We've had a problem in the communities for some time, but it seems to be rich in levels higher than we've seen previously. And that is that people have been innocently engaged online. It may be in charity chat rooms, Christian chat rooms, or on online dating sites. It may be romantic interests, but essentially people are establishing positions of trust with people they've never met and they're based overseas. As a consequence of that, there are requests being made of them and the excuse has been given, listen, you know, it's so much cheaper to buy an iPhone or a computer or a laptop or some form of device or clothing in Australia than it is in our country. Would you mind doing me a favour and I'll order it and pay for it and it'll be delivered to your address and then you've thought it to me. Would that be alright? And they trust these people by this stage and they say yes. Consequently, a parcel will arrive and it may contain any form of commercial product. And they forward the goods on to normally an overseas address. Quite often it'll be West Africa, Nigeria or Ghana are the primary destinations. Also sometimes we see it actually may be to another destination in Australia before it even goes overseas. So someone may say, well I'm not going to send it overseas, I would just send it to a friend that I have in Brisbane as opposed to or Melbourne or Sydney. And they say, well I don't see that much as too much of a problem, they say yes. So consequently what they don't know is that the goods that have been delivered to their address have been illegally obtained through the use of compromised credit cards. The merchant has no idea that the order they take online or over the phone has been paid for because it's a recently compromised card that has not been cancelled. The transaction goes through as if it was a normal process and of course it's been delivered to an address in Australia so there's less than any amount of suspicion. The people then on forward it and what they are doing is they will return property mules. Just like you would have a drug mill to courier, drugs through from point A to point B, these people are property mules facilitating the transfer of ill-gotten goods into the hands of criminals. People generally don't understand what they're getting involved with, they don't understand that they're enabling the commission of a crime and we're seeing more of it come through our desks and it's really important that we get the message out there for people not to get involved with this activity. They are enabling the commission of a crime. If they do so knowingly they could be the subject of police enquiries, we want to avoid that. And we don't want the millions of dollars leaving this country every year to go into the pockets of criminals overseas. What do you put this increase down to? Well it's just it comes back to more and more social activity on the internet, more and more take up of the internet of people, that the internet becomes more a part of our everyday lives, it's part of our social fabric now and we've got crooks of course waiting out there just to take advantage of online relationships. No, most of it doesn't get reported to us, it's through the voyage of self-discovery but for example the troops were down the coast just recently and all of a sudden what they thought was one enquiry turned into optimally 30 enquiries and it became a whole network of friends through trusted charity links that were being exploited by these crooks. And you know they've got photographs of the alleged person who we pointed out to them was actually, well I've got a photograph of a US Marine officer that my people showed them that that was just stolen off the internet and the like and we've seen more and often not it's a romance victim or an elderly person, a senior person within the community and that trust has just been abused, exploited and breached. Are these mainly women? Yeah more often than not women but we're also seeing where they've exploited businesses that host virtual offices, storage shed facilities and the property that's been delivered can vary anything from a pair of Birkenstocks to a case of printer cartridges. It's been a variety of norm but sometimes it'll come across the fact that we've identified someone as being a victim of a romance fraud and as a consequence of that we identify other activities that have been involved with or they've been asked to participate in. It's never or it's very, very rarely would it be the credit card fraud. That's the irony is that we go back to the retailer and say listen this computer you sold has been paid for by a compromised credit card we believe and they'll say no, everything's fine, the transaction went through also all year but just wait 30 days until the account holder disputes the transaction and you're going to be able to pocket. So it's quite bizarre that we actually have battles sometimes to try and get the property back and bring a resolution to it. It's all about making the sale first and worry about the aftermath later but we don't want that to be the case we want people to be more on that guard. So who loses out here is it the retailer that ends up out of pocket? The retailer is out of pocket. And what you're saying is that in the process of the sale's gone through but you're trying to catch it before the goods actually travel overseas? That's exactly right and also very often that the sender, the property mule themselves will be out of pocket because they promise compensation for the cost of freight to the overseas destination or sometimes the within Australian destination and of course that doesn't happen. And one more entity that's out of pocket quite often the freight company has been paid for by a compromised credit card but again the criminal is reliant upon the fact that people get their statements 30 days later if they're abouts they may not review it in details straight away at the time and they seem to exploit those opportunities. And when the goods go to West Africa or Nigeria, is there like a big industry there then selling it there? Is that what's happening? Because it sounds like it's huge range of goods. Yeah I mean there's an industry there they can do it to order for the property, they can sell the property or they can use it for themselves. What sort of, how many millions would you estimate is going on this type of business? Look I wouldn't, that would be improper for me to say. This is an Australian wide industry. Oh we'd be talking millions with our question, with our question. I mean just the straight away just one box intercepted there a couple of days ago and there's three four thousand dollars worth of goods. We've had other instances in the past where as an entire crate 40,000 dollars worth of printer cartridges and when the troops turned up at the storage warehouse which was the delivery point on the Gold Coast there was about an equally 40,000 dollars worth of cartridges waiting for transfer. Oh it's where the population is, so the southeast corner at the moment but it would be occurring anywhere in Australia. Yes on occasions yes, but they trust this person they're going to get the money back so all they love this person they don't mind spending it. If you're asked to receive property on behalf of another and send it to another destination don't do it. Get police advice on the situation you're involved with because you may be facilitating the commission of a crime. Yes we have and that was a situation where we had a woman who was involved in a romantic relationship with a male person in Nigeria and she received over 125,000 dollars worth of compromised goods in that instance because the sheer volume every week parcels were turning up to be shipped overseas and there was evidence said that we could show that she actually had insight to what the situation that was occurring and she willingly participated in that process so as a consequence she was charged with fraud. I can't remember I think it might have been a plea in the end but I'd have to check that for you. That's right most people would be horrified to think that they're facilitating international crime and become involved with a process that victimizes Australian businesses. They would be absolutely horrified so you don't want to be involved with such a distasteful exercise and there are crooks out there reweighting and ready and willing to predate upon you. So the idea of trust on the internet has to probably take a little different form of advantage. If I proper a due in the street and ask you to receive property for me and send it overseas you'd say yeah take another pill but the reality is online the trust factor seems to almost the bar doesn't exist sometimes. It's completely unknown either we've had dealings with well the one that network I shouldn't say the network but we identified a group of victims on the Cold Coast just recently in the last couple of weeks and there was over 30 people and that was from one inquiry around 30 people from one inquiry. Some were yes some there were some links there. I'd suggest thousands what we're seeing is the criminals will operate different tactics at different times so when they get someone who's a romance victim they've got them online we know there are thousands of those across Australia they will then use that linkage to then facilitate the acquisition of property. The West African seem to have an unlimited supply of compromised card data from around the world you know there's indications now they've linked up with different aspects of Eastern European organized crime and they're trading in compromised card data and once they've got that data they're just smashing us. More on the senior category very often seniors being over 50. Well anything from Perot Birkenstocks to computers laptops iPads phones high-def cameras it's whatever they want it's pretty much anything to be purchased online. It's very much education and trying to get people to question what they've been asked to participate in. We're looking at approaching some of the freight companies and asking them to actually put in greater risk management processes into this system as an early warning and we're still trying to put together the picture of how we're going to approach this as a from a more strategic level but the reality is it can be prevented through awareness and education and that's why getting this message out through the media and making people think about what they're doing and who they're dealing with will save a lot of this nonsense going on what we're talking about which I think is far better than not talking about it. We don't need to be honest we don't know the full extent of this problem we postulate based on the amount of cash we see going overseas which still is extremely problematic we know that more and more people are getting online on the internet every day we know that we have a society that is not prepared for the vagaries of the internet there's being no broad-based cyber education out there and that are people are put online every day that are ill-prepared for the environment that don't understand the threats and don't understand the consequences of trusting people online that you've never actually met. Sorry does that answer your question? It's a very broad issue it's not a police issue it's a social issue to be fair and it's an it's an issue for industry to actually you know I was talking to someone from industry the other day and I said well what's your fraud losses and they said oh it's virtually nothing I said well what are you talking about they said oh two percentage points and I said right here what's that in dollars for your industry and they said 20 million but they don't have a fraud problem and that's a problem so much fraud now is just does dealt with as a profit and loss exercise and it's an acceptable loss as part of doing business and I from a policing perspective struggle with that because I don't want to see any fraud and to me a fraud is a fraud it's a crime and it needs to be held to account but if we continue to look at it as a part of an expensive part of doing business we're not going to be able to get the information we need to address the real issues. I think that's such a great area have you got enough resources to cope with? Next question. No, is that a no? Are you looking for more in London interest as well? Look what I think we have very much focused on here in Queensland is being proactive and preventing. You are cybercrime is destined to grow the average take up of the internet at this globally in the world is only 34 percent now as the rest of the world migrates we're going to see an increase in the criminal component online and it's going to get worse and we've got to focus on target hardening our environment through prevention and awareness messaging and that's where we've you know we're trying to provide more more education and allowing people to prepare themselves because it can be prevented and the majority of don't get me wrong the internet's a good place you know it's a it's a good tool we're out there every day and I sort of draw the comparison between the internet and the if you like the Pacific Highway it's used by a million people of plus every day millions of people for most people they get from point A to point B without any problems whatsoever but when you go in the Pacific Highway you know that there are risks you know that some people might behave poorly you cannot ever discount 100 percent there's going to be an accident but you're insured against it the difference is though and just like the internet but the difference is that when you go to the Pacific Highway before you're allowed to go on it you've actually you go through an education process a practical testing process and you're prepared for the environment you identify the risks you're insured against it there are there's a regulation framework if someone misbehaves there's a chance they're going to get caught and there are consequences we don't have that in the cyber space and please don't misquote me because there's no way am I advocating that you should have a license to go online that's not what I'm saying what I'm saying is you're prepared for that environment and you know and understand the risks and take measures to deal with it and there are regulatory processes whereas the internet is completely void of those issues so stay on top of this growing problem how many more resources we don't need more resources what we need to more aware of public because we've been appropriately do you need more officers to help track this down and stay on top of it if we can do a put it through strategies that actually prevent people from getting involved on we don't have to reactively respond with investigation and that's where we need to be it's not my position to get involved in resource arguments but we do a damn good job with what we've got oh i'm not here for wish lists come on look you know I can't get into that argument but I've got a team of people that are brilliant and do a fantastic job and face these battles every day but our best ally is an informed public


Ark fault is really simple. You really started with your bedroom because the bed usually was up against the receptacles for the two lamps on either side and because the blankets were touching the receptacle, the plugs in there, if it ever heated up, it started the blankets on fire. How do we make it safe for families and kids and everything? You put in an Ark fault breaker. If it senses an arc, it just, it's arcing slightly, snaps the breaker at the panel, stops the power from going to the receptacle and stops the possible fire.


