hiatus hernia after a very long hiatus we're back I think it's been over a month three weeks really three weeks on even three weeks as we did our last progressive discussions yes well I guess the fourth week you already know everything about us because there's an intro right before the show so why why be redundant and waste my energy but I'm I'm glad to be back and so is my co-host and mentor for a very long time the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman right now to celebrate our return I am drinking of course yinling yinling America's oldest brewery since 1829 that's right 1829 yinling porter it's like stout it's like a Guinness stout but I think they use cocoa in the difference between a pout a stout and a porter I think there's cocoa involved I could be wrong in this case but it's black it's like a domestic it's like a domesticated Guinness stout for you Irish Americans you got it beautiful red label with the American balls I mean bald eagle bald eagle there you go yinling brewery you want to take a look at something yinling you better freaking remember me promoting you your best what the hell is that it's like a root beer float right no I think you better let it defrost a little defrost no what I did was oh my god because I was bringing the yinling quarters here I put them in the freezer because I like I like my my beer I see cold I see cold and yes I have it in a cooler but I can't I can't deal with room temperature beer oh mine is actually well being that we're having I guess an unseasonable what is the 82 degrees Fahrenheit today both see 85 85 just just for today just for today and then tomorrow a Domingo Sunday 61 61 the high of 61 20 some points lower right but but tonight we'll be in the 50s yeah here in Northeastern New Jersey so you know it's unseasonably warm just for one day and what's what is new gee let me think let me think the Donald Trump administration and the Republican Congress want to want to either kill off the poor of starvation starvation they want they mr. Muppet face Paul Ryan was blabbering on TV about about the Republican health insurance plan the replacement for the Affordable Care Act I he didn't really get to the gist of the matter which is probably that if you're you're not upper middle class or wealthy you're you're you might as well just kill yourself you're not gonna have any coverage they're gonna they're going to stop coverage of pre-existing conditions wasn't that the first thing president Obama installed exactly one of three that was one of the big screw jobs that American health insurance companies were perpetrating on we the people is no pre-existing illnesses which mean if you it which means if you're already sick drop dead die get out of here get out of your moocher get out of your moocher oh I forgot we need seven because Beelzebub is so active in trying to fuck with us all the time we need seven lucky bells there you go seven lucky bells and I know it was a pile of dust on this baby but everything we discussed politically as part of our series crappitalism in a conch show there's the conch there's the conch so can that so can that conch energy yeah yeah I know King Neptune it's been a long time yeah three weeks it feels like three years I know I know yeah well the forces of evil were elected in 2016 by all the all those redneck inbred in basilic evangelicals that's right that's I know they don't have a pot to piss in and they vote for people that only work for the rich and oh I'll remember to mention okay thank you that was King Neptune in Virginia our revolution at the right the Bernie Sanders Jeff Weaver organization our revolution is live in Virginia promoting progressive got their books oh wow I'm staring at her right now you know what you know what they deserve a plug a plug hey anybody complains that I'm getting up and down today go fuck yourself I'm serious and there he is they're alive today in the state of Virginia promoting progressive candidates Bernie Sanders a future to believe in Bernie Sanders calm our revolution okay okay see that yeah see that book man I hope you can see it see it yeah and there's Bernie in front of his his legions that that usually well at least in 2016 showed up at his rallies yeah there he is the Bernie bird himself got a guy we need that new third non-establishment donor free progressive party because it doesn't look like the DNC is seeing the Holy Spirit who who's the that guy what's his name mom he has a Spanish last name the guy who said that Perez Perez he's heading the DNC now right he was he I was watching a video with him and Bernie Sanders and he sounded pretty progressive to me man I don't know how serious he is yeah well but progress Perez sounded very progressive in what he was saying theoretically they want change the Democratic Party they want to they want to reform it they want to give it a a massive blood detoxification followed by a blood transfusion or a colonoscopy yeah I like that better the DNC needs a colonoscopy no they need a colon cleansing a colonic evacuations with a yeah well and oh oh also sank Iker or Euker and and the other dude that doesn't show him the young Toikes Turks is also at this rally this our revolution rally in the state of Virginia and it seems like that these people in Oklahoma were right there are there are progressives in southern and western states you don't you just don't hear about them because the media likes to shove all the right-wing evangelicals at you they get the FaceTime yeah but there are apparently many good progressives down south and out west yeah not not there there's not like currently maybe because of gerrymandering maybe because of rigged voting booths their their their voting power is it doesn't seem to be nearly as powerful as the right-wing evangelical freaks that's right you know but there they exist okay listen let us let me see do I have any products that I want to promote what did I discover anything worthy of buying aside from my my large cast starting skillet that I got a Walmart I don't think I have any new products to promote I do but it's in the box oh yeah having you haven't technically used that's the copper chef that you as seen on TV the copper chef red copper yep red copper okay yeah alright you know what if I had anything important to promote or any anything any any company to really bash well I I could bash something connected with the government but I have a friend that is in the process of being supposedly being helped by such a government so I don't want to bash something that might come back to bite him on the ass so I will let it go for now so because sometimes the system works at some time and most of the time it doesn't unless you're rich and you don't need a system then you don't need the system hey speaking of not needing a system there's a petition going around to arrange it for Congress not to get all those freebies from the taxpayers that they don't need yeah come on they don't need any of it they don't need the whole tax break thing is a matter of redistributing money to the rich from the poor right and also as usual we know that with their 175,000 plus not counting perks you know they can pay for their own health insurance and their own retirement account and oh Elizabeth Warren is not too thrilled about Barack Obama receiving $400,000 to speak publicly four hundred grand clean gun hell of a lot more than that Hilary got more than a million bill they get more than that absolutely and and the fools pay him to exactly that's for loving up love yeah so they you know they you mean you had that pat each other's back one hand washes the other both hands watch the face you scrub my back I'll scrub you are you talking about crony capitalism that's what that is right am I right crony capitalism crony capitalism absolutely anyway I joined this local organization actually it's not local it's a it's a pretty popular website it's called meet up comm dot or dot org something like that meet up me ET and you find what you're interested in and then it shows you people that that like the same things you like and they and they meet up and there happens to be a progressive organization representing Bergen County New Jersey right here in Hackensack, New Jersey and I joined it it's called resist something or other it's put it's a progressive movement what about our time what the fuck is that it's a meeting place for older not not I don't want to hook up with no bag around your age now I don't want to hook up with old bag I want to hook up with young chicks well they show young chicks on TV when they make the ad oh I hate that that that tall nasal twang guy from match.com and the other guys joke the old geezer a puffy face old geezer for me let me tell you if if physical chemistry either happens on day one or it's not gonna happen at all if you want a roommate a buddy a pal that's a different story then you fill out the 40 question the 40 psychological questions of compatibility if you want a buddy if you want a carbon copy of yourself as a platonic friend you know somebody that you don't you don't fuck you don't have sex with but as far as romantic a romantic significant other it either happens or it doesn't you know chemistry so I don't follow I don't go by scientific matching I mean it helps if you have a lot in common it helps but you got to see those fireworks may remember that stupid show love American style back in the 70s when they showed the fireworks going off well that's basically what happens when you you when you click with the right one anyway let us sink our piranha teeth into these readings go to buddy. Ivanka Trump has to a China right and her eyes with Jared Kushner are keeping vast real estate holdings including Ivanka Trump's share of the Trump hotel blocks from the White House where they are both top advisors to the president the couple could be worth at least 240 million dollars with their holdings potentially well the rich do get richer exceeding 740 million according to a financial report released on Friday by the White House government employees are only required to report assets in broad rangers Kushner has divested himself from dozens of businesses or investments and resigned from more than 260 positions well he's a guy's a real go-getter man well his family is in real estate he's a New York City yeah Char he's a he's a child of a New York City real estate tycoon from what I understand