Podcasts about states

Loss can create an emotional cocktail when something or someone is unceremoniously ripped from our life. Amie Renaud and Joanna Henry invite us along through their circuitous roads through grief.  After the sudden end of a relationship, Amie embarks on a grand bikepacking trip. Right as she's finally settling in, she finds herself picking up the pieces again. Joanna hadn't reconciled the loss of her brother. But a visit from an uninvited, and surprisingly tenacious, guest, forces her to reckon with those unresolved feelings. Support comes from Kuat Racks  Oboz  Ka'Chava Go to https://kachava.com and use code DIARIES for 15% off your next order.  Diaries+ Members-- Their support is powering the Diaries- thank you! You can join today. Looking for a gift that will inspire? Our book, States of Adventure, 30 stories adapted from The Diaries, is out in the wild. See if it's available on your local shelves or order it here: geni.us/StatesofAdventure

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha is joined by photographer, publisher, editor, and educator Nelson Chan. Together, they trace the winding path that led Nelson to his dream job as a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. Along the way, Nelson reflects on the “guardian angels” who helped him stay the course, the openness that allowed unexpected opportunities to shape his trajectory, and the community of friends and collaborators who eventually inspired the founding of TIS Books. Sasha and Nelson also talk about the value of building connections, putting yourself out there, and treating your career as a marathon rather than a sprint. https://www.nelsonchanphotography.com/ https://www.tisbooks.pub/ Nelson Chan was born in New Jersey to immigrant parents from Hong Kong and Taiwan and has spent most of his life between the States and Hong Kong. Having grown up between two continents, this immigrant experience influences the majority of his work. Nelson received his BFA and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and the Hartford Art School, respectively. He has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY; Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA; The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; and 798 Space, Beijing, China. His books are collected in the institutional libraries of The MET, The Guggenheim, SEMOMA, The Whitney Museum, The Harry Ransom Center, and MoMA, among others. Along with his own photographic work, book publishing and education are extensions of, what Nelson refers to as, an industrious studio practice. He is co-founder of TIS books, an independent art book publisher and was production manager at the Aperture Foundation from 2016-19. In 2025, Nelson was awarded tenure at California College of the Arts but ultimately left the Bay Area to teach at the Rhode Island School of Design as an associate professor of photography.

Sometimes progress is slow — but the truth is catching up. In this episode, we expose the Democrat fraud machine unraveling across welfare programs, voter rolls, and federal compliance.

Michael digs into today's poll question: Who should regulate AI — the federal government, the states, or no one at all? With Trump's new executive order, escalating job losses, a shocking wrongful arrest tied to facial recognition, and global AI competition heating up, Michael breaks down why the stakes have never been higher. Plus, reactions to Time's “AI” Person of the Year and the political twists shaping the regulation battle. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I've coached for more than 20 years. And every step of the way I've had several coaches who reveal my blind spots, encourage me to move beyond my edges, and enhance my mastery which I'm honored to pay forward with breathtaking results for my cherished clients. Most of these coaches have been one-on-one, yet every few years I join a group coaching program and meet phenomenal colleagues. In my current teacher trainer coaching program with John Wineland, right out of the gate a lovely woman reached out from the UK saying she felt a special connection to me and wanted to get to know each other better. Wow. Talk about feeling seen and valued.  Now for over a year we've been connecting before or after the live workshops for dinner or even a trip to the Turkish baths, as well as checking in online with each other's brave, soulful journeys. Kate Joyner is a true blessing in my life and what a treat to dive deeper into her magic and mastery Live in Mallorca, Spain for the podcast. In this beautiful. delicious, witchy, intimate conversation we discussed... -How she's lived on the edge of a national protected forest for several years communing in sacred relationship with nature. -How as women we've lost our magic, magic that originated in the temples and when persecuted, we fled to the forests, hunted and hiding our light, wisdom and Magic, fearing for our lives. -How we can't truly lose our magic forever, it's in there- she helps to ignite it in extraordinary rituals, ceremonies, practices, initiations and celebrations she facilitates globally as women reclaim their true essence. -How she fully embraces the transformative power of the shadow, the darkness, the underworld, and craves of romantic life partner who can meet her there and even take her deeper. -How our true light is found through embracing our dark emotions, the depth of our underworld, our messiness, letting go of control, all of it is the path to light and love.  -How she's committed to deeply honoring her intuition as she makes choices from her knowing not her mind, such as living in South America after her father passed and now, leaving that beautiful forest knowing her time there is complete as she embraces moving back to the States. -How in my opinion, her embracing of her Darkness is so alluring, she's deeply joyful as opposed to surface happy, she's trustable because she won't bullshit you, she's an accurate barometer of Truth and I'm honored and delighted to call her my sister.  ➡️ Go check out patreon.com/allanapratt for Exclusive content! About Kate Joyner:   Kate Joyner is a soul initiation and embodiment teacher who supports men and women to come home to their erotic nature. Founder of Dancing Serpent, she has trained in Tantric and Earth Based Lineages that have initiated her into an embodied relationship with the mystery. She weaves her devotion to the wild into potent containers for you to come home to the love and magic that dwells within and all around. Webite www.dancingserpent.org Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dancing.serpent/   Schedule your Intimacy Breakthrough Experience with me today https://allanapratt.com/connect Scholarship Code: READYNOW Finding the One is Bullsh*t. Becoming the One is brilliant and beautiful, and ironically the key to attracting your ideal partner. Move beyond the fear of getting hurt again. Register for Become the One Introductory Program. http://allanapratt.com/becomeintro Use Code: BTO22 to get over 40% off. We're thrilled to partner with Magic Mind for this episode. Go to https://magicmind.com/INTIMATECONVERSATIONS40 to avail exciting offers! Let's stay connected: Exclusive Video Newsletter: http://allanapratt.com/newsletter Instagram - @allanapratt [ / allanapratt ] Facebook - @coachallanapratt [ / coachallanapratt ]

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Dr. Richard W. E. Georges, President, H. Lavity Stoutt Community CollegeIn this episode, President Series #429, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow does the only community college in the British Virgin Islands serve 40,000 people across 50 islands with 800 credit students & over 1,000 continuing ed students achieving 90% employment rates?Why did Hurricane Irma in 2017 force HLSCC to move everything to the cloud (LMS, operations, HR & finance) which made them one of the better prepared institutions in their region to respond to COVID without too much loss?How is the transformation phase after recovery & discovery bringing the first fully owned bachelor's degree in education & residential campus with standalone government grants? Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025! 

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Honar Issa, Secretary-General, Dilan Rostam, Director for Higher Education, & Boushra Rahal Alameh, President, Kurdistan Accrediting Association for Education (KAAE)In this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR cohost is Dr. Davie Gilmour, Commissioner, Immediate Past Chair of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, & President (Ret.) Emeritus of PennsylvaniaCollege of TechnologyYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow did Kurdistan rebuild its education system after decades of war, embargos & disconnection from the international community by establishing KAAE in 2022 with Middle States as official partner to bring standardization & peer review to institutions?Why did 11 pilot universities & K-12 schools voluntarily participate in this model project with 4 additional institutions asking "why didn't you choose us" because competition drives them to implement standards & become founding institutions opening doors for globalization?How does introducing a ranking system within accreditation incentivize institutions to focus on mission centricity, governance, effectiveness & student outcomes rather than just financial burden or political challenges?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Dr. Havidán Rodríguez, Commissioner Middle States Commission on Higher Education, & President of SUNY at AlbanyIn this episode, President Series #428, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR cohost is Lloyd Ricketts, Commissioner Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Vice President& Treasurer at Wilmington UniversityYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow does the accreditation process provide value as an inclusive opportunity to rethink the institution, navigate challenges & help schools become bigger & stronger through peer review rather than 1 person behind a curtain dictating decisions?Why does maintaining focus on serving students matter most when facing regulatory & enrollment challenges because educating engaged global citizens who transform communities is what accrediting agencies like Middle States support?How is SUNY Albany celebrating its 180th anniversary by adding new academic programs, flourishing research & becoming a national leader in artificial intelligence while serving 1/3 low income students & 1/3 first generation students?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Kimberly Davenport, Commissioner Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Partner & Director of Corporate Responsibility at ScottMadden, Inc.In this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow does ScottMadden bring unbiased corporate perspectives on governance, budget & operations to help higher ed institutions that are hungry for change but slow to evolve their business models?Why did Kim overcome initial nervousness about asking "simple" questions to realize her outside perspective from HR, policy & process development in other industries provokes valuable thoughts among academic commissioners?How does passion for education from having a mother who was a school teacher for 35 years drive the mission to create environments where students thrive & become great colleagues in conference rooms in a few years?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Chuck Ambrose, Senior Education Consultant, Husch Blackwell Consulting, & Host of EdUp InsightsIn this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR cohost is Elvin FreytesYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow did Husch Blackwell Consulting launch as a wholly owned subsidiary in June after 3 years of building comprehensive legal practice by adding Campus Compass diagnostic tool & strategic consulting to complement regulatory & compliance support?Why does Chuck with 47 years in higher ed & 25 years as president or CEO believe podcasting provides an outlet for verbal thinkers to learn more than they give through intimate conversations?How is EdUp Insights creating Author Insights mini-series to spread tools & strategies from "Colleges on the Brink" while counseling leaders that their 3rd act can be their most productive instead of heading to the barn?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Dr. Rebecca Corbin, President & CEO, National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship In this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow does NACE's 23 year old nonprofit serve 350 community colleges with $1,200 annual membership fees while giving members over $100,000 back in grant funds plus access to SkillPoint tech platform valued at $6.5 million that connects 3.5 million users to in demand jobs?Why does having 15 board members who are all community college presidents or chancellors create one of the fastest growing nonprofits in higher ed by promoting entrepreneurial mindset & workforce solutions?How does answering invitations like attending the AI for Good Summit in Geneva with 15,000 people or saying yes to conferences lead to transformational partnerships?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

New @greenpillnet pod out today!