I'll turn to Joshua chapter 13 very quickly, keep a place in Numbers chapter 22 and turn to Joshua chapter 13 and I'll explain to you why we're in Numbers chapter 22. If you look at Joshua chapter 13 which I preached through last Wednesday night, I skipped over verse number 22 where the Bible says, Balaam the son of Beor the soothsayer did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain with them. So Balaam this guy as they come into the promised land and they conquer the promised land, this man they're kind of going through before they went over the Jordan River, they slayed this guy and it lists that out in Judges chapter 13. So let's look at the story of Balaam this evening and it's one of the, it's kind of a story that people are, a lot of people are confused about in the Bible, it's kind of a confusing story if you just read it for the first time and it can seem and there's a lot of detail that I'll kind of explain to you that people kind of get lost in the weeds on this story a little bit but I'll show you this evening that I mean it's a pretty basic, it's a pretty basic story if you don't get lost in all the weeds of things that could or couldn't be about the story and I'll explain that as we go through it but look at Numbers chapter 22 and let's start out looking through this story. So there's this guy, this is the history before, this is still Moses' time, this is before they've crossed the Jordan River so they are on the east side of Jordan right now, they're just on the other side of Jordan, right across from the Dead Sea, right across from Jericho basically and they come across the children of Moab and there's this guy that lives there, this prophet, this soothsayer, the Bible says and we'll get into what he's all about here in a little bit but look at verse number one of Numbers chapter 22, let's just read the first few verses here of Numbers chapter 22 and get the context of the story and the children of Israel set forward and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side of Jordan by Jericho, this side meeting the east side and Balaq the son of Zippor saw that Israel had done, saw what Israel had done to the Amorites so this guy was scared because they had already conquered these people and Moab was so afraid of the people so this is Balaq, he's the king of Moab and he was so afraid of the people because there were many and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel and Moab said under the elders of Midian, now shall this company lick up all that are around about us as the oxen licketh up the grass of the field and Balaq the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at the time, he sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor, this is the same guy that judges chapter 13 is talking about, to Pethor which is by the river of the land of the children of his people to call him saying behold there's people come out of Egypt behold they cover the face of the earth and they abide over against me come now therefore I pray thee curse me this people for they are too mighty for me, para-adventure I shall prevail that we may smite them and that I may drive them out of the land for I want that he whom thou blessed is blessed and that he whom thou cursed is cursed so I mean it's interesting to point out here and this is part of how we could get into the weeds but this guy has a reputation here of the people that he blesses are blessed and the people that he curse are cursed so there's a reason that the king of Moab goes to Balaam because he feels like that Balaam actually has a track record we can actually help him okay so that's interesting to point out there look at verse 7 and the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand and they came unto Balaam and spake unto him the words of Balaak so they came with stuff they came with rewards and we'll see that you know they came with riches and and things to offer Balaam so he could come and curse Israel and he sent it a hand unto them watch here this night I'll bring you word again as the Lord shall speak unto me so Balaam is speaking to the Lord okay Balaam is speaking to the Lord and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam and God came unto Balaam and said what men are these with thee and Balaam said unto God Balaak the son of Zippor king of Moab has sent unto me saying behold there's people come out of Egypt that cover at the face of the earth come now curse me them pair adventure I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out he's saying curse them and then I will be able to overcome them and drive them out and God said unto Balaam this is God this isn't Balaam's not praying to a false God here Balaam is actually talking to God and God is talking to Balaam and God said unto Balaam thou shalt not go with them thou shalt not curse the people for they are blessed verse 13 and Balaam rose up in the morning and said unto the princes of Balaak get you into your land for the Lord refuses to give me leave to go with you now the first point is this and the point if you take anything from the whole sermon and we're not going to drop into the weeds and in a lot of these these details about Balaam because this is the main point right here God does not want him doing this God does not want him going and he does not want him cursing the children of Israel so really like that the key verse of the whole thing is verse number 12 in Numbers chapter 22 where God just says I don't want you doing this he's like these people are blessed he's like don't go and don't curse them they're blessed look at Numbers chapter 22 in verse 14 and the princes of Moab rose up and they went unto Balaak and said Balaam refuses to come with us and Balaak sent yet again princes more and more honorable than they and they came to Balaam and said unto him thus sayeth Balaak the son of Zippor let nothing I pray thee hinder thee from coming unto me for I will promote thee unto very great honor and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me come therefore I pray thee curse me this people so you could infer some more things here you could infer that you know maybe Balaam has a why send him again the prophet of God has just said no God said no God said I'm not going to go and I'm not going to curse these people yet what does he do he sends even more important people he sends more higher ranking dignitaries to Balaam and he basically says he makes all these different promises that says you know I'm going to give you this great honor and I'm going to give you these great things you know he's trying to convince him with worldly things okay so I mean you could infer and people have inferred and you know it's a true inference as well will study that Balaam maybe had a reputation for being influenced by these types of things okay look at number 8 verse number 18 and Balaam said and Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balaak if Balaak would give me his house full of silver and gold I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more so notice how Balaam says the word of the Lord my God so you know you could argue that Balaam is not a false prophet by by this right here that he's an actual prophet of God you look he's not a good prophet but he is at least a prophet of the true God okay so he says my God is not going to let me go and do this look at verse 19 now therefore I pray you Terry ye also hear this night that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more he basically says he basically says I can't go with you it's like even if you gave me all the silver and gold you know which is kind of like he's kind of projecting there right he's like maybe you should offer me all the silver and gold but I can't go with you but don't go back yet I'll ask him again it's basically what Balaam says here okay in verse 19 look at verse number 20 I mean look he wants to go Balaam you can already kind of tell just from this passage that Balaam he wants to go with them and it's God that is stopping him from going look at verse number 20 he's greedy he's greedy you can see that if you just read this story look there's some things in this story in numbers chapter 22 chapter 23 chapter 24 and chapter 25 there's some things in that story if you just read through that story you just could not understand the full story unless you read the New Testament I'll show you that in a little bit but you can infer that Balaam is worldly and he wants the worldly things and he wants these things and it's just God that's holding him back okay look at verse number 20 and God came unto Balaam at night and said unto him if the men come to thee come to call thee rise up and go with them but yet the word which I shall say unto you unto thee that shall thou do so God says look if they come to you again if they come to you again then you can go with them but you will only say my words that I say God says and I'll look at the very next verse Balaam just gets on his donkey and heads over there I mean it doesn't say that you know nobody came and got him you know it just he just heard what God said and he's just like I'm going he's like I've got permission I've got the keys to the car and he just goes in verse number 21 and Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass and went with the princes of Moab and God's anger was kindled because he went I think he was a little I think that my my interpretation of this is that God was angry because he went God said if they come and they beg you again just go with them but he just he just went anyway he was just a little too quick to just jump on his donkey and head over there okay so God was angry look back to verse 12 God didn't want him going in the first place and that's what you have to remember and that's the main point of the whole story that you know that's the whole point of the sermon I hate to give it away but it's like when God doesn't want you doing something that's it and he just kept trying and pushing and pushing and then he just he jumped at the chance of what he basically took what God said and you know ran with it when he shouldn't have it they didn't come and try to get him again so here he goes he's on his way he's on his way and the angel of the Lord is standing in the way and the donkey or the ass sees it and he doesn't and so he starts beating his animal he starts beating the donkey look at verse 23 and the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand the ass turned aside out of the way and went into the field and Balaam smoked the ass to turn her into the way so here this donkey sees this and is trying not to go and he doesn't see it and he's just beating this animal look at verse number 27 