right the lawyers have determined that these positions could pose a conflict of interest with his work in the administration Jamie Gorlich the couple's lawyer garlic told the Associated Press that in consultation with the office of government ethics government ethics I just have a laugh attorneys determined right the real estate would not pose the kind of conflicts that would require selling right officials said the disclosures will not include president Donald Trump or vice president Mike Pence and they said the forms do not reveal current holdings but offer a snapshot of officials assets and liabilities before they join the government White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the disclosures underscored Trump's ability to attract successful executives to his administration of course he wants successful executives like they have the people's best interest here's what we know about the AIDS whose reports have been released Steve Bangin the one that looks like Rosie O'Donnell who should play him on Saturday night live the report for chief strategist Steve Bangin reflects his ties to the wealthy Mercer family which was one of the biggest financial donors to Trump's candidacy Bangin earned more than a million dollars last year before entering the White House including a hundred and twenty five thousand from Cambridge Analytica Robert Mercer's dates at analysis firm and a hundred and ninety one thousand from Breitbart news where the Mercer's are also co-owners he earned sixty one thousand in salary from the government accountability Institute a Mercer funded nonprofit that back research into Hillary Clinton's finance and a hundred sixty seven thousand five hundred from glittering steel LLC lettering Sean Spicer on financial disclosure forms for 2006 the White House press secretary reported rental income of between fifty thousand and a hundred sixty five thousand from four northern Virginia properties with a combined value of at least one point one million dollars Spicer's main source of income was his job as communications director at the Republican National Committee where we are in two hundred sixty thousand dollars Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Trump and Kushner stepped down from our running their respective businesses to assume on paid posts at the White House yeah sure but the disclosure report show they will continue to earn money from the companies they helped build so that whole conflict of interest and gone by the wayside and a blank trust and all that that other presidents abide by does not apply to his royal majesty a Donald Trump Ivanka has put her fashion licensing brand in a trust controlled by two relics that is valued at more than fifty million dollars didn't didn't China which is probably the source of her manufacturing kind of like swing things in her favor recently yes it did ranks free bus the White House Chief of Staff earned one point four million in 2016 these are all corporate people that he appoints over half of which come came from the Milwaukee law firm where he is a partner despite the fact that he has been on leave since January 2011 she's since everything in the Trump family that's manufactured is happens to be coming from mainland China where where all those American jobs gonna come from remember the steel that's they he wants to put American steel back in our spines maybe when he said that it ended up being Russian steel one point eight million dollars Gary Khan as Goldman Sachs CEO here we go can't get worse than that he's only a small part of his financial picture now director of Trump's National Economic Council Khan disclosed 11.2 million in cash bonuses 23.2 million from the sale of restricted stock and 1.7 million from exercise stock options from the Wall Street firm where he worked for 27 interesting good googly-googly how come none how come none of this surprises me for you lies lies lies non-stop lies since his campaign promises and why money more money to the right more tax cuts that are rich more money to the rich welfare free money for the rich the manatee yes the sea cow a very very cute animal is endangered no more oh that's good news seriously so protecting the manatee allow them to reproduce good for the manatee you know what I'm gonna dedicate this comeback show to the manatee and the manatee coffee too hold on these are the levity bells by the way they're old-fashioned jingle bells but anyway go ahead I'm sorry but salute to the manatee is no longer on the endangered species list increases in manatee populations and improvements manatee coffee in their habitats led the u.s. fish and wildlife service to downgrade protections for the species from endangered to threaten but it's still positive I mean used to be that way for alligators alligators but the this there's too many now but not everyone is happy no the center for biological diversity noted in 2016 was the deadliest year to date for manatees and why are they why are they well Republicans really do not like any protection of wildlife or the environment so you think this might be a bogus downgrade let's see read on I don't know they like to they like to go out and shoot them and they also like to dump a toxic waste into our waterways yeah if it if it if it helps big business make money yeah there you go like coal coal waste that they want to dump into America's rivers manatees are still endangered I take that back I take back well I don't take back my salute but the good news is not 100% valid with ongoing threats posed by boat strikes we had a propellers from boats a scar of their backs up and habitat habitat habitat we don't support reducing production protections said Jacqueline Lopez still the move to downgrade the manatee marks a milestone about 13,000 of the mammals live throughout the Caribbean and the Southeast US South East East oh we're the the the Everglades Lord the Everglades they're they well they could they they could live in both fresh water brackish water I don't think salt really bothers them I think they're equal opportunity I mean equal pH level opportunities opportunity creatures they can live in both the species is subdivided equally between the antelion manatee and the Florida manatee goes your antelion that's a stark contrast to years past when the mammals appeared to be on the brink of extinction the current population of 6,620 Florida manatees excuse me is a dramatic turnaround from the 1970s something in the air something well there's definitely pollen flying around because I had to take a Zertek before I came here well and that's if you see me rubbing my nose it's like a tickle a tickling irritation anyway a dramatic turnaround from the 70s when just a few hundred manatees remain manatee also known as a sea cow was first listed as an endangered species in 1973 others also criticized the move calling it a huge disappointment why is it a disappointment they they want to hurt these animals US representative Vern Buchanan Republican of Florida of course he's a republic blasted the fish and wildlife service really the decision to weaken protections under the endangered species act threatens the survival of the manatee one of Florida's most beloved animals they are beloved they're adorable they're they're they're they're inoffensive maybe propeller scars should be on the backs of these Republican politicians I have worse fate fate for them in store it was up to me they just don't like they just don't like anything else but making money they really don't put any value in anything else these right-wing demons anyway you folks are that are wondering what this is this is not a hammer this is not a hammer for his hammer yeah yeah somebody online thought this was a hammer this is a blackthorn a lucky Irish Shaleli what is it made of blackthorn wood it's supposed to keep bad spirits away and the wee people and let and leprechauns I know that's what I read but no it's it's a good look it's the good luck charm style of Shaleli there are walking stick Shaleli's there are fighting stick Shaleli's which are different this happens to be the lucky charm version but don't don't underestimate it it can do a lot of damage as it collides with the skulls of right-wing humanoids hunters could soon target grizzly bears from the air on Alaska's federal lands oh real macho hunters you guys are real tough guys aren't you internet providers may get the sell the browsing habits of their customers yeah real even playing field it's like shooting bears that that come out of hibernation that's another another way of cheating that that that hunters utilize go ahead I'm so dates we'll be able to deny federal family planning money to plan parenthood and other abortion providers citing states rights jobs and the right to bear arms congressional Republicans are reversing dozens of Obama era rules affecting the environment education and the energy sector GOP is using largely unknown but highly effective I'm holding on I am holding on but highly effective this is the biggie I can see that legislative tools that allows a simple majority in the House and the Senate to overturn regulations that often took years to craft indeed with an overhaul of health insurance going off the rails Republicans are casting the effort as overturning eight years of excessive government regulation and boosting business of course and any amount of government regulation is excessive to a Republican get people back to work and after years of sluggish growth oh sure give a real boost to our economy said speaker ball ride yeah people in China and Bangladesh it'll get people back to work overseas the Philippines where all of our customer service jobs went to for for a lousy 50 cents to a dollar an hour it'll get people back to work oh yeah you know you know what this a corporate ass kissing Philippine gentleman told me this motherfucker told me well that's all that's a lot more money than they usually make it so they should be grateful for the 50 cents to one dollar an hour Ronald Reagan use that you should be thankful for a dollar an hour that sounds like Barbara Bush with the hurricane Katrina people oh yeah this is step up sleep sleeping on on the ground of the New Orleans Superdome they should be thankful it's a step up for them let them eat cake the president has signed eight resolutions revoking regulations issued during the final months of Democrat Barack Obama's presidency oh boy