  Jesse Schwamb: Lady's ...  Tony Arsenal: uh, like the, the head butler, right? In like if you think of like Downton Abbey, right? Right. The, the guy who actually like takes care of and like [00:21:00] runs, the house manager or something like that might be a better way to look at it. And I think you're right that his charge to stay awake, to keep alert, it does extend to the entire household, but it also is a particular command for that figure.  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: Right? So yes, everybody is given their task. This, this person, this doorkeeper, he is, um, called out specifically, individually, right? It's not as though he's the only servant in the house. There's all these other servants, they each have their task, and they're all commanded to keep about their business. The doorkeeper, the master of the house, the, I don't know, head butler, the head ch- the chief janitor, I don't know what you would want, the head custodian of the house, um, and don't think of custodian or janitor in terms of like- Like the school janitor who like cleans the toilets and mops up after the kids throwing up and stuff. The, the janitor or the custodian of the house is really the person who kind of like runs the household, the sort of like head servant of the house. [00:22:00] His command to keep watchful, to be on guard or to be alert is because, um, the, the master's return is sudden and unexpected. Right. And so if the doorkeeper doesn't keep up with things, if he's not awake, if he's not running things, if he's not managing things, if he's not alert and awake, then not only does his task get, get, um, undone... And I think like we think of it like, "Oh yeah, be on guard." You sometimes hear this parable or, or variations of this parable taught as like you gotta keep the wolves out, like he's the guard at the door. Right. I don't think that's what this is getting at. It's really more like if this, if the doorkeeper s- falls asleep on the job, then the entire house falls into disarray, and you can't recover that when the master all of a sudden is at the gate. If you're just the guard, I guess you might be able to snap to attention and like, you know, pull your pole arm or whatever it is up. Like you might be able to snap to attention and kind of fake it. But if you're the guy who manages the entire household and the [00:23:00] whole household is in disarray because you've fallen asleep on the job, there's no recovering from that when the master taps you on the shoulder and says, "Please wake up, I'm home." You just can't recover from that. And so I think that's, that's the element of the story, the element of the parable that we probably need to think about a little bit more is, all right, w- no one of us is the doorkeeper of the church.  Jesse Schwamb: That's right.  Tony Arsenal: But also none of us are not the doorkeeper of the church. So like we all have a role and a responsibility in, in the church to sort of like be a part of, an active part of the church, an active part of God's kingdom, which is not, I'm not trying to say we're all gatekeepers, right? We're not all called to be r- to rule over the church. Like there's a particular office of ruling elder that I would say exists, uh, you know, that's codified in the OPC. But even within other kinds of s- setups, there's usually some sort of elder, you know, setup where there's elders that are not teaching elders. They're not there to like teach and minister and, and preach. They're there to [00:24:00] like govern the church and support the needs of the body spiritually. That's really, uh, you know, like a particular office, but that's also a task and a role that we all share as Christians is to, to sh- sort of, I almost said shepherd, but that doesn't feel right, but it also doesn't feel wrong. To sort of like manage the business of the congregation and the church- That's right ... and the, the invisible church as a whole. That's the task of every Christian, and that's really what this parable's getting at, I think.  Jesse Schwamb: I think so too. And I, I don't wanna, like, build too far a bridge away from that point. I think it's worth sitting there for a second because what occurs to me as you were saying that is I just happened to be reading Calvin's commentary this morning in 1 Corinthians 5, and he builds this whole theological argument around this idea that he, he basically is saying, "Why should the Corinthians mourn over one man's sin?" And he gives two reasons. First, as a consequence of the communion that exists among the members of the church, it's becoming that all should feel hurt at or so it's deadly if one of their members should fall. And the second is when such an erroneous sin is [00:25:00] perpetrated in a particular church, the perpetrator is an offender in such a manner that he pollutes the whole society. That is to say, I think it's kind of in line with what you're saying, that corruption in one place will affect the entire body. That is like falling asleep, pulling away from the mission Being found outside of the mission of God's, uh, for God's glory is something that hurts the church body. And we might ask, like if there is in our own lives a persistent sin, some kind of corruption, then we ought to ask, is there any form of corruption that we're contributing to the body of God? And I think those, these like real consequences of what it means to live in a way where we find ourselves, again, outside of what it means to worship whole heartedly, to worship with heart, soul, and mind, all of which we do imperfectly. Yet at the same time- Yeah ... are we being awake? Are we being made aware? Watchfulness and Rest Jesse Schwamb: I, I wonder if part of what's envisioned here and in view with Jesus' teaching is not just this idea... Almost like I think sometimes we, we say stay awake or we say be [00:26:00] watchful, and of course like I love that Jesus mentions like the four watches. Like that's, I think, like a distinctly kind of Roman division of the night into four three-hour segments. And of course it's gonna suggest to Mark's gentile audience that, and, and underscore this point, that it's not which watch, but that no watch may be presumed safe from the master's arrival. And so I think when we hear that stuff we think, "Well, this means like don't fall asleep." In other words, like there's going to be a test somewhere in your life or all of your life where you're going to be legitimately tempted to take a rest, and you can't take a rest. You gotta keep like just going thrust or no th- you, there's no other choice- Right ... but to give it your all. I think what's better here and what's in view is in all areas of life, are you awake to the reality that God has given you work to do in the spheres of influence that you have, in the particular place in which you live, among the church people whom He has given you to worship with? Are you aware that at all times you ought to be moving and working and for His glory, [00:27:00] even while you are literally sleeping in rest so that you might do those things for the next day? So I- Yeah ... I don't wanna get too hyped up on it's kind of like, again, what's the spiritual equivalent of always drinking Celsius and Red Bull and just like toughing it out- Yeah like with your eyes wide open. It's, it's way more than that.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, uh, this is gonna seem like a weird transition, but it's, it is but also isn't. Um, I, I saw an interesting video the other... I'm getting super nerdy here right now. But, um, I saw an interesting video on YouTube the other day that was talking about how strange it was that there is like a night shift on the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek Next Generation. But, but actually like- It, it demonstrated something to me that, like, even on a, you know, this is obviously a fictional television show, but, like, even on a spaceship where there is no sun, there is no actual reference- Right ... for what a day is, right? We think of a day, and, and rightfully so, it's locked into a 24-hour cycle because of the [00:28:00] way God has created the Earth to spin, and the sun, and the sunrise, sunset, et cetera. But in this fictionalized universe, in this fictionalized world, there's no sunset. There's no, uh, chronology, yet they still divide on, on this, they still divide the day into these three watches. And it's funny, 'cause they talk about how, like, well, there's, there's the day shift, there's the sort of like second shift, and there's the night shift. And they actually even, like, turn the lights down on the ship to simulate a day-night cycle. And, and what it got me thinking about, and I think in the parable, obviously, like, it's the four watches of the night. Um, I play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, and, like, when you're gonna do what's called a long rest, you have to determine who's gonna set a watch. If you don't set a proper watch, then the dungeon master may make it so monsters show up and you don't get your long rest. This idea that- Even resting is an appropriate and necessary execution of- Right ... the task to be watchful. That's right. Like, I think that's important. If you are, um, i- if you think of like, uh, Lord of the [00:29:00] Rings, right? And they set a watch. Uh, the responsibility of the people who aren't on watch is to make every, every use of that time to sleep so that if something happens, they're alert. And then when also when it's time for them to take watch, they're able to be watchful. And, uh, the other thing I wanna, wanna just comment really quickly on, because I, I, I didn't do a lot of prep for this episode. Big shocker. We don't prep a lot for these episodes. And this is another Markan parable that I'm not super familiar with.  