Ecuador how an authoritarian government is fooling the entire world We have two speakers Pedro Noel who is a co editor at the associated whistle-blowing press and Bethany Horn Who is an activist and a writer? So their question is is Ecuador really interested in free speech? They don't think so and they will let you know why so please welcome with me on stage Bethany Horn and Pedro Noel So hi all good night. Thanks first for the ccc for bringing us here accepting our talk and Supporting us being here. I'm Pedro Noel. I'm a Brazilian journalist. I've been since 2010 working with leaks means restricted materials of public relevance both publishing leaks and Analyzing currently I work as a co editor at the in the associated whistle-blowing press which is an NGO working in implementing running and Operating whistle-blowing platforms always in a local way among other platforms. We run in Iceland in Spain in Soon in Peru, I hope We also have a platform in Ecuador, which is called Ecuador transparent. I'll talk more about this platform later on So now let Bethany introduce herself So I'm Bethany Horn. I Grew up in Ecuador But I started working as a journalist in Canada. I Then moved back to Ecuador and worked at the state newspaper there at the leg of home For a little bit very short little bit and then I went to work for a academic research group at a university The academic research group was run by hackers and we were researching Copyright and other policy issues to advise the Ecuadorian government The first thing that I want to say and that I need to say is That I recognize that Ecuador has to has to be praised and thanked for the very brave act of giving Asylum to Julian Assange I'm glad that my adopted country has taken on this role in the world and Stands up to the United States on this one issue Defending WikiLeaks's right to publish and exist is a human rights issue I Think that Julian Assange is in danger of extradition and The Ecuadorian embassy in London is the only thing keeping him safe But it would be a mistake to assume that this portion of Ecuador's foreign policy has any effect on their domestic policy It doesn't governments are made up of people And inside the Ecuadorian government like inside many governments there is a war between factions Some good some bad This is a government that has been in power for eight years now and they intend to stay in power for many more President Rafael Correa and the political party that he started Are concerned with power? They'll change the rules that they themselves created in order to keep power an example of this Is a recent well, this has been going on for a while But in 2008 they wrote a new constitution that set Limits term limits Recently they've grown so worried about whether they can win another election without Rafael Correa That there was two years of discussion about changing the constitution so that they could re-elect Rafael Correa for a third or maybe fourth term indefinitely They didn't end up doing that. They did change the Constitution But Rafael Correa decided he didn't want to run anyway, so they didn't change it to make it friendly to him But this is just an example that I wanted to give of of One of the tactics that the Ecuadorian government has for maintaining control and that is the laws and I want to talk about some of the laws that they've brought in that deal with communications Especially and how it this affects democratic freedoms journalism and free speech But there's a second more worrying way that the current government in Ecuador is exercising control and that's through illegal means Pedro has published documents via his whistleblowing platform that illustrate this and he'll talk about them Ecuador's constitution protects citizens right to intimacy So we consider certain kind like the spying that is revealed in the documents to be illegal There are other illegal tactics popping up in Ecuador stuff like threats of violence censorship Not all of it can be linked directly to the government, but we'll talk about it, too Ecuador's intelligence services are heavily implicated, especially in the illegal stuff that we see going on The intelligence agency in Ecuador is called the Senaín the Secretaria Nacional de Inteligencia. It also has another short-form scene and It's it's Ecuador's biggest problem but The government's other institutions the presidency the National Assembly and the super powerful communications Secretariat they all benefit from the intelligence that's gathered by by the Senaín They're benefiting benefiting from it, and they're not challenging it So laws need to change in Ecuador, but also its institutions need to be made to follow the law International pressure helps, which is why we are here So after at the end of our talk we'll deliver a message to Correa because we know that he listens and we know that he listens because Well, I found my picture in the Senaín leaks. So I know I have a certain amount of Cash, eh We know he listens because he responds he He's very vocal He does his own Twitter feed last time I wrote about Ecuador He responded to me on national television for 14 minutes, which was fun His account will get there I Want to I want to first give like a picture The key to understanding him is is Understanding that he craves control. We had a video that we were gonna play now, but it didn't work. I Believe that I linked to it on my blog bbhorn.com if you want to see the video later, I will I will put it up there He craves control he had such high approval ratings for a really long time because to a certain degree Ecuadorians agreed that keeping stuff under control was important to understand why control is the key word I want to give a brief outline of the ten years in Ecuador before Correa came to power so The first character in this story oops is this guy He was elected in 1996. His name is Abdullah Bukaram.  He would go on TV and sing songs And He embezzled a whole lot of money Congress declared him mentally unfit to Serve as president. It was a Congress made up of his political enemies They had to go against the Constitution in order to do this in order to name his replacement but he was he was kicked out of office after two million Ecuadorians took to the streets for weeks and shut down the country basically So this is the first of three Soft coups in the ten years that came before Correa His presidency was very short it ended in 1997 Congress appointed an interim leader And then the next guy that's elected is Jamil Mawad He's sort of the opposite of Abdullah. He was very smart and He was a known political actor. He'd been the mayor of the capital city. He was right wing and And Governed pretty predictably he during his presidency Ecuador was hit with the worst financial Crisis in generations 70% of the banks in the country closed Thousands of families lost their savings Families were split up because people had to migrate to Italy in Spain and the US in order to find work he Dolarized the economy because inflation got so bad that Ecuador lost its currency during his presidency and Again people took to the streets shut down keto shut down the highways protested And an army general Refused to stop the protesters from taking over the presidential palace and again. He had to leave His vice president took over finished finished up his presidency. This is the second soft coup and this was in When was it? 2001 yeah Anyway So next is this guy. He was actually the army general who didn't stop the Protests from taking over the presidential palace. This is Lucio Gutierrez. He's another populist who was close to Left and indigenous movements at the beginning when he ran similar to Abdullah But he quickly lost that support because he governed like a neoliberal And By this point people just knew like okay We can get rid of him so they took to the streets protested and He was gone So by the end of this I mean Ecuador has a young democracy they had a military to take dictatorship for a while by the end of this People were pretty demoralized about it was bad for business all the coups were bad for business. Oops. I skipped a slide and and People were ready for something else. So 2006 Rafael Correa runs a campaign with a totally new party He promises that he's gonna disband Congress and Call new elections to rewrite the Constitution after he wins and he wins He got a lot of support by promising to be different And he started out really well and a lot of us myself included were excited by his first years in office And we liked his we liked his Constitution but in 2010 he lost control and As you remember control is very important to him There was a protest by the police union that shut down streets and people were getting flashbacks to To 1997 2001 and and 2003 The police Cornered him he needed the military to rescue him from a hospital. There was a shootout people died he calls it a coup attempt and I don't call it a coup attempt. I think it's debatable and that's a debate we can Talk about another time but what was true is that it really scared him and After 2010 The need for control started to clash with his original promise of democracy And it's this clash with democracy that is my problem and our problem as people interested in universal human rights So I want to talk about the laws the legal stuff that's been going on in Ecuador that's threatening speech and publishing and Descent so the first one was the Constitution of 2008 Which as I said had a lot of progressive and good innovations in it it affected the media because it It legislated the separation between People owning media and other businesses so a lot of Bankers got their newspapers and TV stations expropriated by the government Which people supported they didn't want bankers having that much power over the media But it led to concentration of a different sort the state never sold those media outlets and The state went from owning nine Public media outlets to owning 42 and this concentration trend is continuing as papers Fold and get one just recently got bought by the state newspaper and Another one closed last year. The second law is the communications law in 2013 Which was really Which was sort of a wish of Korea to bring in earlier, but he didn't have support in the Assembly and In it There it creates the crime of media lynching