Podcasts about that america

In May 2016, I surprised my daughter for her 18th birthday with a getaway to New York City to see her favorite play, Hamilton, in the Richard Rogers Theater with the original cast. We would fly out for a day and then fly back. It would cost way too much money, I'd get my wallet stolen, but I only had one daughter, and you only turned 18 once.We were both obsessed with Hamilton. We knew every word of every song. It lived inside of us. It wasn't just that it was brilliant, funny, moving, inventive and original. It also reminded all of us what this country's founding principles were about. Best of all, it made learning history fun and cool. It was Schoolhouse Rock for a new generation.When taking long road trips, we would blast the soundtrack, screaming every word. We'd start at the beginning and run through the entire play. Our inside jokes were witty asides from the play that we'd quote to each other so often that we had to force ourselves to stop because, after years of this, it was getting old.By casting so many diverse people to play historical figures and making it a hip-hop musical, Hamilton was a bridge to the Black communities that were so often excluded from the Broadway experience and elite culture in general. Hamilton was for everybody, I thought. That was eight years ago.As a devoted Obama supporter and, in 2016, a Hillary Clinton loyalist, I was overjoyed at the prospect of the first woman president to follow the first Black president. Heading into the election, I wrote this piece:I wrote:The election of Hillary Clinton is one of the most important battles in the war between two Americas. One America was built and maintained exclusively by and for white men. That demographic has awakened extremists on the left and right. The other America redeems the promise of possibility for everyone, no matter their status or skin color or class. That America has produced the nation's first black president who not only lasted one term, but two, and who now promises to make history by helping elect another Democrat to follow his two terms. Electing Hillary Clinton doesn't just say, “We're electing a woman for the first time in our country's history.” It also dares to say the first black American president was so successful he did the impossible by electing his chosen successor.I didn't notice back then that the Clinton campaign rented the entire Richard Rogers theater as a fundraiser. Tickets start at $2,700 a pop. I would never have thought twice about it. We were on the right side. It was an “all-of-society” effort to stop Trump. We were the good guys fighting the good fight, so why wouldn't Hamilton be used that way?Lin-Manuel Miranda's entire career exists only because of Barack Obama. 15 years ago, in 2009, in Obama's first year in office, Miranda performed this at the White House:Over the years, Obama would co-opt the reputations and careers of major artists like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks, and, yes, Lin-Manuel Miranda. They would become ride-or-die for the president, which wasn't something I would have noticed back then.As Miranda's play exploded and became instantly profitable and popular, we all took that to mean that everyone wanted to be included in our America. It was the better, cooler America. But that changed when Trump won. Now, all we could see was a hostile country that just rejected us.Even when the cast called out Mike Pence during the performance to protest the Trump administration, I never thought about whether it was bipartisan or not. I knew it wasn't and I agreed with it. I couldn't see the line between art and propaganda.But now I can. All it took was this statement by the producer of Hamilton, Jeffrey Seller, wherein the play cancels itself, hiding behind the usual gaslighting and rationalizations so common on the left:Notice right off the language here. He is doing what all establishment Democrats and Republicans have done for eight years: ignore the voices of the people. Trump defeated them not once but twice. If you believe in the founding principles of this country, you must respect their voices. But they don't. The message they give is not for all Americans. It is only those Americans who agree with their ongoing delusions about Trump.What they can't stand is that Trump is now saying this culture does not belong only to them anymore. It belongs to all of us, even the unwashed masses all of them abandoned years ago and continue to demonize in films, in plays, in comedy, in journalism, in all of their award shows. We're to accept that this only goes one way. That they have a right to decide what our culture will be and Trump and his supporters do not.You did this. YOU did this. You forced Trump and his supporters to beat down the walls of the castle to be included in America's culture. This is YOUR fault. You politicized it. You pushed propaganda on all of us for years. And now, you can't stand it that you no longer control it, can you?Trump's second win was a complete and total humiliation and repudiation. They still refuse to learn that lesson. They refuse to move aside and allow this country to evolve into whatever it will be now. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/02/trumpian-policy-as-cultural-policy.html Tyler Cowan writes: The Trump administration has issued a blizzard of Executive Orders, and set many other potential changes in the works. They might rename Dulles Airport (can you guess to what?). A bill has been introduced to add you-know-who to Mount Rushmore. There is DOGE, and the ongoing attempt to reshape federal employment. At the same time, many people have been asking me why Trump chose Canada and Mexico to threaten with tariffs — are they not our neighbors, major trading partners, and closest allies? I have a theory that tries to explain all these and other facts, though many other factors matter too. I think of Trumpian policy, first and foremost, as elevating cultural policy above all else. Imagine you hold a vision where the (partial) decline of America largely is about culture. After all, we have more people and more natural resources than ever before. Our top achievements remain impressive. But is the overall culture of the people in such great shape? The culture of government and public service? Interest in our religious organizations? The quality of local government in many states? You don't have to be a diehard Trumper to have some serious reservations on such questions. We also see countries, such as China, that have screwed-up policies but have grown a lot, in large part because of a pro-business, pro-learning, pro-work culture. Latin America, in contrast, did lots of policy reforms but still is somewhat stagnant. OK, so how might you fix the culture of America? You want to tell everyone that America comes first. That America should be more masculine and less soft. That we need to build. That we should “own the libs.” I could go on with more examples and details, but this part of it you already get. So imagine you started a political revolution and asked the simple question “does this policy change reinforce or overturn our basic cultural messages?” Every time the policy or policy debate pushes culture in what you think is the right direction, just do it. Do it in the view that the cultural factors will, over some time horizon, surpass everything else in import. Simply pass or announce or promise such policies. Do not worry about any other constraints. You don't even have to do them! They don't even all have to be legal! (Illegal might provoke more discussion.) They don't all have to persist! You create a debate over the issues knowing that, because of polarization, at least one-third of the American public is going to take your side, sometimes much more than that. These are your investments in changing the culture. And do it with as many issues as possible, as quickly as possible (reread Ezra on this). Think of it as akin to the early Jordan Peterson cranking out all those videos. Flood the zone. That is how you have an impact in an internet-intensive, attention-at-a-premium world. https://odysee.com/@LukeFordLive, https://rumble.com/lukeford, https://dlive.tv/lukefordlivestreams Superchat: https://entropystream.live/app/lukefordlive Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/lukeford/ Soundcloud MP3s: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593 Code of Conduct: https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=125692 http://lukeford.net Email me: lukeisback@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter.com/lukeford, Best videos: https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=143746 Support the show | https://www.streamlabs.com/lukeford, https://patreon.com/lukeford, https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback Facebook: http://facebook.com/lukecford Book an online Alexander Technique lesson with Luke: https://alexander90210.com Feel free to clip my videos. It's nice when you link back to the original.

Karel Cast 25-010 There's a lot of talk about making America great again. But what about Americans? What about the people? Do you remember your passions? Your drive? Your goals. It seems today it's all about survival and keeping pace with the world as we know it. But what do you LOVE in your life, or did you, that you would like back? Are you doing it now, or …. There has to be more to life than worry, stress, nonstop barrage of bad news and struggle. Remember when there was? How do we get back to THAT America? Where America was actually, you know, fun? Watch the Karel Cast M-F at reallykarel.com or / reallykarel and listen on all your favorite streaming services including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Media and more. Support the show at patreon.com/reallykarel The Karel Cast is supported by you at patreon.com/reallykarel Please donate even just $5 a month to help keep the antics of this big gay guy and his little dog Ember going strong in Las Vegas.

In this Sermon Jesus points out to us the escalation of a prophecy that the Lord Jesus showed us concerning Russia. He shows us an article that points to Russia possibly escalating their weapons in the airspace of america which Jesus told us would happen. Jesus then points us to Isaiah 32 & 33 and Jeremiah 23 which speak of the Judgement of Israel Jesus is using this to speak to America. That America suffers from the same sins the churchs are not feeding his people properly.That his people Israel and the whole true church itself are to be Peace & a light to others because of Jesus & are destined to come out of that place ,out of the Bondage of Babylon and return to the promised land .This is the year of Jubilee! In Ezekiel we learn about the corruption but the function of the priests and that they would be retaught. We see this reteaching through Jesus. In Hebrews 12 & 13 that the priesthood would be offering up spiritual things for example the sacrifice of praise and the fruit of our lips. Corresponding with Numbers chapter 3. Thank you Jesus ⁠⁠https://www.smucd.org/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.smucd.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If You would like to Join- login Just click that 1st link and put in the passcode Sermon : Darrell Barber Praise & Worship: Ashley Barber Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/96058013717?pwd=bHc1TVBGaWwyd3d6ZkMvbHlHZmMwQT09 Meeting ID: 960 5801 3717 Passcode: i5nVGe https://www.smucd.org/blog Or you can go straight to our home page https://www.smucd.org/ scroll down all the way down till you see sermons and click join now You can also view us on our Live Stream/Video Page here to watch (just click the play button) https://www.smucd.org/videos  #SMUCD  #JESUS #Baptism #BLIND #SIGHT #Rest #Slavery #Earings #Israel #TheBible  #BlackHistory #Anotherexodus  #peace #works #grace #deuteronomy28 #christ #prophecy  #Hebrews #Sermons #Oneness #thePast #TheFuture #Revelation #Newtestament  #Oldtestament #conversation #TheMultitude #radio #Holy #refined  #thefire #HolySpirit #mercy #wisdom #Proverbs #Acts #Peter #Paul  #Apostles #fellowship #seek #knocking #Skills #talents #crafts #Arts  #building #Raisingstones #Raising #Refining #ANTICHRIST #CRYPTOCURRENCY #BEASTSYSTEM #144,000 #Onehundredfourtyfourthousand #AThousandyearsofPeace #JesusReignsSupreme #NewJerusalem #Abraham #Sarah #Bedioun #Feastdays #Jewsfeastdays #BiblicalFeastdays