six resolutions have cleared Congress and are awaiting the president's signature a couple dozen more are on deck the last Thursday the deadline for filing more Trump has signed measures eliminating requirements that mining and oil companies report payments made to foreign government the rule was designed to shine a light on how much money foreign governments received for their nation's resources thus reducing the prospect of corruption reducing the prospect of corruption yeah sounds like a fantasy world fantasy land in the United States we also sign another measure reversing an Obama plan to prevent coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams let it go let it go sure pollute pollute America's waterways hey they haven't they haven't fixed Flint Michigan yet these are about trickle down their life is about giving more money to the high-end and to the corporate interest pistol downs more like it maybe it will trickle down that would be good maybe it will trickle down but if it doesn't so be it well it's not going to trickle down never has before it's not going to drip down that's the free market Pelosi said oh Nancy Pelosi Democrat of the state of California talking like a right wing Republican well now we know where Nancy Pelosi stands probably the same as where what's her name Feinstein what's her first name Diane Diane Feinstein of California another suck-up sell-out blue dog conservative demon crab so now we know where Nancy Pelosi stands I you know I never I never liked her back in the days when she used to keep on saying bipartisanship every every other word was bipartisan compromising you know what that means I mean our Republicans are concerned yeah that means you let the Republicans you lose the people lose yeah that means that you the Republicans more or less get their way that's right now do you see why I have these arguments on Facebook with with those that want to save the Democratic Party that are obsessed with with rescuing the Democratic Party Robert Wiseman president of public citizen a consumer activists good advocacy group pushed through oh boy well actually actually damaged our economy now you know why I swing the show early a lot see how aggravated I get for example with the political issues of this country eliminating the stream protection rule may help the companies public art the companies that would gain through healthier streams and water supplies if you look across the terrain of the congressional review act resolutions they are repeals of public measures that help consumers workers and the environment the Republicans driving these measures are paying back their corporate benefactors at the expense of the public in some cases the regulatory repeal efforts have had nothing to do with the economy but addressed hot button social issues that's so often dominate Washington politics Republicans blocked a social security administration rule that would have prevented tens of thousands of mentally disabled beneficiaries from being able to purchase a fire also so psychiatric patients should be allowed to own any kind of firearm they want even automatic weapons baby AK-47s baby buzzer guys I wish I had a AK-47 seeing seeing how this country is going what direction it's going in the rule was targeted specifically at those beneficiaries with mental disorders who have a third-party manage their financial benefit yeah I wonder why Republicans want mentally disturbed people to have firearms it's not very logical I would say a lot of their people that own firearms are mentally you mean like like old them dar yeah in red red next to the Audionda yeah yeah yeah the ones that are dirt poor and vote Republican yeah I'd say they're mentally disturbed yeah the latest repeal effort clearing both chambers required Republicans to bring a vice president Mike Pence to the Capitol so he could cast the breaking the tie breaking vote on the abortion issue yeah they the vice president has the right to break ties but you're talking about an evangelical cultist freak in Mike Pence that makes no sense the scrapping of the health and human services rule gave states to go ahead to deny federal family planning money to plan parenthood and other abortion one of the more closely contested repeals would kill an online privacy regulation 15 Republicans sided with Democrats in opposing the repeal which Pelosi said would allow internet providers to sell your personal information without your consent yeah well it gives it gives corporations the right to infringe on your your well your your civil rights basically right do anything they want with your information bypass the Constitution if it means them making money right at anyone's expense except the rich the ability of Congress to void regulations with a simple majority was created in 1996 when Congress passed the Congressional Review Act in the 20 years since then Congress was only able to use it once to repeal a regulation Congress sent five repeal resolutions to Obama he vetoed each one the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has encouraged the regulatory road roll back Neil Bradley a senior vice president at the chamber acknowledged that it's hard to say how many jobs were created or saved through the repeal of one particular rule but he said employers are all sizes tell the chamber that government regulations are top concern that makes it harder for them to flirt any time we can roll back these regulations another step forward to restoring the economic growth that I think is the top priority of American people don't hold your breath that is your finish with that humongous reading yeah don't worry I'll get it was I gonna say if I'm not mistaken I believe even less people less Americans actually voted this past November 2016 then they did November 2014 I haven't heard a set of numbers but according to the inaugural pictures I would say so yeah this is old yeah this is old that one too this one too okay yeah I mean it's been happening for quite a while actually that a very low percentage of the population in the United States does not vote and of course the all the all the lunatics that vote Republican vote so therefore the Republicans get elected see I gotta thank you thank you America for allowing the dregs of humanity to take control and remember when you drain the swamp what you have left are bottom feeders pond scum pond scum the bottom feeders all all the nice clean fish with the scales are out are out of the swamp they're gone yeah well you didn't drain the swamp he brought the small bin invited well he brought more school more school much more yeah well school my grandfather you say scuma meaning scumbag scum scum yeah he brought more in more scum in yeah absolutely maybe some more toxic ways you know there was a back in the 1960s one of the Toho production you know Godzilla Japanese monster movies there was there was one movie called Godzilla versus the smog monster and what smog monster was was a monster that was born from pollution and in old day in those days pollution was pretty bad oh yeah smog you know I mean take a look at a late either late 60s or late or early 1970s it came out take a look at a picture of New York or Los Angeles back then and take a look at it now you well you couldn't even see the buildings back then see anything yes yeah yeah yeah oh by the way your your email inbox is working I don't know I'm asking you I haven't tried gave up I deleted 961 oh you don't have a spam folder that automatically had no that's what we in the regular box the inbox yeah I used to have I used to have that but I I got so fed up with having to go through hundreds having to weed out the good email it took me too much time so I realized that the automatic service which puts spam into a spam folder is 99.999% accurate I decided that's it enough is enough to lead it all let it be let it be if if if it's recognized as spam then I'm not talking about the luncheon me that comes in out of a can talking about spam you know if it's if it looks like spam it's probably spam well I deleted all of spam and I deleted everything in the inbox yeah because his inbox was full I couldn't email dr. Bill anything yeah return to sender address unknown no such number no such phone yeah I was freshly was singing hi and aha yeah I heard Colonel Parker kind of like ripped them off or or overbooked him and or something I don't know yeah yeah Colonel Park drove him drove him to his dad yeah yeah Colonel Parker you know didn't give Elvis Elvis any a rest at all no no no no how you're doing of course he wore out himself to you know but he was a he was a basically a hell of a nice guy I mean he was not he was actually very good to people yes he was Elvis Presley got rest of soul he was kind he was generous you know you know yeah because of his background right and and and he was probably just worn to a frazzle that's right by Colonel Parker just like like Michael Jackson's father wore wore the boys out to a frazzle yeah Joe Jackson is that his name something like that off the bar jerk off Jackson ah so what do you think last night I saw the Caprio Leonardo in the Wolf of Wall Street oh I never saw that movie well it might be on again what words you see it I saw it on FX okay well now you've got you've got a hell of a lot more television freedom yeah well with the movies yes yeah are you way you're able to surf through your cable station's been no problem yeah okay all right good cool all right so how was it how was it man he was on the ludes and and the cocaine these guys push push push go go show make my money money money profit profit profit oh man it was terrible so yeah you know same as the same as Elvis well I told you my friend my my my long time near dear friend Lisa Cohen used to work for Bear Stern and they were they had there was a little infamy connected with Bear Stern right yeah one time he got so he got so loaded and high he was on he was on the ground like a with cerebral palsy couldn't move because all only crawl yeah like that yeah then he got in his car and he drove somewhere and he banged the car into here there everywhere it was a terrible movie but he was making forty seven forty nine million dollars a year listen life I think life like like like yin and yang from from the Orient from Taoism I think it is about balance you need your health number one you need your health you need your health your health is number one good