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger PictureThe D’s have lost he narrative, they are trying to blame Trump for the affordability crisis, but he is turning it around on them. The autopen was used to bring Powell, Trump wants it investigated.The gold card has gone live, timing is everything. The affordability crisis is about the [CB]. The [DS] along with foreign gov have been trying to divide the people and the MAGA movement. It is not working, it crumbling and people are learning the truth once again. Trump sets the message and the direction of the midterms. The [DS] is struggling, they will not be able to overcome the economic factor in 2026. This will give the people the power to override anything the [DS] tries to do. Economy (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); “Democrats Know Their Constituents Can’t Read Charts. That’s Why…” Another attempted “gotcha moment” on X by Democrats backfired, revealing that their political strategists and whoever handles their social media accounts lack the most basic chart-reading skills. However, X users pointed out that these political operatives aren’t DEI fools; instead, they seem incapable of telling the truth. https://twitter.com/MajorityPAC/status/1998434136483410412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1998434136483410412%7Ctwgr%5E1e2efe6a29f9c814decbe7c889387ccc40d1410c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fdemocrats-know-their-constituents-cant-read-charts-thats-why Just like eggs earlier this year and power bills this fall, Democrat operatives are seizing any opportunity to blame Trump for soaring prices that mainly occurred in the previous four years. X user ALX shows why context matters.  Source: zerohedge.com https://twitter.com/StephenMoore/status/1998763870001991751?s=20 https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1998789965254144171?s=20 https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1998830464321323091?s=20  into 2026. The Fed must do the right thing! https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1998841970559512878?s=20  to inject $40 billion per month into Treasury bill purchases beginning December 12. The combined policies strengthen liquidity, reduce borrowing costs, and ease credit strains that often stall growth. Bank of America says both stocks and crypto stand to gain as confidence rises. The Fed's actions confirm the resilience of Trump's expanding second term economy. https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1999098794412319027?s=20 The post highlights a Wall Street Journal report on Ionic Rare Earths’ discovery of 16 rare earth and critical minerals in Utah’s Mill Creek area, including high-grade lithium and gallium, positioning it as the U.S.’s largest such reserve to reduce reliance on China, which controls 90% of global processing. An aerial image shows the arid Utah landscape near the Great Salt Lake with visible mining pits, underscoring the site’s remote, geologically rich Basin and Range province, where USGS surveys identified potential for 1.5 million tons of rare earth oxides  https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1998846082953130482?s=20 The Trump Gold Card program, launched via executive order in 2025, allows foreign nationals (primarily investors or those sponsored by corporations) to apply for a U.S. green card through expedited channels like EB-1(a) for extraordinary ability or EB-2 national interest waiver. It requires a nonrefundable $15,000 processing fee plus a “contribution” or “gift” of at least $1 million per individual (or $2 million via an employer sponsor), with additional amounts for dependents. The funds go to entities like the U.S. Department of Commerce, and applicants must prove a lawful source of money, similar to the EB-5 investor visa.  The process involves filing a new Form I-140G, followed by consular processing abroad—no in-country adjustment of status is allowed—and approvals can happen in weeks, though backlogs from per-country caps (especially for Indian or Chinese nationals) may still cause delays for the actual green card. This program is separate from the H-1B visa system, which remains a temporary work visa for skilled professionals with issues like annual caps (85,000 visas, including 20,000 for advanced degree holders), a random lottery selection process, and criticisms of abuse (e.g., companies using it to displace U.S. workers or suppress wages via outsourcing firms). In fact, alongside the Gold Card, the Trump administration introduced a separate $100,000 one-time entry fee for H-1B applicants to deter such abuses and ensure only “the best and brightest” use it. https://twitter.com/TheRubberDuck79/status/1998791717752062345?s=20  Autopen. https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1998407015756964343?s=20   to decide if it gets a floor vote. I hope they do the right thing. The Affordability Crisis Is Not a ‘Hoax.' It Is an Existential Threat to the American Dream.  Recently, President Trump has been quoted as referring to the affordability crisis as a “Democrat scam,” “hoax,” and “con job.” Although I think Trump was likely trying to remind Americans that policies enacted when Democrats had total control of the federal government under the first two years of the Biden administration accelerated and exacerbated the affordability problem, it is dangerous for the president to use that type of language. Already, mainstream media reprobates are twisting Trump's words, leading people to believe that he is saying the affordability crisis does not exist.  In proper context, Trump is not denying that middle- and lower-class Americans are struggling to make ends meet; rather, he is trying to assign blame and hang the affordability crisis on the Democrats. But even doing that is politically unwise.  The American people are not nearly as concerned with pointing fault as they are with seeking immediately viable solutions to the untenable reality they face. For many Americans, the affordability crisis is so severe that they think the American dream is no longer within reach. In fact, only 22 percent of young Americans think they will be better off than their parents. Source: redstate.com Political/Rights https://twitter.com/TriciaOhio/status/1999146290584678721?s=20 https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1998819294658842681?s=20 https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1998773065870708813?s=20 https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1999144165213380788?s=20 We hope the headlines and social media likes are worth it. DHS: Legacy Media Report Leaves Out an Important Detail on ICE Purchasing Planes for Deportations The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed  the agency has inked a deal for the purchase of six planes for nearly $140 million, which will aid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in deportations, allowing them to bypass charter airlines. The Post report read: https://twitter.com/TriciaOhio/status/1998794208736411870?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1998794208736411870%7Ctwgr%5Ebd9d4a7f5e7443f5f0455bfbeb427e17d3fa2b05%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fkatie-jerkovich%2F2025%2F12%2F10%2Fdhs-confirms-excellent-news-about-deportations-and-its-own-fleet-n2197015 flight patterns.    President Trump and @Sec_Noem are committed to quickly and efficiently getting criminal illegal aliens OUT of our country. Source: redstate.com US To Ask Visitors For 5 Years Of Social Media History Under New Plan The United States is planning to require visitors from dozens of countries on the visa waiver program to provide up to five years of their social media history, according to a proposal from the US Customs and Border Protection posted to the Federal Register on Wednesday. Countries on the list include much of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Qatar, Israel, Chile and Brunei. Citizens or nationals of these countries have been allowed to freely travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. If the proposal is adopted, they’ll have to share their online footprint – something that immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants from different categories have been required to provide since 2019. The list also includes; Telephone numbers used in the last five years Email addresses used in the last 10 years IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted photos Biometrics – including facial, fingerprint, DNA and Iris data Information about one’s family – including  names, telephone numbers, dates of birth, places of birth and residences. The CBP proposal is open for a 60-day public comment period. ESTA – an automated system, costs $40 and is generally valid for two years. An ESTA holder can enter multiple times during that period. Source: zerohedge.com https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1998484877180604877?s=20   is part of the FBI's Joint Task Force Vulcan investigation out of @FBIHouston to locate, indict, and arrest members of MS-13 leadership “La Mesa.” Great work from @FBIOmaha and partners @HSI_HQ @DEAHQ and more – this admin is taking a whole of government approach to dismantling MS-13 and their presence within the country. DOGE https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1998810382576792048?s=20 https://twitter.com/pepesgrandma/status/1998428503759294519?s=20   EU High Level Group on combating hate speech and hate crime that wrote the 2016 Code of Conduct. The Code Conduct is a document agreed upon by social media companies for removing hate. The improved upon “Code of Conduct Plus” continues to be an important tool under the DSA: “On 20 January 2025, the revised Code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online + (the ‘Code of conduct+') was integrated into the regulatory framework of the Digital Services Act (DSA), following a positive assessment from the Commission and the European Board for Digital Services. The Code of conduct+, which builds on the Code of Conduct adopted in 2016, strengthens the way online platforms deal with content deemed illegal hate speech according to EU law and Member States' laws. It facilitates compliance with and the effective enforcement of the DSA in this specific area.” This new Conduct Code+ was established as a “DSA Code of conduct”. This empowered civil society organisations to act as watchdogs. “Following its integration, adherence to the Code of conduct+ may be considered as an appropriate risk mitigation measure for signatories designated as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Search Engines (VLOSEs) under the DSA.” “The DSA classifies platforms or search engines that have more than 45 million users per month in the EU as very large online platforms (VLOPs)” https://twitter.com/emd_worldwide/status/1998556257251152246?s=20   letter confirms the details of that action. And it arrives at a very appropriate moment. As we watch certain officials in Europe experiment with coercive fines, regulatory threats, and pressure campaigns aimed at shaping American political discourse, the Moraes precedent is worth remembering. The United States views foreign attempts to control U.S. speech as a human rights violation and a breach of sovereignty. Geopolitical https://twitter.com/RMistereggen/status/1998419619220996236?s=20 society destabilised? When a country must hand over cash to escape a policy that harms it, the structure stops looking like a union and starts looking like organized coercion. Let's call the EU what it is: its a mafia organisation. Abolish the EU. Unelected Brussels Bureaucrat Demands Trump ‘Show Respect' for EU, as US President Is Chosen ‘The Most Powerful Person in Europe'   Trump is flexing his political and military muscles all over the world. Those who want respect, give respect.     Trump has just been chosen as ‘the most powerful person in Europe'. ‘ Politico reported: “Top EU officials tried to set the record straight Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump denounced Europe as a ‘decaying' group of countries ruled by ‘weak' leaders. […] ‘I think they're weak', the Republican said, referring to the continent's presidents and prime ministers, adding, ‘I think they don't know what to do. Europe doesn't know what to do'.” “European Council President António Costa said Europe and the U.S. ‘must act as allies' — and urged the Republican leader to show ‘respect'.   Costa is an unelected bureaucrat – he was not ‘elected', he was ‘appointed' by the same Globalist leaders that are polling 11% to 23% in their countries. Source: thegatewaypundit.com War/Peace https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1998980234763219052?s=20https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1999068890421195037?s=20   Impeccable. This clip emerged just as Maria Corina Machado, the woman Maduro has hunted for 16 months, escaped Venezuela and arrived in Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting his dictatorship. His secret police surrounded the U.S. Embassy thinking she was inside. She slipped out of the country anyway. Her team risked their lives to get her on that plane. Meanwhile, Maduro is on stage crooning about peace. The irony writes itself. https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1998936856000397477?s=20   showed up in Norway anyway. The 58-year-old opposition leader arrived in Oslo Thursday and waved from the balcony of the Grand Hotel, free and defiant. The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded her the prize for her fight against what it called a dictatorship. Maduro’s regime tried everything to stop this moment. It didn’t work.  https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1999068890421195037?s=20   freely in accordance with the regime. https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1999065856580661500?s=20 https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1998879421491483071?s=20   Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.” “For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely—and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.” https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1998895443347124514?s=20 https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1999140870516576385?s=20  6th no-confidence vote, Zhelezaykov said, “I hear the public's dissatisfaction and consider the protection of democracy my top priority,” choosing to step down. Protests erupted in November over a 2026 budget packed with tax hikes, higher social contributions, and bloated spending. Even after scrapping the budget, crowds demanded total regime change, early elections, and a crackdown on corruption, culminating in massive rallies yesterday across Sofia and beyond. This is a rare public uprising toppling a government in real-time! With Bulgaria set to join the eurozone on January 1, the collapse risks economic chaos, currency shifts, investor panic, while exposing deep rot (corruption scandals cost $3B yearly, per EU audits). Zhelezaykov's exit might spark a power vacuum, pitting pro-EU reformers against nationalist factions. https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1998875723931812291?s=20 https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1999099346676334925?s=20  Allegations that some staff members may have ties to Hamas, with zero indictments, no formal charges, and no due process. Washington, once UNRWA's biggest donor, froze funding in January 2024 after Israel accused roughly a dozen staff members of involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war. If the move goes through, it would effectively criminalize a major arm of humanitarian relief in Gaza and beyond. Although, it’s been noted that such sanctions would be highly unusual, since the U.S. is both a U.N. member and the host nation of the body that created the agency in 1949. Despite this, Trump previously reaffirmed that the U.S. would not fund UNRWA earlier this year. In October, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also referred to UNRWA as a subsidiary of Hamas: “UNRWA’s not going to play any role in it… The United Nations is here, we're seeing the work they're doing… They’re on the ground. We’re willing to work with them if they can make it work, but not UNRWA. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas.” https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1998824786022003044?s=20  billion they seized might well come up   https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/1998849819071353071?s=20   is going to demand their frozen assets be returned. I suspect the current people in power don't expect to be around or forced to deal with that problem when it arises. They just want their money laundering schemes to continue being funded. Short term planning by the EU. https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1998991133033054636?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1998991133033054636%7Ctwgr%5E279dcf506be99c0c99616930f129b9a99fcd7bf2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F12%2Fwatch-ukraine-strikes-another-oil-tanker-russian-shadow%2F https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1999118921564090787?s=20 Trump talks Ukraine peace deal with Macron, Merz and Starmer President Donald Trump held a conference call with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday to discuss the war in Ukraine, a White House official said, as the U.S. president continues to push for an end to the conflict while expressing skepticism that Kyiv stands a chance of coming out ahead. Source: politico.com Zelenskyy Signals Openness to Elections After Trump Criticism President Donald Trump on Tuesday pressed Ukraine to hold a presidential election despite its war with Russia, prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to say he is prepared to hold a vote within months if parliament and Western allies make it feasible. Zelenskyy responded, saying the decision is solely for Ukrainians. “This is a question for the people of Ukraine, not people from other states, with all due respect to our partners,” he said. Ukraine’s constitution bars elections under martial law, but Zelenskyy signaled he’s willing to hold one anyway and asked the U.S. and European partners for help securing a wartime vote. “Since this question is raised today by the president of the United States of America, our partners, I will answer very briefly: Look, I am ready for elections,” he said. “Then, in the next 60 to 90 days, Ukraine will be ready to hold the elections. I personally have the will and readiness for this.” Zelenskyy’s five-year term expired in May 2024. Source: newsmax.com Medical/False Flags FDA Reviewing Deaths Potentially Linked to COVID Shots The Food and Drug Administration is looking into whether COVID-19 vaccines were tied to any deaths, government officials announced this week. The FDA is “doing a thorough investigation, across multiple age groups, of deaths potentially related to COVID vaccines,” Andrew Nixon. a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. Manufacturers report that the FDA is also reviewing the safety of RSV immunizations. COVID-19 vaccines were deployed in late 2020 under emergency use authorization. Less than a year later, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine became the first to receive full FDA approval. Source: newsmax.com [DS] Agenda https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1998789285281968322?s=20  with all the other America-hating Somalis! https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1998806184846045404?s=20 BREAKING: Democrats Flip Miami – Eileen Higgins Wins Mayoral Runoff Election: Decision Desk Democrats flipped Miami Mayor's office on Tuesday. Higgins defeated Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former Miami City Manager who served on Trump's DHS transition team. Higgins will be Miami's first Democrat mayor since 1997. Fox News reported: It took nearly 30 years, but Democrats finally broke their decades-long ballot box losing streak in Miami, Florida, the city known as the nation's “Gateway to Latin America.” Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/chad_mizelle/status/1998565231136747996?s=20 https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1998912315672977728?s=20   are: Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., Don Bacon, R-Neb., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Tom Kean, R-N.J., Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, Chris Smith, R-N.J., Pete Stauber, R-Minn., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio. Full passage vote could happen Thursday. President Trump's Plan REVEALED: DC pipe bomb suspect obsessed with My Little Pony art, fan fic: report My Little Pony is a franchise marketed at young girls. An adult male fan of the toys are known as a “Brony,” a community that at its peak was large enough to hold annual conventions. Brian Cole Jr, the man charged with placing pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic National Committees' Washington, DC headquarters the evening before January 6, 2021, was reportedly a massive fan of the children's series “My Little Pony,” making fan art and fan fiction dedicated to the characters.Per the New York Post, Cole, 30, appeared to have gone by usernames including iDeltaVelocity, Bron1Delta, Delta1Forgotten, and Blue Velocity online. In one account on an online forum, Cole allegedly posted dozens of fan art pieces dedicated to the My Little Pony franchise. Many of the art pieces feature characters with light purple bodies and multicolored hair.In a Tumblr account associated with the username delta1forgotten, Cole allegedly wrote in response to another user's drawing of a My Little Pony character with a machine gun, “Eh… I'd give her an RPG [Rocket-Propelled Grenade]. What can I say? Explosions are COOL!!”My Little Pony is a franchise marketed at young girls. An adult male fan of the toys are known as a “Brony,” a community that at its peak was large enough to hold annual conventions. Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr Daniel Chadborn wrote in his book “Meet the Bronies: The Psychology of the Adult My Little Pony Fandom,” “The subculture of Bronies was very online and unique and attracted a lot of male fans, who were breaking gender norms, which attracted a lot of attention.”He noted that the subculture is generally not sexual, however, he is not surprised that some members within the community are troubled. “Someone who is disaffected is often going to look for spaces to engage in, for a sense of identity and belonging.”Cole also allegedly wrote fanfiction dedicated to the franchise, with one story marked as being an “adventure/horror” story featuring the characters Applejack and Applebloom  Source: thepostmillenial.com Winning: Woke D.C. Police Chief Stepping Down Following Trump's Bold Moves to Federalize the DC Police Force and Send in National Guard https://twitter.com/MayorBowser/status/1997992364367884758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1997992364367884758%7Ctwgr%5Edc94739b1880255ed9a381d0aefa9d1b2da25236%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F12%2Fwinning-woke-d-c-police-chief-stepping-down%2F ‘Righteous Anger’: Erika Kirk Shuts Down Insane Conspiracies Surrounding Her Husband’s Murder Erika Kirk appears to have possibly reached her breaking point as she addressed those insane conspiracies surrounding the murder of her husband, Charlie Kirk, and to say she didn’t hold back is a serious understatement. During her appearance on Wednesday on Fox News’ Outnumbered, Kirk was asked about the accusations and claims floated by podcasters like Candace Owens and others surrounding the assassination of the late co-founder of Turning Point USA, including speculation about where Charlie is buried. No rock will be unturned. I want justice for my husband, for myself, for my family more than anyone else out there. “My silence does not mean that I’m complacent,” Erika continued. “My silence does not mean that somehow Turning Point USA and all of the handpicked staff that loved my husband and that my husband loved them is somehow in on it. We are busy building.” Erika said she understands a lot of the noise is people trying to find answers to the horrific killing of her husband, and made it clear no “rock will be unturned. I want justice for my husband, for myself, for my family more than anyone else out there.” Kirk said she does have a breaking point, though, and it’s when influencers and others go after those she loves, like her family, her Turning Point USA family, and her Charlie Kirk Show family. “When you go after the people that I love, and you’re making hundreds and thousands of dollars every single episode, going after the people that I love because somehow they’re in on this… NO!” Erika said, as the host Harris Faulkner pointed out, she’d never seen Kirk like this before. “This is righteous anger because this is not okay, it’s not healthy,” she added. “This is a mind virus… but this is not okay. But just know your words are very powerful, and we are human.” “My team are not machines and they’re not robots, they are human,” Erika continued. “We have more death threats on our team and our side than I have ever seen. I have kidnapping threats. I have…you name it, we have it. And my poor team is exhausted, and every time they bring this back up, what are we supposed to do, relive that trauma all over again?”  . Source: redstate.com https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1998877640862904429?s=20 https://twitter.com/ElectionWiz/status/1998867607429292200?s=20 2846 Feb 21, 2019 12:02:07 PM EST Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 6b73ac No. 5304336  Dz8HH2lWwAIQX5K.jpg-large.jpg https://twitter.com/JudahsTrumpets/status/1098604676621189122 Be ready for the ‘Q’, Anon(s). Eyes on increasing +each day. You are the NEWS NOW. Handle w/ care. Q 3628 Nov 25, 2019 12:05:46 PM EST Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 000000 No. 7370121  https://twitter.com/Incarcerated_ET/status/1198990090757914625 Enemy of the People. You are the NEWS NOW. Facts matter. Q https://twitter.com/medeabenjamin/status/1998886707891155231?s=20 https://twitter.com/_johnnymaga/status/1999140426222088595?s=20 https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/1938072642374058297?s=20  Bejamin briefly – who had an interesting history of speaking to Chinese media. She co-founded Global Exchange with her husband, Kevin Danaher, which goes on a number of “Reality Trips” to various closed countries – Cuba, Venezuela, among others. If you’ve followed me long enough … you know that’s a big red flag. State-facilitated exchange trips are one of the most common “soft power” tools that countries have in exporting their ideology to others. https://twitter.com/AAGDhillon/status/1998429763744976927?s=20 Supreme Court OKs Trump's Firing Of Biden FTC Appointee The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a significant victory, ruling that he can remove Federal Trade Commission leader Rebecca Slaughter after months of legal challenges. Trump has sought to dismiss Slaughter, a Democrat appointed by former President Joe Biden, since March. The court also agreed to consider whether presidents may dismiss FTC commissioners without cause. In the meantime, Slaughter will not be allowed to remain in office. Source:  conservativebrief.com  https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1998163014336561437?s=20 https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/1998237338678563300?s=20 Trump Sinks Anonymous Reports by Reaffirming Support for Hegseth, Noem Trump sunk the anonymous reports while fielding questions from the press during a roundtable with tech CEO in the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday. https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1998886540215472413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1998886540215472413%7Ctwgr%5Ec250eb4c9bce232b03b56224d33227964e8f8b05%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Ft%2Fassets%2Fhtml%2Ftweet-5.html1998886540215472413 Trump's comments follow an Atlantic report that Trump “is starting to tire of the scandals surrounding Hegseth,” citing “an outside adviser to the White House and a former senior administration official.”They also come on the heels of an MS Now report, citing two anonymous sources, and claiming that “White House officials have grown frustrated with Kristi Noem's leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, leading to calls for a new secretary to more aggressively support key parts of the president's deportation agenda.” Source: breitbart.com https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi/status/1999130198906728645?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1998453138857099684?s=20   primarily Nordic-German. Importing voters is a CERTAIN path to a single-party supermajority and has ALREADY happened at the state level in California and New York. It also explains why those states have BANNED VOTER ID in order to accelerate a permanent socialist supermajority, destroying any semblance of democracy. We stand on the precipice of disaster, an end to America. https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/1998769742455435403?s=20   say stupid stuff like “I’m not voting in the mid-terms.” The Constitutional powers of the President are limited by design. Moreover, Trump faces unique challenges in an intransigent Deep State and an array of rogue judges, neither of which any other President has faced at this scale. Nevertheless, in less than a year Trump has kept more of his campaign promises than any other President since FDR. Some of you people need to wise up. There is no Government Fairy. It’s a hard slog, and we’re winning–unless YOU mess it up, Doomsters. Don’t mess it up. https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/1998827695439004144?s=20  care, the GOP deserves it.” This is self-fulfilling prophecy. It suppresses voter enthusiasm, suppresses voter turn out, and creates exactly the barren ground that Leftists have come to expect from a conservative movement that seems determined to fail at every turn even when it is winning. *versus* 2. “I am so happy that we have made so much progress. Trump has done amazing things in a short period of time against unprecedented institutional resistance. We are winning and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the restoration of our Constitutional republic. Nevertheless, there is much to be done. President Trump and the true conservatives in Congress need our enthusiastic, vocal support. We must keep the pressure on the eGOP, the Democrats and the lying media. This is a tough battle, but we will win.” THAT my friends is a message of victory. It too becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as it inspires the voting base yet does not ignore the work yet to be done. It’s winning. ————————— Allow me to paraphrase Napoleon Bonaparte: “In politics, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” _________________________ In other words, why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves, Moriarity. https://twitter.com/Avis_Liberatum/status/1998829654241694036?s=20 https://twitter.com/MattMorseTV/status/1998541820285145219?s=20    and for America itself. In all fairness, the Democrats have been doing Redistricting for years, and continue to do so. Unfortunately, Indiana Senate “Leader” Rod Bray enjoys being the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats, in Indiana's case, two of them. He is putting every ounce of his limited strength into asking his soon to be very vulnerable friends to vote with him. By doing so, he is putting the Majority in the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., at risk and, at the same time, putting anybody in Indiana who votes against this Redistricting, likewise, at risk. The people of Indiana don't want the Party of Sleepy Joe Biden, Kamala, Ilhan Omar, or the rest to succeed in Washington. Bray doesn't care. He's either a bad guy, or a very stupid one! In any event, he and a couple of his friends will partner with the Radical Left Democrats. They found some Republican “SUCKERS,” and they couldn't be happier that they did! Guys like Failed Senate Candidate Mitch Daniels, who I opposed in his Race against Senator Jim Banks, and Cam Savage, whoever that is, are fighting against the Republican Party, all the way. Bray and his friends are the favorite Republicans of Hakeem Jeffries, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, and Cryin' Chuck Schumer. Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring. If Republicans will not do what is necessary to save our Country, they will eventually lose everything to the Democrats. Rod Bray and his friends won't be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again. One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down! Master Messenger: Trump Goes Full MAGA at Pennsylvania Rally, Hands GOP the 2026 Talking Points The master messenger is at it again, this time handing the GOP the 2026 midterm talking points directly. During a rally Tuesday evening in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, President Trump reminded both Republicans and Democrats of just how savvy a messenger he can be when energizing his base. He crushed former President Joe Biden and his administration for overseeing the runaway inflation we are still battling today. He discussed his efforts to bring higher wage jobs to American workers, not illegal aliens. He dismantled Obamacare, highlighting high costs and the trillions in taxpayer dollars given to insurance companies instead of the American people. President Trump went full MAGA. The  message was clear: Republicans, take this message and run with it during the 2026 midterm election cycle. President Trump tore apart Obamacare. He is tired of insurance companies lining their pockets with Obamacare subsidies, and stated once again that he wants that money sent directly to the American people. Imagine being able to use your own money to purchase health insurance instead of those dollars going straight to the insurance companies? For Republicans in 2026, this is a smart policy that could excite the base in an election cycle where President Trump is not on the ballot. Healthcare across America, in many cases, is unaffordable and frustrating. This is certainly an area where the GOP can make up ground with sound policy ideas. President Trump has essentially closed our southern border by the sheer power he wields through the executive branch. The administration has now moved to tackle illegal immigration within our borders, in regards to both deportations and American jobs taken by illegal aliens.  Since President Trump took office, 100 percent of all net job creation has gone to American citizens. That is an amazing statistic that every GOP House and Senate member should be touting on the campaign trail. Not for nothing, but President Trump is also clearly tired of immigrants coming to America who do not care to fully assimilate or share our values. President Trump also announced a permanent pause on third-world migration, “including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and many other countries.” This is a very smart and, frankly, important policy. During the recent off-year election cycle, many Americans learned for the first time how many third-world immigrants have infiltrated major American cities. This is a winning message and one the GOP should carry into 2026. Finally, the deadly drugs have got to stop flowing into this country. President Trump has taken lethal action that is sure to have every drug boat planning to bring drugs to America second-guessing that decision. For some Republicans who support Trump’s policy but have struggled to properly communicate the importance to their constituents, the president simplified the issue for the entire party. Source: redstate.com https://twitter.com/TheStormRedux/status/1998449163403419722?s=20  ALL THE INFORMATION.” LFG  One thing I know is that the American public (outside of X) needs to understand how rigged and fake our elections are before we have another election in this country. (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