Church Alertness and Power Tony Arsenal: But one of the things that as we're talking through it I'm, I'm becoming more convinced of, is this really is about not just any one individual being alert, although there is implications for us. It's really about the whole church being alert.  Jesse Schwamb: That's  Tony Arsenal: right. Like, the church is the, uh... I, I think it's in, I wanna say it's in Timothy, I don't know where, but the Church is the buttress and pillar of truth, right? So that's not to say we're the, we're the arbiter of truth, but I wanna read this. The... I don't know any other podcasts, although in our circles there [00:30:00] probably are other podcasts that you might hear someone reading out of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church book of Church Order, Form of Government, chapter three, verse, uh, passage one here. Uh, but this is, this is, as I said, uh, BCO chapter three, Form of Government. Uh, and this is, the chapter is titled The Nature and Exercise of Church Power. And when I was coming into the OPC, I don't think I was surprised, uh, in terms of like I thought the theology was different. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was articulated and how clearly it was articulated. So I'm just gonna read the whole section here. It says, "The power which Christ has committed to His Church is not vested in special officers alone, but in the whole body. All believers are endued with the Spirit & called of Christ to join in the worship, edification, and the witness of the Church which grows as the body of Christ, fitly framed and knit together through, uh, that which every joint supplies according to the working and due measure of each part." Sidebar commentary. The BCO doesn't [00:31:00] have proof text, but if they did, they would just be citing to Ephesians 5 here. Um, back to what the text says. "The power of believers in their general office includes the right to acknowledge and desire the exercise of the gifts and calling of the special officers. The regular exercise of oversight in a particular congregation is discharged by those who have been called to such work by the vote of the people." So just to summarize that, officers, at least in the OPC Um, ruling elders are nominated and voted into, into office and essentially, uh, given their powers, their official powers, their official responsibilities, not by the presbytery, uh, and not by some hierarchy, but by the congregation. They call from within.  Church Authority From Congregation Tony Arsenal: But that, that means that the power of the ruling elders, the, the authority of the ruling elders, is not derived from some hierarchy. It's derived from the [00:32:00] authority and the exercise of power of the whole church. And the other thing, I won't read this, but the other thing that I found, um, really interesting that I really like is in Presbyterianism, and, and I, I believe Presbyterianism is what the Bible teaches positively as a command. I know there are other church polities, and I know everybody is trying to figure it out, and we don't all agree. I think Presbyterianism is the right way.  Jurisdictions And Whole Church Acts Tony Arsenal: But either way, um Presbyterianism works on a s- sort of an idea of, uh, jurisdictions, right? And they're kinda concentric circles. They're not necessarily hierarchical, but it's, it's narrow jurisdictions and then broader jurisdictions. And the most narrow jurisdiction is the session of a local church over that congregation. But what's really interesting is that the, the Book of Church Order calls out that when any valid jurisdiction of the church is exercising its authority, it's not just that jurisdiction that's [00:33:00] acting. That's an act of the whole church, the entire Orthodox Presbyterian Church. So in a congregation where someone is in unrepentant sin and that, uh, session makes a decision, votes a decision to excommunicate that person, to remove them from the rolls, consider them to be an unbeliever, that's not just an act of that jurisdiction. I- i- as a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, when some church in Sacramento, California, I don't know if there's an OPC in Sacramento, I assume there probably is, but some church in Sacramento, California, the presbytery or the session excommunicates someone, I am e- I'm engaged in that act. That's an act of the whole church.  Watchfulness Beyond Personal Piety Tony Arsenal: And this, the, the only reason I go there and I bring, I kind of dive into that level of granularity is I actually think that this is kind of what this parable is teaching, is that as individuals, we need to be alert because the whole church acting is the whole church acting. So whether this takes the [00:34:00] form of me just being really un- un- like, locked into my local church and making sure that I'm active in my local church, or whether... And I think there are some of us who are called to this, um, and I think our, our podcast in some levels sort of takes this shape a little bit, are watching what other people in the church are doing and sometimes are offering corrections, right? It is not the case that an average blogger has ecclesiastical authority in the strictest sense, but when I see, or, or anyone who is sort of involved in online commentary, podcast, blogging or otherwise, I see someone in the church teaching something elsewhere and I call that out, that's me sort of fulfilling this command of Mark 13. I'm being watchful Because what that Christian says or does, if they're truly a Christian, actually does have something to do with what I believe. It actually does have something to do with me as a believer. That doesn't mean that you should get up in everybody else's business. That's not what I'm saying. Like, sometimes- Right ... the thing [00:35:00] that's going on in the church over there is just that thing that's going on over at the church there. But for example, there was a pretty high-profile, um, uh, ecclesiastical, I don't know if it was a trial, but like an ecclesiastical deposition, I guess, um, for a presbytery down in the Southwest, um, about some pretty gnarly things that were being said by an elder in the OPC church, and I wrote to that presbytery. They haven't sent it to me yet, but I wrote to that presbytery and said, "Hey, what you did at that meeting is an act of the whole church that I'm a part of. Can you send me the minutes?" And I have a right to do that, because I wanna see what's going on. I wanna understand what statements they're making on behalf of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of America. Or, I just combined like 1,000 different denominations- Yes, you did. ... into one sentence. But I, I think the point is clear, like the, the parable of the watchful doorkeeper or the porter is not about exclusively, I do think there's an element of it, but it's not about our individual piety. It's about the sort of readiness state of the entire church for [00:36:00] Christ's return, if you really boil it all down  Avoid Date Setting And Indifference Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, so we, I think before we leave verse 35, we, we are at least contractually obligated to say, though we've said it before, that there are two errors here that we should definitely seek to avoid. And because we're talking about, again, this idea that we do not know when the master of the house will come, that is the reason why we wait, and we are watchful, like you just said. But it means that the first is any kind of, like, speculative date setting, which is a fool's errand. We've talked about that at length. Yeah. The second one, again, I think we're contractually obligated to say, is a practical indifference, maybe sometimes dressed as, like, pious agnosticism, like treating the uncertainty of that hour as grounds for some kind of spiritual carelessness rather than heightened attentiveness. So I think where all this wraps up with what you said about one representing all, that, that is the church's responsibility. Yes, you're right. In Timothy we get the command that this is the center and the pillar. So I... That obviously all this coheres with just straight-up biblical [00:37:00] doctrine of assurance and perseverance, because the elect are kept by God's power through faith. So what that means is watchfulness is not some kind of, like, anxious uncertainty about final salvation, but instead it is, like, this disciplined fidelity in the means God has appointed. Ordinary Means Of Grace Jesse Schwamb: And what are those means? Like, I feel like this is where everybody just shouts back, "Ordinary means." You know what I mean? When I say means- ... you say ordinary. Means- Or I should, I should say it the other way around. Ordinary. But this idea that, like, what are