Podcasts about United Nations

LEBANON, ISRAEL, AND THE GULFHEADLINE 1: The IDF carried out a strike in Damascus yesterday.HEADLINE 2: Qatar is preparing to supply natural gas to Syria.HEADLINE 3: The United Nations published a report accusing Israel of perpetrating “genocidal acts” in Gaza.--FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at FDD.Learn more at: https://fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Today's headlines include: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will speak with EU leaders about the possibility of sending Australian peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. The United Nations has accused Israel of ‘genocidal acts’ in a new report. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened a 200% tariff on Europe’s alcohol. And today’s good news: Aussie Scientists have learnt more about the history of Antarctica by analysing penguin poo. Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Lucy TassellProducer: Emma Gillespie Want to support The Daily Aus? That's so kind! The best way to do that is to click ‘follow’ on Spotify or Apple and to leave us a five-star review. We would be so grateful. The Daily Aus is a media company focused on delivering accessible and digestible news to young people. We are completely independent. Want more from TDA?Subscribe to The Daily Aus newsletterSubscribe to The Daily Aus’ YouTube Channel Have feedback for us?We’re always looking for new ways to improve what we do. If you’ve got feedback, we’re all ears. Tell us here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Trump administration has turned the United Nations into a battleground in its war on gender equality. At the Commission on the Status of Women this week, the U.S. sought to block references to gender equality…in a conference dedicated to that very cause! Meanwhile, at the Security Council, the U.S. refused to join a statement condemning the Taliban's treatment of women, signaling a broader retreat from the “Women, Peace, and Security” agenda. In this episode of To Save Us From Hell, Anjali Dayal and Mark Leon Goldberg break down how Trump's anti-DEI crusade is playing out at the UN and what it means for global diplomacy. Get a discounted subscription and unlock the full episode by following this link. 

The 48th International Tourism Salon gets underway in Paris, with the world's #3 destination the United States seeing a big drop in Canadian visitors. The United Nations prepares for budget cuts amid an efficiency drive after 7 years of liquidity crisis. 

IGNACIO LOPEZ: SEÑOR SELF-DESTRUCTUK TOUR: JANUARY - MAY 2025website / twitter / facebook | instagramIgnacio Lopez has been wowing audiences internationally with his individual style and high gag rate since 2010. Now a regular on British TV, Ignacio's extensive broadcast credits include Live At The Apollo (BBC Two), Have I Got News For You (BBC One), QI (BBC Two), Comedy Central Live (Comedy Central), The Apprentice: You're Fired (BBC Two), The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice (Ch4), Pointless Celebrities (BBC One), Stand Up Sesh (BBC Wales) and most recently starring in The Spanish Job (Ch4 online). Ignacio will also be appearing on the current series of Richard Osman's House of Games (BBC Two) and the next series of Celebrity Mastermind (BBC One) and Sorry, I Didn't Know (ITV). His radio credits include The Now Show andThe United Nations of News (BBC Radio 4), The Leak, What Just Happened and his own special Spain's Best Export (BBC Radio Wales), Breaking the News and The Good The Bad & The Unexpected (BBC Radio Scotland) Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Dr Athena Trakadas, Co-founder and Co-Chair of the Ocean Decade Heritage Network (ODHN) about the role of cultural heritage within the United Nation's Ocean Decade, as part of our mini-series on climate change and its impact on marine and coastal heritage. Hear how the Ocean Decade endeavours to bring marine cultural heritage experts together with the other ocean scientists.  Sitting within the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-30), is an initiative of housed in the UN's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and aims was set up to meet the goals of sustainable development, particularly goal STG SDG 14 – life under water - as part of the UN's 2030 Agenda. Whilst the value of cultural heritage might be intuitive to heritage practitioners working with communities that live on the sea, it was more difficult to demonstrate to others in the oceanographic sciences the necessity of addressing heritage.  However, the inclusion of cultural heritage in the discussions expanded the number of societal outcomes of the Ocean Decade, and participation in conferences and policy forums has helped bring visibility to cultural heritage at the inter-governmental and national levels.  Nonetheless, changes in policy and governance are still needed to create a more integrated, holistic, and sustainable approach, and working to change minds remains the biggest challenge! The hope is that the UN Ocean Decade will change perspectives and bring about the ‘Ocean We Want' inclusive of cultural heritage. 

United Nations peacekeeping operations present unique ethical challenges for both multilateral actors and local communities. Today, these moral and political dilemmas are exacerbated by a deteriorating geopolitical environment. In this discussion, leading practitioners grapple with critical questions for UN peacekeeping, now and in the future. For more, please go to: https://carnegiecouncil.co/ethics-empowered-peacekeeping

“We don't give nature enough credit. All mankind needs is to do is to move aside and let the natural system return.”Iraq is one of the five countries most touched by some effects of climate change, according to the United Nations. In this episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith talks with Azzam Alwash, founder of Nature Iraq, about the fabled Mesopotamian marshes. This great wetland is considered to have been the original Garden of Eden. Destroyed by Saddam Hussein, and now coming back to life, this is an extraordinary story of restoration. Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. The Conservation Collective support locally-led environmental Foundations around the world. Together we'll protect and restore the wild places we know and love.

Fredrik and Leilani sit down with Sam Freeman (Head of Research and Advocacy at The Shift) and Dominika Leitane (Legal Officer at Opportunity Green) who reveal how they took the UK government to the United Nations—and won!Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the UN review process as Sam and Dominika break down exactly how they navigated this powerful accountability tool to tackle the twin crises of housing injustice and climate emergency. They share their journey from initial submission to celebration when the UN Committee adopted their recommendations.This eye-opening conversation pulls back the curtain on international law in action, showing how everyday people armed with determination and strategy can use these tools to hold governments accountable. Sam and Dominika offer practical insights into how these seemingly complex international mechanisms can become game-changing tools for creating a more just and sustainable world.Support the show

The news cycle is constantly changing now that President Donald Trump is in office, especially when it comes to Israel's war against Hamas. One moment there are talks about transforming the war-torn Gaza Strip into the “Riviera” of the Middle East. Then there are ultimatums leveled against Hamas if the hostages are not released which are followed by a return to negotiations involving a phased approach to releasing the hostages and ending the war. Is this form of U.S. diplomacy effective in the Middle East? During this episode of the Blessors of Israel Podcast, Dr. Matthew Dodd and Pastor Rich Jones tackle this question and also provide guidance for how to stand with Israel and her people at this volatile time. Visit the Blessors of Israel Website: https://www.blessors.org/ Thank you for supporting Blessors of Israel. Donate Online: https://blessors.org/donate/Please Subscribe and Like our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUfbl_rf8O_uwKrfzCh04jgSubscribe to our ⁠Spotify Channel⁠: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blessorsofisrael Subscribe to our Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blessors-of-israedl/id1699662615Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlessorsofIsrael/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlessorsIGettr: https://gettr.com/i/blessorsofisrael Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1670015Thank you for watching. Please like and share this video.We would love to hear your comments.Those who bless Israel will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones Blessors of IsraelMatthew Dodd Blessors of IsraelBlessors of IsraelBlessers of IsraelTags:Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddRich JonesDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones, Blessors of Israel, Rich Jones, Blessers of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessors of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessers of Israel, Blessers of Israel, Blessors of Israel, Two-State Solution, Palestine, Modern Palestinian Problem, Israel, Jesus Christ, Anti-Semitism, Prophecy Update, End Times Prophecy, Latter Days, Bible Prophecy, The Great Tribulation, Hamas, Gaza Strip, Terrorism, Hezbollah, Iran, Russia, Persia, Gog and Magog, BRICS, China, CCP, Persia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, Yahya Sinwar, Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Deif, United Nations, Terrorism, Antisemitism, Syria, Bashar al Assad, HTS, Damascus, Mount Hermon, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, Ceasefire, Hostages

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.globaldispatches.orgThe Trump administration has turned the United Nations into a battleground in its war on gender equality. At the Commission on the Status of Women this week, the U.S. sought to block references to gender equality…in a conference dedicated to that very cause! Meanwhile, at the Security Council, the U.S. refused to join a statement condemning the Taliban'…

Send us a message! Let us know what you think?Some call it the first slasher. Others, the first form of a snuff film. Martin Scorsese says that Peeping Tom is "everything that can be said about filmmaking," and that it is a "shock to the system", a "lucid picture about the danger of making art," suggesting that the film explores the potential pitfalls and challenges inherent in the creative process. Yet, Peeping Tom was not well received when it was initially released in its home country of England. It didn't fair much better in the United States or anywhere else during that time either. We will dive into the history of a film that was released far too early for its audience but has, over the years, become recognized for it's importance and significance in not only the horror genre that we so love, but in cinema history as a whole.The United Nations of Horror is a Podcast about ALL THINGS HORROR! From thrillers of yesteryear to today's modern-day horror, we are here to present fun and intelligent conversation about the genre films we love! Join us and please help spread the word about the United Nations of Horror Podcast and Video Cast to horror fans across the globe! Be sure to join our Facebook Group, as we would love to hear from you! We are available on all fine podcasting networks. A video version of this episode will also be available on our Youtube Channel to watch, although our audio version always drops before the video version. As always, thank you for listening to the United Nations of Horror.

Today on the podcast Dr Julia Macdonald, head of Research and Engagement at the Asia New Zealand Foundation, sits down with Vietnam's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Do Hung Viet, who earlier this year visited New Zealand as an ASEAN Prime Minister's fellow.Mr Viet was appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2022, following a diplomatic career that has focused on international organisations. He has held positions as Assistant Foreign Minister, Director-General of the Foreign Ministry's International Organisations Department, and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He will take up the position as Viet Nam's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in mid 2025.Tweet us at @AsiaMediaCentreWebsite asiamediacentre.org.nz Email us at media@asianz.org.nzWhakawhetai mo te whakarongo .. thanks for listening !

João Vale De Almeida was the EU ambassador in Washington, the United Nations and then in London and has served under 6 EU commission presidents. He's met Putin 15 times and has seen a few trading and geopolitical missteps in his time but his latest book kind of sums up the state of the world right now. It's called ‘The Divorce of Nations' and João Vale De Almeida spoke to Joe this morning.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford addresses reporters at Queen's Park to announce a pause on the 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports to three U.S. states. The move comes following a conversation between Premier Ford and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Earlier in the day, U.S. President Trump threatened an increase on Canadian steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent in response to the Ontario's electricity surtax. Ford tells reporters he will travel to Washington on Thursday with federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc to meet with Lutnick and other U.S. officials to discuss the ongoing trade war. Green Party of Canada Co-Leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault held a press conference on March 11, 2025 to congratulate Mark Carney and react to his election as the new Leader of the Liberal Party. The implications of that choice for Canadian politics and the effort to defend Canada from an erratic US president were also discussed. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas condemned Russia's full-scale invasion and continuing war against Ukraine, underscored the need for humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza, and reaffirmed the EU as a steadfast partner of the United Nations. She also emphasised that reinforcing multilateral cooperation is the only way to address collective challenges and safeguard international peace and security. “The world faces unprecedented pressure … our geopolitical context is changing, but you can count on the European Union as the United Nations' most reliable, credible, and predictable partner,” she said.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/policy-and-rights--3339563/support.

Quinoa is everywhere these days, the base for a million salads and grain bowls. But, until recently, barely anyone outside the nutritious seed's ancient's homeland—the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes—had ever heard of it. This week, we're telling the story of how a gorgeous spinach-like plant traditionally grown in a remote, high-altitude region of South America was transformed into one of the hottest foods on the shelves at Whole Foods. This is a tale that began with Coloradan hippies, the deliberate invention of a new Peruvian gastronomy, and beer, but truly took off when the United Nations declared that this so-called "superfood" was the secret to solving global hunger, adapting to climate change, and rescuing Andean farmers from poverty. So, did quinoa deliver? Listen in now for the story behind your next Buddha bowl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Matt addresses the 500 attendees at the Restore Tradition Conference in San Diego, California. After asking for a show of hands as to how many of the attendees are "Latin Mass Catholics," Michael engages in a "unite the clans" discussion on the Mass, Vatican II, and the history of the Catholic counterrevolution. Support us | https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/subscribe-today Sign up for Michael Matt's Weekly E-Letter: https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/subscribe-today/free-remnant-updates Follow Michael Matt on X: https://x.com/Michael_J_Matt Check out my website: https://www.remnantnewspaper.com Listen to Michael Matt's podcasts: SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/1AdkCDFfR736CqcGw2Uvd0 APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-michael-j-matt-show/id1563298989

NOEL THOMAS is co-founder and CEO of Dark Watch, a data company focused on anti-trafficking. His faith and conviction opened his heart for the oppressed and marginalized. Noel has been dedicated to researching, educating on, coordinating, and managing the development of counter-trafficking solutions. He addressed the United Nations on human trafficking and sextortion. He lives on Florida's Atlantic Coast. Rob Suggs is a virtuoso of the written word through his versatility, experience, and relentless creativity. His clients have included New York Times best-selling authors such as Kyle Idleman, Lee Strobel, Mark Batterson, David Jeremiah, Bruce Wilkinson, and many others. He has written or collaborated on more than sixty books. In this promising true crime story of big tech combatting human trade by Noel Thomas and Rob Suggs, Dark Traffic ushers the public into the next phase of anti-trafficking efforts to stop what has evolved into a 150 billion dollar industry involving a complex network of organized crime trafficking sex, labor, and human organs. It has become an all too prevalent and pervasive presence with a world wide grip reaching out to seize the vulnerable, powerless, and marginalized through the Internet and the dark web. Not your average book on trafficking—this is an exclusive look at the side of human trafficking you've never known, and how technology is being used to fight the war. Because the game has changed, and we must change with it. As co-founder and CEO of Dark Watch, author Noel Thomas has led United States law enforcement and the judicial system onto the new battleground, where high-tech data analysis is changing how criminals are caught and prosecuted. Offering an insider's view on the battle, Dark Traffic is Noel Thomas's plea to a public primarily unaware of the destruction and close proximity of trafficking, seeking to pull back the curtain of what's happening in our own backyards and ignite a righteous anger that calls readers to step up, learn more, and do more. “This book was written to bridge the information gap,” Thomas writes, “and, consequently, the outage gap. Lives are destroyed in large numbers, and we need to raise an army of awareness and determination to fight this enemy who is thriving in the shadows of our culture.” More than just a report from the battlefield, Dark Traffic is an urgent call for more people to join in the fight.Find out more about Dark Watch - https://darkwatch.io/Dark Traffic can be purchased wherever you find get books.

Break barriers. Reinvent your path and redefine what's possible. Those are just some of the mantras Gemma Bulos lives by. She catalyzes leaders to master change and reinvent for future readiness and thrive in an unpredictable world. As an international speaker and entrepreneur, who has gotten the attention of world leaders, academics and the United Nations, Gemma has made an impact worldwide by spearheading change. She founded three organizations on three continents. She has spoken alongside Nobel Peace Laureates and world leaders and worked for global peace as well as bringing clean water and sanitation to people in Asia and Africa. She is the founding director of the Global Women's Water Initiative which has improved access to water and sanitation for over 1 million people so far. That initiative puts women at the center of water solutions empowering them and their families in areas where water projects have failed. Gemma has been the vanguard of change and a coach in many places – at colleges, nonprofits and corporations. Gemma inspires all who hear her. Be sure to join Shelley Johnson and Kathy Tuccaro on Women Road Warriors to hear Gemma's incredible story of empowerment.https://www.globalwomenswater.org/https://www.gemmabulos.com/https://women-road-warriors.captivate.fmhttps://womenroadwarriors.com/ https://womenspowernetwork.netwomen empowerment, female leaders, Global Women's Water Initiative, water crisis solutions, inspiring women stories, women's health and sanitation, community water projects, Gemma Bulos, clean water access, sanitation education, empowering women through water, social entrepreneurship, women's rights and water access, environmental sustainability, water and food security, women's roles in communities, Women Road Warriors, Shelley Johnson, Shelley M. Johnson, Kathy Tuccaro

Today we are joined by Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos. Dr. Kostopoulos is a globally recognized strategist that brings clarity and context as to what is on the horizon. Her unique expertise at the intersection of emerging technology, security and macro-trends has been sought by the United Nations, U.S. Special Operations, the European Commission, NATO, multi-nationals, tech companies, design agencies, academia, such as MIT and Oxford Saïd Business School, and foreign governments. She helps her clients understand new technologies, emerging value chains, and contextualizes the convergences of our time. She founded the boutique consultancy Abundance Studio and has experience working in the US, Europe, Middle East and East Asia. [March 10, 2025]   00:00 - Intro 00:19 - Intro Links -          Social-Engineer.com - http://www.social-engineer.com/ -          Managed Voice Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/vishing-service/ -          Managed Email Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/se-phishing-service/ -          Adversarial Simulations - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/social-engineering-penetration-test/ -          Social-Engineer channel on SLACK - https://social-engineering-hq.slack.com/ssb -          CLUTCH - http://www.pro-rock.com/ -          innocentlivesfoundation.org - http://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/                                02:10 - Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos Intro 03:30 - From Counter Terrorism to Conflict Landscapes 05:35 - The Imagination Dilemma 09:13 - Technological Tit for Tat 11:38 - Four Facets of Imagination 12:18 - Facet 1) Identity 13:36 - Facet 2) Convergence 15:38 - Facet 3) Humanity 16:48 - Facet 4) Dreams 18:18 - Turning Crisis Into Strategy 22:39 - Being Human 26:04 - Future-Proofing Organizations 29:51 - Real Value Proposition 31:26 - Webinar Series -          Website: imaginationdilemma.com -          YouTube: @ImaginationDilemma 32:12 - Find Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos online -          Website: abundance.studio -          LinkedIn: in/lydiak -          Instagram: @HiLydiak 32:46 - Book Recommendations -          The 100-Year Life - Andrew Scott & Lynda Gratton -          Imagination Dilemma - Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos 37:02 - Mentors -          Parents -          Women Suffragists 38:15 - Guest Wrap Up & Outro -          www.social-engineer.com -          www.innocentlivesfoundation.org