Join Jim and Greg for the Thursday 3 Martini Lunch as they tackle Erika Kirk's fierce pushback against conspiracy theories surrounding her husband's murder, President Trump's plan to block states from regulating artificial intelligence, and why so many people seem horrified by large families.First, they applaud Erika Kirk for publicly condemning Candace Owens and others promoting baseless claims that Charlie Kirk's murder was an inside job at Turning Point USA. Although not mentioning Owens or anyone else by name, Kirk denounced the accusations as dangerous, unhealthy, and driven by a “mind virus.” Jim says she shouldn't have to defend her family from such nonsense but he appreciates her speaking out.Next, they shake their heads as President Trump prepares an executive order barring states from regulating artificial intelligence. Trump argues the U.S. needs a single national standard, not fifty, when it comes to AI. Jim points out that an executive order cannot stop state legislation. A congressional statute could do that but Congress hasn't even begun to address AI. Both Jim and Greg say protecting personal liberty should take priority over staying ahead in the AI race.Finally, they discuss the case of Philip Rivers, the longtime NFL quarterback who signed with the Indianapolis Colts practice squad nearly five years after retiring. The news has also revived widespread social media mockery of Rivers because he has ten children. Why are so many people angry or uncomfortable with the idea of large families?Please visit our great sponsors:Listeners can start a new tradition this December with 10% off at BetterHelp—visit https://BetterHelp.com/3ML to get started.Try Quo for free at https://Quo.com/3ML and keep your existing number—Quo means no missed calls and no missed customers.Get up to half off plants and more for your yard. Plus, save 15% on your next purchase with code MARTINI at https://www.FastGrowingTrees.com Hurry, offer valid for a limited time; terms apply.New episodes every weekday. 

12-11-25 - BR - THU - List Of Most Dangerous States For Christmas - Dallas Woman Set Fire To House As We Question How Brady Says Her Name - Brady's Too Excited About Cheez It Crushed Turkey LegsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Zoe Saldaña talks 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'; US seizes oil tanker off Venezuela, Trump says; '50 States in 50 Weeks' looks at how soccer is impacting Maine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The President was at a loss for words after Democrats score two major upsets including the first Democrat elected the mayor of Miami in nearly 30 years. Plus, U.S. forces are now in control of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Is the U.S. going to war?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social this week that he will sign an executive order aimed at banning state AI laws. The move will almost certainly appease Silicon Valley executives and anger some of his fellow Republicans — not to mention ignite a legal battle with state governments concerned about federal overreach. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly breaks down the latest developments surrounding the closely watched and intensely debated AI moratorium with the help of POLITICO technology reporters Gabby Miller and Brendan Bordelon.  Steven Overly is the host of POLITICO Tech and covers the intersection of politics and technology. Nirmal Mulaikal is the co-host and producer of POLITICO Energy and producer of POLITICO Tech. This episode has been updated to correct a mischaracterization of Andreessen Horowitz's policy position. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AI is pushing the grid to its limits — and transformers are now the critical path for both data centers and renewable projects.Today's guest, Doug Banty, EVP at Forgent (and former CEO of MGM Transformers), sits at the intersection of these two worlds. Half of his week at RE+ was spent across the strip at the Yotta data center conference, where the only topic on everyone's mind was power. In this episode, Doug explains how AI-driven rack density is rewriting the entire powertrain, why hyperscalers are treating speed like an existential priority, and what this means for developers trying to keep pace.He also breaks down the industrial logic behind Forgent — a merger of MGM, VanTran, States, and PowerCube — and how integrated solutions are becoming essential for execution in an era where timelines matter more than price.Expect to learn: ⚡ Why data centers are moving at crisis-level urgency ⚡ The difference between power and distribution transformers ⚡ What MGM's 500,000 sq ft Waco factory means for lead times ⚡ How Forgent reduces execution risk through integrated packages ⚡ The single most effective way developers can avoid delaysHit play — and see what the future of the grid really looks like.

Zoe Saldaña talks 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'; US seizes oil tanker off Venezuela, Trump says; '50 States in 50 Weeks' looks at how soccer is impacting Maine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Margery Kraus, Founder & Executive Chairman of APCO WorldwideIn this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR cohost is Michael Fischer, Commissioner Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠⁠, Professor of Accounting, Emeritus; former Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs at St. Bonaventure UniversityYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow does APCO Worldwide's 41 year old consulting firm with 1,200 people work at the intersection of business, government, public opinion & education to help institutions navigate troubled times & understand the "whys" behind federal policy changes?Why is now the time for optimism by reframing education through lifelong learning, non traditional students & collaboration between universities instead of perpetuating competitive institutional systems?How can higher ed create partnership between faculty & administrators, reimagine governance with accountability standards at every level & seize opportunities from policy changes rather than digging heels in?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Jonathan Peri, Commissioner Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠, & President of Manor CollegeIn this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR cohost is David Rehm, Commissioner Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Misericordia UniversityYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow does the Follow Up Activities Committee serve as the "emergency room" for institutions facing their most challenging circumstances & work through complex cases involving financial, political & leadership issues without being punitive but instead offering guidance to help them meet quality standards?Why is transparency & forthrightness from institutions so critical to the accreditation process & how do commissioners review 50 to 300 pages per case to drill down into underlying issues rather than just superficial problems?How are peer commissioners who work at colleges & universities themselves able to help institutions improve by sharing the same challenges they face while contributing boundless energy to 1 of the most highly functioning boards in higher education despite receiving no compensation for their service?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Katherine Conway-Turner, Chair, & Heather Perfetti, President, Middle States Commission on Higher EducationIn this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow does Middle States Commission on Higher Education stay ahead of rapid change & information overload by over communicating with 1,500 plus colleagues to ensure institutions get clear information instead of getting lost in the weeds of conflicting messages?How is the regulatory triad (federal government, state agencies & accreditors) collaborating to provide quality assurance while maintaining distinct roles around federal financial aid oversight, consumer protection & institutional improvement?How is Middle States the only accreditor bringing 100 students to present graduate & undergraduate research at their annual conference & why does 1 chair say talking to excited students showcasing their work is her favorite moment that reminds everyone what it's all about?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with Christina Weber,  Biology Honors Student, & Jesse Jacondin, Senior Research Analyst, Brookdale Community CollegeIn this episode, recorded Live from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education⁠ 2025 Annual ConferenceYOUR cohost is Terence Peavy, Lead Vice President for Institutional Field Relations at the Middle States Commission on Higher EducationYOUR host is ⁠⁠Dr. Joe SallustioHow did 1 second semester freshman increase student participation in accreditation from 3% to 21.7% by leading student to student outreach instead of relying on administrators?Why did creating 3 tiers of involvement (working group member, focus group participant & survey respondent) make accreditation accessible to busy community college students?How are students gaining career benefits, networking with presidents & earning potential internships requiring 45 hours per semester through accreditation involvement?Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠The EdUp Experience⁠We make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to get early, ad-free access & exclusive leadership content to help support the show? Then ⁠⁠​subscribe today​⁠⁠ to lock in YOUR $5.99/m lifetime supporters rate! This offer ends December 31, 2025!

Patrick Gleason, VP of State Affairs at Americans for Tax Reform, joins the show to break down why Americans continue migrating to GOP-led states, places slashing taxes, cutting regulations, and making everyday life more affordable than their Democrat-run counterparts. They dig into Michigan's economic direction, the policies driving residents away, and the growing debate over eliminating property taxes altogether as lawmakers search for ways to make the state competitive again.

Europe's Defense Dilemma and Demographic Decline: Colleague Mary Kissel attributes Europe's inability to fund Ukraine's defense to decades of relying on U.S. protection while prioritizing generous welfare states, citing "scary statistics" regarding France's aging population and pension burdens, arguing that Europe must pursue economic growth rather than government handouts to survive security challenges.

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

Synopsis:  Meet the fearless reporters who dare to shine a light on dark corners of American politics, tracking extremist groups and debunking disinformation with courage and conviction.Make a tax deductible YEAR END DONATION and become a member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate. This show is made possible by you! Description: Today's guests have paid a price for their reporting on far Right extremists. But if journalists don't do this critical work, then who will? The Trump administration is deprioritizing domestic terrorism to serve a political agenda, scaling back investigations of far-Right extremism while redirecting DHS agents to immigration crackdowns. As programs tracking domestic extremism are dismantled and January 6 rioters are recast as "patriots," journalists find themselves on the frontlines — and their attackers are now people in power. Jordan Green is an investigative reporter for Raw Story whose coverage on far-Right extremism has spanned from Charlottesville to January 6. He is currently working on a book about militant accelerationism. Green also reported on a story we've covered extensively on the show: the attack on two power stations in Moore County, North Carolina. A correspondent for the Texas Observer, investigative journalist Steven Monacelli has been tracking extremism, disinformation, social movements, and the influence of dark money in politics. He received the The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award for revealing the identities of far-Right extremists, including government employees. Freelance journalist Amanda Moore embedded with the far Right in 2020 and has faced backlash from far-Right groups for her reporting. Her reporting at present focuses on ICE and Border Control, and her work has appeared in the Nation, Politico, and the Intercept. Join us for this chilling conversation on threats against journalists and the implications for democracy, plus a commentary from Laura.Guests:•  Jordan Green: Investigative Journalist, Raw Story•  Steven Monacelli: Freelance Investigative Journalist; Correspondent, The Texas Observer;  publisher of Protean Magazine, a nonprofit literary magazine; co-founder of Apprentice Creative Space•  Amanda Moore: Freelance Investigative Journalist Watch the episode released on YouTube; airing on PBS World Channel 11:30am ET, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast December 10th.Full Episode Notes are located HERE.Music Credit: “Logue” by Tom Skinner featuring Contour from the album Kaleidoscopic Visions released on Brownswood Recordings, "Steppin" by Podington Bear, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper Support Laura Flanders and Friends by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/lauraflandersandfriends RESOURCES:Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:•  Power Grids Under Attack: The Threat is Domestic Terrorism – Not Drag Artists:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut•  What is Political Violence? Uncovering MAGA Militancy & Strategies to Protect Democracy:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut and Full Uncut Conversation•  Congresswoman Jayapal & Marine Vet Goldbeck: Standing Against the Administration's War on Civilians:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut and Full Uncut ConversationRelated Articles and Resources:•  I've Seen How the Neo-Nazi Movement Is Escalating. You Should Worry.  By Jordan Green, July 14, 2025, The Assembly NC•  Pentagon Marine tied to ‘6 bullets to head' threat against Pete Hegseth won't face probe, by Jordan Green, November 7, 2025, Raw Story•. Ex-Soldier linked to far-right groups pleads guilty to gun charge, by Jordan Green, September 17, 2205, Raw Story•  I Was Banned From CPAC, but the Extremists Weren't, by Amanda Moore, February 27, 2024, The Nation•  Undercover With the New Alt-Right, by Amanda Moore, August 22, 2023, The Nation•  Trump Inauguration Official's “Phony Charity” Allegedly Pocketed East Palestine Train Disaster Funds, by Amanda Moore, January 19, 2025, The Intercept•  Revealed:  The Operators Behind Four Major Neo-Nazi X Accounts, by Steven Monacelli and Tristan Lee, December 4, 2024, Texas Observer•  The GOP Mega Donor Behind The Big to Break Dallas City Government, by Steven Monacelli, October 14, 2024, Texas Observer•  Parker County ‘White Nationalist Fight Club' Leader Exposed, by Steven Monacelli, February 15, 2024, Texas Observer•  “The Federal Government Is Gone:  Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States, by Hannah Allam, May 29, 2025, ProPublica•  How MAGA Took Over America's 250th Birthday, by Amanda Moore and Dan Friedman, June 13, 2025, Mother Jones Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast & Radio Producer, Audio Editor, Sound Design, Narrator; Sarah Miller-Development Director, Nat Needham-Editor, Graphic Design emeritus; David Neuman-Senior Video Editor, and Rory O'Conner-Senior Consulting Producer. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Hamm v. Smith | 12/10/25 | Docket #: 24-872 24-872 HAMM, COMMISSIONER AL DOC V. SMITH DECISION BELOW: 2024 WL 4793028 THE PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI IS GRANTED LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHETHER AND HOW COURTS MAY CONSIDER THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF MULTIPLE IQ SCORES IN ASSESSING AN ATKINS CLAIM. CERT. GRANTED 6/6/2025 QUESTION PRESENTED: Like most States, Alabama requires that offenders prove an IQ of 70 or less to satisfy the intellectual-functioning prong of Atkins v. Virginia . This case was not close: Smith scored 75, 74, 72, 78, and 74 on five full-scale IQ tests. There is no way to conclude from these five numbers that Smith's true IQ is likely to be 70 or below. So the courts below required Smith to prove only that his IQ " could be " 70 and required the State to bring evidence "strong enough" to "foreclose" and "rule out the possibility" of intellectual disability. The first question presented is: 1. Whether, under a proper application of Atkins , a State can require a claimant to prove an IQ of 70 or less by a preponderance of the evidence. Evaluating multiple IQ scores is "complicated," and "this Court has not specified how" to do it. In the State's view, five scores are more accurate than one, and there are ways to account for that fact. The courts below disagree. The district court relied on Smith's 72 ± 3 to find that his IQ "could be" 69. On remand, the Eleventh Circuit's "holistic approach" asked whether Smith had scores of "about" 75 or less. Counting four out of five scores between 72 and 75, the court found "consistent evidence" that Smith "may" qualify as mildly disabled. Thus, the court "followed the law's requirement," in its view, to "move on" to Smith's adaptive deficits. The second question presented is: 2. Whether courts evaluating multiple IQ scores must find that every valid score of "about" 75 or less supports an Atkins claim. LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 21-14519

#139 Want ideas to add to your winter bucket list? You're in the right place! In this episode of The Everyday Bucket List podcast, we dive into five winter bucket list ideas to make the season more exciting, cozy, and memorable for adults, couples, and families. We touch on: Fun, lively games that turn any night into instant fun Relaxing DIY projects: Perfect for winter evenings Inspiring guides and books: Discover unique adventures In this episode, Karen shares five fun winter bucket list ideas to make the season more exciting and cozy. She talks about a wild, chaotic card game that's perfect for lively game nights and a relaxing DIY project that's both creative and comforting. Another idea is using inspiring guides and books to uncover unique adventures, travel spots, and hidden gems across the U.S. and beyond—whether you're dreaming up a far-away getaway or exploring what's right in your own backyard. She also dives into planning outdoor activities, like hikes and trips, with tips for making them realistic and fun. Throughout the episode, Karen highlights that these ideas can be enjoyed at home, experienced locally, or used to plan future travel adventures. Overall, the list blends staying in, getting creative, and mapping out future journeys to make winter feel a lot more memorable. CLICK THE LINKS BELOW OR CUT AND PASTE THEM INTO YOUR BROWSER:    Binge-listen to my Seasonal Bucket List playlist https://bit.ly/3SPiiVN  Binge-listen to my episodes about Hobbies playlist  https://spoti.fi/46Q9p4o   Listen to these episodes next: 20+ Classic Winter Bucket List Ideas for Everyday Life (Ep 70) 20+ Winter Holiday Bucket List Ideas to Do This Season (Ep 110) Create a Bucket List of Fun Things to Do in Alexandria, VA (Ep 19) 5 Bucket List Ideas to Boost Your Brain & Well-Being (Ep 94) RESOURCES: Grab a copy of  The Everyday Bucket List Book https://amzn.to/3vwxz2K If you'd like to support my work, check out https://buymeacoffee.com/edbl UNO No Mercy https://amzn.to/4pEPWM6 Simple Candle Making Kit https://amzn.to/4pEPWM6 Chunky Knit Blanket https://amzn.to/43XGjzI 50 States, 5,000 Ideas: Where to Go, When to Go, What to See, What to Do Book https://amzn.to/48crWKo 100 Hikes of a Lifetime https://amzn.to/48pU0ce Connect with me: Website: KarenCordaway.com Twitter (X): @KarenCordaway https://x.com/karencordaway Pinterest: @Everyday_Bucket_List https://www.pinterest.com/EverydayBucketList/ Tiktok: @Everyday_Bucket_List https://www.tiktok.com/@everyday_bucket_list If you're enjoying this podcast, please rate and review it here. Let me know what you like about it so I know exactly what content to keep creating for you. Disclaimer: Some of the outbound links financially benefit the podcast. Using our links is a small way to support the show at zero cost to you. I only endorse products, programs, and services I use and would recommend to close friends and family. Thank you for your support. I'll be updating my podcast descriptions and show notes. Thanks for your patience as I transition.    