The indictment of Donald Trump lays bare what has become more and more obvious over time: That America's old order, based on laws applied fairly to all, has been overthrown by a new system where the left and Deep State make up new rules as they go. Darren Beattie joins for a crucial discussion of were America is now and what conservatives can possibly do to fight back.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Show Breakdown Chuck starts us off a little lighter today with a personal story. Chuck was watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame over the weekend, and at the end of the show they are going to honor Dolly Parton. Chuck is watching and recalls how everybody asks him over his career, what was the high point of his career. In 74/75 Chuck was 8 months into Wheel of Fortune…Dolly Parton was a huge fan of Chuck who got to go to Nashville and do the Dolly Parton show. Chuck realized, singing a duet with her was probably the highlight of his career. Most people do not take the time to create their own philosophy. Mark says most people have a mongrel philosophy, things they have heard or how they came up dictates their philosophy. Taking time to sit down and write down your values. Take time to compare those to what you hear in the news. We have over 6 million people illegally crossing the border, and we can NOT find people to take jobs. Part of the issue that is going on in “The Great Reset” the DAVOS / UN True Globalists – they are conditioning you to believe that the abundance that has been the U.S. till now was an anomaly. That America and the West in general needs to learn to live in a post abundance world…you will own nothing, and you will be happy for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M802EAntwbA&ab_channel=DollyParton

America is a golden land of opportunity. Yet many of the country's young people don't see it that way. They believe the American dream is unattainable and that America is a racist and bigoted place full of evil oppressors.Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the new book "Agency," wants to change that narrative and prove to America's youth that there is something worth striving for."I want young people to know that they can do hard things," Rowe explains. "That they live in a good, if not great, country. That, with the right ingredients, they can lead a life of their own choosing."Rowe thinks there's two factors responsible for American youth: a "blame the system" narrative and a "blame the victim" narrative."In the 'blame the system' narrative, if you are not achieving the American dream, the reason is America itself. That America itself is this oppressive nation. That based on superficial characteristics like gender or race, you're oppressed," says Rowe.The other philosophy blames the individual themselves."It's your fault. It's some pathology that you have. You didn't pull yourself up by your own bootstraps," says Rowe. "But if a young person hasn't had the right kind of nurturing from a strong family, strong faith-based organization, strong educational opportunity, then it's very difficult for them independently to overcome these hurdles."Rowe joins the show to discuss his new book and how we can inspire young people to succeed.We also cover these stories:President Joe Biden threatens to use emergency powers if oil companies don't boost supplies amidst growing gas prices.Mayra Flores wins a special election in Texas, marking the first time a Republican will represent the Rio Grande Valley since 1871.George Washington University retires its century-old Colonials moniker over outcry from student activists. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today begins a 7-part series leading up to our national holy day of independence from British rule and tyranny.  This series of teachings is dedicated to two of my foremost teachers in America's Christian history and government: the late James B. Rose and Katherine Dang.Have you ever been told that America is not exceptional? That America is just like any other nation?If you have or believe this yourself—it is a lie.The unique identity of America has been lost for generations. As a result, our families are under attack and are suffering simply because what is innate to the created order is you being yourself and being protected in that right, which is delegated to you by our unseen King Jesus Christ.Is the individual primary in society or the group? Learn the contrast between the Christian idea of man and the pagan idea of man, which has major implication on how you live life on the King's land today.Understanding the governing principle of individuality will open your eyes to see whether you are truly living free or as a slave.You won't want to miss Episode 39 of this podcast ministry if you desire to be faithful to what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished in America unlike any other nation on the earth. That's a bold statement, and one that is backed up with much evidence in the two volumes of law: the laws of nature and the laws of nature's God.Are you concerned about socialism taking over and destroying our country? The victory answer is the topic of this episode.Get ready to have your world rocked and shaken out of the fallen, natural, debased mind of men, designing life for you in opposition to the glorious design work of the all-powerful King Eternal.Click here to access documents and files mentioned.Subscribe To Podcast and Video Channels:https://sundayscriptures.buzzsprout.com/Social Links:https://libertylinks.io/SundayScripturesForPatriots Barry H. Durmaz:https://LibertyIsTheLaw.usSupport and Love our Mission —Join our Treasure Team!https://www.libertyisthelaw.us/treasure_volunteerFollow Me On Gab!https://gab.com/HouseholdEmbassy Sean Morgan:https://SeanMorganReport.comKeep me on the front lines of the digital battlefield by supporting my work here:https://donorbox.org/seanmorganreport Sponsors Who Support Our Ministry:Get a Free Gold Consultation.Call Dr. Kirk Elliott at +1 720-605-3900https://SovereignAdvisors.net/pages/seanmorgan/Is the corporate coffee you drink contributing to America's decline?Support A Christian Patriot Coffee Companyhttps://www.TheGreatAwakeningCoffee.com/QFAQ Discount Code: QFAQ Support the show by text message: Text GIVE to 801801 to donate any amount to campaign 253494 Support the show