those things God has put into our lives, has appointed for us to use, has commanded us to up- obtain for ourselves by his power? It's prayer, it's the word, it's the sacraments. It's a mutual watchfulness within that visible church like you were just describing, and it's precisely because the timing of Christ's return has been sovereignly withheld from creaturely knowledge. So there's actually a lot in this that I think assuages that, that really sensitive Christian conscience, which is like, "Well, are you telling me I have to do more?" That's not what we're saying at all. We're, we're saying, "Do the things which God has empowered you to do." And guess what? Those things [00:38:00] are just very chill, very ordinary things that take on extraordinary influence and power in our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit. So again, it's like this whole thing of saying, like, when we work, we work. When we pray, God works. It's the same kind of thing here. There is work to be done. There is a watchfulness to undertake in all the activities of our lives. But it is not like whatever the, again, the equivalent, like, is of, like, spiritual, I don't know, like shots of espresso and, and Celsius to just try to, like, by all accounts, by your own power, somehow just not sleep. Uh- Yeah ... not sleeping is not what this text is about. It's actually about being aware, worshiping in awareness around all the things, and then devoting ourselves to all the stuff that we keep talking about, to praying, to studies in the scripture, to having family devotions and time of worship, to baptism, and to the Lord's Supper. That's what watchfulness is all about.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:39:00] Yeah, and I, I think, um, you know, this is again I do think this parable has more to do with the idea of kinda getting after it. I, I think that's how we usually talk about it, like getting after holiness. Yeah, it is. Um, I, I think this parable has more to do with that than some of the other parables with similar language that we've talked about. But I, I also think, um, as Reformed Christians, uh, we get the, we get the cart before the horse if we think that even though that's what it's about, that that somehow places the onus on us to do the good works, right? Right. The good works are prepared for us in advance that we might walk in them. And, uh, i- it's not even right to say, like, our responsibility is to walk in them. That's not even quite right theologically. Like, we are going to walk in them. Like, that's, that's the thing, is the doorkeeper is given this charge. He's commanded to stay awake, and in good Augustinian fashion, it's really more along the [00:40:00] lines es- of the doorkeeper is made to stay awake because he's been commanded to. Jesse Schwamb: Yes, that's right.  Tony Arsenal: And I think that's, that's really key.  Fruit Checking And Assurance Tony Arsenal: And yes, there is some- something to say for, uh, fruit checking. And I, I know that there are probably some in our audience that just, like, threw up in their mouth a little bit when I said that. Um, but the, the reality is, a lack of fruit, uh, i- in our life, and by fruit I'm talking about good works. Primarily I'm talking about the ordinary means of grace, like you said. A, a person who is refusing to avail themselves of the ordinary means of grace, right? Right on. Regular church attendance, prayer- Right ... the sacraments, Bible reading, um, sitting under the preaching of the Word, fellowship with other believers. Um, I would even say to some extent regular s- regular financial support of the Church. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and I... There, there are times where that may not be, uh, the most feasible thing, and so that's a decision between you and the Holy Spirit and for you to discuss with your pastor. [00:41:00] But, but the reality is God has given us these ordinary means of grace as a gift and as a way to nourish and support us. When we refuse to take part in those, and I use the word refuse intentionally, when a person refuses to attend church, for the most part most of us who have had a season where we don't, don't attend church, and I, I had a long season when I was in college where I just didn't attend church. There was no good reason for it. I just didn't do it. And if I'm being really honest, it was 'cause at that time in my life I had some sinful patterns that I didn't wanna face up to, right? That's usually what it boils down to.  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: Um, but for those of us who d- who refuse to, uh, take part and to avail ourselves of the ordinary means of grace, that should really cause us to question our salvation. Not because the ordinary means of grace cause our salvation, but because the ordinary means of grace are exactly as they're called. Exactly. They're the ordinary means by which God delivers His grace to us. So if we're refusing to receive God's grace, it means we're refusing to receive God's grace. And the only people ultimately who are not forgiven are [00:42:00] those who receive to ref- you know, refuse to receive God's grace. So I think this, this passage has more to do with us in an indi- sort of on the individual level, us being actively engaged and partaking in the, uh, the administration of the covenant of grace, to use a more technical term, right? The administration of the covenant of the grace are the visible means of grace. If we refuse to be baptized, if we refuse to partake of the Lord's supper, if we refuse to attend church and to sit under the preaching of the word and to pray, then we are, we are turning down God's offer of grace. That's right. We're taking the gift that He desires to give us, and we're saying, "No thank you." Well, when we phrase it that way, it's a flat rejection of God's grace that we're engaged in.  Church Mission And Readiness Tony Arsenal: But on a, on a sort of like big picture scale I think it has to do also along with these lines that I'm talking about of the Church itself being ready. Well, how does the Church prepare itself for Christ's [00:43:00] return? Again, the ordinary means of grace, right? We prepare ourselves by teaching and ministering, right? C- I think it's Colossians 1:28. If I was on Reformed Forum, I'd have this memorized 'cause it's their, like, theme verse. But, like, equipping every person for the ministry of Christ, equipping every person, making sure every person is, uh, mature and ready. Like, all of those things come together as the primary mission of the Church. And I know this is gonna trigger some people, but, like, evangelism is not the primary mission of the Church. The primary mission of the Church is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, which takes place mostly on the Lord's day. I think all of that, the personal dimension, the corporate dimension, all of that coalesces in this command to be watchful, to stay awake, to be on guard, to s- be about the task, to be in charge of the commands you've been given. All of those different concepts come together in what Christ is talking about here in verse 37 when He says, "I say to you, I say to all, [00:44:00] stay awake." Like- Right ... that's what we're talking about. So it's not as simple as personal piety. It's probably not as complicated as some sort of, like, I don't know, least of these, feed-the-poor schema that happens sometimes. All of that happens. It really is just about the Church being the Church and doing the things the Church does, both on the individual level, but also on the corporate level. Perseverance And Scriptural Warnings Jesse Schwamb: And that's why, as loved ones of God, then we can come to verse 36, which is the full warning, and we actually read it as a great comfort. So it says, "Lest he come suddenly and find you asleep." And after all we're talking about here, the way I read this warning against complacency is entirely consistent with, instead of being contradictory to, the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. Because perseverance is not fatalism, and I'm just... I'm still learning this, loved ones. Like, and even here, what I marvel at is the warnings of scripture are themselves among the ordinary means by which God preserves His people. So I go back to the Westminster [00:45:00] Confession of Faith chapter 17, which notes that, "Believers may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, fall into grievous sins, and so incur God's displeasure, even while never finally falling from grace." So that sobering possibility of, of quote-unquote being found asleep I think functions pastorally not to threaten the loss of the election, of the elect, but to press home I think, like, the seriousness of watchfulness as the fruit and evidence of genuine faith, which is what you're talking about. That, that's kind of like the Reformed theological jam in a sense, and that's why, where I think we'd anchor like James 2, Hebrews 3 and 4. There is, like, a call of the necessity of perseverance in the means as the mark of the true as opposed to be merely, of course, like some kind of profession of discipleship. The visible church, and we talked about this too, mixed as it is, is here warned that the formal membership in the household is no substitute for