which it describes as a Coordinated dissemination of information which sounds a lot like journalism With the purpose of discrediting or harming the reputation of a natural or legal person It doesn't say if that information is false as if it harms the reputation of a natural legal person And it's a coordinated publication then You could be in trouble This law also makes media outlets responsible for online comments a lot of newspapers shut down their comment sections after it And it creates regulatory agencies to enforce the murky law. The biggest one is the super comb Which Forces corrections and I want to show so this is a cartoon of a police raid on a journalist's house two years ago It was done by Javier Bonilla who's one of the country's biggest cartoonist the government didn't like it They said that he had to issue a correction on his cartoon Because it showed the police being too violent I guess so he drew a correction what shows the police knocking very politely and Asking kindly to take the journalists computer with them and We'll keep it in a closed envelope to preserve chain of custody and Have a happy Christmas so Cartoonists have a little bit of fun with it. This is another one that I like They asked this magazine to issue a correction of its front page image because they thought that the wrecking ball destroying the logo of the social service agency was not accurate and they just That was their correction. So it's a little it's a little boring There's a lot of fines that come along with this communication law They've now issued $200,000 in fines at least in the past two years to journalists and Self-censorship because journalists don't want to get fines So there's the kind of way how much they can say and not go against the communications law And the third law is just within the past month They changed the Constitution as I said and they made communication a public service and nobody really knows what they mean by this Whether it means that communication passes to be a responsibility of the state like Water and electricity, but this is what journalists are afraid of and they don't really see the trend going in a good way So they were opposed to this To this there are other difficulties doing journalism in Ecuador. I experienced some and Others have experienced others you can ask me about it later and then so the illegal framework for control that that That goes hand-in-hand with this legal one Ecuador sort of was a star of the hacking team info dump there was a lot of evidence in the documents released by WikiLeaks Published by WikiLeaks released by some friendly hacker That Ecuador is a client of hacking team this was the receipt I believe with a with the contractor Theola in Belize Based in Belize. Yeah So The government denied after this information came out they denied that they had any relationship with hacking team Of course, they don't have a contractual relationship with hacking team. They have a contractual relationship with the intermediaries and I'm gonna let Peter talk about What his documents show about the about Sanayn Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah So I would just make a very practical example Regarding to two publications my organization did related to illegal surveillance in Ecuador the platform who did that was Ecuador transparent, which is a local platform for whistleblowing use free software global leaks and Yeah, first publication it's from August It's we published 31 pieces of the Ecuador intelligence which were stating that they Constantly surveyed journalists Human right actors Ecology ecological ecological groups and politicians, right? They did it in two ways first They did it in a physical way in a digital way this for example is as a collection of Of records like inner records of the government. It's not in public information But it's information that the government can get her so they they were building profiles over people So this profile for example is a profile of the cartonist that Bethany just mentioned it that Sorry the journalist in the cartoon exactly the journalist in the cartoon or no, it is the cartoonist. Yeah, it's the cartoon is So it's a profile made up of him based it on like all his travels like which countries the For which countries he was going and which date and time how much money he has on his accounts how many cars he have how many Houses he have all this This is you can you could say that it's legal Because they are using a public right like inner records of the government Then you have also digital surveillance based it on active surveillance, which is Surveillance based it on metadata collection. We don't know how yet they got this these things We suspect that it was in compliance with Internet service providers and communication service providers. So they are building these graphs Based it on for whom people were calling for whom people were sending mails from whom they were receiving calls from whom they were Receiving mails and then building this like detailed reports like this woman for example Is a journalist for the one of the biggest television channels in Ecuador? Physical surveillance, this is even more like this is a Proof that they were really following and infiltrating in events and life events of the major of the capital city keto So after publishing it we were really asking an answer from the government, but the answer they did actually was This the embassy sent a letter to our media partner for this publication in Germany next politic for example saying that the the documents should be Taken out this the website and that they they would the journalist that next politic was was performing was not good quality journalism Then they sent a letter to our ISP Saying that The accusing us of four things first of it first of them Copywriting infringement because actually in the documents we published it. There were logos from the government Then they also accused it which is more serious That we were infreaging five articles from the panel code One of them passive of indefinite detention So thanks for both greenhouse and next politic for sticking with the materials online and telling us that they received this This material and for publishing this material. I think actually that's politic published at the letter. They received So now I will make a Very I don't think we have too much time. So make a very fast publication You are the first ones to see these files. Actually. I'm just we just upload the 15 minutes ago. It's an analysis of the risk factors for Ecuadorian democracy Made up by the intelligence service, okay So you can see what what they consider risk factors for? Democratic stability and what they consider to be? Events of risk for Democratic stability so you can see in the middle of everything is it's Media mediatization of factors of critical factors So for them what is most important and one of the most dangerous things is that they have media covering critical points in their society Then for example, they have graphics like relating events with media coverage Then here they have an analysis of an event of risk So they were this event of risks is concerned to the change of laws that Betten is said So they were preventing that changing the laws would make that civil society and citizens would be Enraged and feel that their basic rights were harmed and if media would cover this like big protest cute outcome So I don't have too much time so you can search this in data. That's awp.ie is that she put e s, but it's is So you can just check it I don't have too much time to develop on this now So we have some conclusions, which is Like complex problems demand complex solutions So for example, is Ecuador helping the cause of free speech by providing a zealon to Julian Assange Of course it is of course But is Ecuador really interested on providing freedom of speech inside the country? No So you can perfectly criticize Ecuadorian policies Regarding surveillance, but and also support WikiLeaks Actually, if you fall in these arguments that you can't criticize Ecuador because they are providing a zealon to WikiLeaks You're exactly following the argument that the Ecuadorian government wants you will be up to which is to avoid external criticism Then I Want to address? Actually two messages first of all is one is for you like international community Which is please help support and spread all this information because we don't have enough coverage About it like most of the coverage which criticizes Ecuador Unfortunately is biased that by an anti-wikileaks feeling But actually this is like trilly truly something that both me and Bethany we saw and experimented as journalists in Ecuador So if you can spread this message share this information in your channels or being in person or in an institutional way We are very welcome You can also keep sending us leaks. We are we promise we're going to keep publishing it Then to finish we I have just Well, actually this is we can't tweet The present because Bethany is is blocked because they were after a pretty harsh conversation on Twitter So she can't access the presence profile, but you can't read it him. It's my share of file So So that the second message is exactly to him which is this address said to the mr. Rafael Correa The president of the Republic of Ecuador So we are kindly asking him to implement oversight Mechanisms in his intelligence service which could allow Senein to be accountable for what they do because so far they've been acting with total impunity They are not even obligated to go to the national assembly to ask questions from the assemblies They can just deny or miss the appointment as they did the last time They said they were going then I said, oh, no, we could not go and nothing happened So so far Senein is working in total impunity second thing we are going to ask to mr. Rafael Correa president of the Republic of Ecuador is To refactor the inner mechanisms of Senein in order to establish really basic Standards of transparency and accountability inside Senein Until he does he doesn't do it. We will continue leaking and we continue exposing and we will not be afraid of harassment We will not be afraid of legal paralegal or illegal Surveillance or pressure He must know that then Then this like last thing we asked to mr. Rafael Correa