Send us a textSouth Dakota trial lawyer Charles Abourezk has a compelling story as a lawyer and beyond that role. He grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, and advocated for Indian Americans before and after law school. He represented indigenous people's interests at the United Nations. He produced and directed radio and television programming concerning Native Americans. Charlie is Chief Justice of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's Supreme Court in South Dakota; Justice of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Appellate Court; Justice of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Appellate Court; and Special Judge for Oglala Sioux Tribal Courts. Charlie attended the Trial Lawyers College in 1997, two years before your podcast host Jonathan Katz attended. There, Charlie particularly took to psychodrama. He remains and teaches actively on staff at the National Psychodrama Training Center. Charlie's late father James Abourezk was the first United States Arab American senator, who subsequently founded the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). He was a strong advocate for Native American rights while in the U.S. House and Senate. Law enforcement once searched Charlie's home on the reservation, and followed him around for a period of time, I take it due to his support of Native Americans. He says such an experience makes you stronger. Charlie strongly and aptly believes in the power of psychodrama for winning in court. His devotion to Native American rights made inviting him for this interview all the more compelling for Jon Katz, whose close friend and spirtual teacher Jun Yasuda strongly supports Native American rights. This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at info@KatzJustice.com, 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

Understanding the signs of our times is not just an intellectual pursuit—it’s a spiritual necessity for every believer, especially parents raising the next generation in faith. As the world grows more turbulent, it’s vital to recognize the profound biblical significance of current events and what they mean for the future. And no one is unveiling these mysteries more powerfully than Jonathan Cahn. A New York Times #1 bestselling author and globally recognized expert in end time prophecy, Jonathan has been called one of the most influential spiritual voices of our time—his impact likened to that of Billy Graham in shaping the faith and understanding of millions. His ability to connect ancient biblical prophecy to modern world events has ignited conversations far beyond the church, challenging believers to wake up to the reality of God’s unfolding plan. In this riveting episode, Catherine sits down with Jonathan for an explosive deep dive into his latest groundbreaking book, The Dragon's Prophecy: Israel, the Dark Resurrection, and the End of Days. This urgent work has captivated readers worldwide, skyrocketing to #1 on the New York times, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly—and for good reason. It unveils the spiritual war raging in our time, with Israel at its center, and exposes the prophetic patterns shaping our world today. Why This Matters More Than Ever Jonathan reveals why the tiny nation of Israel is at the heart of global conflict, prophetic fulfillment, and spiritual warfare. Through the lens of Revelation 12, he explains a cosmic struggle involving a dragon, a woman, and a child—a prophetic narrative that defines all of human history and is manifesting before our very eyes. Key Insights You’ll Discover: Israel’s miraculous existence—why this nation’s survival defies logic and stands as a living testament to God’s divine hand. Prophecy unfolding in real-time—how ancient enemies foretold in scripture are reemerging and influencing today’s Middle Eastern and global conflicts. The shocking biblical meaning of “Hamas”—how this word appears in scripture, describing ancient violence, and its eerie connection to modern-day events. Revelation’s cosmic battle—understanding the prophecy of the dragon, the woman, and the child and how it plays out in today’s geopolitical and spiritual climate. What this means for Christians today—how prophecy equips us to strengthen our faith and prepare our families for the days ahead. A Wake-Up Call for Believers Jonathan’s message is a call to awareness, action, and faith. This is not just about Israel—it’s about every believer, every family, and the future of the Church. Understanding prophecy isn’t about fear—it’s about hope, preparation, and confidence in God’s divine plan.

The UN's Volker Turk has condemned days of violence between security forces and fighters loyal to fallen dictator Bashar al-Assad. The United Nations human rights commissioner is calling for an inquiry to investigate the killings of hundreds of civilians in Syria, mostly from the Alawite minority, according to two UK-based monitoring groups. There are also desperate pleas from Syrian-Australian women, thousands of kilometres away - watching, waiting, and hoping for answers. A warning that this content may be distressing for some listeners:

Women from all over the world are meeting at the U.N. this week in New York.  Where does the good 'ol USA rank?

Nick Kaldas, former NSW Police deputy commissioner, spent his career working undercover infiltrating gangs and solving murders. He was also chosen by the United Nations to head up the investigation into the assassination of a former prime minister. Nick joins Gary Jubelin to share the highs and lows of his career. Discover more about Nick Kaldas' book, Behind The Badge, here. Can’t get enough of I Catch Killers? Stay up to date on all the latest crime news at The Daily Telegraph. Get episodes of I Catch Killers a week early and ad-free, as well as bonus content, by subscribing to Crime X+ today. Like the show? Get more at icatchkillers.com.au Advertising enquiries: newspodcastssold@news.com.au Questions for Gary: icatchkillers@news.com.au Get in touch with the show by joining our Facebook group, and visiting us on Instagram or Tiktok. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

- Breaking News and Special Reports (0:00) - Vaccine Depopulation Conspiracy (5:12) - Health and Nutrition Strategies (9:02) - Book Review: A Guide to Understanding Herbal Medicines (34:18) - Special Report: Energy and AI in Geopolitical Shifts (41:08) - Book Review: Our Occulted History by Jim Mars (1:01:54) - Interview with Michael Young on Global Politics (1:10:12) - Panama's Strategic Importance and Economic Challenges (1:21:33) - Military Capabilities and Global Conflicts (1:26:59) - UK's Military and Economic Vulnerabilities (1:33:17) - Europe's Military and Political Landscape (1:34:26) - Migration and Security Concerns (1:44:56) - Trump's Role and Potential Actions (1:59:56) - Globalist Agendas and Depopulation (2:18:23) - The Role of the United Nations and International Organizations (2:27:29) - The Future of Global Security and Migration (2:27:43) - The Impact of AI and Automation on Global Systems (2:28:49) - Israel and Genocide Allegations (2:30:56) - Historical Context and Bonds (2:35:05) - Geopolitical Struggles and Future Projections (2:37:13) - Jewish Communities and Future Migrations (2:40:50) - AI and Human Replacement (2:45:07) - Cultural and Technological Shifts (2:50:18) - Final Thoughts and Contact Information (2:56:03) For more updates, visit: http://www.brighteon.com/channel/hrreport NaturalNews videos would not be possible without you, as always we remain passionately dedicated to our mission of educating people all over the world on the subject of natural healing remedies and personal liberty (food freedom, medical freedom, the freedom of speech, etc.). Together, we're helping create a better world, with more honest food labeling, reduced chemical contamination, the avoidance of toxic heavy metals and vastly increased scientific transparency. ▶️ Every dollar you spend at the Health Ranger Store goes toward helping us achieve important science and content goals for humanity: https://www.healthrangerstore.com/ ▶️ Sign Up For Our Newsletter: https://www.naturalnews.com/Readerregistration.html ▶️ Brighteon: https://www.brighteon.com/channels/hrreport ▶️ Join Our Social Network: https://brighteon.social/@HealthRanger ▶️ Check In Stock Products at: https://PrepWithMike.com

How does the weather influence your daily decisions, from your morning routine to your mood? Randi Stipes, CMO of The Weather Company, understands the profound impact of weather on consumer behavior—and how to harness it for deeper connection and trust with their customers. In this episode, we explore how The Weather Company collects and leverages consumer insights to enhance user experience, inform marketing strategies, and shape content creation. From data-driven storytelling to innovative brand collaborations, Randi shares how her team turns weather-driven moments into meaningful connections. Full Episode Details  Randi joins host Zontee Hou on this episode of Social Pros to discuss how The Weather Channel is using weather data to drive trust with their audience and customers. She explains how weather is the "ultimate contextual accelerant", influencing consumer behavior in unexpected ways (like how a temperature drop in the Ohio Valley can actually boost ice cream sales!) Randi also shares insights on why B2B businesses need a weather strategy, how The Weather Company is working with content creators to showcase real-life weather impacts, and the brand's partnership with the United Nations on the WeatherKids campaign, a global initiative to inspire climate action through future forecasts. She also highlights the growing role of social in driving brand authenticity and why every marketer should nurture a strong relationship with their CFO to align strategies and impact -- and gives one of the best answers yet to our "If you could have a video call with any living person, who would it be?" question with a heartwarming story you won't want to miss! In This Episode: 2:16 - The Weather Company's new brand platform, and the process of rolling it out to achieve their business goals 5:15 - How the brand works with content creators, and how they fit into The Weather Company's ecosystem 7:52 - The different audiences the brand is targeting with their content creator approach 10:38 - How The Weather Channel has changed over the course of its history,  and how Randi is preparing her team for the coming evolution of the digital landscape  13:48 -  How the brand is thinking about that personalization to give their audience a better expereince 15:52 - Important points for all marketers to keep in mind when building towards registration and ensuring customers see the brand as an ongoing partner in their lives  19:37 - Things that will be really valuable for The Weather Company and all marketers to think about when collecting information about how customers behave so that a better story can be told to them  23:14 - How to think about insights that serve  B2B partners, and  why every B2B business needs a weather strategy  28:4 - WeatherKids, a joint program with the United Nations Development Program and the World Meteorological Organization.  31:38 - Who Randi would most want a video call with, and the wonderful story explaining why 36:02 - Randi's advice for aspiring social pros Resources  Download The Weather Channel app Follow The Weather Channel on TikTok Follow The Weather Channel on Instagram Visit The Weather Company website Visit The Weather Channel website Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by guest host Kat Duffy, Senior Fellow for Digital and Cyberspace Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and CEO of RightsDuff Strategies. They cover:Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not) (Techdirt)America's Global Presence Isn't ‘Soft Power.' It's a Superpower. (Foreign Policy)These teenage boys were blackmailed online – and it cost them their lives (USA Today)United Nations Convention against Cybercrime (UN)Chairman Jordan Subpoenas Big Tech for Information on Foreign Censorship of American Speech (House Judiciary Committee)This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

