37 Burst results for "Doug D"
The Doug Collins Podcast
Doug's Wife Lisa Reflects on Her Travels to Europe: "Easier Than NY"
"You and I've had the ability to travel a lot of places and we have hit a lot of continents. I think you and I, South America is one we haven't hit yet in Australia. We're working on that. Folks, I'm, look, I'm married to a travel agent. I'm trying to figure out where we, you know, where we gonna get to go next, uh, in this. But, um, when you went, I got just a question for you. When you went to Europe, what was it like experiencing? Cause you've been in, correct me if I'm wrong here, but you've been to England, you've been to France, you've been to Germany, you've been to, uh, Sweden, you've been to Bratislava, you've been to Czechoslovakia, the old Czechoslovakia, um, Italy. Uh, what surprised you going to Europe? If you have somebody out there saying, Oh, I can never go to Europe. What would you tell them? Easiest place to maneuver without a question. Uh, when we went with our oldest son and learning all the transportation, um, we never had any issues of going wherever we wanted to go. Very, very easy to get around. People were super friendly. Um, give it a shot. No different than probably easier than going to New York. Oh, wow. Well, that's a, what was, uh, from your experience, what was your favorite, uh, one of your favorite things in Europe? If you look at, I know there's a lot, but I mean, Bert, I mean, you know, you went to a lot of cities. What was one of the, from maybe growing up or from, you know, not traveling across the pond, so to speak when you got there was like, wow, I'm glad I saw this. Well, as you said, being a teacher, you have, you read about all this history stuff and English has got a ton of history, uh, that, you know, actually brings it to, um, to the forefront of, yes, this really happened all the way to, uh, Churchill and his, uh, fingers embedded within his chair and stuff. So, but yeah, just, you know, when we went to Germany and seeing the two walls, not just the one wall, but the two walls that they would get trapped in, uh, just visualizing it all in person means a lot. Travel expands your horizons, doesn't it? Oh, absolutely. You don't know what's outside of that little bitty town that you talked about, you know, that we grew up in. Uh, the United States is great. Uh, but we're all have similar cultures when you go outside the continental United States, uh, it's different.
The Dan Bongino Show
Fresh update on "doug d" discussed on The Dan Bongino Show
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The Doug Collins Podcast
"When Is Later?" Doug's Lovely Wife Lisa Shares Her Travel Advice
"People today, and you mentioned COVID and I appreciate you doing that. Um, because people, you know, beforehand we're traveling COVID sort of shut a lot of that now, uh, right now, is it safe to say that travel is back to people ready to go and get out again? Uh, definitely people are ready to go out and see the world and realize that, uh, they may not have tomorrow. And so they want to experience all that they can today because we have no problem. Oh, you know, that's an interesting statement. I hadn't thought about that. Lisa is we, as we talk about this, you know, people, we, we sort of wait, we sort of wait, we sort of wait and, you know, we'll do it eventually, do it eventually. And you know, you and I both come from small towns in Georgia and, you know, we have been, you know, able to go a lot of places in the world, but you know, even we've talked about times where we'll, we'll do that later. Um, what would you say to somebody right now? Who's maybe thinking about, you know, traveling and they say, well, we'll do it later. When is later? Later never gets here. Yeah. You think never get, you know, later never gets here. Does it? No, we always fish it off. So never have enough money, never, you know, and the biggest thing I can say for those people is go ahead and plan it, plan it out. You know, you don't have to pay it all at one time. Uh, you can budget it out over a year. I mean, there's, you can make reservations up to, you know, through 20, 25 now in a lot of places. So you, you can do 18 months out without any problems.
Ultraflex Football
Fresh update on "doug d" discussed on Ultraflex Football
"Ryan, you want to go first? You want me to go first? First of all, I just want to say there's no better place than Western New York. We got a foot of snow last week. This sucks. How is it down in North Carolina? It was cold today. It was about 55. 55 is cold. 55 and sunny. I hate you. Rob, did you mute your mic? Oh, whoops. Yeah, I was muted. I should have known that little red light was blinking. Yeah, 55 is not cold, by the way. That would feel hot right now here. What's the Valley Winter song down there? Dude, he had no idea what to say. I stumped him. I stumped Anthony instead of the Rob. I have no idea what you're talking about. Alright, I'm going first. Are you ready? We were talking about the Bills and coaching earlier this episode, so I've got two parts stumped to Rob here. I'm going to start right now. I'm trying to keep this under a minute. Ready, set, go. Since 2020, when the Bills have been good and they thought maybe they could compete with the Chiefs, the Bills have had 34 games that have been decided within one score. What is their record? You said 34 games? Yep. 17-17. Nailed it. Very good. The Chiefs record in that same time period, they've had 39 games. What's their record? 29-10. Nailed it. Really? Let's go. That just shows. That's seven more. First of all, very impressive. That was it? I have another thing. Seven more wins for the Chiefs, which leads to them being home field advantage, which leads to them being in the AFC Championship game, which leads to them being in the Super Bowl. Coaching matters. Beep. That's number one. Number two. This is a different segment. I'm going to have to post two videos. Dude, you just ran up your minute. A lot of people want Sean McDermott fired. I am one of them. Who has coached more games than Sean McDermott for the Buffalo Bills? Marv Levy. That's one. There's one other one. You have to go back to 62 prior to the merger. Yeah, I don't know that. Lou Saban. Yeah, okay. Then Sean McDermott is third with 109. Who has the best winning percentage out of all the Bills coaches? It's got to be Sean McDermott, right? Sean McDermott. He's 62% and Marv Levy is 61, so he's got that. Now the most impressive stump to rob, can you go in order back to the year you were born with the Bills coaches? Marv Levy? No, so go Sean McDermott. Oh, sorry. Now? Yeah, who is prior to Sean McDermott? Sean McDermott. Oh, jeez, was it Rex Ryan? Yep. Mike Malarkey? No, I skipped someone there. Doug Morone. Yep, and then you skipped... Craig Williams is in there, but I don't know the order. Oh, Chan Gailey. Yep, so it's McDermott, Rex Ryan, Doug Morone, Chan Gailey, and then... Dick Duron. Dick Duron. Mike Malarkey.
The Doug Collins Podcast
Yes, Travel Agents Still Exist!
"I am pleased to have my absolute best half of my life, the person that I've been married to for 35 years. She is an amazing wife and mother, but she has been a teacher for 30 something years in the school system here in Georgia. And after she retired, besides running all of us here in the world and keeping Cree straight as you've met Cree many times here on the podcast, she does travel. And it was sort of interesting. She and I just sort of discovered this after we had a friend set us up on a cruise and get it all packaged. And they said, Hey, how would you like to do this? And Lisa said, this might be something I want to do. So Lisa, for your first official time on the podcast, welcome to the podcast. Glad to be here. Thanks, Doug. Well, it's good. Well, I'm glad you're here. Look, so, so there is such a thing as a travel agent now. I mean, I, you know, you go in now and everybody says they just go on their computer and do it themselves, but you're a travel agent, just like sort of the old travel agents, aren't you? Absolutely. Yes. After COVID and travel all shut down, people started getting back out and traveling again. So, uh, there's definitely been a boom in the travel industry. Well, that's good. You know, you know, you don't have to have a travel agent, do you? But what, you know, what do you do as a travel agent that could help maybe somebody who's listening to the podcast, who's thinking, you know, Hey, I see all these ads for Expedia and all these others. What does a travel agent give you, uh, Lisa that maybe, uh, doing it yourself doesn't? Well, the biggest thing is that I take away all the stress. Uh, I make sure that, you know, I find out all the information and it doesn't cost anybody any money working with me as part of TravelMation. Uh, the biggest thing is that I do all the law with you, all the planning, but I I'm the one searching. I'm the one looking for those best deals. So if something goes wrong, they call you. Yes. Now that's cool. I like that. Well, we'll get back into TravelMation here. Just in, but you work for a company called TravelMation, which is a large group that works with a lot of different travel, uh, destinations and everything else from cruises to Walt Disney to, uh, all inclusive and everything. Don't they? Yes. Uh, anywhere, everywhere, there's nothing that's not within our reach.
Telecom Reseller
A highlight from STIR/SHAKEN: understanding the basics, how it works, how to get compliant, ClearlyIP Podcast
"This is Doug Greenan, I'm the publisher of TR Publications and I'm very pleased to have with us Tony Lewis, who's the co -founder and CEO of Clearly IP. Tony, thank you for joining me today. Hey Doug, thanks for having me. I look forward to it. It's been a long time since we had one of these. Well, I'm delighted we were able to get together and as we were just talking about, we're very excited to have you as a new client and that we're reporting on Clearly IP. You're doing a lot of interesting things, you're creating a lot of interesting content and a lot of new ideas, I think, for our readers' thoughts about how they can approach some of the problems and challenges they've had in growing and in delivering services and so on. Today we're talking about a topic that everybody's sort of been buzzing about and has different takes on it and it'll be great to have sort of a fresh take on Stir -Shaken. Let's start with, as much as we've been reporting on it for all this time, I always feel like there's some readers out there that are almost too embarrassed to say, I don't know all I probably should know about Stir -Shaken. Let's start with some basic stuff. What does Stir -Shaken actually stand for? Oh, geez. It's an acronym. The STIR portion stands for Secure Telephony Identity Revisited. Our government loves to come up with crazy names and acronyms and then they make the acronym fit some English words that are somewhat informative of what it's doing. The STIR portion stands for Secure Telephony Identity Revisited. And here I thought it was sort of James Bond kind of deal. Yeah, exactly. And then the signature based stands for, so the SHAKEN stands for Signature Based Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens. How that comes out to SHAKEN is you got me. Well, that's how they got there. And as we know, it kind of rolled out with a lot of fanfare and a lot of promise. So we understand it as a technology to combat spam calls and robo calls, but does it work? Sure. In principle and what it does work. So the idea behind it is the carrier who's initiating the call signs that call with a unique token. So we go through a government agency or the government agency FCC has allocated a company called iConnective as the single token authority in the US. So we as a carrier have to go to iConnective and get a token issued to us. We then use that token to go buy a, for all intents and purposes, an SSL certificate from a certificate authority. It's not an SSL cert, but it works the same way. So we buy a certificate from one of the certificate authorities. And then we use that every time we make an outbound call from a customer makes an outbound call to us, we sign that call saying, hey, we are the carrier of record for this call. So we're placing this call onto the network. And we attest to a certain level of caller ID, either an a, a b, or a c. And we can talk more about that later, what that a, b, and c means. But this process only works if the originating carrier, so whoever owns the end customer is the one who signs the call. And what we're seeing a ton of in the US is it's actually a carrier or two above the carrier who owns the customer who finally signs the call. And what we're seeing in the US, again, is the know your customer, KYC. So how can a carrier who's two layers up know the customer who actually is placing that call the end customer? And that's where it's still struggling to be effective. So you know, I have a sort of civilian question. How does this technology benefit me other than the obvious that it's supposed to stop me from receiving those annoying calls? Well, it's actually not supposed to. That's a myth. It's not supposed to stop spam calling. It's supposed to give the industry a way of quickly tracing back spam call to figure out who originated it. So let's say you have a company who's doing spam calling. Prior to stir -shaking, let's say that company buys from a reseller, their VoIP services. And that reseller buys from a aggregate who takes numerous carriers and aggregates together. And then that aggregate used a CLAC finally to place that outbound call. And then that CLAC saw, oh, that calls an AT &T wireless number, and they might go straight to AT &T with it, or they might use another intermediate party to send it to AT &T. So then the customer who receives the spam call reports to the government or to AT &T, I got this spoofing call. They tried to pretend they were my bank. So the first thing the FCC would have to do is say, okay, contact AT &T. Who sent you this call? AT &T would say, this carrier XYZ. Then they go to XYZ and say, who gave you this call? And that carrier would take a day or two or three or a week or two to respond back, I got it from this carrier here. And they have to go all the way down the chain. It would take them weeks or months to find out who actually placed that call. And half the time, some intermediate carrier would never respond back to them. And now the chain was broken, and they couldn't figure out who actually placed that spam call trying to impersonate a bank. So with stir shaking, when that call makes it AT &T, AT &T can look at which carrier signed that call and goes and report that to this company or this organization called the Traceback organization, who can immediately come to the person who signed the call and said, this call was illegal. What do you know about your customer? Give us all the information about your customer so we can figure out what we have to do to stop this. Does that make sense? It does. And so that brings up the obvious question. Does this actually work in practice? Does this happen? It does. So the problem is, remember the first question we're asking about is, one of the first things I brought up is, the problem right now is too many of the small resellers who sit between the end customer and someone else aren't doing stir shaking still. And they're too small. They're flying under the radar. The FCC doesn't even know that they exist because they're not registered with the FCC because they're flying under the radar. So you're two or three layers up still half the time when that call is finally getting signed. So when Traceback group wants to go figure out who made this spam call, they're still a lot of times one, two, three layers deep from the end customer. So you know, no system is perfect, but and stir shaking obviously has its challenges. You know, how do you guys manage this? What's the difference if I go with clearly IP? So we manage it multiple ways. So as a VoIP reseller, we sign all of our calls with our own token. And when we sign those calls, there's three different layers or three different levels of optimization. There's an A, a B, and a C. I'll simplify it. An A says, this is where the know your customer comes in. I know who my customer is. So it's not just the business name. For example, we request a copy of a photo ID for the person signing up. We log the IP address they're coming from. We do some validations on their credit card and verify that that address matches the IP address they're signing up. There's all these things we do to help verify that the customer is legit. So as the carrier, we have to do a bunch of know your customer requirements. And then once we can attest that we know our customer, we then sign that call with an A or a B. An A says, I know my customer, and I can verify they have a right to use the caller ID they're sending. B says, I know my customer, but I don't know if they have a right to use that caller ID. So in our world, a right to use a caller ID is based off of, do you own that DID, that phone number with us? If so, we know you have a right to use it. If it's a DID with someone else, we don't know if you have a right to use it, and we sign that call with a B. Does that make sense? It makes sense. And why don't you connect the dots for me to your stir shaken, with stir shaken to your SIP trunking products and offerings? Yeah, so in our world, if we're selling to an end customer, we take care of the signing of that call with an A or a B. If we have a reseller involved who owns the relationship to the customer, they're supposed to sign that call. So they don't have their own SBC. So they can't sign that call because we're the ones taking the call from their customer directly to us a lot of times with resellers. Most resellers don't put in their own SBCs. So in that world, we offer a service where they can go get their own token and certificate. They upload it to us, and we sign their calls from their customers underneath them with their own certificate. So if the resellers don't trace back, they know that the reseller who actually sold that to the end customer. So we give a really simple way. Our resellers don't have to go put in their own SBCs. They don't have to go subscribe to some stir shaken service from some third party who will sign the calls. We'll sign it for them using their certificate on their behalf. And that's a big advantage by if you work with Clearly IP then? Yes, a lot. There are a couple other providers starting to do it. We've been doing it for two years. I think we're one of the first that would let you load your own certificate. We have a little form you fill out for it, provide it all, and within 24 hours it's loaded and we're signing your calls for you. Well, Tony, I really want to thank you for joining me. This has been interesting and taking a glimpse at stir shaken. I think I really appreciate you having the patience to lay out for us some of the basics. Maybe we heard back then, but I think a lot of us civilians may have lost track of it and all the excitement, and also laying out some of the advantages that Clearly IP brings to the table. Where can we learn more about stir shaken and the Clearly IP approach to this problem? You can go to our website. We have some information on our website under our products page, under our SIP trunking on the stir shaken for our resellers underneath us. Otherwise, if you're a reseller and you have your own SPC or PBX, we can send you the whole identity header on inbound calls so that you can see the identity header and make decisions based on the identity header. Sounds like we have a lot to look forward to, Tony. We're going to move on to the next one.
