This is our special Children’s Episode. It was written and produced for young listeners and was inspired by a movie that Tim recently saw. It is not designed to entertain, though it may. It is not designed to educate, though it will. It is designed to make the listener think, to question and to want to know more. As you listen, please know I can’t know what you like or don’t like, or more importantly, what your kids like or don’t like, unless you tell me. Please use the contact form on this site. That will help me plan future episodes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Childrens_Episode_Pilot_auphonic.mp3 We’re doing something different today. Really different. So different that from what I can tell, there aren’t any other podcasts out there doing this at all. So, let’s call this an experiment, and I really need you to do a couple of things to see if this something worth doing again…or not. First, a little background. Not too long ago, I watched a movie called, “All the Light We Cannot See.” It’s a movie based on a fictional novel of the same name. It’s set in occupied France during World War II, but the story itself centers on human connections. A blind girl, a German boy, a French resistance fighter, and this voice over the radio the kids only know as, “The Professor.” When I watched the movie, I was captivated by the simplicity and the power of those connections. And it was all because of stories and information read over the radio to listeners that the reader could not see or even know were listening. The professor in the movie was actor Hugh Laurie. His Shakespearian delivery would put me to shame, so trust me, I’m not trying anything close to that here. But still, I thought it worth a shot to come up with my own variation of this, inspired by that story. So, I created this episode for your kids, or someone’s child you may know. All I ask is that you listen first, and if you like what you hear, share it with a child. And then let me know how it went. I mean that. If it is indeed something kids may like, I won’t know unless you tell me. Just log onto the contact form at ShapingOpinion.com to let me know. Or, send an email to Tim@ShapingOpinion.com. Thank you for listening to the Shaping Opinion Podcast.  You’re our podcast family and the reason we do this. Links All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (Amazon) All the Light We Cannot See (Movie), (Netflix) Aristotle (History Channel) Geography – The North Pole (National Geographic) Art – Norman Rockwell's "Freedom from Want" (Norman Rockwell Museum) Story – The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams Bianco (UPenn Digital Library) Science – Why does a ball bounce? (Highlights for Kids) Our Poem "Thinking" By Walter D. Wintle If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don’t. If you’d like to win but you think you can’t, It’s almost a cinch you won’t. If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost, For out in the world we find, Success begins with a fellow’s will; It’s all in the state of mind. If you think you’re outclassed, you are; You’ve got to think high to rise. You’ve got to be sure of yourself, before you can ever win a prize. Life’s battle don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But soon or late, the man who wins is the one who thinks he can. Irish Blessing May love and laughter light your days, And warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours, Wherever you may roam. May peace and plenty bless your world With joy that long endures. May all life’s passing seasons, Bring the best to you and yours! Listener Note I need for feedback on this. Please get in touch with me. I need to know if you liked this or if you didn’t. I’d like to know what you liked and what you did not like. That will help me plan future episodes for you if you want. All they have to do is contact me on our website, called,

New York Times best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick joins Tim to talk about the story behind those pilgrims and the Mayflower in a way that covers much more than that first Thanksgiving. Nathaniel has authored many best sellers, but the one we’ll focus on in this episode is must-reading for anyone who wants to get the full story of Thanksgiving’s origins in America. The book is called simply, “Mayflower.” This episode marks the 400th anniversary of that world-changing voyage. This episode was originally released on November 23, 2020. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_The_Real_Story_of_The_Mayflower.mp3 It’s been 400 years since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in the New World. The world was a much different place then than as it is now, in many ways, but for the sake of this episode the place to start is the practice of religion. Keep in mind, this is long before 1776 and the Declaration of Independence. The Pilgrims lived under a king. King James, to be precise. And that king did not allow for freedom of religion. The Church was the state. The state was the Church. It was the Church of England. And for all intents and purposes, the king was god on earth. If you did not recognize his church’s absolute authority over your life, you were persecuted, perhaps imprisoned and sometimes even executed, all because you did not believe in that church’s doctrines and teachings. There were two groups who opposed this. The Puritans wanted to create change from within. And the separatists wanted to flee. They just wanted to leave England for a better place, where they could practice their religion according to their own conscience. So, they did. In 1608, 12 years before the Mayflower, a group of separatists sailed from England to a town in Holland called Leiden.  They went to Holland to worship their God the way they wanted. And while they did experience religious freedom in Holland, they also found the rules had changed from what they were used to. The Dutch craft guilds did not accept them because they were migrants.  They found themselves on the lowest rungs of the caste system. They worked the lowest jobs for the lowest pay. The separatists also felt that the secular culture of Holland provided too much temptation for their children and worried it would lure them away from their faith. That’s when the separatists decided to uproot and sail to the New World, where they could live and practice their faith on their own terms. They returned to London to organize and get funding from a successful merchant. The separatists then hired a merchant ship called the Mayflower and 40 separatists boarded it in September 1620.  The 40 separatists were joined by others. A total of 102 passengers sailed on the Mayflower for the rugged shores of that New World. In November of that year, they arrived at a place where a huge rock dominated the shore line. A rock they would dub Plymouth Rock, and that is where life in the New World – for them – began. Nathaniel Philbrick’s book about the Mayflower is about more than one voyage and eventually the Thanksgiving story, though that is our focus today. He followed the separatists – the Pilgrims – through a 50-plus year history in the New World. Links Nathaniel Philbrick, author page Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War, by Nathaniel Philbrick, Amazon The Mayflower, History.com The Mayflower Compact, Yale.edu Pilgrim Hall Museum See Plymouth (tourism), Plymouth, Massachusetts About this Episode’s Guest Nathaniel Philbrick Nathaniel Philbrick was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he attended Linden Elementary School and Taylor Allderdice High School.  He earned a BA in English from Brown University and an MA in America Literature from Duke University, where he was a James B. Duke Fellow. He was Brown University’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978,