actual wakefulness. And so I hope we see that warning as not something [00:46:00] that's like, "Well, you gotta, you gotta check yourself every day 'cause if you just step out of line once, if you fall asleep at any little thing, then it just goes to show you that you weren't serious enough." Instead, it's like you said, Tony, like even the warning itself is proof positive that God will save, that He arrests, that He holds everything firm and secure, and that even the setting of the table or the preparing of the good works and then the way in which you walk in them, we might ask, how is it that you are even walking? Yeah. And so even this is all an act of God, whether we speak about that, uh, that justification, that initial positional sanctification, and even the progressive frame as well is all f- happens here because God is in fact doing that good work. So it's a good warning because it reminds us that what's, I think, the particular and special dispensation of the Christian is that in this falling asleep, as the Westminster Confession says, it may mean that we fall even into grievous sins. We're incurring God's displeasure. We're not disrupting our [00:47:00] identity in Christ, but we are disrupting our harmony with Christ. Yes. And so we always want to seek and to live in that kind of beautiful harmony where there is, I think, obedience for a word. There is a special fellowship that comes from being close to God in this way. We should always strive after that and want that very thing, but at no point does the Christian who even falls into grievous sins, as the Confession reminds us, fall outside of God's mercy and grace. Merely we fall outside of God's pleasure, and we r- we're finally returned to grace by His power in our lives, whi- which He Himself affects so that even in our fall, even in our death every day, there is a little bit of resurrection that restores us. Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Rapture Ready Misreadings Tony Arsenal: Yeah, another way, um, another way to put this, um, and I, I don't mean to trugger, trig- to trigger, uh, our dispensationalist friends and family who are listening to the show, um, there are I will speak from my own experience coming out of a dispensationalist framework when I was in [00:48:00] high school and early college. Um, there was a lot of focus on being, quote, "Rapture ready." And I, I think sometimes we can read parables like this to think that stay awake means be Rapture ready. And what that means is, like, in some forms of dispensationalism, and I think probably many forms of dispensationalism, there's this idea that, like, if you're not right with God in, in this sense you're talking about, if, like, you're in disharmony with God when the Rapture comes, you may ultimately be saved, but you're not gonna be saved by the Rapture, which means you're gonna have to deal with the tribulation, and that's no good. So, like, if your piety's not on point when the Rapture happens, all your friends are gonna be taken away, and you're gonna be left behind, right? I don't think it's too much of a characteristic- a caricature to talk about Left Behind when there's an entire dispensational book series about this, right? Right. The whole concept behind the Left Behind novel is that it's populated by people who thought they were Christians who weren't. Uh, and some of [00:49:00] those are because they had a false profession of faith. Some of them were just back- what, what a lot of people would just call backslidden Baptists or backslidden Christians who, who had a genuine profession of faith but just weren't living in a holy fashion. I think we can sometimes read this, whether we're dispensationalists or not, we can read these kinds of parables in light of Rapture readiness. I think it's, it's both more assuring and also infinitely more severe than that. Right. It's not about Rapture ready. It's about whether you're saved or not. Right. Whether you are in the kingdom of God, whether you are among the household of believers. All of the people in view in this parable are members of the master's household, right? Uh, they're all his servants. So it's not as though there are some who are, um, outside of his family that are be given, being given a command to be watchful. There's also no consequence implied for the doorkeeper if somehow he's not watchful. It's more along the lines of if you're in the faith, if you are the doorkeeper or a [00:50:00] doorkeeper in the g- in the king's house, then you ought to be watchful because that's what you do. And so there's no, like, implied consequence. There's no assumption that the doorkeeper somehow won't be watchful. So I think if there's any sort of, like, gut check, status check that needs to happen, it's really more along the lines of are we in the Lord's household or are we not? That's right. That's right. And I think that's, that's what you're getting at. If we're in the Lord's household, if we're members of his house, if we're servants in his kingdom, then we will be awake when the time comes. We will be awake when he returns.  Rooster Crow And Passion Echoes Tony Arsenal: And the other thing, and I'll just throw this out there maybe as a tease. I don't, I don't think there's enough here for us to come back to it next week, uh, although I've been wrong before, and sometimes Jesse and I have conversations right after that turn into the next episode. I think it's really interesting- I don't know if you ran into this when you were reading it, but- Yeah ... verse 35: "Therefore stay awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at [00:51:00] midnight or when the rooster crows," that's a very interesting phrase to me- It is, yeah ... "or in the morning." It's just another chapter or two when- Yeah ... we see the disciples fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? Gethsemane. Um, the disciples fall asleep. We see language of the watches, right? The, the hours that Christ is alive and dies on the cross are associated with the watches. Right. And then of course the rooster crowing. And it's a very well-known, um, uh, I, I don't wanna call it a fact 'cause that might be too strong, but it's a pretty accepted, uh, theory in, in the sort of, uh, academic understanding of the, the authors of the Gospels that Mark, uh, Mark actually represents Peter's testimony. That the sort of a- apostolic imprimatur of the Gospel of Mark is actually that M- John Mark, probably while he was ministering with Peter, was being told these, this account, and he's collecting Peter's, Peter's [00:52:00] statements on the events of the Gospel It is very interesting to me that this phrase about the rooster crowing associated with being watchful and ready in the service of the master- Yep would appear particularly in the gospel that's asso- associated with Peter. Right. And I'll throw that out there just as maybe food for a discussion- ... in our Telegram chat, but I do think e- even that is sort of for our benefit, right? Right. We're not talking about, uh, this isn't a parable about what happens when you betray Jesus and hang yourself with a rope, right? This isn't, this isn't Judas who never was a believer. If we're drawing this peril- parallel, this is a parable about Peter, or related to Peter's experience, uh, who was restored, who ultimately had a moment of sleepiness, I guess, both physically and, you know, spiritually here. Had a moment of, of sleepiness, but ultimately was awake when the master came. That's right. And I think, like, there's something there for us to tease out, and, and again, [00:53:00] maybe we'll leave that for the Telegram chat. Maybe that's just for your own personal study. I've done zero commentary work, so maybe this is a connection that I feel- ... is super novel, but actually everyone else makes. Um, but I just thought it was really interesting how closely that language, that sequence of the watchfulness, the watch, sleepiness, awakefulness, and the rooster crows, how closely that lines up to the events that w- would be if we were going through Mark sequentially- Yep ... we would be encountering in just a couple chapters, right? In just chapter 15. They're coming up. Um, we're talking about this exact thing. So it's very interesting to me, is it... The Holy Spirit is amazing in how He has put together this. Yes. Even if, even if that is a super tenuous connection, it's still a connection. And- Agreed ... I have a tough time thinking anyone who's familiar with the, the passion accounts would read this and not go, "Woo." That's a lot of language from the passion account. It's a lot of- Yes ... language related to what happened in just a few chapters.  Jesse Schwamb: Yes. I'm with you. Like we said, there's so much that's within these couple of verses, and you'd have to think if you were reading this with brand-new eyes, [00:54:00] with eyes that never seen this text before, and you were just going straight through, you'd come in just a few short chapters to that whole narrative in Gethsemane and be like, "What? Did he, didn't he just, didn't this guy Jesus just say to them- Like be watchful, stay awake. And here they're... Isn't that ironic? Here they are in the garden, and he said- Yeah ... to them again, "Stay awake." They fall asleep. He comes back, he's like, "Could you not watch for one