Bob Garfield sits down with private equity tycoon and author David Rubenstein to discuss his latest book, The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream, consisting of interviews with scholars and other notable Americans.TEDDY ROOSEVELT: Surely, there never was a fight better worth making than the one which we are in.BOB GARFIELD: Welcome to Bully Pulpit. That was Teddy Roosevelt, I'm Bob Garfield, with Episode 23… “The Botched Experiment.”In his day job, David Rubenstein is a private equity tycoon who made his fortune buying undervalued companies, restructuring them into profitability for his investors and earning huge management fees as a steward of their stakes. The Carlyle Group, which he founded, has enriched him to the tune of $4.5 billion. Rubenstein also has many side hustles, from philanthropy to amateur historian to T.V. interviewer of the rich and powerful. In these excerpts from Bloomberg T.V. we hear George W. Bush and Oprah Winfrey.RUBENSTEIN: Over much of the past three decades I've been an investor, the highest calling of mankind, I've often thought, was private equity, and then I started interviewing. GEORGE W. BUSH: (laughs)RUBENSTEIN: When I watch your interviews I know how to do some interviewing. OPRAH: (laughs)His conversations with cultural, political and business icons have been edited into two books, the latest being The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream. Collected within are conversations with the likes of Madeline Albright, Ken Burns, Henry Louis Gates Jr. Wynton Marsalis and Billie Jean King.While acknowledging inequities and fault lines in our society, these conversations are in all a celebration of the so-called “American experiment,” which Rubenstein compares to the unique assortment of genes that determine the nature of the societal organism. Had they not converged, he says, “we would not be who we are, we would not be who we are. Rubenstein joins me now. David, welcome to Bully Pulpit.RUBENSTEIN: My pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.GARFIELD: Your book takes these 13 genes and kind of divides them up among various scholars and cultural icons. What's on the list? RUBENSTEIN:Well, the genes are ones like the belief in the democracy, the belief in the importance of voting rights, the importance of of things like the military should not be in control of the civilian government, the civilians should control the military, the belief in the importance of diversity and importance of the belief in and then having elections and the right to vote. Those are the kind of things I think are parts of our culture; now, increasingly, the belief in diversity is a very important part of our culture, and the belief in the American dream is an important part of our culture. GARFIELD: I want to begin, as you do in the book with the Democracy Gene and your conversation with Harvard professor Harvard Professor Jill Lepore, author of the staggering 900 page survey of American democracy, titled These Truths. She has two insights which blew me away. One was the democratizing role of permitting personal bankruptcies, non-corporate bankruptcies — which was unknown to the world — and which played out as a safety net for entrepreneurial risk. Right in your wheelhouse, that one.RUBENSTEIN:Yes, her point is that when individuals couldn't pay their debts before they were put in jail as opposed to be allowed to be bankrupt, and that the fact that that was changed was an incentive for people to try to take greater risks than they might have taken before. So, yes, it's a very good point that she made. GARFIELD: Yeah, freedom of religion it ain't, but has taken an outsized role in the development of the democracy, but also the American form of capitalism. RUBENSTEIN: That's correct. You know, remember in our country we started, which started for religious freedom, but only to make sure that people could worship the way that those people wanted to worship. The Puritans and pilgrims didn't really want people to worship any way other than theirs. Now we have a system where people can worship the way they want it. But our Founding Fathers honestly didn't believe so much in the idea that you could worship any religion you wanted.GARFIELD: Yeah. Hold that thought because we will return to it. Lepore's second poignant observation was the grotesque collateral damage of the victorious American Revolution and that damage being the perpetuation of slavery, which the British had vowed to abolish. Instead, slavery and its associated injustices have been with us now for 400 years. You used the term original sin. Now, at least in Catholic doctrine, that is something inherent that permanently corrupts our nature, and it has sure done that, slavery has. Now you are in the valuation racket. Was the independence from Britain worth the incalculable human cost? RUBENSTEIN: Well, counterfactuals and history are always difficult to come up with and give definitive answers. I think they — if we had not won the Revolutionary War, I suspect we would have become like Canada, a member of the Commonwealth of Britain, and basically had pretty much the country we've had. But I think that the British probably would have ended slavery quicker than we did, though, because Britain had ended slavery in its country before. But I don't know that it was going to be that easy to end slavery that quickly in the 1700s; the economy of the South increasingly depended on it.GARFIELD All right. So if the slave trade was, as you put it, our original sin, after 150 years came the the bloodbath of the Civil War and after that, the reconstruction of the South, brief, as it was. You spoke to Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., about the ruinous backlash to reconstruction from the infamous compromise of 1877 that effectively obliterated reconstruction and laid the foundation for Jim Crow and white supremacy to the retrograde Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal” decision. Gates also told you something I'd never heard of that, the newly restored white power structure called itself “Redemption” — that was how they described the the end of reconstruction. It occurs to me that maybe this foreshadows today's Christian Right using biblical text to whitewash what to my eyes are obscene ideas. With redemption like that, who needs sin? RUBENSTEIN: Well, the redemption that he was referring to was basically the belief that they had restored the white order that had existed before the Civil War. Their so-called lost cause of those in the South was what they believed in, that they had a cause — not to preserve slavery, that was what they were saying they weren't fighting for as much as preserving the southern way of life. But in the end, it was really to preserve slavery. But they believed that they were restoring the original sin or restoring the Southern Order was what redemption was all about. GARFIELD: Now, since the end of World War Two, there have been acts of legislation and judicial decisions now enshrined in law — the principles of the founding documents codified: women's suffrage, desegregation, the Miranda decision about the rights of the accused criminals, removing prayer from public schools, marriage equality and so on, as the United States followed a general Western path towards liberal democracy. These very advances have infuriated conservatives for 60, 70 years, because they believe that their values and their hegemony are under attack. Make America Great Again seems to share a viewpoint with Redemption. Which country are we, do you think? Are we open hearts or are we closed minds? RUBENSTEIN: Well, that's a difficult question to answer. I would say that the beginning, the rhetoric, of the Founding Fathers was wonderful: all men are created equal. But as we all know, we had slavery; we didn't allow women to have certain rights, including the right to vote; so we've been trying to live up to the rhetoric over the 250 years, and we still have a long way to go. Many people in this country, as you suggest, are not happy with the idea that minorities have the same rights that majorities have, that women have the same rights as men have, that people of different skin color are to be treated the same as whites. There are many people who think that that's not necessarily the way the country should be. In my view, that's a mistake, but that's the way that many people look at the situation.GARFIELD: A mistake? I would say a nightmare — an ongoing nightmare. To what extent do you believe that what we haven't done as a nation to fulfill our founding promises has corrupted the American experiment?RUBENSTEIN:  The American experiment has been evolving over 250 years. It still has a long way to go. We still are a country that more people want to come to than any other country. Forty-seven million people in this country are immigrants. Very few people leave this country voluntarily, so it's still the best country on the face of the Earth. But we have these challenges that are just endemic. One of the challenges is income inequality, racial discrimination, also homelessness and illiteracy. We have an enormous amount of illiteracy in this country. It's hard to believe that such a wealthy country can have 14 percent of its population being functionally illiterate. But anyway, that's the case. So I would say that we are a country of — it's a tale of two cities, as Charles Dickens might say. We have the wealthy people, the internet-connected people, the people that are well-educated, and then we have the underclass. And I think the gap between those two is getting wider and wider. GARFIELD:  Well, we shall return to this. And in fact, let's turn now to the subject of capitalism, which you discussed with author Bhu Srinivasan. He says that the notion, and we discussed this earlier, the notion of religious pilgrims fleeing persecution and putting down roots in the new world is at best exaggerated, such as in this educational video.NARRATOR: About 400 years ago, 13 years after the first English settlement in America called Jamestown, there was another group of travelers who came to America in search of religious freedom. They wanted to worship God in their own way and separate from the Church of England.That America was a capitalist endeavor, an explicitly capitalist endeavor from the get-go, supercharged by the industrial revolution, the invention of the cotton gin, the Louisiana purchase and, of course, slavery. And we know it has all yielded a superpower of unimaginable wealth and influence in the world. Yet you have these regrets about inequity and you regret those who, in your terms, have been left behind. How so? RUBENSTEIN: Well, many people in this country have believed in the American dream and have lived the American dream. I feel I have lived the American Dream coming from very modest roots and to be more successful in life than my parents ever dreamed possible. But many people have given up on the American dream, and they think that they can't catch up to where they should be or where they'd like to be. And therefore, we have lots of poverty, lots of inequities, and it's a real challenge. GARFIELD: Yeah, Kristin Lems's song comes to mind.LEM: (singing) It's $1200 a month before the SSI and tax, the take-home pay is 900 and a half, and the rent takes half of that leaving $475, and a hundred for the groceries to keep us all alive…RUBENSTEIN: Overall, I think the American experiment has worked reasonably well, but not perfectly well. And I think right now the country is assessing whether we can move forward together or whether we're just going to move forward in a divided way if move forward is the right verb. Because right now the Congress is divided. We have a very difficult time getting anything through Congress, and social progress is made very, very sparingly right now and it's been hurt a lot by COVID because a lot of people have been left further and further behind than they were before COVID.GARFIELD: [00:11:48] Yeah, well, more details on the collateral damage: In the past 50 years, as the inflation-adjusted GDP has grown 400 percent, real wages have grown 10 percent. Now, you've just enumerated some of the reasons that society has failed its citizens. You say “regrettable,” I'd say “s**t show.” But turning it to you, not as an author or interviewer or a businessman, but to you as a citizen: I've gone through your writings and I don't see you advocating for more regulation of banks, or high marginal tax rates or higher minimum wages, or a far more robust social welfare system to provide for working parents or universal preschool or free higher education or other entitlements such as Europe largely provides. I mean, if we were to accept your DNA analogy — and it's a pretty good one — must we not also recognize the fact of genetic mutations, changes or errors in the DNA that can make the organism adapt or just go completely haywire? As a video from HealthTree University explains:MAN: Every once in a while a mistake occurs in a gene, in which one of those bases, one of those coding segments, gets altered and if it gets altered in a gene that causes more cells to more rapidly divide, that's a mutation we want to know about.”GARFIELD: Such as: campaign finance, systemic racism, gerrymandering, deregulation, vilification of the free press, stripped away voting rights and what I see as the broken founding promise to promote the general welfare. In short, David, you've achieved the American dream, but what the hell has happened to so many others? RUBENSTEIN: Well, obviously, the American dream hasn't worked for everybody, and we have lots of social challenges here. We are not likely to go to the European style of social capitalism or socialism that many European countries take great pride in; it's just not endemic to our American system. Capitalism has been ingrained in our system, and capitalism leaves a lot of people behind. So I just don't think we're going to change it dramatically. I haven't written on all these issues because that's not my role in life, probably, to address every social issue as possible. And I, you know, my basic mission in life has been to kind of move forward my career. I'm now giving away all my money, but giving away all my money is not going to solve our social problems, I don't have enough money to solve those problems. So I'm trying to point out some of the challenges, but I don't claim to be a great reformer and I don't claim to be a politician. If I had the answers to all these problems, I would have been in Iowa and New Hampshire a long time ago.GARFIELD: All right. We will continue momentarily, but please let me remind you what we are trying to achieve here with Bully Pulpit and the other BooksmartStudios.org podcasts. We are here to coalesce a community of listeners who value complexity over glibness, argument over doctrine, curiosity over certainty.  It's a community, in other words, built around both skepticism and  intellectual honesty. But as our friends in public broadcasting also incessantly remind you, it is a costly enterprise. Our content is largely free of charge, but our future hinges on your willingness  to pitch in. Please consider a paid subscription, which gets you not only our basic offerings, but bonus content from all three shows and my weekly column, which is a really, really good MRI of my tortured soul. Eighty-four bucks a year — less than a preowned 1985 Cabbage Patch doll on eBay. Please consider investing in BooksmartStudios.org, and please, please rate us on iTunes. Those ratings and reviews really matter. Now then, I was about to ask David Rubenstein my next question.You say that you don't see us going towards the European model of —RUBENSTEIN: That's correct. GARFIELD: — socialist capitalism or capitalist socialism, where there's greater entitlements, the welfare state is much more robust. Now, apart from our particular political problems of the moment, why do you think we'll not veer in that direction?RUBENSTEIN: Because I think the country is not, in its DNA, a socialist country. We've experimented with things that are maybe not as capitalist-oriented as we currently have and during the Great Depression, there was a view that maybe socialism would be the better system, but we've rejected that in the country by and large and I would say right now, it's hard to see any interest in the kind of socialist capitalist system that they have in Europe. If anything, we're probably retrogressing and providing fewer social benefits in some ways than we provided in the past. GARFIELD: Although, It was never great. Here's an excerpt from the Phil Donahue Show in 1979, where an audience member challenged economist Milton Friedman — the high priest of trickle-down economics. I'm cutting off his answer; it's the questions that still resonate:WOMAN: Why is it we have so many millionaires and everything in the United States and we still have so many impoverished people who try to get up into the world. Why is it we have this lack of money where people who can't support themselves decently and get a decent job, where all these big men are up on top making oodles and oodles of money — they don't need it, they can only eat that much. FRIEDMAN: And what do you suppose they do, if they don't need it and don't use it —WOMAN: They hoard it.GARFIELD: And what about business regulation and soaking the rich? Well, at least at the highest marginal tax rates.RUBENSTEIN: Congress clearly reflects the fact that it doesn't want to do that. All the efforts to increase marginal tax rates don't seem to be getting very far. And I suspect that Congress is just not going to get there. Remember, the Congress is dividing pretty much 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, and it's generally thought that the Republicans will win Congress for the midterm elections, so I don't see any of those kinds of changes that you're talking about likely to happen. GARFIELD: This conversation on Bully Pulpit will follow a two-part series with Anne Nelson, who has written about the Council for National Policy, which I guess is an anodyne-sounding name for the great right-wing conspiracy. They have stuck to their knitting and put their shoulders to the wheel for 60 years to kind of hack the democratic system, to take advantage of gerrymandering and the Electoral College to create a kind of permanent majority in legislatures for what is, by the numbers, clearly a minority party. Does it concern you that these archaic structures of democracy are subverting democracy?RUBENSTEIN: Well, it's interesting. We believe in democracy, but actually, when the Founding Fathers created it, they didn't let American citizens vote for senators; the state legislatures did that. And we created the Electoral College, which is anti-democratic, you could argue. In fact, I think of the last seven presidential elections the person who got the most majority — the most votes — didn't necessarily become President. George W. Bush didn't get the majority of popular votes when he was elected President, and obviously Donald Trump didn't get the majority of popular votes when he was elected President. And so we've got a system where people who are minority, in terms of popular vote, often get elected President. It's not a perfect system, but it's not going to change. To change the system of electing presidents requires a constitutional amendment which requires two thirds of each house and three quarters of the states. And it's inconceivable that you're going to do that.GARFIELD: Such as in this educational video:MAN: “Of the nearly 7000 amendments proposed in the centuries since, only 27 have succeeded.”GARFIELD: There's a chapter in your book that is particularly dear to my heart: your conversation with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the subject of civics education. RUBENSTEIN: Right.GARFIELD: I myself am a co-founder of an organization called the Purple Project for Democracy, which seeks to address the plummeting faith and trust in American democracy and an accompanying appetite for extreme politics, including violence. It's my belief, and Sotomayor's, that a big problem is that Americans have lots and lots of opinions about government, but vanishingly little knowledge of even the most basic facts of how it all is meant to work and how it does work. Is that fixable? RUBENSTEIN: It's fixable, but we have to remember a couple of things. One, it has been a problem for some time. It's not like all of a sudden people don't know much about government. If you go back to surveys 50 years ago, it was a similar problem. Secondly, you're pointing out the reality that ninety one percent of people who take the citizenship test to become citizens who are foreigners pass, whereas a majority of Americans cannot pass these tests, whereas given by an organization recently in 49 out of 50 states, a majority of Americans couldn't pass the basic citizenship test that foreigners have to pass. So it's a sad situation. We don't teach civics very much anymore, as you know, in school and people know very little about the way our government works and operates.GARFIELD: And so there's ignorance; I don't mean that pejoratively, there's just a lack of basic knowledge. And there is the tidal wave of misinformation and disinformation, which competes very well against no information. Any thoughts about —RUBENSTEIN:Well, yes. Yes, look, I'm involved with a lot of civic education efforts and will announce some more projects that I'm going to support to do that. But right now, we have not only misinformation and disinformation, but we have I-don't-care information, which is to say some people put information out, they don't really care whether it's true or not, they just think it's politically helpful to them. And so we have another factor where a lot of people aren't really checking whether these facts are true when they say something and people are being misled, in my view, dramatically.GARFIELD: All of what we've discussed has made me look at America's future with a sense of doom. You don't see it that way.RUBENSTEIN: I don't think doom; I would say we've always had challenges. The Civil War was a big challenge, we got through that; the World War II was a big challenge, in many ways, we got through that. But clearly, the most recent stress-test of the election and the January 6th event is not a cause for optimism. So I think we have to address it, but I think we can't put our head in the sand and just say, “woe is me, the country is falling apart”; we have to try to do the best we can as you're doing and others are doing to educate Americans and basically inform them on the theory that the best informed democracy will be a better democracy. So we want to make our citizens well-informed. But it's not going to happen overnight. GARFIELD: Would you go long in American democracy? Would you short it? What?RUBENSTEIN: It depends on what period of time, of course, but I think generally nobody betting against American democracy has generally made a lot of money. America is going to be a strong country and a very powerful country for quite some time. Our democracy is not quite as beautiful as many people would like it to be, and many people around the world question whether our democracy is as good as we say it is. We say to people around the world, “Follow our system,” but many people say, “Well, your system isn't working so well, look what's going on in your country.”GARFIELD: One last thing, David. Over Thanksgiving, you hosted the President and the First Lady for a few days at your bungalow, is it Martha's Vineyard? I don't remember where your summer place is. But before they left, did they strip the beds? I mean, were there wet towels all over the place? Was Biden blasting his Motown playlist all night?RUBENSTEIN: Well, actually they used the place that I owned. They used it before, when he was vice-president. I was not there, so I can't talk about the issues that you're asking me about. But, you know, I did see him since then. I saw him at the Kennedy Center Honors over the weekend, he said he had a very good time. And he does listen to Motown a lot, as he said in his remarks at the White House recently.GARFIELD: Uh huh… So you don't know if he's a good houseguest. He didn't burn it down. RUBENSTEIN: I never heard any complaints from any of the people that have been working there. So I think he's a very good houseguest and I'm sure you know you'll be enjoying having him as your house guest at some point if you invited him.GARFIELD: Uh, well, it's a thought. It's a thought. Let's see. What can I say that would be even remotely funny? (Mumbles in Bob.) You know, I don't think it's possible. I don't think — I use 2% milk and I don't; I think he's a whole milk kind of guy. David, I want to thank you so much.RUBENSTEIN: My pleasure. Thank you very much.GARFIELD: Private equity billionaire David Rubenstein is author of The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream. All right, we're done here. Bully Pulpit is produced by Matthew Schwartz and Mike Vuolo. Our theme was composed by Julie Miller and the team at Harvest Creative Services in Lansing, Michigan. Bully Pulpit is a production of BooksmartStudios.org. I'm Bob Garfield. Get full access to Bully Pulpit at bullypulpit.substack.com/subscribe