Robert Page, a professor in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Physical Medicine at the University of Colorado, joins Tim to talk about some new developments in determining significant cardiovascular risks associated with marijuana use, regardless of the reason. He’s the lead author on a new paper from the American Heart Association that exposes major risks. We talk about his paper, some of the myths surrounding medical marijuana usage, and what it all means. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Robert_Page_-_Weed_and_Heart_Health_auphonic.mp3 If I were to use a term with you, a propaganda term, do you think you’d fall for it?  Let’s give it a shot. So, here’s the term. What do you think of when I say, “medical marijuana?” Now, before we go any further, I need to give you a quick history lesson on the field where I work. I work in public relations. The founding fathers of this field actually called it the practice of propaganda back in those early days. And they weren’t wrong. Some 100 years ago, propagandists sold everything from war bonds to cigarettes, from oil and gasoline to railroad travel. And when something went wrong, they became spin doctors. They played with the truth, and it wasn’t always ethical. Since then, the field has done much to improve its own image by establishing ethical standards, but this doesn’t mean that “spin” has just faded away. The battle over the truth is never-ending. If you can believe this, back in the 1930s and 40s, the advertising and public relations fields convinced Americans that smoking cigarettes was actually good for their health. At that time, the medical community had not yet discovered the link between smoking and lung cancer or lung disease. In fact, most doctors smoked cigarettes. Of course, there was evidence all around them that lung cancer was on the rise, but no one blamed cigarettes at first. Some tobacco companies even used doctors in their ads. American Tobacco was the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes. In 1930, the company created an ad that said, “20,679 Physicians say ‘LUCKIES are less irritating’” to the throat of a smoker. To arrive at this conclusion, American Tobacco’s advertising agency sent cartons of Lucky Strike cigarettes to doctors along with a letter. That letter asked those doctors whether they believed Lucky Strike cigarettes were “less irritating to sensitive and tender throats than other cigarettes.” To make sure they got the results they wanted, the letter that “a good many people” had already said Lucky Strikes were less irritating. In the end, millions of Americans came to believe that cigarettes have a medicinal effect. By 1937, the Philip Morris weighed in with an ad in the Saturday Evening Post. Keep in mind, that magazine was extremely dominant and powerful in influencing public opinion throughout the United States at the time. The Philip Morris ad said the company did a study that showed “when smokers changed to Philip Morris, every case of irritation cleared completely and definitely improved.”  The ad never mentioned the business relationship the company had with those doctors. For years, tobacco companies made claims in their advertising and marketing that smoking cigarettes are healthy, and if not good for you, the ads certainly never hinted that cigarettes could be bad for you. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company even created a Medical Relations Division and promoted it through medical journals. That company paid for its own research to demonstrate the medicinal benefits of cigarette smoking. In 1946, R.J. Reynolds created a new ad campaign under the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” We talk to someone who knows a lot more than I do on this. Robert Page is the lead author on a new scientific paper called: “Medical Marijuana, Recreational Cannabis, and Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association.”

New York Times reporter and author Kashmir Hill joins Tim to talk about her new book called, “Your Face Belongs to Us: A secretive startups quest to end privacy as we know it.”  It’s about facial recognition tech, how prevalent it already is, and how we are leaving the age where privacy could be expected. In 2019, Kashmir wrote a story that exposed a future where anyone who shows their face in public will lose all privacy. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Kashmir_Hill_-_Facial_Recognition_auphonic.mp3 Kashmir Hill is a tech reporter at the New York Times. She writes about such things as privacy and how technology us creeping into new frontiers in our lives, oftentimes invading out privacy. But that’s just a start. What happens when you lose your privacy? What happens when government, police agencies, private citizens snoop…and they somehow find your face in connection with something they’re investigating? What if they connect you to something bad, and the technology made a mistake? These questions aren’t academic. There are a number of companies already in the business of scraping the internet for photos of you and millions of others. They can piece it all together in seconds to determine much more about you than you realize. But there is one company that caught the attention of our guest, Kashmir. A very secretive company that appeared to be more powerful and capable than all of the other companies out there. So, my first question was for Kashmir was, how did you find out about this company called Clearview AI? Links Your Face Belongs to Us: A secretive startups quest to end privacy as we know it, by Kashmir Hill (Amazon) Kashmir Hill Author Page, Penguin Random House Your Face Belongs to Us (Review), The Guardian The Secretive Company that May End Privacy as We Know It, New York Times Your Face is Not Your Own, New York Times Magazine About this Episode’s Guest Kashmir Hill Kashmir Hill is a tech reporter at The New York Times, where her writing about the intersection of privacy and technology pioneered the genre. Hill has worked and written for a number of publications, including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Gizmodo, Popular Science, Forbes, and many others.

Psychologist and author Kaleb Gorman joins Tim to talk about the way in which military psychological operations strategies have found their way into the mainstream. Kaleb is the author of an Amazon best-selling book called, “Psychwars: Self-Defence Against Psyops, Propaganda and Mind Control.” https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Kaleb_Gorman_-_Psychwars_auphonic.mp3 A few episodes back, we had a great conversation with a former CIA propaganda operative named Joe Goldberg. In the course of my research for that episode, I came across a book written by our guest today, Kaleb Gorman. It’s called Psychwars. Here’s how Kaleb summarized the book. He says there has always been a psychological element to warfare, but in the 21st Century, the tactics used by military geniuses to control the behavior of their adversaries have now been coopted by governments, corporations, ideologies, and the general public in order to wage psychological warfare against you. He says he wrote his book to help you recognize and defend against the mass and targeted psyops you encounter. Now, let’s take a step back from that. If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, you know I’m a communications professional and have been so for several decades. At no point have I ever seen explicit or direct proof that psychological warfare is being used by governments, corporations or the general public on me, you or anyone else. Does this mean it’s not happening? No. I read Kaleb’s book, and what he’s saying is much more subtle, and possibly more pervasive than that. Once you learn about the strategies and tactics of psychological operations, it’s actually impossible not to see the proof that yes, the competition for your mind is far-reaching and intense. And those same tactics that were honed in the military and around the world many years ago have indeed become a part of our public life. Kaleb approached this issue from the vantage point of a trained psychologist. He dug deep, and he breaks it all down in ways that will make you think twice the next time you click on a news story, read a social media post or watch that video online. So, when I sat down with Kaleb for this episode, I started at the very beginning. I asked him, “What are psyops?” Links Psychwars: Self-Defence Against Psyops, Propaganda and Mind Control, by Kaleb Gorman (Amazon) Psychological Warfare, RAND Corporation About this Episode’s Guest Kaleb Gorman Kaleb is a psychologist and writer from Canada. Somewhat of a contrarian. Trying to make sense of the overload of information, culture wars, and mass formations with which we are constantly bombarded. No ideological home but partial to liberal, humanist values. Skepticism > certainty.