The California-based organization has granted $350,000 to ten organizations in the Southwest to support them with legal defense, community protection, and rapid response.

Human trafficking is plaguing our nation. Stacie Sheridan tells us about a foundation she heads, shares some crucial information and tells us how you can help.  

Here are the latest news updates this week in the Philippines. - Narito na ang mga pinakabagong balita ngayong linggo sa Pilipinas.

On today's show, Live The Dream Media co-founder Clint Peek joins me for a conversation about Faith and Family. Join us as we come together to tackle some issues in every community throughout America, in a fun and lively conversation.

The Secret Service secretly moved President Trump onto an alternate plane after officials deemed an Iranian threat credible. The Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe breaks down what happenedFormer Marine Robert Gilman returned home after four years in a Russian prison, following a U.S. appeal and a pardon from Vladimir Putin. Reuters’s Steve Holland explains the circumstances surrounding the release.Lake Mead hit its lowest level on record, threatening water for millions across the Southwest. USA Today’s Trevor Hughes discusses the impact of a standoff between states over access to the Colorado River.Plus, Lindsey Graham’s sister advanced to a Senate primary runoff, the University of Michigan is dropping grades for some freshman classes, and Anthropic pledged to add watermarks to AI content.Today’s episode was hosted by Gideon Resnick.

Researcher and writer Thomas Michael Swensen (Tangirnaq Native Village) takes music fans to the fascinating intersection of punk music and Native America in his new book, “Where Next, Columbus?: A Native Punk Mixtape“. He explores some of the unlikely places where this intersection appears, from Alaska to the Southwest to the Black Hills of South Dakota. He thoroughly dissects Native punk music, zines, videos, and art installations, examining recurring themes of individualism versus collectivism, DIY culture, and sovereignty. We'll speak with Swensen about the new book and listen to some of his favorite Native punk songs he found during his research. A new album, “Live From '81–'85“, collects live recordings from the legendary 1980s New Wave band Romeo Void, from the height of their popularity and creative power. Fronted by singer Debora Iyall (Cowlitz), the group is known for edgy, pointed lyrics and standout saxophone solos. Songs like “A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing)” and “Never Say Never”, which was named one the 200 Best Songs of the 1980s by Rolling Stone, have been featured in movie soundtracks and the Billboard Top 40. Iyall remains active in the arts and performs as part of a new creative project. We'll speak with her about music, art, and activism. Thomas Sewell recommended Native punk tracks: Ya Tseen “Back in that Time” Bastard Fairies “Guns and Dolls” Pisswalker “Crudo y Confundido” Weedrat “Don't Tell Me” Friends of Cesar Romero “Baby Razorblades” Dead Pioneers “My Spirit Animal Ate Your Spirit Animal” Lozen “Unnatural Disaster” Break 1 Music: 500 Años (song) Los Crudos (artist) Doble LP Discografía (album) Break 2 Music: Wolastoq Song by Saqatay (song) Mawi Sakolikapuwicik Singers (artist)

94 Major Wildfires Are Burning Across the West—Is This the New Normal? The Western United States is facing a dangerous wildfire crisis. Crews are fighting to protect Big Sur, three fires are burning near Reno with single-digit containment, and 94 large wildfires remain uncontained across the West as of August 11, 2026. From the Northwest and Northern Rockies to California, Nevada and the Southwest, extreme heat, dry conditions and expanding fire activity threaten communities, public health and the environment. Wildfire smoke can travel hundreds of miles, while the economic and human costs continue to mount. What can America do to prevent these disasters? Can better land management, climate action and community preparation make a meaningful difference—or must we adapt to wildfires as the West's new normal? Then, after 24 years on the air, a Bay Area radio host has been laid off. His scathing Facebook post captures the troubling state of today's broadcasting industry. Who killed local radio—and why are experienced local voices disappearing? Support The Karel Cast at patreon.com/reallykarel. Please watch, like and subscribe at youtube.com/reallykarel. The Karel Cast streams Monday through Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Pacific and is available on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Spreaker, TikTok and Instagram. Karel is a history-making broadcaster and entertainer based in Las Vegas with his service dog, Ember. #WesternWildfires, #Wildfires, #CaliforniaWildfires, #BigSurFire, #RenoFires, #NevadaWildfires, #WildfireSeason, #WildfireSmoke, #ClimateChange, #ExtremeHeat, #BreakingNews, #USNews, #CaliforniaNews, #NevadaNews, #PacificNorthwest, #NorthernCalifornia, #SouthernCalifornia, #AirQuality, #ClimateCrisis, #NaturalDisasters, #EmergencyPreparedness, #Firefighters, #NewNormal, #LocalRadio, #BayAreaRadio, #RadioIndustry, #MediaNews, #TheKarelCast, #ReallyKarel, #KarelCast https://youtube.com/live/WhcAzTPgXf0

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Livestock farmers in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset are at the centre of the current outbreak of bluetongue and cases are rising rapidly. Bluetongue can be fatal to animals like sheep and cattle but doesn't affect humans, it's spread by midges, and makes animals lethargic and lame as well as causing birth defects or spontaneous abortions. The Farming Community Network has a 24 hour help line: we ask them about the impact the disease is having on farmers in the South West of England. As England and Wales are set to enter the fifth heatwave of the summer, almost three-quarters of England is now in drought. The National Drought Group has added the East Midlands, Lincolnshire & Northamptonshire, Kent & East Sussex, and Solent & the South Downs into drought status. The prolonged lack of rain in some places is having a major impact on farming and food production in the UK and Europe. We speak to a farmer from Copa Cogeca which represents European farmers and farming cooperatives.We're talking about UK salad production all this week. Unseasonably hot weather doesn't just increase our demand for lettuce, tomatoes and other salad crops, it also has an impact on how they well they grow, the diseases they might catch, and the working conditions of those planting and harvesting them.Presenter = Caz Graham Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Today we are bringing a great show for you. Ron Arenas and Ron Kirk are hosting. Our first guest is CDO football coach Scott McKee. Coach McKee brings many years of valuable experience as a coach and as a former walk on player at the University of Arizona.  We'll find out about this season's CDO team.Then, our next guest is Tom Sommerville. A former police officer and current member of Boys In Blue. Tom will share with us the mission of Boys In Blue. And why it means so much to him.

Step back into the Bigfoot Society archives with two unforgettable interviews that first aired on October 2 and October 3, 2024 as Episodes 545 and 546.Veteran researcher, actor, and investigator Jesus Payan shares decades of Bigfoot research spanning New Mexico, Oklahoma, and the American Southwest. From reports passed along by Forest Service employees and law enforcement to military sightings near White Sands Missile Range, strange encounters on Native lands, and firsthand experiences deep in the mountains, this conversation explores some of the most compelling stories from a lifetime spent pursuing the unknown.Then, Oklahoma witness Mary takes us into the forests surrounding Grand Lake of the Cherokees, where generations of her family quietly accepted Sasquatch as part of everyday life. She recounts childhood sightings, mysterious knocks and whoops, oversized footprints, strange nests, intimidating encounters near homes, and decades of activity stretching across Delaware County, Mayes County, the Illinois River, and beyond.These archive conversations capture the eyewitness accounts that helped shape Bigfoot Society into what it is today. Whether you're hearing them for the first time or revisiting these classic interviews, you'll discover why these stories continue to resonate with listeners years later.Resources:Breaking Discoveries Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakingDicoveriesContact Jesus: breakingbadsgonzo420@gmail.com

