But go ahead and call the meeting in order because we are streaming to the outside. I'm sorry We're we're gonna use we're gonna use the laptop and and use that as our audio. So We are streaming Sorry the codes work for that so they did do that they hired Scott Matula of Aspire Architects to Look at that. They've provided us two Letters the first one was related to the building codes and the second one was related to HVAC Pat Irick the building inspector for the south side has reviewed all of that and is an agreement with what the architect presented in that There is no issues from an HVAC or a building code standpoint as it relates to 29 days or more so the building inspection department is Interest able and willing and interested in moving forward and they don't see any concerns with it So I think at this stage the discussion is you know, is the committee on board with moving forward I will say that I believe they have Contracted an outside party to help with their management and have been kind of operating Independent of the resort But this will help them with moving forward in the future So at this stage staff has nothing really further of concern and we are recommending approving Dave gas you had a comment We're no worse often we are right now I mean, this is a chance to maybe see some development going on at least you got people Have a history of of taking properties and doing something with them Otherwise the current people are still a lot of things So I think we've everything to gain and nothing to lose by doing this Is there anybody else in the line up to take over this property and develop it? I doubt it Well, it's like it but they got to get an assignment of the lease if they don't they tactically Don't have a right to be on the property. So they have this building they bought that's not someone else's property I mean, I can't imagine they buy the building without getting So the assignment was the afterthought after they bought the building Well, as we know with a lot of these self-care properties is people don't always remember That you have to get these assignments done before you buy the building You know, we had that, you know last last meeting with the Maximus group and it's happened on numerous occasions before People just because this is such a weird arrangement where you have these long-term leases. It's that's not that people don't always The fact that oh when you want the building Okay, somebody want to put that in a motion I Move we transfer the lease a soxie moved there a second That can buy dance the There were a total of three documents attached. We're only asking the RDA to approve two of them That's the assignment of rents and the landlord's a stopper search That can be part of the motion the assignment and rents of the rents and the a stopper But if I could just I mean, I don't know but that really doesn't make any sense If you don't assign the rents early lease I mean, what's the what are the rents applied? I mean, or is this another is there a lease between a between a real estate entity and an operating entity for this So maybe maybe I should be a little bit more clear the third the third document that's That's attached is a support nation non disturbance agreement and there's there's some issues with that which they're not able to fix No, that's can be dealt with down the road. We're comfortable moving forward with that document and not approved by the RDA at this point So I think that the lease is being assigned and the two documents that are that were specifically asking the RDA to approve are the assignment of rents and No landlords to stop a certificate and as as Chad I think mentioned earlier Thanks part of this relates to them putting all their ducks in a row for their permanent financing but Thomas what we want to make sure that This lease gets assigned so that we make sure our ducks that are in a row We don't end up like we have another situation we have people on property who are Using a previous Well, we would that we would approve the assignment of lease we just want to be approving the third document, which is the subordination So there's in this in this I in this item There's three doc there's three documents attached for the approval the assignment of lease or rents The estoppel of the landlord and the subordination the bank has asked us not to Approve the subordination yet because there's some challenges with it and they're gonna come back at a later date But we're still gonna sign the lease and have that you guys prove the estoppel So two of the three documents that is correct. I do not know at this stage Something that before we know widely taken assignment. I'm in favor of these guys Let me let me let me just let me just cut in Dave and say we do have an idea But it's not something I want to discuss in open session at this stage because they're still in the formulation stage And we're on an open meeting What's the sense of urgency for this? We gotta have another meeting next week. Do we not? Two weeks we have another meeting on the 28th Can we put a closed session in that two weeks on the 28th and then bring this topic? I Guess I'm I could reach out to them and try to get more information and see where they're where they're headed Does anybody have a different opinion? I don't talk Chuck isn't on but he was the one Corresponding with Denmark State Bank, and I don't know if there's a timeliness factor to this or not. So Thomas did Chuck say anything on that? Don't know if there's a time horizon that they're working on I Would assume that if the bank is still working on support nation, it's not quite imminent Okay, what do we have to do to act on this put it to? table it until Table it until next the next meeting. So we have a motion on the floor to approve it So either we need to deny that motion withdraw that motion and move into hold or do something with that motion Let's draw the motion David you're muted Chad you recommend we do this with what you know I Think so I would I would say the project will be a good one It's just that it's in the early stages, and I would suggest we believe the motions so it doesn't get followed up Okay So the motion on the floor is to approve the assignment of lease and What's the second document Thomas? Is the landlord's the stopper certificate the landlord is stopper certificate Okay, ocean on the floor is to approve those two documents All those in favor say aye So is it did it so let's do let's do a roll call Dave gas Dave Soxie Amy Horst Roberta Flicky Pineski Steve Harrison James Owen Encourage them to be loser we lost Charter internet is not doing well today. Anyway, go ahead Thank you, sorry everybody that's fine All right discussion and possible action on landlord release and Regarding 528 530 South Pier, I just got a text from Amy and her computer So this So these are the ones we talked about last week these are the Two properties on South Pier the last time we met This was a set another document that the Usberg State Bank is requiring To basically release Rights and consent and I don't know if Thomas knows a little bit more about these document this document But it's a separate document that they should have they needed us to assign the leases to and then the bank Is looking for sign off on the RDA of that so that's why this document has come in independent of the other documents So I guess this happens after the It's the it's the it's the red building on South Pier where the Islander cafe used to be in the rock shop is in and the three shops shanty were bridal essence used to be in the Honeyhole is in so those are we proved assignment of lease to Maximus last week last time we met and This is a third document that the bank is requiring prior to closing And they couldn't execute this document until the assignment of leases were in place That is correct That can fight a lot of your discussion First I Realize that this was record show the date gas abstain. Okay All those in favor say aye James so when we need a voice from you Bye All right cool issues Thank you for your here comes Amy again, Amy would you like to Would you like to finish your comment that you cut off? I was just gonna say And ask them if they could bring Some more for their information into closed session in the near future to maintain good working relationships with the RDA If you could relay that information We'll do Make sure that gets on the agenda for another meeting Okay, I think we have gone through the Chair will entertain a moat date gas first Yes, one. This is I believe this is my last meeting and I've been on this RDA for a while So it's been a fun ride And Horizons as they say Alright We'll see you again because you represent all the clients we work with Legal conversations have been Move to adjourn is there any objection hearing none we are adjourned and thank you again David guest for your years of service Thank you


I'm Edward Mountain, the convener of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee. This bill reduces the speed limit on restricted roads from 30mph to 20mph. The committee looks forward to hearing your views on this.


Yes, the house should go vegan, and as a matter of urgency. You might wonder why on earth I'd be so concerned with people being vegan. People often say, stop forcing your views onto me. Why are you trying to force your lifestyle onto us? Well, I can assure you I don't have some narcissistic goal of wanting you to be like me or to join my cult. The motivation is connected simply to the concept of supply and demand. When you go to the store, you take flesh or milk off of the shelves. They replace it with more, subsequently subjecting more animals to a life of abject suffering and a brutal killing.  For you, it costs just a few quid for a pound of chicken. For the animals, they pay the ultimate price. The vast majority of animals in the UK and the world are farmed in filthy factories. But you might find that hard to believe because of the lie you've been sold. What humans do to animals in order to obtain their flesh, milk, eggs and skin is in numbers, unequivocally the largest moral atrocity humanity has ever committed.  We kill more feeling sentient beings than that in a mere six weeks by the most conservative of estimates. And all for trivial and needless products. In fact, since my talk started, we've already slaughtered over 2.5 million animals. And after just these few words, another 32,000. And just like that, minute after minute, hour after hour, millions of animals massacred. And for what? A burger, a ham sandwich, a chicken wing. I bet you probably couldn't remember what you ate for lunch last week. That's how little it meant to you. But for the animals, it was all they had. Now these numbers are unfathomable. We're talking between one and three trillion land and marine animals every year. That even if you were to believe that a human life is worth a thousand animal lives, a million animal lives, when we crunch the numbers, we surely should have reached a threshold to which you would consider our treatment of animals up there with the worst of moral crimes. If you don't, I'm sure the animals would see it that way. You see, it's easy to look at an issue from our perspective and say it just doesn't matter. But as famous animal rights lecturer Gary Rofsky once said, when you're the victim, things look a lot differently from that angle. If an atrocity like this were taking place to humans on such a scale, it would be the new holocaust on steroids. But the animal holocaust isn't new. The systematic domination, enslavement and mass killing of animals has taken place at least since the dawn of agriculture. And we've become more efficient at confining and terrorising animals with the rise of factory farming in the 1920s. Animals were the first to be enslaved, the first to be systematically slaughtered and the only victims to ever be served in a modern university cafeteria with no one batting an eye. For as long as non-human animals have been oppressed, they still are to this day persecuted, treated like nothing, their charred bodies chewed up, digested and flushed down the toilet. The utter disregard and contempt for these sentient beings is unmatched. But why are their lives disregarded? Well, just like racism or any other form of discrimination, it all starts in the mind first. Species-ism, you might have heard this term before, similar to racism, it's essentially discrimination based on species alone. It's the reason we love and care for dogs, but destined pigs to hellhole factory farms and a horrifying CO2 gas chamber to suffer and die. Species-ism is a form of human supremacy. We matter the most, so we choose who lives and who dies. Where have we heard that before? A quote attributed to Jewish philosopher Theodor Adorno rings true here. Ask which begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks they're only animals. A testament to the dangerous mentality that stems from species-ism. You see, the species that sees animals is so far below us that it becomes morally permissible to treat them like their lives don't matter. And throughout history, we've heard different oppressors lowering humans to the status of animals in order to justify killing them too. This species-ist language tends to precede many mass atrocities and war crimes. But in a world where we respected animals to begin with, this dehumanization could never be used to justify the unjustifiable. In the words of philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the question is not can they reason, nor can they talk, but can they suffer? And I'm in the room with intellectuals and the world educated and we all know the animals, we continuously subject to sickening farming practices for nothing more than taste pleasure, can suffer and suffer on an unthinkable scale they do. I've been an investigator for the last few years and I'm gonna tell you some of the things I've witnessed in this time and also some of the cruel and vile things humans do to animals in the name of our own selfish desires.  I've heard the chilling screams of six-month-old pigs as they beg for mercy in dungeons filled with CO2 gas. I've seen chickens with their bodies half eaten fighting for their last breath on the cold, damp, factory farm floor, as the other birds continue to peck them to death. I've watched cows struggle to escape the knockbox, ripping their own horns off in desperation before being shot in the head, hung and decapitated.  