Dr. David Weill joins Tim to talk about those life-saving transplant surgeries, the patients, the system for care and the challenges it faces, and what it’s like to be a doctor of second chances. Dr. Weill was the Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease, and the Lung Transplant Program at Stanford. Today he operates the Weill Consulting Group, where he focuses on improving the delivery of transplant care. This episode was first released December 13, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_A_Transplant_Surgeon_Story.mp3 The first time doctors were able to transplant a human organ happened in 1954. That’s when a kidney was transplanted successfully. In the decades to come, medical pioneers would master the medical art of transplanting livers, lungs, hearts, pancreases and other vital organs. While these surgeries are never described as routine, they are no longer uncommon. In the early years, individual hospitals and certain organizations managed everything from organ recovery, to transport, to transplantation. In between, they had to learn how to allocate valuable, life-saving organs for the most viable patients. In some respects, not much has changed, and that’s a problem. Dr. David Weill has spent his career in organ transplantation with a focus on lungs helping those with severe lung disease. He ran the Lung Transplant Program at Stanford, and he wrote a book called “Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant.” Links Weill Consulting Group (website) Dr. David Weill, Tulane Medicine website Supply Isn’t the Problem with Organ Transplants, Wall Street Journal Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant, by Dr. David Weill (Barnes & Noble) Opinion: Of course unvaccinated people should be barred from receiving transplant organs, Washington Post About this Episode’s Guest Dr. David Weill Dr. David Weill has been in the forefront of developing and running some of the most successful lung transplant programs in the country. He served as Director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at Stanford University Medical Center from 2005-2016. He also developed the Stanford Center for Advanced Lung Disease which provides care for hundreds of patients with cystic fibrosis, interstitial fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, and emphysema. During this period, he also directed a rebuilding effort of the lung transplant program, producing some of the best outcomes in the country, while increasing the transplant program volume more than three-fold. In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Weill has testified before the U.S. Congress regarding occupational lung diseases. He has also published extensively in the medical literature regarding lung transplantation, occupational lung disease and advanced lung disease. He and his wife Jackie recently moved to his hometown of New Orleans with their two daughters.

This is a Special Edition of the Shaping Opinion Podcast called “13Q: A Top 40 Radio Story.” In this extended episode (90 minutes), we take you back to when it was all about the music, when radio was everywhere. A time when it was all about the culture, but mostly it was about having fun. In this episode, we talk to the people who were behind the mic and in front of it, telling at least a part of the story of one generation. We do it by telling the story of the last big Top 40 radio station in the form of 13Q, Pittsburgh. It was around for only a short time, but its impact would be felt for decades. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/13Q_-_Top_40_Radios_Last_Dance_auphonic.mp3 Cecil Heftel was born in Chicago on September 30th, 1924. He died at the ripe old age of 85 in 2010. later. He did many things in that time, but our focus here is on just one of those things. Heftel is best remembered as a congressman from Hawaii, where he served from 1977 to 1986. But his story started long before that. Heftel made a name for himself as an innovator in Top 30 radio when he bought a Denver station called KIMN. That station became #1 in its market and then he sold it in 1960 before moving to Hawaii. 13Q music survey 1974 In 1973, he got back in the radio game when he bought a Fort Lauderdale radio station on the FM dial – WHYI-FM and he re-named it Y-100. That same year, he bought an AM news/talk station in Pittsburgh called WJAS. That’s when things would change. Cecil Heftel was coming to Pittsburgh and winning was the only option. On March 12th 1973, Heftel rocked the Pittsburgh radio world when he introduced Pittsburghers to something they had never heard before. A Top-40 rock station that didn’t go by call letters, but by a number and a letter. 13Q. And a kind of Top 40 sound…well…you just had to hear it. This wasn’t your father’s Top 40 radio.  Starting in 1973 and for just a short eight years, 1320 on the AM dial would be WKTQ – 13Q – and would leave its mark on the region’s baby boom generation that was still in school or just coming of age. Heftel owned and operated his stations from Honolulu, Hawaii. At 13Q, he said he couldn’t find the local people he wanted, so he turned to out-of-towners.  His initial line-up was: Sam Holman, who used to work for cross-town rival KQV. Holman came back to Pittsburgh from Chicago to man the mic for morning drive. Dennis Waters came to Pittsburgh from Washington, D.C., to handle mid-days. Mark Driscoll was recruited from LA to handle the afternoon and evening drive. Jackson Armstrong, brought his one-man wrecking ball of a show into the studio at 6 p.m. And two guys came to Pittsburgh via Phoenix. Batt Johnson took to the mic from 10 p.m. – 2:00 a.m., and Dave Brooks held the fort overnight from 2-6 a.m. The sound, the format, the call letters, the brand and the team were all the work of a radio legend who went by the name of Buzz Bennett. Cecil Heftel wanted a winner, so he hired a winner to put it all together. Buzz Bennett was born for a life in radio. He was a Baltimore kid who at 13 years old, finagled his way onto Baltimore’s big TV dance show, The Buddy Deane Show. Before long, he was a dancer on the show and helping vet the show’s music. 13Q Radio studios in the Kossman Building in Downtown Pittsburgh, circa 1973. He parlayed his success as a teenager to the point where he was a program director and a DJ at a radio station in Arkansas at the age of 16. The radio world took notice. After such early success, he made stops back in Baltimore and then around the country, learning the ins and outs of radio from Top 40 pioneers and legendary programmers, until one day, he became a legend himself. He was an innovator in his own right. Everywhere he went, his stations won, they won big, they dominated their markets. 13Q would take over the Pittsburgh Top 40 radio mark, knocking KQV Radio off of its perch.