The Hidden Lightness with Jimmy Hinton – At least six states are now formally discussing the abolition of property taxes, signaling a broader shift in how states approach funding schools, public safety departments, and local infrastructure. Critics argue that the logistics are complex. Supporters counter that for too long, homeowners have been forced into an unfair system where taxes never end, and...

1) Media vs. Military: Narco‑Boat Strikes Central assertion: Media outlets (especially The Washington Post) allegedly “slandered” the military with false reporting about a U.S. strike on a Venezuelan drug boat; Senator Tom Cotton is quoted saying everyone on the boat was a “valid target” based on intelligence. Details cited: References to NBC’s question about orders by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to target all individuals on the boat; Cotton responds that the operation aimed to destroy drug boats and that intelligence gave “high confidence” all aboard were traffickers. Discussion of the Law of War Manual and whether firing on “shipwrecked” persons would be illegal; the host’s questions are framed as attempts to undermine the military. Broader framing: The piece compares this episode to past controversies (e.g., the “Russia dossier”), alleging coordinated efforts by Democrats and media to undermine or criminalize Trump officials and intimidate service members. 2) Voter Rolls & Election Integrity Core allegation: The Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon (spelled “Harmei Dylon” in the text) purportedly announced DOJ findings of 260,000+ deceased individuals on voter rolls and thousands of registered non‑citizens; DOJ has sued multiple states to obtain voter list data. States mentioned: Lawsuits or actions described against Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and large cleanup activity in North Carolina (over 100,000 registrations) Author’s stance: Argues for voter ID, claims Democrats oppose roll cleanup for political advantage, and quotes Trump asserting elections are “crooked and rigged.” Please Hit Subscribe to this podcast Right Now. Also Please Subscribe to the The Ben Ferguson Show Podcast and Verdict with Ted Cruz Wherever You get You're Podcasts. And don't forget to follow the show on Social Media so you never miss a moment! Thanks for Listening X: https://x.com/benfergusonshowYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VerdictwithTedCruzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Monday, December 8th, A.D. 2025. 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 Pastor arrested for refusing to apologize for objecting to Drag Queen story hour Canadian Pastor Derek Reimer was arrested on December 3rd for refusing to write an apology letter to a Calgary, Alberta library manager for telling her that a library-sponsored drag queen story time event for children was misguided. At the time of Reimer's arrest, Artur Polawski, a Canadian-Polish preacher who previously spoke out against Canada's COVID lockdown, made this comment to the policemen. POLAWSKI: “You know why you're arresting this man for? He refused to apologize for his religious conviction. Are you aware of that?” POLICE OFFICER: “Thank you.” During Reimer's application to vary the conditions of his year-long house arrest sentence, which ends next month, he did not comply with a controversial court order, requiring him to write a letter of apology to Saddletowne Library manager Shannon Slater, reports Rebel News. The letter was due on November 28. Slater is the woman Reimer was convicted of alleged “criminally harassing” simply for explaining to her, on camera for 90 seconds, that drag-themed story hours for little kids, featuring men dressed like grotesque caricatures of women with big wigs and gaudy makeup, leads to the sexual grooming of children. REIMER: “They wanted me to apologize for that, and I won't apologize for it.” Reimer, who leads Mission 7 Ministries in Calgary, has insisted he cannot in good conscience apologize for warning about the drag event — an event aimed at kids and known in Calgary as “Reading With Royalty.” Reimer represented himself in court during his appearance. His submissions regarding his Canadian Charter right to freedom of religious expression and liberty of conscience were not accepted by Justice Karen Molle, who ruled them irrelevant to his application. REIMER: “It was such a travesty of justice today. It was such an egregious display of behavior through this justice where she wouldn't even let me finish my submissions. She walked out halfway through my submissions. “When she came back, I didn't even have an opportunity for rebuttal. She didn't want to hear me. I asked her, respectfully, ‘Do I have an opportunity to share the rest of my submissions?' and she says, ‘Well, I've deemed them irrelevant.'” At a prayer vigil outside Derek Reimer's jail cell, one woman expressed her anger over the injustice to him, his wife Mona, and their young son. LADY: “A man like Derek can go to the library, have a 90-second conversation with somebody, and then, all of a sudden, he gets arrested because he refuses to apologize for his Christian conviction. “This is a persecution of Christianity and Christians. This is a target to the Bible and God. This is good vs. evil. They want us to call evil good and good evil. [Isaiah 5:20] We cannot do it. They're going to continue to round up good men in society. “I'm Canadian. I was born in Canada. Ice runs through my veins, but the fire of God burns in my heart. And I want every Canadian to remember, as cold as it gets out here, it is our duty to go out and stand for the rights of the people who need it, like Derek.” The Democracy Fund is providing legal defense for Pastor Derek Reimer, who was assaulted, and then absurdly fined and arrested, while peacefully protesting the Drag Queen Story Time. Learn more at www.SavePastorDerek.com. That's www.SavePastorDerek.com. Samaritan's Purse plane hijacked in Sudan A Samaritan's Purse plane carrying medical supplies to South Sudan was hijacked by an armed man earlier this week, reports The Christian Post. At the time, the Cessna Grand Caravan plane, that operates exclusively in Africa, was en route to Maiwut, South Sudan, to deliver medicine to a mobile medical unit. The hijacker has been identified as Yasir Mohammed Yusuf.  He wore a fake reflective vest with the logo of an air charter company with operations at the airport, snuck aboard the plane, and hid in the rear cabin before takeoff. He demanded to be flown to another Central African country, Chad. After circling for several hours, the pilot told the hijacker that the plane was low on fuel and landed at Wau Airport, where Yusuf was taken into custody. A spokesman for Samaritan's Purse said, “We praise God that no one was seriously injured.” Supreme Court upholds new Texas Congressional map Late Thursday night, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the newly redrawn U.S. Congressional map in Texas which is expected to increase Republican representation in Texas's U.S. House delegation, reports The Epoch Times. The court's new unsigned order in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott was issued over the dissents of Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Jackson. Justice Samuel Alito filed an opinion concurring in the order. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch joined that concurrence. In August, Texas adopted a new congressional map. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state's 38 seats in the House of Representatives. Under the new map, Republicans hope to win up to 30 of those 38 seats, reports the Supreme Court blog. The League of United Latin American Citizens challenged the map, falsely claiming that it was the product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. Justice Alito does not claim that the Supreme Court is definitively endorsing the 2025 Texas map's legality on the merits.  But he does assert that (a) The impetus for the map was partisan, not racial and (b) The lower court misapplied the proper standard of review. Eight states could vote on abortion in 2026 And finally, pro-life advocates are bracing for a pivotal battle in 2026 as voters in eight states prepare to weigh in on ballot measures that could either safeguard legal protections for the pre-born or create a fake right to kill babies by abortion, reports LifeNews.com. In Missouri, the pro-life “Amendment 3” would prohibit most abortions while allowing exceptions for medical emergencies, fatal fetal anomalies, and cases of rape or incest within the first 12 weeks. Nevada's “Question 6,” certified after passing its first vote in 2024, returns for a required second approval to embed a “fundamental right to abortion” in the state constitution until fetal viability—typically around 21 weeks. In Idaho, the “Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Measure,” is aiming to overturn the state's abortion ban by establishing a so-called “right to abortion.” Montana's proposed “Definition of Person Amendment,” seeks to amend the state constitution to define a “person” as beginning at fertilization or conception, effectively granting legal protections to the preborn. Nebraska's potential “Establish Personhood of Preborn Children Amendment,” is in the early stages of the ballot qualification process to define a preborn child as a person in the state constitution, effectively banning abortion from conception with limited exceptions. In Oregon, with a signature deadline in July 2026, abortion advocates are circulating petitions to amend the state constitution by affirming a right to kill babies by abortions. Virginia's “Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment” advances toward a second vote in the 2026 session to embed a “right to reproductive freedom” in the state constitution. This would allow abortions up to birth in Virginia. And, in Colorado, pro-life advocates are currently before the Colorado Supreme Court with “The Right to Be Born” amendment that states: “Children have the right to continue living from the moment they are conceived.” Proverbs 31:8 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, December 8th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or 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.

(The Center Square) – States that refuse to turn over data on food stamp recipients will lose all SNAP funding, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Tuesday. “If a state won't share data on criminal use of SNAP benefits, it won't get a dollar of federal SNAP administrative funding,” Rollins posted on X. “Let's see which states stand for accountability and which are just protecting their bribery schemes.” USDA is combing through states' SNAP recipient data to reduce ineligible enrollment, but 21 Democrat-governed states have so far refused to provide that information, citing citizen privacy concerns. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

December 7, 2025; 8am: The Agriculture Department announced that it's planning to withhold federal funding for food stamps in Democratic-led states that have refused to share sensitive personal data about recipients. The group of Democratic states have argued against sharing the data because they are concerned it could be used for other policies like immigration enforcement. Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel are two Democrats who are fighting back against the Trump administration. They join “The Weekend” to discuss.For more, follow us on social media:Bluesky: @theweekendmsnow.bsky.socialInstagram: @theweekendmsnowTikTok: @theweekendmsnow To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

226: How do you turn a daydream into a life? Tricia Leach has been doing exactly that for the past decade. What began as a bold leap into full-time RV living became a family adventure that took Trish, her husband, and their kids through all 50 states and beyond—stories they've shared with a worldwide following through their beloved YouTube channel, Keep Your Daydream.But the journey didn't stop at the state lines. Along the way, Trish launched her own line of spice blends and published two cookbooks (including her newest, Tastes of the States). Now, she and her husband are dreaming even bigger: they've purchased a property that will soon become the Daydream Depot café, opening its doors in 2027.This episode dives into how curiosity, courage, and a willingness to start small can turn an ordinary life into an extraordinary one.Register for Nadine's Micro Memoir course on Jan 15!About Trish:Tricia Leach is the co-creator of Keep Your Daydream, a travel-and-lifestyle brand inspiring millions to chase adventure. She's the author of two cookbooks: Small Space, Big Taste and the latest Taste of the States, which celebrates America's regional flavors and the stories behind them. Whether she's on the road in the US in an Airstream or baking croissants at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Tricia reminds us that daydreams are meant to be lived.About Nadine:Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today's top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.

Synopsis:  Journalists Investigating Far-Right Extremism Face Growing Threats: As the Trump administration scales back investigations into far-right extremist groups, journalists on the front lines are facing increased attacks and threats from powerful figures.Make a tax deductible YEAR END DONATION and become a member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate. This show is made possible by you! Description: Today's guests have paid a price for their reporting on far Right extremists. But if journalists don't do this critical work, then who will? The Trump administration is deprioritizing domestic terrorism to serve a political agenda, scaling back investigations of far-Right extremism while redirecting DHS agents to immigration crackdowns. As programs tracking domestic extremism are dismantled and January 6 rioters are recast as "patriots," journalists find themselves on the frontlines — and their attackers are now people in power. Jordan Green is an investigative reporter for Raw Story whose coverage on far-Right extremism has spanned from Charlottesville to January 6. He is currently working on a book about militant accelerationism. Green also reported on a story we've covered extensively on the show: the attack on two power stations in Moore County, North Carolina. A correspondent for the Texas Observer, investigative journalist Steven Monacelli has been tracking extremism, disinformation, social movements, and the influence of dark money in politics. He received the The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award for revealing the identities of far-Right extremists, including government employees. Freelance journalist Amanda Moore embedded with the far Right in 2020 and has faced backlash from far-Right groups for her reporting. Her reporting at present focuses on ICE and Border Control, and her work has appeared in the Nation, Politico, and the Intercept. Join us for this chilling conversation on threats against journalists and the implications for democracy, plus a commentary from Laura.Guests:•  Jordan Green: Investigative Journalist, Raw Story•  Steven Monacelli: Freelance Investigative Journalist; Correspondent, The Texas Observer;  publisher of Protean Magazine, a nonprofit literary magazine; co-founder of Apprentice Creative Space•  Amanda Moore: Freelance Investigative Journalist Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Watch the episode released on YouTube; PBS World Channel December 7th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast December 10th.Full Episode Notes are located HERE.Music Credit:  'Thrum of Soil' by Bluedot Sessions, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper Support Laura Flanders and Friends by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/lauraflandersandfriends RESOURCES:Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:•  Power Grids Under Attack: The Threat is Domestic Terrorism – Not Drag Artists:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut•  What is Political Violence? Uncovering MAGA Militancy & Strategies to Protect Democracy:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut and Full Uncut Conversation•  Congresswoman Jayapal & Marine Vet Goldbeck: Standing Against the Administration's War on Civilians:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut and Full Uncut ConversationRelated Articles and Resources:•  I've Seen How the Neo-Nazi Movement Is Escalating. You Should Worry.  By Jordan Green, July 14, 2025, The Assembly NC•  Pentagon Marine tied to ‘6 bullets to head' threat against Pete Hegseth won't face probe, by Jordan Green, November 7, 2025, Raw Story•. Ex-Soldier linked to far-right groups pleads guilty to gun charge, by Jordan Green, September 17, 2205, Raw Story•  I Was Banned From CPAC, but the Extremists Weren't, by Amanda Moore, February 27, 2024, The Nation•  Undercover With the New Alt-Right, by Amanda Moore, August 22, 2023, The Nation•  Trump Inauguration Official's “Phony Charity” Allegedly Pocketed East Palestine Train Disaster Funds, by Amanda Moore, January 19, 2025, The Intercept•  Revealed:  The Operators Behind Four Major Neo-Nazi X Accounts, by Steven Monacelli and Tristan Lee, December 4, 2024, Texas Observer•  The GOP Mega Donor Behind The Big to Break Dallas City Government, by Steven Monacelli, October 14, 2024, Texas Observer•  Parker County ‘White Nationalist Fight Club' Leader Exposed, by Steven Monacelli, February 15, 2024, Texas Observer•  “The Federal Government Is Gone:  Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States, by Hannah Allam, May 29, 2025, ProPublica•  How MAGA Took Over America's 250th Birthday, by Amanda Moore and Dan Friedman, June 13, 2025, Mother Jones Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast & Radio Producer, Audio Editor, Sound Design, Narrator; Sarah Miller-Development Director, Nat Needham-Editor, Graphic Design emeritus; David Neuman-Senior Video Editor, and Rory O'Conner-Senior Consulting Producer. 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The drop dead gorgeous Corinne and Sabrina from Two Girls One Ghost (America's Most Haunted Podcast!) join us for a bonus episode this week! We cover ACTUAL GHOST EXPERIENCES from the gals in the States (one happened in Edinburgh) and we get into ghost stories from Appalachia and one in Summer Camp... Snuggle up around our campfire, this one is a real treat. We show the girls evidence of table tipping, we discuss a possible trip to Amérika, sleeping positions and seriously haunted houses... ENJOY HUNS! xoxox Want more of our American ghost sisters? Check them out here: https://www.twogirlsoneghost.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the ASC Podcast with John Goehle we discuss the latest news, including the delay in the Pre-authorization pilot and Anthem's new policy on out-of-network providers.   In our focus segment we discuss the final 2026 CMS ASC/HOPD Payment Rule    This episode is sponsored by Surgical Information Systems, RFX Solutions, Medserve and  Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies.  Notes and Resources from this Episode: Final Rule: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-20907.pdf Press Release about Final Rule: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-empowers-patients-boosts-transparency-modernizing-hospital-payments Fact Sheet about Final Rule: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/calendar-year-2026-hospital-outpatient-prospective-payment-system-opps-ambulatory-surgical-center Downloads for the Final Rule: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/prospective-payment-systems/hospital-outpatient/regulations-notices/cms-1834-fc ASC Quality Reporting web site: https://www.qualityreportingcenter.com/en/ascqr-program/ ASC Association Web Site (Join to get more information): http://ascassociation.org INFORMATION ABOUT THE ASC PODCAST WITH JOHN GOEHLE ASC Central, a sister site to http://ascpodcast.com provides a link to all of our bootcamps, educational programs and membership programs! https://conferences.asc-central.com/ Join one of our Membership Programs! Our Patron Program: Patron Members of the ASC Podcast with John Goehle have access to ASC Central - an exclusive membership website that provides a one-stop  ASC Regulatory and Accreditation Compliance, Operations and Financial Management resource for busy Administrators, nurse managers and business office managers.  More information and Become Member The ASC-Central Premium Access Program A Premium Resource for Ambulatory Surgery Centers including access to bootcamps, education programs and private sessions More Information and Become a Premium Access Program Members Today! Important Resources for ASCs: Conditions for Coverage: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div5&view=text&node=42:3.0.1.1.3&idno=42#se42.3.416_150 Infection Control Survey Tool (Used by Surveyors for Infection Control) https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107_exhibit_351.pdf Updated Guidance for Ambulatory Surgical Centers - Appendix L of the State Operations Manual (SOM) https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107ap_l_ambulatory.pdf https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/updated-guidance-ambulatory-surgical-centers-appendix-l-state-operations-manual-som Policy & Memos to States and Regions CMS Quality Safety & Oversight memoranda, guidance, clarifications and instructions to State Survey Agencies and CMS Regional Offices. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Policy-and-Memos-to-States-and-Regions Other Resources from the ASC Podcast with John Goehle: Visit the ASC Podcast with John Goehle Website Books by John Goehle Get a copy of John's most popular book - The Survey Guide - A Guide to the CMS Conditions for Coverage & Interpretive Guidelines for Ambulatory Surgery Centers 