present of the Republic of Ecuador is To grant its citizens and all the foreigners which are working or living in Ecuador With one of the most basic rights of the people which is the right to communicate freely without any interference by any means Thank you What do you think? Okay, so thanks very much for the talk as you can see we have a little over time So if you want to leave the room, please do so but quietly So if you have any questions, please line up at the microphones so that Pedro and Can answer them. Yeah, so we've got the first question at Mike number two. Hi So I actually refer greenhouse with this so we host Pedro's website And we wanted to say that we didn't get a warrant so we didn't actually remove any data We actually forwarded the request because it was illegal. So I just wanted to make that clear. Yeah, thank you for sticking Okay, another question from Mike number two. I wanted to ask if there has been Reaction by the government in a legal means or I don't know with Blackmailing or something similar. I mean us Like it's nothing that we can prove like it better. I just told about legal things they did with other people with us We just not said that they were really pressuring our potential sources and Yes in the airports is always is always shit to leave a quarter or enter a quarter Yeah, but more than more than that like nothing and then these letters of pressure and stuff But so far we think that maybe there is some investigations going on but so far It's just pure fear and pressure Okay, next question Mike number six, please Hi Thanks for the talk. I just wanted to know I think on the president's Thing here. It's at me poder my power. What is that about me put it in a constitution? Okay, so my power through the Constitution which which he changed it Okay, so next question will be Mike number three Hi, I was just wondering what other types of digital tools or technologies besides global leaks or green-host services might be helpful to Journalists and Ecuador Well all the ones that you would recommend to journalists in general You have more experience than I do trying to train journalists in Ecuador how to use secure technologies. It's an uphill battle What do you think well, I mean there are a lot of tools That's not only in Ecuador, but in now over the globe journalists can use But I think I'm not the best person to talk about it But you can search for like any like star or I wish I wish the journalists in Ecuador used tour I wish that journalists in Ecuador used OTR I wish that journalists in Ecuador used signal and I wish that they encrypted their hard drives because as we see there are raids There's danger It's not just journalists a tweeter who tweeted What was he tweeting she or he was tweeting about? Nepotism in the ministry in one of the ministries and he got sent to jail for two weeks not for publishing any incorrect information just because It was considered libelous that he accused the minister of of nepotism so regular people are vulnerable to and people should be protecting their Their home drives and their their communications because there's a lot that's going on and it's only getting worse Okay, next question from Mike number one, please So I have actually two questions. The first is how has the judicial system responded to these new Laws that regard the freedom of expression as you put it and the second question is according to your point of view What is the state of internet freedom? Especially of internet censorship in Ecuador. Thank you. Well, I think that's the first one Bethany can reply. Maybe because also there was a whole Renewal of the rejection system second one is that the state of international freedom is actually we were going to publish another thing today Maybe I can publish tomorrow. So the which is this like they can they really we have evidence that they have Blocked both Twitter and Google During some days Because an anonymous group had anonymous. Yeah group had published documents of the Sena in two years ago So we have evidence that they actually block it Twitter and YouTube. No, sorry YouTube and Google So I think the the state of internet freedom is very poor. Well, I Am I think it's actually really interesting what's going on in Ecuador because you see the use of of tactics of softer tactics like DMCA takedown notices through YouTube and Twitter and Facebook to Get accounts shut down to get videos taken down And there's a massive investment in propaganda There has been there have been publications Saying that the government hires armies of trolls and puts them in an office and they flood social media with with messages to sort of Move the conversation in in the direction that They're that they want and so it's it's kind of interesting I don't see a lot of those shutdowns or blockages, but but definitely attempts to Influence what what what is said and what is read? Did you did you have another question now? Thank you. You're welcome. So Mike number three, please. Hi So first of all, I Agree completely that there is a bunch of really problematic stuff going on and I really especially Appreciate Pedro's list of actions and questions. I think Sunain is extremely problematic I have two small questions. The first one is The use of your word the word in the title authoritarian The the reason why I'm asking about is because focusing on Alianza pay is not not Raphael Korea I mean, they still have an approval rating of between 60 and 80 percent depending on how you look today When was the last time you read that? Half a year ago, so but it doesn't really matter. I mean at the end of the day, it's still a Popular like it's an election system that seems to work I haven't heard any allegations of voter fraud of any kind, right? So I guess like for democracy Even though there are these bad things going on is that actually authoritarian and the second question comes with your specific history? Because you work with the flock society, right? Which was funded by the government in order to investigate issues of copyright and intellectual property and freedom of speech and many of these things in order to actually Make for better regulation So it seems to me. I mean from my perspective This is a complicated issue, but we have a big government that is pulling in a lot of different directions It's very clear that the Sunain and some parts of the presidency are pulling in bad directions But there also seems to be a lot of areas of the government that are trying really hard to a lot in other directions I Think that there are less and less And I think that there were a lot of people pulling in good directions and you sort of you see them leaving as it becomes More clear how hard it is to have a progressive agenda your first question About the word authoritarian. Yeah, I can Regarding democracy the party actually lost the last election that happened in Ecuador They lost the mayor Elections and and prefect elections in a lot of cities and that that was the last election and it was widely considered to be a rebuke of their leadership and The next elections are in two years, and it's not really looking good for them. I I wouldn't bet on them But you're right. It is a democracy and I don't Answer pays loses. Do you think the right-wing opposition is going to be better for the country? It depends who the opposition who is I think next it's it's not a democracy It's not just because people vote that it's a democracy like if people don't have information enough to choose For whom they're voting and who are their leaders and what their leaders are doing. It's not a democracy So it's that's why I put on the title authoritarian because people they don't have information enough to judge by themselves What their leaders are doing? Are there any democracies down? Well, we all know the answer Okay, so another question from Mike number three. Hi, so I really appreciated your talk and as Peter we've never talked but I talked with Bethany a lot before the talk and I was really actually glad to see that there was a separation between the idea of a uniform state and the intelligence service and I think the only mistake in your talk is The idea that there's a uniform state. So when you say Ecuador is fooled the world I think that there are elements of the Ecuadorian government who actually do care about WikiLeaks For example, the Ecuadorian government has offered to protect me from the US government And I feel very strongly that they would actually back that up and I've been to Ecuador a number of times and well I've been there. I've had very bad experiences with the Senate and the presidency and the vice presidency actually protected me from the Senate until I left the country. So my experience is this I'm sorry to follow in the leftist tradition of giving a five-minute speech and then ask Asking a self-answering question, but I'm gonna do that and you're gonna love it. So They protected me and they let me know that the Senine is dangerous and that even if you're a guest of the presidency If the Senine doesn't like you you're gonna end up in a ditch with a bullet in your head So if you can imagine these are the political class of Ecuador that are explaining to me that they don't have the ability to Protect even their guests who they in theory want to protect so to call that one country and to say that the Senine and the Ecuadorian political class are the same is a Hmm, I feel like it's a simplification that betrays Your lack of information about how these power structures actually exist And I and I feel like the Senine are extremely dangerous and it follows a pattern We see all around the world which is that the intelligence services of the world are out of control They have total capture of telecommunications systems and they actually capture the political class inside and out I mean the presidency is very worried about the Senine tapping his phone calls for example And there's no way that you can protect against an intelligence service of your own Service and so I think all your criticisms here are actually pretty much centered around the Senine and The fact that there are external forces that are trying to empower the Senine and to overthrow the Ecuadorian state And I mean I've met the Department of Defense the the the Minister of Defense I've met a former the former Minister of Defense the former That's one of those who has left the government recently absolutely But listen when I met her one of the things that she was very clear about was that There are elements in the Ecuadorian government, especially the Senine who are fucking scary And they want to kill people like Korea and her and I think you can't say that that's the same there's an internal political struggle and there are really good people who put their life on the line some of whom have Actually been killed some people who have died and there's also elements of the CIA in that country I met the head of counterintelligence. I had dinner with him.  