In this special Columbus Day encore episode, Professor William J. Connell, who is an expert on Italian history, joins Tim to talk about the life of Christopher Columbus. Bill is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and holder of the La Motta Endowed Chair in Italian History at Seton Hall University. He’s also the co-editor of the Routledge History of Italian Americans.  In this episode, we’ll learn about Christopher Columbus, and as cliché as it may sound, the man, the myth, the legend. This episode was initially published on July 20, 2020. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/133_-_Who_Was_Christopher_Columbus.mp3 Christopher Columbus was an explorer who made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain, but he was not Spanish. He was Italian. He made those trips in 1492, in 1493, again in 1498, and then in 1502. The purpose of his maiden voyage was to find a direct over sea route from the western part of Europe to Asia. In that sense, he failed. But as with many explorers, inventors and discoverers, what they find in the course of their failures sometimes leaves a legacy that they themselves never could have imagined. Christopher Columbus may not have actually been the first non-native person to step foot on what would become the Americas, but one thing is clear. It was Christopher Columbus who changed the course of history when he came upon the New World, already occupied by millions of people, but unknown to Western Civilization. Dr. William Connell of Seton Hall University has spent a good deal of his career studying and teaching the complexities and the nuances of the Christopher Columbus story.  As a historian, he has kept the first rule of the study of history in mind. You can’t judge the past based on present-day perspectives. Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus, the son of a wool merchant, was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. When he was still a teenager, he took a job on a merchant ship. He remained at sea until 1476, when pirates attacked his ship as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast. The boat sank, but the young Columbus floated to shore on a scrap of wood and made his way to Lisbon, where he eventually studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. He also began to hatch the plan that would make him famous. The Attraction of a New Trading Route During the 15th and 16th (1400s and 1500s) centuries, Europeans led expeditions overseas in the hope that explorers would find riches and new lands. The Portuguese were the earliest participants in this age. Around 1420, small Portuguese ships went along the African coast, carrying spices, gold, slaves and other goods from Asia and Africa to Europe. Other European nations, including Spain, wanted to share in the exotic riches of the “Far East.” In the 15th century (1400s), Spain expelled Jews and Muslims from the kingdom after centuries of war. Set its sights elsewhere. Trade Routes At the end of the 15th century, you couldn’t reach Asia from Europe by land.  The route was long and arduous, hostile armies. Portuguese explorers used the sea: They sailed south along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope. Columbus had his own ideas: Sail out across the Atlantic to the West in the opposite direction. Instead of around the massive African continent. His point was that the circumference of the Earth was much smaller than his contemporaries believed it was. He thought the journey by boat from Europe to Asia should be not only possible, but comparatively easy via an as-yet undiscovered passage. He pitched his ideas to leaders in Portugal and England but no one took him up on his plan. In 1492 he found a likeminded resource -Spanish royalty Ferdinand and Isabella. Columbus’s contract with the Spanish rulers promised that he could keep 10 percent of whatever riches he found, along with a noble title and the governorship of any lands he should encounter.

Catholic priest and exorcist Fr. Vincent Lampert joins Tim to talk about his work as an exorcist, and we separate myth and fiction from reality. In 2005, Fr. Lampert was assigned to serve as an exorcist from his base in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. At the time, there were only 12 priests in America who were exorcists. Now, there are over 100.  https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/American_Exorcist_auphonic.mp3 You may not need anyone to explain to you what an exorcist is supposed to do. If you’ve watched certain movies or documentaries or read articles and books on the topic, it is pretty self-evident. Exorcists work to drive demons out of people. Not figurative demons but real ones. Now, the very idea of what I just said will put people into two camps. Those who believe demons are real, and those who believe demons are the stuff of Hollywood and fiction. Campfire stories. Tall tales. As with other episodes we’ve done on sensitive topics, nothing we say here is designed to change how you feel about the subject at hand. But we will seek a greater understanding of the issue from someone who is on the front lines. Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel Buechlein appointed Fr. Lampert to his ministry as an exorcist 18 years ago. To fulfill his responsibilities, he trained at the North American College in Rome and assisted with more than 40 exorcisms with longtime Italian exorcist Father Carmine De Filippi. While Fr. Lampert is based in Indiana, he travels around the globe, waging war against the devil himself. Links Fr. Lampert Bio (parish website) Exorcism: The Battle Between Satan and his Demons, by Fr. Vincent Lampert (Amazon) The World of the Occult, by Fr. Vincent Lampert (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology) For Halloween, We Spoke with a Real-life Exorcist, The Georgetowner About this Episode’s Guest Fr. Vincent Lampert Fr. Vincent P. Lampert is the Pastor of St. Michael and St. Peter Parishes in Brookville, Indiana. In 2005 he was appointed the Exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. He received his training in Rome and is a member of the International Association of Exorcists. He is the author of Exorcism: The Battle Against Satan and His Demons.

Former CIA propaganda operative, author and college professor Joe Goldberg joins Tim to talk about his time in the CIA, and then a wide-ranging discussion on propaganda, the media, social media and ultimately about trust. Joe writes best-selling novels that are often based on his experiences in the CIA. But today, we’ll focus on real life. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Joe_Golberg_CIA_II_auphonic.mp3 Joe Goldberg has been with the CIA in a variety of capacities. He’s been a corporate intelligence director. And he’s been an international political consultant. In that capacity, he has consulted on numerous international presidential, prime minister and legislative elections.  At the moment, he’s a college professor and an author. As an author, in 2014, Joe published the novel Secret Wars: An Espionage Story. In 2021, he published an Amazon best-seller called The Spy Devils. While Joe’s interests and activities are many and diverse, they all trace back to the time he decided to join up with the CIA. Links Joe Goldberg's Website The Social Dilemma (documentary) Website Who Was Walter Cronkite?, University of Oregon About this Episode’s Guest Joe Goldberg Joe Goldberg has been a CIA covert action officer, corporate intelligence director, international political consultant, and currently is a college instructor and writer. His work at the CIA garnered three Exceptional Performance Awards. In the private sector, as leader of Corporate Intelligence at Motorola, Joe received the Meritorious Award recognizing a single individual who has made significant contributions to the intelligence profession. He had consulted on numerous international presidential, prime minister, and legislative elections. Joe Goldberg is the award-winning and Amazon best-selling author of Secret Wars: An Espionage Story and The Spy Devils thriller series. Devil’s Own Day, the third book in the series, will be published on November 14, 2023. He has been a CIA covert action officer, corporate intelligence director, and an international political campaign consultant. He is currently a college instructor and writer. A native of Iowa, he loves cooking, the Iowa Hawkeyes, and his family. He resides in a suburb of Chicago, most likely listening to Jimmy Buffett music.