Also, we can take the milk that was meant for her baby. I've seen featherless hens with painful bleeding prolapses forced to continuously lay eggs for someone else's breakfast omelet. I've witnessed full-grown pigs being beaten to death with an iron bar as they convolve for close to a minute before being thrown in a bin like trash. The majority of these despicable acts took place on UK higher welfare farms and abattoirs. RSPCA assured, red tractor, free range, grass fed, are just marketing ploys to ease the conscience of the unaware consumer. It's trickery, a smoke screen that covers the true horrors of animal farming so that basic human compassion does not get in the way of meat industry profit. After hearing about the horrors of animal farming, the first thing that might come to your mind is, well, I don't agree with going vegan. That's a bit extreme, but it definitely should be done better. Let's treat these animals a little nicer before we kill them en masse.  Could you imagine someone using the phrase humane rape? Humane slavery. What about a humane genocide? Any decent person would scoff at the thought. Yet when it comes to the killing of animals, all of a sudden, it's no problem. In principle, humane slaughter is a myth, a fairy tale. It only serves to make the killer feel more comfortable about killing and has nothing to do with the rights of the victim. If the animals' rights were truly being respected, then so would their right to continue living. Put yourself in the victim's position. Would you still consider slaughter humane if it were you walking down the kill line? You see, animals are always left dead last. Whether humans are at war or at peace, the animals are still oppressed. Even after war's end, peace is declared and the economy covers and is robust. The animal killing machine is functioning at its peak. The animals are always left out of any peace deals. For them, the war never ends. We have waged an eternal war on the most innocent, defenseless beings that have no way of escape or retribution. Well, I guess war's the wrong word. It's more like a perpetual genocide because in this case, the victims cannot fight back. They are truly gentle, fragile, and helpless beings and humans capitalise in every twisted, conceivable way off of their helplessness. And their only crime is being born into the wrong species. During his pursuit for non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi said, the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.  I argue that although we're technologically advanced, we are sadly morally stone-aged. We need to stop looking at this injustice through a human lens and start viewing this through the eyes of an animal, born into hell, the day of their execution, already planned, born with no rights, not even to their own bodies. Yet humans have the superseding right to kill animals to satisfy their meat cravings. Justice and fairness are sentiments that we hold dear as a society, but do we practise them consistently? Do we extend that justice to those who look and act differently to us? We need to stop focusing on the differences between humans and animals and instead focus on the qualities we share. Sentience, emotions, the wish to live free from suffering and persecution, the desire for freedom. We will only reach this point when we stop viewing animals as worthless products and start viewing them as individuals whose interests matter morally. Famous author and vegetarian Leo Tolstoy wrote, as long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields. And I too believe that we can never truly be at peace while we continue to otherise, belittle, terrorise, subjugate and mass slaughter based on a morally irrelevant trait like species. You see the human oppression of other animals not only hurts the animals, but also harms our collective moral fibre and our supremacist attitude towards our fellow creatures of earth emanates out into the way we treat each other. It's time to live in alignment with the moral beings I know we can be and it all starts with our treatment of the most vulnerable. When you are not vegan, you are facilitating through the supply and demand system the most horrific moral crimes, crimes that one day will look back on the same way we now look back on slavery, apartheid and the Holocaust with complete and utter shame. It's for these reasons that I truly believe and I hope you do too that the house and the world should go vegan. Thank you. Thank you.


Hi, I'm Ciaran Menwarik. I'm part of the 36th Fighter Generation Squadron and I am a crew chief. Women's History Month is a great time to focus and reflect on women and what they've done in the past. More specifically, women in the military, it's great. I've had a lot of good role models that have paved the way for me. I never picked up a wrench before I joined the military. I remember being in my recruiter's office, you giving me a really big list of a bunch of different jobs. And one of the things I looked up was aircraft tactical maintenance. That's the official name for being a crew chief. And I looked it up and I was like, man, like, it'd be great to have my name on an aircraft. And when I got to basic training and I was looking through the different aircraft, I was like, wow, F-16. I know what that is. So let's just go with that one. Seeing the jets take off, all of them start up. It's sometimes you get used to it, but when you're in the moment, maybe you're on a TDY at deployment and those jets have a purpose and they're going up to fight somewhere and do their thing, it feels amazing. It feels like you're making a difference. I've understood my role as a woman in the military and that I can pave the way for the younger women that joined and be a mentor for the younger women that joined. I never really understood how important it was until I had those female role models. So I can't wait to pass on the knowledge to younger women coming in.


So guys, today I am doing my Teacher Tuber Secret Santa unboxing video. So I am up here in beautiful Prescott, visiting my family, and I'm super excited about this visit because I got to see Jennifer last night. We went to this event called Akronite, and up in Prescott, Akronite is a night where all of the shops stay open super late, and they invite musicians to come in and play Christmas music, not Christmas music, just all the musicians in town get to come and play music. So it's a really fun event. You just get to kind of walk around the city, listen to musicians, they sell hot chocolate on like every corner, they sell food, there's just vendors, and it's just a really fun event. So last night I walked up to the place where I was going to meet up with Jennifer, and she was holding this present. And so as soon as I saw her, I was like, she held it up like this, and I was like, what is that? Like thinking, oh my gosh, she got me a gift, oh my gosh, I didn't even think to bring her one. And she turns it around, and it says, I am your YouTube Secret Santa. I'm just super shocked that it was Jennifer. It's kind of perfect. I secretly wished that she was my Secret Santa, but I got someone really, really exciting. So I also have a little bit of a story time after this. So I'm going to get started opening. Now yes, the secret is out, Jennifer was my Secret Santa, but it's still super exciting to open these one at a time and see what she got me. Okay, so I'm supposed to open the card first. And there was sort of a system that came with this collaboration. So the first day of the collaboration, you are supposed to send your Secret Santa a hand written note or card. And technically we're supposed to open these one day at a time, but I'm a rule breaker, so I'm going to open all at once. Okay, so the card says, the more I think about it, I'm really glad I didn't end up with Jonathan Taylor Thomas in a shack. And then it has the mash game. That is so cute. It says that she ended up with JTT, which I don't know who that is. Justin Timberlake, maybe? I don't know. She is an art critic in the city of Paris and drives a Jeep. So that card is super cute. It's very nostalgic. And then Jennifer says, so I cheated at the rules and I told you who I was before you could guess, but I can't keep a secret from my best friend. So you would have totally guessed from the gifts I got you and from the return address. I'm so happy that we are friends. And then it says on the inside of the card, looks like we're doing better than we thought. And it says, living the dream. It is hard to keep secrets from your best friends. It really is. So thank you, Jennifer. This card is adorable. It's like super, like, remember playing this game in the 90s, any of you remember? We're fun game. All right, I'm going to find the day two gift, which was supposed to be a snack or a treat. So this is in a little Sephora bag, a keen idea of what this could be since she knows me so well. Oh, yeah. Only Jennifer would have possibly known to get me these because I didn't put this on my things I like list. Guys, chocolate covered gummy bears. These are my all time favorite treat, but I never remember to write them down because they're really, really hard to find. And we have a local candy shop here in Prescott and she must have gone there and got these like specifically. Thank you, Jennifer. I'm actually gonna eat these like right now. Yum. Sometimes you buy those and they've been in the same box as like something cinnamony and they infuse with cinnamon.  All right, day three was supposed to be something from your classroom. So we're going to see what she practiced in here from her classroom. She may have cheated, but we'll see. Day three. It slightly feels like a coffee mug, which is perfect because I need to go make some coffee in a minute. Oh, oh, yuck. It's a coffee mug and it says I love Monday's crossed out, Tuesday's crossed out, Wednesday's crossed out, Thursday's crossed out. Weekends. Yes, I do, Jennifer. I do love weekends. Thank you. Somehow I feel like this didn't come from your classroom, but we'll pretend. All right, guys. Day four is supposed to be a scent. Let's see if she follows the rules. Yeah, she did put a scent in there. And she knows that I have this in my classroom. So let's smell. Mold cider wax cube. Ooh, guys, that smells good. It kind of has like an apple cinnamon smell. Oh, man. OK, so that's the scent. And these ones are way better than the scentsy ones. Those ones don't really work as well in a bigger space. OK, day five is supposed to be a special gift. And we were supposed to put things in our wish list. A lot of people didn't, but I did. Not only because of this collaboration, but because my family on my side and my family on my husband's side were using Elfster, which is the system we all use to select our secret Santas. I was updating my wish list, so she probably saw what I wanted. And I think it smells like something I really, really wanted. She knew I wanted this, probably not only from my wish list, but because I talk about it, wanting to read it all the time. And I listen to the podcast and everything.  Thank you, Jennifer. I'm actually probably going to start reading this right now. So there is a little note inside, so I'm going to read this. Charlotte, you are one of my very best friends in the entire.  And then she wrote, seriously, I always mess up. Anyways, I was going to say that you have always been there for me when I needed you most. You've changed my life for the better, just like this book. I hope you find as much inspiration from it as I have. So special. I'm so excited. I'm going to have to take this off my wish list so that my family members don't buy it for me. But I'm really excited. I'm going to read this right now. I'm going to fill my mug with some coffee or some tea. I'm going to chow down on my gummy bears. And I'm going to read this book because it's perfect. So thank you, Jennifer. Okay, so here are the other teacher tubers that are participating in this year's Teacher Tuber Secret Santa Collaboration. Darren Nakakihara, he is actually the organizer of the Secret Santa Collabs. So thank you so much, Darren, for doing this for us. It was such a sweet gesture. We also have Megan from Too Cool for Middle School. Casey Morris from Teaching Unless. Kate, the sleepy teacher. Jennifer from Genuine Teaching. Fernanda from That One Happy Classroom. CJ Reynolds from Real Rap with Reynolds. Smarty Style. Shelley from Early Adventures. Welcome, Shelley, to the collab. And Marie from the caffeinated class. Okay, so real quickly before I leave, I'm going to share my Secret Santa's story. So the person that I shopped for was Casey Morris from Teaching Unless. And if you guys follow Casey Morris on Instagram or YouTube or any of her other platforms, you know that she is 35 weeks pregnant. So last week after I had gone shopping for Casey, Darren let me know that she was put on bed rest. Now I didn't know what this meant for the collab. I didn't know what it meant for my gift arriving. I didn't know what was going to happen. Basically we thought about rerouting Casey's gift to another teacher tuber in the collab, but I felt that that was just wrong. And I wanted Casey to still receive the gift that I purchased for her because I spent a lot of time and thought on the gifts that I purchased for her. So here's the deal. You may not see a video or a post of the gifts that I sent to Casey because she's on bed rest, because she's limited on time. And it's just really hard for her to put, it might be really hard for her to put together a video. She's still gonna receive the gift that I gave her, but it might just be between her and I. So if you don't see a video from Casey on the secrets, the Secret Santa teacher tuber collab, that is why she's just on bed rest, taking care of herself and making sure that her baby stays inside for at least a few more weeks. So anyways, thank you guys so, so much for watching today's video. I hope you enjoyed. I hope you enjoyed the nature sounds behind me. Let me just show you how beautiful my view is. Can you believe that? So gorgeous. So I think during nap time today because Cash did just wake up. During nap time today, I'm gonna pop some coffee or tea in that cup and start reading my book right out here on the deck with this beautiful view. So again, thank you guys so, so much for watching. Don't forget to follow me on my Instagram at ApplesNTRS and I will see you in the next video. Bye guys and Merry Christmas. Guys, all of the other videos from the other teacher tubers who participated in this wonderful Secret Santa collaboration will be linked down in the description box below. Thank you so much for watching. Check them out.