The Doug Collins Podcast
A highlight from Can Congress do its most basic function?
"Turbulent times call for clear -headed insight that's hard to come by these days, especially on TV. That's where we come in. Salem News Channel has the greatest collection of conservative minds all in one place. People you know and trust, like Dennis Prager, Eric Metaxas, Charlie Kirk, and more. Unfiltered, unapologetic truth. Find what you're searching for at snc .tv and on Local Now Channel 525. Welcome to The Doug Collins Show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit LegacyPMInvestments .com. That's Legacy PMInvestments .com. Do you want to listen to a podcast? By who? Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins. How is it? The thing greatest I have ever heard in my whole life. I could not believe my ears. In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule. It has been said today, where's bravery? I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found. It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority saying, be damned with anything else. We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do. Why? Because we won an election. I guarantee you one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't going to be that fun. Everybody, welcome back to The Doug Collins Podcast. Glad to have you with us. A lot going on. This gets you started here on this Monday. Right after the break, we're going to dig in a little bit to the proposal out there. I'm going to talk a little bit about the financials in the house, the appropriations bills, the continuing resolutions, where they're at, where they're not at, the funding for different aspects. I want you to have a good aspect going into this week. The media is trying to paint this as the speaker's first big test, and in many ways it probably is, but it's also a continuation of issues that we've been seeing in the house for a while. Right after the break, let's jump into this and get you caught up on a Monday here on The Doug Collins Podcast. Hey, everybody. You know about Legacy Precious Metals. Legacy Precious Metals, you hear from them. We talk once a month. We talk about Legacy Precious Metals, talking about being part of your portfolio, how they're your navigator. Well, now they're not only navigating in a new way, they're actually giving you a new way to buy gold and silver. In fact, Legacy Precious Metals has developed a revolutionary new online platform that allows you to invest in real gold and silver online. In a few easy steps, you can open an account online, select your metals of choice, and choose to have them stored in a vault or shipped to your door. I'm more of a ship to my door kind of person. I enjoy having them with me, but they can do it either way, and you can now do it online. It gives you real access to a dashboard where you can track your portfolio growth in real time, anytime. You'll see transparent pricing on each coin and bar. This puts you in complete control of your money. This platform is free to sign up for. Just visit legacypminvestments .com and open your account and see this new investing platform for yourself. Gold hedges against inflation and is against a volatile stock market. A true diversified portfolio isn't just more stocks and bonds, but a different asset class. This platform allows you to make investments in gold and silver no matter how small or large with just a few clicks. Remember, do as I have done. Go to legacypminvestments .com and get started today, and now you've got a new tool to help you along in your investments. Hey everybody, it's MyPillow's 20th year anniversary, and over 80 million MyPillows have been sold. Mike Lindell and MyPillow wants to give you the lowest price in history on their MyPillows. You will receive a queen size MyPillow for $19 .98. Regular price is $69 .98 and just $10 more for a king size. You will receive deep discounts on all MyPillow products such as bed sheets, mattress toppers, pet beds, mattresses, my slippers, and so much more. This is a time to try out something other than the amazing products that you've had your eye on. Go to MyPillow .com, click on the radio podcast square and use the promo Collins to receive this amazing offer on the queen size MyPillow for $19 .98 or call 800 -986 -3994. This offer comes with a 10 -year warranty and 60 -day money back guarantee. It's time to start getting the quality sleep you deserve. You know how I know that? Because I sleep on MyPillow every night. Go to MyPillow .com and use promo code Collins or call 800 -986 -3994 today.
The Doug Collins Podcast
A highlight from Big Blue in Big Trouble
"In this house wherever the rules are disregarded chaos and mob rule. It has been said today where is bravery? I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found. It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered and this majority say be damned with anything else. We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do. Why? Because we won an election. I guarantee you one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't going to be that fun. All right, folks, welcome to another edition of Friday's Finest. My name is Chip Lake and I'm going to be guest hosting the show today as Doug is out traveling. He's on assignment. He's busy. He's here. He's there. He's going from state to state. So today you're stuck with James and I for Friday's Finest and we got a good show for you. We're going to touch a little bit on the debate last night in South Florida. What I call the VP debate, the runner -up debate, right? I don't know that any of these people really have an opportunity to be the nominee of the Republican party, but they're auditioning for something and we're going to talk a little bit about that to start the show. Maybe talk a little country music awards last night in Nashville and then we're stallions, probably some Josh Dobbs, some Arthur Smith. He shaved his mustache this week. Some changes need to be made in Atlanta and Arthur Smith stepped up and took some leadership and got rid of some facial hair. So hopefully it's a sign of good change for if you're a Falcons fan and Doug and I are and we'll talk a little bit with James about the game this past weekend against the Minnesota Vikings. The initial BCS rankings came out. So we'll talk a little bit about that and we've got a really, really busy weekend coming up of college football and pro football. So stick with us after the break and we'll get started. Hey everybody, you know about Legacy Precious Metals. Legacy Precious Metals, you hear from them. We talk once a month. We talk about Legacy Precious Metals, talking about Precious Metals being a part of your portfolio, how they're your navigator. Well, now they're not only navigating in a new way, they're actually giving you a new way to buy gold and silver. In fact, Legacy Precious Metals has developed a revolutionary new online platform that allows you to invest in real gold and silver online. In a few easy steps, you can open an account online, select your metals of choice and choose to have them stored in a vault or shipped to your door. I'm more of a ship to my door kind of person. I enjoy having them with me, but they can do it either way and you can now do it online. It gives you real access to a dashboard where you can track your portfolio growth in real time, anytime. You'll see transparent pricing on each coin and bar. This puts you in complete control of your money. This platform is free to sign up for just visit legacypminvestments .com and open your account and see this new investing platform for yourself. Gold hedges against inflation and is against a volatile stock market. A true diversified portfolio isn't just more stocks and bonds, but a different asset class. This platform allows you to make investments in gold and silver no matter how small or large with just a few clicks. Remember, do as I have done, go to legacypminvestments .com and get started today and now you've got a new tool to help you along in your investments. Hey everybody, it's MyPillow's 20th year anniversary and over 80 million MyPillows have been sold. Mike Lindell and MyPillow wants to thank each of you and every one of you for giving you the lowest price in history on their MyPillows. You will receive a queen size MyPillow for $19 .98, regular prices $69 .98 and just $10 more for a king size. You will receive deep discounts on all MyPillow products such as bed sheets, mattress toppers, pet beds, mattresses, my slippers and so much more. This is a time to try out something other than the amazing products that you've had your eye on. Go to MyPillow .com, click on the radio podcast square and use the promo Collins to receive this amazing offer on the queen size MyPillow for $19 .98 or call 800 -986 -3994. This offer comes with a 10 -year warranty and 60 -day money back guarantee. It's time to start getting the quality sleep you deserve. You know how I know that? Because I sleep on a MyPillow every night. Go to MyPillow .com and use promo code Collins or call 800 -986 -3994 today.
Telecom Reseller
A highlight from Feet on the street: we will sell with you, not just to you, says Snoms Marc Magliano, Special Podcast
"This is Doug Green, and I'm the publisher of TR Publications, and I'm very pleased to have with us again Mark Magliano of Snome. Mark, thank you for joining me today. Hey Doug, thank you for having me. Glad to be back. So you know, this is going to be a Mark podcast. We're going to be talking about your background a little bit, how you signed up with Snome. You know, now what your vision for Snome is, what you see coming forward, especially for enterprises that are thinking about, hey, what type of product should I be buying now for the future, and especially for our service provider, our MSP community channels, thinking hey, you know, how should I jazz up my portfolio? What type of products really should I be offering people that really take me into the future? So Mark, tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you end up at Snome? Wow, this is, do we have enough time on this podcast? I'll tell you, I'll start by sharing with you, boy, I've been at this a long time. I cut my teeth in the industry about 30 years ago, a little over 30 years ago, and I was working for this little known company, small distributor called TechData down here in Florida. And I was in the retail and VAR space before that building and fixing computers and then selling computers on the weekend. But Doug, let me tell you, the second I got a feel for and a taste for distribution, true broad line distribution like that, I fell in love. I started to learn and get to understand the relationship of a manufacturer with their distributor and then the different types of partners, resale, excuse me, resellers, whether it's the retail market or the VAR market or corporate resellers, the DMRs, as we used to call them way back when. And I felt, I just absolutely fell in love, loved everything I did, I loved the atmosphere, I loved learning about how product went through the channel and ended up getting out to the consumer. So, to make a long story shorter, I spent the next few years really honing my craft at TechData, left and went to a series of manufacturers where I really started to focus on the building or rebuilding of channel and channel teams. So, the most relevant and all of this discussion would be my tenure during Grandstream. A few years back, I was brought on to build out or help rebuild their overall channel and I was part of a tremendous growth cycle that Grandstream went through, spent almost four years there. And during my time there, I had the pleasure of bringing on a coworker. His name is Antoine Karachacki and I think you've had an opportunity to give him a handful of times. Antoine, when he left Grandstream, went to Snow. I got a call about a year ago now and he said, Mark, we're going to be going through some changes. I worked very closely with the executive team in Hong Kong. And if you're available, we'd love to have a conversation with you. And the rest is history. So, here you are. Let's go from history to the future. What's your vision for Snow? Oh, great question. I'll take my head out of the clouds for a second because I view Snow and our opportunity as really the sky's the limit. You know, we can do so much with this product and with this company. I can't even begin to get into the details, but I can share this with you. One of the things that I need to do when I first came on board, obviously, is learn the ins and outs of the company, understand what makes the channel tick, understand really what buttons to push and levers to pull. And after about 30 days of doing my due diligence to really dig into what makes the channel tick or I should say made the channel tick, I realized that we need to come up with a new distribution strategy. And that's the first thing I focused on, Doug. I focused on the distribution piece of the business. After all, it's one of the pieces that I know the best. I took my experience in the distribution piece and doubled down on it. I reached out to all the executives in leadership members of leadership teams within these distributors in our space who I have direct relationships with and had very honest and open conversations about their challenges in the marketplace and how and if Snome could fill those gaps. And I found out real quickly that there was a tremendous opportunity for someone to come in and make an immediate impact. So, you know, we were talking just before we started our podcast today, you said you're getting a lot of excitement from the channel and from your service provider, from your whole community. And it's not just about a product or a family of products. It's like across the board. It is, it is. So there's a lot of excitement about me joining Snome and within the distribution community first. When I started to share that vision with those leaders in distribution, it really resonated and they understood what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. And I'll share some of that with you and our audience. What our main focus is, was and it still is, strengthen those relationships with the distributors and distributors love that, right? They want to get closer to their manufacturers. The sales reps want to get closer to their manufacturers. The closer they are, the better they can work with the partner, usually leads to more margin for them and less mistakes, right? Everyone wants to have those close relationships. Well, after the distribution piece, I shared with the entire community that we want to focus on the MSPs and the SPs next, not just recruiting and enabling them, but selling, having a sell with mentality where we go in there hand in hand with the distributors and sell the Snome solutions. So instead of a traditional sell to which our competitors have, we're going with the sell with super excited, like, wow, you're willing to do that? You're willing to go in there and dedicate resources to sell with us to these solution providers? Absolutely. That's what we want to do. So we're in the very, probably I would say, I was going to say the early stages, but we're probably in the middle stages, Doug, right now of finalizing that strategy. I've hired the team. Actually, I have one last key hire to bring on, but we'll have feet on the street to help drive resellers to our distributors. And we have feet on the street to enable our distributors. So very much that push pull ecosystem that you want for a healthy channel. That's what's got the the overall Snome channel super excited and energized about working with us again. And then when you combine the fact that we've brought on industry leaders like Andy Abramson and a dedicated channel marketing manager that reports directly up through our organization, everything is under one umbrella and we can make things happen. So, again, in a nutshell, that's what's driven the excitement and that's what's going to drive our growth for years to come. You know, I note in what you just said, the strong emphasis on people. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Relationships, you know, it's interesting. I've gone back and forth over the years. I don't know if you're familiar with the book, was it The Challenger Sale? Have you heard of that book? I think I have. So, yeah, there's a very popular book out there that talks about different sales techniques and it actually de -emphasizes the relationship. It says the relationship selling is probably, I'm sorry, not probably, relationship selling is the least effective way of selling in the channel, which has contradicted everything that I've learned and taught for the past 30 years. Well, while that may be true to some extent, you still have to have these relationships. Everything is relationship driven nowadays. As a matter of fact, the relationship, my relationship got me the job. My personal relationships with these distributors opened up more doors for us. And it's my relationships with the MSP solution providers and our overall team's relationships with these partners that have gained the trust of the community to allow us to do everything that we're doing to bring new products, new technologies. We talked a little bit about our deck solution earlier, our M500 solution. When you get that trust from your channel based on those relationships, again, the sky is the limit. And that's another, I'm not going to say secret to our success, but that's definitely a path that we're heading down. It's really doubling down on those relationships. So we have people and then it also seems there's places. You mentioned three or four different verticals where you're seeing growth. Yeah, we're seeing growth all over the board. But as far as vertical markets go, I'll touch on a couple of things. Part of our strategy for next year, our next fiscal year, which starts in April, is to become verticalized as well. So it's very relevant. We are going to have dedicated resources and probably new products on our roadmap to handle some of these vertical markets. But we're seeing a tremendous interest, especially when we started talking about our deck systems in retail, whether it's the restaurant business, automotive has been significant for us. We've done very well and continue to do very well in hospitality. We actually have a whole separate division dedicated to hospitality and we're seeing growth in the hospital and nursing home facilities right now. Just absolutely exploding. So, again, very exciting times for us. And, you know, as we close up our podcast today, any ideas for growth, anything you'd like to say to the MSP community, the service provider community about how to get engaged better for 2024? Well, from my perspective, I'll turn this into a little bit of a soapbox for me, for Snom. I believe that there is a lot of room right now for someone like Snom to step up and partner with the MSPSP space. And what I mean by partner is really, truly provide services that other manufacturers aren't providing. And I'll touch on those real quick. The existing Snom ecosystem is well aware of some of these key differences, but the vast majority of the marketplace is not. And that's the fact that we've got a three year manufacturer's warranty. So we've had this warranty, Doug, since day one. We're going back into the 90s when we delivered the first sip phone, right? We talked about that earlier as well. Three year warranty. Now, not only is it a three year warranty, but it's an advanced exchange. You don't have to call your reseller. You don't have to call your distributor. You go online, you fill out the actual ticket itself. You get a ticket number and within 72 hours, you as the end user or the reseller or partner could do this on behalf or receive the product as an advanced exchange. So just for the service providers to cut out that middleman to deal directly with the manufacturer is a game changer. No one else has that. So combine that with the fact that we have dedicated resources for sales and service here stateside, both the US and in Canada, all of our support is done here locally. So, Doug, when you combine all of those services with the fact that our parent company, VTech, is an actual manufacturer, we can be much, much more nimble than our competition, especially when you start talking about working with the service providers, right, having that single throat to choke. We're the only ones you come to us, you come to Snom Direct, we can handle everything from your distribution pieces, your manufacturing, your marketing, everything gets done centrally with us. And it's just incredible value proposition for the service providers that are out Mark, there. I want to thank you for joining us today. This has been very interesting. I want to congratulate you on your appointment. And I want to wish you the very best of luck. And I'm already see that you're making tremendous progress and big strides with Snom. Where can we learn more about Snom? Where can we learn more about the Snom partner programs? Ah, you can go to and our audience can go to SnomAmericans .com. Now we are having, we're going to be releasing a new version of our website in a short time here, but still SnomAmericans .com. We can be reached through most of the social media outlets. LinkedIn is fantastic. I can be reached directly or anybody on our team can be reached directly. And you'll have links in there for the Snom partner program, which again, that's also going through an overhaul. We're super excited about new components. And you know what, that may be a great topic for one of our next podcasts. Let's talk about the new Snom partner program and some of the components of it and how, how that's going to be very different in the game changer in the industry as well. All right. We're queuing up for the next one and there's going to be a bunch of these everybody. We're going to be doing a lot of work with Snom, but for now I want to really thank Mark for joining us today. And I'll look forward to that, that, that next podcast. This sounds like a plan. Thanks, Doug.