Let me tell you Do you want to talk about pressing for end-to-end encryption and not getting anywhere? That was a conversation like that and Didn't give him any drugs and I would have just didn't have the opportunity but But the point is to to say this as one thing is the mistake And so I wonder if you can acknowledge this is my question Can you acknowledge that the Senein is the big big problem and that they actually control the political class and the political class Is afraid of them and not the other way around Yeah, exactly like I think Bethany also told that Senein was a problem. We also like I personally think that Senein Is part of a bigger problem, which is like as Bethany told there are a bunch of other kind of of legal measures Which are a restricting freedom of speech I agree with that Senein in a certain way is a different thing from from government and some some ways They don't respect actually Korea's intentions for example, we have evidence that They spy even alias a place which is the which is the Korea's party even though I Think that Korea has power enough but to change these policies and try to change Senein from Yes, from the beginning, let's say restructure Senein I mean, maybe he doesn't want or it's not political worthy for him to try to do it now, especially because elections are coming But I think then that's that that social Actually the the purpose of this talk we said we're not going to just criticize the government But in the end we will try to demand some small two things to Korea Which is to implement an oversight Mechanism for Senein and restructure Senein in order for it to have basic standards of a bit transparency And and he has the power to do that and what he's gonna say after this talk is he's Korea is gonna go on television and say Senein is accountable. There are Prosecutors in their office that approve every intercept We Korea founded Senein. It was his baby in 2009 And he's gonna say we wrote this new plan for national security. We got rid of all the old cops and we Formed our new agency. He defends them in public and he's very bad at accepting criticism and and and Taking Making reforms and it's one of his biggest his biggest downfalls So I don't know. I mean you can at some point you have to lay some blame on him for his handling of them if You want to believe that the Senein is so evil that the president of the country can't Reform them or challenge them or make any changes. I will hold a different view, but I agree with you that they are The biggest problem Okay, got one more question from Mike number two I was just wondering in terms of the discussion about Senein I think that well, I was wondering actually how you view it in an overall context. I mean is I guess Who's the bulldog is it Senein who sort of has been raised and bred by Korea Who then says well, we're even afraid of this thing or Is it the opposite sort of Senein really is in control able to to do it at once with Korea scared of it and really unable to move. It's more complex You cannot simplify in this way, but I think what met Senein for example for me It's it's part of a global problem. No, which is a problem of the intelligence complex as is as Jacob said but and my my feelings at Senein really got out of his control and If he can't do anything now, or if he was doesn't want to do anything He he's still accomplice But I think yeah, it's the two things like he Exercise some control on it, but in the other hand, there are some things that Senein does without his Without asking him and he cannot really stop it anymore There's another question from Mike number three again So I mean I'm glad that you said that because I could have just sat down But I'll take this opportunity to say one other thing which is that The Senein being the primary problem the question that's open to me is how do we deconstruct the intelligence service? I mean, I'm of the eliminate the state crypto world You know you want to get rid of the state the state's dangerous You know, you know when you do cryptographic signatures for example or when you build laptops or something and in general Maybe we want to also take that tactic also for states real states And so maybe Ecuador would be better off if you had a revolution I'm not sure but maybe but then the question is what about a limited revolution So what are the actual practical things that you can do to get rid of this and I mean like for example? The way that people think about states with a person in charge of them for example Obama Is he really responsible for every bad thing that happens in America every time a cop shoots a black person? Which is every single day, right? I feel like we have to think about states differently than we think about people, right? And and so in this case the question is what does the political class of Ecuador and what can we as an international community do to? Destroy the intelligence service of Ecuador and I feel like that's the question We should be asking because that's a thing we can turn into a political action plan and a subversive Counter-revolution area action plan frankly. Yeah to actually do that, but the question is what do we do? How do we do that and to all of our friends in San Ena? Whoops you got us But what do we do to take that down? How do you get rid of an intelligence service because if we're gonna hold him responsible? What is the actual thing we need to do like go burn the building down? Probably don't do that that seems like a bad idea because you know they can just move so You know they have a really nice building. They have a pool. I yeah, I Probably where they'll find all of our bodies the next time we're in but But hey, you know you got to die someday so but but what do we actually what do we actually do? How do we do this like for example it?  I think the answer is we deploy crypto and we have political responses to that What do we really ask from Korea because when I went to them?  I just don't go back to Ecuador, but for people in Ecuador. That's not really an option So what action plan do we actually have now?  I Can't believe you told us all those things either. I have a headache now Yeah, well, you know enjoy you know the coffee here is great, but the dexan feather means even better I Mean first I think first of all I think like Korea must be must feel responsible Okay, I'm sorry for a last question, but we can't do an answer to that. So I don't think anybody can answer that Thanks a lot for the talk questions for the conversations and


Despite a recent crackdown on insider trading in China, an assumption persists regarding the relative information inefficiency and asymmetry of less developed markets. Researcher Qi asks, how much is private information exploited in a less developed financial market like China? As it turns out, quite a lot. To arrive at this conclusion, he studied six years worth of trades by corporate insiders, including top executives and board members. While technically legal, these trades mimic the behavior typical of insider trading. Each year, these pseudo-insider trades allowed mutual funds to beat the benchmark index by 14%. In contrast, U.S. mutual funds rarely outperform index funds. This suggests that insider information could be affecting stock prices in China. But before portfolio managers dive into the art and science of insider mimicking strategies, they should note that during the second half of the study period, the predictive power of insider buys was much weaker. So over time, the Chinese market seems to have become more efficient, and the recent crackdown on insider trading will only accelerate this trend. China's stock market may be relatively young, but it's also the second largest on earth, making its performance critical to investors around the world. And as this market continues to expand and improve its information efficiency, investors and researchers will want to keep a close watch.


This is Dennis McMahon and welcome to Positively Vermont and today my guest is Christopher Parker, the executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network and we are going to be speaking about some very exciting things that are happening real soon with rail transportation right here in the state of Vermont and I want to thank Christopher for all his efforts and we're recording this on July 11th and the funny thing about it I just realized that I arrived in Vermont on July 11th, 2002 and I got here via Amtrak and coincidentally we're going to be speaking all about Amtrak's return to regular Vermont service. Welcome Christopher. First of all, thank you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and how you got involved with the Vermont Rail Action Network.  