Comprehensive coverage of the day's news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. United Nations observes International Women's Day, celebrating advances but warning of push-back and “mainstreaming of misogyny” Trump hosts White House summit on bitcoin, vows to make USA the “crypto capital of the world” Trump says he's “strongly considering” new sanctions on Russia, as massive drone strike hits Ukraine energy infrastructure Measles outbreak in West Texas still growing, as CDC plans study of vaccine-autism link despite research showing no connection The post United Nations observes International Women's Day, warning of “mainstreaming of misogyny”; Trump holds White House summit on cryptocurrency he once said “seems like a scam” – March 7, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Former Oklahoma Rep Sherrie Conley joins me to discuss a couple of education related bills. SB 224 and HB 1491.   SB224 would establish a Statewide Longistudinal Data System in the state of Oklahoma.  This would allow the govermnment to track and monitor your child from cradel to the grave.  I have a big problem with this!  Listen and you'll understand why.  Then, we have HB1491 and this interesting move by Gov Stitt with support from Speaker Hilbert and Pro Temp Paxton. They want to allow any of the board members to participate in setting the agenda for the OSDE.  Maybe this would not seem so interesting, if it were not on the heals of Gov Stitt's recent move to remove three board members and replace them with three members that some have suggested are closely aligned with Stitt.  Is this a hotile takeover to wrest control from Superintendent Walters and prevent him from trying to count children of illegal immigrants? Or is it an honest move to redistribute power? We'll lay out some facts, and you can decide.     Transcript:  Jake How do you feel about surveillance? How do you feel about surveying your children or the state surveying your children? We're talking about data mining. It is a topic of one particular bill here in the Oklahoma legislature. We're gonna take a look at it. I'm here with Sherry Connolly and will also look at house bill 149 1 that was recently backed by Governor Stitt and the speaker of the house. This deals with a shake up in the school board here in Oklahoma so got a lot to get to let's get to it. All right, I'm here with the former house representative Sherry Connolly Sherry welcome to the show    Sherrie Conley Thank you so much for having me    You You bet. Well I appreciate you all the work you have done and are doing in the state. Before we get too involved in these subjects that I wanna dive into both this idea of data mining collecting information on our children in the state and also this house bill 1491. I want to give you a chance to talk about a passion project of yours. Exposing the corruption in the public schools. Real quickly, what is the website that you are working on?    Sherrie Conley So we have we have two websites one is our broken trust website it's still in the construction phases but we've got another one that we're taking over called iHeart my teacher    You OK    Sherrie Conley .org. It is a collection of over 24, 000 reports of a teacher misconduct the majority of it is all sexual misconduct and so. Yeah, it's like it's a huge undertaking. We got to update it. I believe the gentleman that has it that we're taking it from. He worked for about four years doing it and just got overwhelmed with all of the information and so yeah we we got a lot of work ahead of us, but it's iHeartmyteacher.org     You You know someone would ask, “is this actually happening in our schools?” and I think that's the right I mean that is eye-opening that the one who founded this to track this and expose it he's overwhelmed because of all of the data that he's he's collecting and all of the instances of sexual misconduct in our schools so yeah, it's definitely happening    Sherrie Conley It is definitely happening and I have collected it over the last year and a half while really just a year started my research in February of last year collecting the data. I got 2 6 3 predators from inside the school and those are just Oklahoma cases those are just predators from inside    You Wow    Sherrie Conley Oklahoma.    You Well, that is iHeart my teacher .org the other one broken trust you're working on but that's gonna be coming to everyone pretty soon and I just wanted to make sure we we highlighted that before we get into these other conversations and forget to because I really appreciate your work there. I think it's needed in the state.    Sherrie Conley Yeah, thank you    You But the topic today we're looking at this statewide longitudinal data systems. The SLDS this is something that looks like it's been adopted by about 40 states and often times that's used as an argument for for something to adopt it and if we see a trend across the nation then often times Oklahoma says well it's happening everywhere else we want to happen here too, but we want to hit the pause button on that and say wait a minute is this a good idea? To actually track the data on our students what have you seen Sherry about this SLDS in our US concerned about it as I am    Sherrie Conley I am extremely concerned about it and let me just kind of give you just a little piece of information. This started in Oklahoma back in 20 12 Oklahoma received a $4.99 million grant. For the race to the top program to institute a longitude that system and that money good for the year 2012 to 20 17 I haven't that information just came to me, but I have not had an opportunity to dig into that and what was instituted whenever that money was received?    You Well, back in 20 12    Sherrie Conley Yes    You OK, do you know where this is originating from? I mean, who is behind this and pushing this as far as wanting schools to adopt us    Sherrie Conley No, I asked the house author where the language came from and he's he's not real sure where it came from but he knows that it's being pushed by the education people in Oklahoma and also by the chambers and so you know if you look at The language inside the bill it gives the workforce commission higher education, career tech superintendent, public instruction, Oklahoma, employment security commission oh QA and the the university it's the Russo group. It gives them all access to the data that comes out of the database. Me personally it also add some language in there that says among approved entities, but then it also goes down and it makes the comment that that there could be other Groups that are given access to it, and so that is the part that concerns me if this was being    You Right    Sherrie Conley created and used in the state of Oklahoma in order to improve education at the common end level at higher Ed workforce you know I'm getting our kids to work and getting them educated in the field that they want to pursue I would be OK with this, but I see you know connections to the agenda from the United Nations for a global database system, and that is what concerns me about this    You Me too, yeah have you seen the divergent series?    Sherrie Conley I have yes    You Stuff like this reminds me of this, and I know that that could be laughable, but so all too often we're seeing the sci-fi fantasy world becoming reality you know, and when you have an agenda for kids when you when you wanting to mind their skills and their strengths and all these data points on them to it seems like fund them in a certain direction    Sherrie Conley Yeah    You And it just reminded me of that I don't know if is a divergent series or one of those I think it's called a divergent they they have certain categories that people go and    Sherrie Conley Yes    You select at a certain age and you know it seems like we're thinking along those lines, dude does the government really need that much data on our kids and do they need to have that much control about how to funnel them in a certain direction?    Sherrie Conley Yeah, well it makes me think of the movie. I think it's ants where when the baby answer born somebody holds it up and says this is a worker aunt and hold it up and you know this is you know    You Right    Sherrie Conley whatever whatever the other categories are it's been a long time since I've seen the movie but that's what this kind of makes me think of is funding kids into you know well your grades are not high enough so you can't go to college so you're gonna have to go either into the military or into career tech, I feel like you know we need to be educating our kids. On all sorts of You know the arts and music, appreciation and being able to think logically and reasonably and you know create a dialogue and rhetoric and all of those things and then let the kids decide. I think that we're doing too much of deciding for the kids. I say all the time I know there's a lot of other people that that say this, but let's teach the kids what to think or how to think and not what to think you know and that's what this feels like there. This is a push    You Right, right?    Sherrie Conley towards is pushing kids to think this is where I'm gonna have to go because I'm not good enough to go to know to someplace else and I just I don't agree with making decisions for children. People have the freedom. They should have the freedom to be able to make the decisions on their own, we should not be collecting data points in order to push them into the direction that somebody else thinks they need to go.    You Well, I'll just read here from the text of the bill again we're talking about Cinna bill 22 4 and is there is there a house bill with a different number?    Sherrie Conley I have not found one    You OK OK I think it's just this one. It's run by Seyfried in the Senate in Caldwell in the house and here in section a right at the beginning of the bill first page. It says the purpose of the SLDS shall be to provide state agencies, but right there first red flag provide state agencies, legislators, and other    Sherrie Conley Yeah,    You approved users with with that's the issue. It's very vague very open right other approved who are these approved users and who's approving them    Sherrie Conley that's the Yes    You It was shall provide them with access to data on early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, workforce training and employment outcomes and employment outcomes so I mean how how far are we gonna track these    Sherrie Conley Yes    You individuals these children it is it employment while they're in high school or is it beyond that?    Sherrie Conley Well, the next word, the next four words, five words say improve education, and then here's the caveat and workforce outcomes    You There you go    Sherrie Conley You know here's the thing is that you have to track somebody past their high school in college careers in order to be able to track workforce outcomes right so you    You Yum    Sherrie Conley know that I mean they're calling it a longitudinal data system and so they are truly talking about tracking people from the cradle to the grave and determining where they go, what I see this is using this for ES G and social scores you know I just came from London and one of the perfect examples of a social credit score is the Uber system and you know you can take that system and you can you can see where using these data points where people go whether or not they're working, you know you can use gaps in their employment as they hit on their social credit score that if you're tracking their workforce your tracking their work and And everything that comes after high school in college that's exactly what that stuff can be used for    You Yeah, well it's clear and it's no secret. The DEF has made it very clear that they have an agenda and you know when you start seeing things like this it seems to match what they have been very vocal about this this global    Sherrie Conley Absolutely    You agenda and it's so easy to dismiss this and say you know you radical conspiracy theorist talking about 15 minute cities and and social credit scores. But then we have a bill like this and it's talking about tracking from the cradle to the grave preparing people for the workforce and and here's a thing I get so sick of it because it's always for our own good. It's always about the government protecting us helping us, but it's like you said, are we telling them what to think or we just simply teaching them how to think how to be independent critical thinkers who then can go pioneer their own way rather than    Sherrie Conley Yeah Yeah    You fall into a certain track that has been pre- prepared for them.    Sherrie Conley Yes, yeah and that is that is very concerning to me because how many people actually reinvent themselves all the time they get a degree in one thing and then you know decide I don't wanna do that and so they go to another job that's    You Yeah    Sherrie Conley outside of where of what they actually majored in in college and you know is that eventually going to be used against us if you look at the comparisons to the launch Tual database and to the UN agenda They have data collection and management on there, which is sharing the and the integration of the educational data for global monitoring monitoring monitoring sorry    You Monitoring    Sherrie Conley Privacy and security oversight then they got tracking student progress, which aligns a state level educational outcomes with the global four targets and interestingly enough it actually even has a workforce and migration data in it and it's to improve understanding of migration impact or education systems and what I find so interesting is that the argument you know I'm gonna go back to the argument between Walters and stick the argument between them was Walters, wanting to collect the data on the students who are illegal immigrants to determine the impact that they're having on Oklahoma's education system and the funding right and yet this the UN database the UN agenda is actually wanting to collect that data through these launch to databases and so I find it very interesting that they got that battle going back-and-forth between them and yet this SDS actually does exactly what Walters just wanting to do to determine the impact on our education system here in the state of Oklahoma    You Yeah, I just as I read down the bill it just for me. It's more concerning. It says implement identity management capabilities, identity    Sherrie Conley Yeah, what is that?    You management, right to create unique identifiers that link early childhood childhood education, elementary, and secondary education post secondary education, workforce data, so we've seen those for Elements there in the previously in the bill that early childhood elementary secondary post secondary and workforce but this identity management capability What is that about and you know one thing we know    Sherrie Conley No    You about the UNWEF this global agenda is the big 3M's that the monitoring management and monetize    Sherrie Conley Yep    You and this is the goal is to monitor that's why I push back    Sherrie Conley I didn't    You against surveillance, especially in this day, even if it's used to justify preparing our youth for the future or use to justify catching more criminals I'm gonna be paranoid whenever we talk about    Sherrie Conley Yes    You surveillance because I know there's a bigger agenda here and that is the first step and    Sherrie Conley Absolutely    You monitoring which then when you're monitored, you can be managed and when you're managed, you can be monetized not for your    Sherrie Conley Yep    You benefit, but for someone else's benefit to use you    Sherrie Conley Yep    You as a channel and Just direct you in a certain way where you can be a good worker which where we heard that before if it rings a Marx's    Sherrie Conley Yes,    You tone    Sherrie Conley yes well and if you think about it, these companies that are changing their human resources to human capital that gives a huge Red flag for me that you are counting me not as as as someone who is valuable to your organization, but you're counting me as an asset that I    You Yeah    Sherrie Conley am I am looked at as money for you to make money and I don't know they're just there's something just really creepy about that. It's kind of a weird word to use, but that is very scary to me and then the that section 4 was something that was very section 3 that was very concerning to me because when you say identity management capabilities, that is what it sounds to me like and I hope I'm wrong but what it sounds to me like is giving someone a number inside the database that will follow me kind of like my Social Security number that will follow me all of my life so that it can be tracked, regardless of where I go work and regardless, if you know what state I'm working in that it can always be tracked back to that number and that I'll have to use that along with my Social Security number so that they can identify who I am and what I'm doing.    You Yum and we're talking about things like your history of illness for instance, your travel where were you    Sherrie Conley Yes    You exposed to other forms of illness    Sherrie Conley Exactly    You Behavior psychological    Sherrie Conley Yes    You evaluations, you know    Sherrie Conley Yes    You businesses you started businesses you've been affiliated with the list goes on and on and on and the ones reading this first of all, we don't even know who that    Sherrie Conley It does    You is because they've    Sherrie Conley Right    You intentionally made it vague, so who's gonna be looking at this data and how would they be evaluating you? Do you want them evaluating you and your children especially So man, so many red flags here and you know one of the things we mentioned at the start of this I think before we went live is you know Chad Colwell was carrying this in the house you know you respect Chad Caldwell in the house and we're waiting to hear back from him as far as what is it that he sees that would be good about this bill I personally don't know him well I don't know Senator Seyfried well in the Senate I know both of them have had other good pieces of legislation in the past So I'm curious to hear from them what what is it about this bill that you think would be good for Oklahoma's    Sherrie Conley Yeah, I am. I am very much interested in hearing hearing from him and that's the reason why I reached out to him. I was hoping that I could get you know a response back so that we could talk about you know what he seems to be the benefit of this, but I will tell you that I'm also very concerned about this being linked to school based healthcare. I'm also very concerned about it being linked to common core and I was looking at a graphic that was put out by Jenny White and it's it's kind of a complicated graphic I I really need to sit down with her and have her explain to me yeah    You I saw that graphic arrows going everywhere    Sherrie Conley Yes, yes everywhere but if you look at it closely, you can see that there are different entities that are gathering data on our students at every single level and so I mean even our night test you know that are tracking our our test scores are reading in math test scores for fourth and eighth graders You know that's that's a concern to me also, I mean, I understand the need to be able to determine where our kids arming we're using that data to be able to say look our schools are not cutting it. They are failing our students and so they're failing our families and they're failing our communities and our businesses who need good you know intelligent articulate workforce so I understand that but this I believe goes way further than what anybody realizes the capabilities of this are and if this truly is connected to the UN and I noticed. Let me see I wrote some notes on it so the $4.99 million if they got in 20 12 you know what was the cost of that 4.99 million. What did the state have to give to the federal government who provided the grant money for this what were the stipulations what were the strengths and I guarantee you in looking at what they say the cost in implementing this is gonna be 2.1 to $5.1 million and again you know is this a state investment is this federal dollars I believe it says in there or something about grant money and so if anytime you connect the federal government to a data system they are going to want something for that money you can't they don't just give money away and expect you you know to just say hey thanks and then walk away. They want something for it. And to say, it says data access, she'll be granted through a formal data sharing agreement submitted to the statewide launch to database data system, government council, and you know so who who does that mean is going to get is gonna get this information it also says controlled access to approve external partners, including researchers or vendors Ensuring compliance with privacy protections, but you know what here's the thing is that if you if you have attached a number to my kid and you tracking them, I'm more concerned about that than I am you sharing you know where our kids are in math at a fifth grade level OK so if that is sharing that information Performance information outcome information with them to help them determine what they need to do with curriculum. I'm OK with that, but when you start selling the data to people who are going to use it to manage behaviors and the ability to limit our freedoms based on that data, I have a huge problem with it.    You Yum Yum that money from in 20 12 where did it go? Was it was it spent on this as as the beginning laying out the infrastructure in the foundation for it that was that money spent was a set aside what happened to it?    Sherrie Conley Yeah, I don't know that's a really good question and that's sad. That's gonna be my next dig to see if we can figure out you know what legislation created that I like. I said it was just given to me right before I came on the call and so    You OK    Sherrie Conley I am I still have yet to figure to figure that part out, but I will tell you that you can't. You can't gather all of this information and not connected to the healthcare industry and to mental health and those sort of things because. I just believe that those are data points that they will include in this and so I think I said that it was the Yeah, I didn't. I didn't see anything on there. Maybe it did say Oklahoma healthcare but I didn't put it in there. Seems like there was something in there.    You Well, obviously, the big push for community schools, wraparound services, social emotional    Sherrie Conley Yes, yes    You learning, and you know this is very concerning to a lot of people, including myself as we are asking teachers and school administrators and possibly leaving, not even hiring outside Contractors to come in to service our children when we send them to school to learn and so we're just blowing the lines between school and every other aspect of their life is that the reason we have public schools government funded schools    Sherrie Conley You know I anymore I'm I'm starting to question you know the people who are in control at the higher level not you know at the state level obviously, the majority of Oklahoma's are levelheaded, but I don't think that they are looking past What they've been told about this legislation I don't think that you know one of the things you were in the Senate and you know one of the things that we need to be thinking about as legislators is what what is the long-term goal here? What are the long-term consequences here and I think that you know people read legislation they get the lobbyist to come and talk to them and they say oh we wanna do this and this is what we're gonna do. You know what we're gonna use it for but they don't look downstream to see well upstream to see who it's coming from number one but then downstream to see what are those long-term consequences and you and I both know that there's legislation that gets past every single year that has to have cleanup language done to it because somebody didn't think about the unintended consequences.    You No doubt no doubt well I'm looking at the time here. We're already at 40 minutes and try to keep these about a half hour long but that's OK. I want to let's just touch on this 1491 and we'll do a part two to dig into this little bit    Sherrie Conley OK    You deeper, but this is house bill 149 1 filed by speaker Hilbert with support from the pro Tim, Lonnie Paxton and Governor Stitt, and it would allow any member of the state board of education to place an item on the board agenda, if requested in writing by at least two members of the board. Now speaker, Hilbert said we have volunteer boards and commissions that play important oversight function for the for state agencies for a reason and the duly appointed members of the state board of education should have a say in the agenda before them. This has been a long-standing issue that needs to be fixed and then pro Paxton said the state board of education plays a crucial role in shaping the future of our schools and its members should have a clear and fair process for addressing key issues. This legislation ensures that every board member has a voice and setting the agenda, reinforcing transparency, and accountability in our education system he said with the current structure, the board is neutralized and has no no say in shaping policy, allowing this will provide a fair and more effective Structure. What do you think? Do you do you like this? Does it make sense to open this up for other board members to have a say in setting the agenda or do you think that that is going down a path with going back to our last argument with unintended consequences?    Sherrie Conley Yeah, so that's a really great question and so my thoughts on it go to number one. The board members on the state board of education are appointed by one person and so what looks like is happening now is it's being stacked against the the chairman of the board, which is superintendent Walters to push an agenda or to reverse an agenda you know on policy that was passed prior to now that's just you know from the outside looking in that's what it looks like, but what I would say is that because all Five of the board members that sit on the state board of education are appointed by one person that creates    You Can we talk about the governor?    Sherrie Conley Yes, that creates a balance of power issue for me because if you look at the first six years, the governor state has been an office. He's been perfectly fine with everything that superintendent Walters has you know done with the exception of maybe a couple of issues which I believe that they have had conversations you know behind the scenes about that you know those board members they're reminded often I think who they are appointed by and who they are actually they're on the best of. And so they're reminded quite often that they are expected to carry out the governors agenda, right that's at least what it sounds like when you're reminded you this is who you work for that sounds like a threat to me and so if I'm reminded who I work for that. Sounds like they're trying to tell me you know do what I tell you to do or you're not gonna have this job anymore which looks like exactly what happened with the shake up right well    You Yum    Sherrie Conley now there's three new board members appointed to this board and with a fourth seat that is open. And that really looks like an opportunity for you know some some shenanigans. I'll just call them to happen within the state Board of Education now that Governor and Ryan are not agreeing on things and so I disagree with what they're trying to do but only because if he had done this at the very beginning without it looking like there's an agenda behind it then I probably would've thought. Oh yeah that's probably a good idea. But now looking at the timing of this, it looks very suspicious to me and so I'm very concerned that it's because of the immigration policy that the three members who were removed voted for And and and since that was the first question that was asked of one of the new board members was on the immigration issue, you know it looks very suspicious and it looks like there's trying to be some control there so the governor actually has control over the rules if he doesn't like the rule when it comes to his desk, he can reject it and so him trying to do this in the 11th hour of his term it really just kind of feels like there's Like I said, some shenanigans going on there    You Yeah, I mean it is. It's impossible to simply dismiss how this has    Sherrie Conley Yes    You followed the removal of those three board members and replaced ironically with three members who seem to have connections back to it. So it's it's suspicious to me as well. The timing of this it feels like an agenda. It's interesting attorney general Drummond said Governor step promoted and supported superintendent Ryan Walters, every step of the way, even standing by the superintendent when he gave blanket approval for the miss spending of our tax dollars now that his handpick superintendent refuses to do his bidding Governor state wants to change the law to get his appointee full control of the education agenda.    Sherrie Conley Yeah    You So I mean, I'm not a big drum and fan but I think that he's probably right here    Sherrie Conley I agree, yeah and you know if these five members of the board were elected I would feel a lot differently about it and are we going to change this policy for all school boards to wear all school school board members have the opportunity to add items to an agenda because that looks very suspicious that you are picking on one board you know we have a multitude I couldn't even tell you how many boards we have across the state and so when you are hand picking a specific board to make the changes on, but you're not including all of the other boards that have member sitting on it. It looks very suspicious and it makes me you know. Doubt that this is the right thing to do    You Here with Sherry Connolly, former house rep and an educator and you've spent years in administration as well so your perspective and insight into education in general is is very respected and I appreciate your insight today    Sherrie Conley Thank you so much. I appreciate you asking and giving me the opportunity to to share my thoughts on this and I hope that you know we've been able to help shed some light on that the issues of both bills and I look forward to having conversation you know you and I had had other bills that we wanted to discuss and so I look forward to    You Yeah, well I said    Sherrie Conley talking again with you.    You thank you and I said we would do a part two on this. Maybe we covered it adequately for now but there's there's    Sherrie Conley Yeah    You definitely many others that we have our eyes on so yes, let's let's plan this again soon because these bills are going through quickly and some of them we wanna make sure don't go through. There's big    Sherrie Conley Yes    You concerns just like the one we mentioned Cita bill 224 and even this one we must    Sherrie Conley Yeah    You consider this what is the bill number house bill 1491 on the school board, so yeah we're gonna keep an eye on these and come back and talk about this. She appreciate you.    Sherrie Conley Yes, I appreciate you too Jake. Thank you so much.    You You bet all right guys we should like share and subscribe spread the word and I will see you again next time 

Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon discuss highlights from Tuesday night's address to Congress by Donald Trump, and the reactions from both sides of the aisle. They also talk about a speech by Representative Elise Stefanik, Trump's nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, at Monday's Antidefamation League Summit in New York City. Plus, a look at Trump's remarks about U.S plans for Greenland and the Panama Canal. Next, Carl talks to veteran White House reporter George Condon of the National Journal about Trump's address to Congress. And finally, Andrew talks to RCP National Correspondent Susan Crabtree about Tuesday's Democratic Response to Trump's address, which was delivered by Senator Elise Slotkin of Michigan.

