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21/02/2023

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling | 1. Plotted In Darkness

Host Megan Phelps-Roper writes a letter to J.K. Rowling—and receives a surprising invitation in reply: the opportunity for an intimate conversation in Rowling’s Scottish home. Produced by Andy Mills, Matthew Boll, and Megan Phelps-Roper, with special thanks to Candace Mittel Kahn and Emily Yoffe. This show is proudly sponsored by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. FIRE believes free speech makes free people. Learn more at thefire.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21/02/2023

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45 min
22 APR

Can America Survive Without Christianity?

In the past few weeks, Bari has done two episodes on religion—one asking, “Do we need a religious revival?,” and then a follow-up conversation with Ross Douthat asking how people who grew up in the secular West can actually find faith. Today, we have the last installment of this intellectual and religious inquiry, and we are asking a new question: What is the role of religion as a political force in this country? Our guest today, Jonathan Rauch, says: “Christianity is a load-bearing wall of American civic life.” In other words, the success of liberal democracy depends on a healthy Christianity to support it—and if Christianity falters, our American project will falter too. We get into why that is in this conversation. It’s a fascinating position for a person who happens to be an atheist, Jewish, gay man. And Jonathan doesn’t just say we need to embrace Christianity, he goes a step further. He says that Christians need to look in the mirror and reconsider how Jesus would approach American politics today. Jonathan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and he just wrote Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy. Bari asks him about the breakdown of religion. She asks about the religious and political forces that have shaped our present moment, like MAGA, the evangelical movement, and their marriage to President Donald Trump. And, she asks about the rise of Christian nationalism and the threat it poses. And, most importantly, she asks how we can restore health in political life. Go to groundnews.com/Honestly to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on today’s biggest news stories. Head over to fastgrowingtrees.com/Honestly and use the code HONESTLY at checkout to get 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Apr

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1h 7m
23 SEPT

Inside the Mossad

If you’re anything like us, you’re a sucker for a good spy show: Homeland, Tehran, Fauda, The Bureau. We’re fascinated by the life of spies—the secret meetings in Beirut cafés, the wigs and false identities, the double and triple lives, always one step away from exposure, risking everything for their country. Most of the time, those TV characters are pure fiction and the stories are the stuff of Hollywood. But our guest’s new book, The Sword of Freedom, reads just like one of those fantastical thrillers—except every word of it is true. Yossi Cohen—the former director of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency—spent most of his 38-year spy career in the shadows. He was known only by a letter: Y, or sometimes “The Model,” apparently for his looks. He was, as he writes, “a ghost, never to be seen and unable to be heard. I was invisible, a breath of wind in human form.” Cohen operated under dozens of different identities in some of the most dangerous places for an Israeli, and he personally orchestrated some of the most daring operations in Israel’s history: stealing half a ton of Iran’s most secret nuclear documents from a warehouse in Tehran; assassinating Iran’s top nuclear scientist using an AI-powered machine gun operated remotely via satellite; setting the stage for the pager attack that crippled Hezbollah last year; creating secret relationships with Arab leaders—relationships that changed the direction of the Middle East. If you look online, you’ll hear that Mossad has been behind everything from tsunamis to floods to political assassinations of famous Americans. So we could think of no one better to answer the question of what Mossad actually does—and to address the endless conspiracies that swirl around Israel’s version of the CIA—than Cohen. Today, we talk about all of that. It’s a rare glimpse inside Mossad, inside the world of real espionage—and a conversation with a man who helped shape history from the shadows, and who clearly is considering a run for prime minister. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Sept

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1h 29m
11 SEPT

Charlie Kirk’s Murder and the Rise of Political Violence

Yesterday, in broad daylight, in front of a crowd of 3,000 people at Utah Valley University, Charlie Kirk was shot dead. Kirk was not just a husband, not just a father, and not just one of the most prominent young conservative voices in the country. He made his name doing something fundamental to the American project: disagreeing out loud. He famously said, “When people stop talking, bad stuff happens.” And so his thing was going to campuses, setting up a tent, and asking people to change his mind. People on campuses lined up to challenge him, often fiercely debating—and that was the point. He was a living embodiment of our First Amendment. As Matthew Continetti wrote in our pages: “The attack didn’t just deprive a family of its center. It struck at the ties that hold a free society together: open assembly, civil debate, viewpoint diversity. Like every terrorist act, the shooting was meant to instill fear—in this case, fear of speaking out, of exposure, of making a difference.” And as shocking and tragic as his murder is the response to it: the people online celebrating—yes, celebrating—his death simply because they disagreed with his politics. Today Bari sits down with Ben Shapiro, Senator Mark Kelly, Matt Continetti, Katherine Boyle, Konstantin Kisin, and The Free Press’s own Eli Lake and Maya Sulkin to reflect on Kirk’s life and this awful moment in American history—and to consider how we can begin to look forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Sept

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1h 28m
07/10/2024

A Year of Revelations

We expected Hamas to kill Jews. We didn’t expect Americans to celebrate it. Today on Honestly, Bari Weiss’s reflections on the anniversary of October 7. Plus, one of our most memorable episodes of the last year. A quick note: Since the earliest hours of October 7, 2023, we have published more than 150 reports, features, essays, podcasts, and videos, many from on the ground in Israel, the Palestinian territories, and more recently, Lebanon and Syria. In The Free Press, you’ll find all of those presented in one place as a resource, a historical record, and a reminder of the kind of journalism you are supporting when you support The Free Press. If you like what you hear on Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