and when the ass saw the angel of the Lord she fell down under Balaam and Balaam's anger was kindled and he smoked the ass with a staff and the Lord opened the mouth of the ass so now a miracle happens and she said unto Balaam what have I done unto thee that thou has smitten me these three times the donkey's like why are you beating me why are you beating me and Balaam said unto the ass because thou has mocked me I would there were a sword in my hand for I would now kill thee and the ass said unto Balaam I am not thine ass upon what am I not thine ass upon which thou has ridden ever since I was dying unto this day like you've owned me for forever and have I ever done anything like this to you and he said nay look at verse 31 then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand and he bowed down his head and fell flat on his face and the angel of the Lord said unto him wherefore if thou smitten thine ass these three times behold I went out to withstand thee because thy way is perverse before me look again God did not want him to go but again that God did not want him to go but at this point that is actually not why the angel is standing there and blocking his way okay look if God didn't want him to go and God sent an angel God would have just ended it right here so what does the angel do look down at verse number 33 and he asked saw me and turned for me these three times go to verse 34 and Balaam said unto the angel the Lord I have sinned for I knew not that thou stood us in the way against me now therefore if it displeased thee I will get me back again he's like I'll go back he's like I'll go back if you want me to go back I'll turn around and I'll go back and the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam he at this point God has changed his mind he just says just go just go with the man but only the word that I shall speak unto thee that shall that thou shall speak so the angel was sent there not to stop Balaam but to give him a second warning that when you do get there you will only say the words that I tell you to say only my words so Balaam went with the princes of Balaam and then Balaak heard that Balaam was come verse 36 he went out to meet him under the city of Moab and he asked him he's like he and Balaak said unto Balaam did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee well you know wherefore he's like what he basically is asking him why did I have to call you twice and verse 38 and Balaam said unto Balaak low I am come unto thee have I now any power to say anything the word that God put at him my mouth that shall I speak so Balaam right away just gives this guy a warning right away he's like look he's like I did come he's like but I can only say the words that God told me to say he tells him he's like he's already trying to like calm his his expectations of him at this point and then Balaam went with Balaak and they came unto Kirjath here here's off and Balaak offered oxen and sheep and sent to Balaam into the princes that were with him and it came to pass on the Marl that Balaak took Balaam and brought him under the high places of Balaam that then he might see the utmost part of the people so now he is there he is supposed to curse according to Balaak he wants him to curse the children of Israel now in Numbers chapter 23 they set up these altars they set up seven altars and they slay 14 animals on seven altars and then Balaam just says I basically I can't curse he just blesses them he blesses the children of Israel instead of cursing them he does that twice then they move to a different place and they set up seven more altars and Balaak says I want to show you another view of the people and Balaak again said Balaak again says now curse the people and he says I can only say what the word of the Lord is that was given to me and he basically blesses the people again now Balaak is just beside himself they've just you know set up all these altars in two different places and they have you know sacrificed 28 animals at this point and then Numbers 24 go to verse number 10 Numbers 24 they do it one more time they set up seven more altars and then Balaam blesses them once more because he can only say the words that God told him to say now look at verse number 20 verse number 10 of Numbers chapter 24 and Balaak's anger was kindled against Balaam and he smote his hands together and Balaak said unto Balaam I called thee to curse my enemies and behold thou hast altogether blessed them these three times now at this point in Numbers chapter 24 if you look at the end of Numbers chapter 24 Numbers chapter 24 basically it says basically Balaam it appears that Balaam goes on his way at Balaak and Balaam part ways if you're just reading Numbers chapter 24 but it's interesting because the story now takes an interesting turn because in verse number 25 of Numbers chapter 24 the Bible says in Balaam rose up and went and returned to his place in Balaak also went his way that appears that these two men just parted company and that was the end of it but now look at verse number one one verse later in the Bible of chapter 25 where the Bible says this it says in Israel abode and shit him now this was a city in Moab and the people began to commit Hortom with the daughters of Moab so in between Numbers chapter 24 the very last verse verse 25 and Numbers chapter 25 verse 1 all of a sudden we see all of a sudden we see like there's this all of a sudden Israel's living there with them I mean here Balaak wants Balaam to curse them so they can they can go to war and defeat these people and they can be cursed by God and he can defeat these people and all of a sudden in one verse later they are just living there and they are committing fornication and they're worshiping their gods as you see a couple verses down and you're just like what in the world what in the world is going on so the question is this the question is this what does this have to do with Balaam what is what happened in Numbers chapter 25 and verse 1 and the whole chapter in verse 25 what does that have to do with Balaam well now we have to go to the New Testament we wouldn't know we wouldn't know unless we had the verses in the New Testament to kind of decode this story for us go to 2 Peter chapter 2 look remember Balaam's motivation we know that from Numbers chapter 22 we could see that we could see that Balaam really wanted he wanted the worldly rewards he wanted you know the gold and the silver he was kind of you know but he just couldn't he couldn't do it I mean God you know wouldn't allow him you know we had a we had a kind of a debate a Bible debate in in my house a couple nights ago because you know I mean look I believe here's what I believe I believe that Balaam was you know I don't think he was a good prophet I think he was a bad prophet but I do think he was a prophet of God he wasn't a prophet of Baal or anything like that he was a prophet of God and he did have like some fear of God to the point where he wasn't going to go and speak against what the Lord said that he was supposed to do now that you know Garrett was like well I think that God actually gave him the words and would not allow him to curse the children of Israel and it's like you know I don't believe that he turned him into a robot or you know and just spoke for him but you know some people believe that but the point is either way either way you know all we see from Numbers chapter 22 is that Balaam didn't curse the children of Israel he didn't do it either because God just physically wouldn't let him do it or because he at least had that you know that primal fear of the Lord he was greedy he was carnal he at least had that that basic primal fear of the Lord being a prophet of God so we have to look at the New Testament to see but at the point of the story doesn't change this is what you have to look forward to by the way you know you raise these kids they're two three four years old and then all sudden they start getting their own ideas it's a great thing actually okay it's a great thing but it's it really sparks some great conversations in your house and just some really detailed biblical you know conversations in your house it's a great thing when your kids get older to see that alright look at 2 Peter chapter 2 and look at verse 15 2 Peter chapter 2 in verse number 15 the Bible says which have forsaken the right of way in Argonas Stray following the way of Balaam the son of Bowsar who love the wages of unrighteousness so here you know the Bible was saying first of all second Peter chapter 2 that's a can of worms right there okay that is a can of worms we're not going to open it tonight okay but second Peter chapter 2 has a lot of references towards you know the reprobate people being rejected by the Lord and all that but you know I don't necessarily think that it's talking about Balaam as it's just talking about Balaam in the sense that he loved the wages of unrighteousness now look he was greedy he was greedy he was rebuked for his iniquity but the dumb-ass speaking with the man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet now turn to Jude chapter 1 so we see in second Peter chapter 2 that there's some pretty good evidence that Balaam you know maybe was a bad bad guy okay and we'll get into that detail a little bit later but look at Jude chapter 1 Jude chapter 1 in verse number 11 Jude chapter 1 in verse number 11 the Bible says woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran here it is again and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for rewards what is what is the problem that the New Testament is having with Balaam right now he's greedy okay it's talking about just his incessant greed is what second Peter chapter 2 and Jude chapter 1 verse number 11 is talking about look at now look at Revelation chapter 2 now this is the real key that unlocks the whole thing for us right here look at Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 14 Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 14 so we still we still would not see any connection from numbers chapter 24 verse 25 and numbers chapter 25 verse 1 as far as Balaam goes we still wouldn't have any idea that you know the children of Israel staying in shittim and committing hordom and worshiping the gods of the Moabites we still wouldn't be able to pin that on Balaam but look at Revelation chapter 2 and verse 14 the Bible says this it says but I have a few things against thee now you know he's talking to the churches we talked about this a few a couple weeks ago what we have a few things against thee but thou has there that hold but thou has there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam now what is the