family and friends I'd say number two and material comforts luxuries you know maybe number three well the guy that taught him how to do his work and everything like that you said you got a jerk off on maybe twice a day yeah what is that to clear your mind yeah it's most jerk off yeah you mean like put up put some internet porn on and wax the old Bishop whatever or well if he's rich he can he can have escorts come to the office and they had that he could believe me he could he could lock the door and put the sign out says do not disturb and I'm serious do not disturb or else and anything they wanted and then Betty could write that off on his taxes the escorts yeah so it was called something entertainment yeah you put it would write it off on your fans you know for meals yeah what are the executives quote the martini luncheon yeah that two three martini martini luncheon with a shake and not stirred without that's a very classy drink it's still today's is probably the classiest drink of all is the vodka martini the good the good vodka good vodka good vodka you know when you shake I know we're digressing here but you know when you're always certainly you know when you shake the martini the ice cubes in that stainless steel martini shaker shave ice you know no no even cubes it progressively gets colder and colder and colder in your hand the movement of the ice cubes jiggling around rattling around makes it get colder to the point where your hands are freezing it's two parts vodka one-part driver muth vermouth is a is a wine with a very old history it used to be used medicinally hey in Europe it was invented in Italy and yeah so it'll be one part driver move two parts vodka and ice and don't forget the olive green olives shaking not stirred shaking not stirred thank you that was James Bond's request right there is an old expression shaking not stirred beware of the tail that wags the dog I heard that for that is not the natural order of things sounds like a very deep and wise old saying the house Freedom Caucus formerly the Tea Party Caucus I don't like it has been the tail wagging the Republican Party in Congress and America for the last 20 years sure there's a top top of the top 1% oligarchy that's really the puppet master for all of them they scared a heck out of House speaker Paul Ryan well Paul Ryan is really a wussy yeah you remember when he debated when he debated Joe Biden he was sweating bullets drinking water sipping water every few seconds and he couldn't he had no comeback for Joe Biden Joe Biden destroyed Paul Ryan yeah President Trump and many Republican moderates moderates moderates yes interesting freedom caucus supporters have been with some exceptions the likely is to turn out in Republican primaries and in heated general elections though their numbers are far less than the rest of registered Republicans the Freedom Caucus is a group of only about 35 to 40 of the House's present 237 Republican members without their votes though the House Republicans need Democratic votes to reach a majority of 218 to pass a bill congressman in the Freedom Caucus freedom caucus their freedom talk constantly about letting the American people be free from the kinds of federal government interventions they don't like so they're they're they're letting the poor they're doing you they're doing the poor a big favor by giving you this freedom from government programs that are keeping you alive and healthy exactly it by by by by by by feeding you by by throwing you to the wolves they are giving you freedom yes and independence a lot and the independence to allow you to to prosper and grow in as the worms get you in the grave they describe most federal programs as ones making Americans weak and social what about when the rich get all that free taxpayers money isn't that weakening isn't that hindering the wealthy when when corporations get get wealth get corporate welfare no no healthier local rich person well we all know it's all about we all know how hypocritical the wealthy and the Republicans really are that's right and and blue dog Democrats that's right which is awful a lot of them nowadays however they insist on federal crop and coal subsidies for their constituents US national trade barriers against their states products and competitors subsidies congressional grants for roads and sewers and bridges and federal government money and supplies in the event of a natural disaster most of them would never want to be revealed to their families and constituents that their health care policies will actually hurt social security medicare Medicaid and Obamacare yet that would have been the effect of their efforts a few years ago to privatize social security and this year to pass the Trump Ryan care plan that voucher eyes medicare you mean steal our money and privatize it which means you basically dropped it you don't get that money goes to Wall Street so that they can invest it in all manner of shit that they did in 2008 because the problem about that other scheme they have for raising the retirement age to like 70 years old so you never get to you never get to see your first social security check because you'll be dead they go you'll be dead before you qualify for social security retirement but they sure will retire after they put in their two terms in Washington when they get when they get the taxpayer funded retirement the congressman and senators there they will see their retirement wealth on the dole only 17% now you know why I got the chile of American citizens want to get rid of Obamacare my guess is that number who would want to hurt social security medicare and Medicaid is even lower well many people in red states began to realize that they needed their affordable care and they're pretty pissed that they're gonna they're gonna lose it the vast majority of republicans and democrats don't want harm to come to these programs yes our founders wrote about seeking the individuals right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness yeah but they also saw the need and created a governmental system encouraged to form a more perfect union they also mentioned warned about a rogue government and they also mentioned keeping religion out of government and to provide for the common defense and general welfare in the past a hundred years congress has enacted social safety net programs because the people of our country need them corporations get and the US Supreme Court has ruled each of those laws consistent with our Constitution so now the question is whether Trump and Ryan will set these few freedom caucus members free time for Trump to invite the moderate republicans and democrats back to the grown-ups table the way Ronald Reagan saves those security yeah in 1983 the only thing they said free republicans is Pandora's box if he follows Reagan's event Trump just might save Obama he could even take the first steps towards Medicare for all so he's gonna out of way so he wants to take credit for both by the way yeah mr. bird birdie Bernie bird Bernie Bernie Sanders has put forward a bill Medicare for all Medicare for all yeah he everything Bernie Sanders talked about during his campaign he's gradually putting forth these bills and I'm glad to see his old buddy Elizabeth Warren on board with a lot of the things he is for and also showing up at our revolution live video streaming I'm glad to see that she's coming to her senses you know hey ever since ever since Americans left their their family own farms where they were they were making a living on their own land to go live in the cities to work for the the demons the man the fat cats ever since that happened there's been nothing but trouble corruption and a rig system yeah and I think the industrial revolution began in Manchester England chief thanks a lot United Kingdom if he follows Reagan's example Trump just might save Medicare I mean Obamacare he could even take the first steps towards Medicare for all a program that will bring universal health care to Americans and reduce our health care costs dramatically and and assure that every American gets adequate health care but all yes yes and the same should go for public universities public colleges our present health care system relies on private insurance companies fuck and to provide the coverage let them go belly up and their profit making overhead is 15% well they should they should perish just like poor people are allowed to perish and our veterans are allowed to perish without a home Medicare's overhead is only 3% for private companies in offering the kind of supplemental insurance they now sell to today's Medicare recipient but first the American people must persuade Trump that he won't be popular again unless he creates a bipartisan effort to save Obamacare and then realize universal health care for all well if you take away if you take away any safety net from the poor middle class that's a good way to have people not reelect you so it should be a good way to have a revolution like Bernie Sanders book our revolution that's exactly what the United States needs stopping Trump and Ryan care Ryan care saved 14 million Americans from losing their health insurance next year lying 24 million from losing theirs in the next 10 years it also avoided huge increases in the health care and prescription costs for seniors the poor and the working poor now modern Republicans and Democrats must insist that the president and the Speaker Ryan abandoned their freedom caucus on this issue and reach out to them to fix Obamacare in that some form of Medicare for all and to safeguard the scumbag American hospitals and medical centers and physicians from ripping off Medicare you know false claims that they send in and things like that okay listen we're gonna break for lunch is that okay with you viewers out there well I'm gonna have to do it okay then we'll be back for the balance of the show and you're now gonna be joined by how to defeat a conservative Bible verses followed by promo and then we will be back thank you all right excuse me all right this is James P. Madonna of mega life 21 hard-hitting podcasts holistic health talk and progressive discussions I want to talk about the very foundation of our entire organization the newsletter that was founded by my co-host and mentor the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisman in 1977 and that newsletter is called censored newsletter censored is truth