Today we learn that 14 States are now targeted as they withhold Voter Rolls. In other news we see that the Assistant U.S. Attorney blasts Los Angeles after it votes to ban ICE Agents from wearing masks, and finally how the UK, EU and Japan can crash the Dollar. 00:00 SNAP Data 04:58 Voter Roll 08:38 ICE Activity 10:49 Corrupt Judges 17:00 Ukraine 20:21 Dollar

Today we learn that 14 States are now targeted as they withhold Voter Rolls. In other news we see that the Assistant U.S. Attorney blasts Los Angeles after it votes to ban ICE Agents from wearing masks, and finally how the UK, EU and Japan can crash the Dollar. 00:00 SNAP Data 04:58 Voter Roll 08:38 ICE Activity 10:49 Corrupt Judges 17:00 Ukraine 20:21 Dollar

Stories have a way of helping us recognize ourselves, and that's exactly what happened in my conversation with Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond. Nana shares what it was like to grow up in Queens, then suddenly move to a boarding school in Ghana, and how that experience shaped her identity in ways she's still uncovering today. As Nana describes her path from writer to author, her years of persistence, and the curiosity that led to books like Powder Necklace and Blue, I felt a deep connection to her commitment to keep creating even when the process feels uncertain. We also explored trust, partnership, and the lessons my guide dogs have taught me—all ideas that tie into the heart of Nana's storytelling. This conversation is an invitation to see your own life with more clarity, courage, and compassion. Highlights: 00:00:10 – Step into a conversation that explores how stories shape courage and connection. 00:01:41 – See how early environments influence identity and spark deeper questions about belonging. 00:02:55 – Learn how a major cultural shift can expand perspective and redefine personal truth. 00:23:05 – Discover what creative persistence looks like when the path is long and uncertain. 00:27:45 – Understand what distinguishes writing from fully embracing authorship. 00:33:22 – Explore how powerful storytelling draws people into a moment rather than just describing it. 00:46:45 – Follow how curiosity about history can unlock unexpected creative direction. 00:59:31 – Gain insight into why treating a publisher as a partner strengthens both the work and the audience reach. About the Guest: Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is the author of Powder Necklace: A Novel, the award-winning children's picture book Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky, the collection Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, and My Parents' Marriage: A Novel.  Tapped for her passion about Africa's rich fashion traditions and techniques, Brew-Hammond was commissioned by the curators of Brooklyn Museum's "Africa Fashion" exhibit to pen and perform an original poem for the museum's companion short film of the same name. In the clip, she wore a look from the made-in-Ghana lifestyle line she co-founded with her mother and sister, Exit 14. The brand was featured on Vogue.com. Every month, Brew-Hammond co-leads the Redeemed Writers Group whose mission is to write light into the darkness. Learn more about it here.Learn more at nanabrewhammond.com. Ways to connect with Nana**:** Instagram, Facebook and Threads: @nanaekuawriter Twitter: @nanaekua  www.NanaBrewHammond.com  ORDER my new novel   MY PARENTS' MARRIAGE Read 2023 NCTE Award Winner & NAACP Image Award Nominee   BLUE: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky   Read RELATIONS: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices , stories, essays & poems by new and established Black writers   Shop Exit 14 , all weather, uniquely designed, 100% cotton apparel sustainably made in Ghana About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson  01:20 And a pleasant, Good day to you all, wherever you happen to be, I would like to welcome you to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to have a conversation with Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond And Nana has a lot of interesting things to talk about. She's written books, she's done a variety of different things, and rather than me giving it all away, it'll be more fun to let her tell the stories and get a chance for us to listen to her. She is in Oakland, California, so she's at the other end of the state for me, and we were just comparing the weather. It's a lot colder where she is than where I live down here in Victorville, where today it's 104 degrees outside. And Nana, you said it was like, what, somewhere around 70. Yeah, it's 68 There you go. See lovely weather. Well, Nana, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here, and I want to thank you for taking the time to be with us. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  02:23 I feel the same way. Thank you for having me on your amazing show. And it's so wonderful to be in conversation with you. Michael Hingson  02:30 Well, I'm glad we get a chance to spend some time together and we can, we can talk about whatever we want to talk about and make it relevant and interesting. So we'll do that. Why don't we start with what I love to do at the beginning of these is to talk about the early Nana growing up and all that. So take us back as close to the beginning as your memory allows. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  02:52 Oh gosh, as my memory allows. Um, I so I was born in Plattsburgh, New York, which is upstate near Montreal, Canada. Michael Hingson  03:06 Been there. Oh, cool in the winter. I even crossed the lake in an icebreaker. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  03:12 But yeah, oh my gosh, wow. Okay, yeah. Bring back memories. Well, I was only there for till I was, like two years old. So, but I do, I have gone up there in the winter and it is cold. Yes, it is cold, yeah. So I was born there, but I grew up in New York City and had that really was sort of my life. I lived in New York, grew up in Queens, New York, and then at 12 years old, my parents decided to send me to Ghana to go to school. And that was sort of like a big, the biggest change of my life, like I know that there was a before Ghana and an after Ghana, Nana and so, yeah, wow. Michael Hingson  04:02 So, so when was that? What year was that that you went to Ghana? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  04:06 That was 1990 August of 1990 actually. Michael Hingson  04:11 So what did you think about going to Ghana? I mean, clearly that was a major change. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  04:15 Yeah, you know, I, you know, my parents are from Ghana originally. So when, you know, they would always talk about it. We, you know, back then phones, long distance phone calls to Ghana. I, you know, that was, that was the extent of my sort of understanding of Ghana, the food that we ate at home, etc. So going to Ghana was just sort of mind blowing to me, to sort of be crossing, you know, getting on a plane and all of that, and then being in the country that my parents had left to come to the United States, was just sort of like, oh, wow, connecting with family members. It was just, it was a lot. To process, because life was very, very, very, very different. So yeah, it was just sort of a wild eye opening experience about just the world and myself and my family that ultimately inspired me to write a book about it, because it was just, I just, it was a lot to process. Michael Hingson  05:25 Why did they want you to go to to Ghana to study? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  05:30 Yeah, so in the 90s, in New York City or and in the late 80s, there was the crack epidemic was happening, and we, you know, I mean, I remember, we lived in a house in Queens, and when we would, you know, part of our chores was to sweep in front of the house, you know, rake the leaves, that kind of thing in the fall. And we would, all the time there would be crack files, you know, like as we're sweeping up, and I didn't get there where we were young. My sister was, you know, a teenager. I was 12, and my, you know, my younger brother had just been born. He was just like a, like, a little under a year old. And I think my parents just didn't feel that it was a safe place for us as kids to grow up. And so, yeah, they wanted to kind of give us an opportunity to get out of, you know, that environment for a while. Michael Hingson  06:33 What did you think of it? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  06:35 I mean, you know, as a kid, you never want to leave what to you. So it was, I would say it was, it was, it was interesting. Because initially I loved it. I was like, I actually campaigned, you know, I was like, I really, you know, would like to stay in Ghana, but I didn't want to stay for, you know, the three years, which is what I what happened? I wanted to stay for maybe, like a year, kind of try it, you know, go to school for a year. I found it this really cool adventure, go to boarding school and on all of that. But my parents made the decision that we should just sort of ride it out and finish like I had to finish high school. And, yeah, so, so great for me. Michael Hingson  07:25 So you were there for three years, yes. So by you were 12, so by 15, you had finished high Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  07:32 school, yeah, because the system there is different. It's it was at the time the British system. So it was like a form system where I saw I entered in form three, because it was, it wasn't quite the equivalent in the sense that I probably should have started in form two or form one, but I was also an advanced student, and and they, the way the system there works is you have to take a common entrance exam from primary school to get into secondary school. So it's very difficult to get into school midstream there. So we had to go through all of these hoops. And, you know, there was an opening in form three, and that was higher than my, you know, than where I should have been, but I was advanced, so I was able to get into that school that way. You did okay. I assume I did. I mean, I struggled, which was interesting, because I was a very, you know, good, strong student in the States, but I struggled mightily when I first got there, and throughout, it was never easy, but I was able to manage. Michael Hingson  08:49 Now, did your sister also go to Ghana? She Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  08:52 did, and she was hopping mad. Michael Hingson  08:55 How old was she when you were 12, she was Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  08:59 17, so she Okay, yeah, almost about to go to college. She was really excited about, like, that portion of life. And then it was like, okay, she's in Ghana. She was hopping mad. Michael Hingson  09:13 Well, how long did she stay? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  09:16 Well, so she stayed for two years. Because what Ghana has is sort of like, at the time it was something called sixth form, which is, again, the British system. So it's sort of like a college prep in between the equivalent of that. So she basically did that in Ghana. Michael Hingson  09:38 Okay, well, and your little brother didn't go to Ghana, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  09:44 not yet, not not yet. You Michael Hingson  09:47 mean they didn't send him over at one year? No, okay, well, that's probably a good idea. Well, so looking back on it, what do you think about having spent three years in. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  10:00 Ghana, looking back on it, I think it was actually really, really good for me. I mean, it was that doesn't take away from the fact that it was very difficult. It was very, very challenging, not only academically. It was I was bullied really hard at this boarding school that I went to. The girls just kind of made my life hell. But what was amazing about it for me was that I had, I had exposure to Ghanaian culture in a way that I would never have had in the States. As I mentioned to you, Ghana was sort of that country over there when I lived in America. And you know, it existed as you know, family members coming to visit, long distance phone calls, the food that we ate, that you know, the accents that we had, things that made us different, and at the time, that was not cool. You know, as a kid, you just want to fit in and you don't want to be different. And going to Ghana was my opportunity to learn that, wow, I didn't have to be embarrassed or ashamed of that difference. There was so much to be proud of. You know, my family was, you know, a sprawling family, you know, my my grandmother owned a business, my grandfather owned a business, you know, it was, it was really, it was eye opening, just to sort of be in another environment. People knew how to, you know, pronounce my name, and I didn't have to, you know, just explain things. And that was really affirming for a 12 year old and a 13 year old when you're going through that, you know. So it was really good for me. And in Ghana is where I came to know Christ. I became a Christian, and it was something that spiritually, I was not really, I don't know, I just didn't really think about spiritual. I did on some level. But going to Ghana, it everything just felt so palpable. It was really like we're praying for this. And it happened, you know what I mean, like, yeah. It felt very Yeah. It was just a time in my life when life really felt very the mysteries of life really felt like they were open to me, Michael Hingson  12:37 interesting and so you clearly gained a lot of insight and knowledge and experience over there that you were able to bring back with you when you came Yes, yes. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  12:55 When I returned to the States, I was just, I think of myself, I guess, as a weirdo. Like, when I came back, I just felt so weird because I couldn't really, fully, you know, connect with my friends, because I had missed out on three years of culture, you know. And you You don't realize how much culture means, like, until, like, you know, you don't have those references anymore. I didn't know the songs that were popular. I didn't, you know, know about, I forget, there was some sort of genes that were really popular while I was gone. I didn't know what they were. I didn't have a pair of them. So it was just sort of this, this interesting time. And I was also young, because I had finished high school, and I was 15, yeah, my friends were, you know, sophomores, yeah, you know, and I was beginning the process of looking into college. So it was just a really isolating time for me and I, but also, you know, interesting and I, again, I say it was, it was ultimately in the in the wash of it. I think it was good because it enabled me to sort of, I guess, mature in a way that enabled me to start college earlier. And, you know, sort of see the world in a much different way. Michael Hingson  14:26 So when you went to college, what did you want to do? Or had you had you decided to start laying plans for a major and what you wanted to do post college, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  14:36 I did not know what I wanted to do. I kind of, I mean, I kind of thought I wanted to be a doctor. I thought I wanted to be a doctor. Like, all my life, growing up, I was like, I'm going to be a doctor. And I was a science student in Ghana, but I struggled mightily. But still, I went. I entered college with us. You know, the plans? To become a bio psychology major. And you know, I took two, three classes, well more than that, I did, like, a year of classes. And I was just like, This is not for me, not for me at all. But yeah, yeah. So it was, it was that was a little rough. Michael Hingson  15:21 Things happen. So what did? What did you go off and do? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  15:25 Then I ended up majoring in political science and Africana Studies, and it was, I remember taking a political science class my freshman year, and I, my my professor was amazing, but it was, it was interesting to me. I think looking back now, being able to think about the world in a way that was sort of linking history and politics and culture together. And I think that was interesting to me, because I had just come from Ghana and had been exposed to, like, sort of this completely different culture, completely different political system, and, you know, kind of having that, I that thinking, or that wonderment of like, wow, you can Life can be so different somewhere else, but it's still life, and it's still happening, but also having that connection as an American to America and what's happening there. And so holding both of those things in my hands when I got to college, I think I was, I just what I was really sort of intrigued by the idea of studying politics and studying culture and society, Michael Hingson  16:48 and that's what you did. Yes, I did. So you got a degree in political science. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  16:54 Yes, a double degree political science and Africana Studies. Michael Hingson  16:57 Africana Studies, okay, and again, that that's probably pretty interesting, because the the Ghana influence had to help with the Africana Studies, and the desire to to do that, and you certainly came with a good amount of knowledge that had to help in getting that as a part of your major. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  17:16 Well, interestingly, my focus was on African American Studies, because I really growing up as an immigrant, like with immigrant parents, their understanding or their their thought process wasn't necessarily, I don't know they weren't. They didn't really raise us to think about race or being black, because their consciousness wasn't about that. It was they were immigrants. You know what? I mean, they weren't thinking about that. So I was actually quite curious, because I did grow up in America and I was black, but I didn't understand, you know, the history of America in that way. And I remember, actually, when I was in was it the third or maybe it was the second or third grade, or maybe it was fifth grade. I did a project on the Civil War, and I remember being so interested in it, because I had, I just didn't, you know, it wasn't. I was so fascinated by American history because I really wasn't. I didn't, I didn't understand it in the way that maybe somebody who wasn't the child of immigrants, you know, might, you know, connect with it. So I was just Yeah, so I was really fascinated by African American history, so I ended up double majoring in it and concentrating on African American politics, which was really fascinating to me. Michael Hingson  18:55 Yeah, and there certainly has been a fair amount of that over the years, hasn't there? Yes, there has, but you can, you can cope with it and and again. But did your time in Ghana, kind of influence any of what you did in terms of African American Studies? Did it help you at all? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  19:15 Um, I, I don't know, because I don't because, because I think what, what I what, what Ghana helped me with was, I remember, I'll say this. I remember one time in Ghana, in class, we were reading a book by an author who had we were reading a play, actually by a Ghanaian writer who was writing about a Ghanian man who married an African American woman and brought her to his home. And there was a lot of clash between them, because, you know, they were both black, but they had different sort of backgrounds. Yeah, and I remember the teacher asking, because the. The the wife that he brought home, the African American woman, mentioned certain things about America, and no one in the classroom could answer any questions about America, and I was the only one who could. And I was, you know, very, very sort of shy in that in that school and in that context. But I remember that day feeling so emboldened, like I was, like, I can actually contribute to this conversation. And so maybe, you know, in on some level, when I got back to the states, maybe there was some interest in linking those two things together. But it wasn't as as is in life. It wasn't obvious to me. Then it was sort of just kind of me following my interest and curiosity. And I ended up, I didn't set out to be an Africana Studies double major, but I ended up taking so many classes that I had the credits. And, you know, I was like, Okay, I guess I'm I have two degrees now, or two, two concentrations, Michael Hingson  21:02 yeah, did you go and do any advanced work beyond getting bachelor's degrees? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  21:08 No, I did not. When I graduated, I initially thought I might get interested, get in, go to law school. But this was me again, following my muse. I realized that my real interest was in writing papers when I was in college. You know, give me a 15 page paper, 20 page paper, I was ecstatic. I loved writing papers. And I think that's one of the reasons, too, why I loved political science and Africana Studies, because we were assigned tons of papers, and it enabled me to sort of, you know, writing these papers enabled me to kind of think through questions that I had, or process what I was reading or thinking about or feeling. And so when I graduated from college, you know, I got, you know, a job, and was working, trying to figure out, Okay, do I want to go to law school? But at the time that I graduated, that was also during the time of, like, the.com boom, and there were a lot of online magazines that were looking for writers, and so I started, kind of, you know, submitting, and I got some some things published. And as that was happening, I was like, I think this is what I want to focus on. Michael Hingson  22:30 So when did you really know that you were a writer? Then? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  22:34 I mean, I don't I think that when I got back, when I started working, so I, ultimately, I got a job in advertising, and I was working, you know, as an assistant in the on the account side of things, but there was this whole creative department that, you know, got to, you know, come up with all of the, you know, the the taglines and write commercials and write jingles and all that kind of stuff. And I was, like, so fascinated by that, and that's what I thought, okay, I could if you know, I need a job, I need money, and I want to write, so maybe this is what I need to be doing. And so I ultimately did get a job as a copywriter and and I still, you know, do that work today, but I think I always knew that I needed to write, and I wanted to actually write about my experience in Ghana. So I remember, you know, I started kind of very fledgling. Would began to write into that, and I ultimately started writing that the book that became my first book, powder necklace, on the subway to and from work. Every morning I would wake up very early, write what I could get ready for work, right on the bus, right on the subway, you know, get to work after work. You know, repeat. And it took me many years, but that's what I did. And I wrote my first book, Michael Hingson  24:14 and that was published in 2010 right? Yes, it was, did you self publish? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  24:18 Or I well, I did not self publish. I was published by Simon and Schuster. Simon and Schuster's Atria Books, Washington Square press. And part of my process was I started just kind of, you know, the Internet. The Internet was new. It was something that was available to me. So I started just kind of Googling, how do you get published? And they said you needed a literary agent. So I started looking online for literary agents. And because I lived in New York City at the time, I would literally write my my query letters and like, hand deliver them different agencies. 90s, and one woman, after four years of looking, said, Okay, this sounds interesting. I'd love to meet with you. And I didn't believe. I was like, wow, I've been rejected for four years, and somebody actually wants this, and she was able to sell the book. And I was shocked. I was like, Simon and sister, okay? And at the time they bought it, the, you know, the America, the US, was going through the whole financial, you know, crisis, the recession, in 2008 so they held my book for a year, and then we began the process in 2009 and then they, you know, we were on track to publish it in 2010 Michael Hingson  25:46 Wow. Well, tell me about that book. Yeah. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  25:51 Powder necklace is a novel. It's a fictionalized account of my experience going to high school in Ghana. I when I went to school in Ghana. I went to a girls boarding school in the mountains of Ghana central region, and that school was going through a major water crisis. We did not, I mean, we the short story is that, I guess, because of we were on the mountain, the water pressure was very low, and so it was really difficult to get the water up that mountain. And they didn't have like enough, you know, tanks around the school and what have you. So we had one artificial well, and then we had, like, an underground well, and that was it. And the underground well wasn't always, you know, full of water to service the whole school. It was really difficult. So, you know, we had to bring in our own water, some. And then it became, if you had money, you could bring water. But if you didn't have money, you didn't and it was a very desperate time for for young girls without being not being able to take a shower on demand. And it was, it was wild. Michael Hingson  27:15 Where does the title powder necklace come from? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  27:19 So the title, I named it powder necklace, because, as I mentioned, taking a shower became this like symbol of the haves and the have nots. And, you know, all of this having water, really. And if so, what, what the girls, what we would do is, you know, after you've taken a bath, people would put tons of powder on their necks. And it was sometimes it was okay we didn't take a bath, so we're going to put powder on our necks to scented powder to cover the odor. But it was also a way, like if you had bathed, to sort of, you know, show off that you'd bathed. So for me, it was as I was reflecting on the on this as I was writing this story and reflecting on that whole experience, I thought, wow, it was sort of our way of holding our heads up, you know, in the difficult situation, and kind of making the best of it. So that's why I called it powder necklace, Michael Hingson  28:17 okay? And that was for children. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  28:20 Well, it was for young adults, young adults, but Michael Hingson  28:25 it was more writing than pictures. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  28:27 Yeah, it was a young adult novel. I actually, I mean, this was my first book. I really didn't know what I was doing. I just, I wrote the book and I didn't know that it was a young adult novel, until people were like, Yeah, you wrote a young adult novel. I'm like, okay, Michael Hingson  28:47 works for me. Well, what does, what does being a writer mean to you? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  28:54 Um, I think being a writer means to me being able to articulate. A time, a place, a mood, a moment, being able to articulate it, one for myself, but also to create a record that helps people who don't necessarily have that gift to be able to sort of put words to the experience of living at a time place, having a certain feeling about something. Michael Hingson  29:34 Do you think there's a difference between being considered a writer and being an author, are they the same, or are they really different? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  29:45 I do think that there is a difference, and not in a sort of, you know, highfalutin way. I think the difference is the fact that when you I think, like, when you asked me initially, like, when do you think that you you became. Became a writer. My My instinct is to say that I think I was always a writer, because I think if you write, you're a writer. And whether you're published or not, you're a writer. If you have that inclination, that gift, and you sort of invest in that gift, and invest and develop it. I think you're a writer, but I think with an author, I think then that's to me. I think of it as the business of being a writer, or the business of being, yeah, you are now sort of in business with your publisher. Publisher has invested a certain amount in you, and it then becomes a more sort of public facing thing. The work is not just for you anymore. The work is now being disseminated to a group and hopefully to as many people as possible, and you as the writer now have to figure out, like, how do I get to my audience? How do I maximize or expand the reach of this thing that I wrote? How do I connect with people around the story and build build a readership. And how do I ultimately, you know, the my desire and goal would be to live off of this. How do I make turn this into something that I can, I can do, you know, full time and live off of Michael Hingson  31:38 so you turn from a writer to being an author. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  31:42 I'm, yes, I am an author, and I'm and I'm hoping to get to the to the, you know, the point where I can do it 100% full time, and it be, you know, 100% lucrative in that way. Michael Hingson  31:56 So what are you doing now? In addition to doing books, I Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  32:01 also freelance as a copywriter, so I'm still copywriting, Michael Hingson  32:05 okay, I was wondering what you what you did? So you're doing, still marketing and jingles and all those things, yeah, well, I Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  32:13 I'm my focus. I do do that, but my focus is mainly in the digital space. So I write lots of websites and web ads and social media copy, and, you know, things of that nature, campaign work. Michael Hingson  32:33 Well, that's, is there anything that you've written or copy written that we would all know, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  32:42 yeah, I mean, I did. I've done a lot. I guess the maybe the most recent thing that I've done that people might be aware of, or some people might be aware of, is the Brooklyn Museum in New York, did a an exhibition called Africa fashion. And I, they created a short film to promote it, and I, they commissioned me to write an original piece for it. And so I wrote that piece and and performed it in the film. So, you know, people who are into that kind of thing a museum, that that museum might be aware of it. But I've also written for, I did a lot of work for L'Oreal Paris, USA, and I've just done a lot of beauty work. So many of the beauty brands you might be aware, you know, you might know, I've done some work for them, cool. Michael Hingson  33:45 Well, that, you know, you do have to do things to earn an income to to be able to afford to write until you can do it full time. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  33:53 Yeah, yeah. And I actually really love copywriting. I think it's an it's been an incredible teacher in the sense of how to how to crystallize an idea in very short, you know, in just a few words, how to convey emotion in just a few words. And also that storytelling is not just the words, it's how you deliver the story that's all part of it. So I think it's been an incredible teacher in that way. Michael Hingson  34:28 I know for me as a speaker, it is how you tell the story. And I've learned over 23 and a half years of speaking how to take people inside the World Trade Center and actually have them travel with me and do all the things that, and experience all the things that that I went through, and then come out of the other side and I and I say that because so many people after I speak somewhere, well. Come up and say, we were with you in the building. We were with you with everything that you did. And I appreciate that there is a real significant art to storytelling, and part of it is also, and I'm sure that this is true for you as a writer and an author, that part of it has to be that you have to actually connect with the audience. You've got to understand the audience. You've got to connect with them, and you have to bring them along, because they're not expecting to go with you. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  35:33 Absolutely, absolutely. And I will say that I started one of your books just the beginning of it, and I was just running with Roselle, and I was so taken, so absorbed by the first few pages of it. You really do immerse us. And I think that that's the best kind of of writing. You know, when you're able to kind of present material that people may or may not be familiar with, and make it riveting and really bring us into it, and then have us invest being, feel invested well. Michael Hingson  36:16 And I think the last book that we did last year live like a guide dog. I worked really hard to make sure that we were drawing people into the experiences, because every chapter is actually taking lessons from one of my guide dogs and also from Fantasia, which who is my wife's service dog, but each chapter relates to one of those dogs, and I wanted them to be environments where people again were drawn in and appreciate the dogs for what they are and what they do, not just some dumb Animal that comes along. Yeah. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  37:00 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, yeah, so interesting. I think there's, there's so much, I guess. I don't want to use the word, I guess what I want to say, there's a lot of mystery in in the sort of human animal interaction, and people just aren't aware of how powerful it is, and I can, I'm saying that I speak for myself, because growing up, actually, I was really, really scared of dogs and animals, all animals, and I so there's, there's two, there's kind of two stories I'll share. But one is when we were, when we were growing up, my parents, you know, were from Ghana. They wanted to eat goat meat. And at the time, you couldn't just go to a supermarket goat meat. So we used to go to a farm out in New Jersey that had goats, and we would have to go and have the goat, you know, slaughtered and, you know, cut up and all that kind of stuff for the meat. And I remember that whenever the hand would go into, you know, the pen where the goats were, the goats would just were. They would be so stressed out, they would like, you know, part like the ocean walked in, and if he picked, when he picked one out. There would be other people, other goats in the pen that would start screaming in agony, along with the goat that had been picked out. And I was just like, Oh my gosh. That must be his family members, like, or his loved ones. And it was so I remember that was so eye opening to me, like, wow. So I ended up years, years later, I wrote a short story, and I actually did some research on goats and how brilliant they are, and I was just like, wow, oh my goodness, I remember that so well. But I have a cat right now, and my kitty cat is just such a such a joy, like just sort of to build that relationship with, with my with my pet, is just such a beautiful thing, and how she just kind of, because I grew up really scared of pets, and I sort of inherited her when I got when I got married, you know, she's been very patient with me, like, because at first I was so skittish around her, and I could see her, kind of like rolling her eyes, like, I mean, you no harm. You can pick me up. It's all good. And she's just been so wonderfully patient with me. We've built that bond over time. Michael Hingson  39:31 Well, yeah, I have, of course, my my eighth guy, dog, Alamo, and stitch the cat. Stitch is 15 and a half and a real cutie pie. We rescued her. Actually, there were people who were living next to us, and he was moving out. His wife had died, and he just told the people who were moving all of his stuff out, take the cat to the pound. I don't want anything to do with it. And we, we said, Absolutely not. We'll find it a home. And then I asked, What the. Cat's name was, and they told me the cat's name was stitch. And I knew that this cat wasn't going to go anywhere because my wife had been, well, my wife had been a quilter since 1994 and a quilter is never going to give away a cat named stitch. Yes. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  40:14 Oh, I'm so glad stitch found a home with you. Michael Hingson  40:18 Oh, yeah. Well, we found a stitch. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  40:20 Oh, that's right, that's right. Michael Hingson  40:23 And, and, and so she's, she's got lots of personality. And so it really works out pretty well. No, no complaints. And I've always said, Whenever I get a guide dog, because my wife has always had cats, when I get a new guide dog, I've always said, and will continue to say, it has to be a dog that's been raised around cats and has no problems with cats. I have seen a couple of Guide Dogs, actually, that hated cats, and one almost killed a cat, and that's I will never tolerate that. Yeah, they have to get along. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely now, when we brought Alamo home, stitch had a few concerns about this dog in her house. She got over it when she decided that Alamo wasn't going to do anything to bother her and they they talk all the time now and rub noses and all that sort of stuff. Oh, that's so cool, yeah, but, but it's, it is great, and they, they bring so much joy and so many lessons to us that I think it was really important to learn. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  41:34 Yeah, yeah. You're reminding me the first dog, because my grandmother actually loves animals, and when I went to Ghana, she got a dog, and, you know, as a kid, so we got a puppy. And I remember the puppy was initially supposed to be a guard dog, but we I, I would feed the I would hand feed the dog sausages and just spoil the dog so much. Could not be a guard dog, so I loved that dog. Joshua, yeah, Joshua, Michael Hingson  42:07 well, but you and Joshua got along really well. On we got along great. One of the things that people sometimes ask me is if my dog trained to protect and the answer is no, they're not trained, and then they've said, Well, what would happen if somebody were to decide to attack you with the dog around? And my response will always be and rightly so, I wouldn't want to be the person to try that and find out what will happen, because much more than guarding, there's love. And I've always believed that dogs love unconditionally. I think trusting is a different story. They are open to trust, but, but you have to earn their trust. They'll love you, but will they trust you? That depends on you. And so it's it's really pretty cool, but I would not want to be the person to ever decide to try to attack us, because I, I am sure that Alamo would not tolerate that at all. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  43:10 Oh, not at all. How do, how do you or how have you built trust with your your pets? Michael Hingson  43:17 Well, a lot of it has to do with they want us to be the pack leaders. They want us to be their team leader. And so I have to set the ground rules. So, for example, no jumping on the furniture and all that. But again, it's also how you convey that. So if my dog is going to jump up on something and I don't want that, I'll say, leave it. And as soon as the dog obeys, I'll give the dog a food reward, a kibble, to let the dog know, and I'll also use a clicker, but I'll let the dog know I approve of what you did, not punishing them for, you know, something else. Yeah, so it's not punishment, it's positive rewards. I think that's extremely important, but also it is in the stressful times being very focused and calm. So if we're walking somewhere and we get lost, that is not the dog's fault, because it's my job to know where to go and how to get where I'm going, and it's the dog's job to make sure that we walk safely to get there, so if we get lost, that's on me. And what I can't do, or shouldn't do, is panic and become very fearful and upset, because the dog will sense that I have to stop and figure it out and continue to praise the dog, saying what a good job you're doing, and so on. And those kinds of things are the things that will, over time, build that trust. I think it takes a good year to truly build a trusting relationship that is second. To none. And that's the kind of teaming relationship that you want, whether it's a guide dog or any dog. And even as far as that goes, although they're different cats, yeah, but it's, it's all about building that relationship and conveying the command and conveying that you want to trust and be trusted? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  45:24 Yeah, yeah. I think you're you. What you said that really resonated with me is that they want to know. They want you to be the pack leader and the and part of that is, you know, you lay down the ground rules, but also you're responsible for them and their well being. And, yeah, that really, that really resonated with me. Michael Hingson  45:48 Well, so you wrote your first book, and then when did you write your second book? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  45:55 My second book came out in 2022, so it was a 12 year spread in my first book and my second book, Why so long? Oh my gosh, my book, I was the book I was working on, like to sort of follow, was just rejected for, for all that whole time, and I was, you know, in more and more distraught, and, you know, in despair about it. I didn't know what to do about it. And I actually, you know, I was actually reading the Bible, and I came across the fact that there was a curtain, a blue curtain, in King Solomon's temple. And I was like, why does it matter that the curtain was blue? And so I just started googling casually, and I discovered that there was a snail in antiquity that was harvested for the blue drops that it it secreted, or it secreted drops that were ultimately oxidized to turn blue. And I was like, what I've never heard about this? I started doing some more research, and I realized, like, oh my gosh, the color blue has such a fascinating history. Kids need to know about this. And so I wrote it really as a poem initially, but then I thought, you know, I really want to see if I can get this published. And I was able to get it published, and that became my children's book blue, which was such a bomb to my soul, because after sort of a decade of getting, you know, rejected, and, you know, close to a decade of getting rejected, this, this sort of beautiful, like, sort of knowledge, you know, I came across, But I was able to create a book, and it's just been a wonderful experience with the children's Michael Hingson  47:45 book, wow, so the full title of blue is, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  47:51 it's blue a history of the color as deep as the sea and as wide as the sky. Wow. Michael Hingson  47:57 That should be enough to get the book sold. But as you point out, there's, there's a lot of history, yes, and that, that's pretty cool. So it was, it was released in 2022 and they finally, the publishers finally bought into that, huh? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  48:16 Well, yeah, I mean, that wasn't the novel that I've been working on. So I was still working. I ultimately, I did sell the novel, but that was its own journey, and I ended up writing another book that became the book is called my parents marriage, and it is not about my actual parents marriage. It's a novel about a young woman for adult readers. It's my first book for adult readers, and it is about a young woman whose parents are in a polygamous union, and how they're they have a really turbulent polygamous union, and how that relationship kind of kind of cast a shadow on this woman's, you know, choices in relationships and marriage for herself. Michael Hingson  49:10 So you you publish that my parents marriage. You also did a collection relations. Tell me about relationships. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  49:18 I did. Yeah, so relations is an anthology of its stories, essays and poems that are by writers from all across the continent of Africa. So I have Egyptian poets and Libyan you know essayists and you know, Nigerian storytellers, just it was, it was a really amazing project to work on. I started working on it during August of 2020, which was sort of like I've heard it described as peak pandemic, right? You know, we were several months. Into lockdown, and you know, it became this wonderful way for me to kind of connect while I was sort of holed up in my apartment in New York. Michael Hingson  50:15 Okay, now, were you married by then? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  50:18 No, I was not. I had just started dating my now husband, and I was like, Am I ever gonna see this man again? Because he lived in California, so at that time, the planes were grounded. I remember we were, like, on the first, very first flights that were able to start, you know, that started and be on planes, there'd be like, four people on the entire plane. Michael Hingson  50:42 Yeah, hopefully you both weren't on planes going against each other at the same time. No, you did communicate a little more than that. Oh, good. Well, so you published. So when was well? What was relations published? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  51:02 Relations came out in 2023 okay, February of 2023, and my parents marriage came out in July of 2024. Just came out in July of 2025, Michael Hingson  51:14 which one the paperback of the paperback? Oh, okay. Have any of them been converted to audio Yes, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  51:23 all, but my first book, are audio books. So blue is an audio book, beautifully read, and then their relations, the stories and essays and poems are read by two speaking artists, and then my parents, marriage is is also wonderfully performed. So, yeah, they're all an audience. Michael Hingson  51:50 That's cool, yeah. So when you're writing, what, what's kind of the difference, or, how do you differentiate between writing for young people and writing for adults. There must be differences. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  52:07 Yeah, I think, I think with for young people, and the practical thing that I try to do is make sure that the vocabulary is are is familiar to them, mostly familiar. I like to put in a stretch word now and then to kind of get them to, like, get to the dictionary and find out what. But if I'm right, when I when I wrote blue, for example, knowing that, you know, the the age group is, the age spread is four to 888, year olds are in third grade. Four year olds are in pre K, so that's that's pretty big spread. So my sweet spot is first and second grade vocabulary words. Okay, it has to be something that they've been exposed to. So thinking of it in that way, the other thing too is breaking down concepts that are, you know, as adults, you know, we just assume that you know, or you can go look it up, but just kind of thinking it through. So if I'm talking about, instead of saying that, you know, there was a snail in antiquity who, you know, heart, you know, dyers were harvesting blue dye from these snails through after a process of oxidation. I wouldn't use any of those words. I would say, snail produced some drops that when exposed to the air and the sun turned blue. And so just sort of really, kind of being mindful of that, and also thinking very visually, writing, very visually. How can I create pictures with words that would be familiar to a child, that can sort of ignite their imagination? Michael Hingson  53:53 Yeah, I think it's extremely important to to deal with the visual aspects of it, but using words and really drawing again, drawing people in because if you just say, well, you can see this in this picture. That doesn't mean a lot, and you're also, I would think, helping to teach or create the concept that some people might some children might want to go off and write because they like how you say and what you say Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  54:24 absolutely and when I when I talk to kids, I go or visit schools, I invite them like I wrote about the color blue. What's your favorite color? These are some some things that I did to kind of learn about it. You can do these things to learn about your favorite color and write your own book? Michael Hingson  54:42 Yeah, yeah, it's, I think, so important to really draw people in and get them to think. And I think it's so much fun for me, I do some of that, but I have probably more of a chance. Challenge, because kids want to play with the dog. Yeah, it's all about the dog. I did a lecture at a K through six elementary school in San Francisco several years ago. I'm trying to remember what school it was anyway, and the teacher said you can only talk for about 10 or 12 minutes, because they just won't pay attention any longer than that. 35 minutes later, I finally ended the discussion, because they were so fascinated to hear me talk about what my dog did. And then I carried that over to how blind people work and function and all that. And the fact is, they were fascinated. The teachers couldn't believe it, but for me, it was a great lesson to know that it's all about creating these pictures that people can follow, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  55:53 yeah, and also to extending those pictures or those words into an experience for kids. Yeah, they really, they really appreciate, sort of like seeing it, kind of, you know, see if the having the concept come to life, yeah, way. And so I'm sure when they see your dog, or are able to interact with your dog, that must be so wonderful for them, Michael Hingson  56:22 but it's important for them to understand what the dog is all about. So by the time they get to interact with the dog, we've talked about things like, you never pet a guide dog in harness. This is what a guide dog does, and this is what they don't do. There are a lot of things to to cover. So it's great when I have the opportunity to really teach them. And sometimes we'll walk around a classroom and I'll show them what he does. Yeah, it's important to be able to do that. Oh, I love that. I love that. And he loves it, of course, all the way. So no question about that. He's you haven't lived until you've seen two or 300 kids all wanting to pet this dog. And the dog knows what to do. He's down on the floor with every appendage stretched out as far as he can go to maximize petting places, petting. Oh, it is so funny. I love that. He loves it. He's, he's, he's so happy. He doesn't care whether he'll do it more with kids even than adults, but, yeah, he'll do it with everybody. It's all about petting me and just remembering I'm the dog. I love that. Well, you've gone through a fair amount of time between books, and I'm sort of curious, what do you think about all the various kinds of changes and ebbs and flows that have come along in the book business, in the book publishing business and so on. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  57:56 Yeah, there have been a lot of changes. Um, I think, um, when my first book came out, like things like, you know, Instagram Bookstagram did not exist. There weren't many sort of podcasts or things of that nature. So I think that there is, there's definitely, there are more venues and more platforms to, you know, get the message out about the book. But I think also there is, it's also just hard. It's in some ways, it also feels in some ways more challenging to get the word out, because in addition to, like, yes, there are more venues in that way, regard, there are fewer book reviewers and fewer places to get a book reviewed, and there's a whole kind of interesting business about around getting reviews. So it's just not the same in that way. But then at the same time. I think what remains the same is connecting with readers. I think the most effective thing is, you know, writing a book that's good and then getting people who have read it and liked it to evangelize, to tell people I liked it, please buy it, or you should have you heard of and because at the end of the day, you know, that's what's going to, you know, give it some wind Michael Hingson  59:30 when thunder dog came out, and we did mention about reviews, and it actually has had, like well over 1600 reviews since it came out in 2011 live like a guide dog hasn't had, of course, so many yet, but every time I get a chance to talk about that book, I ask people to go review it and tell them why it's so important, because potential readers want to know what people think of the book. Yeah, for sure. For sure, it's. It really is important for readers to review and just be honest and say what you think. It's fine, but people should do that. For me, I think one of the biggest things that I see that publishers are doing less of is in a lot of ways, true marketing. You don't, you know, you don't see them doing nearly as much. Of course, I know it's more expensive, but to help create book tours or anything like that, they focus only on social media, and that's not the way to market the book. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  1:00:33 Yeah, I think, I mean, I've never worked inside a publishing office, so I don't know what actually, how they make these decisions and what goes on, but I do. I think what I have come to sort of think, how I've come to think of it, is the publisher is my business partner, sort of invested in terms of, they've given me an advance. They're going to do the turn key things like, you know, make sure the book gets reviewed by Publishers Weekly, or, sorry, Publishers Marketplace, or no Publishers Weekly. I was correct, and Kirkus review, Kirkus right, and all those kinds of things. And maybe they'll do a mailing to you know who they believe are the people that they need to mail it to. But outside of that, unless you know you, you know it's stipulated in your contract, or you know you are that high, yeah, you know that that celebrity author, or that that best selling author that they you know, are willing to put that money behind. You're working with some your publicist, who's been assigned to your book has is probably working on 10 other books. Can devote so much to it. And so what I've learned is thankful. I'm thankful that, you know, I have this publisher, but I also know that I need to do a lot of work on my own to get Michael Hingson  1:02:04 you've got to be your best marketer, yes, but, but there's value in that too, because you can tell the story whatever it is, like no one else, exactly, exactly. And so that's that's really pretty important, yeah, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  1:02:18 for sure, for sure. And you can be, you know that I think, also giving yourself permission to be creative, yeah, you know, how can you get the word out in really creative ways, like, again, the publisher. These are things that like, if there was, you know, people, there were many people dedicated to your book for this amount of time, they could kind of sit there and brainstorm and do all those things. But, you know, the reality is, in most cases, it's a small it's a lean and mean team. They don't have that bandwidth, so yeah, just kind of coming up with creative ways. And at times, what I have learned to do is, how can I, if I have an idea that is maybe low cost and but I can't necessarily do it on my own? How can I ask them for support, because they do have, you know, a little bit more resources, Michael Hingson  1:03:16 yeah, and, and the how is really pretty simple. Actually, you just ask exactly, exactly, and you know either they will or they won't, or you'll share it, or whatever. And I have found that same thing to be true. Well, Nana, if people want to reach out to you, how do they do that? If they might want to talk about you doing copywriting for them or whatever, how can people find you? Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  1:03:41 So my website is Nana brew-hammond.com, can you spell please? It's n, a n, a, b, r, e, w, H, A, M, M, O, N, d.com, and I have a newsletter there. So a newsletter sign up. So they can sign up to be a part of my newsletter and connect with me that way. They can also find me on Instagram, I'm at n, a, n, a, e, K, U, a writer on Instagram, and I'm also on Facebook at that same name, and then on Twitter, I am that without the writer. So, n, a, n, a, e, K, U, a, Michael Hingson  1:04:28 okay, cool. Well, I hope people will reach out and and I hope that they will read your books and like them and review them. I hope the same thing. Well, I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank all of you for listening and watching us today. We really appreciate you being here with us. I'd love to hear what you think. Please feel free to email me. I'm reachable at Michael H, I m, I C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I. B, e.com, Michael H i@accessibe.com love to hear your thoughts and love to get your your opinions. I would really appreciate it if you would give us a five star rating when you have the opportunity to review this podcast. We really value your ratings and reviews very highly, and definitely want to know what you think, but please give us a great rating. We love that. If you know anyone who wants to be a guest on a podcast, or you think ought to be a guest, we're always looking for guests. And Nana you as well. If you know anyone, we're always looking for more people to come on the podcast and tell their stories. So we appreciate it. If you'd let us know. By the way, you can also go to my podcast page, www dot Michael hingson, M, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s o n.com/podcast, that's another way to reach out to me as well. But definitely anything you can do to bring more folks to us, we value it very highly. And so with that, once again, Nana, I want to thank you for being here. This has been great. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  1:06:01 Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me on, and you are such an inspiration. And thank you. Michael Hingson  1:06:13 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Despite more than two years of intense negotiations, the Veterans Day deadline to agree on the allotment of reduced water supplies under the Colorado River Compact passed without a consensus. If the seven states divided into the upper and lower basins of the river cannot put forward a joint proposal by February 14, the federal government will institute its own plan—which will likely result in appeals to the Supreme Court.  Since the first federal shortage declaration in 2021, Arizona has volunteered to accept the largest cuts in shares of Colorado River water. Given that a third of its overall water demand has relied on the river's supply, leaders in the state are anxious to conclude the current negotiations so that their long-term planning for alternatives can proceed.  The Central Arizona Project (CAP) is a 330-mile manmade canal built to transport Arizona's portion of Colorado River water across the state. Approved for federal funding by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968, CAP is an outstanding example of the infrastructural might that has often been required for cities in the Ten Across region to thrive. The urban boom that began in Phoenix and Tucson in the 1980s and 90s would not have been possible without CAP water.  In this episode Duke Reiter and Terry Goddard, CAP Board president and former Phoenix mayor, discuss how the state has weathered uncertainties surrounding growth and water security in the past, and how leaders need to step up to meet the present moment...and the future.  Relevant Articles and Resources  “Former Phoenix mayor: Embrace bad news” (AZ Central, April 2015)  “40 Years of Central Arizona Project Water Use” (Kyl Center for Water Policy, December 2025)  “'Dream' of desalinating water to boost Arizona's supplies moves ahead with vote” (AZ Central, November 2025)  “The Peirce Report, Revisited: Greater Phoenix Grows Up” (Greater Phoenix Leadership)  1987 interview with Neal Peirce on PBS Horizon  Relevant Ten Across Conversations Podcasts  Latest Deadpool Projections Inject New Urgency into Colorado River Negotiations  Understanding Groundwater Risks in the Southwest with Jay Famiglietti  Checking in on Tense Colorado River Negotiations with Anne Castle and John Fleck  CreditsHost: Duke ReiterProducer and editor: Taylor GriffithMusic by: Gavin Luke and Pearce RoswellResearch and support provided by: Kate Carefoot, Rae Ulrich, and Sabine Butler  About our guest Terry Goddard served as Arizona attorney general from 2003 to 2010, addressing major issues, including the fallout from the mortgage crisis, border security, and consumer and environmental protections. While mayor of Phoenix from 1984 to 1990, Terry conceived and presided over the Phoenix Futures Forum, the largest city visioning process in the U.S., measured by the number of citizen participants and scope. He was also elected president of the National League of Cities in 1988. Today, Terry is serving his third term as president of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board, which oversees the Central Arizona Project.