We met this guy, we were eating dinner the other night and he literally caught one. Like four? Four or five. 15 pounds. Good one? We're out here where the 15 pounders live. If you guys saw one of the last episodes, we came out on this little pond slash lake, squeezed in through the trees, got in the dirty stuff and hooked some really big fish. And we're back at it for the second time today. Got my boy Fletch behind me. What's going on, Fletch Daddy? What's going on? We're ready, aren't we? Dude, I'm ready. Well, me and O came out here. We caught them, but it wasn't great. It was really slow, the conditions sucked. 35 degrees. Yeah, it was a hard, cold snap for us. So we're hoping that we can come out here and now that we actually have more than an hour and a half, like really pick this place apart with some better conditions in search of a giant bass. So if you guys saw in the last episode, I hooked one towards the end of the video. We were really just playing around and I didn't handle it correctly. It was my fault. I ended up losing it. And it was a megalodon, guys. It was a freaking huge bass. So I'm going to roll that clip right now. Sorry, Fletch. It's not so big, dude. That's the biggest one. If you want to go see that full video, I will link it down below. It's a banger, man. We had a good time on that one. And today we're going to have an even better time. Subscribe to the channel if you guys haven't already. Like this video. It really helps it out. And comment down below some video ideas. And if you could share this video with a friend, get somebody new and efficient. Let's go ahead and hop on the boat and see if we can catch some big ones. We actually have a better trail than the last time. I told my dad about this place. And he's like, all right, we got to get easier access in there because he wasn't going to do what we did to get into the pond. Well, dude, I even wore my thick hoodie, Fletcher, because I thought, you know, I was like, I am not dealing with the spiders today. But good thing we don't have to mess with that. All right, the energy drink of today, Alani Cherry Slush. This is not a paid promotion, but this energy drink is good, man. This thing tastes so good. Not sponsored, but should be. Not sponsored, but should be. So Alani, if you're watching this, anybody who knows Alani, I don't know who Alani is, but hey, Alani, hit me up. Okay? On a real note. Okay. We're ready, man. It's actually really good. I know you're not too big in the energy drinks. Sorry. He's slurping down like. I drink way too many, man. Way too many. I'd probably feel better if I didn't drink energy drinks, to be fair. This was a little nice spot. We caught some good fish down here on this side, but. The first spot that we really caught them on was at a stick right out here. Yeah, no, you want to start off there? Yeah, let's definitely. I'll see if we start off there. Guys, I'm going to show you what I'm throwing. Kind of go through that whole Shazam. We're going to try some different things today, too. We actually got a secret rig that we were using down in Florida. We just got back from our Florida trip. Those videos are going to be dropping very soon. We got some bangers, dude. Got some bangers. No doubt. We absolutely smoked them. And I think, you know, there was like eight of us there, but me and Fletcher, we both got a tournament win, too. Both of us did. Fishing, it was two different tournaments, so. Yeah, we got some really cool content coming out. I think you guys are going to enjoy it. We caught some really good fish, and, you know, all on out was a fun trip. But today, it's time to catch a freaking 10 pounder, because we didn't get a 10 pounder on the trip. I know. We had eight guys fishing heavily in some loaded Florida lakes. And no eight to 10, 12 pounds. The big ones, they just avoided us, man. They're elusive. Hey, we got some big ones. Oh, we got some big ones. We caught a big one. Just no eight, nine, 10 pounders. No certified. Hey, one was almost eight. This is what we're going to start off with. I've been addicted to the old Thunder Cricket, and this is actually one of the Thunder Crickets that's going to be coming out soon. This one's tungsten. So this is a 3 eighth ounce, even though it looks a lot lighter. It's white and chartreuse, and I got like a striking blade minute on the back. This is what I was killing them on in Florida. So we're going to try it today. The last time I came out here is a blade minute as well, that was, I was catching the big ones on. I have this paired up on my Kickin' The Bass TV, X-Lews, baitcaster combo. You can check out the baitcasters and the spinning rods on KickinTheBass.com. I will link it down below. You guys need to order these by the 15th of December to receive them by Christmas. So in a couple of days. So make sure you go down, cop yourself one, get your brother a nice Christmas present, and yeah, let me know what you guys think. But let's go ahead and get started. First things first, I got a retie, Fletch. Yep. Not doing it. Not doing that. I'm pretty sure I broke off on the Megalodon out there too, I don't know.  I'm not going to spoil it. I'll leave it for the other video, but it was a crazy moment. I'll break off one fish on the trip and we'll never know how big he was, but how it all played out after I broke him off and the boat next to us caught a fish that was, let's just say very large. Yeah, large to say the least. Yeah, so maybe he stole my fish. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. We're going to tie this chatter dunk or a thunder cricket on with a uni knot. We're going to get after it. I think it's more of right there, Fletch, right? Yeah, it's kind of like right where that little point comes out. Right at the right side of that. So the cool part about today's episode is we already have experience on this pond slash lake. And why I call it a pond slash lake is because it's not big, but it's not small. It's kind of, it's a good... Like in between. You know what somebody commented on my video? It was a very interesting comment. He said, the difference between a pond and a lake is that ponds are shallow. And I was like, that is just not true. That is just not true. I'm sorry, but it's just not. Not to be the party pooper, but you know. Yeah, I don't know this. I mean, this could definitely be considered a small lake for sure. Yeah, yeah. But anyways guys, the cool thing is we have experience here. We came here the other day and we were hunting, figuring this place out. Today we have more of an idea. But then again, we don't need to get caught up on what we did last time. Just wife in the boat for this to the right. Go ahead, fish on. I do have a fish. Oh my God. I was like, it's kind of moving around weird. And we couldn't catch one on slow bait. The whole day last. I know, I know. I think I caught one on the jig or two on the jig at the end. But I mean, good Lord, they wouldn't need anything last time. Look at my bait bro. That's a small one to get started. Dude, I think that fish had it in its mouth for probably 15 seconds before I realized it. Wherever this is pointing is right out there, right? Yeah. There might be more for that here. I thought there was a couple patches of it. I know there's something down there. There it is, buddy. Not a big one, but. Probably right on that stuff. Yeah. Not a big one, but we're both on board for her first fish. You gotta get started. Started somehow. Couple nice bass to start off. Gotta get her confidence up. That's what it's about right there. You guys are wondering how it's working at just letting this thing hit the bottom. You know, it's not too deep in here. I'd say it's the average on five, just six foot. It's a little deeper in the other corner, but. And this thing hit the bottom and just slow reeling it. Nothing fancy, I mean, he just loaded up on it. We're gonna try out this fluke.  So game hold. I think it's not a bad idea to throw this fluke up on this grass. Remember that? I broke off that one on the jig. Dude, one exploded in that far corner. Yeah, you broke the one off on the jig. That could have been a giant too. Yeah, could have been a really good one. It remember he bit me like twice and it was a good little bite too. I just didn't get him. Plus we gotta go fish that, that lake. Yeah? Yeah. These fish don't know what no punching rig is. Not in that one. There we go. That smaller one. Hmm. Stringy? A little twinkie. Never saw a stringy. Oh yeah. Is that a big bite? Dude. Oh, good. Rushed it. That bite was crazy. I was so distracted by whatever the heck was going on over there. Like I hit my whole rod too. Come on, eat it again. You had to have followed it out. I mean, there should be fish on that. They either pull off that flat and they get on that side or they can pull up in this grass. Got one? Good one? Yeah. Good one? Like room get? I got him still hooked. I think I got him hooked. Yeah, yeah.  I think I still got him off. You want to grab him? Maybe hold the rod or something. I think I got him.  You hear that? The minor came on. Look at all. Look at all. See how he could punch in there? Is he still on there? I think, dude, that was a good fish. Yeah, that was some thick stuff I had on there. That was a good one. I saw a pretty good splash. And that was no small fish. Did you get a good look at him? No, I really never got it. I just saw his big boil. I mean, that doesn't says enough there. You guys, you get a close-up and see behind here. Like, what are you just like? Could flip up in there. Dang it, bro. I knew I was going to get bite doing that. That feels so good, though. That feels so good.  Yeah, do you have any more of these crawls and punch ones? Son of a biscuit, dude. That felt so good. I didn't really feel in thumb, but it was just weight. What is this? 7-11 heavy. I don't think I have any rage bugs, but there's menaces. Menaces, menaces. Dang, boys. We got our first punch bite. Hey, I mean, that felt good, bro. You saw me lay the trap on him, too. I wasn't playing no games. There wasn't even time for me to say anything to you. I was like, I got to just get them. That happens a good bit with punching, man. It's just part of the game, yeah. As sad as it is, yeah. But I mean, how many flips did I make?  I'll take a bite every eight flips. Is that deep in there? Yeah. Oh, my gosh, yeah. Boys, I put a rage menace on this time. I had one of those rage bugs on. Now we're going with the menace as a punching bait. A little more finesse. Let's see if we can get us another bite. I know we can.  