and news fighting censorship and conservative propaganda we believe we are living in the end times and you need newsletter censored newsletter censor provides the kind of truth that most people are afraid to hear can you handle it newsletter censored is for the independent critical free thinker with an open mind besides the reading of censored newsletter censored also has the God project and how to defeat a conservative there is nothing in the mainstream media or the press like newsletter censored so simply go to www.newslettercensor.com and with your gift to support this work get your free annual subscription to the newsletter that started at all in 1977 newsletter censored you need newsletter censored that's www.newslettercensor.com greetings this is James P. Madonna of mega life 21 hard-hitting podcasts holistic health talk and progressive discussions I want to talk about the very foundation of our entire organization the newsletter that was founded by my co-host and mentor the Reverend Dr. William J. Isman in 1977 and that newsletter is called censored newsletter censored is truth and news fighting censorship and conservative propaganda we believe we are living in the end times and you need newsletter censored newsletter censored provides the kind of truth that most people are afraid to hear can you handle it newsletter censored is for the independent critical free thinker with an open mind besides the reading of censored newsletter censored also has the God project and how to defeat a conservative there is nothing in the mainstream media or the press like newsletter censored so simply go to www.newslettercensor.com and with your gift to support this work get your free annual subscription to the newsletter that started at all in 1977 newsletter censored you need newsletter censored that's www.newslettercensor.com okay we're back back from lunch and as you can see I'm enjoying another yinling porter yinling America's oldest brewery micro brew to perfection all right got that got it it's you can't get a darker cerveza beer than a porter or a stout continue in his address to a joint session of Congress last week Donald Trump called on this Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reform according to the Hill newspaper the next day to Republican House Committee chairman Greg Walden Republican of Oregon and Kevin Brady Republican of Texas Oregon I thought Oregon was a progressive state so did I supported by House Speaker Paul Ryan presented the House Republican leadership draft plan for taking apart the Affordable Care Act which they've been working on for months working on the year the Republicans actually working on something their reform plan includes eliminating I thought they work on it the ACA's expansion of Medicaid yeah that they don't want they don't want the poor so the poor to have a Medicaid drop that drop that to the poor if the House GOP leadership plan passes millions of poor and working poor American citizens will suffer and you'll see rioting in the streets eventually according to the Wall Street Journal 14 million are receiving healthcare insurance for the first time as a result of the Obamacare Medicaid expansion well Obamacare allows Medicaid patients to actually see a private doctor because many private private doctors do not accept Medicaid because they don't pay much so before poor people had to go to the outpatient clinic of a hospital and apply for charity care there and whatever but they couldn't they couldn't see a private doctor at all no no private physician would accept Medicaid so that is a plus for the poor to be able to go to have an appointment and see a doctor in a private office in a timely fashion the GOP plan would accomplish the Republicans objective by merely giving the states a finite lump sum Medicaid block grant yeah which probably will be inadequate that's correct it'll be inadequate it's like telling people to go to your local church for help or and your and your relatives yes sure inadequate whether or not that some would cover all those healthcare costs I hope you realize Americans that both Republican you are pieces of shit natural-born pieces of shit I hope that that sinks in also the Ryan plan would not obligate states to spend any federal Medicaid money at all on those American citizens now covered by the Obamacare Medicaid expansion according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study released on February 24 80% of Americans including the vast majority of Republicans Democrats independence one Congress to keep the Obamacare Medicaid expansion well until until we have a single-payer Medicare Medicare for all that's the only thing the poor has that's all they have is the Affordable Care Act so why would the Republican leaders in the house keep pursuing this they don't care they have theirs and they don't care what you have or have not one theory is they're evil that has a matter of their political philosophy philosophy yeah the Republican leadership simply doesn't believe it is the role of America's federal government to provide Medicaid financial assistance and then if you have a Republican governor in your state they won't believe it is the role of the state therefore the poor will perish or will have a another civil war they object to the socialism of Obamacare hey man socialism works perfectly in northern Europe you know a friend of mine was he I told him about the starting pay for McDonald's employees in Denmark is like $22 an hour or something like that and the price of a Big Mac is only slightly higher in Denmark so I was telling him about all the wonderful aspects of democratic socialism in Scandinavia him himself being a struggling middle-class individual you know struggling to pay his bills but likes Republicans he comes back and he shows me the high price of gasoline in Denmark I said so my answer was well electric cars are kind of taking over anyway which is true electric cars are mass produced and they are quite sufficient they they look there hasn't been any any any bugs or problems with electric cars in decades big oil suppressed the production of electric cars I don't I'm not even talking about hybrids and also there is a wind generator Uno one wind generator that is out there that could supply all the electricity one household requires it exists the whole green energy movement is quite real and but you know it's like they don't let go they they don't they they're not wealthy they struggle like hell to make ends meet but I'll be damned they just they're under a right-wing spell they have to come to the defense of the right wing it doesn't make any sense doctor bill ignoring or rejecting the socialism of Social Security and Medicare programs that have saved and improved the lives of so many tens of millions of America seniors and families the other view is that regardless of the worthy public policy in providing basic health insurance for the poorest of our people these Republican house leaders want the money for purposes they deem more important yeah like giving free free subsidies to the corporations and the rich and the military the military industrial tanks that you'll never use well airplanes that you'll never use when when when when you talk about military waste you're talking about a deep hole not the not the need for the military spending but the need to to allow the companies that make the weapons to profit whether whether you require the weapons or not it's not the issue it's it's about you know who fills the pockets of the part of the politicians who is who who determines is what determines who their boss is their puppet master they have after all pledge that one of their first priorities is to enact new tax cuts that will disproportionately help America's wealthiest these very few lawmakers still believe in the failed notion of trickle down economics the big lie the big lie called trickle down economics the big Reagan lie speaker Ryan and his court say their state block grant approach will also save money how courts it will it does so by cutting health care insurance it's a no-brainer isn't it for America's poor and working poor you know I think I think the average the average poor slob that votes Republican does it for one or two reasons either they're they're spellbound by their religious cult you know of thinking that a fertilized egg is a baby or or they're just flat-out racist and and and and they they like the idea that Republicans do not like people of color those are the only two reasons the average schmuck that votes Republican votes Republican remember the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush tax cuts have already benefited our most affluent as well as added billions to our national debt shouldn't be surprised at a time of the greatest wealth and income disparity between the top 1% and the rest of Americans since the great depression the House Republican plan would be hurtful and damaging attack on our nation's neediest citizens Ryan and his tea party cohorts yeah the freedom caucus yeah yeah who are pushing this change in Medicaid represent only 16% of the Republicans in the House and 9% of the entire House of so they're in the process of pushing it President Trump who campaigns supporting tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit America's most well-off nevertheless told the conservative news website the daily signal during the campaign I'm not going to cut social such good a day Medicaid or Medicaid well if you cut Social Security it means you're stealing money that doesn't belong to you and trickle down only works if the job stay in the United States will the American people allow the Republican controlled House and Senate to pass the Republican House leadership's hurtful and regressive plan for our country's ports would the president sign such a law that would so negatively affect our country's most vulnerable will he go back on his word but I'm not cutting Medicaid we can't wait to find out for those who care about the health of our all of our people contact the president your representatives in Congress and tell them hands-off our Medicaid you know what I got when I sent an email to Senator Robert Menendez and I got an automated reply not a personal reply so I stopped sending emails to my congressman and senator or maybe maybe my congressman maybe the congressman are different maybe they get back to you personally some do Rothman