Telecom Reseller
A highlight from Hospitality refresh opportunity: webinar on how to win in hospitality market, ClearlyIP Podcast
"This is Doug Green, and I'm the publisher of TR Publications, and I'm very pleased to have with us Brie Furney of Clearly IP. Brie, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me, Doug. Well, I'm so happy that we're able to launch a series of podcasts on Clearly IP. I want to welcome you to our club of podcasters at TR, so I think we're going to be on an interesting journey as we learn more about Clearly IP and as we start to sort of dive into one vertical after another. We're going to be starting with hospitality platforms for hotels, and specifically the hospitality industry for hotel communication platforms. So Brie, we'll get right into this. Why are more and more hotel properties going with a hosted communication platform? I think the best way to answer that question, Doug, is that hotels are really trying to shift away from the CapEx model and move to the OpEx model, so they typically will have a traditional on -premise system that might be antiquated. It might not have the flexibility they need with the modern IP system, but furthermore, they want to move to that OpEx model, and what I mean by that is they want to shift to a monthly cost, whether it be a subscription basis or software as a service, and incorporate that cost into their operating budget versus a large upfront investment in a phone system that is maintained in their location, which can be quite costly and furthermore require quite a bit of resources on site for them to keep up the updates, management, maintenance, and support, et cetera. So I think the real reason for the shift that we're seeing right now is that hotels want to move to modern IP technology and get all the new advanced features, but also reduce increase costs and the remote workability and all the features and collaboration tools that they need to offer their guests as well. So tell me what a hosted telecommunications deployment looks like, especially at a hotel. Okay, so hospitality organizations that are preferring this type of setup typically will connect to a hosted or cloud -based system via their in -place internet. So the system will be, let's say, in the cloud. They'll connect over their internet in their hotel organization and be able to make and receive calls from their hosted platform. So there's so many advantages, again, to this. It really depends on the location of the hotel and their infrastructure and what high -speed services they have in place. But essentially, they will not need to house any hardware to keep an on -premise traditional phone system on site. But instead, they connect over their high -speed internet services to the cloud -based system, which will then host all their phone calls incoming and outbound. So let's dive into this even more deeply. What questions should a hotel be asking regarding security when considering transitioning from an on -prem system to a hosted phone system? Another great question, Doug. It's really crucial to ask vital questions about security to ensure that whatever hosted or cloud -based platform that you're going to is going to offer the security, the encryption, and the privacy that your hotel property is going to need and that your guests are going to when expect they are making calls from the property. You're going to want to ask about data encryption so that you ensure end -to -end encryption for all the calls, whether it's by your hotel personnel or your guests, and ensure that that data transmission is safeguarded, especially with sensitive guest information that might be happening in those calls. You're going to want to ask about redundancy and disaster recovery. This is an important one. You're going to want to ask your provider, what do they have set up for their backup and disaster recovery protocols to really ensure uninterrupted service in case, let's say, there's an outage or maybe a security breach. Access controls is something else that you're going to want to ask about, so inquire about user access controls. Let's say you have someone on your team at your hotel that's going to do the basic administration of your hotel phone system, and what are the authentication mechanisms with the system to prevent unauthorized access to your phone system. Another important one. There's a lot to go through here, Doug, so bear with me. Call recording and storage. You're going to want to ask, where are any of your call recordings? Maybe your hotel property does call recordings, let's say, for training purposes. Where are those call recordings stored? Are they in the cloud, and how are they also protected? Maybe for compliance purposes, ask about how the provider stores and retains those call recordings. The next question is security updates. You're going to want to understand your provider's procedures for ongoing security updates, let's say, with security patches and, let's say, software level updates, intrusion detection and prevention, so you're going to want to know what the measures are in place to detect and mitigate any potential security threats and maybe intrusions. Lastly, the vendor security practices. You're going to want to ask your vendor, what are their security practices and certifications with their hosted or cloud -based phone system, including what are their security practices within their own companies for their physical networks and security, et cetera? So I think by asking these questions, a hotel organization can better understand how their data and how their calls are protected and how their system is really set up to be successful and not be interrupted by any kind of security breaches. What do telecom resellers need to know about selling hosted phone system solutions, especially to hotels? Telecom resellers aiming to sell into hotels and lodging establishments really need to understand the industry and the specific needs of a hotel organization. So for example, they should have a really good understanding of a hotel's operations, an idea of the volume of inbound and outbound calls, what are guest requirements, what about the property management system? So you're going to need to know how to integrate a phone system with a PMS platform, and usually a hotel will have an in -place property management system that they're going to need their partner or their provider to connect to to make sure that the information is shared and that the phone system can access that important information that's stored in the PMS. A partner or even a hotel integrator will need to understand the standard questions or requests for customization and integration above and beyond the PMS integration. Perhaps there are specialized features like guest check -in and check -out. They might want those features automated. So the communication platform might need some customization like that, perhaps for room service orders or billing integration. So have a good understanding of the customization and integration requirements of a hotel or lodging organization. Another important one is the request for reliability and some sort of fail -safe or backup disaster recovery plan. So this is one that I want to emphasize because if a hotel is moving to a cloud or hosted platform, especially for the first time, they are going to be keenly aware of the risk of downtime if they lose their connection to that platform. So understanding the redundancy solutions that can be implemented and being able to explain that to a hotel organization is really important. I think, like I mentioned earlier, guest privacy and data security. So being able to highlight any security features of the phone system and how to prevent any data security breaches. Another one is scalability. So hotels often need to add devices quickly or potentially reduce services. Maybe they're in a seasonal market where they're very busy, let's say, at Christmas or over the holidays or at Valentine's. And at times when they're not busy, do they have the ability to reduce their services and therefore reduce their costs? So that's another really important factor. Be able to explain the cost effectiveness of a cloud -based or hosted solution and meet the needs of a hotel organization, let's say, with their occupancy -based services. You're going to want to know how to train and support your hotel personnel. So you'll need to train your front desk people on how to use the various platforms and also provide training to management and perhaps even call center personnel that might be receiving and making reservation calls by hotel guests. And, of course, call quality. So anyone selling into hotels or any kind of lodging organization, they are going to want to ensure that their call quality is crisp and clear. They'll need to be able to explain how to make that happen, how to test, and what measures, let's say, a telecom reseller is putting in place to ensure great call quality. Now, I already went over the cost efficiency, but being able to explain, of course, how to utilize new technology to offer a more cost -effective system. Hotels are typically very focused on their operating budget and how to really increase collaboration with their guests, with their team, but also have new technology at reduced pricing. You know, Brie, do you have anything else to share? Any other tips? Good question. Well, let me see. I think above and beyond offering a hosted solution, I think it's really smart to understand that there are some hotels that are not quite ready to make that leap. So perhaps having an understanding and another solution, which would be more of a hybrid approach. This is the best of both worlds that you might be able to offer your hotel organizations in case they are a little weary of going fully cloud -based. And this way, they can even have some traditional PSTNs, analog lines, or PRIT1 on site combined with their SIP trunking for line connectivity with their cloud system. So there's some redundancy there. So that would be another tip I would recommend, especially if you are a hotel looking for a platform or you're a reseller selling into hotels, not only offering a cloud fully hosted system, but also offering a hybrid platform for your more conservative properties that aren't quite ready to make that leap. Well, Brie, I want to thank you for joining me today. This has been really interesting, very informative. I think we have all learned a little bit about how to actually do this, sell basically cloud -based communications to the hotel community, which has been a really hard thing to do in the past. Where can we learn more about Clearly IP? Well, I'd love to invite you all. We're having a webinar this Thursday. It's a public event. I'll be speaking, and I will have our CEO, Tony Lewis, alongside me. So we'll be teaming up to educate hotel owners, hotel managers, system administrators, or even telecom resellers selling into hospitality the various options for hotel communication platforms, whether that be, as we're talking about today, hosted or a hybrid approach or even on premise. So we're going to be going through all those three deployment options and all the benefits and and advantages all the different features and, again, security stuff that you should be looking for and asking for, and that'll be an event this Thursday at 11 a .m. Pacific. Everyone's welcome to join, and you can find that at clearlyip .com forward slash events, and you can register right there. Well, Brie, again, thank you very much indeed. I've really enjoyed listening to this and getting a better understanding of what we're doing here in the hospitality sector. Great. Well, thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Doug. Have a great day.
Telecom Reseller
A highlight from Decoding AIs impact on IoT with Sam Colley, CEO, Pod Group, Podcast
"This is Doug Green, and I'm the publisher of TR Publications, and I'm very pleased to have with us again, Sam Coley, who's the CEO of Podgroup. Sam, thank you for joining us today. Thanks for having me, Doug. Well, we're going to be talking about the dynamic intersection of AI and IoT. I think this is a topic we've been talking about AI all year. We've been talking a lot about IoT. I don't think we've done a lot of work on where these two meet. So I'm really excited that we're able to do this. Thank you, Sam, for joining us and being able to expand our knowledge on this topic. Before we dive into that, could you just tell us a little bit about Podgroup? Yeah, so Podgroup has been in the IT now for over, well, since 1999 in various forms and its most recent form as a global MVNO since 2011. And in 2001, we were acquired by Giskindebrin, GND, a German security company who have kind of led in the field of eSIM and remote provisioning and SIM cards for over 30 years as well. So now kind of managing to combine all of the latest security technology alongside, you know, connectivity to deliver kind of solutions to the IoT to try and help them obviously evolve in a secure manner as possible. So you have a front row seat to the IoT world. Yes, I think it is middle row because I think the connectivity piece is pivotal in all of it. Without connectivity, you can't connect the device and you can't get the data to the cloud to do wonderful things like AI. So I feel like we get to sit in the middle and see all of the sides, which is a good vantage point. So with that, how is IoT changing the way we interact with our devices and the world as you're describing it around us? Well, I think IoT, you know, it's one of the things that kind of it's often unseen or, you know, it wasn't really until maybe five years ago you started to see billboards with IoT written on them. And as software and things became, you know, designed specifically for that vertical. But, you know, it's been around for, you know, 30 plus years probably in what used to be machine to machine. And I think the way in which we now interact with it as consumers has also evolved in that time. I think originally, you know, it was it was mainly for, you know, some sort of industrial applications, etc. I think old SCADA systems and things would be classified as IoT or M2M back then. But now, obviously, there's consumer IT in our in our homes with our smart devices, you know, with your Alexa's, to some extent, or your smart fridges. But also in terms of how you interact on a day to day basis, in terms of where you how you pay a store, how you consume advertising, in terms of digital signage, how you pay for your parking on the street. You know, all of its IoT and essentially it's kind of everywhere and we interact with it all day, every day, more or less if we're out and about or even at home. So I think, you know, it's it's something that maybe we don't recognize as much as we should, but it is pivotal to the way we live our lives today.
The Doug Collins Podcast
A highlight from As the war rages Hamas terrorist want you to believe they are the victims.
"The United States Border Patrol has exciting and rewarding career opportunities with the nation's largest law enforcement organization. Border Patrol agents enjoy great pay, outstanding federal benefits, and up to $20 ,000 in recruitment incentives. If you are looking for a way to serve something greater than yourself, consider the U .S. Border Patrol. Learn more online at cbp .gov slash careers slash USBP. That's cbp .gov slash careers slash USBP. Welcome to the Doug Collins Show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacypminvestments .com. That's legacypminvestments .com. Do you want to listen to a podcast? By who? Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins. How is it? The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life. I could not believe my ears.
Telecom Reseller
A highlight from iQmetrix transforms carrier retail CX, Podcast
"This is Doug Green and I'm the publisher of TR Publications and I'm very pleased to have with us today Stacey Hamer, who is the Chief Operating Officer at IQmetrics. Stacey, thank you for joining me again. Thanks so much for having me. Well, you know, the last time we talked, it was, it was summertime and summer was in the air. It was nice and warm and so on and so forth. And as we were just discussing, it's now all of a sudden, really dark outside part of the day, and it's a little bit cold. And, uh, you know, the frost is on the pumpkin and all that stuff. So here we are, we're looking down the, the, uh, the, the calendar at maybe Black Friday and some other things we're going to talk about that all in this podcast. But before we get to that, what is IQmetrics? So IQmetrics, uh, is a telecom experience platform and we're built very specifically for the telco space. So whether you're a carrier, an authorized retailer, an OEM, or a national retailer, we bring solutions to the table to run your stores and online presence. And you have a flagship product, I think called RQ4? We do. So RQ's our flagship product and it does anything from point of sale to inventory management, um, all the RMS back office functions, data reporting, employee commission, anything that it really takes to run a store. So this is a retail product, but your message is really directed at the carrier community. Am I right? Exactly right. And how does that all work? Why is this a carrier opportunity? So it's a carrier opportunity just because of the evolution of how the telco space has, um, really quickly evolved over the last, you know, even if you look back 10 years, uh, the retail and online space was really dominated by the indirect channel, uh, over the years it's consolidated and the carriers are now, you know, faced with all of this, uh, competition and fight for the consumer. So, uh, with that, they were really trying to define what the experience for their consumer looks like in their stores, whether they run them or an authorized retail partner runs them. So our solutions have evolved alongside with that. So a lot of people always think, oh, point of sale means the indirect channel and it certainly can, but, uh, you know, as the carriers are looking to control that experience for their customers, we're there behind the scenes just to kind of take a lot of that burden off of them and make it really easy to do. So you know, you guys sort of sit at the center of two huge revolutions occurring right at the same time. Retail is under this undergoing this huge transformation and so are the carriers. So talk to me a little bit about, you know, what you see in the coming year on, you know, about that modernization process and, you know, what the opportunities are like for people navigating through all that.