Author Rick Porrello joins Tim to talk about his book that tells of story of the notorious and now legendary Danny Greene, who tried to take down the mafia in Cleveland in life, and may have done it in death. Rick was the chief of a suburban Cleveland police department, and over the years he has written a number of best-selling books about murder, the mafia and organized crime. The book we’re going to talk about today was even turned into a major Hollywood motion picture. That book is, “To Kill the Irishman.” https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Rick_Porrello_-_Ballad_of_Danny_Greene_auphonic.mp3 When most people think of the mafia, organized crime, gangsters, they have a few eras and places in mind. First, it may be the Prohibition Era from 1920 to 1933, where gangs made millions off of bootleg whiskey and alcohol, illegally, of course. And they left in their wake a trail of death and blood in the streets of Chicago, New York and other cities. Mobsters like Al Capone and John Dillinger became larger than life celebrities for a time. And they became legends through newspaper and media coverage, books and film. When you think of the mafia, you may have in your mind the world of Don Corleone and his family at the center of the Godfather films, or all those Martin Scorsese movies about the underworld. Any number of books and documentaries documented the realities, the myths and the stories of La Cosa Nostra – the mafia – and organized crime figures. Hardly ever, however, do you hear about how some of these stories center on places like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo or Cleveland. But at its peak, it was everywhere there was money to be made, and these were some of the cities helping them make it. And yet, in the end, it may have been one story out of Cleveland that changed everything. Our guest today has an interesting perspective on all of this. He was in law enforcement for decades. He also had a unique family history. Links Rick Porrello's Website The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia, by Rick Porrello (Amazon) To Kill the Irishman, by Rick Porrello (Amazon) Rick Porrello on Facebook Dedication This episode is dedicated to Ray Stevenson, who played Danny Greene in the "Kill the Irishman" motion picture. Ray died suddenly and unexpectedly earlier in 2023. About this Episode’s Guest Rick Porrello Author, drummer, and former police chief Rick Porrello has a knack for writing books that attract interest from filmmakers. Hollywood snapped up To Kill the Irishman—the War that Crippled the Mafia before it was even published, and turned it into the movie Kill the Irishman, starring Ray Stevenson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer. A motion picture based on Superthief — A Master Burglar, the Mafia, and the Biggest Bank Burglary in U.S. History is in development. Both books have also generated documentaries. Rick’s first career was as a jazz drummer. At the age of 18, he got his first big break when he started touring internationally with Sammy Davis, Jr. Despite a skyrocketing music career, Rick decided to trade his sticks for a badge, which had been his dream since childhood. What followed was a 33-year career as a police officer in Greater Cleveland, with the last ten of those years as chief of police. As an organized crime historian, Rick Porrello’s perspective is an intriguing one. He began writing his first book during family research into the murders of his grandfather and three uncles, all of whom, he learned, were mob leaders killed in Prohibition-era violence. The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia quickly became a regional favorite and has endured as a backlist title. When he isn’t hammering out his next book, co-authoring a screenplay, serving as a consulting or executive producer, or drumming with a number of bands, Porrello gives presentations on his books and on his writing and publishing journey.

Journalist Megan Greenwell joins Tim to talk about her comprehensive reporting for Wired Magazine on the 1973 St. Louis Military Records Fire where in two days, the nation lost the only roughly 18 million records of U.S. military personnel from the first half of the 20th Century. Back when paper was the primary way we kept records, the archives contained the data on millions of military personnel from U.S. military personnel going back to 1912.  Megan talks about the fire, the people still working to preserve those documents, restore them and extract information from them, and through it all, her personal connection to this story. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/St._Louis_Fire_auphonic.mp3 Not long after World War II, in 1951, the Department of Defense decided to create the National Personnel Records Center to store personnel records for the military. The DOD joined with the St. Louis Federal Records Center and the General Services Administration to build a facility to house those records in St. Louis. The military records represented those who served in the American military or in federal civil service, starting in 1912. The National Archives and Records Administration would oversee the data. The DOD had similar facilities for the Navy and other records in New York, and in Alexandria, Virginia, respectively.  Here’s the thing. In one of those facilities, they installed sprinkler systems for fire suppression. In the other, they did not install sprinkler systems for fear that if the sprinkler system went off due to a malfunction or false alarm, records could be damaged or destroyed. In the new facility in St. Louis, the DOD decided to go with a design that excluded sprinkler systems, and heat and smoke detectors. Each floor of the facility featured large open spaces for records storage without firewalls or other measures to contain a fire. The St. Louis records storage facility sat on 70 acres, and had six floors. It was built of concrete, and sat under a roof that was supported by concrete columns. Walls were of aluminum and glass. The building was completed in 1956 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. When it opened, the building contained roughly 38 million military personnel records. Technology didn’t change much over the next 17 years, at least in how the DOD stored personnel records. Paper. So, fast forward to 1973. Starting on July 12th, 1973, a fire would erupt at the building and last for four days. By 1973, the building housed over 52 million records. 52 million individual pieces of American history. And as mentioned, almost 18 million of those records were lost. And that’s where our story begins. Megan Greenwell is a journalist who likes a challenge. So, she decided to dig into the story as any old-time journalist would. Lots of shoe leather. Links Megan Greenwell (Website) Megan Greenwell (Wired Page) The Night 17 Million Precious Military Records Went Up in Smoke, Wired The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center, The National Archives If you have a question about your own or a family member's records or want to explore the process of requesting military records, this is the U.S. Veterans Administration starting point: Reconstruct Military Records Destroyed In NPRC Fire | Veterans Affairs (va.gov) About this Episode’s Guest Megan Greenwell Megan Greenwell a freelance editor and writer with extensive experience in all areas of print and digital media. Currently freelancing, she divides her time between writing, editing, consulting, and teaching. She is particularly passionate about narrative features, exploring new revenue models for journalism, leading teams working across platforms, collaborations between text-based and visual storytellers, and diversifying newsrooms. She also writes features about public policy, sports, and other topics. She is considered a leader within the media industry on recruiting and hiring a dive...