Episode 310 - Neither Happiness Nor Virtue Are Binary StatesWelcome to Episode 310 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world. Each week we walk you through the Epicurean texts, and we discuss how Epicurean philosophy can apply to you today. If you find the Epicurean worldview attractive, we invite you to join us in the study of Epicurus at EpicureanFriends.com, where we discuss this and all of our podcast episodes.       We'll pick up this week at [Section 14 of Part 5](https://handbook.epicureanfriends.com/Library/Text-Cicero-TusculanDisputations/#xiv_2) of Tusculan Disputations, continuing to look at how the Stoic/Platonic philosophers use logic to deduce that since only virtue is within our control, happiness comes from exclusively relying on virtue, excluding all else from being considered to be truly good.https://www.epicureanfriends.com/thread/4829-episode-310-td38-neither-happiness-nor-virtue-are-binary-states/

Mina Shirakawa talks about her whirlwind AEW journey – from her surprise debut saving Mariah May in borrowed gear to adjusting from Japan's quiet, focused crowds to America's loud, expressive audiences. She shares the chaos of finding out about major matches with Mercedes Moné and Toni Storm hours before showtime, how her rivalry with Toni transformed into the “Timeless Love Bombs,” and what winning the ROH Women's World TV Title meant to her. Mina also opens up about moving to the States, rescuing her Orlando street cat, and her biggest dream in AEW: becoming champion on a major stage with her parents watching for the first time. AEW Unrestricted is sponsored by Upper Deck. The AEW SP Game Used set is out now – packed with autographs, tech cards, and real match-used relics. Get it today! https://bit.ly/3XpHOmx AEW Unrestricted video episodes available Mondays at 1pm Pacific on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ4e4Lb87XTzETPZyj7nZoJ4xPBjKdzgy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

'Avatar: Fire and Ash' cast join 'GMA'; Doctor sentenced in drug-fueled death of Matthew Perry; '50 States in 50 Weeks': Alabama Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hugh broadcasts from the American Legislative Exchange Council's 2025 States & Nation Policy Summit in Fort Worth, Texas. Hugh talks with: Texas Senator Phil King, ALEC Board Member North Carolina Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger Iowa Speaker Pro Tem John Wills, ALEC Board Member Texas Tech University Chancellor Brandon Creighton Kansas Speaker Dan Hawkins, ALEC State Chair for Kansas Jonathan Williams, ALEC President & Chief Economist Michigan Speaker Matt Hall, ALEC Board Member Florida State Rep. Berny Jacques Chaplain Rich Stoglin, President, the Tarrant County Texas Fredrick Douglass Republicans. Ohio Senator Jerry Cirino, Finance Chair Missouri Senator Nick Schroer Florida State Rep. Demi Busatta ALEC Incoming National Chair for 2026 Texas Senator Paul Bettencourt, ALEC State Chair for Texas See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