I ended up working for a railroad on Cape Cod as a conductor and I was also marketing director for a little bit and I've always thought that trains are important, that rail service is something that, you know, for our environment it's a critical piece and also for our economy and so in 2007 I was recruited into this job as executive director for the Vermont Rail Action Network. I was at a point in my life where I could say yes and I did. So I have expertise in the technical side of railroads of operations and economics and marketing and I also have a background in some nonprofits that I worked at before this so that led me to this role here. Tell me what the Vermont Rail Action Network consists of, what its activities are, who its participants and some of its projects before we get to the big one. Well, we're an advocacy group. We support better train service. There are 6,000 people on our list of supporters about, excuse me, about 500 or so that are the core engaged people that, you know, that show up all the time. We include passenger train riders of course and freight shippers, rail riders themselves and the railroads have also given us support and those for whom the trains support their economic life. So for example, developers, owners of businesses that earn an income from people coming in on Amtrak, people who take the train to their clients, for example, things like that. How important is rail service to the state's economy? Vermont is a state that has always lived in orbit of the larger economies in Boston and New York City. So, you know, back in the days of the woolen mills, the wool from Vermont ended up getting processed and sent off to the larger textile mills down south and we're still doing that in terms of tourism and technology and people who retire. You know, it's all connected to the larger centers. So transportation to those centers is really critical and how close we can get. Not just in terms of miles, but in terms of time and in terms of, I call it being on the map. So for example, the hospital in Rutland uses Amtrak access to Rutland as part of their recruitment because they know the doctors, and I forget the details here, but there's a study that doctors are not willing to move X number of miles past their spouse's family. So they know that and they know that Vermont is perceived as being a little far and they know that having an Amtrak train is going to make people more willing to take the job at the Rutland hospital. So that's the being on the map. So how critical is it? Well, the thing about the economy is things happen at the margin, right? So if the economy goes bad and unemployment goes from whatever, five percent to ten percent, all of a sudden you've got suffering and it's a relatively small movement, but certain things make that difference. So think about New York City where 55 percent of the New Yorkers don't even have cars. Do we want their business as tourists up in Vermont? Of course, right? And if we didn't give them a way to get here, they wouldn't come. They go to the Poconos or something. So, you know, critical is a big word, but it plays a part for sure. Well, last time we spoke was about ten months ago, right in the dead center of the pandemic and we've spoken about some of the hopes and aspirations of the Vermont Rail Transit Rail Action Network and some of the activities you were working on then. And now it seems that some of those wishes have come true during the last ten months. Tell us how this developed. Well, so here we are today being July 11th that we're talking, July 19th. A little more than a week away, we're going to see our Amtrak trains come back and that's going to be a large celebration. I've been impressed with how many people think this is important and have already signed up to be on the train and come out at the station. So, how did we get here? Well, at one point, someone from the agency of transportation was saying, oh, the trains can't restart till September. And the issue there is that there's a lead time for the cars to be put back in service after their, you know, their mothball time and for the crews to relearn the territory and they'll tell me they already know the territory. But, you know, officially they need rides back and forth and they need to be retested on all the physical qualifications and so forth. And so there's a lead time, Amtrak said it would take three months. And that's why the train's not starting that day that Phil Scott took off his mask and said everything's open. We didn't have a train that day because of that lead time. We were afraid that that lead time would mean that we wouldn't get the train until the end of the summer and we'd lose the whole summer season. And rail supporters, I mean a lot of rail supporters thought the train should be just running right on through. As an organization, our position was we wanted to make sure that everyone remembered that lead time and that when it was time for the train to resume, that that decision was made far enough in advance that it could resume so that summer travel could be accommodated. So I guess we were heard. Well, you know, this wasn't just the railroad and wasn't just the government, it was citizens involvement, wasn't it? Oh, absolutely. Right. Letters, you know, people who are in a position to maybe have a little closer influence. Mayors, for example, who are in communication with the governor. And, you know, I think that everybody understood. I think, you know, it wasn't any kind of, I don't know, there isn't any kind of large drama here or nobody at fault or anything like that. It's just human nature that you don't want to be overlooked. Mm hmm. Well, it sounds all very exciting. And this, this is going to be starting on the 19th, which is a week from today. But tell us exactly what's going to be happening there before we get into the various components, the various celebratory locations and what's going to be happening. I know the library and s exjunctions very enthused. And I know this you mentioned one in St. Albans and Montpelier and all that before we get into that, just tell us what's going to happen that day statewide. What, what, what trains are coming back and what, what is the development? Well, the big thing is the train's going to run and you can ride it. So hard to top that. But we are topping that because at every station there will be a celebration. And not only that, Vermont Agency of Transportation worked with Amtrak to create a $1 fare. So you can ride it for, for cheap. At least you can today, July 11. At least some parts of the trip are already 80% sold out. So I'm pretty confident the train is going to be sold out. Your viewers hopefully will have a chance to get on. But I'm sure there will be crowds and I'm sure that it will be a festive day. So the day is going to kick off in St. Albans. That's where the, the Ramonters starts. And it's also going to kick off in Rutland where the East and Allen starts. And in both locations, there are going to be a lot of people who are the East and Allen starts. And in both locations, there are going to be dignitaries who have something to say. Right. I know that, that Dave Allaire, the mayor of Rutland will be on hand to, wouldn't say give the keys to the city to the arrivals because they're leaving, but the equivalent. And up in St. Albans, an Amtrak vice president will be there. And I believe if I remember right, the governor is coming and a number of people are participating in celebration. So it's going to be a little different, a different station depending on the local scene. Some of the stations are going to have music, bands and so forth. Some of that's still being arranged as we speak. Many of the stations will have speakers and workshops. One thing that is happening and this is important is there'll be workshops or little mini workshops or presentations from Operation Lifesaver. So I don't know if you know about Operation Lifesaver, but what they are is an organization that puts out the message of safety around railroad tracks and railroad crossings. So during this time, we know that people's driving habits have gotten worse. We know that the number of crashes stay the same or escalated, even though the amount of driving went down a lot. And we know that people get complacent because that's human nature. And so now we have a shift from one train a day to two in each direction, so two movements, to four movements a day with an Amtrak train in each direction. Of course, the Amtrak train is faster, you know, there's less margin for mistakes. So that message from Operation Lifesaver is, you know, stop when the lights start flashing and the gates go down, take it seriously and stop and don't mess around and don't think you have some seconds to try and get away with it. We all know that, but sometimes you have to be reminded. I remember we were discussing that program, but those areas now have been dormant well over a year, so it's going to require some special vigilance, isn't it? Crossings. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, in some ways, it's just the ordinary responsibilities that we all should observe as drivers or people walking in the area, but you know, you know how it is. Well, tell us, so the two trains are the Ethan Allen and the Ramon. Yeah, that's right. Do you describe what each of those trains, where they go and what the level of service is? So the Ramon runs the length of Vermont, coming up from Massachusetts. It comes up from Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, Connecticut, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Stapsham Brattleboro, and up the Connecticut River Valley to White River Junction, and then up following Interstate 89, passing through Randolph, Montpelier, Waterbury, Essex Junction, up to St. Albans, and that train has a goal of continuing up to Montreal at some point in the future. And then the Ethan Allen is on the other side of the state, and it also comes up from New York City and goes through Albany and ends up in Rutland, Vermont, via Caffoldon. And it has a goal which will be realized in a year or so, emphasis on the or so, it's not quite established yet. And that goal is to end up in Burlington via Middlebury. So each side of the state has their train service from Amtrak. Is it possible once this starts? I didn't know we were serving Middlebury now. You could go from Burlington to Middlebury by train? Well, this begins in 2022, so not yet, but soon. That's the plan. They're going to have that new terminal downtown. Is that the one you're going to serve that? That's right. And of course, that new is a relative term because it is the historic Union Station that is now Main Street Landing. And on the lakeside, a new platform is being built. And there was a platform there, but this one will be better for ADA compliance. That is disability. Handicapped access and other safety features. That's wonderful. I mean, this is like a whole new era. You know, it's very exciting, actually. You must be excited. Yeah, it's good. I'm going to enjoy being on the first train, for sure. I will not be alone in that feeling. Tell us about that. How's that going to work? Well, I'm going to go up to St. Albans because I want to be there at that kickoff. So to me personally, that's my plan. And I'm going to go down to Brattleboro. I like Brattleboro. I lived there for a long time.  