That was a pretty good fish. I can't even put a number on him. But when you saw his boil, I mean, he had me torqued up in there. I don't think that. It's from the boil, I mean, I would say that fish was at least four or five pounds. Yeah. No, if I had to, that's what I was going to say. I don't think he's much bigger than five, but I mean, I think it was a good bass. He hit it on the second punt. Oh, he's on there, yeah. I mean, I didn't feel him hit it, but he loaded up on it. Type deal. Oh, dude, that's the best feeling in the dang world. I'm telling you, out of any type of fishing, like I love frog fishing, I love all types of fishing. But something about a punch bite, if you guys haven't experienced it, it's just like, I don't know what it is. I really will have to say that that might be my top bite. I would always say a frog, but I like them both, man, but this is something else. When you just feel that just boom, and he didn't even do it too hard. I mean, you just had it. And then just setting back on that fishing, stuck in the grass and you're like fighting them to get them out. I think Shark Week, yeah, that's a good feeling. Right here, dude. You ready? Let's see it. Six pounds. That one? Dude. Is he still on? I freaking hope so, but I don't want to go up on that. Dang it. Oh, he's on there. He's on there? Yeah, 100%. I don't think he's big. Dang it. He's going up. Yeah, you see him? See his mouth? Oh, yeah, he has. All this for freaking, I said six pounder and I was. Dang it, fish. Your uncle was under there with you. Why are you going to be so stingy? I want to say I knew from the start that one wasn't a big one. That one back there, I felt him. He had some weight on him. What in the world? The fish had a root awakening this morning. I don't even have them hooked. What? Bro, my line is going through his lip. Look. Just like that? Yes, I don't even have the fish hooked, bro. Actually, my hook's in here. Oh, your hook's still in there? Yeah, my hook's in the free. I gave him a piercing, bro. I don't think I've ever seen that. Here, just hold my stringer. All right, thank you. All right there, bud. You see the hook? Almost went in, dude. It's right. But you can cut it. I got another flipping hook. I don't have another flipping weight, though. I get it. OK, that's. You were way too much work. You got me huffing and puffing. I mean, am I crazy? Or is that a little too much work, Fletcher? That doesn't want to work for a freaking 12-incher. I destroyed you. I'm sorry, buddy. I gave it to him. It was supposed to be your uncle. I get you. You know, I didn't mean to pierce you up like that, Jimmy. Yeah, Fletcher, I knew when I hooked him. I'm just not the same. They're just built different. Hey, what I will say is I knew I was going to get a dang bite in that patch. It looked too good. My thing is he made me ruin a perfectly good patch. Biggie? Yeah, the other big. That's a better fish. That's a better fish. Oh, stick. How about the same thing? Gosh, it was moving. It was moving. Dude, that fish bit good. I'm telling you. We should have to frickin' wrestle a gorilla to pull a frickin' one-pound bass out of a patch of grass. I'm feeling this patch. That's the best I can patch I've seen. Yeah, it's deep. I just got to pick my poison. No one-pounder bite in this. Once he bites it, it ruins the patch. I mean, I can always come back here in about 20 minutes, but it's like once the boat gets pulled up on there, this better be the dinosaur of a bass that bites me the first time. This guy saw his 3 and 1 half foot, at least, underneath. Come on, fish. I know there's one in this patch. Y'all ain't pulling me. I know you're in here. I just got to know where to pop you on your little head somewhere. Come out. See, I got a 7-Eleven in the Signature Series too, but I think that Super Duty 7-Eleven is even, like, just because it's extra heavy. Yeah. Ooh, dude, I might as well. That one? Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. That's a better one. That's a better one. Look how dark he is. I know. That's a puncher bass. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Look at that, buddy. Yeah. There we go, boys. Our first, like, nice punching bass. I mean, that first one you had was better than that. Oh, yeah, he was. He was. That first one was at least 4 to 5. I'll take a 3-pounder puncher, though. Look how dark he is. You got one? Yeah, let's double it up. No way. Yeah, you do. That's not that big.  We're catching a very wide variety, so hopefully we'll end up hooking, like, a 13. That's just kind of different than me. This is just so cute, dude. What a tank. What a tank. That's how a flawless punch fight goes right there. Yeah, just get him right out. I knew there was going to be one in that patch. It took the last little flip of that section, dude. He was right. He was right there. Yeah, he was in the middle of that. Well, guys, we had a good bit of luck, had three punching bites. There's this other bank, and when Fletcher came out here the other day, so this one's slightly deeper. So we're going to try this out down this grass line. Punch a little bit more, because I just think we can get a really big one doing that.  Dude, I heard that up in there. Dude. Dude! That felt so freaking good. Barely got him here. Yeah, Frank's loose the second you get that bite out of Fletcher, right? You know what's crazy? He bit it out on the edge, on the out of the grass. It was my last pop, and it actually, I hopped it out of it. It was my first little pop, and I felt it go out of the grass, and that's when I felt it tickle. Like, through the slack of the line. I heard a fish pop back here, too. You think that's a risk to put a biscuit? That ain't go for it. It's a little bit on the edge, bro. That was a pretty slick bite. Oh! Oh! Oh, dude, I thought it was bigger.  Yeah, it's like a four pounder. That's a good one. Oh! Heck yeah. I'm bringing him up to you, buddy. Here we go. Oh, that hook got me, dude. You got it? Yeah, we're good. Yeah, dude, I just went down to grab his lip, and all I grabbed was hook. I just had a straight hook, dude, right in my thumb. That is a certified meat daddy. That was a thick boy. Oh, yeah. When I first looked, I mean, it almost looked like a mudfish, or like a snake head, which was interesting. But that is a great, thick body bass. Second one punching. That was probably what my third flip and two fish. They were both pretty good ones. Yeah, let's go ahead and get this puppy back in the water. Right when we find the right depth, that's where these fish are. And that's a beautiful one right there. Solid, I'd say three and a half. I wouldn't say quite four. There she goes. That a boy. Let's get it, dude. But that fish got me a real good. That hook went pretty deep in there. Thank God it didn't barb. Fletcher, that's a hook to be barbing, too.  Thank God it didn't go in your hand. Yeah, you went right. I noticed that you were trying to grab her. It could have barbed and just ripped out, because I mean, it's bleeding pretty dang good. Fletcher, I was about to freak, dude. I just thought it was like a 10 pounder that just couldn't move his body. He was so fat. I was like, dude. We got something serious going on here. You know, the one where I just call this two back to back, I thought there was going to be another one. Usually they'll just stack like that. I'm going to catch one right here, Fletcher. A low-invention definitely has a fish. Come on down. Oh, man. You called that one. Yeah. I'm going to catch one right here, Fletcher. Dude, I'm talking. It couldn't have been a more beautiful hook set. Right. More pretty fish. Look at that. That is just a beautiful chunk right there in the top of her mouth. That's what it's about. Called the shot, too. There might be another one in there. Look at these fish, man. Like, that's just a beautiful little swamp donkey. Fish is almost no way. Nice, buddy. They'll keep it up. Pretty much a double up.  Yeah, it's just sort of bleeding. I don't know, I missh. It's all good, dude. I am used to this. There's Fletcher's fish. Thanks, man. My finger is bleeding profusely over here. Fletcher's finger, when he touched that flipping hook, just, I mean, it just sliced me, dude. These hooks are no joke. I'll get you. I'm going to get you. There's another one in there. Maybe. Like, nothing. We're not catching a ton of small ones. We're not catching a ton of big ones. It's just very, like, sporadic. Nothing consistent. I don't know, the last, like, I'd say, five fish have been really good. That one you just caught, I think, was a little smaller. Yeah, it was a little smaller. But between your last two and my last three, they've all been between two and a half and three pounds, I feel like. Yeah. Very good fish. Dang, that one I missed on the punch rig. I think that was one of them. That first one? Yeah, I think that was a good one. I didn't know on the last one that anyone took so far today for sure. Do you want to switch them, like, switch spots? We can, yeah. It might be easier for you, because I don't like cutting you off, but I have to pitch like this. Yeah, that good. You want to switch them here, or what? Don't matter to me. Hopefully you'll be able to kind of cast parallel with that line. It might be more productive for us. Yeah. Well, that's a good one. That was beautiful. Here we go. I'm trading with Fletcher, guys, so he can kind of, I feel bagged, so I'm kind of cutting them off, because I have to flip like this. It's not like I can do it. Yeah, yeah, you're good. Make more sense. Make more sense for him to probably be up there right now. Nice, dude, that's a good one, too. Yeah, that's not my drag, dude. It's not my drag. Someone's got to lose. Oh, yeah. Good one, two pounder. Oh, yeah. Nice little two pounder. You weren't through that grass, were you? Yeah, that's a pretty good one. Dang, that is a nice one. It's two and a half all dead. I have to have your help again. Shoot, Fletcher, that might be a... Dude, that's close to three, buddy.  Yeah, that's, dude, that's like a three. If she looked like two in the water, but... I appreciate it. I already got to do this for my dad, dude. It's not... I'm just about to try to like take this off and then get fish lime all in. Yeah, don't blame me. Do you have pliers, though? But, yes, they're right on your left foot. Dave's law. Nice. Dave's. There we go. Here you go. Appreciate it, balls.  