Telecom Reseller
A highlight from D&H bulks up portfolio to include Extreme Networks and Check Point, Podcast
"This is Doug Green and I'm the publisher of TR Publications and I'm very pleased to have with us today Jason Bistrak, who's the Senior Vice President of Modern Solutions at D &H Distributing. Jason, thank you for joining me today. Thanks for having me, Doug. It's good to speak with you again. So, we're going to be talking about some changes that you've made and some updates on Modern Solutions, specifically Xtreme and Checkpoint. Before we dive into that, what is D &H Distributing? Well thanks for asking, Doug. So D &H is one of the leading technology distributors in North America. We have a specialized focus on supporting partners and end clients in the SMB and in the mid -market, and that's really a strength of ours. The managed service provider channel is also a specialty focus area where we have all kinds of great programs and resources in particular to engage them and help them grow their business. So you've added to your line card, specifically you've added Xtreme Networks and Checkpoint. Do they fit into your D &H strategy? They sure do, and just to take a step back for a moment, my responsibility is leading the D &H Modern Solutions business, as you mentioned, and really what Modern Solutions is all about is about transformative technology solutions. So we have four categories, business applications, data center infrastructure, security, and collaboration solutions, and with Xtreme Networks jumping on board, that fits squarely into our infrastructure category, and then Checkpoint fits into security. And what's unique about our approach to those categories is that we allow a partner to make a single phone call, and we don't bounce them around to all kinds of different people to put a solution together. They get a single point of contact who can consult with them on the delivery model they choose, so whether it's on -premises, in the cloud, or hybrid, and they also consult with them on all the services that are required to support that solution. So whether it's assessment services, implementation services, or managed services, that single point of contact can put the whole solution together. And we're also uniquely qualified with our operational model, including the D &H Cloud Marketplace platform, to be able to handle all the transactions and operations tied to these complex solutions. So really, back to the reason for Xtreme Networks, they're a perfect fit with us, because they're moving into more targeting managed service providers, which is a sweet spot for us in our partner community, and they're also moving to more subscription and as -a -service models with the cloud offering, so they fit squarely into what we're doing within our modern infrastructure practice. Then when it comes to Checkpoint you mentioned, similarly, they are also moving into these types of models, so more of their products are being offered in cloud solutions or hybrid solutions, and certainly more of these as -a -service options with monthly payment models. We're equipped to handle that and really excited to work with them to help grow the business and support our MSPs downstream. So you guys just completed the Fall Thread Technology Conference in Las Vegas. Any comments from that? I think you guys served MSPs there, is that correct? We sure did. It was a very busy week. So it was actually two events in one that we hosted up in Vegas. So the beginning of the week, we had over 200 members from our V &H PartnerFi community join us, and we had sessions around business development workshops and partnering. We did a lot of work around technology enablement and some of the trends that are happening in the market, and really it's about networking and sharing best practices with that group. That's a consistent area for us. And then on Wednesday, we actually expanded that event to include all of our partners for the D &H Thread Conference, really the focus around the Western region. So they came in for a day where we had a technology showcase to be able to meet with a lot of vendor partners. We had business development tracks through our success path program, including a modern solutions workshop, and really a general session. We had great keynote speakers and motivational things happening, so a lot of energy, and it was great to meet with partners face -to -face for a couple of days. And did you get feedback on, you know, it's always a great chance to talk to people, meet people, see what's happening. You know, what are you hearing about AI and hybrid? Great question. Definitely some of the top trends, right? So you have your finger on the pulse as usual, Doug, but, you know, when it came to AI, that was all over. Almost every vendor that had workshops or keynote presentations talked about their AI strategy. I really heard great feedback about Microsoft and what they're doing with Copilot in particular, and D &H's lockstep with helping to support those solutions. I would say security was another topic, you know, as far as your partners looking at what's next coming with security, how's it transforming, what are some of the new technologies to help lock that down. And lastly, there was a lot of content around managed services, and I had the privilege of facilitating an MSP panel, where we had some really smart MSPs up there that have figured out some of the latest trends, and some of those included how to support hybrid workforce through managed services, how to really take on more around the security posture for their clients, and really just best practices around optimizing profitability as an MSP. So they gave good advice, I think, from a lot of the attendees. Well, Jason, I want to thank you for joining us today, giving us an update, especially on the extreme and checkpoint information. Very interesting to all of our readers and listeners. Where can we learn more about D &H? Well, the easiest way, Doug, would be our website, www .dandh .com. You can also follow us on social media, you know, pick your platform of preference, but we've got all kinds of content, posts, and ways to engage there, and happy to engage with anybody directly. You can email me at jbystrak, J -B -Y -S -T -R -A -K, at dandh .com. Well, Jason, I'm looking forward to our next podcast, but for now, thanks very much for joining me today. Thanks, as always, for your time, Doug, good to speak with you.
Mark Levin
Antony Blinken Wants Israel to Stop Defeating Hamas
"He's trying to make sure there aren't more fronts that are opened up against Israel. It's not what he's doing. He's gone behind the back of the United States Congress, behind the back of the American people, behind the back of the Israelis. And he's negotiating for his so -called two state solution. They They even put that up on their official State Department website. They want to stop defeating Hamas. They want Israel, Doug Ross has a great piece on this. To enter into its 16th, 16th ceasefire over the years, 16th, where Gaza is built, and on and on, and then they attack Israel again. And people are right when they say, and you only this hear on Fox, that there was a ceasefire all the way up to October 6th until the Hamas Nazis broke the ceasefire. But that's not my point. Memory, which is a great site if you want to check it out, E M M R I. Memory .org. So is .org. camera Like the word camera, C A M E R A .org. But memory .org, they have to interpret Arabic and other languages overseas. And they mention a columnist, Hani Salim Mashour. Hamas is not Palestine, an Al Arab London publication. M E M E
Telecom Reseller
A highlight from Branded Calling Strategy in the Customer Journey Topic: Branded Calling Case Study, Avantive Solutions Podcast
"This is Doug Green and I'm the publisher of TR Publications, and I'm very pleased to have with us today Frank Pedenato, who's the CEO of Avantiv Solutions. Frank, thank you for joining me today. Yeah, Doug, thanks for having me today. Appreciate it. Well, I'm really excited to be doing this. We're going to be talking about a topic we've been talking about a lot. A lot of people are very interested in branded calling. We're going to be talking about a branded calling case study, and we're going to be talking about the broader topic of branded calling strategy in the customer journey. So Frank, we're going to be diving into all that in just a bit, but could you tell us a little bit about Avantiv Solutions? Yeah, absolutely. So Avantiv Solutions is a global BPO. We operate in North America, Asia, and recently in South Africa. Our focus is primarily telecommunications and health and life sciences, but we do do general call center work as well. So we're diving into the topic of branded calling. Your company, Avantiv Solutions in America, has just released a new study on branded calling called branded calling strategy in the customer journey. Can you give me some context about what sparked this investigation and what led to the creation of this case study? Yeah, so branded calling, as it's rolled out in the marketplace, has had a lot of mixed receptions primarily around the cost associated with it. So what we did is we started getting a lot of questions about, hey, this is an interesting technology. There's a cost associated with it. I'm not entirely sure what the response of my consumer to maybe, you know, can you give me some context on how this fits together? So we took a step back and said, well, what's kind of relevant here? So obviously we always want to put case studies. So in the we give very specific examples of how we've taken this technology and yielded some results. But the general theme is it's not a one size fits all strategy. First of all, there's a technology stack associated with how you manage your phone numbers, your CID's in this case. You know, do you have reputation management associated with those numbers? Are you getting the right attestation with stir -shaking? So it's really general hygiene, cleanliness of your numbers on an outbound call to make sure that those calls would be normally delivered. When you start to get into the branded calling, now you have the opportunity to take that outbound call and put a brand associated with it. Depending on the handset you have, it's going to either show up with a name or there could be an opportunity for a logo to show up, which is pretty exciting for your consumer to receive that. But there's a cost associated with it. And when there's a cost associated with it, clearly you want to make sure you understand the return on investment. So in this case study, we're saying, look, there's this great technology out there, but you have to be judicious on how you use it. And results are going to vary depending on your use case. For an example, if you have some consent dialing, so in other words, you're calling someone that is otherwise expecting your call, you're a healthcare provider calling a patient, for example, or an insurance company calling a member, that is probably a great example to brand 100 % of your phone calls. increases That basically your live answer rate, reduces the stress and anxiety of the colleague, the person being called, because they know who's calling them. Further, they may say, hey, I don't have time to take that call right now, but I could see it's my insurance company calling. So the next moment I have, I'm going to call them back so you can actually increase return phone calls. So the best way of thinking about it is you get a higher number of unique callers contacted with the least number of attempts, which is economically beneficial. When we start to get into non -consent dialing, so think of telemarketing, well, the model changes because I may have a brand that isn't necessarily recognized by the consumer. I may have a brand that is recognized by the consumer, and they don't necessarily have an interest in speaking to me at that moment. Or it could be favorable in the sense that I have a brand that is recognized, and I do want to speak to that brand, and they do answer the phone call. So we believe that we may try to mix in branded calling with traditional just caller IDs, local caller IDs, mix it up, try different attempts, different intervals, mix in branding, and try to get a sense of how to optimize the cost of branded calling versus the results that you yield.
The Doug Collins Podcast
Georgia Forced to Redraw Legislative and Congressional Maps
"Georgia has just been told to redraw their maps, both their legislative maps on the state level and their congressional maps. It's going to be interesting to see how that goes. Um, I had a conversation with someone who was near the governor's office of in Georgia camp, who said, we weren't worried about it until the legislature figures it out. I said, I get that. Um, but you've got North Carolina. The reason I'm setting this up, it's a long setup, but you're bearing with me. Number one, folks, if you don't know, Chip was with a guy named, uh, Lynn Westman. Lynn Westman is a mentor of mine. He's a dear friend, just like he is to chip, uh, served in Congress. I'll tell people this all the time. If Lynn had not went to Congress, Lynn Westman would still be the speaker of the house in Georgia, if not governor. Um, I just believe he would have been and stayed there, but he, but he has an old, you know, contractor, a good old boy mentality. That's just the way he is. But he got in, y 'all got into redistricting heavy, uh, from really his time before you even more started working with him in the early two thousands, all the way to when you were working with him in 2009, 2010, working on the previous maps. This matters. And I'm afraid Republicans chip, and I love to get your input here. I'm afraid Republicans got complacent after the last round and we didn't take this round of redistricting as seriously across the country as say we did back in 2010. Yeah. I mean, it's a word of start, right? I mean, there's so much to unpack there. I mean, it, uh, um, I, I will say this, that, you know, uh, um, section five of the voting rights act, which the Supreme court rightly, you know, kicked out as unconstitutional a lot later than they should have candidly. I mean, a lot of people don't know, but what section five mandated was that if you were under, if you were a section five state or jurisdiction, which Georgia was many of the States in the South were, you had to submit your maps to the justice department for pre -clearance. It was blatantly unconstitutional because, uh, for a variety of reasons that I'm back to what you said about, I'm not a constitutional scholar, but what I do understand is, you know, you, you can't have one set of laws for one people in another state. You can't have another set of laws for another people. So the formula that decided pre -clearance, uh, up until like what, five years ago, maybe six years ago, you know, maybe, you know, was, uh, was the 1968, 1972 presidential election. I mean, are you kidding me? So, you know, now there's this whole cottage industry that the Democrats have. That's much more of a, it's much bigger of a cottage industry that, you know, they raised tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to go after only States that have Republican drawn maps. It's for blame. It's not so they can equal the playing field for minorities to compete. Do not kid yourselves. The reason behind this is to maximize Democrat drawn gist districts. That is political. That is not, that is not leveling the playing field for a particular minority. Um, it's only going after Republican State drawn maps and look, what these judges have done is they move the goalposts every time they make a decision. And I'll say this, and I know I'm going to get criticized for saying it, but federal judges, especially Trump appointed federal judges, you know, in some ways, you know, they're on the federal bench now, and that's a lifetime appointment. Right. You know, they are petrified at being at, at making a ruling at which they could be labeled by the other side as racist.
The Doug Collins Podcast
3.5 Weeks Later: Is House Speaker Mike Johnson Right for the Role?
"Know, look, Mike Johnson is a good guy. I know him personally. I know him very well. He's a good guy. He's been on this podcast multiple times. Um, and so sort of get a behind the scenes in him, but chip one, let's start, let's just go before we get to Mike himself and really the problems are there. Did it really? And I'm, this is not, it's sort of rhetorical, but it's not, it was amazing. It took three and a half weeks. Yeah. I mean, I, what does that show us? And cause one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you today about politics is we're going to get into redistricting. We're going to get into elections. We're going to get into stuff that you and I have been dealing with forever. But, um, I think we still have a problem within the conference, even though they came together and I know there's people passing out in their cars right now, please no heavy traffic here, but it did pass unanimously. But you just get the sense that maybe this, it, and, you know, it's going to be a struggle that reveals deeper schisms within the party. Yeah. I mean, look, I mean, you look, it took three and a half weeks in some ways, Doug, it feels like it took a lot longer than that. Right. I mean, you know, three and a half weeks is a long time, but it, it, it feels like now that we have a speaker, it kind of feels like we went six or seven weeks without one. And, um, you know, the, I was watching, um, um, Mike Johnson's first formal press conference today, he gave it this morning. You know, and the thing that struck me is just how, and I don't know, Mike Johnson, like you do, and I'm getting to learn, you know, a lot more about him, just like most of the American people are right now. And what really struck me, Doug, is just how different he is than Kevin. Right. And that, that's not a knock on Kevin. It's just, you know, I mean, there, you know, as individuals and as elected officials and as people, I mean, people have different strengths and weaknesses and different styles. And, you know, Mike Johnson, what he says, his cadence, his personality, his style, um, probably his tactics, his ideology, I didn't realize how they really are different than Kevin. What's not different are the challenges that he faces. Right. I mean, the challenges that he faces are very similar, if not identical to the ones that Kevin faces. And so, yeah, look, he's going to have a little bit of a honeymoon, but it's going to be about this big and still in the honeymoon phase now. But I don't, I don't know how, you know, especially in light of what happened, you know, with the, you know, motion to vacate the chair and eight Republicans voting for all Democrats to, you know, remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker. I don't know with the, the wounds that exist between, um, you know, the, let's just call it the different sides of the caucus. I mean, I don't, I don't know that, uh, you know, I think everybody kind of wants to get along right now and they are in public, but I mean, you know, we're, I think we'll, we'll see where the rubber hits the road here really within the next two or three weeks.