Hour 1 Segment 1 Tony starts the show talking about Harry Enten speaking on the government spending and Elon Musk. Tony also talks about President Donald Trump urging Hamas to release hostages in Gaza in what is his last warning. Hour 1 Segment 2 Tony talks about Justin Trudeau saying Canadian tariffs will end when the U.S. ends their tariffs on Canada. Hour 1 Segment 3 Tony is joined with Cliff May, the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, to talk about where the U.S. and Ukraine go after President Trump’s and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dust up in the oval office. Hour 1 Segment 4 Tony wraps up the first hour of the show talking about the United Nations censoring the U.S. from their defensive war against Hamas as it is a human rights violation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hour 1 Segment 1 Tony starts the show talking about Harry Enten speaking on the government spending and Elon Musk. Tony also talks about President Donald Trump urging Hamas to release hostages in Gaza in what is his last warning. Hour 1 Segment 2 Tony talks about Justin Trudeau saying Canadian tariffs will end when the U.S. ends their tariffs on Canada. Hour 1 Segment 3 Tony is joined with Cliff May, the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, to talk about where the U.S. and Ukraine go after President Trump’s and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dust up in the oval office. Hour 1 Segment 4 Tony wraps up the first hour of the show talking about the United Nations censoring the U.S. from their defensive war against Hamas as it is a human rights violation. Hour 2 Segment 1 Tony starts the second hour of the show talking about the House voting to censure Representative Al Green for disrupting President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress. Hour 2 Segment 2 Tony talks about the Veterans Affairs plan to cut 70,000 employees. Hour 2 Segment 3 Tony talks about the U.S. pausing intelligence sharing for Ukraine. Tony also talks about an NYPD detective under fire over raunchy pole-dancing video. Later, Tony talks about Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow’s comments towards the 13-year-old brain cancer survivor, D.J. Daniel, from President Trump’s address. Hour 2 Segment 4 Tony wraps up the second hour of the show talking about stagflation fears bubble up as President Trump’s tariffs take place. Hour 3 Segment 1 Tony starts the final hour of the show talking about Pete Sessions introducing a bill banning universal mail-in voting and electronic voting machines and shortening the early vote period from months to three days. Hour 3 Segment 2 Tony talks about Jasmine Crockett’s new voice. Hour 3 Segment 3 Tony talks about democratic congresswomen doing the Street Fighter meme for content, and how Lauren Underwood hates balloons. Hour 3 Segment 4 Tony wraps up another edition of the show talking about how the left thinks that President Donald Trump’s first 45 days are the worst of any president. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host Philip Gervasi sits down with Walid Mathlouthi, head of the Infrastructure Division at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to explore how this 160-year-old United Nations agency shapes global connectivity. Walid shares insights from his remarkable journey, spanning groundbreaking research in optics, impactful roles at AT&T and Google Fiber, and now leading global initiatives at the ITU. We discuss how the ITU manages critical spectrum and satellite resources, tackles challenges like cross-border interference, and spearheads ambitious efforts like the Giga project to connect underserved communities worldwide.

Trump issues deadly ultimatum to Palestinians over captives "US President Donald Trump has issued a dire ultimatum to Palestinians once again. He warned that Palestinians in Gaza will face deadly consequences if hostages are not released. ""Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is over for you,"" he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Pledging unwavering support for Israel, Trump vowed to send, what he calls, ""everything it needs to finish the job."" At least 48,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza amid a stalled ceasefire agreement reached on January 17." Israel's occupation is the real issue, not Hamas: Palestinian official "The head of Gaza's Government Information Office Salama Maroofa fired back at US President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to release Israeli hostages or face death. He stated that Israel's occupation is the core issue, not Hamas. In a statement, Maroof accused Trump of emboldening Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, enabling further ""crimes against 2.4 million people."" He added that the ongoing violence in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is proof of Israeli crimes." Syria vows to destroy Assad's chemical weapons legacy "Syria's foreign minister has pledged to swiftly eliminate the country's remaining chemical weapons and is calling on the world for support. Speaking at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Asaad Hassan al Shaibani became the first Syrian official to address the disarmament agency. , New government's decision comes after years of controversy, despite Syria's 2013 pledge to destroy its stockpile, multiple probes confirmed chemical attacks by the Bashar al-Assad regime. For over a decade, chemical weapons watchdog's inspectors have faced roadblocks in uncovering the full extent of Syria's arsenal." US nixes intelligence-sharing with Ukraine "The US has halted intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed, a move that could shake Kiev's battlefield strategy. The Trump administration's tough stance aims to push Ukraine toward a mineral deal with the US and peace talks with Russia. President Trump earlier revealed that he received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing willingness to negotiate. Amid concerns, Ratcliffe suggested it may soon be reversed as Washington reaffirms its support for Ukraine." UN warns of drastic food ration cuts for Rohingya refugees "The United Nations has warned it may reduce food rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6 starting April 1, unless it raises $81 million. Bangladesh's top official, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, expressed concern over the potential impact of this cut, noting current rations are already insufficient. The UN's World Food Programme is scrambling for funds to avoid further worsening the humanitarian crisis. With over a million refugees, many already facing hunger, the cuts threaten to undermine basic survival needs."

It's a powerful biological response that has preserved our species for millennia. But now it may be keeping us from pursuing strategies that would improve the environment, the economy, even our own health. So is it time to dial down our disgust reflex?  You can help fix things — as Stephen Dubner does in this 2021 episode — by chowing down on some delicious insects. SOURCES:Paul Rozin, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.Val Curtis, late disgustologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.Sandro Ambuehl, economist at the University of Zurich.Emily Kimmins, R&D lead for the sensory and consumer-science team for Kraft Heinz.Iliana Sermeno, former chef at The Black Ant. RESOURCES:“Stink Bugs Could Add Cilantro Flavor to Red Wine,” by Alex Berezow (Live Science, 2017).“Edible insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security,” by the F.A.O. (United Nations, 2013).“I Hate to Break it to You, but You Already Eat Bugs,” by Kyle Hill (Scientific American, 2013).“Five Banned Foods and One That Maybe Should Be,” by Leah Binkovitz (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012).“Effects of Different Types of Antismoking Ads on Reducing Disparities in Smoking Cessation Among Socioeconomic Subgroups,” by Sarah J. Durkin, Lois Biener, and Melanie A. Wakefield (American Journal of Public Health, 2009).“Flesh Trade,” by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt (The New York Times, 2006).“Feeding Poultry Litter to Beef Cattle,” by Jay Daniel and K.C. Olson (University of Missouri, 2005). EXTRAS:"Why Does Everyone Hate Rats?" by Freakonomics Radio (2025).

Cambodian travel guide Tek Leng grew up in a country devastated by war, genocide, and poverty.  He works now taking tourists through old prisons and mass graves turned into memorials and museums and he preaches a Buddhist mentality about acceptance and letting go of the past so you can face the future.Tek Leng, 45, was born soon after the end of the Khmer Rouge's genocide in Cambodia. His, like every family in the country, lost loved ones to the killing fields. He grew up in the countryside along the Mekong River amidst staggering poverty and mass PTSD. Schools were not operating, teachers, like doctors, engineers and government officials had been mostly all murdered. He has talked extensively  with his two teen-aged daughters  about what he calls the Dark History of Cambodia and he earns his living as a licensed guide taking tourists around mass graves and old prisons converted now into museums and memorials. He calls it a passion to share the terror and the rebirth of his culture with others. English was the key for Leng. After Cambodia reopened to the world following 1993 elections, sponsored by the United Nations, he began learning English in bits and pieces, even biking for 40 miles a day for six months to take lessons in a city school. For his country, he maintains, Buddhist therapy has been the salvation. Cambodians, he said, have had to move on and leave the horrors of the past, leaving aside anger and longings for retribution.

What’s next for Agile coaching? Brian Milner and Andreas Schliep dive into the shifting landscape of Agile coaching, the differences between Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches, and how to carve out a sustainable career in a changing industry. Overview In this episode of the Agile Mentors Podcast, Brian Milner and Andreas Schliep explore the evolving role of Agile coaching, the challenges coaches face in today’s market, and the skills needed to thrive in a shifting industry. They break down the differences between Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches, discuss how to develop a personal coaching style, and emphasize the importance of integrity and resilience. From navigating layoffs to redefining what it means to be an Agile leader, this conversation offers valuable insights for anyone looking to grow in their Agile career. References and resources mentioned in the show: Andreas Schliep Certified ScrumMaster® Training and Scrum Certification Certified Scrum Product Owner® Training Mountain Goat Software Certified Scrum and Agile Training Schedule Join the Agile Mentors Community Subscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Andreas Schliep is a Certified Scrum Trainer and executive partner at DasScrumTeam AG, helping organizations navigate complex projects with agile methodologies. A thought leader and co-author on Enterprise Scrum, he empowers teams—from startups to Fortune 500 companies—through high-impact coaching, training, and a passion for continuous learning. Auto-generated Transcript: Brian Milner (00:00) Welcome in Agile Mentors. We are back here for another episode of the Agile Mentors Podcast. I'm here as always, Brian Milner, and today I have someone we've been trying to get on here for a little bit, and I'm excited to have him here. Mr. Andreas Schliepp is with us. Andreas, thank you for being on. Andreas Schliep (00:17) Thank you for inviting me. Brian Milner (00:19) Yeah, very excited to have Andreas on here. Andreas has been in the community here for a long, time. He's been just really generous with his time and he's mentored a lot of people. He's a CST, a Scrum trainer. He's also a certified enterprise coach. So he has kind of those dual high level certifications with the Scrum Alliance. But he mentioned to me earlier, he's kind of always considered himself a Scrum trainer. But he's also a coach in this group called the Leadership Gift, or there's also another name here that they've used recently, Responsibility Immersion. So that might come to play in our conversation here because we wanted to talk about sort of the future of agile coaching and agile coaches in general. There's a lot of turmoil, there's a lot of upheaval and things that are shifting and changing every day in our profession. So I guess, you know, let's just dive into the topic here. Andreas, how do you see things currently? And, you know, in a broad sense, where do you see them going? Andreas Schliep (01:18) Yeah, so first of all, why am I concerned? So typically I say that I kind of, train coaches and I coach trainers. So most of my work is centered around the path of scrum masters and how they can kind of acquire the necessarily skills and insights to become actual coaches themselves. Or scrum coaches as I would prefer to say it. And that includes a lot of stuff like we want to equip them with facilitation, with training skills, with coaching skills, with systemic observations and other methods. And we've been doing that for a couple of years. And so of course we came across lots of good people, good coaches and good trainers, good consultants out there. And we kind of kept our community open. So it's not like people attend our classes and then we forget them or we only have closer relationships to our corporate customers. It's like we kind of managed to build some kind of little community. People keep coming back and we keep chatting about what's going on, what's happening in their environment. And as a mainly training focused company, one of the first effects that we notice is that our classes are getting emptier and emptier. So what's going on, especially advanced classes are not that well. So we still have some, well, yeah. basic attendance, but it's not as it used to be. well, a couple of years ago, we had like full classes and everything, and then COVID hit and we could say, okay, so COVID kind of reduced the demand for edutraining. And then the next crisis came and the next catastrophe and the next disaster. But there have also been some structural changes. I think that we are currently experiencing two effects that happen at the same time. So the one thing is that, well, Diana Larsen put it that way, Agile has won. So there's no doubt that organizations employ Agile methods and want to use Agile practices, some of them with, some of them without any clue about what that even means or what Agile thinking or Agile attitude behind it is, but still, there's no shortage on like the use of Agile or the, but there's also no shortage of the Agile basic training or educational videos, content or whatever. So people get lots of more resources than we used to get back then when we had like this one scrum book by Ken Schwabe. So read this and then you went out and said, how do I do that? So. And then came the second book by Mike Cohen and the third book and so on. had to, had all these puzzle pieces coming together where we needed to find our own way and build our proficiency. And now you get a flood of books and stuff going on, which is fine. So the one thing is that of course our profession is developing and it's kind of natural that you will notice some kind of within that. But there's another effect and this is one thing where we scrum trainers can kind of take responsibility for our own contribution. It's the fact that organizations can hire an unlimited number of low-level agile coaches nowadays. There's been no quality control. Anyone who went through a two-day CSM class could call themselves agile coaches and they got hired for lots of money and eventually produced nothing. some of them, some agile coaches or people who call themselves agile coaches even caused chaos. So, and the systems. that they were affecting started to kind of fix themselves and heal themselves from the Agile coaches by expelling those. So, and of course, maybe you have a third effect, which is sometimes it just doesn't work and you blame the Agile coaches. So if you just lay on your couch and you do nothing and your doctor tells you, you have to get moving, you have to get up and get moving and say, yeah, it's a bad doctor because... I still lie on my couch and my health is deteriorating and this doctor doesn't help me. He doesn't give me what I want. What do you want? Yeah, I want just, I would just want a pill that I can swallow that I'm healthy. It doesn't work that way. And then we had those people who were selling those pills, yeah, who were telling people, here we got a, we got a safe way that you can do this. All you need to do is implement this process, hire our consultants. Brian Milner (05:26) Yeah. Andreas Schliep (05:43) We kind of made all the thoughts and the heavy thinking ourselves beforehand and you just need to install it. Here's the roadmap, here's the process manual, here's the 300 page guide. Just do it this way. And this is also detrimental. now we have, I've been talking to many people, many great people, you've been laid off, who are looking for a new orientation. Brian Milner (06:05) Yeah, yeah, I agree. I mean, I think you laid that out really, really well because there's I think you're right. It's kind of a multi effect scenario. There's a lot of things affecting it. And I know I've had conversations with with friends and colleagues about this. And, you know, we've talked a lot about the I think more kind of the second thing that you're talking about, just that and It's sort of a chicken and egg thing because the industry has built up and spread agile concepts through offerings of usually two day classes. You and I both do those quite regularly. And I think we probably both would say that's a very valuable thing. to go through sort of that immersion kind of a couple of days to learn it and get a foundation in it. But there may have been sort of a misconception or it may have been sold incorrectly to say, now you're ready to lead an organization and transforming from zero to 60 in Agile. when you're not, right? I mean, you've got a good grounding. You're ready to begin learning with a team, but it's the first step. There's gotta be some sort of ongoing support system that when you come up against something that you don't really know how to handle, that you have someone to ask. You have somewhere to go to get help and get answers. Even the, you I work with Mike Cohn, I think he's a great trainer. But even a two day class with Mike Cohn, I don't think is gonna make anyone an expert that now you're ready to, you know, take on the huge challenge of cultural change within the organization, you know? Andreas Schliep (07:53) Yeah, yeah, it's like with anything agile, these classes are a starting point or a waypoint and not a designation. It's not the goal. So when I made my driving license, my driving instructor told me, and in Germany you have to spend lots of hours with your driving instructor. And my driving instructor told me gladly, now you can get to practice on your own. He was happy that he didn't have to co-practice with me any longer because I wasn't the best driver. So I actually aced the theory test, but the practical driving was a little more difficult and kind of probably was bad for the blood pressure of my driving instructor. yeah. And that way, but I never thought about this. So the idea was I get the permission or I get the next level to the next step. And the next step will be, I want to learn proper driving. And that's something that you need to do on your own. And with this understanding, we try to kind of provide a path for people to become better scrum masters and agile coaches by kind of revamping the CSP path, the scrum aligns and other things. A glorious project that also failed gloriously. I'm still not entirely sure why, but probably because the Scrum Alliance and many other people failed to understand the similarities between Agile Coach as a profession and the Scrum Master as a role. So they claimed that there were two different things. And I think that's also a structural issue in organizations. Brian Milner (09:16) Yeah. Andreas Schliep (09:25) that they see Scrum Masters and Edge of Coaches as different things. So the Scrum Masters work on the team level and they just know their Scrum and they facilitate the meetings and then they come up with nice cookies for the retrospective so that everybody on the team is happy. And occasionally they take one of the team members aside when they have some issues and help them go through that. That's totally fine, but the Edge of Coaches do the real stuff. release train engineers and the others, do the organizational thing and they don't bother with what's happening on the team level because they need to do the important things on the higher level. And with this attitude somehow fueled by some decisions by Scrum Alliance and other organizations like, yeah, in order to become a certified team coach or certified enterprise coach, you have to kind of prove that you're... had coached like 2000 hours or 2500 hours. But by the way, the scrum master worked. It doesn't count towards this coaching, which is totally ridiculous. So that means the misunderstanding of the role is a structural problem. Another structural problem is that the organizations that would need the most experienced scrum masters, they attract all the rookies. Brian Milner (10:16) you Andreas Schliep (10:34) because they don't even know what a good scrum master would cost like. They have those two day or even less day. I heard about a transformation at a large automobile builder in Germany. They had something like a half day class for scrum master training within the safe environment. And they wonder why they fail. They wonder why they're failing. Brian Milner (10:53) Ha Andreas Schliep (10:54) On the other hand, we have organizations, even here in Germany, they have great leadership and coaching concepts. So they develop the Scrum Masters. They have the finest Scrum Masters ever on such a high level that the teams actually don't need them because the teams also evolved by taking care and taking responsibility for themselves and paying attention to the work. So they're kind of over-coached. So like, I think it was at Rally 10 or 15 years ago. There was a period when the external rally coaches didn't get so many contracts. And so they went inside and coach all the software teams and rallies at Rally. And after three or four months, the software team said, please, please give us a timeout, give us a break. We over coach. It's just too much. We just want to do some work and maybe not get better for like a month or two before we, because it's Brian Milner (11:42) Yeah. Andreas Schliep (11:47) It's hard always to get better and even better and you're so excellent coaches, cut us some slack. So that's so, but this is the structure. So on the individual level, it's just the same as with any major shift in any kind of industry. If your current profession or your current job title doesn't fit any longer, focus on what you're good at and see that you Brian Milner (11:54) Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Andreas Schliep (12:13) become excellent at that. So that's, it's an old formula. It's an old formula and it can be different things. So I know about some scrum trainers who go and went into software development again, because they said, actually, I'm passionate about software development. I can understand that. I have a developer background as well. So sometimes I'm not that unhappy about taking care of a website and other stuff. It's a nice distraction. But some are really great facilitators. But if they only go out with a label, agile coach, and do not let the facilitation skills and experience shine, then they might get a mis-hired. So we have great personal coaches in there. So people with various skill sets. And if you take a look at the agile coaching growth, we have Biomark, some of them others. Brian Milner (12:37) Right. Andreas Schliep (13:00) You see that it's a vast field. So you cannot expect anyone, maybe the two of us, but you cannot expect anyone to be, not even me, so anyone to be excellent in all these knowledge areas and to be such a light and catalyst in everything. So the idea is to find your own way how you can contribute best. and then collaborate with others in their fields. So for me, the most interesting areas in that field are training and facilitation. Because I think that's the main thing that agile coaches or scrum masters can shine in. Brian Milner (13:41) Yeah, I've always loved, know, Lisa Atkins has that kind of different aspects of a coaching stance. And one of the ones that she had there that I've always loved is the idea of having a signature presence. And I remember when I first kind of encountered that, was, when it kind of sunk in, it was a very freeing idea for me. Andreas Schliep (13:49) See you. Brian Milner (14:01) to, you know, kind of like you're describing there, there's so many different aspects that you could, you know, try to do and you could do well, but it's too much for any one person to do all of it. So that signature presence to me, one of the things that I really kind of took away from that was know what you're good at, right? I mean, there's something about you that you bring from your own personality and your history and and everything that's made you who you are that is unique. And when you can find what that is, then it's almost like prior to that recognition to me, I was almost even a little ashamed that that was where my strength was. And I felt like I had to make up on these other areas that I struggle with or I didn't do as well. But that concept to me, Andreas Schliep (14:47) Mm-hmm. Brian Milner (14:52) kind of help me see, no, there's something that's really unique about how you approach things. And if you recognize that, lean into it because nobody else can offer that, right? Nobody else brings that to the table because that's uniquely you. Andreas Schliep (15:06) Yeah. Yeah. I have to admit, well, we're both with Scrum Alliance and I've been with Scrum Alliance for more than 20 years now. But some of the biggest insights about Scrum and the role of Scrum Master were some things that I actually learned by looking through the Scrum.org certification parts. So just out of curiosity, I started digging into the... Professional Scrum Master Series by Scrum.psm1. Okay, PSM1 is a walking part, so that's no big deal. 50 minutes without preparation, A's are done. Okay, next thing, PSM2, was a little more chilling. Okay, there are some different concepts in the way they address Scrum. And I completely faded PSM3. So that's interesting. So I should have known that. And the point is that... Brian Milner (15:52) Huh. Yeah. Andreas Schliep (15:58) There are differences in the message and the Scrum Master and the Scrum.org framing of Scrum is far more of a leader. So they take far more responsibilities. They are much closer to a sports team coach actually, even taking care of the crew and even throwing people out of the team if necessary. Then the fluffy Scrum Master social worker thing. with no real responsibility always in the background that we appear to propagate sometimes that I even have propagated lots of times. And I see this in my own style as well. So I'm rather strong at the facilitation part and working from the side of the background of people. But sometimes I see, and I think that's a big challenge for many agile coaching scrummers out there. Brian Milner (16:32) Yeah. Andreas Schliep (16:48) When it comes to the situation where I should take the lead, I'm still reluctant when I say, okay, yeah, somehow I don't want to step under the feet of others. I want to give them room. I want to be in my facilitator stance because I love that stance and that's my personal brand or whatever. The calm way and listening to people and integrating all voices. But all of a sudden, I encounter situations where say, my voice first. So, yeah. So let's do it that way. this week, I kind of stopped the client workshop in the middle. I said, so yeah, what is that? here you booked me for the entire day, but I noticed that you're very upset about important stakeholders missing. Brian Milner (17:19) Yeah. Andreas Schliep (17:39) I also noticed that you don't see the point in reiterating some other concepts that I prepared. you could use these methods and then talk to your stakeholders, but you rather want me in this room with your stakeholders and have this discussion together. So let's just stop this now. And I offer you a gift. I will come back for another half of days. So we stop this half day. You can use your time for something else. I can use my time for something else. And then I come back, but only if you have your manager in here. So if you bring your boss, I will come for another half day and then we finish this and deal with these questions. And they were kind of impressed that I was offering them. But where's the point? I needed to change the mode. I couldn't stay and I think this is something Brian Milner (18:20) you Yeah. Andreas Schliep (18:29) which is another great opportunity for Scrum Masters or agricultural coaches to say, what if I stepped into this leadership role? Brian Milner (18:37) Yeah. Yeah, that's a great kind of approach to it. And I know we've had some similar things at Mountain Goat as well, where we've worked with some clients and you kind of show up and you start to get into the things. Or even sometimes in the kind of just pre-work calls where you're trying to arrange things and talk through what is it you want to get out of this. And you sort of get that feedback and understanding that this is really just checking a box, right? They wanna check the box that they did this, but really making the change. No, they really don't wanna make the change. They really don't wanna have to change what they do on a day-to-day basis. you kind of are, as a coach or a trainer, you kind of get to that decision point where you have to say, at what point do I call this out? At what point do I say, you know what? You're gonna waste your money. Right? mean, I can come and do this. I can take your check. I can go away, but it's not going to make any difference. And you're not ready for it yet. and, that's, that's always a really hard decision. When you get to that point, when you realize, you know what? It's not serving your needs for me to, move forward here. You know, it's, it's, you're not going to be happy with me. Andreas Schliep (19:48) Yeah. I think it's important to maintain the personal integrity. the whole point about resilience is that you kind of are able to change while you maintain your own identity. So the path that you are trying to. And this change can mean a lot of things. So if someone would tell me, you've got to stop with Scrum now because Scrum is now forbidden everywhere. I would kind of dig into the facilitation. So I joined the IAF, the International Association for Facilitators. I don't have a credential there yet, but this is something if I would go into more facilitation gigs, this would be very interesting for me. I also became a coach in the responsibility program with Christopher Avery. First of all, I think that was a nice addition to my training or to my work with leaders. But then I also discovered that this is kind of navigation aid for myself. So whenever I do something, I start with what do I want? So what do I want? How do I want the situation to evolve? What is the outcome that I want to achieve? And how am I blocking myself from that? So what is kind of my inner blocker that prevents me from getting what I want? Brian Milner (21:03) Yeah. Andreas Schliep (21:04) So I could also talk about external blockers, but these external blockers are sometimes just things on my path that I choose to say, okay, I can't go there because there's this blocker. And when I found these two things, so what do I really want and what is blocking me? I can go and make a decision. I can confront myself. And with this ability, I'm pretty sure that I'm able to respond to any kind of situation. So, and... whether I pursue the facilitator part further or whether I go into the coaching way. I love to work with groups so that just the one-on-one coaching is not so interesting for me. But these are kind of independent from what I'm doing now, but also based on what I'm doing now. So I can derive lots of good skills and insights and approaches from what I did as a scrum trainer so far, what I have done as a scrum trainer. Brian Milner (21:58) Yeah. Well, I think when I'm hearing and tell me if I'm misquoting this or saying it or misunderstanding, but it feels like there's sort of an element here that, you know, I think a lot of us sometimes, have some kind of a title that we've earned. and we, we sort of inherit from that, set of, activities or things that we feel empowered to do. based on that title. And what it sounds like I'm hearing from you is it should kind of be the reverse. You should think about what you do well and the titles may come and go. They may change the descriptors that people use to describe what you do, it might change, but what you love to do with the activity, what you're good at, that can shift and change a little bit and don't be so concerned with the title. Andreas Schliep (22:45) Yeah, so edge-hired coaches still can keep this kind of title for the tribe to identify a peer group. And I've also joined edge-hired coach camps even as a scrum trainer. because this identification is important to say, okay, I know a couple of people who have different skills or different things who are some more similar to me, but I don't think we should stick to Agile Coach as a job title and only look for Agile Coach offers. But rather go out and see what's out there, what opportunities do we see. Apply for weird stuff. So at the beginning of this year, I applied as a facilitator for United Nations volunteer program and even made an extra language proficiency exam before that because I had to kind of prove that I'm at least at level C1. for this job. I just did it because it was there because this opportunity came through the International Association for Facilitators. I just said, okay, I don't know. They didn't even throw me back. I don't have anything, but I just, I want to apply for this. I want to get this material together. I want to show that I'm potentially able to do this. I will be far too expensive with my current rate, but yeah. And I think anyone currently in the situation as an edge on coach being laid off or looking for another job should kind of step back and go through these steps. So what do I want? What are the activities that I'm really passionate about? Brian Milner (24:13) Yeah. Andreas Schliep (24:13) And the answer might be surprising. So sometimes, it's actually coding. Maybe we'll get back to the basics. Brian Milner (24:19) Yeah, yeah, you're right. I've known a lot of people or I've known several people, I guess I should say, that have kind of maybe migrated backwards. If you think of it in that way, I don't know that's backwards, but migrated to their roots a little bit more, you know, and maybe left training, but went back to doing, you know, managing software teams or even coding just because they enjoy it. And I think that's a great thing if that's... Andreas Schliep (24:41) Yeah. Brian Milner (24:45) brings them happiness, you know? Andreas Schliep (24:47) Yeah, you know, when the whole agile thing started, they came up with a little website and the website says something like, we're discovering better ways to sort fire customers or so. I don't have a probably and helping others to do it. And if even if you go back or if you go to actually start working as a developer again. You still bring the edge of spirit and you still bring the ideas and methods of collaboration. It's going to be so helpful in your environment. Especially with new technologies, AI stuff and remote work and all these things kicking in. Everything looks like it's making your work more difficult. Massive layers like even media firing developers now, not only edge of coaches. So we have... so many disruptions to deal with. And I think that, well, kind of resilient HR coaching tribe stance is helpful in whatever role you fulfill afterwards. Brian Milner (25:43) That's really good. Yeah. Well, this has been great. I really enjoyed the conversation. Sometimes you're not really quite sure where we're going to end up and where we're going to travel, but I've really enjoyed all the directions we've taken here, Andreas. So I can't thank you enough. Thank you for making time and coming on and sharing your experience and wisdom with everyone. Andreas Schliep (26:00) Mm-hmm. Yeah, was great fun and thanks for the opportunity and I hope that this will help some people find little more guidance, least a little more confidence if they don't find guidance yet. Brian Milner (26:13) Yeah, I agree. Thank you very much. Andreas Schliep (26:15) Thank you.