Yeah. There we go, Fletcher's fish. That's a good one, dude. Definitely a three pounder. Yeah, that one. Nice, dude. Okay, we're getting better size. I like it. We're doing something. We figured out... We got a pattern for sure. Yeah, we do have a pattern. I think there's definitely a pattern to catch them offshore, but this is working. Okay, this is fun. You know? I'm having fun catching them at this spot. Oh, nice. Back to balance. Dude. Let's go. I tried to, like, hook that soft because that was one of them weird, I will say, with me being in the front punching, I feel like as far as hooks that was, it might be better. I'm not gonna... I will say the hookup ratio has been nice. Yeah. Not even with the fricking snail knot. There we go. Pretty good one, right? Yeah. Oh, he's got my... Fletcher. He has my bait. I almost released him with it. See what I mean. Right, as I said, we're getting on some good ones and then I'll punch like a one pounder. That's how I guess sometimes. Yeah, guys, this rage menace has kind of been... You know, I've been punching the black and blue. Let's try the green pumpkin blue swirl. That's a beautiful color. This water's not dirty enough, in my opinion, to have to use the black and blue, you know? Yeah, it's stained, but it's still got some clarity to it.  Yeah. Watch this color B. Got that right there, looks money. Yeah, it does. You calling it? I'll let you have it in the backside. Right there? Yeah. You calling it? I'm gonna try to call it. We're gonna do our best. I'm gonna throw one next to one in there, just make sure it's our odds. That one? Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. Real good?  I think that's a good one, dude. Very good? I don't know. It's like he's light, but he's a good fish. Respectable size. Two and a half pounder. Chatter? Yeah, but guess what he did? He ate it on the floor, dude. I just picked up this thunder cricket. Yeah, that's a good one, Fledger. Look at that. Yeah, you ate it right on that tree. I just threw it behind you and I hit the tree. Yeah, you ate it on the floor. I mean, I cranked it, he was already on. Right on the head like that? Yeah. Because I was like, is that shallow there? Because, yeah, dude, it wasn't sinking. That's crazy. He was more at the top of the water column, too. So guys, this is just an example, too, of, you know, oh, shoot. Yeah, I was gonna hook so that it felt like a bite, but I kind of got ahead of myself. But yeah, it shows that we could do a little bit of everything here. You know, we're catching fish on some of these more offshore brush piles here. And you also got some of the grass that you can punch and flip, you know, kind of play around with. There's pretty versatile, especially today. I mean, we caught fish doing both. I'd say more of the better fish have came in the grass. Did you see that? Yeah. Have you ever lost a rod doing that? Knock on wood now. He's on there, dude. Might have some fishing line or something. Reeled me up on it. That's a stump. Yeah, boy. Like, I'm down in a crevice.  I mean, I can't get it. Yeah, it's a stump. I can feel it. Wow. Dude, you were so strong. And now I'll break off on it. I mean, dude, look at how I had to pop that line, and then I'll break off on a fish. It makes zero sense. I can't even pop that with my strength. So I can tell you, even a 10 pound bass ain't stronger than I am. That's crazy. Guys, I'm trying another one of these on. This is actually, I like this too.  This one's got like a gold blade. So this is the tungsten thunder cricket that's going to be coming out soon. I got to kind of play around with it in Florida when we were there and we took some back. And to be honest, man, they're pretty cool. Man, I like it a lot. Like a lot more than that standard thunder cricket. You see that tear left flutter? Is that bait? Kind of looks like it. I don't know. Yeah, I don't feel any wind for the water to be doing that. Figure us out of the trailer. I think we're gonna go with like the smoke and shed color. That's why a lot of that grass is so good.  Yeah, somewhere up in there. That has some good depth on it. I'm just hanging along. It's a nice one. That's a good one. There it is. Mid three again. Kind of got a small mouse on them.  You're just junky, man. Look at that bass right there. I mean.  Look at that thing. Just imagine the big one I hooked, bro. I'm telling you, he was like that, but in 10 pounder form. When he came out, that's what I saw. I was like, dude, these fish are just so fat. Had an extra 10 inches on them. See, look. Now that fish was a little thicker, a little fatter. That was an isolated patch right there. And it had good water underneath.  You in the, well. Dude, he ran out of the fricking thing. I didn't even have to hook set him really. Like I, did you notice when I hook set it wasn't tight? Yeah. Oh, I don't, I don't know. I just went straight down. You looked away from the home, bro. I'm trying to get beamed in the head by a blade. I did not blame you. Yeah, no, I hooked set and he was already out of the fricking thing. Yeah. He was running. It's like there was no pop in my hook set. It was just straight up just like, let me put a little pressure on him to hook him. That's all that was. He pulled down on it like crazy, dude. Like, yeah, that was the first one that like, yanked it. Yeah, like I've been feeling him hit it, but I haven't felt him like pull down on me. That one pulled down on me hard. That's what I like. Plus like sometimes. That was big. Tiny, dude. Tiny. Look at this thing. You ain't even supposed to eat that. Eat it on the fall too. Look at that. It's so crazy. Like this, the mixture of fish we've caught today. We've caught some big ones. We've caught some mediocre ones. Nothing very big, but nothing. Just some straight up small fry, man. That was pretty crazy. He said he had like, almost. Oh, here he is. Is that him still? Yeah, I should. I felt him shake his head as I went up with it. Yeah. Yeah, I got him. I got him. Hey, it's this one patch with these small fish, man. Poor guy. Poor dude. That was the same one you hooked earlier. It's the small one that you caught in this. You can tell you the poor man will never eat a fish and a grass nut again. Are you a bait in the grass, man? Yeah, and that fish is dark, too. Living up in that stuff. Oh, nice, dude. The foray rig. Let's go. The old foray rig. This is the ultra light punching set up. OK. This is the new category, guys. So they've got to be more in there. Sure enough? Sure enough. A little chunk of source. It's like three times the size of a normal foray. Really? Yeah, I can get some next time. Oh, yeah, I'll be good for a bit, though. That was him, dude. Four pounder. Really? That was him. I literally saw his whole body and come out and swim. You can see it on the gopher, too. Look at the knot at my line.  That was him, dude. Biggest one today. I actually saw him in my eyes, too.  I'm in the danger zone. He ate it fast. Yeah. He just kind of grabbed it when it was at the top. So it wasn't like you had. He was already in the grass. Yeah, it was that awkward. He was right there, though. And he flew out of that. I mean, that was, dang, that sucks, dude. Guys, that is going to conclude today's video. If you guys enjoyed it, hit the like button. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and share this video with a friend. Get somebody new and efficient. This was some exciting fishing today. We didn't get the 15-pounder, but they live in here. Because I believe that old man, don't you? I believe that old man. From that last time, the one I lost, I believe him. That's all I need to see was one giant to believe him. I know I was a little iffy at first, but then when I saw that, I was like, yeah, they're in here. But I hope you guys enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the next one out here. We're going to catch a freaking monster. I'll catch you all in the next one.


But sometimes you just trust the process and you try some stuff out and if it doesn't work, you can always go back. You can always change path. You're not married to a career. You're not married to a job. You're not married to anything. You can always change if you need to. And I think that's really important. I didn't know if the startup job would work out. I didn't know if coding would work out. I didn't know if the nonprofit would work out. I didn't know if data governance would work out. I really didn't know if actual science to begin with would have worked out. And so it's been nice to just go with the flow as opportunities present themselves and see where they lead.


For an anesthesiologist, medically induced transitions between conscious and unconscious brain states are just part of the daily routine. But precisely how general anesthetics produce a state of unconsciousness isn't all that clear. That's because researchers are missing a key piece to the puzzle. No one has been able to definitively pinpoint exactly where consciousness comes from. The prevailing idea is that there's no single seat of consciousness. It's more the product of multiple interactions occurring throughout the brain. A recent review article published in the journal Anesthesiology argues that, because of this global network property, the field of network science could provide the framework needed to more comprehensively understand the biological basis of consciousness, and by extension the principles underlying anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. Network science takes highly complex systems and breaks them down into their most fundamental parts, nodes, which represent the distinct actors within a system, and edges, which form the connections between nodes. Taking the U.S. airline system as an example, nodes can be used to denote each major airport, while edges represent the connecting air routes. Looking at these elements in the form of a two-dimensional map reveals key properties such as how nodes cluster together or the average number of edges needed to connect any two nodes. These relationships shed light on the linkages that exist between a system's parts and help reveal how dynamic interactions among these links generate emergent behaviors.  Applying the principles of network science to integrate these varied levels of organization could offer a new glimpse at how anesthesia disrupts the brain's capacity to generate and assimilate conscious thought. Such insight has the potential to enhance scientific understanding of anesthetic drug actions. It's possible that loss of consciousness, recovery of consciousness, and specific altered cognitive functions could be predicted by looking at network architectures and their dynamic responses to anesthetic interventions. These predictions, in turn, could contribute to new ways of controlling neurologic function in the operating room.