Jeremy Zakis, Part One: Zakis discusses the looming threat of a Super El Niño, characterized by sea surface temperatures in the Eastern Pacific rising 2.5°C above normal, resulting in extreme atmospheric turmoil and more severe weather patterns than a standard El Niño. Meteorologists in Australia are warning that this event may be the strongest in 500 to 1,000 years, potentially causing upwards of $600 billion in damage worldwide. Australians are being urged to prepare much earlier than usual—by September—for a catastrophic bushfire season, clearing "leaf litter" and shrubbery that acts as kindling and cutting back eucalyptus trees that overhang homes. Zakis describes a "vicious cycle": heavy rains currently hitting parts of Australia encourage rapid undergrowth, and when the intense heat and drought arrive, this growth dries out and becomes fuel, while eucalyptus trees become "balls of fire" due to the oil in their trunks. The heating of the Pacific has made weather highly unpredictable—South Australia has already experienced localized flooding in Adelaide, and heavy rain bands are expected to impact Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales. In North America, the event is expected to bring drought to the Southwest but unusual precipitation and heavy snow to New England. (1)

The oceans provide the “fuel” for almost all the thunderstorms on Earth: water that evaporates from the ocean surface. But the oceans generally don't provide the “trigger” for the big storms. As one indication of the difference, about 90 percent of all lightning happens over land. A thunderstorm forms when warm, humid air rises high into the atmosphere and condenses to make clouds. The humidity comes from the oceans. Storms in the Great Plains, for example, are fed by water vapor from the Gulf of Mexico. And the summer monsoon in the Southwest is fed by the Gulf of California. But the storms need a strong source of heat to get the water vapor to rise high enough to form clouds. During the warm portion of the year, the land gets hotter than the oceans. There's also a bigger contrast on land—some areas heat up more quickly, so they're more likely to start building the clouds. Terrain also plays an important role—mountains can push air upward. In contrast, the oceans are more stable, so there's not much to trigger big storms. Oceans do outperform the land in one way, though—they produce more “superbolts” of lightning. Such bolts can be a thousand times more powerful than a typical discharge. That appears to be because the salt content makes ocean water a better conductor of electricity than soil or fresh water. So when a thunderstorm does form over the ocean, it's much more likely to produce a really spectacular light show. The post Land Vs. Sea appeared first on Marine Science Institute. The University of Texas at Austin..

Romey Swanson is the Executive Director of the Devils River Conservancy, and he wears a lot of other hats too—wildlife biologist, naturalist, writer, photographer, and a leader in just about every corner of the Texas conservation world. The Devils River is generally considered the most pristine stream in Texas, and maybe in the entire Southwest—remote, spring-fed, and held together entirely by private landowners. The county it runs through leads all 254 counties in Texas in privately conserved acres, and none of it was required by regulation. If you've ever wondered how conservation gets done in a place with almost no public land, Romey and his community have built a model worth paying attention to. Romey grew up in rural West Virginia as part of what he calls the last generation of feral children—turned loose outside with instructions to be home before dark, with the creek behind the house as his best friend. His family moved to Texas when he was in junior high, and like most teenagers, he traded all of that for sports and a social life. He was a first-generation college student headed toward sports medicine when he walked past a flyer at Texas State advertising a Wildlife Society meeting—free pizza and live animals. He went for the pizza, met a faculty advisor, and changed his major that week. I've known Romey for six or seven years, and we cover a lot of ground here—his early days filling deer feeders and checking bird nest boxes, why he says waiting tables taught him as much about this work as his degrees, and whether leadership can actually be taught. We get into the threats facing the Devils River—data centers, transmission lines, and energy projects that can undo decades of voluntary conservation—and his work with the mountain lion stakeholder group in Texas, which has some obvious parallels to the wolf situation here in Colorado. There's also a good stretch on his passion projects, including his owl research in the mountains of far West Texas, and why he decided to use social media to push out something positive instead of more conflict. We wrap up with a few book recommendations and his encouragement to all of us to just pay attention. I loved this conversation... Enjoy! --- Romey Swanson Devils River Conservancy Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/romey-swanson --- THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship. --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 0:00 - Introducing Romey Swanson and highlighting Cattlemen's 6:30 - Romey describes his work 10:16 - How he got into his work 14:42 - Texas pride 17:37 - Early Romey 21:30 - First leadership opportunity 29:34 - Devils River Conservancy 35:07 - Keeping the land magical 39:14 - Devils River moving forward 42:25 - Mountain lions in Texas and wolves in CO 56:26 - Ways to keep track 1:01:15 - Sending folks to Romey's podcast 1:08:40 - Romey's Instagram 1:12:27 - Book recs 1:17:23 - Wrapping up --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes Mountain & Prairie Shop Mountain & Prairie on Instagram Upcoming Events About Ed Roberson Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts

A key Republican senator says he will vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. The July jobs report is out, and it isn't pretty. A deadly school shooting rocks Thailand. A new defense pact involving Saudi Arabia is taking shape in the Middle East. And a major water source in the Southwest is in major trouble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Friday, August 7th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Tanzanian Christians worried about Muslim threats In several Muslim-majority communities along Tanzania's coast in eastern Africa along the Indian Ocean, small Christian churches continue to worship under growing pressure, with pastors and congregations describing intimidation, disruption, and insecurity, reports International Christian Concern. For many believers in Zanzibar and parts of coastal Tanzania, where 99 percent of the population is Muslim, church leaders say some congregations have experienced threats, harassment, and occasional attacks.  One pastor said, “When a church is threatened, it is not only a building that is affected. People begin to fear even the simple act of coming together to pray. Mothers worry about bringing their children, and some believers spend the entire service looking over their shoulders instead of worshipping freely.” Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Tanzania. Trump, Hegseth clashed over missile depletion concerns President Donald Trump's frustration over the Iran war boiled over at Camp David last week, where he demanded answers from War Secretary Pete Hegseth on why he had apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran, reports The Washington Post. President Trump vented at Hegseth that he thought the munitions issue “had been fixed.”  The shortages, particularly in long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors, have been part of the reason President Trump has pulled back from launching additional massive strikes against Iran in recent days. Senate Republicans hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress Senate Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in contempt of Congress after he declined to answer lawmakers' questions during a fiery hearing last week, reports NBC News. Fauci, who has been a target of the right since he served as a top health official during the Covid pandemic, invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during the hearing, explaining in his opening remarks that he believed Republicans would try to use his testimony to prosecute him. However, Fauci had been given a full and unconditional pardon by President Joe Biden before he left office on January 19, 2025. In an 8-5 party-line vote, Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held Fauci in contempt. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the committee chair, said, “We are voting on whether a witness who has received the benefit of a sweeping federal pardon can be ordered by this committee to answer questions and then defy that order without consequence.” He added, “I ordered him to answer and warned him about contempt, yet he still refused. That is obstruction of a congressional investigation.” The committee can refer the contempt of Congress resolution directly to the Justice Department or request that Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota hold a full Senate vote. Senator Paul said the committee would hand-deliver the referral to the Justice Department. Contempt of Congress is a criminal misdemeanor offense punishable by up to a $100,000 fine and one year in jail. Proverbs 18:12 says, “Before a downfall, the heart is haughty …” In an impromptu press conference, Senator Paul insisted that Dr. Fauci be held accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic. PAUL: “A million Americans died, and I think they deserve to know the truth. Anthony Fauci has advocated for dangerous gain-of-function research for two decades now. The question ‘why' is not a question that he can have liability for. “He was given a pardon. Interestingly, the pardon starts in 2014. That's when the funding of the lab in Wuhan, [China] started. So, I think he should answer questions. As far as pleading the Fifth [Amendment] when you have a pardon, all you have to do is tell the truth, just not commit a new crime. So, I think the American people do deserve to know this. “This is the same Anthony Fauci who said, in a Washington Post op-ed in 2011, even if a pandemic should start from a lab, if someone's bitten in a lab or the virus escapes the lab, that the knowledge would be worth the risks. I don't think many Americans believe that! “This deserves to be thoroughly, exhaustively debated, so we don't do this again.” Christian congressman: Dr. Fauci under divine judgment Appearing with Fox News Host Brian Kilmeade on July 27th, Republican Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee talked about the recent revelations from Dr. Anthony Fauci's pandemic-era diary entries which showed a fixation on his own "explosive" fame, reports The Christian Post. KILMEADE: “Congressman, we saw this, but now we can read this. What changes about how this guy is perceived once and for all?” BURCHETT: “I think his arrogance shows. The Bible talks about professing themselves to be wise; they became fools. We closed down mom-and-pop operations. Jewish and Christian fellowships were shut down. The big boys were allowed to stay open. This thing was a disaster from the start, and we celebrated this guy, [meaning Fauci].” The phrase from Romans 1:22-28, which is part of the Apostle Paul's larger indictment against the pagan world, describes the corruption and prideful self-delusion that afflicts the minds of those who reject God. The refusal to worship God leads to a litany of self-destructive sins that ends with God abandoning individuals and societies "to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” Southwest Airlines blocks ICE from detaining illegal aliens on 6 flights Firm in the belief that immigration enforcement is bad for business, Southwest Airlines is pushing back hard against efforts to detain illegal immigrants at U.S. airports, reports The Western Journal. A report from the Wall Street Journal highlights a July 25 incident in which an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent tried to board a Southwest Airlines jet in Dallas. The agent was prevented from carrying out his duties by Southwest Airlines. The Dallas-based airline staff also refused to share passenger information with ICE. In recent weeks, a half-dozen other incidents involving Southwest have taken place. The incidents occur as ICE has been broadening their efforts to arrest illegal aliens at airports. Write a polite, 3-sentence letter of complaint to Southwest Airlines President Bob Jordan. Send it to: 2702 Love Field Drive, Dallas, TX 75235. Planned Parenthood sues Trump over denial of Title X funding And finally, Planned Parenthood is suing the Trump administration to challenge updated Title X funding guidelines issued earlier this year that could render the abortion giant ineligible for so-called “family planning” grants, reports LifeSiteNews.com. In April, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services issued updated guidelines for Title X applications, which drop contraception promotion in favor of “natural family planning methods,” tout an objective to “strengthen family formation and assist clients in achieving healthy pregnancies,” and require applicants to reject abortion as a method of family planning. The new standards threaten to disqualify longtime Title X recipients such as Planned Parenthood. As a result, the nation's largest abortion chain announced on July 29 that it is suing the Trump administration over them. Isaiah 59:7 describes the abortion giant to a “t.” “Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction mark their ways.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Friday, August 7th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Guest: Amber Sullins, Chief Meteorologist at ABC15When most people think about dangerous weather, they think about hurricanes, tornadoes, or blizzards. But in the deserts of the Southwest, one of the most impactful—and often overlooked—hazards can arrive as a towering wall of dust. Today on Weather Geeks, we're joined by Amber Sullins, a longtime Arizona meteorologist who has spent her career helping people navigate everything from extreme heat and monsoon storms to the massive dust storms that have become synonymous with life in the desert Southwest. We'll talk about her journey forecasting some of the country's most unique weather, and we'll take a deep dive into the development of the new PHX-DUST scale—a groundbreaking effort designed to classify dust storms and better communicate their impacts to the public. From the science behind the scale to the challenges of translating complex research into actionable information, we'll explore how meteorologists are working to improve awareness and resilience in the face of one of Arizona's signature weather threats.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Dust Storms in the Southwest01:00 Amber Sullins' Journey in Meteorology02:21 Unique Weather Challenges in Arizona03:22 Forecasting Monsoon and Dust Storms05:05 Factors Influencing Dust Storm Severity07:16 Impact of Water Scarcity on Dust Storms08:40 Health Risks from Dust Storm Particulates10:33 Types of Dust Storms and Their Detection14:15 Break 114:18 Development of the Phoenix Dust Scale17:02 Using Air Quality Data for Dust Severity20:27 Safety Tips for Dust Storms22:11 Assessing Dust Storm Intensity Quickly24:17 Applicability of the Dust Scale Elsewhere25:19 Break 228:37 Sharing the Dust Scale with the Public30:01 Acceptance and Validation of the Scale32:41 Future Weather Challenges in Arizona33:40 Upcoming Weather Events and OutlookResourcesphoenixdust.asu.edu - https://phoenixdust.asu.eduAmerican Meteorological Society - https://www.ametsoc.orgArizona State University - https://www.asu.eduSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