used to Rothman when he was about Bill Pascal never tried Bill but I will I met Bill Pascal and had a big conversation with him at Pope 46 and Clifton when he was enjoying a cocktail he my friend my good friend a little Jimmy Pesto Jimmy Liguri knows him well campaign for many times he's our representative he's in our district yes and I was telling him about a time at the time my Colombian wife was with me and I was telling him about how how a very very a right-wing things are in Colombia and at that time George W. Bush was president and he was very buddy buddy with their their president and he says yeah we're very aware of what countries are pure right-wing which means bye-bye middle-class you just have the very poor and the very rich don't expect any help if you happen to be poor you might have time for two more yeah you have to wonder yeah what Chris Christie thinks as he surveys the rubble of his political life now from his elbow like exile in training you know haven't heard about from Chris Krispy Kreme Crisco Christie aka balloon boy in a long time now what's going on with the chubsy-ubsy we all know how president Donald Trump rejected Christie yes yes he dissed him for a top cabinet post not one post in his administration not one job offer and how Christie was dumped from Trump's presidential transition team yeah my buddy Chris my buddy my friend Chris Chris after doing very little before the election wasn't that the time when bridgegate sort of came out yes I would say yeah it might have something to do with his reluctance to give him a job and now the Republican Party turned its back on Christie's scheme to become national chairman well Christie was interviewed recently by CNN I must watch that video I did not see it and I posted it on the progressive discussions Facebook page and I will try to remember to watch it sorry for the interruption thanks to stalwart reporting by the record blocked Christie's attempt to skirt state laws and sign a book deal with while still in office yes it's been a rough scratch for the self-proclaimed straight talking report it's almost laughable that Christie was once considered a top Republican presidential candidate these days his political playlist has shrunk to only a few tunes notably his desire to improve drug treatment for addicts it's true I remember seeing those advertisements but then again during the Republican national debates I did not I don't think Chris Christie had too much opportunity to speak it was mostly Donald Trump being colorful and attracting all of the attention of the media but Christie is not a man to sit back no sir last week our governor reached into his playbook and dust it off another campaign to champion for the good citizens of New Jersey drum roll please know you know what would what would make Chubbzy of Z rise from from the ashes of the fire like a Phoenix like a Phoenix rising from the ashes you know what would totally turn Chris Christie's career around if he turned progressive at a spite out of at a spite against the very Republicans that this respected him and turned their back on Chubbzy of Z he should turn progressive and he would come back bigger and chubbier then I mean bigger and better than ever before well our governor wants to make it easier for people to carry concealed handguns easier oh gee so he wants to turn New Jersey into Dodge City or Deadwood who's that South South Dakota Deadwood South Dakota or the worst the worst town in the wild wild west I think it was called Brioche it was a mining town it might have been out in Nevada or something but their people were getting bushwhacked and and there were shootouts like every day it was like it was bad now I realize that many of you are discussing this issue endlessly how you would love to be able to slip that handy Glock Beretta or Smith and Wesson into your shoulder holster or purse when you step into the wild world of the garden state just think of all the ladies that are out and about having a little modern derringer hidden in in their in their cleavage there will be nothing that would be that would spell nothing but trouble for New Jersey's nightlife I guarantee you everybody all these pistol-packing patrons you never know what you might face after they drink too much in the shop right produce style or what sort of battles await you as you stand in line for that chai latte at the local Starbucks what do you mean my coupon has expired hey you're gonna give me that discount or else I can imagine bang bang and heaven for a bid yeah who knows what awaits us as we pull up to the pump had a turnpike rest stop oh forget it turnpike I-95 highway rest stops it killed right well they well I mean gas station attendants have been known to be robbed at gunpoint as well as convenience stores late at night but Christie wants us to have options liquor stores so last week without warning the governor announced at his office had adopted new regulations that would water down the state's string and restrictions on ordinary citizens seeking permits to carry concealed handguns for their personal protection well hey man the criminals they already get their weapons from the black market yes so they got theirs but it doesn't sound like Chris Christie is embracing a progressive attitude even though the Republicans have turned their back on the portly gentlemen all right we got time for one good solid reading you got any whimsical change of pace in a Mexican no all right go ahead read that one in a Mexican cave system so beautiful and hot that it is called both fairyland and hell I thought caves are supposed to be cool yeah that's what I thought scientists that discovered life trapped in crystals that could be 50,000 years hey they're native Native American ruins in South America I think in Bolivia I think that are over 10,000 years old 10 to 15,000 years old I was watching the history channel as I said yesterday about ancient aliens and stuff and there's this big round mountain in West Virginia I think it is and way down in the middle of it are eight giants oh skeletons I saw that yeah giants literal giants also they found new ruins there it's either Pueblo or Hopi Indian ruins that are very very very old I mean super old and but the giants say that that's nothing new they've been finding giant human skeletons yeah the Giants and then a fellow here with the heads your long-gated heads long-gated heads now some South American Indians when when a child has a a rather flexible cranium you know it's kind of soft they bind the head to make it elongated where other accounts in cultures that don't bind the heads have the elongated skulls and according to that one person individual that used to work for the government and he admitted that on ancient aliens he admitted that there have been several species of extraterrestrials that have been visiting earth for quite a long time well they say there's a lot of pyramids and maybe ancient city under Antarctica and don't forget Antarctica it is not solid ice like the Arctic Ocean it is a continent with mountain ranges and land yes that is very true there are things being kept secret in Antarctica yeah actually the government keeps quite a bit of secrets from we the people as it does and NASA too the bizarre and ancient microbes were found dormant in caves in Nica Mexico hey remember those photos of Pluto scientists were blown away Pluto Pluto they thought it was like it that was a dead rock like the moon but no you sure Pluto or Mercury though it was a mercury I mean it was Pluto and fire oh two of Saturn's moons Europa and another one that has a possibility of some form of life yeah because the Cassini aircraft that the craft just went by there in the circles in yeah they had said plurals cryogenic volcanoes that are something happens when when things freeze it believe it or not the energy created when something freezes actually gives off heat believe it or not the molecules like the molecule activity and you multiply that many times over anyway it's a beautiful planet it's like the burgundy red and there's like planes there's no craters or very few craters on Pluto it's uh it's it's like flat planes and and a lot of burgundy red patches mountain ranges types of volcano which are broad with a hole in the middle but not not tall and and form like a peak more broad and wider okay anyway I'm sorry these microbes were able to exist by living on minerals such as iron and manganese really said Penelope Boston head of NASA's astrobiology Institute it's super life she said who presented the discovery Friday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Conference in Boston it confirmed the find is yet another example of how microbes can survive in extremely punishing conditions on earth amazing true though it was presented at a science conference and was the result of nine years of work the findings haven't yet been published in a scientific journal and haven't been peer reviewed Boston planned more genetic tests for the microbes she revived both in the lab and on site the lifeforms 40 different strains of microbes and some viruses are so weird that their nearest relatives are still 10% different genetically that makes their closest relatives still pretty far away about as far away as humans are from mushroom in deep there we have deep ocean oceanic marine creatures that are living in in such a depth that what we crush a submarine or would crush any sub you know any type of sub oceanic vehicle and they're living under thousands of pounds of pressure and there that's their natural habitat the night are an abandoned lead and zinc mine and they are half a mile deep before drilling occurred by a mine company the caves had been completely cut off from the outside world some were as vast as cathedrals with crystals lining the iron walls they were also so hot scientists had to don cheap versions of spaces to prevent contamination with outside life and had ice packs all over their body Boston said the team could only work 20 minutes at a time before ducking to a full room that was about 100 degrees NASA would not allow Boston to share her work or outside review before Friday's announcement so scientists couldn't say very much but University of South Florida biologist Noreen Noonan was not part of the study goes on a panel when a positive Boston presented her work said it made sense why are we surprised Noreen said as a biologist I would say life on earth is extremely tough and first of all this isn't the oldest extreme life several years ago a decent group of scientists published studies about microbes and maybe half a million years old double-eye those who were trapped in ice and salt you're right yeah those were trapped in ice and salt which isn't quite the same as rock or crystal the age of the Nica microbes was determined by outside experts who looked at where the microbes were located in the crystals and how fast those crystals grow it's not the only weird life Boston is exempt he's also studying microbes commonly found in caves in the United States Ukraine and elsewhere that eat copper sulfite and seem to be close to in this stuff it's simply another illustration of just how completely tough earth life is well the other any dear Abby or Amy Dickinson's this week that are worth mentioning okay I just want to announce that the first sex robot will be available for $15,000 I don't know how advanced they are but I know Japan is very much very much advanced in terms of robotics to the point of being human like where the personality actually develops including reason and emotion as you converse with her cool so whether or not these gorgeous real field robots are at the the Star Trek Android level I highly doubt it but they might be close okay that's it thank you for joining us for progressive discussions I have a good week and God willing we'll see you again as you can see this is a grassroots revolution shop yeah bye bye say so long to everybody along to everybody all right