The Doug Collins Podcast
A highlight from Three and Half Weeks Later
"Welcome to The Doug Collins Show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit LegacyPMInvestments .com. That's LegacyPMInvestments .com. Do you want to listen to a podcast? By who? Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins. How is it? The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life. I could not believe my ears. In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule. It has been said today, where is bravery? I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found. It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered. And this majority say, be damned with anything else. We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do. Why? Because we won an election. I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun. Hi, everybody. We're back. Welcome to the Doug Collins podcast. Glad to have you joining us in today. Got lots to discuss. We haven't had a chance to discuss some of the political moves because in just a minute after the break, I'm going to be bringing in Chip Lake. Normally, you know Chip from our Friday's Finest and you will always see him on Friday's Finest. But we have Chip bringing in for some political discussion today because we've had the sort of running bet going between Friday's Finest is how many weeks it would go without a speaker. Well, congratulations. We now have a speaker. I'm not sure where that's going to go, but Chip and I are going to discuss it here in just a minute. A lot of things going on. I'd be glad to have you with us on the podcast as we go forward. So just right after the break, it'll be Chip coming on. We're going to talk some politics today on the Doug Collins podcast. Hey, everybody, you know about Legacy Precious Metals. Legacy Precious Metals, you hear from them. We talk once a month. We talk about Legacy Precious Metals, talking about precious metals being part of your portfolio, how they're your navigator. Well, now they're not only navigating in a new way. They're actually giving you a new way to buy gold and silver. In fact, Legacy Precious Metals has developed a revolutionary new online platform that allows you to invest in real gold and silver online. In a few easy steps, you can open an account online, select your metals of choice and choose to have them stored in a vault or shipped to your door. I'm more of a ship to my door kind of person. I enjoy having them with me, but they can do it either way and you can now do it online. It gives you real access to a dashboard where you can track your portfolio growth in real time. Any time you'll see transparent pricing on each coin and bar. This puts you in complete control of your money. This platform is free to sign up for. Just visit LegacyPMInvestments .com and open your account and see this new investing platform for yourself. Gold hedges against inflation and is against and against a volatile stock market. A true diversified portfolio is just more stocks and bonds, but a different asset class. This platform allows you to make investments in gold and silver no matter how small or large with just a few clicks. Remember, do as I have done. Go to LegacyPMInvestments .com and get started today. And now you've got a new tool to help you along in your investments. Hey everybody, it's MyPillow's 20th year anniversary and over 80 million MyPillows have been sold. Mike Lindell and MyPillow wants to thank each of you and every one of you for giving you the lowest price in history on their MyPillows. You will receive a queen size MyPillow for $19 .98. Regular price is $69 .98 and just $10 more for a king size. You will receive deep discounts on all MyPillow products such as bed sheets, mattress toppers, pet beds, mattresses, my slippers and so much more. This is a time to try out something other than the amazing products that you've had your eye on. Go to MyPillow .com, click on the radio podcast square and use the promo Collins, C -O -L -L -I -N -S to receive this amazing offer on the queen size MyPillow for $19 .98. Or 800 call -986 -3994. This offer comes with a 10 year warranty and 60 day money back guarantee. It's time to start getting the quality sleep you deserve. You know how I know that? Because I sleep on a MyPillow every night. Go to MyPillow .com and use promo code Collins, C -O -L -L -I -N -S or call 800 -986 -3994 today.
The Doug Collins Podcast
Former 49ers Quarterbacks: Where Are They Now?
"That brings us to our next question. Former 49er quarterbacks and where they are now and what's happening. I mean, you got Garoppolo, you got Purdy, you've got, uh, well, what's his name that got traded into Oblivion. Went to, did he go to Texan? Who are we talking about? Who is the quarterback in San Francisco who is all, everything. And they, Trent, uh, Oh, Trey Lance. Trey Lance. Oh, yeah. He's in the season. Everybody's forgotten about him already. Yes. Never going to play a football game. Okay. Question for both of you. Will Brock Purdy turn it around? And also number two, will the, will the Raiders get rid of Garoppolo? The Raiders will never get rid of Garoppolo cause he's too gorgeous. And, uh, Brock Purdy will turn it around. That team is way too talented for him not to turn it around. I agree. I actually agree with James on both of those. I think they're not only are they an incredible talented team, Brock Purdy's a good quarterback. He makes good decisions. Uh, it's tough to rattle him. Um, I, I believe if, if, I mean, losing Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel, I mean that that's a one, two punch that any quarterback's going to struggle with the kids going through some growing pains and he's finally facing some adversity in the NFL. I mean, it's about time he won his first eight, nine games, however many it was. So, you know, he, he just, he's come back down to earth and he looks human, but yeah, they're, they're going to make it better. And I hesitate to make any predictions about what the Las Vegas Raiders are ever going to do in the future. I love it. I love it. James, did you talk about my quarterback in Los Angeles? I mean, Las Vegas Raiders as being handsome. I don't, I don't care if he's rear end ugly. Okay. I want him to be able to throw the ball and not hit the barman in the back. But he's not ugly. And that's why he's still in Vegas. Listen, if there, listen, beautiful people get away with a lot of things, but Jimmy Garoppolo is on another level all the time. It's it's true though. Like he, I'm telling you, they, they probably, every team is like, you know, we got to get rid of this guy and then he walks into the room for negotiations and they're like, son of a, we can't let him go look at him face on all our billboards. Otherwise we're not going to have a female audience. I'm telling you right now, he is because he was, because he at some point with the 49ers obviously had some momentum and played okay. I guess, um, he just, he gets to stay and because there's so few good quarterbacks in this league, look how many teams are struggling because of
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Most builders don't spend the money out of their own checkbook, right? They take a loan against them. They get a construction loan. Well, those construction loans are very expensive now. And they're going to have to sit on this inventory until the home is finished and they have a buyer. So you're seeing from the demand side, not as much demand, but also from the supply side, there's no issue in jumping out and paying seven and a quarter or in construction loans as much as nine percent when they can just wait for the hopefully the interest rates to come down. But that's where the problem comes. When will the interest rates come down? We have a Fed saying, hire for longer. I mean, look, we our economy is obviously doing very poorly. And I mean, what is your prognosis? I mean, we are now what, 33 trillion dollars in debt. I mean, mind blowing. There's another shutdown fight, you know, that the whole the whole I guess my going with the economy. Where do you see us next year? I see us in very bad trouble. We have another shutdown conversation. We're having trouble with the speaker, getting a speaker in office. Right. For those of us who are conservative minded, that was our our level of control was the house. And now we don't have a means to wrangle that in. We have the conflict in Israel now. Obviously, we're supporters of Israel. That's going to take money. That's going to take our efforts as as a good ally to them. We have the war in Ukraine. We have bad economic numbers, we have higher interest rates. And I, I always want to be careful and not say you should be afraid. But this is one of those rare moments where I'm going to say you should be afraid. We have complete lack of leadership, and we have no economic direction. Well, I mean, the reason I have you on the program, obviously, is because you're you're offering a suggestion of how we can keep our money safe in these difficult times. But I think people need to be aware that we are in difficult times. And it seems like they're going to get worse. This is being realistic, folks, just so you understand. Anybody who tells you like, well, things will be fine next year, I think things will be worse next year. And so you want to prepare for next year. Now, I guess this is where I get to say that I know also that gold outperformed the Standard and Poor's Index last year. I guess it's nearly at an historic high. Am I getting that right? You're the expert. Yes, it is. It is near an extraordinary high and gold is set to outperform the S &P this year as well. So and it's important we look at it. Most people talk about the Dow Jones when they're talking about the stock market. That is a select group of stocks. The S &P is the broad market. That's a better indicator of how our economy is doing and how the businesses in our economy are doing. So when we look at that, you're looking at a scenario where the S &P will have more trouble because money borrowing is going to come into question because there's more turmoil and there's no fix in sight yet. That's the issue. If we're being really honest about it, we have an administration that has nothing but problems and no solutions. And this is why when we look at precious metals are an item that belong in your portfolio in the worst of times. And that's where we find ourselves right now. It is the worst of times. The website is LegacyPMInvestments.com. LegacyPMInvestments.com slash Eric. LegacyPMInvestments.com slash Eric. Charles, can you tell us, I know there are a lot metals, get them delivered to your house. You can put it in an IRA.What do you tell people is the most efficient way to use gold to protect their wealth? You know, they're all good. It's better to have some than none. But the best answer to that is to call us because when you call us, we'll talk with you and we'll evaluate your unique situation. Everyone's in a different situation. So rather than throw a blanket statement out there, give us a call and let us help you decide what works best for you. That way it meets your needs. And that's the most important thing. We often say that we're not really gold sellers, we're gold educators. We want to have a conversation with you and let you know how it works best and what would work best for your scenario so you can make an informed decision. That's the best thing. That's the best way to do it. Well, again, it's one of the reasons that you're on this program. You're not hard selling. You're actually trying to help people figure out what's best for them. So, folks, go to legacypm investments.com. The phone number is there so you can call or you can do whatever you like. Go to veryhelpful.com. As always, it's my pleasure. Thank you, Eric. Thank you.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"I hope all the young men that feel this and the women that also feel, you know, that they're being suppressed and they've got this fire burning in their heart. I hope they step to the forefront, start leading prayer meetings, start leading home groups, doing outreaches, rebuking their pastors and their worship leaders if they're peddling, you know, this emasculated gospel and stuff. Start their own church. Oh, yeah. This is a time, this is a time, man, for the boys to step to the curb and for the men to step to the forefront. And this is what I'm saying, folks. If you're going to a church like this, get out. For the sake of your soul, get out. Get out. The book is lion-hearted. Doug Giles, G-I-L-E-S, has been my guest. Doug Giles, thank you, my friend. Thank you, Eric. Always a pleasure, buddy. Folks, welcome back. It's my privilege right now to speak to Charles Thorngren, who's the head of Legacy Precious Metals Investments, which I think means gold and silver. Charles, am I getting that right? That is correct. Well, I get to talk to you, I get to ask you economic questions because there's so many things that I don't understand. And I wanted to ask you, whenever I have you on, I just want to kind of throw these things at you. So I have in my notes that home builder sentiment, you got to explain that, home builder sentiment has dipped for the second straight month across the country because of the spike in mortgage rates. So how do you see that lack of confidence in the housing market affecting the economy overall? Great question. And it's actually a twofold question when you look at it. With mortgage rates being more expensive, people are less likely to go out and buy a new home. You're not having people trading up for houses. And also you're not having people trading down for houses. Those of us who are our kids are out of the house, we're not downgrading now because we don't want a new mortgage at seven and a half percent. It doesn't make economical sense for us, especially for those of us, our homes almost paid off. Why would we go into debt at these rates? But the second thing also that's probably more important is it costs more for the builder now to access money to build those homes.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"We have authority in our prayers. And my friend Mike Thompson, who wrote a book called Third Heaven Authority, there is fire. There is power in our prayers. And we need to be taught to pray that way. Oftentimes people pray and it's like, oh, Lord. And I go, what? There's no, where's the fire? Do you not understand? You've been given the authority by God to pray in his name. And there's such power in that. And again, that is, it just kind of speaks to who we are and where the Christian faith is in America. And I have hope because of people like you folks, I'm talking to Doug Giles, G-I-L-E-S. You need to look him up. Doug Giles, G-I-L-E-S. The book is Lionhearted. We'll be right back. Welcome back. I'm talking to the author of Lionhearted. You need to get a copy for some young man someplace. Doug Giles, G-I-L-E-S. Doug, what else can we talk about? Yeah, I think there's a lot of great chapters in my book, Lionhearted, making young Christian males rowdy biblical men. The first one though, Eric, is I titled it, if you get this wrong, everything is wrong. And if young men out there 16 to 25 and they think Jesus is some bearded lady walking around, you know, like Kathryn Kuhlman in a beige Pinois spitting out more aphorisms than an overmedicated Joel Osteen on a three-day Mountain Dew bender. I just took a drink of water and I almost lost it. That was very cruel what you just did, Doug Giles. Jesus is a walking around in a beige Pinois. In a beige Pinois. Most people don't know P-E-I-G-N-O-R, Pinoir, or maybe it's N-O-I-R, Pinoir. That is so, but apart from the fact that it's hilarious, it is so true. Jesus was a manly man who breathed fire on the Pharisees. The things that he said to them. We need to understand, folks, he was not winsome. And if you want to be like Jesus, it means sometimes you're not going to be winsome. Sometimes you're going to breathe fire from heaven. But how many pastors and priests are, you know, modeling that? I know it's a little bit more in vogue nowadays. I've been writing about it and you and I have been talking about for 20 plus years. But still, it's like the pastors are sweeties, you know, they're little Mr. Rogers or they're cool hip Jimmy Fallon-like. And man, I think, I hope, Eric, when I die and go to heaven that we've got video of Christ preaching with authority, John the Baptist. Love to see them, how they did it compared to the stuff that we peddle today. I'd love to see the Apostle Paul being in the temple, upbraiding, you know, all the people that crucified Christ and hear him and just pop off. Man, that's got to be some of the most glorious preaching known to mankind. And if young people, the little 16 to 25 year old dinky male, if they don't see Christ as a 30 year old rebel from Galilee, then I think their whole Christianity is off kilter and they're never going to get anything right about what he said and did and how there's to emulate and imitate the Son of God. Well, I have a book coming out in April and I talk about the idol of winsomeness. It doesn't mean that there aren't times we're called to be winsome, obviously, but this idea that this is the mode that we're always supposed to be winsome, that, you know, that's not just not true. It is a lie from the pit of hell. And the idea that many Christians have bought into this and that many pastors, youth pastors, are peddling this. Young men need to be, as you put it, rowdy. They need to be scary to the forces of evil because they know the authority that they have in Christ and how God made them. So I just, I appreciate that. Folks, the book is lion-hearted. 30 seconds left, Doug, to say whatever you want to say.