French Rizz has officially landed in Paris... and immediately started taking the worst tourist photos in recorded history. While Rizz enjoys croissants, wine, and accidentally inventing "half-photo tourism," the rest of the crew takes over the studio and proves that absolutely nothing can stay on the rails for very long.Moon discovers that having an empty house sounds a lot more relaxing than it actually is, because apparently sitting still for more than six minutes causes immediate guilt. King Scott earns legitimate homeowner points by repairing his own dryer, immediately becoming every Midwest dad's favorite person. Lern shares the highs and lows of Copper Fire's latest show, where technical problems forced the band to improvise through feedback, monitor speakers, and pure determination. Sometimes rock and roll isn't glamorous... sometimes it's just hoping the audience sticks around anyway.Then Rafe returns from San Antonio with what may become one of the show's all-time travel stories. Between Southwest Airlines delays, airport complaints, Pee-wee Herman's bike inside the Alamo museum, and a confession involving the Alamo that definitely deserves its own historical plaque, the crew spends way too much time debating what actually counts as "peeing at the Alamo." It's exactly the kind of discussion you'd expect from your favorite daily comedy show.As if that wasn't enough, Taco Bell's lettuce lawsuit continues to grow, the crew debates whether $200 is enough compensation for catastrophic fast-food regret, someone steals thousands of dollars worth of Little Debbie snacks, Martha Stewart accidentally provides some unforgettable sound bites during National Grab Some Nuts Day, and everyone shares the snacks they secretly keep stocked around the studio.Throw in conversations about French vacations, delayed flights, NBA jerseys, the St. Louis Riverfront, fashion rankings, summer heat making everyone older, and the usual nonstop roasting between friends, and you've got another completely normal episode of The Rizzuto Show—which, of course, means absolutely nothing about it is normal.Whether you're listening on your morning commute, at work pretending to be productive, or simply looking for an excuse to laugh at somebody else's terrible decisions, this daily comedy show delivers another episode packed with ridiculous stories, unexpected tangents, and the kind of chemistry that only comes from friends who have absolutely no problem embarrassing one another for entertainment.Thanks for making us part of your day. If you laughed, groaned, or questioned how any of these conversations happened, mission accomplished. We'll be back tomorrow with even more chaos, because that's what a daily comedy show is supposed to do.Follow The Rizzuto Show → https://linktr.ee/rizzshowConnect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShowHear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SCHEDULE FOR THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, 7-31-20261790 SOUTH HOLLANDJeff Bliss reports a refrigeration fire in Boyle Heights has released a toxic stench and caused an explosion in local rat and insect populations. Residents remain displaced due to overpowering toxic aftereffects. Simultaneously, a massive heat dome and hurricane-driven surf are hitting the Southwest. L.A. County lifeguards performed nearly 1,200 rescues last Saturday, facing dangerous conditions and substance abuse issues on crowded beaches escaping the intense heat. (1)Jeff Bliss notes Governor Gavin Newsom is preparing for a 2028 presidential run, but past controversies are resurfacing. A Vanity Fair article by Ruby Rippey-Tourk, his former mistress and the wife of his then-campaign manager, accuses Newsom of being "careless" and "cruel" during their 2007 affair. His wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is also being criticized for shaming Rippey-Tourk, leading to questions about the Newsoms' commitment to women's advocacy. (2)Richard Epstein examines New York City's proposed "pied-à-terre tax," which targets non-primary residences but threatens middle-class and working homeowners. Epstein argues the tax is unfairly structured, hitting condominiums at five times the rate of houses. The complex valuation process creates a "vicious circle" that could plummet property values. Consequently, wealthy residents are already fleeing, resulting in a $12 billion annual revenue loss for the city. (3)Richard Epstein turns to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, under fire for signing a document that allegedly exempts the President from IRS scrutiny regarding past and future taxes. Epstein characterizes this as a "scandalous" misuse of public trust and a misapplication of the law. He argues that if the President used his office for private financial benefit, it constitutes an impeachable offense, while Blanche should face potential disbarment. (4)Jim McTague takes a road trip through Owensboro, Kentucky, revealing a "K-shaped" economy where retail business is "dead" for blue-collar residents relying on federal aid. Conversely, Jeffersonville, Ohio, is experiencing a "gold rush" as Amazon and Honda build massive data and battery centers. However, some local residents feel overwhelmed by progress, lacking the imagination or education to capitalize on these high-tech industrial shifts and training opportunities. (5)Jim McTague reports that in Lancaster County, Republican representatives are introducing legislation that adds red tape and taxes to data centers, contradicting traditional pro-growth principles. While the Democratic-led Lancaster Cityhas embraced a lucrative data center deal, blue-collar "Trump country" boroughs remain fearful of the future. Despite these tensions, the local economy remains "steady" due to a diversified base including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and senior citizen spending. (6)Peter Huessy explains the foundation of U.S. nuclear strategy is the triad, ensuring launch capabilities from land, sea, and air. Developed after the 1957 Sputnik launch, this framework replaced "massive retaliation" with "flexible response." Huessy explains that this survivable deterrent prevents adversaries from achieving a total victory with a single strike. Despite calls for unilateral disarmament, the triad remains essential for holding at risk what adversaries value most. (7)Peter Huessy warns the U.S. now faces a tri-polar nuclear threat from Russia and China, both of which are modernizing their arsenals "gangbusters." Meanwhile, U.S. systems haven't been updated in 40 years, leaving the deterrent "fragile." Allied nations in Asia, specifically South Korea and Japan, are increasingly questioning the U.S. nuclear umbrella and considering their own deterrents as regional tensions and Chinese missile capabilities grow. (8)Henry Sokolski reports a proposed nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia is causing alarm due to potential uranium enrichment capabilities. Sokolski warns that nuclear fuel-making brings a nation dangerously close to developing a bomb. Saudi Arabia's refusal to accept advanced "protocol one" inspections is a major "red flag." Furthermore, the deal risks overturning 50 years of global non-proliferation policy, potentially encouraging other nations like Iran to demand equal treatment. (9)Henry Sokolski notes Senator John Kennedy has emerged as a dogged opponent of granting Saudi Arabia enrichment authority, labeling it a "bad idea." The agreement will automatically go into force within 90 legislative days unless Congress passes a veto-proof resolution against it. Kennedy's vocal stance may rally other senators to stop the package, potentially forcing the White House to renegotiate the deal to prevent spreading dangerous nuclear capabilities. (10)Gene Marks reports accountants in California are grappling with AI integration, viewing it as a productivity tool rather than a replacement for human consultation. Meanwhile, the broader economy remains resilient; manufacturing has expanded for five consecutive months despite high gas prices and elevated interest rates. Marks highlights that businesses are "rolling with inflation" and increasing orders for durable goods, indicating high underlying confidence despite stock market volatility. (11)Gene Marks compares public protests against data centers to the 19th-century opposition to railroads. While critics worry about land and water usage, Marks argues these facilities are imperative infrastructure for the information age and the AI revolution. Just as railroads enabled 20th-century American power, data centers are the means for moving information. Ceding this development would allow rivals like China or Russia to dominate the future economy. (12)Veronique de Rugy warns new administration rules replace flexible status for foreign students with fixed four-year periods, targeting the "best educated people on Earth." De Rugy warns this policy dissuades future scientists and innovators from choosing the U.S. Restricting these STEM graduates could cost the economy between $200 billion and $400 billion in lost GDP over the next decade, while potentially causing severe long-term labor shortages. (13)Lorenzo Fiori reports a historic heatwave has pushed the Po River to record lows, devastating Italy's agricultural heartland and water supplies for power stations. The ecological crisis includes an invasion of blue crabs, which are destroying clam populations and disrupting local cuisine. Meteorologists struggle to forecast as traditional weather models fail in the face of climate change. Tourists are encouraged to seek the cooler, historical beauty of Noto, Sicily. (14)Bob Zimmerman reports SpaceX's Starship successfully floated for a week after splashdown, providing invaluable data for rapid reusability. The company further cemented its market dominance with a $1.6 billion Space Force contract, while competitors remain grounded. Additionally, startups are emerging to solve technical hurdles for orbital data centers, such as advanced heat radiation. These advancements indicate that the future of massive data processing may eventually move into permanent space orbit. (15)Bob Zimmerman notes China continues the dangerous practice of dropping uncontrolled rocket debris on its citizens, forcing them to hide in tunnels. In the commercial sector, the startup Catalyst attempted a high-speed satellite rescue mission, demonstrating rapid launch capabilities despite technical failures. Meanwhile, astronomers have identified a rare midsize black hole, a discovery that will likely be expanded upon as the new Rubin telescope begins its sky surveys. (16)Corrections applied, pending your confirmation: Ruby Rippey-Tourk (transcribed as "Ruby Rippy," segment 2), Todd Blanche (transcribed as "Mr. Blanch," segment 4), Rubin telescope (transcribed as "Reuben," segment 16 — the Vera C. Rubin Observatory), and "burrows" → "boroughs" in segment 6. One to flag: this batch has Lorenzo Fiori (segment 14), but an earlier batch had him as "Lorenzo Fiato" — let me know which spelling is correct and I'll log it for good.

Jeff Bliss reports a refrigeration fire in Boyle Heights has released a toxic stench and caused an explosion in local rat and insect populations. Residents remain displaced due to overpowering toxic aftereffects. Simultaneously, a massive heat dome and hurricane-driven surf are hitting the Southwest. L.A. County lifeguards performed nearly 1,200 rescues last Saturday, facing dangerous conditions and substance abuse issues on crowded beaches escaping the intense heat. (1)1900 LA CHINA DRAGON