doctrine of Balaam now look what it says who taught Balaak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication now we see what happened to the children of Israel Balaak or Balaam Balaam either went home and came back or he didn't go home he stayed and he went to Balaak and he said hey I can't curse these people but here's how you can get him and guess what he was a prophet of God and he knew he knew the consequences to the children of Israel if this stumbling block would be put in front of them and they trip over it or it would stop them he found a way to not curse Israel directly and instead encourage Moab to mix peacefully with the children of Israel and entice them into sin that's what Balaam did why did he do it because he's greedy because he's greedy look he was trying to find a way to get the reward he didn't just go home he had to have that reward that's what second Peter chapter 2 and that's what Jude 111 is talking about that was his motivation remember that was his motivation from the beginning otherwise the whole story would have ended in Numbers chapter 12 Numbers chapter 22 and verse number 12 the whole story would have been done because God said no don't go it's like don't go they're blessed and that should have been the end of it yet he kept asking he kept pushing why because he wanted the reward and he found a way to get it he found a way to get it he found a loophole so to speak he found a loophole or he thought he found a loophole and guess what if you continue reading if you continue reading through Numbers chapter 25 it cost the children of Israel 24,000 lives God judge them and then in judges chapter 13 God killed him for it it finally go back to verse number 22 of judges chapter 13 he thought he found a way around God but he got what was coming to him look at verse number 22 Balaam also the son of Beor the soothsayer did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them look he got what was coming to him so here's the summary of Balaam and here's some things that that people debate and argue about and have differing opinions on with the story of Balaam was he a false prophet some people say yes he was a reprobate false prophet and some people say he wasn't a false prophet he was just a bad prophet you know was he was he saved or not saved people will argue that did God for and then here's the third one did God force him and I already kind of mentioned this did God force him to say what he said at those three altar sites or did he just have that primal fear of the Lord and just listen to God on that one thing but here's my point here's my point I'm trying to make these answers don't really matter in the story these answers don't really matter he the point that matters in the point of this story is this look he knew God's will he clearly knew God's will he knew who God was he knew what God wanted and what God didn't want he had his own will that was I want to get the money I want to get the reward and look he found a way or he thought he found a way around God's will to satisfy his own will that is the story of Balaam and it cost many people many thousands of people's lives and it cost him his life that's the story of Balaam so what can we take from that I mean what can we take from this story go back to Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 14 look back at Revelation chapter 2 and verse number 14 I mean it's a pretty crazy story it's a pretty crazy story I mean there's a lot of there's a lot of detail you could get lost in the weeds but you kind of have to pull back and you know we're having this this debate in my house over what you think about this and what we think about these different details we're literally going into the words that the Lord says and the words that the angel says and you know at some point kind of got to pull back and you got to say well you know it could be one of it could be either one of those but the lesson is the same the story and the things that we take from the story in the Bible is the same so who's that to remember that we you know don't get lost in the weeds on the Bible is always you have to be able to pull back to and look at that whole story and say what why is this in the Bible why is God showing this to us in the Bible why did God put it there why is it in Judges 13 and we see the story in you know Judger numbers chapter 22 and then why do we see those verses explaining things in 2 Peter chapter 2 and Jude chapter 1 and Revelation chapter 2 look there's a there's a major major lesson here which is why God put it in the Bible and the first lesson is this beware of influence that it look that is a powerful thing look at verse 14 look at verse 14 look what the Bible says here the doctrine of Balaam it says you know what was the doctrine that he was teaching Balaam was teaching a doctrine to Balaak he says he taught Balaak to cast the stumbling block for the children of Israel to eat the things sacrifice unto idols and to commit fornication influence is a stumbling block influence Balaam and Balaak did not force the people to commit these sins they influence them to commit those sins and you know what that took it just it took just abiding amongst them you know it could have been as simple as this hey you want to just you want to just stay a while it could have just been like hey you know here's Balaak he wanted to go to war you know it could have been as simple as this just Balaak going up to at the recommendation of Balaam who knows the Lord and knows what the Lord will do to the children of Israel if they go down this road Balaam knows Balaam knows what the Lord will do it could have been as simple as Balaak just walking down to the children of Israel and saying hey you look hungry just why don't you just move in we got a bunch of extra space and shit them down there just come on down just stay amongst us that's all it could have taken and they just moved it in peace they say peace peace there was no peace in Numbers chapter 25 they just influence they just abode amongst them that's all they did so look the separation see the separation ended all they did was subtly end the separation that's all they did the lines got blurred I mean say what you want about Balaam but he knew enough about God to know how to get to the children of Israel he literally used God against the people if you want to think about it that way and what the influence caused God's people to air and look Satan uses the same tactics today he uses the same tactics today look that is what is happening today that's what's happening to the entire country the entire world today it's just this it's just this influence people are being influenced they're being influenced through media they're being influenced through TV they're being influenced through the internet and they're being influenced to it's it's the influence desensitizes us to every sin you think it's nothing it's no big deal it doesn't hurt to watch things on TV it's it's relaxing you think oh that's it's normal it becomes and but you know it it desensitizes you it desensitizes you they're controlling they're controlling the information that you see they're controlling the they're controlling all the data that everyone sees they're controlling what you see they're controlling what you don't see look when you only hear one opinion on something over a long period of time that's what I told you during the don't you remember my analogy analogy of the the carpet that's why it was so valuable that we were all together throughout the whole you know mess of last year that we all were together because look if you're staring at a at a white wall and there's 50 people around you that come in every day and say that wall is red that wall is red that wall is red you're looking at it and you're like man that's white you're like that's white but every single other person says it's red eventually you're gonna start saying like maybe something's wrong with my glasses it must be red everybody thinks it's red but here here we're all together and we can protect each other from that influence but that's what's happening to the rest that that's why that's why everybody else seems like they're crazy now after one year everybody else seems like they're just afraid of everything they're just like they don't they they it appears that they don't have the ability to think for themselves it's it's really weird but that's because we're around each other and we're shielding each other from that influence because look if everybody else around you has a different opinion your opinion is going to change that's how it works you know what that's called that's called social engineering it's done on purpose the definition of social engineering is this the use of centralized planning in an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behavior of a society that's what they're doing that's what they're doing that they've been doing it for years they've been doing it for decades it's just gotten so bad in the last year that you have to be in a coma to not see it I mean look I mean a handful of companies control all the information right now I mean it used it's always been like that with the media it's like that now with the internet too remember the the remember the sermon I preached on convergence it's just convergence just sped up over the last year if you're not noticing it you better start noticing it look I mean and it's aligned with all these government interest centralized power defines the narrative that's it remember and you're psyched what's the motive I told you this at the beginning I told you this at the very beginning of the whole thing you know what the motive is it's very simple the motive is control that's it it's control over your behavior it's control over your income that's why remember when I said the comment I was like it's almost like they're trying to get everybody on welfare you know why you know why that is I mean that was a that was a comment it was like a rhetorical comment I knew the answer to it they're trying to get control over everybody they're trying to get control of your income then they can control you welfare equals control folks food stamps equal control unemployment equals control free rent equals control that's all it is is control they want control over your health government health care equals control they pay for your health care they can tell you what's healthy they can tell you what's not they can tell you what shop to get they can tell you what to not do they could say this is unsafe they can say that's not unsafe that's that's safe it's complete control that's all it is look that's what's that's what's been going on like at rapid hundred mile