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Welcome back. We're talking to Doug Giles, GILES. The new book is Lion Hearted. What's Young Christian Males Rowdy Biblical Men. Imagine that, Eric. It's pretty amazing. And we need we need to hear this. But you're right. I mean, look, we've you and I've talked about this. The church has been really feminized. And it's fascinating to me because it's part of, you know, if you're the devil, how do you attack America by, you know, attacking men to tell them we don't want you to be too manly because that's scary and toxic and whatever. Of course, God's idea of of of of of manhood is we're supposed to be scary to evildoers, to evildoers, not not to those we love and want to protect. But that's you know, that's part of the culture that you're trying to communicate that that these are this is a biblical idea of manhood. This is not Doug Giles's idea of manhood. Yeah, I got a chapter in there on nicknames, Eric. You know, George on Seinfeld wanted to be named T-Bone. You got James and John in the New Testament. They're sons of thunder. They're like Georgia redneck monster truck drivers. You got Barnabas was son of encouragement. Imagine that a Christian being encouraging. And and then you've got Elijah got a nickname, Eric, and Jezebel called him and Ahab called him rather the troublemaker. And I tell young people, it's like if you want a nickname, you know, a really cool nickname, have something that's pure evil. Have some witch who's who's mixed, you know, bail worship with with Jehovah. Have that control freak lady who manipulates, intimidates and dominates. Have those people that embody that nastiness of honor and the apostate teachers and first century church they called they called Paul and they called Silas called them troublemakers. They said you upset the world. And that was a that was a dig at them. And young people should be like that. It's like instead of like, I want to be nice and wear a cardigan. And that's what my Christianity is going to be all about. No, you need to be a troublemaker. If something's evil, if it's full of lies, hype and spin, if it's crap, and somebody's trying to masquerade it as, you know, Christianity or good policy, no, you need to blow it up. You need to be the one who confronts it. You need to be the troublemaker that sets things right. I mean, look at look at, you know, with Ahab and Jezebel, they had 100 prophets, and they were hiding in the caves, you know, Obadiah had them hiding in the caves. Prophets don't belong in caves hiding prophets belong where Elijah was given her and her stupid husband a lot of grief. And and he wore I guarantee when they called him troublemaker, he wore that badge with just this thing called glee and honor. Well, you know, to get back to the main shooting when I'm in places where there's a lot of guns, I never feel safer. Let's be honest. I mean, the idea that the left in America and some, I believe you would call them wusses on the right, that they talk about gun violence, like, like the guns are like leaping out of boxes and shooting people. No, it's not gun violence. It is evil. It is people using the guns for violence to do harm. We need people who have guns to use them to protect us from the people doing the violence. But this lie that every time there's some kind of a mass shooting, they talk about it like it's it's gun violence. And I just think like if everybody in that bowling alley had a gun, he wouldn't have been able to kill those people. Yeah. And we know this is true. And I and I want to say to like, there's a level of the demonic, he was hearing voices. And we say, Oh, it's schizophrenia. Did you ever think that it's demonic voices telling you to kill? Do we not? I mean, those of us who call ourselves Christians, do you not understand that that's a thing that that is a real thing that that happens to people, but we have to put in this psychological category. Now, it could have been a psychological thing. But in many, many cases, these are the voices of demons. So this is at its heart, a spiritual issue. We've had tons of guns in America, and we didn't have mass shootings until the last few decades. I mean, that's just a fact. Yeah, we used to bring guns to our high school to go hunt quail or dove after school was out. And we got in fights, we did drugs, we did all this stuff, Eric, but nobody ever pulled out a gun starts straight from the crowd. But in regards to the evil that's behind this, what's going down in the Middle East, and you know what China's cooking, God only knows, and what's happening in the United States of liberal acrimony. Again, for young people, it's like, you got to understand this is an evil day. And we're not victims. And yes, get prepped from a physical standpoint, learn how to fight, learn how to use edge weapons, learn how to use firearms, get proficient in it. Absolutely. But you also got an arsenal called imprecatory prayers that you could be laying down incredible, you know, spiritual carpet bombs on all these demons that are running amok and stuff. And again, most youth pastors, most pastors, they don't even know what an imprecatory prayer is. They're not going to get near this stuff. So please continue. Right. Yeah. And so so when all this stuff happens, everybody's like, Oh, pray, you know, pray for this and pray for that, like, pray, what? How about pray Psalm 35, where God says he's going to turn the enemy into snail slime? How about pray Psalm 109, where God says that these people that are coming up with all this evil and all these horrendous machinations? How about we reverse the curse and what they plan for evil upon innocent people? Boom, it lands on their head instead. And again, it's just, I bounced through all that stuff and lionhearted for young men because this stuff, Eric is not being touched with a 10 foot pew in most youth groups in most churches. And a lot of young men are like, what the heck should I be doing right now? Seeing this intergalactic international demonic, you know, outpouring. So it's a few things that you could be doing. Well, the first thing you could do is get a copy of lionhearted folks, because we need to spread this message. Doug, I'm so grateful for you. I just can't tell you. I'm so grateful for you and your heart. You are lionhearted.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"You're only going to see these images, and you're going to say, oh, that's great, I want that. And anybody would want that. That's kind of normal. Oh, it'd be great to be famous. I did a Socrates in the City event with Dick Cavett. This is over 10 years ago. What is the price of fame? And the reason I invited him to be my guest at Socrates in the City wasn't just because he's known every famous person ever. He knew them personally. But he made a comment when Elizabeth Taylor died. You don't get more famous than Elizabeth Taylor. And when she died, he was on Larry King or one of those shows. I don't know if it was Piers Morgan. And to hear Dick Cavett say this, I thought, this is interesting because he's not coming from a biblical worldview. But he said, do not envy these people. He says, they, you cannot imagine the pain in Elizabeth Taylor's life. You think everything is wonderful. She and Richard Burton, both alcoholics addicted to drugs, unbelievable pain and misery and storm and drunk. You're not going to see that. He saw that. And he talked about that. And I was just amazed. I said, I want to have a Socrates in the City conversation with them, which people can go Socrates in the City and watch it. But I thought coming from him, that was really interesting. And you're saying the same thing that you don't have any idea what comes with that. It's like saying, I want to be rich. Well, yeah, I get it. Money's nice to have, but you have no idea. I've met tons and tons of wealthy people who couldn't be more miserable. So we need to rehearse the goes back to Paul's maxim to Titus in regards to young men that my book Lionhearted is aimed at. Instead of pursuing this golden ring, this influence, I'm going to be famous. People are going to love me. Man, I would heartily advise for people, if your Holy grail is anything, make it the purpose of God, make it the establishment of his kingdom. Because this is a short life, Eric. If you and I roll it out to like 99 or whatever, that's still a flipping vapor. And we're going to have to stand before the audience of one at the judgment seat. And if we've squandered our life, we hadn't redeemed the time, we've been knuckleheads as young guys and stupid fools as old dudes, then we're going to have this thing called a massive load of regret. And I tell the young people in Lionhearted to do the opposite of what Chandler being in Matthew Perry did is take your life seriously. I had this billionaire tell me, Eric, when I was a young squab, just got married. He said, what are you going to do with your life? So I want to preach the gospel. I want to spread the love of Jesus out there. And he said, dude, don't take your life so seriously. He had a Matthew Perry like death just two years ago, three years ago. And I'm glad that I didn't take frat boys advice. And I took my life seriously. And I, you know, albeit halting and stammering and sinful, but I took my life seriously and rolled it out for the kingdom of God. And guess what, Eric, there's perks involved. You know, I've been blessed, been crazily blessed by the Lord. But I took my life seriously, took his word seriously, took the gospel seriously and, you know, didn't pursue vanity because I'd already done that, man, between the ages of 12 and 21 as a drug dealer, as a thief. I had lots of money because we're dealing lots of weed, lots of cocaine and lots of LSD. And when Christ clocked me, guess what? I didn't want that crap anymore. And I decided instead of being a fool and continuing that glide path is that I want to follow God, man. I want what he wants me to have. I want to be great in his eyes, not freaking TMZ's eyes. And, like, Dick Cavett, you know, that's... And look, and that's, you know, I wrote a book called Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness. And it's this stuff on a different level. It's historical figures. But the question is, what is God's idea of what it means to be a man or what it means to be a woman? God's idea is what you want to get on board with, folks. And you cannot imagine how many people, like Matthew Perry, they're just sucked down this path. They're looking for something. What they're really looking for is God, and they didn't know it. And it is so tragic when you see it in people's lives. We've all known people like this. And that's why I think, you know, Doug, you and me, we know it is only by God's grace that we've achieved anything. We know that. That's not like we're supposed to say that. We know that it is only by God's grace. We could be like Matthew Perry or like a host of people that they don't know what they're looking for. They're drifting around looking for something. And we're going to cut to the chase because time is short. Jesus is the answer and a life of meaning given over to Him. It's just the only way to fly. And folks, you need to know that is true. That's not our point of view. That is true. That will bless you if you take that seriously. Again, you got a lot of young men think that they're invincible, that they've got plenty of time to take life seriously, Eric. And nobody knows. Nobody knows what tomorrow holds. I've had buddies, man, that were in their late teens and early 20s that poof, they're gone. They're dead. And they didn't take their life seriously. They had tragedy happen in their life, and then they're gone. And, man, I can't stand over their caskets and say, oh, they're in heaven now and have the grave sanctify them, because they didn't take their life seriously. They led a totally rebellious, sinful life. And, again, going back to Paul's maxim to Titus, it's like, young men, take your life seriously. Redeem your time. Get filled with the Word of God. Become strong and vigorous and overcome the devil. Because, again, all of us must appear, young people included, before the judgment seat of Christ. You will. I will. And the whole message in Lionhearted is, hey, young dudes, I know there's a lot of fun out there, a lot of cool things to pursue and want to be, but we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ and make sure what you're pursuing is holy, just, and good. This is gold, folks. The book is Lionhearted by Doug Giles, G-I-L-E-S. You need to know Doug Giles if you don't. Look him up. Doug Giles, G-I-L-E-S. The book, Lionhearted. We'll be right back.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Hey folks, welcome back. You know how much I love Doug Giles. Just love to talk to him. He's the author of many books. The new one is called Lionhearted, Making Young Christian Males Rowdy Biblical Men. This is a great book for men's group studies. Lionhearted. Doug Giles, welcome back. Eric, how you doing, big dog? Doing all right. You always encourage me. Thank you for that. There's a lot to talk about in the news that relates to your book Lionhearted and why Christian men in particular need to read your book because very few pastors are coming at this truly biblically, which you do. What we talk about in the news, the insane news two days ago that Matthew Perry at age 54 was found dead in a hot tub. That's kind of like a ... I don't know. Do we know anything? I'll be honest. I always suspect the vaccine when it's heart failure or whatever. We still don't know how he died, but I'll be honest. I've had so many friends and friends of friends die suddenly like this is a new thing. I really didn't follow Matthew Perry's career, but did you have something you wanted to say about that? Yeah, I'm not a big Friends fan. My forte was Seinfeld. Okay. That's why I like you because you're not a big Friends fan, but go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, they're Seinfeld. It's dark, weird, no lessons, no hugs, that kind of stuff. But as I was looking into the Matthew Perry death, he said that according to his memoir that he prayed to God that God would make him famous. Then after I think 60 plus million dollars spent on rehab, 17 times he went in, couldn't exercise the demons, Eric. He said in his autobiography that fame was the worst thing that could ever have happened to him. You get a lot of people in Christian churches, evangelicalism, they long to be famous. Instead of longing to be purposeful, instead of longing to be considered great before the audience have won, they want the adulation of the masses. Perry got that. He got a million dollars in episodes, super famous, movies included on top of that. He lost his whole life, man. I don't know if he was redeemed, but it's an ignoble death to die in a hot tub. He's got the world in New York City at his behest, and he said that it made him miserable. He goes back to the maxim that Jesus said in Matthew. What does it profit you to get all this crap and you lose your soul in the process? So young people, if you're going to focus on something, focus on seeking first the kingdom of God. Focus on that which is holy, just, and good. If God wants to fluff your pillow with some fame, so be it, c'est la vie, but this is a short life, man. Young people, just like Paul told Titus, tell the young men to take their life seriously and not pursue that which is vanity and goofy. I think that's a takeaway for the young ones. What people don't realize, because you can't, is that show business and fame and all that stuff is mostly an illusion in the sense that they're never going to show you their misery, the crying in the pillow.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"And again, we're not saying things were perfect back then and perfect for everybody. That's certainly not true, but we were making progress too slow for some people, you know, that's, that's true, but you don't go where we are today. It's like, I don't like you unless you say black lives matter the way I say it, you know, and to me, that's a chapter in the book too. It's like, we can't say all lives matter. Did God not say for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son, the world who's in the world, past, present and future, all people. So do they matter to the living God that loves us? I think so. So they should matter to us. So when these people yell in your face, they're trying to convince themselves. They don't think that's true. We think it's true. They don't think it's true. So, you know, get off your high horse and maybe learn something, right? There's there, every chapter, these really are very short chapters. I want to say you did that intentionally. So you could read this, for example, if you, if you fall out of a building on your way down, you could probably read a chapter before, well, I guess before you die. But, but anyway, the point is that they're short chapters. You could read them fairly quickly, but every one wants to, is, is, is a statement of the obvious that needs restating. That's why the book is titled Obvious. And you, what else should we talk about? We just got about two minutes left, but I do want to, oh no, we're out of time. Sorry, folks. We will have more. Do we have time? We have time. We have two minutes. What should we talk about in the two minutes? Sorry about that. Go ahead. Okay. One thing I really want to emphasize, and you said a little bit about it, is that everything's like short and pithy. Like if you pick it up, you can start in the middle. You could start at the end. There's short little parables, some of them funny, some of them you might have heard of before, but you realize, oh yeah, there was a cartoon that I could not find, but I kind of described it here in the beginning. There's a bunch of sheep and there's this mean shepherd with a whip and the one sheep stands up and the shepherd looks at him. And then the next panel is all the sheep have stood up and the shepherd drops his whip and he's, he's scared. And I'm like, that's an example of one person. And I've had this happen to me too. Sometimes even in public, there was a guy harassing my wife by actually blocking the doorway and not giving her room. And I asked him politely to move. And he said, you white people think you own everything. And this was a white kid saying it. And I said to him, oh, so you're a racist, eh? So the next stop, people get off the subway and one young black woman walks by me, smiles and says, have a nice day. And I said, you too. She was like, yeah, somebody said something. There are good people everywhere. And when you speak up, uh, it's happened to me a few times. They're listening, they're watching, and every one of us can be that person, uh, and needs to be that person. And so this book is a great encourager, I guess I would say, uh, along those lines. Just the cartoons and the memes I've found. Well, there's a lot, there's a lot of fun. There's a lot of fun stuff in the book. And by the way, folks, in case you were unaware of the title, it should be obvious. And it actually is obvious, obvious by Albin Saydar. Albin, congratulations. Thanks very much. This is Eric Metaxas to tell you about a new movie you've got to see Dinesh D'Souza's movie police state exposes the government's relentless persecution of the conservative MAGA movement. The America we know and love is becoming more and more like a police state every day. 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The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Welcome to the Eric Mataxas show. We'll get you from point A to point B. But if you're looking for point C, well buddy, you're on your own. But if you'll wait right here in just about two minutes, the bus to point C will be coming right by. And now here's your Ralph Kramden of the Airways, Eric Mataxas. Folks, welcome back. In this brief segment, I'm going to talk to the author of a brand new book. Now the title of the book should be obvious. In fact, not only should it be obvious, it is obvious. The title of the book is obvious. Albin Sator is the author, obviously. Albin, everything in the book is the statement of things that we've got to say over and over because they're true and we're living in a time where people are trying to shove lies down our throats. So the book is humorous, pithy, and unfortunately important. Obvious, seeing the evil that's in plain sight, doing something about it. There's something in here. The beautiful part of this book, one of the beautiful parts of this book is your kindergarten picture. You actually, in the book, there's a picture of your kindergarten class. I could cry. It's so cute and beautiful. I know. The children are so cute, especially those two twins in the back row. I'm telling you, they're the cutest. Are you one of those twins? I'm guessing. I might be. And my identical twin brother is standing right next to me. I think. I can't tell because I can't tell us apart. Wait, are you both identical? Yeah. My mother and father assured us, let's just put it that way. Because it doesn't really, if only one of you is identical, then you can't be identical twins. That's just the way it works. There's a mirror at the end of that aisle. And I think it's just, but anyway. It's a picture of your kindergarten class. You and your twin brother are in the back row. So go ahead. Yeah. And this is okay. I'm going to give a little bit about my age here. This was the East street school that doesn't exist there anymore. They tore it down for I-279 or something like that in Pittsburgh. Anyway, but we're all lined up. This is May of 1960. Okay. This was as early as you can get in the sixties. And I talk about the specific things in the photo itself. It's besides the fact that everybody's cute and none of the kids is overweight. We're all, you know, we're all in our Sunday best as it were. There's like 22 of us. And there's another era. None of these kids is doing blow. I mean, it's an era where kindergarteners are not doing cocaine. But seriously, it's such a beautiful picture. I really could get choked up looking at it. Yeah. And I it's so funny because I'm even looking at the little girl that I found so cute. I was like, boy, I'd like to marry that one down there. And here I am five and a half years old, of course. And there's even in the middle, there's even, this is 1960 folks. There's a black baby doll among the toys in the front of the picture. I thought Mattel in 1990 came up with black baby dolls. What they had them actually in the 1960s. Oh yeah, folks. And there's like four black children in the group. And then, you know, at the time it was probably, I don't, you know, which was about, what is that about 15, 20, 20% of the children. And