Dr. Mark Pickering joins Tim to talk about the disturbing spread of  and interest in human euthanasia throughout western cultures, particularly in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Mark is a general practitioner of family medicine. He focuses his work on prisons and other similarly secure facilities. In addition, he is the head of the Christian Medical Fellowship in the United Kingdom. In this conversation, we talk about the myths and the realities of assisted suicide. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Human_Euthanasia_is_Here_auphonic.mp3 In 1997, the state of Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act, which allowed the medically assisted suicide for people who were terminally ill. Since that time, over 3,280 people received prescriptions for legal doses of medications under the act’s provisions. The state reports that of those who received prescriptions, 2,159 people actually took the medications and died from the lethal dosages. Since 1942, the nation of Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide. But according to the government, it only allows this form of euthanasia so long as, “the motives are not selfish.” Closer to home, in Canada in 2016, the Canadian government legalized medical assistance in dying. The acronym for this is MAID. The Canadian Supreme Court had decided that existing laws that prohibited assisted suicide were an afront to individual rights. Here’s how the MAID program started. Medical professionals - doctors and nurses - would administer lethal injections or fatal medications to patients who met a specific criteria. The individual had to have a serious illness or disability; the individual had to be in what the government described as an “advanced state” of decline that could not be reversed; the individual had to be experiencing unbearable physical or mental suffering; or the individual had to be at the point where natural death had become “reasonably foreseeable.” Notice that nowhere in Canada’s original requirements did the individual have to be terminally ill. But that was just the beginning.  Before long, anyone who wanted help with suicide was able to get it. Canadians who were depressed, stressed, or just economically poor or in a state of mental distress could get help with their own suicide. In 2021, the government relaxed the condition that that natural death must be “reasonably foreseeable.” After that, the stories of Canadians being presented with suicide as a medical option included some who were just temporarily homeless or in some kind of pain that otherwise could be treated. Consider the story of Alan Nichols. When he was a child, he lost his hearing. He had had a stroke. But overall, at 61 years old, he was able to live on his own. Then in 2019 he was admitted to the hospital over concerns that he might be at risk of committing suicide. He was mentally unstable. Not in his right mind. While he was in the hospital, he pleaded with his brother Gary to get him out of the Canadian hospital. Over the course of the next four weeks, he then was reported to have applied for medically assisted suicide under the MAID program. The only medical condition he listed as his reason for wanting to die was being hard of hearing. Instead of treating Nichols’ obvious mental instability, the hospital supported his desire to kill himself and provided its own justification. It said Nichols had some vision loss, that he was frail, that he had a history of seizures and in their words, he had a “failure to thrive,” whatever that means. The hospital framed the process as Nichols requesting to die by lethal injection, and it saw that rationale as valid. The procedure was carried out expeditiously. When the Associated Press talked to Nichols’ brother Gary, he said that his brother Alan, “was basically put to death.” Inmates on death row are forced to wait much longer. Mark Pickering is on the front lines of this issue.

Author, professor and crisis communicator Helio Fred Garcia joins Tim to talk about ethics and crisis communications. Fred has had a long career at the highest levels advising organizations of all sizes on crisis communications and crisis management matters. In this conversation, we Fred tells his story, and he talks candidly about the kinds of ethical issues and dilemmas those of us in the crisis communications field face every day. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Helio_Fred_Garcia_Ethics_auphonic.mp3 Before we meet our guest today, it may be worth setting the stage by giving you a little background on what exactly we mean when we talk about crisis communications or crisis management. Sometimes, people think a crisis is when something goes wrong at work, or when an organization’s social media page gets bombarded with negative feedback. To be sure, these can certainly be indicators of a crisis, but they are not crises in themselves. In other words, a bad day for a company or an organization does not a crisis make. At the same time, no company or organization is immune from crises. A crisis is when something happens, could happen or may happen where the very operations of the organization are threatened.  Here are some examples: A bankruptcy filing; A labor strike; A train derailment; A chemical spill; A boycott of a famous brand; Sexual harassment allegations; Major litigation – you get sued; Or, a viral social media post that totally disrupts the organization. These are just some examples.  For the past 35 years, I’ve been one of those in the public relations fields who handles such crises.  In that time, I’ve handled hundreds of crises for clients. I’ve seen it done right, and I’ve seen crises handled horribly. Over the years, I’ve become aware of others in the crisis communications field who’ve built strong reputations for themselves in the process. Helio Fred Garcia is one of those people. When we sat down for this interview, I wanted to know his whole story, and he told me. But my first question could best be described as “inside baseball” from one crisis communicator to another. I wanted to know what Fred saw as the more common myths surrounding crisis communications and crisis management. Links Logos Consulting (Website) The Essential Crisis Communications Plan: A Crisis Management Process that Fits Your Culture, by Tim O'Brien (Amazon) About this Episode’s Guest Helio Fred Garcia For more than 40 years Helio Fred Garcia has helped leaders build trust, inspire loyalty, and lead effectively. He is a coach, counselor, teacher, writer, and speaker whose clients include some of the largest and best-known companies and organizations in the world. He is the author, most recently, of Words on Fire: The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront It, published by Radius Book Group in 2020. He is also the author The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis, Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership Press, 2017. Prior to this, Fred wrote The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively, FT Press, 2012. Fred is president of the crisis management firm Logos Consulting Group and executive director of the Logos Institute for Crisis Management & Executive Leadership. He is based in New York and has worked with clients in dozens of countries on six continents. Fred has coached more than 400 CEOs of major corporations, plus thousands of other high-profile people in other complex fields, including doctors, scientists, lawyers, financial executives, military officers, and government officials. In the 1980s he worked at leading public relations firms and served as head of public relations for a global investment bank and for a large public accounting firm.  Through the 1990s Fred headed the crisis practice of a leading strategic communication consulting firm.

Seth Shostak joins Tim to talk about the serious scientific search for intelligent life beyond Earth.  Seth is the senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, which was created by NASA and is located in Silicon Valley. It is dedicated to the search for life beyond Earth. In this episode, Seth talks about what we’re learning about the potential for finding intelligent life, not only within our solar system, but well beyond it. This episode was first released on November 21, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_Life_in_Outer_Space.mp3 The SETI Institute was created on November 20th, 1984 as part of NASA. NASA located it close to its Ames Research Center in Northern California. Its mission has been as ominous as it has been ambitious, to look for intelligent life beyond our planet. Before the SETI Institute, NASA had funded a small project in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, but it quickly realized the job was bigger than it had anticipated. NASA wanted to find ways to put more money into research without too much overhead. That led to the idea of creating a nonprofit organization that would focus on research and education around the search for extra-terrestrial life beyond Earth. This vision was born in 1984 with the founding of the SETI Institute. Since then, the SETI Institute has spun out from NASA and has grown in many ways. Seth Shostak is the Institute’s senior astronomer. In addition to his work on the Institute’s research programs, he’s also an author on books about astrobiology. He’s published hundreds of articles, and he’s a regular contributor to NBC News. He’s also the host of the SETI Institute’s weekly science radio show called, “Big Picture Science.” Please Thank Our Sponsors Please remember to thank our sponsors, without whom the Shaping Opinion podcast would not exist.  If you have the need, please support these organizations that have the same taste in podcasts that you do: BlueHost Premium Web Hosting Dell Outlet Overstock Computer Center Philips Hue Smart Home Lighting Links The SETI Institute (website) Seth Shostak (website) Big Picture Science Radio Show and Podcast Contact (motion picture), IMDb The Drake Equation, SETI Institute Allen Telescope Array, SETI Institute James Webb Space Telescope, NASA About this Episode’s Guest Seth Shostak Seth Shostak directs the search for extraterrestrials at the SETI Institute in California – trying to find evidence of intelligent life in space. He is also committed to getting the public, especially young people, excited about astrobiology and science in general. Seth is the host of “Big Picture Science,” the SETI Institute’s weekly radio show. The one-hour program uses interviews with leading researchers and lively and intelligent storytelling to tackle such big questions as: What came before the big bang? How does memory work? Will our descendants be human or machine? What’s the origin of humor? Big Picture Science can be found in iTunes and other podcast sites.