an hour pace for the last year and a half it's just the same thing that's always been going on except it's sped up it's centralized power season control and guess what guess what they rarely give it back and I would have said they never give it back but every now and then look when the government makes an agency it never goes away when the government makes a law to control your life it never goes away Roe v. Wade is what 50 years old now but guess what something actually did happen to kind of roll this back and the news article the funny thing is the news article actually said that I'd like to roll us back a few more decades if possible in Texas they actually passed a law now this is good news they actually passed a law that beyond six weeks it's illegal to do an abortion and the Supreme Court of the United States upheld it and then it's even greater that the law also says that anybody assisting anyone like if you drive somebody who's seven weeks pregnant to a Planned Parenthood clinic so they can get an abortion you can be sued for $10,000 by anybody by anybody that find look it's accessory to murder it's beautiful and the Supreme Court of the United States upheld it Mississippi's got one coming I I pray that that more states come and start rolling this stuff through but look that's and the art of the news article said we just took we just took 50 years a step 50 years backwards in Texas and said that said that president of Planned Parenthood it's like amen we just took a step 50 years back we need to take a step a hundred years back and then we put somebody like that in prison or they be executed for murder so but look this is the reason that I bring this up it's because it's super rare it's super rare I mean I've been waiting my whole life for a law like that to be passed and just I mean just like you know and look I don't put I don't put my my hopes and everything and I don't lean on the government and I don't lean on you know judges and things like that but but thank God that something positive happened here and it did matter it did matter and the Supreme Court upheld it so praise God for that but typically that is not the typical thing typically when they get control they keep it they keep it and any opposing views are silenced and let's say it works it works look there will tell me there will come a time and that time is coming soon I'm telling you where Christians will need to own and control their own content because they're being silenced I mean opposing views are being silenced but in the meantime in the meantime folks since there's all look that the the content is being filtered it's being filtered by the centralized powers we need to protect our homes we need to protect our families from this influence look the people involved in public school have no chance they have no chance think of the influence there there's no chance and here's the thing and we're gonna talk about this going forward with homeschooling you're just gonna hear homeschooling a lot here but here's the thing you should not have to do you have we should not have anything to do with that system there's a lot of you know homeschooling that can intertwine with the public school system and all this you should have nothing to do with it because it's wicked as literal hell that system but we're look we're gonna be education focused so you don't have to be entangled in that garbage but so that I mean look influence is a big deal that's the whole point that I kind of went off on there influence is a big deal Balan influence Balak to just peacefully influence the children there was no war there there was no war yet they were able to slaughter 24,000 of the of God's people here's a here's a lesser application and then we'll be done here's a lesser application just for us we know what God says verse number 12 of numbers chapter 22 we know what God says don't go finding loopholes in God's word Balam knew what God's word was and he did not deny it yet he kept pushing and he kept pushing and he kept pushing he wanted to go to Balak and take the reward and you know it's as if God was gonna say to Balam oh that's okay as long as you spoke what I told you to speak yeah I don't care if you go around no the whole point was verse number 12 of numbers 22 he didn't want his his people were blessed he didn't want him cursed that was the whole point and Balam you know he thought he found a loophole but yet we do the same thing folks we know what God word says we know what God's word says yet we try to justify our own will anyway I mean think of a time that you've done that in your life I'm sure you can think of one where you're like you really wanted to do something and you're like yeah I know that the I shouldn't really be wanting this and doing this but you're just like oh but here's some spiritual reasons why you know it kind of can make sense and then you convince yourself that it's really a spiritual thing that you're doing this is where your friends come in this is where your friends come in to sharpen you and hopefully you have the kind of friends you know that will wound you in situations like this because you can literally convince yourself you can literally deceive yourself you can start out saying yes not really what God thinks I shouldn't really do that and then you sit there and just come up with a bunch of spiritual reasons and then you can just tell yourself those spiritual reasons over and over again but then we tell a friend that and they're like yeah no God wouldn't want you doing that that's dumb that's where your friends sharpen you and wound you because here's the thing spiritualizing wrong decisions think about what Balam did did Balam get Balam anywhere Balam got Balam dead that's where Balam got Balam Balam got himself killed and a bunch of other people killed too his whole little you know trying to outsmart God just did nothing but damage to himself and everybody else so look the point is if you try to spiritualize stupid decisions in your life the consequences will still be there for you turn to Luke chapter 12 the consequences of not doing what God tells you to do will still be there go to Luke chapter 12 look at verse number 47 Luke chapter 12 in verse number 47 pretty simple verse here I'm just gonna read one verse of it that servant which knew his Lord's will that's really the key right there the servant that knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes it doesn't matter it doesn't matter why you you know what spiritual reasons that you think that you came up with if you knew God's will and then you kept see Balam Balam you should never get to the point in your life where you start trying to spiritualize wrong decisions why because you should get to the point where you're at numbers chapter 22 and verse number what 12 verse number 12 will guide where God just says no that should have been the end of it there should have been no more ah let me go talk to God again okay okay I'll go there yep and okay if they come to get you all I'm going there should have been none of that and then he goes and he visits with Balak for I don't know days and days how long does it take to build an altar they built a bunch of altars spent probably a week or more with this guy spending all this time with this guy and he's thinking he's thinking and he's seeing all the gold and the silver that he could have in the crowns and the rewards that he could have all these worldly things he's just like all but I but I spoke the word of God I listened to God I really did what God told me to do God didn't tell me to not do this he should have never got to that point God said no it should have been the end of it this guy right here in Luke chapter 12 verse 47 he knew the Lord's will and he did not do according to his will see the longer you don't accept God's will it's really about accepting God's will the longer you don't accept it look if you know it look if you know it accept it if you know it accept it because otherwise you give Satan a door to walk in and play with you and change and make you think that you can you can have spiritual reasons for going against verse 12 where God just says no but here's the thing all the spiritualization that you do and you continue with and man you could really you could really twist yourself some spiritual pretzels I've seen some good ones I mean some of them are brought to me these spiritual pretzels they're like you know I would like to do this and and usually the spiritual pretzel is laid out before it's like well you know here's some spiritual pretzels and spiritual reasons spiritual reasons spiritual reason and here's what I want to do and I'm like no and then people eat the pretzel anyway but guess what the consequences are still there the consequences are still going to be there so you know God's will everybody here knows God's will for their life especially when it comes to big decisions in your life you know what you're supposed to do and if you don't know you should ask somebody you should ask a friend and even if he wounds you ask because don't start making spiritual pretzels because there's consequences to that and you know that's the story of Balon it doesn't matter how you think you can get around God verse number 12 that's it and if you don't follow verse number 12 the consequences are yours and the people around you but especially yours alright let's bow our head have a word of prayer


Wallets, jewelry, masks, pins, and ceramic arts are just a few of many products for sale at the Big Gay Valentine Market on February 12th. Michael Lau, creator of Triangle Manor, says he enjoys having fun through art and exploring different venues. Specifically, our group of folks in the Art Collective, we're all queer, we're all part of the LGBTQ plus community, we're all furries, we're all a bunch of weirdos who love to be art basically. So, you know, this collective is, we made it to help support all of us and help bring us up if we can. A drag queen who goes by the name Coleslaw says she is excited for the event in that the attendance shows that there should be LGBTQ events more often. I'm performing at this event and I'm here to like have some fun and see all of the wonderful vendors, local queer artists. Serving over 1,200 small businesses every year, New England's open market CEO Chris Massey says they have hosted events for over 20 years. You know, we just think that it's important to get for the LGBTQ community, artists, makers, designers to have a place exclusively for them to sell to the public. After two years of LGBTQ events, the New England open market says they're looking to host a pride market in the coming months. Kiara Smith reporting for BUTB.