Official Washington will be quiet this week, but the fallout from the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict will continue to divide America along the Trumpian fault lines of fear, violence, and racism. Closing arguments are scheduled today in the trial of three men charged with the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Though they chased him, they are claiming self-defense because, they say, Arbery tried to get control of a shotgun one of them was carrying. As with the Rittenhouse case, the trial raises questions of how self-defense laws will hold up as guns proliferate. Regardless of how it come out, the case also illustrates America's deepening split.Congress's continuing investigation into the January 6 insurrection reveals the same rift, as will the Supreme Court's expected decision on executive privilege in that investigation, and its likely move to strike down New York State's law requiring people seeking licenses to carry handguns in public to show a “proper cause,” as violating the Second Amendment.The fault line has now extended into almost every facet of American lawmaking. When the “Build Back Better” bill passed the House late Friday night, 220 out of 221 Democrats voted for it. But all of the House's 213 Republicans voted against it. Why? The measures in the bill are hugely popular, according to polls. The bill includes the largest expansion of federal child-care assistance in history; free, universal prekindergarten for all American children ages 3 and 4; Medicare benefits covering hearing services; government for the first time being allowed to negotiate some prescription drug prices, aiming to lower the costs that seniors pay for lifesaving medicines such as insulin; and more than $550 billion to combat climate change — promoting greener energy and providing new perks for Americans who buy electric vehicles.But policy popularity may be no match for fear, violence, and racism — which Republicans and the moneyed interests are now diligently exploiting to kill the bill in the Senate. So-called “moderate” Democrats (Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) have expressed skepticism about its cost and scope. It would be one thing if Manchin's and Sinema's reservations were in good faith, but how can they be? Manchin frets about the bill's effects on inflation even though the bill lowers prices for most Americans of major expenses like childcare, drugs, and healthcare. Sinema says she prefers “legislation that is crafted in a bipartisan way,” but who is she kidding? Mitch McConnell has made clear he won't allow a single Republican senator to vote for the bill. The votes of every Senate Democrat are needed if the bill is to pass, but Manchin and Sinema are allowing rightwing tropes — and the big money behind them — to divide Democrats. As the New York Times reported yesterday, cash has poured into Manchin's and Sinema's political coffers from political action committees and donors linked to Wall Street, Big Pharma, and Big Energy, which have opposed proposals in the bill that Manchin and Sinema helped scale back.The question that keeps haunting me is this: Is an America so deeply divided, and awash in political money that exploits that divide, any longer capable of doing bold things that are broadly popular? The only big thing we continue to do is feed the ravenous military-industrial complex — itself founded on fear, violence, and racism. (Efforts to whip up a new cold war with China conjure up old fears of a “yellow peril.”) Congress is on the verge of giving the Pentagon even more money than the Pentagon and the Biden administration are seeking. The nation's military tab over the next ten years will be upwards of $8 trillion and is not paid for with expected revenue, in sharp contrast with the $2 trillion cost of the House's “Build Back America” plan, which would be paid for with tax increases on the wealthy and big corporations.That America is becoming two separate nations is threatening everything we value. The most obvious beneficiaries (besides top executives of big corporations and Wall Street) are Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Rupert Murdoch, who appear to be doing whatever they can to divide us even further.Your thoughts?    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