Author and neuroscientist Dr. James Fallon joins Tim to talk about the dark side of the human brain and how common psychopathy may really be throughout society. And his story has a twist. Dr. Fallon is a neuroscientist, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior, and an author of the book, “The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain.” This episode was originally released on October 25, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_Psychopath_Next_Door.mp3 I’m going to say a word, and I want you to focus on the first thing that comes to mind. Are you ready? OK, here’s the word. Psychopath. What came to mind. Did you think about a killer? Perhaps a serial killer? It makes sense. Many, if not most of the most notorious serial killers in history were psychopaths. Ted Bundy. Jeffrey Dahmer. David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam. Edmund Kemper, who we discussed on last week’s episode with Justin from the Generation Why Podcast. These were all famous serial killers. And they were all psychopaths. So, what exactly is a psychopathic personality? That’s one of the first questions I had to ask Dr. James Fallon.  He’s a neuroscientist at the University of California at Irvine. He’s done extensive research in this area, and he’s the author of a book called, “The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain.” Please Thank Our Sponsors Please remember to thank our sponsors, without whom the Shaping Opinion podcast would not exist.  If you have the need, please support these organizations that have the same taste in podcasts that you do: BlueHost Premium Web Hosting Dell Outlet Overstock Computer Center Philips Hue Smart Home Lighting Links The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain, by James Fallon (Barnes & Noble) Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell, by Elaine Forman Crane (Barnes & Noble) James Fallon, Ph.D., (University of California, Irvine) The Neuroscientist Who Discovered He was a Psychopath, Smithsonian Lizzie Borden, The Crime Museum The 1673 Murder of Rebecca Cornell and the ‘Good Fire,’ New England Historical Society About this Episode’s Guest Dr. James Fallon James Fallon, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of California, Irving. He has several areas of expertise, including adult stem cells, psychiatry, and the relationships between brain imaging, genetics and a range of psychiatric conditions. These include schizophrenia, depression, addictions and psychopathy.

Justin from the popular true crime podcast called Generation Why joins Tim to talk about America’s obsession with true crime and his podcast’s role in shaping the growing genre. Justin and his best friend and co-host Aaron launched their podcast in 2012, helping to pioneer the true crime podcasting. This episode was first released on October 18, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_Justing_from_Generation_Why.mp3 For a lot of people when they think of podcasts, they think of true crime. And for a lot of people, when they think of true crime, they think of podcasts. Aaron (left) and Justin (right) from Generation Why But it’s not just podcasts. True crime magazines were a thing for well over 50 years. TV programs like Dateline have made true crime their focus for decades. Streamers have produced a steady stream of documentaries like “Making a Murderer,” and then there are the motion pictures and the streaming dramas, like “Mindhunter.” In the podcasting world, true crime continues to be one of the fastest-growing genres. And as we’ve already mentioned, the Generation Why podcast has pioneered the form. Generation Why released its first episode in 2012. It’s co-hosted by best-friends Aaron Habel and Justin Evans. Each week, they select a specific case, almost always involving a murder or a missing person, to study and analyze, and perhaps most importantly, help the listener come to their own conclusions. About four years into their own podcasting journey, Justin and Aaron saw a boost in listener interest when a podcast called “Serial” hit the scene. Serial is largely credited for helping to blast off podcasting to a new level of popularity and awareness. The Generation Why podcast remains one of the top true crime podcasts today. Please Thank Our Sponsors Please remember to thank our sponsors, without whom the Shaping Opinion podcast would not exist.  If you have the need, please support these organizations that have the same taste in podcasts that you do: BlueHost Premium Web Hosting Dell Outlet Overstock Computer Center Philips Hue Smart Home Lighting Links Generation Why Podcast (website) This American Life Podcast (website) Joe Rogan Experience Podcast (website) WTF  with Marc Maron (Marc Maron podcast) Podcast Audiences: Why are Women Such Big Fans of True Crime Podcasts, BrandWatch (this is the article Tim mentioned in the episode Music Credits for this Episode The following tracks are featured in this episode under the terms of Creative Commons via the Free Music Archive: Deep by Bio Unit Death Note by Audiobinger PointsOfView by Ketsa Agency by Metre Apogee by Metre Sidewinder by Frequency Decree Insomnia by VibesByDRVN

NASA’s Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Green joins Tim to talk about big plans for the red planet, Mars. Jim has had a long and distinguished career on some of the agency’s major research projects and missions that have explored the rest of our solar system, from Mars to Pluto. In this episode, Jim gets into detail on what we have learned, can learn and will learn from Earth’s next door neighbor. He uncovers some of the secrets of Mars. This episode was originally released on September 27, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_Life_on_Mars.mp3 Next to the Moon and the Sun, the most captivating celestial bodies in our night sky for mankind over thousands and thousands of years has been Mars. The red planet. The fourth rock from the sun. So, it made sense when we started to make plans for space travel, Mars would figure prominently into those plans. As far back as the inception of both the Soviet and American space programs in the late 1950s and early 1960s, space scientist started making plans to explore Mars. By July 4, 1997, NASA was able to land a spacecraft on Mars.  The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 4th 1996. Six months later, it landed on Mars. The unit featured the first-ever robotic rover that sent an unprecedented amount of data on the planet back to scientists at NASA. After that, there were other missions, which included Mars orbiters, landers, and excavators.  And the United States hasn’t been the only country working to explore the planet. The Soviet Union, then Russia, then China, then India, and even the United Arab Emirates have launched missions to Mars. Each time, we learn something new and something significant about Mars. But in the end, there is one question that continues to drive mankind’s quest to visit Mars. Is there life on that planet, and if so, what does it look like? Jim Green has worked to find the answers to this and many other questions throughout his career as a scientist at NASA. Links NASA’s Mars Exploration Program James L. Green, NASA Why We Explore Mars, National Geographic Nicolaus Copernicus, History.com Jezero Crater – Mars, NASA About this Episode’s Guest Dr. Jim Green Dr. Jim Green Photo courtesy of NASA NASA’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Jim Green received his Ph.D. in Space Physics from the University of Iowa in 1979 and began working in the Magnetospheric Physics Branch at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in 1980. At Marshall, Dr. Green developed and managed the Space Physics Analysis Network, which provided many scientists, all over the world, with rapid access to data, other scientists, and specific NASA computer and information resources. In addition, Dr. Green was a safety diver in the Neutral Buoyancy tank making over 150 dives until he left MSFC in 1985. From 1985 to 1992 he was the Head of the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The NSSDC is NASA’s largest space science data archive. In 1992 he became the Chief of the Space Science Data Operations Office until 2005 when he became the Chief of the Science Proposal Support Office. While at GSFC, Dr. Green was also co-investigator and the Deputy Project Scientist on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission. From 1992 to 2000 he was also the Deputy Project Scientist for Mission Operations and Data Analysis for the Global Geospace Science Missions WIND and POLAR. He has written over 110 scientific articles in referred journals involving various aspects of the Earth’s and Jupiter’s magnetospheres and over 50 technical articles on various aspects of data systems and computer networks. From August 2006 to April 2018 Dr. Green was the Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. Under his leadership several missions have been successfully executed, including the New Horizons spacecraft flyby of Pluto,