Mijal and Noam sit down with barrister and legal expert Natasha Hausdorff to explore the weaponization of international law, the ICC and UN's stance on Israel. They discuss the challenges of lawfare in the modern world. In their conversation, Natasha breaks down complex legal frameworks, debunks myths about genocide allegations and proportionality in war, and clarifies misconceptions surrounding the West Bank and occupation debate. Get in touch at our new email address: WonderingJews@unpacked.media and call us, 1-833-WON-Jews. Follow @jewishunpacked on Instagram and check out Unpacked on youtube. Natasha Hausdorff's bio: Natasha Hausdorff is a barrister and expert commentator on international law, including the law of armed conflict, foreign affairs and national security policy. She is a sought-after keynote speaker on lawfare and the weaponization of international law against Israel. She regularly briefs politicians and international organisations and has spoken at Parliaments across Europe and at the United Nations. Natasha is a frequent contributor on legal matters for international media, including the BBC, Sky News, CNN, GB News, Talk TV and Fox and has written for publications including the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, The Times, The Mail and Law Society Gazette. She holds law degrees from Oxford and Tel Aviv Universities and was a Fellow in the National Security Law Programme at Columbia Law School in New York. Natasha previously worked for American law firm Skadden Arps, in London and Brussels, and clerked for the President of the Israeli Supreme Court, Chief Justice Miriam Naor, in Jerusalem. She serves as legal director of UK Lawyers for Israel Charitable Trust. ------------ This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a division of OpenDor Media. For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Jewish History Nerds Unpacking Israeli History Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold 

   President Trump is promising an amazing speech for Congress and all Americans and the word circulating is he's putting all the cards on the table.  Is that a NATO exit?  The end of the United Nations?  A complete pullout of the Ukraine/Russia war?  More tariffs?  Grab some popcorn, it's only America's future on the line.    Democrats hate female sports and they just keep proving it in a losing effort that is amazingly stupid.  I guess this is how you try to keep your failing party together?  Not a single dem vote in the Senate to keep men out of women's sports.  Incredible.    The Premier of Ontario is promising economic devastation to America if Trump doesn't change his mind.  I don't know about you but I can't sleep at night thinking about no maple syrup or Canadian bacon.    The Houston Cougars own the Big 12 in men's basketball and they do it in a way that your favorite coaches would be proud of.  It's ugly but truly gritty.  KU played hard, tough and looked prettier almost all not.  But Houston was tougher and gets another win.    The Royals win behind blazing stuff from pitcher Daniel Lynch and the hitting of completely remade MJ Melendez.    Shannon Sharpe argues sports with Stephen A Smith on ESPN and refers to himself as Trump and Smith as Zelenskyy.  Hilarious.    The combine is over and we think we know what QB is going number one and highly praised movie got snubbed from OSCAR consideration for obvious reasons.