This morning my rant is about a prophesy given to my family back in 1985 or 87. That America would become a "third world nation." I thought that happened in 2008, but since 2016 I've come to believe there's more to that prophecy than I first taught.  Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEHopefuel A Christian planner to help you be prayerful and productive. ShareASale Get your affiliate marketing strategy off the ground today with ShareASale.Layla Sleep Mattress with flippable firmness so you have two chances to find the right fit for you.Swyft Filings Started by an experienced lawyer who saw a need to automate the business filing process.Readability The only smart Reading & Comprehension Learning App your child can use anytime, anywhere.Nolah Sleep LLC Finally, a Mattress Made for Side and Back Sleepers.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=R98ACZW2FNSSW)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/622a9079e8fb640012cb94f3. I pray that God would "give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18I, pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance" https://plus.acast.com/s/blueprint-of-faith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The former Secretary of Defense for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama has strong opinions on the United States' place in the world. That America has been an exceptional power in the years following the end of the Cold War is of little doubt. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States stood alone in its power to influence global events.   Yet, in recent years that power appears to have waned some as adventurism abroad and partisan gridlock at home have tarnished the country's global reputation and tested the trust of its allies.  China, meanwhile, has emerged as an economic force that is coalescing power while building allyships of its own through the Belt and Road Initiative. For this week's episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates discusses what the rise of China means for American exceptionalism and how the country might best navigate the new global terrain. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Chi Lee, Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The smoke signals many things. One being that the pope will continue to be male and rule the world. That America functions at 65%, way below ability, and we praise her for it. We expect nothing from ourselves therefore our government fails us. We smoke stuff through empty shells. We cut deep beneath the moon. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

It’s only a matter of time before somebody writes a book or does a TV interview saying he or she predicted most of the events of 2020 well in advance. To qualify as visionary of the century this combination of Nostradamus, Pinocchio and your favorite tarot card reader would have had to go on record as saying 2020 would mean. That there would be a once in a lifetime worldwide pandemic. That vaccines preventing it would be produced in record time. That America would lead the world with more than 300,000 reported deaths. And so on… Of course nobody actually did that. Nailed 2020 in that way. But just wait, they will. Somebody will claim they foresaw all this long before it actually happened. Those those who, long after the fact, warned of JFK’s assassination. Or the 9/11 attacks. Meantime, reality check. I asked financial planner Arthur Stein to review the past year. Many of his clients are current or former feds. A couple of them TSP millionaires. Congress has invited him to Capitol Hill to keep congressional staffers up to speed on the TSP.

"Griff" Griffith joins us to discuss:-his background and how he became interested in nature-the flora, fauna, land, and First Peoples of Northern California-how First Peoples influenced their local ecologies-the importance of fire to some ecosystems-Kyle Burgess, "The Cougar Guy," and his Mountain Lion encounter that went viral-books Griff recommends-the importance of predators to keep ecosystems healthy for humans-habitat fragmentation-and moreAbout Griff: "As the host of Animal Planet’s online show 'Wild Jobs,' and a lifetime wildlife conservationist, John 'Griff' Griffith believes in the importance of relationships: wildlife to earth, wildlife to plants, wildlife to people, and people to people. This philosophy has led to many rewarding collaborations, including being selected by Earth Island Institute as one of four Americans to serve as low-impact ecotourism advisors to Siberia, being featured in the celebrated documentary 'Diversity and Inclusion in Our Wild Spaces,' and having his work introduced twice in the book, When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors. "His lifelong commitment to wildlife and people also includes a seventeen-year career as a supervisor in a youth development program called the California Conservation Corps, where he led groups of young adults, often from distressed communities, to restore natural areas and wildlife populations in a process he calls 'rewilding.' He often made videos with these Corps members, a few of which have gone viral. His most famous video 'Boss Dances Like a Boss' has 7 million views on YouTube alone and was featured on The Today Show, Headline News, Good Morning America, various international programs, and MTV’s Ain’t That America and Ridiculousness. Several of his other videos have been featured on the show RightThisMinute."In 2014, he also created the BioBlitz Dance for National Geographic and their BioBlitz events. The dance spread worldwide, with BioBlitz Dance videos coming from over 10 different countries. Two years after he created the dance, National Geographic flew John and two of his Corps members to Washington, D.C., to do the BioBlitz Dance onstage with Gary Knell, CEO of the National Geographic Society, and Sally Jewell, former Secretary of the Interior. The BioBlitz Dance is still being enjoyed at outdoor events all over the world, and became the official dance of several schools, kids’ camps, and P-22 Day Festivals, in Los Angeles. "When John is not writing, presenting, or making videos for his own online platforms, he’s helping people connect to the redwood region as a natural and cultural resource interpreter for California State Parks."Contact Griff:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GriffWildInstagram: @TheNatureNutYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TotemMagicGoingMADWild Jobs: https://www.facebook.com/watch/AnimalPlanet/341870596689084/Contact Michael:1. ccerppodcast@aol.com2. http://www.goldams.com 3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gold-2883921/ 4. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1152144714995033/Join us at CCERP on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1152144714995033/Show notes1. Griff dance videosa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKNhCjA0pdUb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxDQHPvlD7A2. BioBlitz dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpKrHgW9ow3. Animal Planet's Wild Jobs program: https://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/wild-jobs/4. Doug Tallamya. Bioi. https://www.udel.edu/faculty-staff/experts/douglas-tallamy/ii. https://www.udel.edu/canr/departments/entomology-and-wildlife-ecology/faculty-staff/doug-tallamy/iii. https://www.humansandnature.org/doug-tallamyb. Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamyhttps://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Nature-Home-Wildlife-Expanded/dp/0881929921/c. Nature's Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamyhttps://www.amazon.com/Natures-Best-Hope-Approach-Conservation/dp/1604699000/d. "Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash the Wild on Your Backyard" by Jerry Adlerhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-ecologist-who-wants-unleash-wild-backyard-180974372/5. E.O. Wilsona. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilsonb. https://eowilsonfoundation.org/e-o-wilson/c. Some of his booksi. Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life by Edward O. Wilsonhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZAT8VNE/ii. Tales From the Ant World by Edward O. Wilsonhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZAT8VNE/iii. Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by E. O. Wilsonhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P5557DK/6. Eel River a. https://www.rivers.gov/rivers/eel.phpb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_River_(California)7. Sinkyone Wilderness State Parka. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429b. https://www.stateparks.com/sinkyone_wilderness.htmlc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkyone_Wilderness_State_Park8. Humboldt Redwoods State Parka. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=425b. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Redwoods_State_Park9. Yuroka. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurokb. https://www.yuroktribe.orgc. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yurok10. Wiyota. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiyotb. http://www.wiyot.us11. Hupaa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hupab. https://factcards.califa.org/cai/hupa.html12. Tribes of California: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/California_tribes_%26_languages_at_contact.png/1200px-California_tribes_%26_languages_at_contact.png13. The Ecological Benefits of Fire (a bit to get some idea about it and start looking into it)a. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/ecological-benefits-fire/b. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ecologyc. https://learnforests.org/sites/default/files/EcologicalRoleofFire.pdfd. https://fireecology.springeropen.com/articles/10.1007/BF03400628e. http://pacificbio.org/initiatives/fire/fire_ecology.html14. Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians by Kat Anderson and Thomas C. Blackburn: https://www.amazon.com/Before-Wilderness-Environmental-Californians-Anthropological/dp/0879191260/15. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mannhttps://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059/16. Kyle Burgess and the Mountain Liona. Original videoi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pg2CDCm34wii. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xu3FBGQ2Eoiii. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ktRhBcHza4b. Griff's interview of Kyle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grmIkU6Et4Ac. Griff talking about Mountain Lions and Kyle's incident: https://www.facebook.com/NorthCoastRedwoods/videos/347371733000314d. "Cougar Experts Weigh In On That Viral Video" by Sara Tabinhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/saratabin/2020/10/15/cougar-experts-weigh-in-on-that-viral-video/e. " ‘I don’t feel like dying today’: Utahn describes how he survived 6-minute cougar encounter" by Katie McKellar: https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/10/12/21513450/utah-cougar-mountain-lion-encounter-viral-provo-slate-canyon-attack-stalk-survive17. Kyle Burgess's "I Am the Cougar Guy" website: https://www.iamthecougarguy.com18. Cougar Conservancy: https://cougarconservancy.org/19. Mountain Lion Foundation: https://mountainlion.org/20. Wolves of Yellowstonea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF4F7yvMlAMb. https://www.pbs.org/strangedays/episodes/predators/experts/yellowstonewolves.html?fbclid=IwAR0cuFEBV9alZ-0xg28Nv6yr5vALGl27q2EJTeOs8G3czK2JnoIH6v_wvtMc. "How Wolves Change Rivers:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q21. The importance of predators (a bit to get some idea about it and start looking into it)a. "The Crucial Role of Predators: A New Perspective on Ecology" by Caroline Fraserhttps://e360.yale.edu/features/the_crucial_role_of_predators_a_new_perspective_on_ecologyb. "The Ecological Importance of Predators" https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/predatorimportance.pdfc. "The Importance of Predators"https://www.predatordefense.org/predators.htmd. "Top Predators Key to Ecosystem Survival, Study Shows" by Bjorn Carey https://www.livescience.com/4171-top-predators-key-ecosystem-survival-study-shows.html22. Keystone speciesa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRGg5it5FMIb. "Robert Paine, UW ecologist who identified ‘keystone species,’ dies at 83:" https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/robert-paine-uw-ecologist-who-identified-keystone-species-dies-at-83/c. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_T._Paine_(zoologist)d. "The Ecologist Who Threw Starfish" by Sean Carroll: http://nautil.us/issue/34/adaptation/the-ecologist-who-threw-starfish23. The Kaibab: a need for predators and good ecologya. "The Lesson of the Kaibab"https://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/kaibab.htmlb. "Was Aldo Leopold Right about the Kaibab Deer Herd?" by Binkley, Moore, et. al. http://www.rmtrr.org/data/Binkleyetal_2006_Ecosystems.pdf24. Habitat Fragmentation (a bit to get some idea about it and start looking into it)a. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_fragmentationb. "Negative and positive effects of habitat fragmentation on animals"https://www.animal-ethics.org/negative-and-positive-effects-of-habitat-fragmentation-for-animals/c. "Causes and consequences of habitat fragmentation in river networks" by Fuller, Doyle, et. al. http://www.jlakes.org/config/hpkx/news_category/2016-03-22/Fuller_et_al-2015-Annals_of_the_New_York_Academy_of_Sciences.pdfd. "Ecological Responses to Habitat Fragmentation Per Se" by Lenore Fahrighttps://www.glel.carleton.ca/PDF/webDump/17FahrigAREES.pdfBio and picture courtesy John "Griff" Griffith.