Tarzan of the 8th brought to you from out the pages of Edgar Riceboro's thrilling book. Tarzan watches the result of his terrifying call of warning. He sees Sheeter's glossy form slink behind the cover of a spreading mimosa bush. Then turns his head to find Clayton staring up at him in utter amazement. Tarzan regards the young Englishman curiously. Grinchfully poised on the tip of a swaying limb, the 8th man watches the color flood back into Clayton's face. The jungle, which at momentarily stills at Tarzan's warning cry, stirs again to life. From the solid mass of tall trees comes the swirl piping of jungle birds, intermittently broken by the deeper notes of the larger birds. Half-hidden by the dense verger, man who is a monkey, chatters and scolds. The high sun, filtering through the lacy maze of vivid dreams, floods the clearing with flashes of gold. Tarzan's bronze body melts into the shadows. With the inhuman stills born of years of habit, he drops limb by limb, branch to branch, behind the dense screen of topic leaves, and glams on the most deadened grounds behind Clayton. The Englishman wheels around, reaches for his rifle, stops when he sees Tarzan. Thanks, old man. It's certainly saved my life. Tarzan says nothing. Curiously, he examines Clayton's clothing. He runs his hand over the woolly texture of the cacophony shirt. Clayton turns to place the 8th man. Tarzan grips him by the shoulder, and the Clayton's mind flashes the memories of the warning note came to the door of the hut. You must be Tarzan's game. Tarzan pays no attention, and always examining Clayton's boots. I know. I say, don't you talk? Are we allowed to Tarzan pull Clayton's right foot from under him? And continues his new examination at the storage white man's leather feet. Clayton struggles to regain his balance. Look here, old man. I don't think this has gone far enough. Tarzan lets Clayton's foot go. He reaches for the rifle, but Clayton's so quick. The Englishman tries to get his hand over the trigger guard. Tarzan grips, barrel, and stops. He twists. Clayton winces. His fingers caught in the guard. They sway from side to side. Tarzan raises his arms above his head. Clayton hangs by his fingers to the trigger guard. He can't hang on. His fingers slip, slip between the trigger and guard. He tries to draw them clear. He can't! Meanwhile, back at the hut, Jane, her father and Philander discuss Clayton's prolonged absence. I completely fail to comprehend why a practical man like Clayton does not return. Oh, do you suppose anything could have happened to him? Almost anything might happen in this world enough. Don't worry, Jane. I'm sure Cecil is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Yes, yes, of course he is. Dear, dear, me so many things have happened. I've hardly had time to write a line in my notebook. Dear, dear me, I had built such high hopes of finding the treasure in order that it might defray my archaeological research costs.  Oh, dear, what has happened to Cecil? Oh, touch, touch, Jane. I am perfectly convinced. My internal evidence is reduced by me from the max. Well, might he have been a forgery? Yes, yes, perhaps. I am basically fair in my judgment it might have been a forgery. However, I feel that such an eventuality is remotely negligible. Well, have you thought that there might be a duplicate map of the treasure location? Duplicate map? Why, yes. I read in books about pirates that it sometimes happens that one of the crew makes the map for himself unknown to the captain. Then he can come back and feel the treasure for himself later. Oh, dear, what the worse, Cecil is. The world's really, really most interesting, my dear. I must admit that the possibility of such a thing had escaped me. Perhaps, yes, it is quite a possibility, but I fear it is too much to hope. I fear the mutineers have expounded with our treasure and are probably even now dissipating the proceeds. Oh, it's not a treasure we should be worrying about now, Daddy. It's Cecil. It seems hard to ignite me that he would have stayed away as long as this. You're right, my dear. Then, as you've suggested, we had better prosecute the stupor, sir. And I better remain with Jane. I'm certainly not. Nothing will harm me. Then we will proceed at once. Come, Philander. It doesn't return while you are gone. I will fire one shot.  No, no, no. Why, yes, one shot. Remember, Philander, one shot. I shall forget. Now, keep it inside of the cabin. But, my dear, if we keep within sight of the cabin, it will seriously impair the efficiency of the search. Well, be very, very careful, then. We shall be careful. Well, come, Philander. Let us enter the primeval path. Here, here, now, now. Please, please point that rifle either at the ground or at the cut. You leave, Professor. I have no fear I've handled rifles before. Oh, Julie, careful. Here, here, my dear. That is not a clear reason for you, my dear Philander, that if any sort of serious business works... Look, Professor. There's a broken branch. That means Trayton has passed this way. Again, my dear Philander, you are indulging in that exponentially facilitating habit against which I have so frequently warned you after jumping hastily at conclusions. The process of reasoning... My dear Professor, what I read in some book rather, I can't scroll to this moment to title, that the aborigines of these regions unerringly read such science in the forest. But I might call your attention to a false image of premise, Mr. Philander. You are not at aborigination. And our friends in the Cheat Talk evidently agree with my scientific conclusions. Apropos, I believe, we're out of sight of the cabin. And Jane said, right, right, they did say for us to remain going sight of the cabin. But might she not admit hearing rather than sight? I wonder. It's an acoustic rather than a visual signal with a ring. See here, Professor. There's a motor branch.  I am sure Trayton passed you. Most interesting. I must make a note, sir. Let us press 4 over the please, Professor. We may yet overtake, please. Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes. I mean, most that, when crushed, gives off a pungent odor. Would you describe the odor as pungent Philander? Or should I say... Well, say whatever you please. Sorry, we must try and... One moment, one moment, Philander. Do not be so precipitous, I say. Pungent odor, yes. I would describe it as pungent. And in that connection, I might also mention that the female of a certain species of fruit fly... Flesh me. So, what is that? A rifle shot. Trayton must have gone back. Come with us, sir. Come on, let's go. Come on, hurry, hurry. Back in the hut, Jane hears the shot. She thinks of Clayton, though. Well, her father may have fired it and goes to the door. Oh, well, stops her in her tracks. Before the hut stands, Sable the lioness. Jane leaps back into the hut and slams the door. With anxious fumbling fingers, she drops the locking bar into place. With a snarl of rain, Sable leaps. Her heavy-body crushes against the barrier. Jane stands behind the door, trembling. The lioness scratches at the rough planking between her and her prey. Sniffing, she circles the hut. She starts, looks at the barred window. She raises herself on her hind leg. Four claws on the still, she glares through the window. Sable sees Jane watching at the end of the hut. The wicked-eyed dream, the long, brutal claws work convulsively. She steps the barred with her huge paw. She drops to the ground, gathers her haunches under her, crouching. With a roar, she hurls herself upward. She crashes against the wooden bar. They creep under the terrific impact. They hold! Sable trips back to the ground. She reaches the door. Her is herself born again with terrific force. The door holds! Sable again eyes the window with its slim bars. She screams! The bar is snapped! Sable and huge paw, sling through the open. Another bar snaps, and another! The work goes as if I enforce with this great 20-hips through the window. Jane looks at the British head trained in the window. Desperation sees as I. She steps back. She sees a revolver lying on the bunk. She snatches it, pulls the weapon up, and pulls the trigger! She puts this table in the shoulder with a mingled roar of rage and pain. The lion is dropped to the ground. She crunches. Screams! Sable and huge paw, way through the window. Sprinted for Jane's presence. And again, and again, again and again, the hammer snaps down on the empty sh...


I'm David Banish, Dean of Libraries here at Tulane. This poem I'm going to read is by Philip Larkin, and it's called For Sydney Bichet. That note you hold, narrowing and rising, shakes like New Orleans reflected on the water, and in all ears appropriate falsehood wakes. Building for some, a legendary quarter of balconies, flower baskets, and quadrills. Everyone making love and going shares. Oh, play that thing. Mute glorious story bills, others may license. Grouping around their chairs, sporting house girls like circus tigers priced far above rubies, to pretend their fads while scholars monkey nod around unnoticed, wrapped up in personnels like old plaids. On me, your voice falls as they say love should, like an enormous yes. My crescent city is where your speech alone is understood and greeted as the natural noise of good, scattering long haired grief and scored pity. Philip Larkin was an English poet. In addition to being a poet, he was also a librarian, and he was the head librarian at the University of Hall in East Yorkshire for many years. This particular poem, of course, references New Orleans, and more specifically, Sidney Bache, who was a saxophonist contemporary of Louis Armstrong, and one of the pioneers of early jazz, particularly the concept of soloing. Larkin wrote, in addition to his poetry, and being a librarian, he also wrote about jazz, and was the jazz record reviewer for the Telegraph newspaper for many years. So his writings are collected in a collection called All What Jazz, which we have here in the library.