Dr. Gary Null provides a commentary on "Universal  Healthcare"       Universal Healthcare is the Solution to a Broken Medical System Gary Null, PhD Progressive Radio Network, March 3, 2025 For over 50 years, there has been no concerted or successful effort to bring down medical costs in the American healthcare system. Nor are the federal health agencies making disease prevention a priority. Regardless whether the political left or right sponsors proposals for reform, such measures are repeatedly defeated by both parties in Congress. As a result, the nation's healthcare system remains one of the most expensive and least efficient in the developed world. For the past 30 years, medical bills contributing to personal debt regularly rank among the top three causes of personal bankruptcy. This is a reality that reflects not only the financial strain on ordinary Americans but the systemic failure of the healthcare system itself. The urgent question is: If President Trump and his administration are truly seeking to reduce the nation's $36 trillion deficit, why is there no serious effort to reform the most bloated and corrupt sector of the economy? A key obstacle is the widespread misinformation campaign that falsely claims universal health care would cost an additional $2 trillion annually and further balloon the national debt. However, a more honest assessment reveals the opposite. If the US adopted a universal single-payer system, the nation could actually save up to $20 trillion over the next 10 years rather than add to the deficit. Even with the most ambitious efforts by people like Elon Musk to rein in federal spending or optimize government efficiency, the estimated savings would only amount to $500 billion. This is only a fraction of what could be achieved through comprehensive healthcare reform alone. Healthcare is the largest single expenditure of the federal budget. A careful examination of where the $5 trillion spent annually on healthcare actually goes reveals massive systemic fraud and inefficiency. Aside from emergency medicine, which accounts for only 10-12 percent of total healthcare expenditures, the bulk of this spending does not deliver better health outcomes nor reduce trends in physical and mental illness. Applying Ockham's Razor, the principle that the simplest solution is often the best, the obvious conclusion is that America's astronomical healthcare costs are the direct result of price gouging on an unimaginable scale. For example, in most small businesses, profit margins range between 1.6 and 2.5 percent, such as in grocery retail. Yet the pharmaceutical industrial complex routinely operates on markup rates as high as 150,000 percent for many prescription drugs. The chart below highlights the astronomical gap between the retail price of some top-selling patented pharmaceutical medications and their generic equivalents. Drug Condition Patent Price (per unit) Generic Price Estimated Manufacture Cost Markup Source Insulin (Humalog) Diabetes $300 $30 $3 10,000% Rand (2021) EpiPen Allergic reactions $600 $30 $10 6,000% BMJ (2022) Daraprim Toxoplasmosis $750/pill $2 $0.50 150,000% JAMA (2019) Harvoni Hepatitis C $94,500 (12 weeks) $30,000 $200 47,000% WHO Report (2018) Lipitor Cholesterol $150 $10 $0.50 29,900% Health Affairs (2020) Xarelto Blood Thinner $450 $25 $1.50 30,000% NEJM (2020) Abilify Schizophrenia $800 (30 tablets) $15 $2 39,900% AJMC (2019) Revlimid Cancer $16,000/mo $450 $150 10,500% Kaiser Health News (2021) Humira Arthritis $2,984/dose $400 $50 5,868% Rand (2021) Sovaldi Hepatitis C $1,000/pill $10 $2 49,900% JAMA (2021) Xolair Asthma $2,400/dose $300 $50 4,800% NEJM (2020) Gleevec Leukemia $10,000/mo $350 $200 4,900% Harvard Public Health Review (2020) OxyContin Pain Relief $600 (30 tablets) $15 $0.50 119,900% BMJ (2022) Remdesivir Covid-19 $3,120 (5 doses) N/A $10 31,100% The Lancet (2020) The corruption extends far beyond price gouging. Many pharmaceutical companies convince federal health agencies to fund their basic research and drug development with taxpayer dollars. Yet when these companies bring successful products to market, the profits are kept entirely by the corporations or shared with the agencies or groups of government scientists. On the other hand, the public, who funded the research, receives no financial return. This amounts to a systemic betrayal of the public trust on a scale of hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Another significant contributor to rising healthcare costs is the widespread practice of defensive medicine that is driven by the constant threat of litigation. Over the past 40 years, defensive medicine has become a cottage industry. Physicians order excessive diagnostic tests and unnecessary treatments simply to protect themselves from lawsuits. Study after study has shown that these over-performed procedures not only inflate costs but lead to iatrogenesis or medical injury and death caused by the medical  system and practices itself. The solution is simple: adopting no-fault healthcare coverage for everyone where patients receive care without needing to sue and thereby freeing doctors from the burden of excessive malpractice insurance. A single-payer universal healthcare system could fundamentally transform the entire industry by capping profits at every level — from drug manufacturers to hospitals to medical equipment suppliers. The Department of Health and Human Services would have the authority to set profit margins for medical procedures. This would ensure that healthcare is determined by outcomes, not profits. Additionally, the growing influence of private equity firms and vulture capitalists buying up hospitals and medical clinics across America must be reined in. These equity firms prioritize profit extraction over improving the quality of care. They often slash staff, raise prices, and dictate medical procedures based on what will yield the highest returns. Another vital reform would be to provide free medical education for doctors and nurses in exchange for five years of service under the universal system. Medical professionals would earn a realistic salary cap to prevent them from being lured into equity partnerships or charging exorbitant rates. The biggest single expense in the current system, however, is the private health insurance industry, which consumes 33 percent of the $5 trillion healthcare budget. Health insurance CEOs consistently rank among the highest-paid executives in the country. Their companies, who are nothing more than bean counters, decide what procedures and drugs will be covered, partially covered, or denied altogether. This entire industry is designed to place profits above patients' lives. If the US dismantled its existing insurance-based system and replaced it with a fully reformed national healthcare model, the country could save $2.7 trillion annually while simultaneously improving health outcomes. Over the course of 10 years, those savings would amount to $27 trillion. This could wipe out nearly the entire national debt in a short time. This solution has been available for decades but has been systematically blocked by corporate lobbying and bipartisan corruption in Washington. The path forward is clear but only if American citizens demand a system where healthcare is valued as a public service and not a commodity. The national healthcare crisis is not just a fiscal issue. It is a crucial moral failure of the highest order. With the right reforms, the nation could simultaneously restore its financial health and deliver the kind of healthcare system its citizens have long deserved. American Healthcare: Corrupt, Broken and Lethal Richard Gale and Gary Null Progressive Radio Network, March 3, 2025 For a nation that prides itself on being the world's wealthiest, most innovative and technologically advanced, the US' healthcare system is nothing less than a disaster and disgrace. Not only are Americans the least healthy among the most developed nations, but the US' health system ranks dead last among high-income countries. Despite rising costs and our unshakeable faith in American medical exceptionalism, average life expectancy in the US has remained lower than other OECD nations for many years and continues to decline. The United Nations recognizes healthcare as a human right. In 2018, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the American healthcare system as "politically and morally wrong." During the pandemic it is estimated that two to three years was lost on average life expectancy. On the other hand, before the Covid-19 pandemic, countries with universal healthcare coverage found their average life expectancy stable or slowly increasing. The fundamental problem in the U.S. is that politics have been far too beholden to the pharmaceutical, HMO and private insurance industries. Neither party has made any concerted effort to reign in the corruption of corporate campaign funding and do what is sensible, financially feasible and morally correct to improve Americans' quality of health and well-being.   The fact that our healthcare system is horribly broken is proof that moneyed interests have become so powerful to keep single-payer debate out of the media spotlight and censored. Poll after poll shows that the American public favors the expansion of public health coverage. Other incremental proposals, including Medicare and Medicaid buy-in plans, are also widely preferred to the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare mess we are currently stuck with.   It is not difficult to understand how the dismal state of American medicine is the result of a system that has been sold out to the free-market and the bottom line interests of drug makers and an inflated private insurance industry. How advanced and ethically sound can a healthcare system be if tens of millions of people have no access to medical care because it is financially out of their reach?  The figures speak for themselves. The U.S. is burdened with a $41 trillion Medicare liability. The number of uninsured has declined during the past several years but still lingers around 25 million. An additional 30-35 million are underinsured. There are currently 65 million Medicare enrollees and 89 million Medicaid recipients. This is an extremely unhealthy snapshot of the country's ability to provide affordable healthcare and it is certainly unsustainable. The system is a public economic failure, benefiting no one except the large and increasingly consolidated insurance and pharmaceutical firms at the top that supervise the racket.   Our political parties have wrestled with single-payer or universal healthcare for decades. Obama ran his first 2008 presidential campaign on a single-payer platform. Since 1985, his campaign health adviser, the late Dr. Quentin Young from the University of Illinois Medical School, was one of the nation's leading voices calling for universal health coverage.  During a private conversation with Dr. Young shortly before his passing in 2016, he conveyed his sense of betrayal at the hands of the Obama administration. Dr. Young was in his 80s when he joined the Obama campaign team to help lead the young Senator to victory on a promise that America would finally catch up with other nations. The doctor sounded defeated. He shared how he was manipulated, and that Obama held no sincere intention to make universal healthcare a part of his administration's agenda. During the closed-door negotiations, which spawned the weak and compromised Affordable Care Act, Dr. Young was neither consulted nor invited to participate. In fact, he told us that he never heard from Obama again after his White House victory.   Past efforts to even raise the issue have been viciously attacked. A huge army of private interests is determined to keep the public enslaved to private insurers and high medical costs. The failure of our healthcare is in no small measure due to it being a fully for-profit operation. Last year, private health insurance accounted for 65 percent of coverage. Consider that there are over 900 private insurance companies in the US. National Health Expenditures (NHE) grew to $4.5 trillion in 2022, which was 17.3 percent of GDP. Older corporate rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans argue that a single-payer or socialized medical program is unaffordable. However, not only is single-payer affordable, it will end bankruptcies due to unpayable medical debt. In addition, universal healthcare, structured on a preventative model, will reduce disease rates at the outset.    Corporate Democrats argue that Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) was a positive step inching the country towards complete public coverage. However, aside from providing coverage to the poorest of Americans, Obamacare turned into another financial anchor around the necks of millions more. According to the health policy research group KFF, the average annual health insurance premium for single coverage is $8,400 and almost $24,000 for a family. In addition, patient out-of-pocket costs continue to increase, a 6.6% increase to $471 billion in 2022. Rather than healthcare spending falling, it has exploded, and the Trump and Biden administrations made matters worse.    Clearly, a universal healthcare program will require flipping the script on the entire private insurance industry, which employed over half a million people last year.  Obviously, the most volatile debate concerning a national universal healthcare system concerns cost. Although there is already a socialized healthcare system in place -- every federal legislator, bureaucrat, government employee and veteran benefits from it -- fiscal Republican conservatives and groups such as the Koch Brothers network are single-mindedly dedicated to preventing the expansion of Medicare and Medicaid. A Koch-funded Mercatus analysis made the outrageous claim that a single-payer system would increase federal health spending by $32 trillion in ten years. However, analyses and reviews by the Congressional Budget Office in the early 1990s concluded that such a system would only increase spending at the start; enormous savings would quickly offset it as the years pass. In one analysis, "the savings in administrative costs [10 percent of health spending] would be more than enough to offset the expense of universal coverage."    Defenders of those advocating for funding a National Health Program argue this can primarily be accomplished by raising taxes to levels comparable to other developed nations. This was a platform Senator Bernie Sanders and some of the younger progressive Democrats in the House campaigned on. The strategy was to tax the highest multimillion-dollar earners 60-70 percent. Despite the outrage of its critics, including old rank-and-file multi-millionaire Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, this is still far less than in the past. During the Korean War, the top tax rate was 91 percent; it declined to 70 percent in the late 1960s. Throughout most of the 1970s, those in the lowest income bracket were taxed at 14 percent. We are not advocating for this strategy because it ignores where the funding is going, and the corruption in the system that is contributing to exorbitant waste.    But Democratic supporters of the ACA who oppose a universal healthcare plan ignore the additional taxes Obama levied to pay for the program. These included surtaxes on investment income, Medicare taxes from those earning over $200,000, taxes on tanning services, an excise tax on medical equipment, and a 40 percent tax on health coverage for costs over the designated cap that applied to flexible savings and health savings accounts. The entire ACA was reckless, sloppy and unnecessarily complicated from the start.    The fact that Obamacare further strengthened the distinctions between two parallel systems -- federal and private -- with entirely different economic structures created a labyrinth of red tape, rules, and wasteful bureaucracy. Since the ACA went into effect, over 150 new boards, agencies and programs have had to be established to monitor its 2,700 pages of gibberish. A federal single-payer system would easily eliminate this bureaucracy and waste.    A medical New Deal to establish universal healthcare coverage is a decisive step in the correct direction. But we must look at the crisis holistically and in a systematic way. Simply shuffling private insurance into a federal Medicare-for-all or buy-in program, funded by taxing the wealthiest of citizens, would only temporarily reduce costs. It will neither curtail nor slash escalating disease rates e. Any effective healthcare reform must also tackle the underlying reasons for Americans' poor state of health. We cannot shy away from examining the social illnesses infecting our entire free-market capitalist culture and its addiction to deregulation. A viable healthcare model would have to structurally transform how the medical economy operates. Finally, a successful medical New Deal must honestly evaluate the best and most reliable scientific evidence in order to effectively redirect public health spending.    For example, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama healthcare adviser, observed that AIDS-HIV measures consume the most public health spending, even though the disease "ranked 75th on the list of diseases by personal health expenditures." On the other hand, according to the American Medical Association, a large percentage of the nation's $3.4 trillion healthcare spending goes towards treating preventable diseases, notably diabetes, common forms of heart disease, and back and neck pain conditions. In 2016, these three conditions were the most costly and accounted for approximately $277 billion in spending. Last year, the CDC announced the autism rate is now 1 in 36 children compared to 1 in 44 two years ago. A retracted study by Mark Blaxill, an autism activist at the Holland Center and a friend of the authors, estimates that ASD costs will reach $589 billion annually by 2030. There are no signs that this alarming trend will reverse and decline; and yet, our entire federal health system has failed to conscientiously investigate the underlying causes of this epidemic. All explanations that might interfere with the pharmaceutical industry's unchecked growth, such as over-vaccination, are ignored and viciously discredited without any sound scientific evidence. Therefore, a proper medical New Deal will require a systemic overhaul and reform of our federal health agencies, especially the HHS, CDC and FDA. Only the Robert Kennedy Jr presidential campaign is even addressing the crisis and has an inexpensive and comprehensive plan to deal with it. For any medical revolution to succeed in advancing universal healthcare, the plan must prioritize spending in a manner that serves public health and not private interests. It will also require reshuffling private corporate interests and their lobbyists to the sidelines, away from any strategic planning, in order to break up the private interests' control over federal agencies and its revolving door policies. Aside from those who benefit from this medical corruption, the overwhelming majority of Americans would agree with this criticism. However, there is a complete lack of national trust that our legislators, including the so-called progressives, would be willing to undertake such actions.    In addition, America's healthcare system ignores the single most critical initiative to reduce costs - that is, preventative efforts and programs instead of deregulation and closing loopholes designed to protect the drug and insurance industries' bottom line. Prevention can begin with banning toxic chemicals that are proven health hazards associated with current disease epidemics, and it can begin by removing a 1,000-plus toxins already banned in Europe. This should be a no-brainer for any legislator who cares for public health. For example, Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, notes that "the policy approach in the US and Europe is dramatically different" when it comes to chemical allowances in cosmetic products. Whereas the EU has banned 1,328 toxic substances from the cosmetic industry alone, the US has banned only 11. The US continues to allow carcinogenic formaldehyde, petroleum, forever chemicals, many parabens (an estrogen mimicker and endocrine hormone destroyer), the highly allergenic p-phenylenediamine or PBD, triclosan, which has been associated with the rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria, avobenzone, and many others to be used in cosmetics, sunscreens, shampoo and hair dyes.   Next, the food Americans consume can be reevaluated for its health benefits. There should be no hesitation to tax the unhealthiest foods, such as commercial junk food, sodas and candy relying on high fructose corn syrup, products that contain ingredients proven to be toxic, and meat products laden with dangerous chemicals including growth hormones and antibiotics. The scientific evidence that the average American diet is contributing to rising disease trends is indisputable. We could also implement additional taxes on the public advertising of these demonstrably unhealthy products. All such tax revenue would accrue to a national universal health program to offset medical expenditures associated with the very illnesses linked to these products. Although such tax measures would help pay for a new medical New Deal, it may be combined with programs to educate the public about healthy nutrition if it is to produce a reduction in the most common preventable diseases. In fact, comprehensive nutrition courses in medical schools should be mandatory because the average physician receives no education in this crucial subject.  In addition, preventative health education should be mandatory throughout public school systems.   Private insurers force hospitals, clinics and private physicians into financial corners, and this is contributing to prodigious waste in money and resources. Annually, healthcare spending towards medical liability insurance costs tens of billions of dollars. In particular, this economic burden has taxed small clinics and physicians. It is well past the time that physician liability insurance is replaced with no-fault options. Today's doctors are spending an inordinate amount of money to protect themselves. Legions of liability and trial lawyers seek big paydays for themselves stemming from physician error. This has created a culture of fear among doctors and hospitals, resulting in the overly cautious practice of defensive medicine, driving up costs and insurance premiums just to avoid lawsuits. Doctors are forced to order unnecessary tests and prescribe more medications and medical procedures just to cover their backsides. No-fault insurance is a common-sense plan that enables physicians to pursue their profession in a manner that will reduce iatrogenic injuries and costs. Individual cases requiring additional medical intervention and loss of income would still be compensated. This would generate huge savings.    No other nation suffers from the scourge of excessive drug price gouging like the US. After many years of haggling to lower prices and increase access to generic drugs, only a minute amount of progress has been made in recent years. A 60 Minutes feature about the Affordable Care Act reported an "orgy of lobbying and backroom deals in which just about everyone with a stake in the $3-trillion-a-year health industry came out ahead—except the taxpayers.” For example, Life Extension magazine reported that an antiviral cream (acyclovir), which had lost its patent protection, "was being sold to pharmacies for 7,500% over the active ingredient cost. The active ingredient (acyclovir) costs only 8 pennies, yet pharmacies are paying a generic maker $600 for this drug and selling it to consumers for around $700." Other examples include the antibiotic Doxycycline. The price per pill averages 7 cents to $3.36 but has a 5,300 percent markup when it reaches the consumer. The antidepressant Clomipramine is marked up 3,780 percent, and the anti-hypertensive drug Captopril's mark-up is 2,850 percent. And these are generic drugs!    Medication costs need to be dramatically cut to allow drug manufacturers a reasonable but not obscene profit margin. By capping profits approximately 100 percent above all costs, we would save our system hundreds of billions of dollars. Such a measure would also extirpate the growing corporate misdemeanors of pricing fraud, which forces patients to pay out-of-pocket in order to make up for the costs insurers are unwilling to pay.    Finally, we can acknowledge that our healthcare is fundamentally a despotic rationing system based upon high insurance costs vis-a-vis a toss of the dice to determine where a person sits on the economic ladder. For the past three decades it has contributed to inequality. The present insurance-based economic metrics cast millions of Americans out of coverage because private insurance costs are beyond their means. Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton University political economist, has called our system "brutal" because it "rations [people] out of the system." He defined rationing as "withholding something from someone that is beneficial." Discriminatory healthcare rationing now affects upwards to 60 million people who have been either priced out of the system or under insured. They make too much to qualify for Medicare under Obamacare, yet earn far too little to afford private insurance costs and premiums. In the final analysis, the entire system is discriminatory and predatory.    However, we must be realistic. Almost every member of Congress has benefited from Big Pharma and private insurance lobbyists. The only way to begin to bring our healthcare program up to the level of a truly developed nation is to remove the drug industry's rampant and unnecessary profiteering from the equation.     How did Fauci memory-hole a cure for AIDS and get away with it?   By Helen Buyniski   Over 700,000 Americans have died of AIDS since 1981, with the disease claiming some 42.3 million victims worldwide. While an HIV diagnosis is no longer considered a certain death sentence, the disease looms large in the public imagination and in public health funding, with contemporary treatments running into thousands of dollars per patient annually.   But was there a cure for AIDS all this time - an affordable and safe treatment that was ruthlessly suppressed and attacked by the US public health bureaucracy and its agents? Could this have saved millions of lives and billions of dollars spent on AZT, ddI and failed HIV vaccine trials? What could possibly justify the decision to disappear a safe and effective approach down the memory hole?   The inventor of the cure, Gary Null, already had several decades of experience creating healing protocols for physicians to help patients not responding well to conventional treatments by the time AIDS was officially defined in 1981. Null, a registered dietitian and board-certified nutritionist with a PhD in human nutrition and public health science, was a senior research fellow and Director of Anti-Aging Medicine at the Institute of Applied Biology for 36 years and has published over 950 papers, conducting groundbreaking experiments in reversing biological aging as confirmed with DNA methylation testing. Additionally, Null is a multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker, bestselling author, and investigative journalist whose work exposing crimes against humanity over the last 50 years has highlighted abuses by Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex, the financial industry, and the permanent government stay-behind networks that have come to be known as the Deep State.   Null was contacted in 1974 by Dr. Stephen Caiazza, a physician working with a subculture of gay men in New York living the so-called “fast track” lifestyle, an extreme manifestation of the gay liberation movement that began with the Stonewall riots. Defined by rampant sexual promiscuity and copious use of illegal and prescription drugs, including heavy antibiotic use for a cornucopia of sexually-transmitted diseases, the fast-track never included more than about two percent of gay men, though these dominated many of the bathhouses and clubs that defined gay nightlife in the era. These patients had become seriously ill as a result of their indulgence, generally arriving at the clinic with multiple STDs including cytomegalovirus and several types of herpes and hepatitis, along with candida overgrowth, nutritional deficiencies, gut issues, and recurring pneumonia. Every week for the next 10 years, Null would counsel two or three of these men - a total of 800 patients - on how to detoxify their bodies and de-stress their lives, tracking their progress with Caiazza and the other providers at weekly feedback meetings that he credits with allowing the team to quickly evaluate which treatments were most effective. He observed that it only took about two years on the “fast track” for a healthy young person to begin seeing muscle loss and the recurrent, lingering opportunistic infections that would later come to be associated with AIDS - while those willing to commit to a healthier lifestyle could regain their health in about a year.    It was with this background that Null established the Tri-State Healing Center in Manhattan in 1980, staffing the facility with what would eventually run to 22 certified health professionals to offer safe, natural, and effective low- and no-cost treatments to thousands of patients with HIV and AIDS-defining conditions. Null and his staff used variations of the protocols he had perfected with Caiazza's patients, a multifactorial patient-tailored approach that included high-dose vitamin C drips, intravenous ozone therapy, juicing and nutritional improvements and supplementation, aspects of homeopathy and naturopathy with some Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic practices. Additional services offered on-site included acupuncture and holistic dentistry, while peer support groups were also held at the facility so that patients could find community and a positive environment, healing their minds and spirits while they healed their bodies.   “Instead of trying to kill the virus with antiretroviral pharmaceuticals designed to stop viral replication before it kills patients, we focused on what benefits could be gained by building up the patients' natural immunity and restoring biochemical integrity so the body could fight for itself,” Null wrote in a 2014 article describing the philosophy behind the Center's approach, which was wholly at odds with the pharmaceutical model.1   Patients were comprehensively tested every week, with any “recovery” defined solely by the labs, which documented AIDS patient after patient - 1,200 of them - returning to good health and reversing their debilitating conditions. Null claims to have never lost an AIDS patient in the Center's care, even as the death toll for the disease - and its pharmaceutical standard of care AZT - reached an all-time high in the early 1990s. Eight patients who had opted for a more intensive course of treatment - visiting the Center six days a week rather than one - actually sero-deconverted, with repeated subsequent testing showing no trace of HIV in their bodies.   As an experienced clinical researcher himself, Null recognized that any claims made by the Center would be massively scrutinized, challenging as they did the prevailing scientific consensus that AIDS was an incurable, terminal illness. He freely gave his protocols to any medical practitioner who asked, understanding that his own work could be considered scientifically valid only if others could replicate it under the same conditions. After weeks of daily observational visits to the Center, Dr. Robert Cathcart took the protocols back to San Francisco, where he excitedly reported that patients were no longer dying in his care.    