On this episode I chatted with Dmitri ( Father ) and Daria ( Daughter ) about their business Express Ice. Express Ice is the leading portable ice rink construction and managing company in Oklahoma. You know those rinks you skate on during the Christmas holidays. Thats exactly what Express Ice does. If you live in Oklahoma you've probably skated on one of their rinks during the holidays. The story is fantastic, a real American dream story that you will be blown away by. Anything is possible with hard work and this story proves to everyone that the American dream is alive and well. That America and Oklahoma is full of opportunities. For more information on where Express Ice will be located this Christmas season go to www.expressice.com Bartlesville - https://www.bartlesville.com/christmas-in-the-ville/Enid - https://www.facebook.com/SkateInEnidEdmond - www.edmondicerink.comBroken Arrow - www.baicerink.comOklahoma Christian University Yukon - http://www.yukonok.gov/christmasinthepark/ice-rink/?fbclid=IwAR1-ulPWRfC5dYFfhnHQXIDwfJtzEJaDrjw2kn-Y63OplKiUcOFb2BHA18o#thisisoklahoma

A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND!So says the scripture. That would be, would it not my fellow Americans, our beloved America. We really are not diversified (true diversity is a myth) but we are divided, deeply and it seems irreparably. Citizen against citizen. Conflicting ideas. Seemingly radically different moral values. And, WE THE PEOPLE in a constant battle over our beloved rule of law and Constitution, which many believe should be done away with all together (shocking), others simply changed and amended, still others kept but organically and currently interpreted while the remaining feel that the Constitution should not only be kept, but enforced with an originalist and textualist approach. Where do you stand my fellow Americans and how do you see the America you wish your family, friends and all of us your fellow citizens to live? LESSONS. What lessons, I ask, have WE THE PEOPLE learned from elections 2020? They are done and over, thankfully but not really, for there will be protests, even riots, and of course the inevitable and seemingly forever LITIGATION. But surely there were lessons learned. Perhaps this is a good time for you and I to take stock, to look hard at what happened and what role (if any) we, you and I played in this the most critical election in American history. What you and I did or did not do will have a lasting effect for years to come.THE VOTE. Did you vote? And did you vote right? Were you convinced about the issues, the parties, the platforms, the principles and did you understand them, evaluate them and vote for candidates and parties which best represented and promised to do what was right for America? In short, are you proud of an informed vote and consequently discharging the privilege and duty you have as a citizen to vote? There is nothing more precious in the political world than a free and independent vote for a country and for the leaders to represent you, NOTHING! Men and women have fought and died for the right to vote and perhaps WE THE PEOPLE maybe for the first time did not take the right to vote for granted. If you truly love America, and you are truly proud to be an American citizen, you would never miss the opportunity to vote. And as you discharged this democratic principle and your civic duty, I do hope that you voted for candidates who believe in:         BIBLICAL VALUES.We the people of faith fight the social issues of:ABORTIONLGBTQIA EUTHANASIAEMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCHHUMAN TRAFFICKINGPORNOGRAPHYamong others. No matter who is elected and where, the fight of faith goes on. We should never forget that. And perhaps this election taught us the lesson that we must be more involved in politics, all of us. We must spend more time in the political arena. We cannot wait for the next election. WE THE PEOPLE must be the leaders, those who make the decisions, those in charge of our states, our counties, our cities, our townships and all local governmental bodies. WE THE PEOPLE must be in charge, and involved, and AT ALL TIMES. Government and its critical decision making never ends. There are those who dedicate their lives to government, to the power it brings and the decision making which can occur. Tens of millions of Americans do not! They leave that to others. But democracy, the republic in which we live demands that we be involved, and involved at all times. Are you? Will you now more than ever? WHEN GOOD MEN AND WOMEN ABANDON THE POLITICAL ARENA, THE BAD TAKE OVER. So said Edmund Burke. We the people cannot vote and then abandon. To be a citizen of this great country means to be involved every day in which we are privileged to live here. I pray that from this point forward, you, presumably a person of faith, will be more involved in government, in politics, in the running of your country and consequently your life now more than ever. It seems as if so many voted on the basis of PERSONALITY in these elections. You could hear across America the loud cry of the NEVER TRUMPSTERS. Many did not like the man personally. Many more were turned off by his personality and no matter what he believed or his performance as President, which was highly beneficial to people of faith, many of those very same people refused to vote for Trump and consequently his party as a result. But the lesson we should learn from elections 2020 is that we vote not on the basis of personality, or likability, but political promise and most importantly PERFORMANCE. To paraphrase Senator Feinstein from California:         THE LIE RUNS DEEP IN ALL POLITICIANS!Never forget that former President Barack Hussein Obama warned us that WE THE PEOPLE now lived in the:         ERA OF POST TRUTH.In short, anything verbally goes according to Obama, and perhaps virtually all politicians and we must, my fellow Americans, find a way to hold our leaders to the truth, to make decisions based on facts and to reestablish the old morality, the old Judeo – Christian morality which was the foundation, the essential pillar of our great country. Without that, we will continue a house divided and:         WE WILL NOT STAND!And our educational system. It has been taken over by progressives, radicals, even foreign interests like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and others. American history and values are put to the side or eliminated altogether. We must regain control of our colleges and universities. And our high schools. And especially the teaching of our children. Perhaps a lesson we have learned from this election is that we cannot delegate the teaching of our children to others, especially in the realm of politics and civic duty. THAT MUST BEGIN AT HOME! Parents, no matter how busy, need to make quality time for discussion, for learning, for reading the Constitution, and all things about the rule of law, and discuss intelligently and fairly all the social issues of the day. THAT BEGINS AT HOME! If as scripture says the training up of a child begins the right way at home, when that child is old and subjected to anti–American, radical and progressive professors and thinking in college, that child will not depart from the right teaching of the parents. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN! And teach them a love for America with a will and determination to solve its problems and to maximize its potential. This election should have taught us to beware of:         SOCIALISM EVEN COMMUNISM.Both are a threat to our society and there are those by the thousands who wish to take America in that direction. Beware of them, watch for them and make certain they do not lead or control.And now we PRAY. We have done all we can. We have worked knowing the night is coming and we have participated in elections 2020 most hopefully to the very best of our abilities. And now we PRAY. We pray for our leaders. We pray for the influence of God Almighty in their lives and decision making. We pray they our leaders will be sensitive, truthful, determined to follow the oath they take to protect and preserve the Constitution and the America they are privileged to serve. We pray that these politicians, our leaders, will honor truth, fulfill their promises and otherwise make our great country greater! That America would once again be a true leader in the world. That we the people would revive our values and morality so that we can once again be as a nation and a people:         A SHINING CITY ON THE HILL. We pray for the end of division. We pray that we can find a way to be ONE NATION UNDER GOD. We pray that we the American people can once again become INDIVISIBLE no matter our differences. We pray that a new civility may return, that we can dialogue and discuss with each other and seek common ground wherever possible following the biblical admonition that without compromise or sacrifice, we make friends with all mankind.And we pray that we the people will HUMBLE ourselves before each other and before God. We pray that we will seek HIS will now more than ever. And we pray that our great country will turn from any evil way and morally revive and that our leaders, newly elected and reelected, will do the same. Then and only then will GOD BLESS AMERICA. Then and only then will our freedoms be preserved. Then and only then will we appreciate our freedoms, preserve and protect them knowing that once they are lost, they are gone forever.Now we go forward as a nation, my fellow Americans. I do hope you pray as I do that:         GOD WILL BLESS THE AMERICA YOU AND I LOVE! 

#SpiritualWarfare Ken Thornberg Freedom Encounters discusses and shares prayers to proclaim God's will over this election. That America will return to her biblical foundation and Christian roots. #WeNeedGod #WhosePrinciples Matt Long The Matt Long Show joins Pastor Greg to discuss the need for God in America and the power of prayer to turn things around. #TechGiantsAttack Allum Bokhari, author of #DELETED: Big Tech's Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal the Election. Allum Bokhari is an investigative tech reporter at Breitbart News. #HealthcareFreedom Matt Bellis Liberty Health share will save you money, meet your families needs, get you out of the insurance bureaucratic game, address your issues of conscious, give you healthcare choices that you are in direct control of and introduce you to a faith minded community that cares about you.

I'm sure you've heard this from the fringes on the left and the right. That America is or was never a democracy. BTLT's Guest Panel and I explore this claim further and consider if much of what's led to today's ruling system has come about through a democratic process. Whether legislatively or through the courts. Perhaps, our complacency and inaction plays a big role in paving the path towards today?... BTLT PANEL: Charles - https://t.co/Mo4G71rT1T?amp=1 Pearce - https://t.co/tvl66mhBmL?amp=1 Franco - https://t.co/u3qP8Bjf9X?amp=1 Support the show on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/bigtalklittletalk --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bigtalklittletalk/support

Hard Men are produced in the fires of intense suffering. In this episode, I'll look at how God uses suffering to harden His choicest servants, as well as the ways you can maximize your growth in moral virtue during those seasons. Show Notes: Jacob Pippin's article, The Epidemic of Fatherlessness. Hard Men Podcast Patreon Page. Doug Wilson's article, That America is Gone Now. Hard Men Facebook Page. Eric Conn on Twitter. Subscribe to the Hard Men Newsletter.