Just last month the White House announced that Dakota Meyer, a 23-year-old marine scout sniper from Columbia, Kentucky who has since left the Marine Corps will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in 38 years. We caught up with Dakota in his hometown before the awards ceremony to bring you his story. We went in to do a key-leader engagement to go in and meet with the elders of a village called Gansgaw and there was a group of about 21 Marines in there and AD Afghans with us and I was sitting outside of the outside of the village with some trucks with another staff sergeant and They they ended up getting hit and a little little ways into air support wasn't coming in So we decided we should go in there and try to help him get out Risking his life even when a medical evacuation helicopter wouldn't land because of the blazing gunfire Meyer charged through enemy machine gun and rocket propelled grenade fire to help rescue and evacuate his Marine Sailor and Afghan brothers. We made five trips in there and We got in there to find them. They were they had already been killed Dakota's family and friends say they were not surprised that he put his life on the line and ran headlong into a dangerous Situation like he did that day. Dakota is Dakota. I mean he he's a hard worker You always know where you stand with him. He'll tell you what's on his mind He always would dive head first into things and think later and so he was always looking for a Challenge and he always thought of others first every time I'd tell him I'd say now cold You take care of yourself He said now me ma I will but I Have to also take care of my brothers which he was talking about the other Marines He would have been willing to lay down his life He would have been willing to die for others to die for the battle to Do what he needed to do for his country. It's a mixture between training and it's a mixture between Morals, you know your brothers in there You know you don't leave anyone behind and there was no time.  It's a lot more than that It's hard, you know, it's a It's hard, but you know that there's nothing that's gonna be too hard to keep getting their story out and getting the Recognition for the guys that passed that day. It's a great honor to be getting the Medal of Honor It's it's not for me. It's for those guys. It's for the Marine Corps. It's for the the Marines are reserving You know the Marines that will serve


This is John Steele, reporting on Adventure. I don't know how it is with women, but a man's lucky if he has two or three fellas he can really call his friends, especially a guy like me, moving around the way I do. So, when I got the letter telling me Mike wanted me to come at once, I didn't ask why, when, or how come. Bar Town, the letter said. All I wanted to know was how to get there. At the library, I looked Bar Town up. Bar Town, population unlisted. I had to look hard, a fly spec on the map. North, north-central Canada. North of Great Slave Lake. No roads, no trains. Only one way in by planes, private planes. Bar Town. So I started counting my money and looking for a charter plane with a pilot willing to take me. I called this transcribed yarn, junk mine. Bucky Miller was a pilot's name. He had a ski plane for charter. He was willing to fly me up to Bar Town. He made his living by being willing. Do you fly up this way often? Some. When it brought you to Friday, only got me a package to drop. Do back Friday. Flyin' somebody out Friday? passenger. Well, there she is, down ahead. Bar Town. Doesn't look like much. What there is? Town. Looks like somebody sprinkled pepper on the ice. What they call it? I'm settin' down, settin' tight. I waited to ask Bucky about my friend Mike, if he knew Mike. Mike always went on his own. Mike never begged. But I knew these northern bush pilots who fly for the buck and how they climb up. I concentrated on learning what I could about Bar Town by watching the bleak dots rush up at the plane from the ice instead. The dots turned into lopsided pine shanties huddling around a big unpainted ship. The shanties and the mine shaft house. That's all there was. Mining. What was Mike doin', diggin' down under the ice? Mike McCartle was a butterfly. What was he doin' away from the sun? I went on across the ice to the mine house. A beat-up sign flapped in the wind. J. J. Gregg, mine superintendent, the sign said. The man inside didn't even look up. He was sharpening what looked like a throwing knife. You, Gregg, the superintendent? Why did I come in? Dean, ain't you? It's cold. It's cold out there. One side. Knife might slip. Not bad. Not a bad knife throw. Ain't got a quite fruit. It's a good throw. You aimin' for that big knot hole? Ain't aimin' particular, no. I'm up for Manitoba. Have a look. You ain't from Manitoba. Toe was cold, not with them clothes. Fell out freezing, Toeva, this time of year, with them clothes. What's the difference where I'm from? Makes no difference where you're from, mister. Differences, what are you doin' here? Lookin' up somebody. Thoughtin' it'd be hard to find. You always flyin' around lookin' up your pals? Sure, he's a friend. Flyin' costs must be an important friend. No any other kind? What's your friend's name? Mike. Mike McCartle. Lambie. Lambie, come in here. What are you doin' in there? Been in here over an hour makin' up your sons. I told you to stay away from them ortonage shots. I'm only tryin' to help you. The incorporation law says you have to report the ortonage.  He's probably got a bottle sloshing it up in the shaft. I'll slush around that big jerk's brains. It's kind of cold up here, ma'am. Yes. Lonely. I didn't expect to find a woman in bar town. I'm his wife. The only woman. Only anybody. What do you want? Came up looking for a friend. Here? Mike McCartle. You couldn't miss him. Been so few men. No, I couldn't. Yes, I couldn't. He here? He here now? Go. Go quick before it happens to you. Get back where you belong. Don't let on. Not one word what I said. That's him, Lummy. Oh, yeah? Yeah? That's him, the fellow lookin'. Lummy, uh... Take the fella down to meet his friend. They kept their eyes on me. Jim Gregg, the super. In the human ox he called Lummy. They kept their eyes on me all the way down to the shaft head of the old mine. I remembered a warning. Mrs. Gregg, she warned me to go to get out. She wanted to tell me something more, but she'd been afraid. Not of me. Why wouldn't she tell me if Mike was here? What she was afraid I'd find out. I faked a stumble and risked to look back just before we let daylight behind, but the mine office door was closed. She was nowhere in sight.  We were in the mineshaft. I had to play it careful. These were rough boys. The shaft, old-style cut. The shaft's old. Sure you're taking me to see Mike? Keep walking. What's Mike doing down here? Still asking questions. No harm. Any harm askin'? I just want to know what Mike's doing. Mike, you say, boss, pick on questions. Yeah, pick on. Hello, Mike. Don't you know him? Got no friends?  You boss here. I think he's gettin' it, Lummy. I think he's gettin' the idea. Mike, it's me. Me, John. I got your letter. I came right up. One of the few real friends a man ever has. Only now he was swinging his pickin' lookin' wild at me, crazy wild, watching me as if he'd never seen me before. Watching how I hefted the pick, how I brought it down into the rock. I wanted to stop to ask him what was wrong, what he was doing down here, and why he hadn't recognized me. But I couldn't stop. Maybe it was that wild look in his eye, the way he kept looking at me, but I didn't dare break rhythm. I kept working to pick. I'd always been as strong as Mike, but he was hefting his pick like a toy, and mine was getting heavy as lead to me.  You know me. Mike, it's me. The silver, Reg? You don't trust him? Turn up and it's happen to you? Ever see a mile with only one man diggin'? No. How come you're here? What's this all about? You're no minor. You gotta. You gotta keep diggin'. Grab your pick. Back there in the shaft. Don't look. Love me the watchdog. Love me sneakin' back close, listen. That's why I've been actin' funny. Oh, yeah, yeah. Start diggin', Johnny. Sure I know you. Nothing to matter with me. Only love me some killer. I'll talk later. Of course I know you. You tell me somebody else in the whole world I know better. You'll have me worried. Why'd you say you didn't? Had to act that way, Johnny. Didn't want him to know you was my friend, and I sent you the letter.  I'll come. What's going on? They need your radium, and a whole great sleeve up here's likely for us. What happened? Ran out of money. I didn't have any luck snooping around these mountains with a geiger counter. Anyhow, winter set in. No dough, no supplies. I stumbled onto this place. Only one tried to work here, so I said, sure, I'll go down in mine. Like you notice, me outside looks legit, like a real big place. Only when I got down in here, I found out nobody was workin' down here. You were the only one. Only Lummi and him around. How come? Why the front? I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? You're not dumb. You've been around. I don't know. When you got eyes. I don't know what's going on top side. I'm stuck down in the mine. You go up every night? The heck I do. I sneaked the letter out, and you gave it to the bush pilot.  What do you mean they won't? You saw Lummi. You see Greg with these drone eyes. Ever see their guns? You were always able to take care of yourself? You were watching me one minute. I got me a cop back down the shaft. They bring me down the grub. I tried breakin' out once. Here. Huh? Right through the shoulder. It still hurts. Greg, throw knife. Practice is all the time. And spirit right at 50 feet. Nice guy. I'll get him. See why he didn't want me around. Don't want nobody around. Just Lummi. He's two-legged rat. Ever ship out any of you roar? Ours like him. Ours no good. Junk rock. Junk. No gold in it. No good. Mine run by the company? Never saw nobody up here from no company. No engineers. Only once I saw another guy down here. City man he looked by the way he dressed. Stood way back in the shaft and looked at me. Think I heard Greg call him Fred. Must be a company incorporated back at it somewhere. Don't know. Don't know why any company want a no-good mind like that. No legitimate company. Huh? This gold roar. Think it assays uranium? Roar. Roar's played out. I've got a new way to extract uranium from gold ore residues. You learned about that prospecting. Uranium. Guess? Yeah. Guess it might smell down or trace. Trace might be enough. See what you mean? Bait. Sucker bait. You mean a company selling phony shares outside? Something on the phone. What do you want? Back in here. Both of you. What? Good shot off. Only asking. Good shot off. What do you want, Greg? In there. The old branch. She's a man trap. The bottom's caved in. She's fallen 10 feet. In there. Showering's half caved in. What makes you think we're going to squeeze in there? In there. What makes you think we're going to dig anywhere? Watch it. I see it. Yeah. Nice. Talk speak. Weaving a knife. I tell you the real truth. Just for you. Don't give them an excuse, John. Into that passage we're squeezing. Then for a second that's all I heard. Cold. I felt cold. It was ice. No, it was water. I was in water. The water was like ice. Then I heard him. Greg. The sound of the noise cleared my head. I opened my eyes. Dig yourself a hole. He was sitting up on a rock crystal ledge. His shoes almost touched the water. Mike and I were standing in the water up to our chests. What's the idea? We're half under. They're in our graves. They're crazy stuff. Jim. Passage flooded. She's still flooded. Water's rising. Jim. It's crazy. The hill rock is mine. I tell you the water's rising. I can feel it coming up my shirt. Jim. Jim. Jim. Jim. Keep our foot. That's the idea. Jim. Keep your head, Mike. Your shoes, Mike. Mine shoes are heavy. Kick them off, Mike. You hear me? I got the nut loose and the chipper. The rock chipper. I cut it, Mike. Underwater here. Cut it right to my hand. You saw where he was sitting. On the ledge, the ornage right over the water. I'm going underwater, Mike. I'm going under over to that ledge. You hear me? Yeah. Yeah. Strong enough to swim along under with me. I heard him laugh.  