Hello and welcome to this session in which we'll discuss the cost recovery of certain properties that we called listed properties. What is the term listed property or simply put listed property? It refers to tangible personal property that's used for both both personal and business purpose. And it has a high likelihood of being used for personal purpose. So what are we looking at here? Well, let's assume a camera. You might have a camera for your business where you take pictures for your product to advertise online. So you'll take pictures, you advertise online. It's being used for business purpose. Now also when you are in a social event with your friends, you also use this camera to take pictures for your own purpose enjoyment and list put on Facebook for your friends for your social connection to see. Well, guess what? This camera is being used for both personal use as well as business use. Same thing with a cell phone. It has you could use it for business. You could also use it for personal. So as far as cost recovery or depreciation is concerned, listed properties for tax purposes are a specific category of asset that are subject to special rules for depreciation. So this assets we have to follow specific rules when we depreciate them. Some examples of listed properties are passenger automobile, which is a vehicle. That's another listed property specifically. We're assuming it's less than 6,000 pounds. We'll talk about that later. Cameras, tripods, lenses that are related to a camera, cellular phones and other similar properties. So any asset that's being used for both personal can be used for personal and business at the same time. Now, for a long period of time, computer and its peripheral equipment were considered listed properties. By the end of 2017, they removed it because now they consider computer is basically a business property. Before we proceed any further, I have a public announcement about my company, farhatlectures.com. Farhat accounting lectures is a supplemental educational tool that's going to help you with your CPA exam preparation as well as your accounting courses. My CPA material is aligned with your CPA review course such as Becker, Roger, Wiley, Gleam, Miles. My accounting courses are aligned with your accounting courses broken down by chapter and topics. My resources consist of lectures, multiple choice questions, true-false questions as well as exercises. Go ahead, start your free trial today. How do we depreciate personal property? Well, it all depends on the usage of that personal property. If the personal property is not mainly used for business, pre-dominantly used for business, we have this term. If it's not, we cannot section, we cannot take section 179. We cannot take bonus depreciation. We cannot use makers. Hold on a second. Those are the three methods that we use for tax purposes. Well, guess what? We're going to go back to our favorite depreciation method and that's the straight line method. Now, remember, we'll use in the straight line method, but for the first year, we always assume half a rate. So if we're looking at an asset, how do we find out what's the straight line rate? So if we're looking at an asset with five year, we'll take one divided by five equal to 20%. So in year one, 20% except in year one, we multiply it by 50%. So year one is 10%. But the rate for year two is 20%, for year three, 20%, for year four, year five, 20%. And in year six, you will take the remaining 10%. So that's the rate. So if you're looking at a property of 10 years, what's the straight line rate? One divided by 10, which is equal to 10%. For year one, you multiply the rate by 50%. So for year one, it's 5%. Then it's 10, 10, 10, 10, all the way until year 10. Then year 11, you will take the additional 5%. What do we mean by predominantly used for business or mainly used for business? For something to be considered used for business, the business use of this asset has to be more than 50%. Now, how do we measure this 50% based on business use and production? So if we're using this asset, using and producing more than 50% and we can count this maybe a car through a mileage, an asset through its hours, how many hours we're spending on it or some sort of an output, we don't include the income in this test. So we don't say, well, it's generating more than 50% of our income. No, it's use, business use and production. So if the 50% test is met, it means we are using this asset more than 50% of the time for business. Because remember, any asset will have to be split between business and personal, business use and personal use. If the business use is more than 50%, well, it's predominantly business use, mainly business use. If that's the case, then we can use Maker with some limitation. We'll talk about the limitation later, which is the percentage of use and for vehicles, we have other limitations. If the asset is not used mainly for business, it means it failed the 50% test. So we're using it 70% personal, 30% business. Then we use the SSL straight line method, use the straight line method. What happened if the proportion of a business decline to 50% or less after the property has been put in service for a year? So you put an asset, it was for predominantly business purpose. Then a year or two later, it fell because you're no longer using it as much for business. What do we have to do? Well, we have to recapture any excess cost recovery. Don't worry, we'll work an example. So let's start with a simple example to illustrate the 50% concept with listed property. Maria puts a listed asset categorized under a five-year Maker's property class into a service August 3, 2022, with a cost of 10,000. She opt not to claim any extra first-year depreciation. When Maria uses the asset, 40% for business and 25% for income production, it is not considered primarily for business use. Why? Because for business purposes, it's only 40%. We don't count the income production in this test. Now, when we depreciate this asset, what percentage do we use? Since, well, it's not 50%, we're going to be using the straight line method. Now, what is the, how do we depreciate this? We're going to depreciate this at 26% usage. The straight line recovery method is applied and Maria's yearly cost recovery is 10,000 times 10%. Where is the 10% coming from? Remember, it's a five-year asset, one divided by five equal to 20%. The first year will take half of it, which is 10%. Multiply by 65%. Again, why 65%? Well, because we combine the 40% and the 25% for depreciation purpose, not for the 50% test. So, we can use the 25% for the depreciation calculation, not for the 50% test. Okay, keep that in mind. On the other hand, let's assume Maria employs the property 60% for business and uses 25% for income production. Well, here, what's the majority of the use? It's a business use. We surpass the 50% test. Well, what do we use now? Which method do we use? Well, now we have to use makers. We have to use makers. Why? Because we are using this mainly for business more than 50%. How do we compute makers? We're going to take 10,000 times the makers rate for five years, which is 20%, giving from the tables maker, times 85%. Why 85%? 60% plus 25%. So, for the depreciation, we do use the income production. So, for depreciation purposes, use the 85%, which is 60 plus 25%. For the 50% test, you cannot use the 25% production of income. I don't need anyway, because I'm already using the asset 60% of the time. Now, let's talk about a special type of listed property. And that's auto, auto vehicles, passenger auto, okay? Additional restrictions are applied to vehicles when it comes to cost recovery. Now, why? Why that's the case? Well, Congress says, look, I am not going to give you a deduction. What happened is this? If you are well off, what you can do is you can buy expensive vehicle. And what happened? And use this expensive vehicle for your business. Okay? Because you can afford it. And if you can afford it, most likely you're in a high tax bracket. So, you can get an expensive vehicle, enjoy the expensive vehicle, and get a good tax deduction. Because your tax rate is high, and what's happening is the government is subsidizing this vehicle. So, what happened is, because of these potential abuses, these monetary limits were established due to suspicious that tax system were utilized to subsidize vehicle that were excessively costly and necessarily costly and luxurious for the business. Therefore, say, okay, you want to buy an expensive vehicle, that's fine. But we're going to limit you. We're going to say how to deal with this luxury, autoluxury limit. Okay? In the context of tax purposes, a passenger automobile is defined as a four-wheeled vehicle, designed to use on public street roads and highway with unloaded gross vehicle weight, rating not exceeding 6,000 pounds. So, here we're looking at vehicles less than 6,000 pounds. Now, it's also important to note that this definition don't include vehicles used for transporting people or property for compensation. Like if this is your cab, those limits don't apply, including those are used for Uber or Lyft, if that's what you are doing, ambulances, trucks, and vans, because those are used for business purposes. Now, let's talk about the limit. Let's dive a little bit more into the limit. And I'm going to use the year 2023 as an example. You could be viewing this lecture in 2025, 2027. Those numbers will change. Just want to let you know, that's why I highlighted the year. But the concept is the same. The first year, you are limited to 12,200. The second year, 19,500. The third year, 11,700. The fourth in any future years is 6,960. Again, those will change. Now, if the car is mainly used for business, the first year recovery, you can add 8,000 to it. Therefore, the first year, you can take 20,200. They're trying to help you out if it's used for business. Also, low luxury auto limits must be adjusted for personal use. So, if you're not using it mainly for, if you're not 100% for business, then you have to take into account adjust the personal use. Now, the best way to illustrate this is to take a look at an example. And to look at an example, I'm going to take you to an Excel sheet because I'm going to be computing the makers table. It's important that you see the computation, how this is being done. So, let's move to the Excel sheet. Here, we're going to assume that Adam purchased a car and it cost Adam $65,000. A vehicle less than 6,000 pound. The business use is 80%. Therefore, the personal use is 20%. And we're looking for the sake of illustration the year 2023. And here are the limit, 12,200. The second year, 19,500. Third year, 11,700. Fourth year and subsequent year, 6,960. Now, we are using this, the vehicle is a five-year asset. So, the makers rate are year 120%, 32%, 19.2%, 11.52%, 11.52%, and year 6, 5.76%. Now, if you don't know what makers is, you want to go to the makers, mid-year convention and mid-quarter just to understand makers. Now, how do we compute, how do we compute the depreciation for this vehicle? So, it's a personal property and it's not being used for business 100%. How do we do that? Well, for the year 2023, let's compute makers. What is makers? Makers will take the cost times the rate, which is 20%. And the only thing different here is we have to adjust for business use times 80%. So, if we take 65,000 times 20%, times 80%, based according to makers, it's 10,400. Now, is this the answer? No, why? Because we are limited, when it comes to auto, we are limited. We are limited to what? Well, we are limited year one to 12,200. You might say, great, makers tells me it's 10,400, year one is 12,200. I should be able to take 10,400. And the answer is wrong. What you have to do, you have to take the first year limit that's given by the IRS and adjust it for 80%. Now we'll take 12,200 multiplied by 80%. We see that the recovery limitation, recovery limitation, recovery limitation is 9,760. How much depreciation are you allowed to take? You are allowed to take for year one, which is year 2023, 9,760, done for year one. How about year two? Well, let's compute makers for year two. Well, 65,000 times year two times 32% times what else? Times the business use 80%. If we do that, we come up with 16,640. Well, the limit for year two is 19,500. Well, we're good to go. No, not yet. We have to take the 19,000. We have to take the 19,500, subject this to an 80% business use. Which will give us 15,600. Therefore, we have to take 15, we're limited to 15,600. Well, and that's all we have to do for year three. Same concept year 2025. Here are the limit for year three. And this is the makers. I'm sure you can find the answers for this and this is what you do. So if it's less than the recovery limitation, for example, makers here is less than the recovery limitation. Therefore, we'll take makers. But we have to look at makers and look at the recovery limitation and choose