Hard Men are produced in the fires of intense suffering. In this episode, I'll look at how God uses suffering to harden His choicest servants, as well as the ways you can maximize your growth in moral virtue during those seasons. Show Notes: Jacob Pippin's article, The Epidemic of Fatherlessness. Hard Men Podcast Patreon Page. Doug Wilson's article, That America is Gone Now. Hard Men Facebook Page. Eric Conn on Twitter. Subscribe to the Hard Men Newsletter.

PRAYER FOCUS: WE ARE SET ASIDE FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS! Listen to the Prayer Audio: Heavenly Father, We are here in trust!  We trust that You have us covered by Your Mighty Hand to shield us from any attack of the enemy whether in our mind or in our feelings of fear of what is around us.   We are here in trust because we know that it is true Your son has already defeated our foe.  We are here in trust that You have placed us in this time and in this space because You have great plans for us!  We are here in trust that all things will work out according to Your Perfect Will for us.  We know that even if we feel fear or are scared of the activities going on around us and some of what we see is dangerous, Your are sitting on Your Throne knowing the beginning from the end.  We maybe shaking or fearful on our knees before You, but You are God and nothing shakes You, nothing frightens You, nothing that man does surprises You!  So Lord give us confidence to trust You in these shakey times cause You are our God and trust is well founded.  We can walk in confident trust that You have everything in control and that You have set each of us aside for such a time as this! Our Hope is in You O Lord there is no one else! Trust is our battle cry!  Trust in You! Lord, we are so thankful that You have anointed President Trump to lead us during this time. We are thankful that You have given him confidence to use his authority as President to make decisions that cover America ad that he has a heart for our people.  We are confident that You O Lord place men and women of righteousness around him that the holy Spirit will use to give him the guidance he needs during this time and to even in plans for our future.  We trust You Lord that You will remove any of the betrayers or those who are plotting against this man.  That this is the time s the prophet Mark Taylor and others have spoken the corrupt will be removed.  That we will see president Trump even ap[point new Justices to the Supreme Court and decisions like Roe v. Wade will crash before Your Presence.  That America is slated to return to its roots, even though there is turmoil now it will not last forever because decisive action will be taken and those of us who are in the trenches of prayer will see that Your will for us will be done! No doubt just Trust! Father, it is in trust that we will see those who have been foolish in their liberal ways of trying to keep peace with evil will fall to the wayside and those who You raise up in righteousness will prevail.  The Holy Spirit is blowing the winds of change a cross America, even in the flames we see that are destructive we are awakening to a renewed  spirit of wanting law and order.  That Justice will prevail and those who have been partakers in this evil will be prosecuted and suffer the consequences of their choices.  Lord, Your people are tired of the lies and deceit of those who are wolves in sheep clothing even in our churches.  We have seen enough snakes and snake charmers leading us into falsehood of the Gospel. It is time during these days of turmoil to bring about a renewed spirit in us to say enough! Righteousness prevails and Justice reigns in our Land!  Just as it is in Your Kingdom in heaven it is now on the earth and we Your Warriors are here to proclaim ait and declare and so shall it be!  In the Authority of Jesus we bind all that is evil and all that is false worship of a devil who is no god to be crushed now!  That we as a nation return to our roots in Christ Jesus and that we actively will partake in the change that is laid out before us.  We are no longer here to hide and cower for the coming, but we are here to do our part for You see us worthy and valuable to fulfill Your Will on earth as it is in heaven! We trust that Your Holy Spirit will keep us calm and peaceful in times like this!  That You have heard our heartfelt cry to change America and that the ca...

How do Pod Squad!! Hope you're doing alright, yeh? In this little 3 hour burst of nonsense we discuss Faddingtons, as per, Paulo tells us about his first time at running a game and Nate updates us on his playtests on the next module. Boardy sounds like he's dranks 30 bottles of Newcie Brown and a packet of dry roasted peanuts while Ager recounts his experiences in "That America". Ever heard Ager drop an absolute guff bomb live on air? Skip to the end......

Archives Listen to the Prayer Audio:Heavenly FatherWe enter Your Courts with Praise and Thanksgiving for all that You have given us through Your Son, Yeshuah! He is the Perfect One we are to follow and we have accepted Him by Faith. We express our Hope and Love by walking as He walked.  Lord we place at Your feet all that we are so that we become all that You want us to be and do in this time!  We are so grateful to be Your Army of Prayer Warriors to defend the Truth and spread the Kingdom here in America and around the world! Today we bring before You all that You have placed on our hearts to pray for and express!Father, we seek Your Holy Angels to surround us with protection from all the snares, traps and ploys of the enemy to make us stumble and fall.  Keep us off the enemy’s radar and block all of his frequencies from hindering us to communicate with one another and with You! As Yeshuah has told us let not our hearts become weary. You are with us and will never forsake us so we pray in confidence knowing You hear us and answer our prayers in His Name!Father, we want to walk under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we may discern what is right and honorable to do in Your Presence.  Erase from us all the “legalistic approach” we have thinking if we “go to Church” or do certain acts we will be saved.  No Lord it is only in Christ Jesus we are saved and we are to deny ourselves take up the cross and follow Him for it is in this that we are made Perfect and do Your Will. Lord we repent of always following man’s way and not following what You have taught us to do to live in righteousness as it is found in Your Word : honor the Sabbath as a day of rest, just as You rested on the 7th day.  Lord make us aware of how we are in our day to truly honor you by resting on the 7th day and concentrating on You and spending time in Your Presence! Lord lead us out of confusion into the whole Truth as the Holy Spirit leads and guides us.  Like Israel of old we are called to worship and honor You the true God, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.  Lord that all men will know Your Son, Yeshuah as Messiah and Lord!Father, we are indeed grateful for how You are changing the governments of the world to come more in alignment with what You have done in America by giving us President Trump.  Lord we see the movement of the Holy Spirit in England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria all across Europe! As Your Prophets have told us the new world order, the elitist, the illuminati and all other forms of luciferian control are over.  The plan of the enemy is being overturned everyday as more and more people are being awakened and moving for what Your Plan is in our day!  Thank you, Lord for those who are willing to sacrifice and rise up to lead us into righteousness and true Justice for all mankind!Father, we seek protection and a change in the weather patterns over America where the storms are occurring that the farmers will be blessed in abundance with a balance of rain and sunshine not as man tries to control it, but by Your Hand O mighty God!  Lord, that Your people are protected and that those who try to harm us be exposed and dealt with by proper Justice!  We pray a special prayer for all those in the areas where the tornadoes and other storm activity is taking place.  We say with Yeshuah to this area Peace! Be Still!  Let calmness reign in our hearts and in our land!Lord, we are becoming more aware of how our Justice/Legal system needs to cleansed and re-established in our time.  That America will have a true respect for the rule of law that makes us a united nation under God’s Justice!  We seek special protection for all the Judges that President Trump has appointed, especially on the federal level that we will decide in righteousness and not by popularity, or bribery or any other means of intimidation, but have the Wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit to mete out Justice & Mercy as ...

Archives Listen to the Prayer Audio: Heavenly Father, First of all we cover this call with Your Sacred anointing to make us safe from the enemy and all of his schemes to stop or distract us from being in Your Presence and to keep us from hearing Your Heart and keep us from fulfilling Your Commands for us Your Kingdom Army.  Let chaos, resistance, confusion and unrest stay in his camp and that we be in Peace, Harmony and Unity of spirit in these moments with You!           We come to You with humble contrite hearts before Your Throne so that Your Kingdom come and Your Will be done here in America and in the nations of the earth as it is in Your Heaven now and forever. Amen. That You rule supreme over the hearts of all men!           Today, Father we are here to intercede for the land of Israel and its people that the Light of Yeshua, the Christ be spread across the land and that all men recognized how sacred this land is for the Blood of Your Son has been shed there and He graced this land with His Presence and showed us what real love is and how we can live in Peace and Harmony with one another if only we believe and die to ourselves take up our cross and follow Him!  May all the people of Israel, those who have returned to its land as the prophets of old have declared that they will be returned.  That it has become a nation in spite of all the evil forces that try to destroy it even to this day.  That Your Plan is being fulfilled as Your Word declares it and Your prophets of our day like Kim Clement, Mark Taylor and others have said Israel is forever and America will stand with Israel and we will be blessed for doing so!           First of all Father we seek forgiveness for any form of defilement that is in us in regards to hate or despisement  or resentment or resistance toward Your People whom we call Jews be broken off of us.  Lord, forgive us for the long history we as Your followers of Yeshua have had in our generational background or in our blood lines! That even those we have honored as saints, leaders, teachers, instructors and those having authority in our assemblies/churches have written and taught that we are to despise and hate the Jew like the early church fathers and through the centuries others both of Catholic and Protestant traditions>  Forgive us for allowing such prejudice to rule in our hearts because it was not just the Jews that put Your Son to death but it was sin in the Romans and all of us wo have lived in darkness that caused Yeshua to die so that we might be saved and given new life, new life abundantly.  Thank You, Father through the Holy Spirit for opening our minds and hearts that Jeshua was a Jew and that our roots for the Faith and Truth are based in these Hebraic roots.  Father, we recognize it is in us that the change is made so that as Your Apostle Paul has written we have been grafted into the People You chose long ago to bring forth the Messiah!           Lord we say bless all those who call themselves Jews and are of any of the lineage of the 12 tribes of Israel.  May those living in this sacred land and nation we call Israel know and believe in Your Son, Yeshua, the Messiah and allow Him to reign in their hearts. That Arab and Jew and any other people can live in Peace the Peace of Jerusalem that you have commanded us to pray for.           Father we intercede for all of the leadership of the nation of Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Kenneset and all those who have governmental roles in Israel as Judges, Mayors and other public officials. That America and Israel can be with one another as our President Trump has become and the influence that it has on other nations to see and align themselves with Israel and proclaim that Jerusalem is its capital. Lord we proclaim over Israel that this land be not divide as You have declared in Your Word.  There be no two state  division of the Land!  That true Peace reign in the hearts of all who live in Israel and ...