Null's own colleague at the Institute of Applied Biology, senior research fellow Elana Avram, set up IV drip rooms at the Institute and used his intensive protocols to sero-deconvert 10 patients over a two-year period. While the experiment had been conducted in secret, as the Institute had been funded by Big Pharma since its inception half a century earlier, Avram had hoped she would be able to publish a journal article to further publicize Null's protocols and potentially help AIDS patients, who were still dying at incredibly high rates thanks to Burroughs Wellcome's noxious but profitable AZT. But as she would later explain in a 2019 letter to Null, their groundbreaking research never made it into print - despite meticulous documentation of their successes - because the Institute's director and board feared their pharmaceutical benefactors would withdraw the funding on which they depended, given that Null's protocols did not involve any patentable or otherwise profitable drugs. When Avram approached them about publication, the board vetoed the idea, arguing that it would “draw negative attention because [the work] was contrary to standard drug treatments.” With no real point in continuing experiments along those lines without institutional support and no hope of obtaining funding from elsewhere, the department she had created specifically for these experiments shut down after a two-year followup with her test subjects - all of whom remained alive and healthy - was completed.2   While the Center was receiving regular visits by this time from medical professionals and, increasingly, black celebrities like Stokely Carmichael and Isaac Hayes, who would occasionally perform for the patients, the news was spreading by word of mouth alone - not a single media outlet had dared to document the clinic that was curing AIDS patients for free. Instead, they gave airtime to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, who had for years been spreading baseless, hysteria-fueling claims about HIV and AIDS to any news outlet that would put him on. His claim that children could contract the virus from “ordinary household conduct” with an infected relative proved so outrageous he had to walk it back,3 and he never really stopped insisting the deadly plague associated with gays and drug users was about to explode like a nuclear bomb among the law-abiding heterosexual population. Fauci by this time controlled all government science funding through NIAID, and his zero-tolerance approach to dissent on the HIV/AIDS front had already seen prominent scientists like virologist Peter Duesberg stripped of the resources they needed for their work because they had dared to question his commandment: There is no cause of AIDS but HIV, and AZT is its treatment. Even the AIDS activist groups, which by then had been coopted by Big Pharma and essentially reduced to astroturfing for the toxic failed chemotherapy drug AZT backed by the institutional might of Fauci's NIAID,4 didn't seem to want to hear that there was a cure. Unconcerned with the irrationality of denouncing the man touting his free AIDS cure as an  “AIDS denier,” they warned journalists that platforming Null or anyone else rejecting the mainstream medical line would be met with organized demands for their firing.    Determined to breach the institutional iron curtain and get his message to the masses, Null and his team staged a press conference in New York, inviting scientists and doctors from around the world to share their research on alternative approaches to HIV and AIDS in 1993. To emphasize the sound scientific basis of the Center's protocols and encourage guests to adopt them into their own practices, Null printed out thousands of abstracts in support of each nutrient and treatment being used. However, despite over 7,000 invitations sent three times to major media, government figures, scientists, and activists, almost none of the intended audience members showed up. Over 100 AIDS patients and their doctors, whose charts exhaustively documented their improvements using natural and nontoxic modalities over the preceding 12 months, gave filmed testimonials, declaring that the feared disease was no longer a death sentence, but the conference had effectively been silenced. Bill Tatum, publisher of the Amsterdam News, suggested Null and his patients would find a more welcoming audience in his home neighborhood of Harlem - specifically, its iconic Apollo Theatre. For three nights, the theater was packed to capacity. Hit especially hard by the epidemic and distrustful of a medical system that had only recently stopped being openly racist (the Tuskegee syphilis experiment only ended in 1972), black Americans, at least, did not seem to care what Anthony Fauci would do if he found out they were investigating alternatives to AZT and death.    PBS journalist Tony Brown, having obtained a copy of the video of patient testimonials from the failed press conference, was among a handful of black journalists who began visiting the Center to investigate the legitimacy of Null's claims. Satisfied they had something significant to offer his audience, Brown invited eight patients - along with Null himself - onto his program over the course of several episodes to discuss the work. It was the first time these protocols had received any attention in the media, despite Null having released nearly two dozen articles and multiple documentaries on the subject by that time. A typical patient on one program, Al, a recovered IV drug user who was diagnosed with AIDS at age 32, described how he “panicked,” saw a doctor and started taking AZT despite his misgivings - only to be forced to discontinue the drug after just a few weeks due to his condition deteriorating rapidly. Researching alternatives brought him to Null, and after six months of “detoxing [his] lifestyle,” he observed his initial symptoms - swollen lymph nodes and weight loss - begin to reverse, culminating with sero-deconversion. On Bill McCreary's Channel 5 program, a married couple diagnosed with HIV described how they watched their T-cell counts increase as they cut out sugar, caffeine, smoking, and drinking and began eating a healthy diet. They also saw the virus leave their bodies.   For HIV-positive viewers surrounded by fear and negativity, watching healthy-looking, cheerful “AIDS patients” detail their recovery while Null backed up their claims with charts must have been balm for the soul. But the TV programs were also a form of outreach to the medical community, with patients' charts always on hand to convince skeptics the cure was scientifically valid. Null brought patients' charts to every program, urging them to keep an open mind: “Other physicians and public health officials should know that there's good science in the alternative perspective. It may not be a therapy that they're familiar with, because they're just not trained in it, but if the results are positive, and you can document them…” He challenged doubters to send in charts from their own sero-deconverted patients on AZT, and volunteered to debate proponents of the orthodox treatment paradigm - though the NIH and WHO both refused to participate in such a debate on Tony Brown's Journal, following Fauci's directive prohibiting engagement with forbidden ideas.    Aside from those few TV programs and Null's own films, suppression of Null's AIDS cure beyond word of mouth was total. The 2021 documentary The Cost of Denial, produced by the Society for Independent Journalists, tells the story of the Tri-State Healing Center and the medical paradigm that sought to destroy it, lamenting the loss of the lives that might have been saved in a more enlightened society. Nurse practitioner Luanne Pennesi, who treated many of the AIDS patients at the Center, speculated in the film that the refusal by the scientific establishment and AIDS activists to accept their successes was financially motivated. “It was as if they didn't want this information to get out. Understand that our healthcare system as we know it is a corporation, it's a corporate model, and it's about generating revenue. My concern was that maybe they couldn't generate enough revenue from these natural approaches.”5   Funding was certainly the main disciplinary tool Fauci's NIAID used to keep the scientific community in line. Despite the massive community interest in the work being done at the Center, no foundation or institution would defy Fauci and risk getting itself blacklisted, leaving Null to continue funding the operation out of his pocket with the profits from book sales. After 15 years, he left the Center in 1995, convinced the mainstream model had so thoroughly been institutionalized that there was no chance of overthrowing it. He has continued to counsel patients and advocate for a reappraisal of the HIV=AIDS hypothesis and its pharmaceutical treatments, highlighting the deeply flawed science underpinning the model of the disease espoused by the scientific establishment in 39 articles, six documentaries and a 700-page textbook on AIDS, but the Center's achievements have been effectively memory-holed by Fauci's multi-billion-dollar propaganda apparatus.     FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE   To understand just how much of a threat Null's work was to the HIV/AIDS establishment, it is instructive to revisit the 1984 paper, published by Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute, that established HIV as the sole cause of AIDS. The CDC's official recognition of AIDS in 1981 had done little to quell the mounting public panic over the mysterious illness afflicting gay men in the US, as the agency had effectively admitted it had no idea what was causing them to sicken and die. As years passed with no progress determining the causative agent of the plague, activist groups like Gay Men's Health Crisis disrupted public events and threatened further mass civil disobedience as they excoriated the NIH for its sluggish allocation of government science funding to uncovering the cause of the “gay cancer.”6 When Gallo published his paper declaring that the retrovirus we now know as HIV was the sole “probable” cause of AIDS, its simple, single-factor hypothesis was the answer to the scientific establishment's prayers. This was particularly true for Fauci, as the NIAID chief was able to claim the hot new disease as his agency's own domain in what has been described as a “dramatic confrontation” with his rival Sam Broder at the National Cancer Institute. After all, Fauci pointed out, Gallo's findings - presented by Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler as if they were gospel truth before any other scientists had had a chance to inspect them, never mind conduct a full peer review - clearly classified AIDS as an infectious disease, and not a cancer like the Kaposi's sarcoma which was at the time its most visible manifestation. Money and media attention began pouring in, even as funding for the investigation of other potential causes of AIDS dried up. Having already patented a diagnostic test for “his” retrovirus before introducing it to the world, Gallo was poised for a financial windfall, while Fauci was busily leveraging the discovery into full bureaucratic empire of the US scientific apparatus.   While it would serve as the sole basis for all US government-backed AIDS research to follow - quickly turning Gallo into the most-cited scientist in the world during the 1980s,7 Gallo's “discovery” of HIV was deeply problematic. The sample that yielded the momentous discovery actually belonged to Prof. Luc Montagnier of the French Institut Pasteur, a fact Gallo finally admitted in 1991, four years after a lawsuit from the French government challenged his patent on the HIV antibody test, forcing the US government to negotiate a hasty profit-sharing agreement between Gallo's and Montagnier's labs. That lawsuit triggered a cascade of official investigations into scientific misconduct by Gallo, and evidence submitted during one of these probes, unearthed in 2008 by journalist Janine Roberts, revealed a much deeper problem with the seminal “discovery.” While Gallo's co-author, Mikulas Popovic, had concluded after numerous experiments with the French samples that the virus they contained was not the cause of AIDS, Gallo had drastically altered the paper's conclusion, scribbling his notes in the margins, and submitted it for publication to the journal Science without informing his co-author.   After Roberts shared her discovery with contacts in the scientific community, 37 scientific experts wrote to the journal demanding that Gallo's career-defining HIV paper be retracted from Science for lacking scientific integrity.8 Their call, backed by an endorsement from the 2,600-member scientific organization Rethinking AIDS, was ignored by the publication and by the rest of mainstream science despite - or perhaps because of - its profound implications.   That 2008 letter, addressed to Science editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts and copied to American Association for the Advancement of Science CEO Alan Leshner, is worth reproducing here in its entirety, as it utterly dismantles Gallo's hypothesis - and with them the entire HIV is the sole cause of AIDS dogma upon which the contemporary medical model of the disease rests:   On May 4, 1984 your journal published four papers by a group led by Dr. Robert Gallo. We are writing to express our serious concerns with regard to the integrity and veracity of the lead paper among these four of which Dr. Mikulas Popovic is the lead author.[1] The other three are also of concern because they rely upon the conclusions of the lead paper .[2][3][4]  In the early 1990s, several highly critical reports on the research underlying these papers were produced as a result of governmental inquiries working under the supervision of scientists nominated by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. The Office of Research Integrity of the US Department of Health and Human Services concluded that the lead paper was “fraught with false and erroneous statements,” and that the “ORI believes that the careless and unacceptable keeping of research records...reflects irresponsible laboratory management that has permanently impaired the ability to retrace the important steps taken.”[5] Further, a Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations led by US Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan produced a staff report on the papers which contains scathing criticisms of their integrity.[6]  Despite the publically available record of challenges to their veracity, these papers have remained uncorrected and continue to be part of the scientific record.  What prompts our communication today is the recent revelation of an astonishing number of previously unreported deletions and unjustified alterations made by Gallo to the lead paper. There are several documents originating from Gallo's laboratory that, while available for some time, have only recently been fully analyzed. These include a draft of the lead paper typewritten by Popovic which contains handwritten changes made to it by Gallo.[7] This draft was the key evidence used in the above described inquiries to establish that Gallo had concealed his laboratory's use of a cell culture sample (known as LAV) which it received from the Institut Pasteur.  These earlier inquiries verified that the typed manuscript draft was produced by Popovic who had carried out the recorded experiment while his laboratory chief, Gallo, was in Europe and that, upon his return, Gallo changed the document by hand a few days before it was submitted to Science on March 30, 1984. According to the ORI investigation, “Dr. Gallo systematically rewrote the manuscript for what would become a renowned LTCB [Gallo's laboratory at the National Cancer Institute] paper.”[5]  This document provided the important evidence that established the basis for awarding Dr. Luc Montagnier and Dr. Francoise Barré-Sinoussi the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the AIDS virus by proving it was their samples of LAV that Popovic used in his key experiment. The draft reveals that Popovic had forthrightly admitted using the French samples of LAV renamed as Gallo's virus, HTLV-III, and that Gallo had deleted this admission, concealing their use of LAV.  However, it has not been previously reported that on page three of this same document Gallo had also deleted Popovic's unambiguous statement that, "Despite intensive research efforts, the causative agent of AIDS has not yet been identified,” replacing it in the published paper with a statement that said practically the opposite, namely, “That a retrovirus of the HTLV family might be an etiologic agent of AIDS was suggested by the findings.”  It is clear that the rest of Popovic's typed paper is entirely consistent with his statement that the cause of AIDS had not been found, despite his use of the French LAV. Popovic's final conclusion was that the culture he produced “provides the possibility” for detailed studies. He claimed to have achieved nothing more. At no point in his paper did Popovic attempt to prove that any virus caused AIDS, and it is evident that Gallo concealed these key elements in Popovic's experimental findings.  It is astonishing now to discover these unreported changes to such a seminal document. We can only assume that Gallo's alterations of Popovic's conclusions were not highlighted by earlier inquiries because the focus at the time was on establishing that the sample used by Gallo's lab came from Montagnier and was not independently collected by Gallo. In fact, the only attention paid to the deletions made by Gallo pertains to his effort to hide the identity of the sample. The questions of whether Gallo and Popovic's research proved that LAV or any other virus was the cause of AIDS were clearly not considered.  Related to these questions are other long overlooked documents that merit your attention. One of these is a letter from Dr. Matthew A. Gonda, then Head of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, which is addressed to Popovic, copied to Gallo and dated just four days prior to Gallo's submission to Science.[8] In this letter, Gonda remarks on samples he had been sent for imaging because “Dr Gallo wanted these micrographs for publication because they contain HTLV.” He states, “I do not believe any of the particles photographed are of HTLV-I, II or III.” According to Gonda, one sample contained cellular debris, while another had no particles near the size of a retrovirus. Despite Gonda's clearly worded statement, Science published on May 4, 1984 papers attributed to Gallo et al with micrographs attributed to Gonda and described unequivocally as HTLV-III.  In another letter by Gallo, dated one day before he submitted his papers to Science, Gallo states, “It's extremely rare to find fresh cells [from AIDS patients] expressing the virus... cell culture seems to be necessary to induce virus,” a statement which raises the possibility he was working with a laboratory artifact. [9]  Included here are copies of these documents and links to the same. The very serious flaws they reveal in the preparation of the lead paper published in your journal in 1984 prompts our request that this paper be withdrawn. It appears that key experimental findings have been concealed. We further request that the three associated papers published on the same date also be withdrawn as they depend on the accuracy of this paper.  For the scientific record to be reliable, it is vital that papers shown to be flawed, or falsified be retracted. Because a very public record now exists showing that the Gallo papers drew unjustified conclusions, their withdrawal from Science is all the more important to maintain integrity. Future researchers must also understand they cannot rely on the 1984 Gallo papers for statements about HIV and AIDS, and all authors of papers that previously relied on this set of four papers should have the opportunity to consider whether their own conclusions are weakened by these revelations.      Gallo's handwritten revision, submitted without his colleague's knowledge despite multiple experiments that failed to support the new conclusion, was the sole foundation for the HIV=AIDS hypothesis. Had Science published the manuscript the way Popovic had typed it, there would be no AIDS “pandemic” - merely small clusters of people with AIDS. Without a viral hypothesis backing the development of expensive and deadly pharmaceuticals, would Fauci have allowed these patients to learn about the cure that existed all along?   Faced with a potential rebellion, Fauci marshaled the full resources under his control to squelch the publication of the investigations into Gallo and restrict any discussion of competing hypotheses in the scientific and mainstream press, which had been running virus-scare stories full-time since 1984. The effect was total, according to biochemist Dr. Kary Mullis, inventor of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure. In a 2009 interview, Mullis recalled his own shock when he attempted to unearth the experimental basis for the HIV=AIDS hypothesis. Despite his extensive inquiry into the literature, “there wasn't a scientific reference…[that] said ‘here's how come we know that HIV is the probable cause of AIDS.' There was nothing out there like that.”9 This yawning void at the core of HIV/AIDS “science" turned him into a strident critic of AIDS dogma - and those views made him persona non grata where the scientific press was concerned, suddenly unable to publish a single paper despite having won the Nobel Prize for his invention of the PCR test just weeks before.  10   DISSENT BECOMES “DENIAL”   While many of those who dissent from the orthodox HIV=AIDS view believe HIV plays a role in the development of AIDS, they point to lifestyle and other co-factors as being equally if not more important. Individuals who test positive for HIV can live for decades in perfect health - so long as they don't take AZT or the other toxic antivirals fast-tracked by Fauci's NIAID - but those who developed full-blown AIDS generally engaged in highly risky behaviors like extreme promiscuity and prodigious drug abuse, contracting STDs they took large quantities of antibiotics to treat, further running down their immune systems. While AIDS was largely portrayed as a “gay disease,” it was only the “fast track” gays, hooking up with dozens of partners nightly in sex marathons fueled by “poppers” (nitrate inhalants notorious for their own devastating effects on the immune system), who became sick. Kaposi's sarcoma, one of the original AIDS-defining conditions, was widespread among poppers-using gay men, but never appeared among IV drug users or hemophiliacs, the other two main risk groups during the early years of the epidemic. Even Robert Gallo himself, at a 1994 conference on poppers held by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, would admit that the previously-rare form of skin cancer surging among gay men was not primarily caused by HIV - and that it was immune stimulation, rather than suppression, that was likely responsible.11 Similarly, IV drug users are often riddled with opportunistic infections as their habit depresses the immune system and their focus on maintaining their addiction means that healthier habits - like good nutrition and even basic hygiene - fall by the wayside.    Supporting the call for revising the HIV=AIDS hypothesis to include co-factors is the fact that the mass heterosexual outbreaks long predicted by Fauci and his ilk in seemingly every country on Earth have failed to materialize, except - supposedly - in Africa, where the diagnostic standard for AIDS differs dramatically from those of the West. Given the prohibitively high cost of HIV testing for poor African nations, the WHO in 1985 crafted a diagnostic loophole that became known as the “Bangui definition,” allowing medical professionals to diagnose AIDS in the absence of a test using just clinical symptoms: high fever, persistent cough, at least 30 days of diarrhea, and the loss of 10% of one's body weight within two months. Often suffering from malnutrition and without access to clean drinking water, many of the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa fit the bill, especially when the WHO added tuberculosis to the list of AIDS-defining illnesses in 1993 - a move which may be responsible for as many as one half of African “AIDS” cases, according to journalist Christine Johnson. The WHO's former Chief of Global HIV Surveillance, James Chin, acknowledged their manipulation of statistics, but stressed that it was the entire AIDS industry - not just his organization - perpetrating the fraud. “There's the saying that, if you knew what sausages are made of, most people would hesitate to sort of eat them, because they wouldn't like what's in it. And if you knew how HIV/AIDS numbers are cooked, or made up, you would use them with extreme caution,” Chin told an interviewer in 2009.12   With infected numbers stubbornly remaining constant in the US despite Fauci's fearmongering projections of the looming heterosexually-transmitted plague, the CDC in 1993 broadened its definition of AIDS to include asymptomatic (that is, healthy) HIV-positive people with low T-cell counts - an absurd criteria given that an individual's T-cell count can fluctuate by hundreds within a single day. As a result, the number of “AIDS cases” in the US immediately doubled. Supervised by Fauci, the NIAID had been quietly piling on diseases into the “AIDS-related” category for years, bloating the list from just two conditions - pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma - to 30 so fast it raised eyebrows among some of science's leading lights. Deeming the entire process “bizarre” and unprecedented, Kary Mullis wondered aloud why no one had called the AIDS establishment out: “There's something wrong here. And it's got to be financial.”13   Indeed, an early CDC public relations campaign was exposed by the Wall Street Journal in 1987 as having deliberately mischaracterized AIDS as a threat to the entire population so as to garner increased public and private funding for what was very much a niche issue, with the risk to average heterosexuals from a single act of sex “smaller than the risk of ever getting hit by lightning.” Ironically, the ads, which sought to humanize AIDS patients in an era when few Americans knew anyone with the disease and more than half the adult population thought infected people should be forced to carry cards warning of their status, could be seen as a reaction to the fear tactics deployed by Fauci early on.14   It's hard to tell where fraud ends and incompetence begins with Gallo's HIV antibody test. Much like Covid-19 would become a “pandemic of testing,” with murder victims and motorcycle crashes lumped into “Covid deaths” thanks to over-sensitized PCR tests that yielded as many as 90% false positives,15 HIV testing is fraught with false positives - and unlike with Covid-19, most people who hear they are HIV-positive still believe they are receiving a death sentence. Due to the difficulty of isolating HIV itself from human samples, the most common diagnostic tests, ELISA and the Western Blot, are designed to detect not the virus but antibodies to it, upending the traditional medical understanding that the presence of antibodies indicates only exposure - and often that the body has actually vanquished the pathogen. Patients are known to test positive for HIV antibodies in the absence of the virus due to at least 70 other conditions, including hepatitis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, syphilis, recent vaccination or even pregnancy. (https://www.chcfl.org/diseases-that-can-cause-a-false-positive-hiv-test/) Positive results are often followed up with a PCR “viral load” test, even though the inventor of the PCR technique Kary Mullis famously condemned its misuse as a tool for diagnosing infection. Packaging inserts for all three tests warn the user that they cannot be reliably used to diagnose HIV.16 The ELISA HIV antibody test explicitly states: “At present there is no recognized standard for establishing the presence and absence of HIV antibody in human blood.”17   That the public remains largely unaware of these and other massive holes in the supposedly airtight HIV=AIDS=DEATH paradigm is a testament to Fauci's multi-layered control of the press. Like the writers of the Great Barrington Declaration and other Covid-19 dissidents, scientists who question HIV/AIDS dogma have been brutally punished for their heresy, no matter how prestigious their prior standing in the field and no matter how much evidence they have for their own claims. In 1987, the year the FDA's approval of AZT made AIDS the most profitable epidemic yet (a dubious designation Covid-19 has since surpassed), Fauci made it clearer than ever that scientific inquiry and debate - the basis of the scientific method - would no longer be welcome in the American public health sector, eliminating retrovirologist Peter Duesberg, then one of the most prominent opponents of the HIV=AIDS hypothesis, from the scientific conversation with a professional disemboweling that would make a cartel hitman blush. Duesberg had just eviscerated Gallo's 1984 HIV paper with an article of his own in the journal Cancer Research, pointing out that retroviruses had never before been found to cause a single disease in humans - let alone 30 AIDS-defining diseases. Rather than allow Gallo or any of the other scientists in his camp to respond to the challenge, Fauci waged a scorched-earth campaign against Duesberg, who had until then been one of the most highly regarded researchers in his field. Every research grant he requested was denied; every media appearance was canceled or preempted. The University of California at Berkeley, unable to fully fire him due to tenure, took away his lab, his graduate students, and the rest of his funding. The few colleagues who dared speak up for him in public were also attacked, while enemies and opportunists were encouraged to slander Duesberg at the conferences he was barred from attending and in the journals that would no longer publish his replies. When Duesberg was summoned to the White House later that year by then-President Ronald Reagan to debate Fauci on the origins of AIDS, Fauci convinced the president to cancel, allegedly pulling rank on the Commander-in-Chief with an accusation that the “White House was interfering in scientific matters that belonged to the NIH and the Office of Science and Technology Assessment.” After seven years of this treatment, Duesberg was contacted by NIH official Stephen O'Brien and offered an escape from professional purgatory. He could have “everything back,” he was told, and shown a manuscript of a scientific paper - apparently commissioned by the editor of the journal Nature - “HIV Causes AIDS: Koch's Postulates Fulfilled” with his own name listed alongside O'Brien's as an author.18 His refusal to take the bribe effectively guaranteed the epithet “AIDS denier” will appear on his tombstone. The character assassination of Duesberg became a template that would be deployed to great effectiveness wherever Fauci encountered dissent - never debate, only demonize, deplatform and destroy.    Even Luc Montagnier, the real discoverer of HIV, soon found himself on the wrong side of the Fauci machine. With his 1990 declaration that “the HIV virus [by itself] is harmless and passive, a benign virus,” Montagnier began distancing himself from Gallo's fraud, effectively placing a target on his own back. In a 1995 interview, he elaborated: “four factors that have come together to account for the sudden epidemic [of AIDS]: HIV presence, immune hyper-activation, increased sexually transmitted disease incidence, sexual behavior changes and other behavioral changes” such as drug use, poor nutrition and stress - all of which he said had to occur “essentially simultaneously” for HIV to be transmitted, creating the modern epidemic. Like the professionals at the Tri-State Healing Center, Montagnier advocated for the use of antioxidants like vitamin C and N-acetyl cysteine, naming oxidative stress as a critical factor in the progression from HIV to AIDS.19 When Montagnier died in 2022, Fauci's media mouthpieces sneered that the scientist (who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his discovery of HIV, despite his flagging faith in that discovery's significance) “started espousing views devoid of a scientific basis” in the late 2000s, leading him to be “shunned by the scientific community.”20 In a particularly egregious jab, the Washington Post's obit sings the praises of Robert Gallo, implying it was the American scientist who really should have won the Nobel for HIV, while dismissing as “