'Avatar: Fire and Ash' cast join 'GMA'; Doctor sentenced in drug-fueled death of Matthew Perry; '50 States in 50 Weeks': Alabama Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we look ahead to the 250th anniversary—the semiquincentennial—of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, communities and commissions across the United States are asking big questions: How should we commemorate this historic milestone?
What's the right balance between celebration and education? And how can this moment bring people together across political divides, generational gaps, and complex histories? To explore these questions, I've invited my friend, colleague, and Clio Digital Media co-founder Karin Wulf to guest host a special conversation with two people who are leading the way: Gregg Amore, Chair of the Rhode Island 250 Commission, and Carly Fiorina, Chair of the Virginia 250 Commission. Together, they reveal how their states are planning commemorative programs that center civic engagement, local storytelling, and inclusive history—and how the 250th can be more than a moment. It can be a spark. Karin's Website | Book |Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/427 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00  Introduction00:01:10  Welcome & Episode Overview00:04:45  Guest Introductions00:07:32 Virginia & Rhode Island's Commemorative Plans00:11:21 State Efforts and Collaborations00:16:32 Engaging Young People00:20:11 Educational Initiatives00:22:13 Ken Burns's The American Revolution00:24:30 Navigating the Political Climate00:32:05 Reflections on the Bicentennial00:35:00 Challenges to Achieving Commemorative Goals00:42:51 Conclusion and Future Opportunities00:46:53 Final ThoughtsRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger PictureCanada just folded and is now doing what Trump wants in regards to steel and aluminum, Trump has all the leverage. The Dept of Labor confirms that Americans were being replaced in the work field. Trump is set to push homeownership thru the roof with a  50 year mortgage. Trump has the solution to the affordability crisis that the [CB] created, get rid of the [CB]. Trump is dismantling the [DS] world wide. The criminal syndicate was setup in many countries to make it virtually impossible to dismantle. But it is being done through peace through strength. The [DS] system is being strangled and soon those who have been held captive will be removed or come to heel. Trump is now setting the stage to bring the [DS] to justice. He has now voided out 92% of Biden orders, which means judges, other nominees will be removed. Justice is coming and the [DS] players are panicking. Economy Interesting Development – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Announces New Limits on Foreign Steel and Aluminum, With New 25% Tariff on Steel Derivative Components   Prime Minister Mark Carney is conceding defeat to President Trump and positioning the Canadian economy to be compliant with U.S-Mexico trade regulations. However, Carney is not saying that, indeed he cannot; he's spent over a year telling Canadians that President Trump's trade and economic demands are not going to be accepted by Canada.  However, what he is factually doing is exactly what President Trump has demanded. Prime Minister Carney is saying he is restricting Steel and Aluminum imports from non-free trade agreement countries, and he is lowering the tonnage of Steel and Aluminum that will be permitted for import.  His claim is that this approach will help drive up “domestic demand” for Canadian Steel and Aluminum, but that's ancillary to the real objective. President Trump has demanded Canada stop importing cheap steel and aluminum mostly from China; including manufactured component goods that are made with steel and aluminum (think autos).  Canada would not stop, because they could not stop.  Their manufacturing base, green energy and climate change economy, is more of a component assembly system now. So, President Trump hit Canada with a 35% tariff, and things got ugly.  In June Trump raised the tariff to 50%. The back and forth has gone on all year. Carney now announces restrictions on imported steel and aluminum, as well as restrictions on imported derivative goods that come from steel and aluminum, in combination with a spending plan to bolster the Canadian steel and aluminum manufacturing base.  This ends up shifting the Canadian industrial sector to making steel and aluminum products without Chinese import dependency. Source: theconservativetreehouse.com https://twitter.com/USDOL/status/1994841467345670569?s=20 https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1994556411439976468?s=20 (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1994918010197278811?s=20 https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent/status/1994478437042438573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1994478437042438573%7Ctwgr%5Ee930cbbc1182e7871f84fda0a85e43c6c0f2ca9c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F11%2Ftreasury-working-cut-benefits-money-transfers-illegal-aliens%2F   are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens, covering the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Saver's Match Credit. https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1994064168115478599?s=20 https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1994844057110262116?s=20   Prices and Taxes are DOWN. Education is being brought back to the States (where it belongs!), and our Military, and Southern Border, is the strongest they have ever been. The USA is respected again, respected like never before. All of this was brought about by Strong Leadership and TARIFFS, without which we would be a poor and pathetic laughingstock again. Evil, American hating Forces are fighting us at the United States Supreme Court. Pray to God that our Nine Justices will show great wisdom, and do the right thing for America! Political/Rights https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1994796365461758352?s=20   public that illegal entry violates 8 U.S.C. §1325 and reentry after deportation violates §1326, a felony the left avoids acknowledging. He said 60–70% of illegal aliens arrested in immigration sweeps carry prior criminal or immigration histories. With DHS logging over 527,000 deportations in 2025, Trump's enforcement surge is targeting high-risk offenders. Bovino said the radical left simply ignores the law because it undermines their narrative. DOGE Trump White House Unleashes Media Bias Tracker to Crush Fake News Narratives  The Trump administration has launched a brand-new “Media Bias Tracker” directly on the White House website. Unveiled on Friday, this tool is designed to call out and document the endless stream of false, misleading, and biased stories peddled by outlets that have spent years attacking President Donald Trump and his agenda. According to the White House, the tracker serves as a “record of the media's false and misleading stories flagged by The White House.” The tracker highlights “offenses” from major news publications, including an “Offender Hall of Shame” and a leaderboard ranking the worst culprits in spreading misinformation. Described as “a race to the bottom,” this feature ranks outlets based on repeat offenses. Topping the Hall of Shame list is The Washington Post, followed by rebranded leftist mouthpieces like MSNBC (now MS NOW), CBS News, CNN, The New York Times, Politico, and The Wall Street Journal. In response to their top spot, a spokesperson for the Washington Post said, “The Washington Post is proud of its accurate, rigorous journalism.” The page also features a “Media Offender of the Week,” currently blasting outlets for exaggerating Trump's calls to hold Democrats accountable for their seditious behavior. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/newstart_2024/status/1994506579660689812?s=20  entire Silicon Valley “tech wife mafia” and how they were used. Her exact words (full clip attached): “I don't think many of the tech mafia wives realize… they were used to set the groundwork for what Klaus Schwab calls The Great Reset. Their money especially was being conscripted through a network of NGO advisors, Hollywood, Davos, and their own companies. A really small group of people… completely blind to how their groundwork is being used to enable these Great Reset policies.” Then she turns the knife inward: “These women find their meaning through philanthropic work. I really believed I was helping Black communities and indigenous communities rise up. But now the problems have gotten worse. Crime worse. Mental health worse. The whole model is broken. At the end of the day they always go: ‘But climate change.' Social justice + climate change — it gets progressive women 100% of the time.” She even says many now believe the biggest “climate change issues” are actually geoengineering issues. This isn't some random podcast bro. This is a woman who lived in the mansions, sat on the boards, flew private to Davos parties… and is now saying: “We were the useful idiots.” Geopolitical https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1994936233878065399?s=20   with a legally possessed shotgun at a Florida shooting range, a British man was arrested, locked in a cell overnight, interrogated, and lectured that he “must understand how posts make people feel.” Police seized his computer and phone, wiping out his ability to work. Weeks later, all charges were quietly dropped because they were baseless from the start. Critics say the ordeal proves the UK has turned social media into a surveillance trap where innocent people are punished by process alone. https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1994781531244474604?s=20   terrorizing AfD. Antifa extremists descended on an AfD youth event in Giessen, attacking attendees and Bundestag member Julian Schmidt in a coordinated effort to intimidate the rising populist party. Germany has faced a wave of Antifa terror: doxxing AfD addresses, firebombing cars and threatening families. Mike Benz says Antifa is part of a transnational Marxist network weaponized since Trump's 2016 victory to shield globalist interests by attacking democratic populist movements across the West. Violence increases as AfD gains support. War/Peace   roads. His chief opponent is Rixi Moncada, who says Fidel Castro is her idol. Normally, the smart people of Honduras, would reject her, and elect Tito Asfura, but the Communists are trying to trick the people by running a third Candidate, Salvador Nasralla. Nasralla is no friend of Freedom. A borderline Communist, he helped Xiomara Castro by running as her Vice President. He won, and helped Castro win. Then he resigned, and is now pretending to be an anti-Communist only for the purposes of splitting Asfura's vote. The people of Honduras must not be tricked again. The only real friend of Freedom in Honduras is Tito Asfura. Tito and I can work together to fight the Narcocommunists, and bring needed aid to the people of Honduras. I cannot work with Moncada and the Communists, and Nasralla is not a reliable partner for Freedom, and cannot be trusted. I hope the people of Honduras vote for Freedom and Democracy, and elect Tito Asfura, President!   potential, of Honduras! Additionally, I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly. This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success. VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA FOR PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE HONDURAS GREAT AGAIN! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/1994907658021998933?s=20   a crisis. International law has no force here. Your authority, mine, and that of the scholars you cite sits on the same level: none. It is all gatekeeping dressed as expertise. The video urging people to ignore “illegal orders” made your intent clear. You stretch the term until it covers anything that suits your goal of weakening the security apparatus and pushing Trump out of office. People see that. They see you. That you all are walking free and making those posts trying to advance a color revolution is the ultimate proof that Trump is not an authoritarian… he is far too lenient. https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/1994807665147744671?s=20 https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/1994552598142038358?s=20  intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.” The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization. The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them. Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command. Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narco-terrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back. https://twitter.com/TimOnPoint/status/1994570386239852571?s=20   is probably closer to the SECWAR's office in the Pentagon. The Washington Post begins writing the story. C) a Soros-funded NGO puts billboards up encouraging military personnel to report unlawful orders… although there are no unlawful orders identified. D) out of nowhere, the Seditious Six – which includes one presidential hopeful and one former IC member who had direct involvement in the original attempt to destroy Trump – delivers to social media a “don't give up the ship” video – a public service announcement to all personnel to refuse unlawful orders. *** the video was funded and produced a Soros funded NGO. E) Senator Slotkin, the former CIA ghoul, goes on the news and is very careful to state that she can't identify any unlawful orders that have been given. F) boom, the WaPo delivers the story claiming unlawful orders. G) Friday evening, everyone on the left hits social media – with paid amplification – about the unlawful orders. H) the Sunday shows will be filled with calls for war crimes charges, impeachments, and resignations. All a coincidence, right? None of it was coordinated, right? Not all civil wars happen on the battlefield. https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1994553202767700041?s=20  https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1994957376764424644?s=20   House through a number of channels, with ongoing discussions about what future communication between the two countries might look like, multiple administration officials told CNN. Venezuela Issues Statement After President Trump Orders All Aircraft to Avoid Regime-Controlled Airspace   In Venezuela's statement, the regime accused the United States of attempting to “intimidate Venezuela” and framed Trump's announcement as an attack on Latin America as a whole. The press release ignored every factual concern raised by U.S. intelligence, including increased military involvement in cocaine transport and the regime's long-standing partnership with the Cartel of the Suns. Today's outburst from the Maduro regime is another example of Venezuela deflecting blame while its role in regional crime expands. Meanwhile, President Trump's position is clear: protect international aviation, disrupt drug networks, and stop allowing a criminal regime to use its airspace as a staging ground. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/GhostEzraQ/status/1994769781073867174?s=20   Pentagon for decades. Who do you think really armed the Venezuelan “gangs” that flooded swing states right before the election? Who flew the untraceable Gulfstreams full of product and kids out of Maturín and Maiquetía while Biden looked the other way? Same people who ran Iran-Contra, fast-forward 40 years. Trump isn't just closing airspace, he's cutting the oxygen to the deep-state money laundering superhighway that's been funding black sites, color revolutions, and child trafficking networks across the hemisphere. Land operations begin “VERY SOON.” Translation: The white hats are moving in to seize the servers, the tunnels, and the ledgers the mockingbird media swore didn't exist. The storm over Caracas is about to expose everything. https://twitter.com/xAlphaWarriorx/status/1994912948201165251?s=20   just talk…he'll detonate his/deep states entire network. Many are struggling with discernment, but the strategic reality is simple: Maduro hasn't controlled Venezuela for years. The deep state held the reins. Then the guardians caught him, flipped him and weaponized the façade of control against the deep state. They may publicly acknowledge it; they may bury it. But the aftermath will speak for itself. In the days immediately following his surrender or “death,” watch the information floodgates burst wide open…especially involving U.S. elections. The timing will be surgical. The disclosures will be coordinated. And the narrative collapse will be unmistakable. Zelensky’s Sacked Top Aide ‘Escapes’ To Front-Line To ‘Hide’ From Corruption Investigators  Andriy Yermak, the man who until just over 24 hours ago was Zelensky’s right hand man and the president’s top most powerful aid as chief of staff, and Ukraine’s appointed chief negotiator with the US on the peace process, is going to the front lines, apparently to “fight”. After his home and offices were raided by Ukraine’s anti-corruption investigators Friday related to the ongoing massive energy sector kickback scandal, Yermak announced by text message to The New York Post, “I'm going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals.” He followed with, “I am an honest and decent person.”  According to the lengthy analysis [emphasis ZH]:  Zelensky's fixer, enforcer, gatekeeper, and indispensable ally, isn't a “corruption scandal.” It's Washington slapping the table. NABU, the U.S.-trained attack dog of Ukrainian politics, didn't raid the Presidential Office by accident.It raided to remind Zelensky that the war isn't his to command, the peace process isn't his to veto, and the leash around Bankova Street is held in Washington, not Kiev and certainly not European chihuahuas. Because the real story isn't Yermak's resignation. The real story is the West turning on itself over how to end a war Russia has already won.      Source: thegatewaypundit.com Ukrainian Delegation Arrives in the US To Meet Secretary Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner for Peace Talks  Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday (29) that a peace talks delegation was on its way to the United States. The Ukrainian team, now headed by former Defense Minister and Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, will continue talks today (30) on an agreement to end the war with Russia. Zelensky expects that these talks, to be held tomorrow (30) to develop upon the previous meeting in Geneva. “U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will meet Ukrainian officials on Sunday in Florida, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.” Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1994835005357576325?s=20 https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1994938711729938444?s=20 Medical/False Flags https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1994907732890325212?s=20   let millions of illegal aliens pour into the country? But sure, keep acting like Americans are too stupid to notice what's actually going on. You really think people are that dumb, don't you? https://twitter.com/BretWeinstein/status/1994904606913302874?s=20  medicine, the debut of a lethal new vaccine platform, shredding of the First Amendment, and robotic pens used to brazenly pardon criminal masterminds—all lurk just below the surface. Thanks to @VPrasadMDMPH for stepping up.    win the Midterm Elections in RECORD NUMBERS. I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT. TALK LOUDLY AND PROUDLY! President DJT https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1994939951293895094?s=20 [DS] Agenda  President Trump's Plan https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1994543710437007421?s=20   DC) is the basis of the contempt investigation. Kash Patel says all contents of FBI Trump-Russia burn bags will be made public FBI Director Kash Patel says the contents of the burn bags containing Trump-Russia documents discovered at the FBI building will be made public one way or another. “You're going to see everything we found in that room in one way or another, be it through investigation, public trial, or disclosure to the Congress,” Patel told The Epoch Times in an interview with reporter Jan Jekielek that will air Saturday. The bureau said that the classified information was stashed away in a room at FBI Headquarters and was related to Crossfire Hurricane and also other FBI inquiries into President Donald Trump and his allies. Patel previously said that the FBI had found “several bags” containing evidence related to the Russiagate investigation. One electronic communication made public by the Justice Department in court filings related to the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey earlier this month indicated the FBI began a preliminary investigation into the discovery this summer. Source: justthenews.com https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1994913285259272493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1994913285259272493%7Ctwgr%5Ef8c44fa6520e3b2f5c1b1f5de5158fa619710e1c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fnick-arama%2F2025%2F11%2F29%2Fpass-the-popcorn-kash-patel-has-intriguing-news-about-comey-case-and-those-burn-bags-n2196663   tuned for right after Thanksgiving. And you’ll see multiple responses…” @FBIDirectorKash https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/1994967913636528531?s=20 https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1994582862176149809?s=20  fundraisers. Limiting events. Stage-managing appearances. Reducing his workload. Avoiding interviews. Even recruiting Hollywood directors Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to help with the State of the Union. They controlled everything, including who could see him. This wasn’t a presidency. It was a production. The 91-page committee report found Biden’s “inner circle” took steps to “meticulously stage-manage” his public appearances, lighten his private workload, and block lawmakers from talking to him directly. Three key aides took the Fifth Amendment when questioned, including White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who refused to answer: “Were you ever told to lie about the president’s health?” Former Chief of Staff Jeff Zients admitted under oath he didn’t even know who operated the autopen that signed approximately 92% of Biden’s documents. Trump has now declared all autopen-signed executive actions “NULL AND VOID” and threatened Biden with perjury charges if he claims he authorized them. The same people who called you a conspiracy theorist for questioning Biden’s fitness were stage-managing his every movement. They knew. They all knew. And they lied to your face for four years. TIMESTAMPS: 0:22 – Panicked Donor Calls Chief of Staff Immediately After Biden Fundraiser 1:33 – Zients Confession: “Age is the Most Difficult Issue” 2:37 – Why Spielberg and Katzenberg Were Secretly Brought In 5:30 – The Makeup and “Discipline” Strategy to Hide Biden’s Decline 7:05 – The Real Reason Biden Dodged Super Bowl Interview 9:58 – Staff Ordered to Reduce His Steps After Multiple Falls Source:   directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. Thank you for your attention to this matter! https://twitter.com/JoeLang51440671/status/1994860387108340010?s=20 (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");