Ep. 180: Jordan Carlos hails from Dallas, Texas where he learned the importance of family, education, and exposure to new cultures and openness to other ways of being.  Now, he resides in New York, the proud dad of a Multiracial family, where he is mastering the art of living in the moment. Jordan recently served as a writer and on-air contributor for Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.  He provided commentary on various MTV and MTV2 series, including; Guy Code, Girl Code, Guy Court, Charlamagne & Friends and Ain’t That America.  His other TV credits include Comedy Centrals’ Broad City, The Colbert Report and Michael and Michael Have Issues, Showtime’s The Affair and Nurse Jackie, HBO’s Girls, NBC’s Mercy, ABC’s Ugly Betty and Adult Swim’s The Eric Andre Show.  He was a series regular on the MTV series, I Just Want My Pants Back and the ESPN scripted comedy series, Mayne Street. He can be seen in the feature films; Sleeping With Other People opposite Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie, Noah Baumbach’s upcoming Yeh Din Kah Kissa opposite Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler, Gillian Robespierre’s Landline, and About Ray opposite Naomi Watts. For more on Jordan, please check him out on Twitter at: @jordancarlos. For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  

Trump said Government was Too Stupid When Donald Trump was originally elected President, I was out there warning, that budget deficits under the Trump Presidency are going to be huge.  Donald Trump never ran as a fiscal conservative or a Libertarian.  He didn't say government was too big, he just said it was too stupid. He promised just to be smarter. He didn't say he would make government smaller, only that he would make it more efficient. He would do a better job of using big government than politicians who have held the office before him. Trump Promised More Spending So it was my feeling that a Trump Presidency was going to result in increasing the budget deficits that would be necessary to finance a bigger government.  Also, Donald Trump never promised to cut government spending; cut entitlements.  In fact, he promised the opposite.  He promised not to touch entitlements, to allow them to continue to expand. He promised to spend more money on the military, more money on our vets, more money on infrastructure, more money to build a wall.  So I knew all of this would result in bigger deficits. "Gentlemen's Agreement" to Raise the Debt Ceiling But now, my suspicions have been confirmed. Now we have news that Donald Trump has basically made a "gentlemen's agreement" with Chuck Schumer to repeal the debt ceiling completely. There has been some debate again about raising the debt ceiling, we have this charade every year or so, where everybody pretends that they might not raise the ceiling and they raise it anyway.  We had a similar political theater going on until Donald Trump cut a deal with the Democrats to extend the last suspension of the debt ceiling for another 90 days. That's when we found out that they had also been working on this deal to eliminate the ceiling altogether. Never Really Paying Off Bills In recent years, the political spin has always been that lifting the debt ceiling is the politically, fiscally responsible thing to do.  That America always pays her bills, and because we always pay our bills, we have to raise the debt ceiling. Ironically, they have it backwards.  The reason they have to raise the debt ceiling is because America never pays her bills. If we paid our bills, we wouldn't have any debt. Debt Ceiling was a Brake on Government Spending What government wants to do is to continue to not pay the bills; to continue to borrow the money so that we can pretend to pay the bills.  And the obstacle to increase debt is the debt ceiling. Of course, we always raise that ceiling every time we approach it, but the fact that the ceiling is there, must provide some type of brake on government spending.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia speaks with the same direct, guile-free way he writes. As a pastor of a large American city, he knows his audience: They are largely post-Christian, cynical about “organized religion,” and don’t abide clichés and easy grace. Archbishop Chaput (pronounced SHAP-you) is also a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe, the second Native American to be consecrated a bishop in the United States and the first Native American archbishop. You might say he comes from a non-immigrant family. I spoke with him about his latest book, Strangers in a Stranger Land: Living the Catholic Faith In a Post-Christian World, a sort of follow-up to the thesis he laid out seven years ago in First Things journal essay, “Catholics and the Next America.” That America is here. Ignited Catholics eager to spread the gospel…not so much. Chaput has been called “alarmist” by the usual suspects in the lamescream media. Christian realist is more accurate. As Christian leaders go, His Excellency is hard-headed and soft-hearted, not the other way around. You’ll find this a conversation worth sharing after you enjoy it yourself.   Don’t forget to subscribe to the show, to get the very latest. Also, please leave an honest review of the show in iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

Last night, following tradition, President Trump delivered his first State of the Union Address Although people are saying that it's not technically a true State of the Union Address We'll have to wait another year for that; that he has been President for too short a period So it's just an address before the Joint Session of Congress But whatever you call it, apparently the president's address was well received Even some of the President's critics are giving him credit, although not all of his critics are being so kind to the President On the other hand, I was not impressed at all by what President Trump said If his main goal was not to offend anybody To get a positive reaction from the political classes, the media and Wall Street Then I guess he gave a great address But if you were looking for the President to actually indicate that true change is coming That America might actually be great again That President Trump might actually be a different type of President than his predecessors You got no indication that that was going to be the case In fact, Trump gave me every indication that his administration would be more of the same Donald Trump wants to make America great again

Today's show will focus on the H-1B Visa Program that betrays highly skilled and highly educated American STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) professionals  Politicians  insist that we need to import hundreds of thousands of additional high-tech foreign workers so that "America can lead."  I noted in my article for FrontPage Magazine,  Immigration Reform: Behind the Bumper Sticker Slogans »  That America is more than mountains, forests, cities, rivers and lakes, that America is comprised of its citizens of every race, religion and ethnicity. The title of my recent article for Californians for Population Stabilization sums up the reality being ignored by all too many politicians, “For America to Do Well, Americans Must Do Well!” On my program today, I will be joined by a guest, Gene Nelson, PhD and our focus will be on the H-1B Visa Program. Here is my guest's bio- in his own words: Brief Bio: I've been an activist for the employment rights of experienced American citizen technical professionals for over 3 decades. I'm a prolific writer. I've testified twice in the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the harms of the controversial H-1B Visa program - and twice to the National Academy of Science on the same topic. I earned a natural science Ph.D. in the field of radiation biophysics. Remember- Democracy is not a "Spectator Sport!" Make you voice and your concernes heard! &nb

Obesity has become the biggest health problem in America and is classified as a disease process. In this episode, you'll discover:--The body fat percentage that is classified as obese.--Why Body Mass Index is not a reliable indicator, and the test that IS an accurate measurement of body fat percentage.--That America's dramatic increase in obesity has occurred WITHOUT an increase in calorie intake. (And what is the true cause of the obesity increase.)--The studies that show how 95% people on diets have a higher fat percentage five years later. (And the danger of losing weight in your muscle and organs instead of fat.)--The HCG Diet that helps you lose fat--especially belly fat--instead of muscle. (And why the HCG Diet must be accompanied with a calorie restriction to ensure you burn fat.)--How the HCG program increases men's Testosterone and sperm count, along with energy and libido. And how HCG must be medically-supervised and for a limited amount of time.--The 2-week start-up special for just $99 that runs through the middle of March 2015: "Don't Wait To Lose The Weight".--How Dr. Prather has over 200 methods for weight loss available to get the right individual program for long-lasting results for his patients.--The natural vitamin injections to help flush toxins out of the body and help you to feel good during your weight loss program.--Marc's story of how he lost 47 pounds in five weeks and went from 37% body fat to 23% body fat during that time.www.TheVoiceOfHealthRadio.com

Obesity has become the biggest health problem in America and is classified as a disease process. In this episode, you'll discover: --The body fat percentage that is classified as obese. --Why Body Mass Index is not a reliable indicator, and the test that IS an accurate measurement of body fat percentage. --That America's dramatic increase in obesity has occurred WITHOUT an increase in calorie intake. (And what is the true cause of the obesity increase.) --The studies that show how 95% people on diets have a higher fat percentage five years later. (And the danger of losing weight in your muscle and organs instead of fat.) --The HCG Diet that helps you lose fat--especially belly fat--instead of muscle. (And why the HCG Diet must be accompanied with a calorie restriction to ensure you burn fat.) --How the HCG program increases men's Testosterone and sperm count, along with energy and libido. And how HCG must be medically-supervised and for a limited amount of time. --The 2-week start-up special for just $99 that runs through the middle of March 2015: "Don't Wait To Lose The Weight". --How Dr. Prather has over 200 methods for weight loss available to get the right individual program for long-lasting results for his patients. --The natural vitamin injections to help flush toxins out of the body and help you to feel good during your weight loss program. --Marc's story of how he lost 47 pounds in five weeks and went from 37% body fat to 23% body fat during that time. www.TheVoiceOfHealthRadio.com