we're in a neighborhood. It's like the lower middle-class neighborhood where that kindergarten was. So it was representative. And this is 1960 folks. Remember what happened at the end of 1960, how all H E double toothpicks broke out. Yeah. But anyway, that's why I love that picture. You should really spell out the word toothpicks, if you don't mind in the future. Well, or, or hockey sticks too. Either way. So this is a picture of your kindergarten class and what is the larger point that you're making? Because that's, I mean, the title of this chapter, these are all very short chapters, is what a difference a decade makes. Yes. One of the obvious things I'm stating, and the reason why I have the children there, there's an article that goes along with that. And it, I think it's titled one of the chapters racism is for losers. And my, when my mother was picking us up at the kindergarten one day, another mother, I overheard this said to my mother, Oh, look at, look at your twins. They're playing with that little black boy over there. And I talking about because our best friend, there was one of the little black boys in the school. And we didn't, we're not aware of him as being black. He was just your friend. Yeah. Because he played with the same toys and had the same, you know, kind of sense of fun that we had because we were children and nobody was saying, Hey, you know, you may think you're a little boy, but you twins, you're not identical twins. Want to use a little girl and want to use not a little girl. You see what we're talking about? Nobody was shoving any of this stuff down to anybody's throat back then. This is 1960 folks. What happened at the end? Where are we today? How far are we come? Like how far backwards have we gone? And I get fired up about this stuff, right? Well, no, it is, it's just astonishing that the, the innocence, this is one of the great crimes of our time. And this is why, ladies and gentlemen, you need to be doing your part in the war against evil, whatever that means. Running for school board, homeschooling your kids, being a poll watcher, whatever God calls you to do. Cause God has a job for every one of us, but to combat the lies, you have to face the fact. And again, this is one of the points of the book that one of the things that is obvious is the loss of innocence. And that to me is one of the most heartbreaking, maybe the most heartbreaking thing is the loss of innocence that little kids, because of the madness on the left, they're growing up in a world where they're being made aware of things that they should never be made aware of at a young age. They should not hear about this at a young age. They shouldn't be confused about sexual identity. It shouldn't be even introduced to them. And little kids are being forced to deal with this. They're being forced to deal with the concept of racism. It is so wrong to impose this kind of stuff on children. It's bad enough when you try to impose it on adults, but the idea, just looking at that picture in the book, that it really was a more innocent time.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Yeah, exactly. Stephen Prothero wrote a terrific book about 10 or 12 years ago called Religious Literacy, and he said Americans are very religious, more religious, let's say, than people in Western Europe. But they typically don't know much of anything about religion, including their own, which he thought was a paradox. We're much more religious than secular Europe, but he said secular Europeans tend to know more about religion, even though they're not religious. Americans tend to be religious, but are pretty ignorant about the religion they identify with and other religions as well. So one of the things my book can do is give you the basics on the world religions. Now, it is written from a Christian viewpoint, but I try to be fair with the other religions, and I do critique the other religions philosophically, and I compare them to Christianity. But we live in a religiously plural world, especially if you're in a cosmopolitan area like you are, I am in Denver. So you are going to meet Buddhists and Muslims and New Age people and the rest of it, so we need to understand some basic beliefs. And of course, if we're followers of Christ, we need to understand what we believe and why, which is just vital. And you know, I've stopped looking at the Barna polls because they're always such bad news about how Christians don't even really know what Christianity is. Well, we certainly should. Well, when you talk about, you know, the Hindu caste system, for example, people need to know that that is racism, that is as racist as it gets. One group is better than another group that's better than another group. That group is inferior. Those groups, those people are untouchable by definition. That is as antithetical to what the Bible teaches as anything ever could be. It's fundamentally un-American. But that's the actual teaching of Hinduism.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Welcome back. I'm talking to Dr. Douglas Grotheist, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary. The new book is World Religions in Seven Sentences. It seems to me that one of the things missing from some of the Eastern religions that you've touched on are the ideas of joy and love. There seems to be a bleakness or a blankness at the heart of some of these philosophies. In other words, they seem to be anti-human, as though the goal of life is to transcend life, which not only is it unappealing, but it seems very, very confusing. I think when you were talking about Nietzsche's view of Christianity, sometimes Christianity has been twisted in those directions so that people, whether Nietzsche or Mark Twain or other people, they have been responding to a bastardized version of Christian faith, a version of Christian faith that is kind of bleeding toward gnostic view or those kinds of things. The biblical faith is not that kind of a faith. It's a very human, grounded faith. God comes to redeem matter. He doesn't tell us just to transcend matter. But that's exactly the opposite of what you're describing in some of the Eastern religions. Well, it is. And you have to go back to the nature of God and the creation that God brought forth. So we're told in Genesis that God created one kind of thing after another. And he says it is good. It is good. After he creates human beings, he says it is very good. And we're told in Genesis that we're made in the image and likeness of God. And that is a teaching that's found in exactly one religious book, the Bible. It's not found in any other religious book. In fact, recently, I'm not going to get political on this, but recently Vivek Ramaswami was asked about his beliefs. He said, well, I'm a Hindu. And as a Hindu, I believe everyone is made in the image and likeness of God. And I went, whoa. Wait a minute. What version of Hinduism is that? That's called American cultural Hinduism, which is actually not Hinduism. Yeah. Right. Now, Hinduism teaches the exact opposite, which is the caste system, that human beings are born into specific castes and they cannot change castes within their lifetime. It's based on karma and reincarnation, two other things the Bible, two things the Bible does not teach. And it was fascinating. I just wrote a little article on that, which will probably come out in the stream fairly soon. But there's exactly one religious book, one sacred scripture that teaches we're made in the image and likeness of God. And that's the Bible. You don't find it in Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism. It's not in Islam either, because Islam teaches that Allah is so transcendent, so beyond us, that to say we're made in his image is actually considered blasphemy in Islam. But of course, being made in the image of God, according to the Bible, means that we reflect God, we represent God, we have certain qualities, we have creativity, we have relationality, rationality. But of course, we're infinitely short of being the uncreated creator. So there's still a distinction, a big gap between us and God. But according to personality, God is an infinite personality and we are finite personalities. And so the setup, metaphysically, is that God can speak to us, God can communicate to us, we can relate to God. The lines of communication, at least in terms of the basics of creation, are open. The problem is sin. You know, the problem is rebellion against God. And that's exactly why Christ came, is to atone for our sin. It's funny when you bring up Vivek Ramaswamy making that statement, that, oh, I'm a Hindu and I believe we're all made in God's image. And it just reminds me that when somebody claims to be some religion, chances are they're full of baloney. In other words, many times people say I'm a Christian, and you talk to them and you realize they don't have any idea of the most basic teachings. And I think that you find this a lot in the United States, that people identify as this or that, but they don't even know the basics of it, really. So that they're actually only, he's a cultural Hindu, which is to say not a Hindu, but there are many people that are cultural Catholics or cultural Christians or cultural Muslims. I meet them every day in New York. They don't really, they just kind of identify tribally. You know, I grew up in Saudi Arabia or I grew up here, so I guess I'm a Muslim. Which is interesting to me because we are, that's why it's important that people understand what these religions teach and don't believe the lie that they're all sort of the same. Your book, of course, titled World Religions in Seven Sentences, because the differences among them are very dramatic. I mean, it just, you know, in the little bit we're touching on right now, you start realizing that.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Before you go into the other world religions, I just want to say that, because when you bring up Nietzsche and the, you know, the is God dead thing, God is dead, what I find funny, obviously, you know, I wrote a book called Is Atheism Dead, because it strikes me that what you said, the evidence for God is overwhelming on every level, and I would actually argue that everyone does know that God exists. Some people just hate him enough or are confused enough that they say that they don't, but it is effectively impossible not to believe that God exists, and the animus that a lot of atheists have against believers, I would say, is really against God himself. So, it is a strange argument, and when I ask the question, is atheism dead, people say, no, it can't be dead, because I know an atheist, and I think, well, I know flat earthers, but flat earthers is dead. It doesn't really matter that there are people confused enough to say, I believe in flat earth theory. If you're paying attention, the argument is over. Atheism is preposterous, so if you're upset about God, we can have conversations, but the idea that you would actually assert that there is no God, it no longer makes any sense. So, I think it's vital to say that in response to what you were saying about the argument from, I don't know, what would you call it, the argument? It's called the hiddenness of God argument. Okay, so, that's just one, and I also would say that atheism actually is a religion, essentially, but we don't have to get into that. But so, what are the other religions, and what are some of the sentences that you use to describe them as headlines? Well, I start out with Judaism, and the statement that I took was God's revelation to Moses in the burning bush, where Moses said, what is your name? Who is sending me to deliver your people? And God says, I am who I am. I was talking to a rabbi about this a few months ago, and he was curious, the book had not come out yet, and he said, what sentence did you use for Judaism? And he thought I was going to use the Shema, you know, hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one. And I said, well, I certainly could have chosen that, but I wanted to deal with the Jewish concept of God. And I also relate that in the book to Jesus' statement, before Abraham was, I am. I think it's legitimate to use that statement from Judaism, from Exodus 3, because Judaism, of course, is nothing without the God who makes the covenant with the Jews, and the God who delivers the Jews from Egypt, and who makes promises about their coming redemption, which we as Christians believe has come through the Messiah Jesus Christ. So what I look at is the significance of this statement. It's kind of a mysterious statement, it can be translated a few different ways, but there's some key elements that I like to focus on as a philosopher, and one is that God is a self-reflective, personal being. He says, I am who I am. So he's not an impersonal force or principle or some unknowable, unnameable something, which actually comes up in Buddhism and Hinduism and Taoism. He is a reflective agent who makes promises and fulfills those promises. He's a person, he's not an energy force.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Hey there, folks. Welcome to the program. I have as my guest Dr. Douglas Grothuis. Don't try to spell that. He is a professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary. He's written many books, been on this program many times before. The new book, brand new book, is called World Religions in Seven Sentences. This should be a very short program. Dr. Douglas Grothuis, welcome back. Thanks, Eric. Nice to be back. So what inspired you to write a book with the title of World Religions in Seven Sentences? Well, I'd written a previous book with the audacious title of Philosophy in Seven Sentences. So this was a follow up to that. The idea is basically to find representative sentences of the world religions and then expand on those sentences. So I'm not trying to be overly simplistic or reductionistic, but sometimes... Doesn't simplistic imply overly? What's that? I'm sorry. Doesn't the word simplistic imply overly? You said I'm not trying to be overly simplistic. That would be like saying I'm trying to be simplistic. I know what you mean. I'm teasing you. But look, it's fun to boil things down. But so one of the headlines here is that you're essentially saying that there are seven, quote unquote, world religions. Well, actually, what I start with is atheism. So the title maybe is a little bit of a misnomer. So the first chapter is on Nietzsche, and the statement I'm looking at is God is dead. So I started with the idea if atheism is true, then all the religions are false, and we really can't defend any religion. So I know that there are a lot of approaches to atheism besides Nietzsche's. But Nietzsche is a very well known, very famous atheist, and he has that parable of the madman, with which I'm sure you are familiar, where the madman comes in and says, I seek God, I seek God. And people joke about him and say, why is God lost, etc. And the idea is that we have killed God. The idea for Nietzsche is that God is no longer a live option in educated society in the middle of the 19th century in Europe. So we need to own up to that, realize the universe has no meaning, and we have to find an entirely different worldview. So I deal with a couple of his criticisms of religion in general. And he really had Christianity and Judaism in mind more than the Eastern religions, but what he was saying was that two things. One is that religion is anti-life. That especially Christianity is against the body, and if you're a Christian you have to deny the enjoyments of life, you have to deny the goodness of the body, and so on. And I challenge that idea, obviously, because God created the world and said it was good, but of course since we're fallen we do have to deny ourselves to follow Christ, but that's really the highest good, because Christ said and demonstrated that he would bring us abundant life, and that he was the way, the truth, and the life. So that critique really falls short. Christianity is anti-life. If we just get rid of God, then we have freedom, possibilities, we can create our own morality, create our own meaning, and of course that idea is very much with us today, and it's a false and dangerous idea. And by the way, I believe... I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, very quickly, the other idea of Nietzsche's is that there can be a God because too many people don't believe in God. This is today called the hiddenness of God objection, and it's the claim that if God is all good and all powerful, he would want to have a relationship with everyone, so everyone would just naturally believe in God. And I think the response to that is well said by my favorite philosopher, who is not Nietzsche, who is Blaise Pascal, and Pascal dealt with this a long time ago in Pensees, and he said that there's enough evidence for those who want to know God, and there's enough obscurity to allow those who are otherwise disposed to turn away, and some philosophers have called this cognitive freedom. So, God has revealed himself in nature and in the conscience and in Scripture, but you are not compelled to believe. You have the responsibility to follow up on the clues and the evidence that God has given, but the fact that there are unbelievers, a lot of unbelievers, is really not evidence against God, especially if you can build up a strong case for God from science and history, as I have in my book, Christian Apologetics, and you have in your books as well. So, I think both of Nietzsche's criticisms fall very short. Nietzsche had some positive things to say about Buddhism. Buddhism is not a theistic worldview, but he was not a Buddhist. He denied all religions. So, I basically start the book with a pretty short critique of atheism. I've got a much longer critique, about 250 pages, in my book, Christian Apologetics, and then we move on to six of the major world religions.