the lower. The lower is recovery limitation. Lower is recovery limitation in year 2028. Makers happens to be smaller. So let's go back to the presentation. And this is what we did where I showed you how we computed this on Excel sheet. These are the limitation. Now, what happened if Adam keep using the scar beyond 2028? Okay. His cost recovery depreciation will be restricted to the lower of the recoverable basis or the recovery limitation, which is calculated for our purposes, 6,960. Because going after year four, multiplied by the business use 80%, 5568. Now for the purpose, how do we compute recoverable basis? So we have to know how to compute recoverable basis. In this context, the recoverable basis is calculated as if, as though the entire limitation was permitted regardless of whether it was or it was not. So when we compute the recoverable basis for this type of depreciation, we'll take 65,000 minus 12,200. What's 12,200? Year one limit. Remember, we did not take this much in year one, but this is what we do. We assume, we ignore, we ignore all the adjustments and we subtract 12,200 minus 19,500 minus 11,700 minus 69,60 minus 69,60, so on and so forth. So this is what we do for this purpose. Just be aware of that. Now also you have to be careful when you are doing computation for depreciation, partial depreciation, many students fall into this common mistake. Let me clarify it. Let's assume Noah begins using a pre-owned vehicle on April 2nd, which was purchased for 26,200. The vehicle is used 70% for business and 30% for personal. Well, what can we do now? First of all, which convention, which method do we use? Is it the SNL or is it makers? And we use makers. It's mostly a mostly business. So the allowable cost recovery is 3,668. How? 26,200 multiplied by 20% rate maker table multiplied by 70%. Here's what happened. Here's what happened. Some students, what they do, they will take 12,200 and they multiply it by 70%. No, you don't do that. You don't take 12,200 multiplied by 70%. The way you compute the depreciation, it's makers, you will take 26,200 times 20%, okay? 26,200 times 20%, that's the maker depreciation. And this happens to be 5,240, it's way below the limit.  Now let's talk about a different type of vehicle and those are SUVs, sport utility vehicle. Certain SUVs are exempt from the luxury auto limitation since they are not categorized as passenger automobile. So remember we talked about the limitation, well the SUVs, they have special rules. These vehicles are subject though to a 28,900 limit on section 179. So when it comes to section 179, they are limited to that much, which is that's a lot anyway. Okay, the restriction is applicable to SUVs with gross vehicle weight exceeding 6,000 but less than 14,000. So we're talking about SUVs that has more than 6,000 pound, less than 14,000. Again, they are basically, we don't have to worry about the limits that we talked about earlier, year one, year two, year three, year four, like for the passenger. Now SUVs, let's look at an example. Let's assume Adam purchased this new white Range Rover and let's assume it's more than 6,000 pound less than 14,000. It happens to be 8 and Adam's using this 100% for business purposes. And Adam chose not to take the bonus depreciation. How much can Adam take in cost recovery for this vehicle? Starting with section 179, we can take 28,900. Then we apply makers. We chose not to use the bonus depreciation. This would have came next, but we chose not to. We're going to take 70,000 minus whatever we took for section 179. We're going to multiply this by 20%, which is the maker five year asset will give us 8,220 for a total amount of 37,120. Now also, Adam can choose the bonus depreciation and get the full deduction for this SUV. How? Well, they will take 128,900 for section 179 and they will take the remaining, the 41,100 bonus depreciation and get the full deduction. Now would Adam want to do that? Well, for tax planning, he may or may not want to do that. Listed property. What happened if listed property drops below or fails the 50% usage test? Well, listed property failing the 50% test upon placement must be recovered using which method? The straight line. No additional first year depreciation. We already talked about this. What happened if you initially placed the asset? It was more than 50%, then it dropped to less than 50%. Well, if you fail the greater than 50% after the property is in use, you will go back to the straight line for the remaining life of the asset at that point. Once you fail the test, then you are in straight line. Now cost recovery of passenger auto under the straight line listed property still subject to annual limits. So you're still subject to those limits. If you are dealing with a with an auto, a passenger auto. Let's look at an example. On July 7, John places in service an automobile that costs 15,000. The auto is used 40% for business, 60% for personal. Well, is it mostly business or personal? Personal. Which method do we use? The straight line method. We'll take 15,000 times 10% times 40%. Where's the 10% coming from? It's a five year asset. One divided by five will give me the straight line rate. The first year I only take half of it, which will give us 10%. Assume the automobile has a cost of 60,000 instead. Same concept. We will take 60,000 times 10% times 40%, which is 2,400. Remember, both computation, we still have to look at the limit. The limit. Remember, there's a limit. And what's the limit? The limit for year one for passenger auto is 12,200. We're dealing with an auto of 40%. The limit is 4,840, which we can take the 2,400. Remember, you cannot exceed the first year limit. So the straight line method is applicable irrespective of any future increase in the property business usage percentage beyond 50%. So once that's 50% is in, once that straight line is in, it will be used. So if the percentage of use exceeds that, well, we would still use the straight line. However, we'll increase the percentage of usage. Let's take a look at this. Assume in 2024, the business use became 260 and the person was 40. We would still be using the straight line. However, we're going to take 60,000 times. Remember, this is 2024, year two. Year two, remember the straight line method is every year is 20% after the first year times 60%. Notice all that we did is we change. So we're still using the SNL, the straight line method. However, we increase the business use percentage to 60, which is 7,200. 7,200 is less than the limit for year two, which is 19,500 multiplied by 60%. Remember, you always have to, when it comes to passenger auto, you have to compare this to the limit. And those limits will change from year to year. What happened if we change from business use back to personal use? Okay. So in the business usage of listed property drops to 50% or less after the property year of service, the property becomes subject to cost recovery recapture. Well, guess what? We're going to go back and do some computation and recover some cost. And we're going to recover that cost as ordinary income. Simply put, we took the deduction. We liked it. We enjoyed it. Now we're going to go back and recapture some of that deduction as ordinary income. Now, how do we recapture the excess amount of depreciation claimed in prior years through makers over the sum of permitted under the straight line? So that's the excess recovery. Simply put, you can look at how much you took for makers. Assume you use the straight line. Makers, it's going to be more than the straight line. And that excess amount, capture in your taxes for that year as ordinary income. Yike, right? So let's take a look at an example. On January 3rd, 2023, Adam acquired a new vehicle worth 30,000. The business usage was 80% in 2023, great business, mainly 70% in 2024, great business, mainly 40% in 2025. Whoops, we dropped below 50. Then we went up to 60% in 2026. Now, Adam chose not to take the first year depreciation. Let's look at the depreciation recapture that we have to do in the year 2025. So now we are standing at year 2025 when we dropped to 40%. So from the year 2023, here's what we have to do. We have to compute makers. How much makers we took? We took 30,000 times 20% from the maker five year table times 80% business use. We took 4,800. Remember, we always have to make sure we are, you know, we don't exceed the limit. The limit is 9,760. 4,800 is good for makers. What we do now, we have to compute as if we were using the straight line. If we were using the straight line, we'll take 30,000 times 10%. Again, I don't want to keep repeating how we're the 10% coming from times 80% for the straight line. We would use 2,400. The limit again, we're good with the limit. Now, in that year, in year 2023, we have to recapture 2,400 of access depreciation because makers was 4,800. The straight line was 2,400. We're not done yet. We have to go back. We have to go to 2024. Again, compute makers 30,000 times the maker rate makers rate of 32%, you know, five year class asset. If you don't know where this is coming from, it's a five year class asset makers. If not, go to my makers cost recovery lecture times 70%. The answer for makers for the year was 6,720. We're below the limit. We don't have to worry about the limit. Now we'll do the same computation using the straight line 30,000 times 20% times 70%. Again, now we'll take the difference between the two and this is access depreciation we have to recapture. So the total recapture access depreciation is ordinary income for 2025 is year 3 plus year 2023 plus year 2024. A total of 6,720. Oh boy, that was unexpected. We'll have to recapture as ordinary income. So what's going to happen in year 2026? Now we're back above 60%. Well post 2025, we have to stick now with the straight line. Although we went back above the 50%, we have to stick with the straight line. Okay, let's keep going with the example. For the year 2025, how do we take the depreciation? We'll take 30,000 times 20% times 40%. Because in year 5, we took was used at 40%. So this is the depreciation. Again, we don't have to worry about the limit. We're below the limit. So 2025, this is the depreciation expense that we take in 2026. Now we're back to 60%. Well, that's great. But we have to stick now with the straight line because we fell below 50%. 30,000 times the straight line rate, 20%, times 60%, 3,600. Again, I always check the limit. You are below the limit. Let's take a look at a summary of the listed property cost recovery. Because what makes this a little bit confusing is you have a vehicle. So you have the limitation on the vehicle. So let's take a look at how do we deal with this? Let's take a look at this map. Well, is the property mainly used for business? If the answer is yes, you ask yourself, is this a passenger automobile? If the answer is yes, so you're dealing with a vehicle that's mainly used for business. How do we do this computation? Well, we're going to be using makers. If it's mainly used for business makers, subject to recovery limitation and reduced by personal use percentage. Simply put, you have to go and look at the tables for every year you are limited. And you're also when you compute the depreciation for makers, you have to prorate it by the take out the personal use, only keep the business use. If the property is not an automobile, if it's not an automobile, we're not dealing with an automobile, then we'll use makers. We're not subject to any recovery limitation. Remember, when other assets, we don't say the government tells you that's the maximum you can take. You're not subject to that. However, you have to reduce the depreciation by any personal percentage. Personal percentage, you take them out. You only use it for business. Again, is the property mainly used for business? If the answer is no, then you ask yourself, if it's not mainly used for business, is this a vehicle? And if the answer is yes, now you're dealing with a vehicle, but that vehicle is less than 50% used for a business. What's the difference between this yes and this yes? Well, under this yes, you would use the straight line method, again, subject to recovery limitation, just like the makers and reduced by personal usage. Again, here we are dealing with a personal property used less than 50% and not a vehicle. If it's not a vehicle, what do we do? And it's not used mainly for business, use the straight line. We are not subject to any recovery limitation like an arrow and reduced by personal use percentage. I hope this slide gave you a summary of everything that we did up to this point. Now, the best way to deal with this is to go to Farhat Lectures, look at additional lectures about makers, mid-quarter convention, cost recovery, work MCQs, true-false.  Invest in yourself. Your career is important. Learn this so you can pass your exam, pass your certification so you can get somewhere. Good luck, study hard and stay safe.