I think about 130 other people are making the same trip from one station or another, according to the latest numbers I saw. So obviously other people like Brattleboro too. It's a nice place. I'm sure it'll be a good day for the restaurants in Brattleboro serving lunch, having an extra 130 people patronizing them. So other things about the day, like I said, I'm taking the train back in the afternoon, but if you want a shorter trip, shuttles are being arranged just for this day, July 19th, by the Agency of Transportation. So they'll return from Montelia Junction and from Brattleboro. And then the Ethan Allen is also having shuttles. So it is possible to get kind of a little round trip excursion. And those, both the train and the shuttles are very reservation only. So I'll throw out there that the link for this special fair and for the shuttles is Amtrak.com slash Vermont. If you're trying to get it from the regular Amtrak site, you won't get access to the shuttles and you won't get access to the special fair. But Amtrak.com slash Vermont is just for this celebratory one day event. And you can buy tickets through that website? You can. And suppose you're assuming you've got a dollar. So the dollar fair, that's amazing. Just like the concept of intrastate travel, maybe getting on an S extension and going to Montpelgar, going to Brattleboro, that is just such a novel concept, not just going or coming from New York City or Washington or places like that. Well, you know, there's a deeper lesson here. So obviously, this is a celebratory day. And this is a day for marking the event. And you could call the whole thing marketing if you wanted to. But also, the deeper lesson is the influence of pricing on ridership. So we're going to have a sold out train here. We're going to have a train that's sold out a couple of weeks before it even runs. And some of that is because it's the first day and a lot of attention and emotional fair. Yes, for sure. But it is also because of the price. And if we're serious about getting people out of cars, particularly on the long trips for the benefit of the environment, then pricing is part of the equation because, you know, it's a competitive world and the competition is driving and people's perception, which is not accurate, but people's perception is that the highways are free. All they need is gas. Nobody thinks about wear and tear in our society until they get to the time where they write it off on their taxes, if you do, then you then you charge 50 cents a mile. But that's not what some people said. So the competitive game here is about price at some level. Some people are so sold on the benefits of a rail trip, like me, right? I get somewhere and I will arrive relaxed if I take the train.  But price makes the difference. How's that being worked out? I mean, we have the $1 emotional fair, but I don't know if you converse them with the fairs now, but what are the fairs going to be like if you can test them? So Amtrak's goal is to get the maximum revenue that's possible for each train movement. So they do it like the airlines, like yield management. So if you buy a ticket in advance, it's going to be cheaper. And as they see that there's going to be less and less space, the fairs go up. And that makes sense from the perspective of maximizing revenue. It makes sense from the perspective of, I guess, looking out for the financial interests of the taxpayers who are supporting the service. Because if certain days have more value than other days, like the day that UVM goes back in session, the train is routinely sold out. So from a public financial perspective, that makes sense. It makes sense when you think of the train as a perishable and finite resource. Every train has 272 seats, more or less. And those seats go away when the train leaves. They're not available anymore. But if they're not sold, then it's from the perspective of the operator and taxpayers, of course, it is revenue that didn't come in. So you want those fair to be low enough to fill up as many seats as you can. That's the theory. So not everybody likes that idea because the value is on a fixed inventory of seats and on earning as much money as possible for the service. So other people would say, well, the point of the train is to bring as many people to Vermont as possible. So we should always charge a low fare. Where they would say the point of the train is to get people out of their cars, especially for these long trips that can, in fact, emit as much as your commute for many months. So in order to get as many people out of the cars, we should just put on more cars if more people want to run on these busy days. From a financial perspective, you wouldn't do that. You would allocate the inventory. But it all depends on your values and spending public resources always at the trade-offs. It sounds like your work has just begun. The effort to make sure this is promoted, to make sure it's sustained, to make sure it's popularized, to make sure it's economical, and also bringing interest from community and industry leaders. It sounds like you've got your work cut out. Well, yeah, there is definitely work to be done. And the first thing that comes to mind is it isn't just my work or even the agency of transportation or Amtrak, because in fact, this train is valued by Vermonters. And so together, valuing the train, all of us make the train successful. And also, it's the role of an advocacy organization to bring forth the support that's already out there among the train supporters. So it's all of us. It's the team. It's the people who value the train. Having said that, I mentioned the goal of going back to Montreal. And that is very clear as a goal that has been acknowledged. But there's some steps still left to occur. That includes an agreement to build a customs facility in Montreal Central Station. That's been agreed to in principle. At this point, it's detailed. It also includes some track work and some other things. However, even though it's been agreed to in principle, when you've got customs from two countries and a province and another two states and Amtrak and so forth, it's been a slow process. And this is what leaders are good for is making this stuff happen. But it does need to happen. And it does take public support to keep the ball rolling along to keep everybody's attention on it. And then looking further ahead, it's time to think about a second train in the Connecticut River Valley. Massachusetts has put on additional frequencies, additional runs south of Greenfield, Massachusetts. And they're just sitting overnight. That train that's already running out of Greenfield, really ought to be running out of White River Junction. So the amount of resources it would take to run out of White River Junction is trivial, honestly, because it's already running. You already got the cars, you even got the crew. You just need to put them up in the hotel at White River Junction. I can see that a lot has to be done. And what we like to ask here on Positively, Vermont, is what do you need as an organization? And what can our viewers do to support your efforts and some of the goals that you just discussed? Yeah. So our website is railvermont.org. So if you go to the website, you'll see a sort of summary view of what we're up to and what we're about. Joining our email list is our chance to communicate to you. It's our chance to let you know what's going on and educate in a sense. And of course, two-way conversation is great. So our organizational or advocacy power is the numbers of people that are on our mailing list and are willing to make their support known politically to their representatives and to the governor and the delegation and so forth. There is an ideology that maybe this should all be private enterprise and maybe it should, but that's not the world we live in. We live in a world where highways and airports and railways are all the result of political processes and also the planning process that our regional planning organizations organize. So, you know, we're in a democracy and we vote, but the other thing that happens in the democracy is this level of sort of constant feedback that we give to our leaders and our government. And that happens through advocacy organizations like us, but it happens through the direct contact. And really, being an engaged citizen, you have a lot more power than you know you do. Well, that's great, because I really believe that your efforts and some of the items we discussed over 10 months ago did have an impact getting people interested in this. And, you know, I think that's important to emphasize. You know, one thing I've learned in this work is when I give attention to something, things really do shift. And it's not because that's a lesson for me, that's just a lesson. When you give attention for something, things shift. That's great. I mean, that's really great. I want to congratulate you and your colleagues on this because it's almost a miracle. I mean, from what I've seen over the past time period, this is really going to be lovely. And particularly, you know, all the other things about the leap season and holidays and schools and, you know, going to college, looking at colleges, education, I can just see the entire picture opening up, but it's going to take work, as you said. Sure. Well, life just works sometimes, isn't it? Yeah. Well, it's work, but play. Yeah. And the recreational and tourist potential here, a great impact, you know, just even for the brand, you know, the Vermont brand. That's right. You can get here by train. It's just a lovely thing. So we're going to, once, as soon as things develop, we're going to bring you back for a progress report in the near future. Thank you. It was good to speak to you 10 months ago and what's happened since then. And I want to congratulate you and your organization for the role that you played in this. Well, thank you. I appreciate the chance to talk to you and talk to your viewers. That's great. Well, thank you very much. My guest today has been Christopher Parker, the executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network. This is Dennis McMahon. Thank you for watching Positively Vermont.