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Voters understand where Ron DeSantis came from, and many say if he had just waited his turn, at least on paper, he would have been the natural candidate for 2028. I think that the flaws in his candidacy would have shown then anyway, just as a shrewd observer of political horse flesh, but perhaps not. But let me put it another way. If you have a chance to see the Beatles or a Beatles tribute band, which one are you going to see? We're going to go for the original article. Donald Trump is the leader. In fact, he's the founder of the America First movement in American politics. Ron DeSantis is essentially establishment Republican who knows the words to the music, but I'm not sure he really believes them. Well, before we go, a couple of people sometimes have said nice things about Nikki Haley. I think they're deeply mistaken. I don't trust Nikki Haley. I have to say, I want to ask, what do you know? Because I know that you know about these things. What do you know about Nikki Haley? I agree with your assessment. She's George W. Bush in a skirt. She seems to be interested in endless foreign war. I mean, she's almost like Lindsey Graham in drag. This entire Ukraine first position that she exhibited in the debate is one that I don't think Republicans have much of an appetite for, or at least they have a receding appetite for. She is your unreconstructed neocon. She will never be president. She'll also never be vice president. And if Donald Trump has anything to say about it, she'll never be in another cabinet position. That is the exact brand of Republicanism that Trump's nomination in 2016 is a rejection of. Ukraine first, America second. The entire history of the conflict in Ukraine was never properly aired in the debate. Vivek Ramaswamy takes what I think is closest to the correct position, but sadly, he doesn't explain it nearly as well as, say, Robert F. Kennedy does, who understands historically this is not about Russia seeking to dominate Ukraine. It's about Russia objecting to NATO missiles pointed at Russia being based in Ukraine in violation of an agreement that this country signed with Russia. Unbelievable. Before we go, RFK Jr. has announced he's running as an independent. The question is whether that will take more votes away from Trump or from Biden or from whomever is put forward to replace Biden when he is eaten by worms. It's a two-part question, really. First, while the notion of running as independent sounds great, you can't just wave a wand and become an independent. You have to get on the ballot in 50 individual states where the process to get on the ballot is very expensive, very arcane, very manpower intense, and very truncated. In other words, you have to qualify in most cases with a certain number of pristine, certified signatures of voters, a very high number, within a very short period of time. Whether Robert Kennedy's current campaign has the structure, the organization, the planning, the money, the know-how to do that really remains to be seen. So we should not just assume that because it is his intention to run as an independent that he will succeed in getting on the ballot in enough states to theoretically garner 270 electoral votes. Based on what little polling I have seen so far, it appears to me that he polls disproportionately from Trump rather than from Biden or whoever the Democrat may be. But let's be very clear. Half of his votes come from people who would go to neither the Democrat nor Trump, but who otherwise would not vote. So we're talking about a relatively small number of votes. The chances of him carrying a state in a three-way race and thus throwing the election into the House of Representatives because no candidate gets a majority within the Electoral College, I think are remote. I think he's been a positive force. I like a lot of the things he says. I don't like him on the question of abortion. I certainly don't like him on the question of climate change, which I believe is a hoax. But now I think he's becoming a destructive force in terms of wrenching this country out of the hands of the globalists. And I think his candidacy in the end now is doomed. Watch the process of getting on the ballot very carefully. It is not a piece of cake. Wow. Well, just so good to have you, Roger. Thank you so much. We need to have you back more often because there's only one Roger Stone, folks. I want to remind you folks, people say, what can I do? What can I do? You heard Roger say it. You can pray and you ought to pray and you ought to understand that is significant. You need to understand how significant that is. There are things you can do other than pray. I want to recommend to you that you support the Alliance Defending Freedom. They are absolute heroes in fighting for liberty, free speech, religious liberty. They are absolute heroes on the front lines. Please go to MetaxasTalk.com. Give generously. We need your help. They need your help. America needs your help. God bless you as you give. Technology is moving so fast, it's hard for many churches and nonprofits to keep up with the trends, especially when it comes to giving. Stay ahead of the curve with SecureGive seven in one giving system with all new features like Auto Card Updater, cryptocurrency giving and tap to give kiosks with Apple Pay. It's the system that's proven to engage more people in giving. And it's all back with their full suite of management tools that enable you to gain insight into your church's giving at a glance. But SecureGive is more than a tech company. It's a partner in growing giving and engagement. They believe that every church should be fully funded and they want to help you to make that happen. 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The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"I'm talking to my friend Doug Giles. Doug, where can people find you? Because I you know, half the reason I have folks like you on is because I want people to find you and to get fed from the stuff that you write and the things that you say, because you're one of those voices out there. So how can people find you? Yeah, my Mr. Rogers neighborhood is Doug Giles, that's g i l e s dot org. And there you can find my art, my cigar company, my podcast, if you want to binge listen. And Eric, who would not want to binge listen to me? And you can find all the all the books and all the other good stuff there. OK, Doug Giles, dot com. It's g i l e s dot com. Well, but I mean. No, no, no, no, no. It's dot org dot org. Oh, I'm sorry. Dot org. Doug, I'm guy. OK, I don't know either. Doug, Giles, dot org. But well, because, you know, you're one of the rare voices that is talking about God's idea of manhood. And it is so vital right now, because as we were saying before, there are many people that they get a lot of it, but then they skid off into. I mean, if you think porn or objectifying women is OK, you're not a man, you're an adolescent. To be a man is to be like Jesus is to be mature. And we have a lot of adolescent men trying to pass themselves off as real men. They're not they're basically boys who never grew up. And that is not God's will for you. God's will for each of us is to grow into the full measure of manhood or womanhood. And we're living in a culture that celebrates adolescence. It's basically arrested development where we want to kind of keep people in that mode. And there's something deeply sick about that. Yeah, I think I think a lot of young men, they think, if I'm going to become a Christian, you know, I've got to get rid of my brains, hand over my cojones and morph into, you know, this this this dandy that's been, you know, exemplified to a lot of pastors. And I'm like, yeah, if you go to that church, you might have to do that. But in regards to in regards to, you know, having a true role model, it's incumbent upon the young male for him to really go through the scripture like I did in the book of Matthew and just look at the son of God. Listen to what he's saying and look at the example he's leading. That's not boring. It's not effeminate. It has nothing to do with how evangelical pastors have parlayed our sweet and cuddly little Jesus. This guy was crucified for a reason, and it wasn't because he's walking around over medicated, you know, telling, you know, these these stories like some unshorn Matthew McConaughey on a Bruce Banner weed trip. It's because he's getting up front and the Pharisees grill and he's rebuking bad politicians. He set an example for his disciples of sacrifice and love and take one from the team, take one for the team if necessary. And he confronts Jesus. He confronts Satan on a very empty stomach. That's not a boring Christian life. And if the young male is looking for an example, then here's my challenge to them. Why don't you stick your head in the Bible once you go through the book of Matthew? Take out a little chartreuse highlighter. And every time he does something that's funky, something that's weird, something that most Christians would never do or say. Highlight that and then start getting the revelation in your mind that he is very other than little Christian males. And he will give guys like Andrew Tate or or any of the macho macho guys run for their holy money in regards to exhibiting masculinity. It'll change. It'll literally change the way that you see the son of God. And you'll be able to smell a feminacy and you'll be able to smell the perversion of Christ when you when you begin to hear it and see it. And it'll cause you to again, I think, Eric, just like, you know, you've talked about, you know, it'll cause the prophetic edge to rise up in you. It'll cause you to speak out like never before. And it'll and you'll have a bunch of girls running behind you because there's very few Christian young males that have that kind of moxie. Now, I was going to say, wow, I'm sorry, we're out of time. Doug Giles, my friend. Thank you, folks. You got to find Doug Giles at Doug Giles dot org, Doug Giles dot org.When I grow up, I want to work for a woke company like super woke. When I grow up, when I grow up, I want to be hired based on what I look like rather than my skills. I want to be judged by my political beliefs. I want to get promoted based on my chromosomes. When I grow up, I want to be offended by my coworkers and walk around the office on eggshells and have my words policed by H.R. words like Grandfather, peanut gallery, long time no see. No can do when I grow up. I want to be obsessed with emotional safety and do workplace sensitivity training all day long. When I grow up, I want to climb the corporate ladder just by following the crowd. I want to be a conformist. I want to weaponize my pronouns. What are pronouns? It's time to grow up and get back to work. Introducing the number one woke free job board in America. Red balloon dot work.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Welcome back, talking to my friend Doug Giles, G-I-L-E-S. Doug, you were just saying another thing and we had to go to a break. What were you about to say? Yeah, so when it comes to the overt masculine traits of Jesus, I did a book called If Masculinity Is Toxic called Jesus Radioactive and I highlight through that book that Jesus was hardy. He's a blue collar worker, okay? He's not in some corner office somewhere, doling out dictates to us, pull rubes in the flower estates. He also fashioned a whip, cleared the punks out of the temple. And here's another thing that all these macho, macho Instagram influencer dudes that are trying to shape the silly putty within the young generation male mind that they kind of skip over is that Jesus was incredibly intellectual. He had epic debate skills, so much so that when he was 12 years old there, that young man, he's not a male now, that's a young man. He's running circles around the Pharisees. And so I think it's important. I got a new book coming out that's specifically for young Christian males to make them biblical rowdy men. And I didn't even know this stuff was going to cascade down and come to a head. You know what Tucker did with Andrew Tate, pushing him out there as an example for young men. And in this book, man, I take young men and I talk to them like they're going to become soldiers in God's army instead of placate them instead of pamper them. Oh, Eric, this is one of the most brutal books I've ever written in my life. But here's here's the reason I came off so hard. These kids need to be spoke to in a very austere manner because, Eric, and you know this very well, what they're about to face in this nation, what they're going to face with their family, if they choose to have one, what they're going to face in the church with all the draconian monsters that are coming for America and coming for the body of Christ. They need to grow a set PDQ and come to speed really quick. And I'm afraid, you know, your typical youth group and and your and your college groups, they're not going to cut it. You're not going to cut it with little Bible stories and solipsistic tales of, you know, poor little you. You got to get into apologetics. You got to get into a Christian world view. You got to toughen up a lot because what's coming? Oh. I, I see it, man, and I'm not a defeatist. I'm a post millennial triumph on Kingdom Now type dude. But if you're if you're ill prepared to stand in the evil day, young man, you will become roadkill, guaranteed. You'll switch teams. You'll be a compliant little Christian. You'll absorb the culture instead of infiltrate and resist it. And yeah, that's what is going to happen. It's one it's interesting to hear you say this stuff, because in writing my most recent book, Letter to the American Church, it really the reason I wrote the book, in a sense, is because I had discerned that the the great heresy of our time and the evangelical church in particular, and it is so ugly. All heresy is from the pit of hell. But the great heresy is the idea that it's all about what I believe in my head, and it has nothing to do with living it out in action. And of course, Bonhoeffer talks about it's got to be faith in action. If it's if your faith is not faith in action, if you don't live it out, guess what? You have no faith. You may not be going to heaven because if you're saved by faith and faith without works is dead, you actually have no faith. And it struck me that we've raised a whole generation where it's been this kind of like easy sell, like just believe this. And you're good. Just believe this. And you're good. And you think, no, you've got to live it. And the whole world militates against your living it. So you have to develop resistance. You have to develop strength of character.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Hey there, folks, I promised you Doug Giles would be my guest. Promises made. Promises kept. Doug Giles, my friend. Welcome back. Eric, how you doing, big dog? I'm I'm doing all right. I see if people are watching this by video, they see that there's a painting of a lion behind you, which you did the painting. And then there is a stuffed lion behind you, which you shot and had stuffed. So you're just that kind of a guy. You're a sensitive artist and you're an insensitive hunter. And that's what I love about you. You're a maniac for God. I got to be clear if people are tuning in, don't know who you are. You're pastor of Liberty Fellowship in Wimberley, Texas. You're the founder of Clash Daily dot com. People need to go to Clash Daily dot com. You have a book out that we have many books. But the most recent book we talked on this program a couple of months ago called The Wild Man Devotional. The Wild Man Devotional, a 50 day devotional for men. Doug Giles, my friend, what should we talk about first? You have a couple of sermons here that you printed as articles. We could talk about them. One of the reasons that you're fun to talk to is the way you talk. I mean, you use jack hammered as a verb in the title of the sermon. It says, Jesus jack hammered this attitude out of his disciples. I can't not smile. What do you want to talk about that? What attitude did you preach this sermon recently in this at Liberty Fellowship? Yeah, I preached it a couple of weeks ago, and the disciples, obviously, obviously, Eric, the gospels show who Christ is, his person and work, his ministry and all that good stuff. But it also highlights how dumb the disciples were, which gives me great hope because I'm a full on dunderhead when it comes to understanding the nature and character of God. I need a lot of grace, Eric. I need a lot of mercy because I'm a redneck who went to public school and graduated undergrad with a C minus. And that's what the that's what the disciples were. They didn't get Christ. They were constantly failing. They couldn't cast demons out of a little kid. They didn't understand what true greatness was here. Here Jesus is heading towards Jerusalem and he's he's bracing for the crunch, you know, for his death, burial and resurrection. It's going to be brutal. And those morons are behind them, behind him talking about who's the greatest among them. And that's what that's what Jesus jack hammered out of his disciples was that whole, you know, that that reach, that spiritual phony reach for greatness and grandeur. And he told them, it's like, hey, man, you really want to be great. John, James, Peter, rest the boys. Then here's what you do. You seek to be last in the group. You humble yourself. You prefer others, you know, more than you prefer, you know, special spa treatment for the boys. Also, here's here's a weird thing, man. It's like, how about you serve instead of look for people to serve you. And then and then lastly, he said, you dudes really, really, really want to, you know, break the scale in regards to greatness. He said, receive a kid. And that's receiving me and that's receiving the one who sent me. So it's all it's completely best. Acwards, Eric, even in the church and what people think is greatness. You know, it's it's honorariums. It's what? Rolexes. It's first class upgrades. I've been in green rooms where I'm around these, quote unquote, men of God, Eric. And that's all the crap that I hear about honorariums, what churches pay the most Rolexes and first class upgrades. And I'm like, wow, shock at all, man. This this must be what it's like to hang out with Jesus and John the Baptist. They were completely otherworldly when it came to that kind of stuff, because they were tip of the spear, eternal perspective. And they knew in the grand scheme of things, all this stuff, all this twaddle that, you know, that we care about because we're insecure people. It doesn't mount to a hill of beans when you stand before God at the judgment seat. Would you care to repeat that? No, don't repeat that. I don't think I ever could. No, seriously, that was so well put, as usual with you. But it is fascinating when you look at the church today, how we are typically guilty of exactly the same things that the religious Jews were guilty of in Jesus's day. There were some who were the real thing, Nicodemus and others who were looking for truth. That's obvious. But the temptation to power, the temptation to wealth, those temptations are precisely as strong today in the church as they were among those who murdered Jesus.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"doug d" Discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"Welcome to The Eric Mataxas Show. We'll get you from point A to point B. But if you're looking for point C, well, buddy, you're on your own. But if you wait right here in just about two minutes, the bus to point C will be coming right by. And now here's your Ralph Cramden of the airwaves. Eric Mataxas. Hey there, folks. If you're watching, you can see that I'm back in the studio after four years off, actually wasn't four years off. It needed to be for my mental and emotional health, but it was only, I think, three weeks. But I'm back and I'm I'm feeling reasonably well. We oh, my gosh. Today is Wednesday, in case you didn't know that. And we used to do a thing. Well, we've done a thing over the years where we do like a listener writes. So I got one just this morning and I thought, I want to read this. It's kind of raw, but I want I wanted to read this before I read this. I want to say coming up in the next segment, our old friend, amazing hipster warrior Doug Giles is my guest for our one today. He is unforgettable. If you don't know who he is, hold on to your hat. In our two, we have the former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, coming on. He is a phenomenal figure, very important figure, and it'll be my joy to talk to him. So Doug Giles, David Friedman, there's great breadth in the guests just in today's show. And but first, I want to read this letter. OK, here's the letter. Somebody named Sean writes, Hey, Sean here. I'm writing you to donate to some of the causes you stand for. I'm not rich, but would like to give to some of the organizations you support that help those in need. I believe there's CSI, an organization where women are slaves and you work with people to get them out of slavery. There's an abortion organization that you've mentioned. Send me a list of who you're involved with. I want to do what I can to help others in need. And knowing the monies will go to where they're supposed to love. Listening to you, to John's Mirack and to your guests, exposing corruption, telling the truth about many things as a believer, as believers, we need to stand our ground and stand against these self-righteous, power hungry Idjits and Idjits is spelled I-D-G-I-T-S, which I believe is correct. Yes, we do need to pray for them also, but we need to let them know they're not going to get away with their stealth, cheating, abusive power. Keep up the good work, Mr. Metaxas and crew. God bless you all. There's a lot there. Chris, Chris Himes, you're you're speaking to me remotely from Maryland today. Isn't that an interesting email for I just said I have to read that because we get so many emails from people who listen to the show and this mentioned a number of things that I wanted to mention. Well, yeah, the word Idjit was not on my bingo card for today. But yet here we are. So I'm glad you lose. But everyone else wins because that the word Idjit spelled that way. It kind of says it all. Yeah. OK, so what one of the reasons I wanted to read what Sean wrote is we do need your help in what we raise money for for a lot of things for Metaxas media. I've got to give, send, go page, give, send, go slash Eric. We've got a lot of projects we're working on and we really need your help.