Tempo sync is something you might not have played around with before, but you can get some really cool stuff It can be a really useful tool to make sure that you're in time with your door But if as like with the black star st. James plug-in, there's multiple effects that have tempo sync options Then you can get these really cool interplays between the different effects in the intro that you just heard I had the tremolo set to eighth notes and the delay set to dotted eighth notes But there's lots of different things you can play around with let's let's try a different one There's tremolo delay flanger phaser chorus that are all tempo syncable check it out and see what you get


Hello, and welcome to the screencast about estimating the derivative. So given a table of values for a function, how can we estimate the value of the derivative at a certain point? Recall that you saw before that the forward and backward difference can be calculated with the formula, f prime of a is approximately equal to f of b minus f of a over b minus a. So the example we're gonna look at today is we're gonna estimate f prime of negative three using the different techniques. We're gonna do forwards, backwards, as well as central. And then I've given a table of x values here as well as some values of the function at those certain points. Okay, so we're gonna be focusing in on negative three. So to do the backwards difference, that means we're gonna wanna use the point before negative three as well as negative three. So then our backwards difference is gonna look like. So f prime at negative three is going to be approximately equal to f of negative three minus f of negative four. All over negative three minus a negative four. Okay, so that's just following the formula up here. Now I realize that the a value may not match with the a value here in the formula, but remember that forwards and backwards are just gonna be using the one before or after, just depending on which way you're doing. So this formula is just, like I said, kind of a rule to follow for that. Okay, so f of negative three by our table is four minus f of negative four by our table is 1.5. And then when you do the algebra and the denominator, that ends up giving you a value of positive one. So when you go ahead and simplify that, that gives you a value of 2.5. Okay, forward's difference. So we're now gonna use the value forward or in front of negative three. So in this case, that's gonna be negative two.  And using the values off the table, f of negative two is 0.5 minus f of negative three is four, and that's all over a positive one. And that gives us a value of negative 3.5. Okay, so you notice the forward and backwards difference is quite different with this particular function. So let's take a look at the central difference. So central difference means you're gonna wanna think of negative three as the center. So f prime of negative three is about. That means you're gonna wanna use the values on both sides. And this time we're not gonna be using the value at negative three. And let's see if that gives us a little bit better estimate. So f of negative two minus f of negative four.  So negative two minus a negative four. My negatives would cooperate, there we go. And when I go and plug and chug those, that's gonna be 0.5 minus 1.5 all over two. So that gives us negative one over two, or negative 0.5. Okay, now what's interesting is the central difference can also be calculated given these two backwards and forwards differences. So if you notice, this is also equal to, I'll just kind of put this over here in brackets as an aside. If you were to take the average of the backwards and forwards, that would give you the central. So remember, average means you're gonna add those two values together. And if you divide by two, you'll also get negative 0.5. So I prefer obviously to do the calculation using the formula only because just in case if one of these two numbers were off, that means this number would also be off. So I prefer to use the raw data in the table. All right, thank you for watching.


Welcome to George H. Smith's Excursions into Libertarian Thought, a production of Libertarianism.org and the Cato Institute, narrated by Daniel Highland. Self-Interest and Social Order in Classical Liberalism Shaftesbury. In my last essay, I outlined Emile Durkheim's objection to the theory of spontaneous order, according to which the self-interested actions of individuals will generate an unplanned social order. I also promised to discuss that topic in this week's essay, and so I shall, but I have deviated from my original plan in several ways. First, Durkheim intended his objections to apply not only to Herbert Spencer, but to Classical Liberals generally, who typically emphasized the importance of rational self-interest in generating and maintaining social order and a free society. But to focus on Spencer's ideas alone could not do justice to this grand tradition, and it might even prove misleading. Spencer introduced some complicating factors into liberal thinking, especially in the fields of social and moral evolution that were atypical and sometimes did more harm than good. I have therefore decided to take a broader view of the relationship between self-interest and social order in the liberal tradition. I find this perspective much more interesting, and I think most of my readers will agree. Second, Durkheim's own ideas which were the foundation of his objections to Classical Liberalism are so complex and convoluted that I decided they were not worth the space, time, and effort that would be required to explain them, even in a cursory manner. Third, there is a common misconception, even among scholars, that Classical Liberals marched pretty much in lockstep in matters pertaining to self-interest and social order. Whereas we actually find interesting differences and debates within the liberal tradition. I shall illustrate this point by exploring the ideas of three 18th-century Liberals, Shaftesbury, David Hume, and Adam Smith in this series. Whether or not the discussion will continue after that point is something I will figure out later. Unlike Durkheim and other positivists, 18th-century Liberals emphasized that an understanding of human psychology is essential if we are to understand the ultimate foundations of social order. It is therefore better to characterize this series as an exploration of liberal social psychology rather than liberal sociology. Let us now proceed to our first of three Classical Liberals. Anthony Ashley Cooper 1671-1713 The Third Earl of Shaftesbury and author of Characteristics of Men, Manors, Opinions, Times, 1711 is not as well-known today as David Hume, Adam Smith, or even lesser-known British moralists such as Francis Hutchison. Yet he was a commanding figure in 18th-century liberal thought whose far-reaching influence was widely acknowledged. Shaftesbury's grandfather, the first Earl of Shaftesbury, was John Locke's patron who had Locke tutor his grandson. It was Shaftesbury who pioneered the idea of sympathy, a psychological phenomenon that might be described today as empathy, as a key to understanding the natural sociability of man. I shall discuss this meaning of sympathy in more detail in a later essay. Shaftesbury veered from the moral rationalism found in John Locke and later figures such as Samuel Clarke and pioneered the school of thought known as sentimentalism, an approach that would later be developed in greater detail by Hutchison, Hume, Smith, and other philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment. This is not to say that Shaftesbury and later sentimentalists denigrated the role of reason in human affairs. They manifestly did not, but they also maintained that the elements of social order such as justice and benevolence did not originally arise from abstract philosophical reasoning. Rather, just as Adam Smith would later discuss a spontaneous economic order in his Wealth of Nations, so Shaftesbury and other sentimentalists focused on the fundamental psychological elements of a social order that, as Adam Ferguson put it in a different context, is the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design. In An Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit, which would later be incorporated into his Characteristics, Shaftesbury set out to study the inward anatomy of the human mind, an enterprise he deemed essential to understanding human sociability. Although social interaction is first and foremost a subjective phenomenon, Shaftesbury complained that most previous philosophers had largely neglected the psychological aspects and principles of social order. It is apparent that few of us endeavor to become anatomists of this sort, nor is anyone ashamed of the deepest ignorance in such a subject. Even though the order or symmetry of this inward