You've gone in and out of talking about emotional problems. One of the things that you did an episode of the Moth podcast 15 years ago or something where you told a personal story about growing up that I heard it was like, this is interesting to hear a comedian I really like talk about that. And it kind of inspired the three mics thing I did on Netflix in a weird way. Because I was like, oh, this is an interesting thing to hear. I don't think you especially like doing it.  I'm definitely hair metal than more hair metal than grunge. Because hair metal bands had their pain, but we just sort of rocked our way through it. Like you're saying we. No, because Generation X, there's a dividing line. Yes.  You know, well, what they call grunge because, you know, I still maintain the best album of the 90s as far as that music coming out during that era was Jane's Addiction's Rit by Ritual. They love it. Well, I would. Completely agree.  I don't think that's. That's the bottom. The second side of that. I learned how to meditate. Listen to that. It was so good. I did acid to it on high school and was like, this is the wrong. This was the wrong thing to do. Acetail. Oh, three days. Yeah. That's exactly what it was. Literally three days on acid, trying to get sleep because I had to get up in the morning to Caddy and three days by Jane's Addiction's playing. And it's like, this is not. This is a lot of gears, like literally just visualizing gears. You couldn't take that with a melatonin or whatever people. Not back then. That didn't exist. This is 89, Bill. And now there was no melatonin. Get no sleep or drop some acid. Yeah.  Totally agree. There's Steven Perkins drumming on it. Yep. How creative it was and different. He totally imploded the whole snare on two and four thing based on one and three. He just like, it was more like percussion, but it totally worked. And the sound of his cymbals is dynamics, the whole thing. That is still an album. Like, I don't know, how old is that album? 34 years? 34, yeah. It still makes, I get goosebumps when I listen to it. Yeah. I love it. And then the funny, and it also had that thing where Ben caught stealing was the single and it's like the worst song on the album. You know what I mean? Like it's silly compared to the rest of the album. Yeah. But there's still really interesting elements where like, Perry Farrell is so good, you don't realize that the lyrics don't rhyme. And how he threw that, he threw it all out the window.  I have something to say here and I'm saying this. I'm not going to try to figure out what rhymes with grasshopper. Did you ever see them live? Yeah. Did you? I never saw them live. I regret it. That Lila Palooza, did you go to like D-Jane's Addiction? I didn't go then. Oh, I saw them later. Body of Mind saw them at Rocky Point. Where's that? It was one of those theme parks that wasn't Disneyland that just, that lived around in like, there was always like one state away there would be some sort of permit. And it was, the rides were super dangerous and there was no padding left in the seats. I went there on an altar boy retreat. Fantastic. Yeah.  By who? Another church. This faculty with a dead tooth. Yeah, you're hair metal. But you have a, but more and more you've talked about sort of like having a temper on stage. Oh, let me say, but more and more you're going to see like Madonna. Yeah, but you did go see Madonna. Yeah, I blew it. I blew it with like, I was like really like, I was almost borderline racist with my music where I was just like, there's only one kind of music. This is superior. Like if I had just switched a few words, I could have been the grand dragon of the Klan. So I wasn't talking about people. I would only listen to metal. And what it really was was I was, I was so walled off emotionally that anything that actually brought up feelings to me, like I didn't want to feel them because I knew that that was, that was a freefall into this 800 pound gorilla that I ignored until my 40s. And so anything. So you would just focus on anger. Aggression. Yeah. Aggression I related to, you know, although all those metal bands had their ballads. Sure, but that was always about like one check. That's what I loved about the metal bands. They played the ballad. You know, they were trying to get, they got you laid too. Yeah. Because not all those chicks made it backstage.  Those bands were great. And what I loved too was that they, you know, everybody could play.  And it wasn't just about being able to play. Like you had to like shred. Like there was an insane, and the level of musicianship because there was no internet. We were all just rewinding cassette tapes and slowing down records. I say we like, I mean, I was trying to do that. But there was always just that gifted kid that could figure it out like guitar. Yeah. They all seem like they went to Berkeley school. I mean, like whenever you do research about C.C. DeVille or any of these people from like the, no, those guys were all self taught. Yeah. You were self taught. You found somebody else. And then there was always these rumors, you know, there's always a guy two towns over that could play eruption, you know what I mean? Dude, I was at a party. I saw it. He played it. Yeah. Yeah. And like what I, I feel bad for kids today because they don't get a chance to develop like a scene because everyone's just like filming it. And like, and I even have it. Like if, if something happened in the middle of a jungle in Africa, if there's no video, I'm like, what the fuck? You know, like how is there no video? But, but back then what was funny was like, you know, there's this guy and like the myth of it and people would just keep adding to it. It would become like this giant fish story out, bigger fish are caught. And, but it was just like, you know, he can play it. I saw it. I was there. Yeah. Really dude. I mean, he wasn't even looking at the fretboard.  Hey, did you like that? Did you like that? Yeah. Did you like it though? You want more? Don't want to work? Would rather watch videos of me grab assing with people.  This is like when the weatherman says there's a high pressure system coming in. Although I'm not really used to the green screen.


This morning. I want to speak to you on the topic called a book that reads us Come on come on There's many books that we read and then the Bible the word of God this light blue Bible come on or the phone Whatever you read it through don't judge, you know Some people like it the old-fashioned. They like the they like to read on through a book others You know technology is better for them. So whatever it is as long as you read it, right? You know, it's Whatever floats your boat better as long as you don't drown We we are church that will be a church of prayer and reading God's word Because whatever God said in his word He said that in Matthew the heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will by no means will pass away God says if I speak my word I make sure that it never comes back void that means it will bring fruits in your life So it is worthy of attention. It is worthy of your time It is worthy of your day to be able to put your focus on to that I like what this one man of God said he said whatever has your attention will give your direction So if you put your attention on the word of God, it will never Mislead you if you put your attention on social media and your friends on Rumors on this or that it will misguide you it will give you direction to that and if people like well My life is miserable. I want to ask you what has your attention What do you pay attention to because that is the thing that is giving you? direction and there are the Scripture that we that we will be able to read this morning is Joshua 1 8 it says keep this book the word of God Keep this book of law always on your lips. Somebody say always On your lips meditated on a day and night so that you may be careful to do somebody say to do Everything that is written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful prosperous and Successful, I love the testimony of Roger as as he shared This is a proof to show us that the word of God is not just a history book But it is a book that can change your life for the better Some things you might not understand. I agree with you if you get stuck in the book of little viticus or the numbers However, you pronounce it did erotomy he might get a little dry. I understand But the whole book of the Bible it gives us direction it purifies our lives. It gives us a lot It gives us direction. It gives us healing to our body. It gives us encouragement It gives us peace. It gives us joy that no other book Can give us and men church so it is worthy of my attention somebody say it is worthy of My attention come on somebody I'm gonna need your participation here So there's a study that it is so awesome I believe pastor lot shared it once and I want to share it again a study that was done by Center for the Bible Engagement send this when we read our the scriptures where we are in the scriptures at least four times a week It has to be four times a week. That's when it makes it more of a difference the feeling lonely drops by 30% So if somebody comes up to you Matthew lonely tell him get in the word homie No, I'm serious. This is straight up. There's like they're like I need advice and you're like this is my advice get in the book, right? Anger issues drops 32% Wow wives to your husbands just be like You better get in the word. I'm gonna get the word on you One or the other somebody's gonna get in the word. It's either the easier the hard way bitterness in Relationship in marriage to your kids and so on drops by 40% when we read the word of God at least four times a week alcoholism alcoholism drops 57% Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%. This is key. I want to highlight this is that I've seen a lot of times where We're spiritual. We feel depleted or we feel dry or what we feel like we're going through a rough season Get in the word of God begin to memorize it begin to study it begin to Begin to meditate on it begin to quote it to yourself because this will give you fuel for your soul It will equic in your spiritual life with God View and pornography drops by 61% On the positive note sharing your faith jumps 200% Discipling others jumps 230% So reading the Bible is not just so we can get head knowledge. It actually will by its very nature Change your life. I want this next year that we are going into I know there's many other books that we can read that that you know self-health books, you know Money management, you know how to raise your kids how to get better and in marriage Those books are important, but no book can change your life like the word of God No book can transform can bring healing can bring direction sense of peace in your life like the word of God and we need to give it Attention we need to give it time. We need to give it the most important time out of the day that we can because That book will bring you success and prosperity According to Joshua 1a. They meant church There's why the book why the Bible just want to read something that's You might know this or not why the blood the book of the Bible is so important why it's so Unique why the Bible is different