The laughing sounded good to me. As long as I heard it, I knew they hadn't discovered Mike and I were crawling underwater, crawling slow along the bottom of the flooded passage. Then my fingers grabbed the bottom of the ledge. My lungs were begging for air. I wanted to get to the chipper. Let myself break water for that air. But I lifted the chipper instead. I dug it in. Dug it into the base of the ledge again and again where the edge of the ore crystal shone like brittle silver. Then I braced my feet and Mike and I pulled and the ledge bottom cracked. It cracked right where I knew it wouldn't. It tumbled right in. Hey, Mike! I'll get to no good, Scott. No friction, Super! Let me fix that! I made and finished it. His clumsy waited finished what I started. Spreading the crack in the vein of crystal, breaking the crystal arch that held the roof and sides in. Dark. The rock slide had knocked out the lamps they'd been wearing too. Too dark to see. I fell in the round and the dark for Mike. He'd been beside me ever since we tumbled Greg in. But all I felt was water. Water all around. I was alone treading water in the dark. Then I felt rock under my feet and I hoisted myself up. Enough blocks from the cave in had fallen in to build up the bottom of a flooded passage. I hoisted myself up of what was left of the ledge. My fingers slid over something smooth and shiny. Too smooth for a rock. A lamp. Lummi's mind lamp crushed and buried in the cave in. I scrapped away loose dirt and rock. I rolled the rocks down and away. Are you all right? Keep holding. I found the lamp. The matches. The lighter. Hold on. Dry in it. Dry in it off. Works. Light, Mike. We got light. I never thought I'd see it again. Why? I tell you she's gone. Looked all over all through the minehouse. The living quarters. Gone. Not a sign. I guess we can't tell her about Lummi and her husband. Just like rats. Tron like rats. But you're finding Greg's mind books. I'm finished looking. Find anything? Enough to prove Greg was running a swindle. Like you thought. Phony stock swindle. Don't know how many made suckers selling him phony mind stock.  Must have figured me as some kind of a government man. Up here to check on him, huh? My common made him suspicious. Especially the act you put on not knowing me. Man who's crooked's always got to be suspicious. The only thing bothers me. The loot. All that money he made in the swindle. No trace of it. Not a dime. Looked for that too. Not a dime. Money gone. Mrs. Greg gone. Now I wonder. Or am I getting unreasonable suspicious too? Figures. You going in after? I'm going to hang around for the fun. Fun? Two deadens floating down there in the mine. Someone's going to miss them. Going to want to know how come. Maybe ask a lot of questions about them. Maybe now about the mine. Let me get his from a falling rock. What they call accidental. I saw him take the rocks light when he fell in. But Greg was near you. What happened to Greg? Greg. No good. A scut. Just plain never no good. Rocks didn't fall near him. You were close to him. Greg he get killed accidentally too? Yeah. You were near him in the water in the dark. You're no killer Mike. But you had the chance. You hated him. It ain't no good to hate a man like I hated him.  Hate. Funny thing. No I didn't kill him. He was yelling screaming in the dark. I could hear him yelling screaming something awful.  Funny thing. Then I didn't hate him. Didn't hate him no more then. Hey who's flying? I've been waiting out by my plane an hour. Looking for a passenger Bucky? I got an order for a Friday pickup. Told you that when I brought you in. To pick up Mrs. Greg? Flew her out this morning. She laid out the emergency stop signal in the snow. Oh then she wasn't the passenger where you were supposed to pick up today. Told you she put out the special signal in the snow. Got nothing to do with this pickup. Got an order for this pickup last week. Where'd you fly her? Up the line. Where up the line? Up to poor rivers to wait for the regular airline. Airliner? Where? You'll have to ask her mister. Now I got an order and I'm wasting gas. Who's flying? You want to stay Mike? No. No I don't want to stay. But I got no place to go. You got no reason to hang around here. I believe you about Greg. Come on. We'll catch that regular airline. You can never tell what you're going to run into. And that's the way it was up at bar town. But there was more to it than that. It was what happened to Mrs. Greg and where her trail led Mike and me. Straight to jail. And that's where we'll go next week. On the trail of Mrs. Greg and a package full of hundred dollar bills. It's a real adventure I like to call Chris Cross. Heard with me on today's transcribed John Steele adventure where Jack Orison, Mary Ashworth, Maurice Tarplin and Charlie Holmes. I'm Don Douglas. So until next week then and Chris Cross. Remember, adventure is where you find it. But don't look for it. It may find you. Remember to be with us next week for another episode in the series John Steele. Adventurer. Remember, a country is known by its people.  This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and the Television Service.


The transformation of the Richardson-Omstead campus has been a key factor in Buffalo's economic and cultural revival in recent years. The campus, originally built as the Buffalo State Asylum in 1872, was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, alongside the landscape team of Frederick Law-Omstead and Calvert Vox. The asylum provided state-of-the-art care for people with mental illness. Over time, however, patients were moved to a new facility as treatments changed and resources were diverted. The campus's 13 dilapidated buildings and 42 acres of grounds sat vacant for 40 years and were threatened with demolition on multiple occasions. Established in 2006, after years of strong community activism to save the campus, the Richardson Center Corporation is tasked with creating an economically sustainable plan for the property. In an exemplary demonstration of public-private partnership, the redevelopment plan was funded by New York State, federal and state historic tax credits, and private philanthropy. Undertaking one of the largest historic preservation projects in the nation, the Richardson Center Corporation overcame immense challenges during redevelopment, the massive size of the buildings and vast grounds as well as their outdated design and variety of intended uses. The corporation was able to create a sustainable model for reusing the property by developing the campus as a series of projects rather than all at once. The first phase of redevelopment is complete and has yielded a hotel, a restaurant and an architecture center. Richardson Olmsted Campus serves as a model of how large-scale architectural complexes can be saved through engaging the community, establishing strong partnerships and developing a creative approach to reuse.


I will say this till the day I die. Leslie was the best.  I hope your mom watches this. Hello, I'm Donnie. I'm Leslie. And I'm about to get some advice. I'm about to get some advice from my ex. One thing about Leslie that I loved and I still do is how blunt and upfront she is.  I really appreciated you being really sweet with me, even though sometimes I could be a little bit cold. I'm not used to being so affectionate. My advice to Donnie on fashion would be to throw away all his old clothes. I think for someone to take you more seriously, you need to maybe dress more like an adult. For someone who is so 100% them, you want other people to not be them. Or even just now, she's like, could you comb your hair? And it's like, well, I could. I could part my hair to the side and slick it over and look like I'll falfer from little rascals. But that's not me going to wear it. I'm just saying you have the same wardrobe that you probably had in high school. That's fair. That's fair. I think one big risk that you could take that I think will pay off in the long run, and I know this would be really hard for you. But I think living on your own, living by yourself. That would be something I would love to do. And I can see that because sometimes I want that. But it's not something I can do, even though it's something I want to do. Listening to that, say that again. Yeah, I know what I said. We broke up last year on Halloween because he went out. And I begged you to come too. And you just did not feel like it. And you were like, just go out, just go. Have fun with your friends. You deserve it. You've been working so hard. So me being me, I totally took advantage of that and went to this Halloween party and got level five, stage five. You know, 10. Yeah, it was like 10. It was really bad. I got hammered. And I saw on Snapchat that he had his hands all over another woman. And I didn't like that. He said that that was his friend's girlfriend. But I still didn't appreciate how he had his hands all over her. His mom called me that morning because she couldn't get a hold of him. So even though I knew I wasn't going to talk to him, I went looking for him because he had somewhere really important to be. Court. And I pretty much said to myself, like, I'm not seeing this guy anymore. Yeah, it was done. Yeah, that's how we broke up. That's pretty accurate. Since this is the perfect platform for this, that night I got super drunk. The girl that I was taking the pictures with, she had a friend, me and her, had sex. And I never told you, just because I never wanted to, obviously. I don't even know what to say, really. I believe it's crazy. Yeah, I just wanted to tell you. I mean, it doesn't matter in the end.  And hopefully, you can go from. I regret that day. I regret that day so much. My advice for future relationships to work on would be to get into a relationship when you really know that you're not going to do anything you shouldn't do. Sleeping with other women, driving while you're drunk, not wanting to go to court. The fact that you can be that way is scary.  It would change my life, too. My advice to you for future relationships. I feel like because of the relationship that you came out of, it was like you were basing me off of him. You even said so yourself. You never had any, you knew from the beginning that it wasn't going to be anything serious for you. But I did have feelings for you. And I did spend a lot of time with you. So if I'm just in it half ass, I wouldn't have cared. You know, I would be like, oh, that's his problem. Like, I'm not going to make it mine. But I did make it my problem. And I did help you out. I really did. So I don't think you can say that. She's right. Are you just saying that? No, you're right. Since the interview, Leslie and I have not talked. And I think it definitely has to do with that day. That day, I think the news that he gave me was shocked. I felt like, wow, I can't believe he would do something like that. And he still talks to me. I think telling Leslie the truth helped her in the long run. It made her feel more sure about her instincts. It was my choice to date him, even though I knew all those things. I feel like I'm ready for a long term relationship. And I'm ready to date again. Every time it's a new learning curve. And that's the only way you're ever going to get to where you want to be is to give it a try.