Welcome to the U.S. Naval War College, the Navy's home of thought. NWC Talks features our world-class experts examining national security matters. We hope you enjoy the conversation. From the very earliest days of the American Republic, our relationship with Europe has been our most vital international relationship. In fact, our survival as a young nation depended on our ability to navigate the great power competitions that existed in Europe and to make sure we could still prosper in the midst of those. As our country developed over time, we depended on the waves of migration that came from European continent, from France and Germany, from the Nordic countries of Poland and Italy and many others. And these Europeans brought their culture and their dynamism to the United States to our great melting pot. But as we moved along and we got to the dark period of World War One, the United States slowly realized that we were in fact a global power with global responsibility. And when General Pershing arrived in Europe in 1917 to lead American forces, he went to the tomb where General Lafayette, who had helped secure America's independence, was buried. And he was there with his aide Colonel Stanton. And Colonel Stanton said, Lafayette knew Voila, Lafayette, we are here. And from that moment forward, the United States and Europe have had the most vital relationship in the world for the security, stability, and prosperity of all of our countries. My name is Professor Brent Hart, and this is NWC Talks. And I'm delighted to speak with you today about the transatlantic relationship, specifically the US-European Union relationship that is so vital to our security and to the prosperity of the world. As we think about this relationship, there is often a bit of a caricature, a bit of a gap between the reality of the relationship and what many Americans, both in the policy world and in the public, think about it. We think about a European Union that is this bureaucratic behemoth that has a very complex process of arriving at policies. And that is a bit of a tower of Babel. And it's a caricature that exists in Britain as well. It's one of the reasons why Britain today is looking at the prospect of Brexit. It is true, the European Union is complex and its tentacles extend in many directions, affecting the daily lives of millions of people across Europe. It's also true that its decisions are complex and they do reflect compromises among the member states. But it's also true that this institution has been extraordinarily durable and effective. The US partnership has existed for almost seven decades. And I would put to you that it exists on the basis of common values, respect for democracy, for human rights, for the rule of law, for free and open markets. The European Union is also a natural partner for us to tackle global challenges. Our economies together make up over half of global GDP. Our militaries, most of EU members are in data. Our militaries make up the most successful military alliance in history. We share global responsibilities. We are each other's foremost strategic partners to promote peace, security, and stability around the world. Now, as we shape global conditions for growth and development, our countries work together on finance, monetary policy, and trade policy to ensure that the global economy is stable. We also try to lift up the rest of the world. Together we provide about 80% of development aid for countries around the world, of which the European Union provides the majority. So we are critical global partners, and together we are the driver, if you will, of global prosperity. Think about this, 30% of all global trade comes from this bilateral US-EU relationship, trading goods, 40% of trade and services. This is the largest trading relationship in the world. And together, this relationship creates 15 million jobs in the United States and in Europe. It's really a critical relationship. We also work in so many other areas in energy, on the environment, in space even, we cooperate together. And then below the radar, there's a whole series of areas where we work on consumer protection on data privacy, on aviation safety, and so many things that people don't see in the day-to-day business. There are many things we do see, but there are also many things we don't see. And that cooperation, that intense web of cooperation between the US and Europe goes on every day. So the EU has delivered, as Secretary Pompeo has said, prosperity to Europe. It is America's single largest trading partner, and we, the United States, benefit tremendously from this relationship. So again, it is very much in the United States' national interest to deepen our cooperation with the countries of the European Union. Despite that, there remains this kind of lingering skepticism about our relationship with the European Union. In fact, it's often been suggested that the EU is an economic foe of the United States that's trying to take advantage of us. It's a bit different from NATO. Most Americans understand NATO has got a specific purpose. It's there to keep us safe, and we accept that. But the EU is more complex. And I think sometimes it's hard for us to understand how we work with the EU. It was Henry Kissinger who once said when he was Secretary of State, what I want to call Europe, who do I pick up the phone and talk to? Because it just was confusing, the decision making process was confusing. And it wasn't always clear that the decision we got was what we wanted either. So the question then is why we have these misunderstandings? Why do we have these differences in perception? And I would suggest that there are differences in approach and differences in priorities, but not insurmountable. And for students and practitioners who are going to be working with Europe, whether in the civilian side or the military side, it's important to understand these differences and where they come from, so that we can ensure that this partnership continues to be vital to both the US and Europe. And I would suggest to you that the roots of this difference go all the way back 100 years to World War I when Europe was devastated by the most gruesome war in history. It's hard for us to imagine today just how devastating that war was. The United States lost over 50,000 souls in Vietnam and that tore our country apart. But Europe lost over a million in one battle, the Battle of the Somme or the Battle of Verdun. And over the course of the war, 37 million souls were lost. So this was again a wound that was so profound, that was so deep that it completely transformed the way Europe viewed itself. And it was this disintegration, which was continued then in World War II, when once again cities were devastated, millions of refugees came to other countries, empires collapsed, and in Europe was just flat on its back. And it's from this 30 year period of disintegration that this drive for unity, this drive for integration has come from. It's important for Americans to understand that. The desire on the part of Europe is to create mutual interests to ensure that Europe never goes to war again. Luckily for Europe, there was good leadership, good practical leadership. In particular, I'd like to talk about a Frenchman named Jean Monnet, who saw what had happened to Europe. He was advising the French government. And he decided that what Europe needed to do was to find some practical areas of cooperation to focus on those things that had driven it apart, fighting over the resources of the Ruhr Valley and use that as a means of coming together. So he proposed something called the European Coal and Steel Community, which would bring together France, Germany, the Benelux countries in Italy, in a framework where they would share their resources, pool their resources, and manage them together. We see in that as well the beginnings of Monnet's desire to achieve a broader political goal with European integration. He believed it was not enough to have traditional balance of power politics, to try to find an equilibrium in the interests of people. That what was really needed was to find a fusion of interests, where the people of Europe would find common interests. So he decided that building on the coal and steel community, Europe needed to find other areas of functional cooperation, areas where they could work together to achieve their goals. And so this is how Europe has been built, step by step. There was a treaty of Rome in the 1950s that created the European economic community. That would become the European community in the 1970s. There was a common market, eventually a single market. And then the European Union came around and now we have a common currency, the Euro. So again, all of these developments have been step by step. The European Union expanded into areas from agriculture and competitiveness to industrial policy, common foreign and security policy. And I think, again, this was not built all at once. It was built step by step and that had been the plan. And as it was built, the people of Europe saw that this was in fact beneficial to them and beneficial to their countries. So the EU is very much a reflection of this drive to unity that comes out of history. And it's also a mechanism to advance that unity. And it's rooted in this desire, this strong desire to overcome that gruesome history, avoid war. But it's also rooted in desire to be more competitive. And in today's world, it's essential for countries, particularly many of the smaller countries in Europe, to be part of a larger market, to be able to compete and invest in a larger community. And that's what the European Union has offered to them. So as we can see, the nations of Europe, both individually and within the European Union and NATO, are in fact our closest allies in addressing challenges in Europe and beyond. And as I have worked as a diplomat, I've seen this in action. When I was serving as head of our embassy in France, I worked very closely to ensure that all European countries were putting maximum pressure on North Korea. So if they had an economic relationship or any lingering tie, the EU put pressure on their members to put an end to that. When we're dealing with terrorism in Africa, which is another source of global terrorism, countries like France are in the lead and we're working in a supporting role with them to combat that terrorism. And when we work with China, when we're trying to deal with China's trade policies, the EU is really our best ally to try to enhance the pressure on China to make sure that they conform to a free and open trading system. So when we look around the world and we need to work with other countries, the EU is there for us. Again, after 30 years of war, Europe decisively changed course and they created this system, this union. And the results have been unprecedented progress for the people of Europe. It's overcome geographical divisions, it's overcome ideological divisions, and cultural and economic hurdles as well. And as we look around, you know, many Americans now are asking, you know, can this relationship survive? Some are questioning whether we can continue to take it for granted. But I would suggest to you that America's interests are best served in concert with a cohesive EU rather than a disaggregated group of smaller states. Because there is there is value in numbers. Europe brings 28 capable democratic, prosperous countries that we bring to the equation. This is the value of allies and partners. So wherever we face challenges, whether it's in North Korea, whether it's terrorism in the Middle East, whether it's Russian aggression in Ukraine, we need to work with our European partners. The formation of an integrated Europe was one of the greatest achievements of the post-war period. If you think about it, you can drive today from France to Germany and back, never see a border guard, never change money. And when you think how many wars were fought along that border and how different it is today, that's an extraordinary achievement and we should never lose sight of that. Europe has been transformed, it's a historic change. Their process of unity is far from perfect as we see every day. Our desire for a more perfect union is still searching for that perfection and that's the way it should be. But there's no doubt that Europe has enjoyed the most peaceful and prosperous time in its history and when we put their strength together with ours, there's nothing that we can't do to build a more secure, prosperous and democratic world. And again, thank you for listening. I am Professor Brent Hart and this has been NWC Talks.