William F. Jasper is an investigative reporter and senior editor at The New American Magazine. He's an author, journalist and commentator. For more than three decades he served as an accredited correspondent at the United Nations in New York and U.N. summits around the world.From 1904-1914 the U.S. built the Panama Canal. Today, it's once again at the forefront of geopolitical discussions as President Trump believes that giving away the canal was a bad idea. William began with a brief history of the canal and moved into discussion regarding a number of canal-related controversies that bring up some interesting questions including:What about those who claim we can't break the treaties and go back on our word?Is it true that Panama has one treaty and we have another and the two don't compare with one another?Who was "pulling the strings" of Jimmy Carter? Jimmy Carter is often the focus of the canal turnover but what part did Bill Clinton play?Have we really paid for the Panama Canal multiple times over?In the end, even if it's possible to take back the canal, is it a good idea? Get to the bottom of the issue, and hear what your fellow listeners had to say, on this edition of Crosstalk.

Thomas is joined by Mathieu Lefevre, co-founder of More In Common, to explore the growing polarization in society and the surprising ways in which we are actually more united than we think.  Mathieu discusses his extensive research on social divisions in the U.S. and Europe, revealing how social media and news media create a distorted mirror of reality that exaggerates our differences. He explains the concept of perception gaps, where people overestimate how extreme their opponents' views are, and offers insights on how to bridge these divides. Thomas and Mathieu examine the critical role of listening, intergroup contact, and shared spaces in fostering social cohesion. As climate change and other global challenges put increasing pressure on our collective resilience, we need new forms of collaboration and understanding so that we can move beyond toxic division and build a healthier, more connected society. Click here to watch the video version of this episode on YouTube:

Join us this week as we unravel the enigmatic Project Blue Beam. Explore the fascinating history, delve into the science behind it, and dissect the web of conspiracy theories that have shrouded this alleged plan for decades. Learn the origins of Project Blue Beam, its purported aims, and the mystery surrounding its connection with NASA and the United Nations. Discover the alleged steps, including fake earthquakes, three-dimensional holographic projections, and telepathic communication, all designed to manipulate beliefs on a global scale. We'll also critically analyze the evidence both for and against Project Blue Beam, shedding light on the logical inconsistencies and the lack of credible sources. Tune in for a deep dive into one of the most captivating and controversial conspiracy theories, and gain insights that will leave you questioning the boundaries of belief and skepticism.  

In the course of one week, America has appeared to pivot in foreign policy, from an unprecedented vote with Russia at the United Nations to President Trump's angry exchange with Ukrainian President Zelensky in the Oval Office. On Sunday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted an emergency summit and announced that the UK and France were assembling a "coalition of the willing" to enforce a peace deal for Ukraine. Sir Malcolm Rifkind was foreign secretary in John Major's government and joins the show to discuss.  Also on today's show: Finland President Alexander Stubb; Ukrainian jounralist Nataliya Gumenyuk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Monday February 24, the General Assembly convened for a long-scheduled vote marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In a stunning shift, the United States abandoned its European allies and abruptly sided with Russia in an attempt to block any condemnation of Russia's aggression and any affirmation of Ukrainian sovereignty. This vote sent shockwaves through the halls of the General Assembly, with a ripple effect that could shake the foundations of the entire United Nations system. In this special live recording of To Save Us From Hell, Anjali Dayal and I explain what happened at the UN this week and why this moment is so consequential for the future of the United Nations. The full conversation is available for our paying subscribers. You can get a paid subscription at https://www.globaldispatches.org/

Rabbi Diana Gerson joins Dr. Sandie Morgan as the two discuss how faith-based communities can play a critical role in protecting children online and building a network of trusted community leaders. Rabbi Diana Gerson Rabbi Diana Gerson is the Associate Executive Vice President of the New York Board of Rabbis. She represents the organization at the United Nations and leads interfaith initiatives focused on child welfare, community resilience, and violence prevention. She is a member of the Child Dignity in a Digital World initiative and serves as Senior Advisor for Partnerships and External Relationships at the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities. She co-founded the Global Advocacy Hub for Children and Families and is the USA Country Coordinator for the Global Network of Religions for Children. In 2024, she was appointed to the UNHCR Multi-Religious Council of Leaders. Key Points Faith-based communities play a crucial but often overlooked role in child protection. Religious institutions, such as houses of worship and community centers, function as youth-serving organizations and must take responsibility for safeguarding children. Digital literacy is a fundamental skill for both children and adults. Many older generations struggle with technology, yet children are highly adept at navigating digital spaces, often without understanding the risks. Free apps are not truly free—when users don't pay with money, they pay with their personal data. Parents and faith leaders must educate themselves on the risks of digital platforms and the terms and conditions that affect privacy and safety. Child protection policies in faith-based institutions should match those of public schools, including background checks, training, and accountability measures for both staff and volunteers. There is no single "safe" place for children—every organization must have observable and interruptible spaces to ensure child safety. Parents must take an active role in monitoring these environments. Online exploitation is a growing crisis, fueled by the ease of image sharing on digital platforms. Faith-based organizations must recognize their responsibility in digital safety education and safeguarding measures. Many faith-based organizations lack proper protocols for reporting abuse. Instead of conducting internal investigations first, they must follow legal reporting requirements and ensure transparency. Faith leaders can be powerful advocates for online safety and child protection by integrating these issues into sermons and community discussions. These conversations should not be relegated to separate, optional trainings but rather be normalized as part of faith-based teaching. Partnering with faith-based organizations in digital literacy efforts is essential. Trainings should start with executive-level leaders and then expand to parents, staff, and youth members. Involving trusted religious leaders in digital safety initiatives can help overcome parental resistance. When faith leaders co-facilitate trainings, parents are more likely to trust and engage with the material. Normalizing discussions about technology and online risks is as crucial as past societal shifts in addressing domestic violence, child abuse, and public health issues like cancer. Faith leaders must lead by example in these conversations. Young people must be seen as part of the solution, not just future stakeholders. Engaging them in leadership roles and advocacy efforts empowers them to protect themselves and their peers. Resources LinkedIn – Rabbi Diana Gerson Instagram – Rabbi Diana Gerson Transcript [00:00:00] Sandie: Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast here at Vanguard University's Global Center for Women and Justice right here in Orange County, California. This is episode number 340 Building a Network of Trusted Community Leaders with Rabbi Diana Gerson. My name is Dr. Sandie Morgan.

Rogers for America with Lt. Steve Rogers – The United Nations has failed to uphold its mission, becoming a platform for tyrants rather than a force for peace. With Senator Mike Lee pushing for U.S. withdrawal, many question whether the UN still serves a purpose. Has it effectively addressed global crises, terrorism, or human rights abuses? The evidence suggests its last days are near.

1. Directive to Federal Employees - Elon Musk sent an email to all federal employees asking them to submit a list of five accomplishments from the previous week by Monday night. - Non-responses would be considered resignations, leading to confusion and resistance across various federal agencies. 2. Purpose and Reactions - The directive aimed to identify employees who were actually working and eliminate those who were not. - Some agency heads instructed their employees to ignore the email, waiting for further guidance. - Musk's tweet reiterated that failure to respond would be taken as a resignation. 3. Public and Media Response - The directive was seen as a way to streamline government operations and reduce inefficiency. - A Harvard Harris poll indicated strong public support for Trump's administration and its policies, including the efforts of DOGE. 4. Keystone XL Pipeline - We also discuss Trump's ongoing efforts to revive the Keystone XL pipeline project, which was halted by President Biden. - Trump emphasized the importance of energy independence and criticized the Democrats for opposing the project. 5. UN Resolution on Ukraine - We cover the United States' vote against a Europe-led resolution at the United Nations to condemn Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. - Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that the vote aimed to encourage peace talks rather than antagonize either side. Please Hit Subscribe to this podcast Right Now. Also Please Subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Show Podcast and Verdict with Ted Cruz Wherever You get You're PodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.