part is, in itself, no less real and exact as that of the body. Of course, many philosophers had wove any psychological perspective into their theories of social order. For a certain amount of this is necessary in any discussion of human nature, but Shaftesbury rejected many of those treatments as insufficient, if not downright false. He was especially critical of a doctrine known as psychological egoism, which insisted that all human actions are necessarily self-interested. In one respect, Shaftesbury did not object to this primitive hedonistic analysis, since all human action is motivated by the desire to attain happiness, or satisfaction of the self, in some sense. Nevertheless, it is a serious error to suppose that all human actions are motivated by self-interest, as that term is commonly understood. Individuals are part of a social system. They are born into society and find their greatest pleasures in interacting with others. So, in addition to selfish passions, which Shaftesbury by no means condemned when properly moderated and understood, there are also social passions that can be gratified only during the course of social interaction. In the final analysis, according to Shaftesbury, psychological egoism is little more than a play on words. However, many examples of disinterested or benevolent behavior are presented to psychological egoists. Those distributors and petty retailers of this wit, they managed to show how self is still at the bottom. Few will dispute the claim that happiness was to be pursued and in fact was always sought after. But this is scarcely the relevant point. Rather, we should determine the true nature of happiness and whether it can be achieved by those who focus narrowly upon themselves at the expense of others. If we pay attention to this issue, rather than running changes and divisions without end upon this article of self-love, the question would not be who loved himself or who not, but who loved and served himself the rightest and after the truest manner. This rejection of psychological egoism as irrelevant at best and devious at worst would later be explored at greater length by Bishop Butler, Adam Ferguson, Adam Smith, and others. So much for the common claim that classical liberals believed that all human actions are motivated by self-interest. Shaftesbury rejected a utilitarian analysis of social passions of the sort that a psychological egoist might defend. It is not as if individuals somehow calculate that their own interests coincide or harmonize with the interests of others, after which favorable emotional responses follow suit. Rather, the social passions develop naturally from the psychological constitution of man and our early interactions with others and therefore precede any such rational analysis. We begin to feel an affinity with our family and fellow humans long before we are able to project the long-range consequences of our actions. So the psychology of human sentiments, a combination of mental and emotional dispositions must be viewed as an independent subject apart from the rational calculations of an acting agent. In short, whereas many individualists such as John Locke had stressed the natural sociability of man, Shaftesbury believed this sentiment had not been adequately explained owing to insufficient attention to the anatomy of the human mind. The Appalachian sentimentalist is therefore an appropriate label for Shaftesbury's approach and those British liberals who followed him owing to its stress on the natural sentiments that generate social order. And this is why it is appropriate to include Shaftesbury, Hume and Smith in a discussion of social psychology. Of course, the term psychology had not yet been coined. All this was subsumed under the label moral science or moral philosophy. But the issues discussed by 18th century sentimentalists have much in common with those discussed by modern social psychologists and sociologists and many of their insights retain their value even today. That value may easily be overlooked because the normative vocabulary of 18th century social psychology such as virtue, vice and merit is no longer in fashion having been widely dismissed as contrary to the value-free terms of social science. Nevertheless, British moralists understood that humans are normative animals and that social interaction depends on a complex web of value judgments and value-laden feelings. So it may be that some modern social theorists have lagged behind their predecessors in this respect. All sensible creatures, Shaftesbury argued, may be said to pursue the good inasmuch as they engage in life-sustaining activities. But normative concepts like virtue and merit apply only to the human species, creatures endowed with reason who are capable of reflecting on their own mental states and processes. In a creature capable of forming general notions of things, not only the outward beings which offer themselves to the sense are the objects of the affection, but the very actions themselves and the affections of pity, kindness, gratitude and their contraries being brought up into the mind by reflection become objects. So that by means of this reflected sense, there arises another kind of affection towards those very affections themselves which have been already felt and have now become the subject of a new liking or dislike. Shaftesbury drew an analogy between the outward sense of sight and the inward sense of spontaneous normative judgments, the so-called moral sense, whereby we assess thoughts, motives, reactions and emotions, both in ourselves and others. The human mind is a spectator or auditor of other minds, a reflective instrument that cannot help but form opinions about these psychological states. The mind will assess various sentiments as soft or harsh, agreeable or disagreeable, harmonious or dissonant, according to the inherent characteristics of the psychological object which it contemplates. Nor can it withhold its admiration and ecstasy, its aversion and scorn any more in what relates to one than to the other of these subjects. And just as we retain impressions of the objects received by our external senses, so we retain notions of the moral and intellectual kind, which we continue to reflect upon even when these subjective objects are not immediately present. In all such cases, the heart cannot possibly remain neutral, but constantly takes part one way or other. We naturally approve of what strikes us as honest and disapprove what is dishonest and corrupt. It is again important to stress that Shaftesbury did not regard these evaluations as the products of discursive reasoning. They are not rational judgments in the strict sense, though they may later be confirmed by reason. They are spontaneous responses that flow from human nature itself. Shaftesbury illustrated this point by comparing our pre-rational evaluations to our aesthetic sensibilities. We respond spontaneously to a beautiful object, even if we have no theory of beauty and have formed no explicit criteria to distinguish the beautiful from the ugly. In thus maintaining that our basic moral reactions are akin to our aesthetic responses, Shaftesbury established a perspective whose influence on 18th century thought can scarcely be overestimated. In many subsequent philosophers, we find the same comparison of the moral and aesthetic realms. A key element in the social psychology of Shaftesbury is a doctrine known as the natural harmony of rightly understood interests. Long before this approach became famous in the economic sphere via Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, the same approach had been explored in the psychological realm by Shaftesbury and other British liberals. According to Shaftesbury, it is a mistake to assume that the common interest or public good conflicts with the attainment of private good. True, this may happen when self-interest is unduly exaggerated, but the same is true of an unreasonable concern with the public good when that is pursued immoderately at the expense of self-interest. Shaftesbury argued that there is no inherent conflict between the public and private good when these ideas are rightly understood. This is so primarily because a rational conception of self-interest is one that has been filtered, so to speak, through our interactions with others. It would therefore be accurate to say not that the public and private good harmonize as if these were separate and distinct goals, but that they are one and the same thing viewed from different angles. As Shaftesbury put it, to be well affected towards the public interest and one's own is not only consistent, but inseparable. Although it is true that Shaftesbury, Adam Smith, and other liberals who had been influenced by Stoicism provided a metaphysical foundation for the harmony of interests doctrine, this should not be confused with the Christian notion of divine providence. What Adam Smith famously called the invisible hand is not the intervention of a personal God, but the natural operation of an orderly universe in the sphere of social interaction. Therefore, contrary to a common misconception, the invisible hand is not a theological tenet or mode of explanation. It is a working presumption, not unlike that employed by modern sociologists. Social cooperation is an observable fact, so the question arises how can this be explained? If we assume that there are discernible principles at work, principles that explain how people manage to cooperate in voluntary endeavors despite those selfish proclivities that, according to Hobbes, should logically lead to a war of every man against every man, then it becomes the task of the social theorist to explain what these principles are and how they operate. It is in this way that a harmony of interests becomes not an explanation, per se, but a reasonable presumption for the social investigator and in no case do we find Smith, Shaftesbury, or their ideological colleagues appealing to the invisible hand as a satisfactory explanation, per se. Instead, working from the premise that social order requires a coordination of individual interests, early liberals attempted to specify the particular mechanisms that generate this social order. For Shaftesbury, those mechanisms are principally psychological in character. Thank you for listening to Excursions. To learn more about libertarian philosophy and history, visit www.libertarianism.org.