07/10/2024

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1h 1m
2 SEPT

Conversations with Coleman: Three Hostages Families Disagree on How to Get Their Loved Ones Home

Everyone wants the war in Gaza to end. The reason the war is not over is because about 50 people are still being held hostage by Hamas. Twenty of them are alive, but on the brink of death. About 30 of them have already been killed, and their bodies remain in Hamas captivity. There are differing opinions on the best way to bring them home: continue the ground war in Gaza, or take the partial deal put forward by Qatar and Egypt—which includes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for hundreds of security prisoners. This war is one where everyone has an opinion. But in our view, no opinion matters more than those of the families whose loved ones, including their children, are living in Hamas terror tunnels. These families are in a collective debate about the best way to bring their loved ones home. So we want to play a really special episode from Conversations with Coleman that illuminates these differences, and showcases arguably the largest debate in Israeli society today. Coleman Hughes sat down with three hostage families: Tzvika Mor, the father of Eitan Mor, a 23-year-old security guard at the Nova Music Festival taken by Hamas; Talik Gvili, the mother of Ran Gvili, who on October 7 leaped into action and fought Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Alumim;and Dalia Cusnir, the sister-in-law of brothers Iair and Eitan Horn. Iair Horn was released, and Eitan Horn remains in Hamas custody. Today, their families tell their stories and explain what they think is the best way to bring their family members home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Sept

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1h 8m
16 JUN

The Roots of Iran’s Nuclear Program w/ Mark Dubowitz

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has long focused on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and advised multiple U.S. administrations on policy toward Iran. I invited him on Conversations with Coleman to explain the Iran nuclear issue at a deep level. We discussed the science of uranium enrichment, the differing Obama, Trump, and Biden policies on containment, and the history of Iran’s nuclear ambitions from the 1979 Revolution to today. Mark laid out the stakes of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran—not just for the United States, but for global stability—and the consequences of getting it wrong. Mark emphasized how the calculation on confronting Iran has changed for Israel since October 7, 2023. While the U.S. has followed a doctrine of de-escalating to de-escalate—favoring diplomacy, economic incentives, and restraint—Israel now believes it must escalate to de-escalate. This conversation was recorded before Israel launched its attack on Iran, striking nuclear facilities, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military bases, missile launchers, and commanders’ residences. It’s now more important than ever to understand the context for the articles and commentary that you’re going to see over the next weeks and months. Subscribe to The Free Press for all of our ongoing reporting about the conflict at TheFP.com. Go to ⁠groundnews.com/coleman⁠ to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan. ⁠www.moinkbox.com/coleman⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Jun

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1h 17m
03/06/2024

From Foster Care to Cambridge with Rob Henderson

Buy Rob's book: https://a.co/d/gv8juH9 Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ColemanHughes 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:19 The Importance of Early Life Experiences 07:07 The Overemphasis on Education 09:48 The Flawed Measurement of Success 12:03 The Narrative of Overcoming Trauma 15:15 The Limitations of Post-Traumatic Growth 26:58 Gender Differences in Foster Care 29:23 Addressing Single Parent Homes 30:33 Cultural Shifts and Behavior Change 35:07 The Importance of Two-Parent Homes in the Neighborhood 39:37 The Influence of Background on Work on Luxury Beliefs 42:24 Using Race as a Proxy for Disadvantage 52:06 The Hypocrisy of Luxury Beliefs 58:46 The Effectiveness of Therapy 01:03:01 Ethics and Legality of Surrogacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

03/06/2024

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1h 10m
10/03/2023

Alcoholism, Self-Sabotage, and Wokeness with Africa Brooke

My guest today is Africa Brooke. Africa is a London-based consultant, writer, and life coach. She is the host of the "Beyond the Self" podcast. In this episode, we talk about her background growing up in Zimbabwe and her experience as an immigrant to the UK. We talk about her journey from alcoholism to sobriety. We talk about her essay, "Why I'm leaving the cult of wokeness?" We also talk about the notion of self-sabotage. Africa is essentially a life coach for high-profile clients and at some point, this conversation basically turns into a life coaching session for me. We talk about my own habits with alcohol, as well as the ways in which I might engage in self-sabotage. Africa seems to be very good at her job, and I hope you find something of value in this conversation. FOLLOW COLEMAN: Check out my Album: AMOR FATI - https://bit.ly//AmorFatiAlbum Substack - https://colemanhughes.substack.com Unfiltered Community - https://bit.ly/3B1GAlS YouTube - http://bit.ly/38kzium Twitter - http://bit.ly/2rbAJue Facebook - http://bit.ly/2LiAXH3 Instagram - http://bit.ly/2SDGo6o Podcast -https://bit.ly/3oQvNUL Website - https://colemanhughes.org/ Merch - https://bit.ly/CWCMerch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10/03/2023

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1h 29m
20 SEPT · BONUS

Understanding the Black Conservative Vote with Janiyah Thomas

In this mini episode, I’m joined by Janiyah Thomas, the Black Media Director for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. We talk about Charlie Kirk's assasination, Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air, Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C., and how Janiyah helped Trump win over black voters. If you enjoy these shorter episodes, let me know and maybe we’ll do more. Don’t forget, a full-length episode will be back on Monday! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Sept · Bonus

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33 min

Fearless conversations for people who think for themselves. For more scoops, investigative stories, debates, and commentary, subscribe at TheFP.com.

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