TV and film director Rob Tate joins Tim to talk about his documentary called “The Magic Pill” that was released in 2017 and has built a strong audience on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Why? Because it takes a look at you and me, what we eat, and our health. And it puts it all together into some simple lessons that will make you think twice before that next trip to the grocery store or the restaurant. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Rob_Tate_-_Magic_Pill_auphonic.mp3 Before we get started, I need to tell you that this episode is not another lecture on your diet or health. It’s not an attempt to change anything about you. But after you listen, you may think twice before you make that next trip to your fridge. The film we’re going to talk about today is called The Magic Pill, but as the title somewhat sarcastically infers, there isn’t one. There is no magic pill you can take to prevent or address the full range of health problems or disease you could face. Or is there? The film poses some timeless questions. What if most of our modern diseases are just symptoms of the same underlying problem? And what if our diet, what we eat is both the cause and can be the cure? Our guest today, Rob Tate allowed those questions to guide him around the world to seek answers, and the ones he received were not totally surprising, but they do go against much of what we are told by the health establishment today. Yes, diet is critical to our health. But what kind of diet?  How can the diet we’ve been told to follow hurt us? Links Rob Tate Website The Magic Pill, IMDB Healthy Macadamia Nut Bread Recipe Nutritional Values per Loaf: calories 3,183 INGREDIENTS 150g / 5.3oz Macadamia Nuts or Macadamia Butter 20g / 7.76oz Coconut Butter (also known as Manna) 6g / 0.2oz Baking Soda 3g / 0.1oz Pink Himalayan Salt  60ml / 2fl oz Lemon Juice  5 eggs (circa 50g each) TOOLS Batter Bowl Silicone Spatula  Loaf Tin Coconut Oil Spray Hand Mixer  High Speed Blender (to make nut butter) This is the bread recipe from "The Magic Pill" from Sara. About this Episode’s Guest Rob Tate Rob Tate (Executive Producer / Director / Editor) has won the Emmy, Cine Golden Eagle, James Beard, and the IDA (International Documentary Association) awards for his various projects, including the PBS international documentary series, GOURMET'S DIARY OF A FOODIE and the Sundance Channel documentary series, ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL, which Time Magazine hailed as one of the Top Ten TV series of 2008. Rob also co-produced, shot and edited the independent feature fashion industry documentary, ELEVEN MINUTES, released by Regent Pictures, which Variety called a “skillfully crafted, beautifully shot and edited pic.” He is currently an EP of the PBS series, MOVEABLE FEAST, and the Australian food series, THE PALEO WAY WITH PETE EVANS. THE MAGIC PILL is Rob’s second feature documentary.

Historian and author Brady Crytzer joins Tim to talk about his latest book on one of the lesser known stories of early America…the Whiskey Rebellion. Brady is the author of “The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis.” It comes along at a time when our newly formed republic was still in its infancy. Well not quite infancy. If the Civil War was America’s rebellious teen years, then the Whiskey Rebellion was our country’s Terrible Twos. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Brady_Crytzer_-_Whiskey_Rebellion_auphonic.mp3 It’s probably not an overstatement to say that a good number of Americans today never heard of Alexander Hamilton until the hit Broadway musical called Hamilton hit the stage in 2015. They may not even realize that he’s the face they see on the front of the ten-dollar bills they spend. And even they do know of Alexander Hamilton, some think he was one our first presidents. Such is life in America in 2023. But the fact that we’re still talking about the man says something of the impact he had on the shaping of the nation. We’re going to talk about a piece of his legacy, and that of George Washington and others, in the context of a true insurrection. In March of 1791, U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton proposed a domestic tax that sent shockwaves through the Western Frontier and sparked an insurrection. At that time, the Western frontier was western Pennsylvania, an area known in Philadelphia as the Ohio Territories. Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland. What Hamilton proposed was an excise tax on whiskey. His goal was to balance America’s national debt in the wake of the Revolutionary War and the country’s battle for independence. The law he sponsored was called the Whiskey Act, and it penalized famers in the backcountry, while playing favorites with large distillers. It’s may be hard for Americans to understand today, but ultimately the controversy centered on imposing federal authority over frontier settlers. American history author Brady Crytzer says to understand why this didn’t go over well, you need to understand more about the western frontier and the times in which they lived. Links The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis, by Brady Crytzer (Amazon) Brady Crytzer Website 'The Whiskey Rebellion' Review: A Young Nation, Suddenly Tested, Wall Street Journal Whiskey Rebellion, History Channel About this Episode’s Guest Brady Crytzer Brady J. Crytzer teaches history at Robert Morris University. His book The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis was listed as one of “Ten Books to Read” by the Wall Street Journal in 2023. A specialist in Frontier History Crytzer is the host of the weekly hit podcast "Dispatches: The Podcast of the Journal of the American Revolution." Crytzer has appeared on Sirius/XM and on the hit cable series Into the Wild Frontier on NBC Peacock as a narrator and consultant. He is the host of the Telly Award winning series Battlefield Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania Cable Network. Crytzer is the winner of the Donna J. McKee and Donald S. Kelly Awards for Outstanding Scholarship and Service in History. His work has been featured in the Journal of the American Revolution, American History Magazine, American Frontiersman Magazine, The Journal of the Early Republic, Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine, Game News, and Muzzleloader Magazine. His work has been reviewed in The Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, The Journal of Southern History, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, and The Journal of Military History.