from any other book in the world because of its unity It was written in the span of a thousand six hundred years through 40 different authors three continents and three languages and still manage to have the Uniformity throughout its accounts. There are three hundred thirty three prophecies of Christ mentioned hundred years before ever he came to earth a hundred fifty of them occurred in Six hours that he hang on the cross the probability of just eight of three hundred thirty three coming to pass is Equivalent to covering the state of Texas two feet deep and silver dollars and one of which has a special mark on it With only one chance to pick up the right one. So the probability is just insanely just it's not possible basically history science and geography confirms it scientists and the day in the back of the day some still believe the earth is flat, but They believe that the earth was flat while the Bible said it was round in Isaiah 40-22 Noah's Ark the wall of Jericho and Jesus tomb were all Found this is to show you the word of God is unique You the word of God is still the best-selling book till this day And you know you might not carry the Bible with you all the time Maybe that's doesn't fit you maybe the color. I don't know what it is But maybe it is on your phone, but it's still deserve your time. We have to understand if Where is that there's a we as humans we spend about I believe it was like 33 hours a week on TV and 14 hours a week on social media, which I think now it's a little different I think it's like 33 hours on your phone and 14 on your TV You know and you are already Spending that time into something it's just right now redirecting your Attention and your focus on the word of God that can give you back energy Can give you back love can give you back peace? You know sometimes you wake up in the morning they make your coffee wrong your days already ruined.   I Know so many times. I like you know I like to read books and I like to do more of our audio podcast because I drive out I drive a lot and for me that's the best use of time. You know, I'm listening to this one book It's like ours just wasted and rambling stuff this thing is like I'm depressed after listening to that book You know, I'm not I'm serious You know, sometimes we pick up a book and I'm reading I'm like man This thing is just but the word of God many times you pick it up and you start reading and it begins to read you It begins to talk to you it begins to give you a hope like in the darkest situation You are able to have peace and people like how do you do it? It's because the word of God has given me life The word of God is giving me direction It's giving me a hope not to give up on my marriage not to give up on my kids Continue to pray to stand and believe it.  It is by its very nature Begin to change his marriage begin to change his business begin to change things around him that he had no control over But the word of God gave power it begins to change things. You're like wow I'm different people around you look at you to say you acting different you talk different wise because the word of God Changes our lives and men church If you if you want to be taken notes I'm just gonna go through a few things and we're also gonna go through a few practical things that the word of God That we can make it part of our lives, you know This is not just like a I'm gonna run to just to do a check mark It has to become part of your life just like you know for someone's it's part of our life to drink coffee You know, it's like without coffee.  It's like you're angry. I didn't read the word of God, you know, I use that with my wife sometimes It's like get in the word bro.   He was a slave Yes, he was betrayed. Yes this this happened to him, but I don't know what happened But he's successful. Why because God is with him Jesus and the word are one and if the word is in you, christ is in you amen church So I challenge you I challenge you Let the word of God begin to dominate your mind It's it's not that you you have to be like oh the scriptures here No, is you take one how I do it practically for myself as I take one scripture a day And I try to quote it to myself sometimes up to a hundred times I remember one time that um I came to morning prayer just a lot of things were not adding up, you know Failure here failure there and I took the scripture that whatever your hand touches will be blessed And I was walking for like an hour and I was saying it to myself So much until everything that afterwards came into me right away I said it's going to be blessed. It's going to be blessed. It's going to be blessed Like you couldn't tell me it's going to fail. Why because Logically, I'm like it's going to work.  How come? Well, I don't know maybe whatever your hand touches will be blessed. Could that be a reason why? Could that be a reason why my family is strong today because you know, you took the scripture that me and my house Will serve the Lord could that be a reason could that be a reason why you have health in your body by his stripes Do I heal doctor said you're supposed to die but you're still living could that be a reason? Why because God's word gives us power to do what we were called to do in my church Jesus at the weakest point of his life Referred back to scripture not to logic When he was when he was at the weakest point, you know being tempted in the wilderness. He always said it was written It was written Many times when our failures happen we go to logic We go to reasoning we go to statistics. We go to oh, I deserve it. Why because I messed up there Oh, you know because of my family. This is why we don't we we try to reason for God We started to say God is doing it because of this no God wants you go back to scripture at your weakest point of your life Why because that scripture will give you power at your weakest point of your life When we make God's word the standard for your life you'll be able to see a life that is successful Certain things might not seem a success But like I said with God certain times he takes your step back so he can take you 10 steps forward He prepares us for the destiny that we have ahead of our lives Now even yesterday I was walking around this quote came to me is that you know only a fool compares his Or somebody else's failure or success Because he fails to understand the destiny that lies behind those failures or mistakes You know, it'll be very full to compare your life to Joseph when he was in the dry pit It'll be very foolish of you to be like oh my life is good. At least it's not like Joseph. He's in dry pit.  You do not even imagine The the germine 29 11 the thoughts I have towards you is its thoughts of good and not of evil This this dark season might seem evil But the plans I have for you is to prosper you to give you hope and to give you a future come on somebody To the extent to which we think the thoughts of God the word of God Is to the same extent we will have the power of God in your life It's like stents You know, some people choose to dominate their mind with self thoughts, you know, oh just do better be better Go into the word of God You're still using the same amount of energy from the on those other, you know You begin to dominate your mind with the word of God and God says Oh, this guy is talking my words and and I said it that my word cannot come back void I got to make sure this boy is taken care of I got to make sure this marriage is taken care of I got to make sure this business is taken care of because they're speaking my words You know, and that's how it is And when when God begins to see that you're saying the same thing that he said he you catch his attention You don't sit there and say god, I deserve it. You got to give it to me.  I am healed and god says I like that now Now this is what I'm saying. This is what I'm thinking now I got to go into his life It might not be the time that you want it, but god's word will never come back void in your life Time and season will different for each and and every one of us What might take you a year might take me five years. I don't know your destiny But I know one thing is god said that I'm faithful. I was faith I was faithful to Isaac I was faithful to jacob. I was faithful to april. I was faithful to so many things. My name is faithful I know that if I said something your word, it will come to pass. Amen church second point is that is to know god is to know his word Because god does nothing without his word If god is to do something in your life He will do it through his word in your life when god created the world. He spoke it into existence It was his word that made it come to pass I want to this morning.  You begin to memorize it You know for me like when I come to prayer, I just concentrate on on the one You know, it's not for me like oh read 10 chapters and that's it for me Is I read until something speaks out to me and then I stop and I say god help this scripture read me And then I quote that scripture I read I say more and more and more and then it begins to talk to me throughout my day It begins god begins to reveal himself through his word God will speak and do things in your life through his word.    I challenge you to maybe find one scripture Don't don't do a chapter find one scripture a day and memorize Just take those small steps because I remember sometimes I'm like I'm going to read five chapters a day I'm going to finish the book in 72 hours You know likes to be if you read the whole 70 charge you can actually read the whole bible And it's it's not you can't really repeat it for the the word of god to be affecting your life has to be systematic And it has to be continual and it has to be kind of like an everyday thing You have to make have to make a decision for it to become part of your life Just like brushing your teeth taking a shower.  So, you know, I wake up Five minutes. I'm a dedicated Just for reading the word of god Maybe for something you read for an hour stretch it to an hour to 15 minutes. Whatever it is I want to give you a certain tips on On something that helped me out six ways that we Can make god's word into our life number one is actually reading it I Would challenge if you're reading by yourself to get to read in the group like many of us we have live groups That somebody can check up on you. Hey, how are you doing with your reading plan? Maybe once a week Maybe once in any every couple days that you read it that you begin to To see and give it your best time Don't give the word of god the time that nobody else needs like oh, um, I have five minutes to spare Let me just just squeeze in the scripture. No when you wake up when your mind is fresh Give that five minutes 10 minutes 30 minutes an hour. Give that to the word of god Let it let it read you As you read it Let it read you in the back of every every person's pew there. We put in a year yearly bible plan where you can read Um, can you wave it and wave your hands so the back of your pew you should have one It's just an example. You don't have to use that one many bible apps have its own plans This is just an example like that This coming year as we're going to dedicate time to prayer and reading the word of god. Let it be at least a one verse Let it be that maybe that the few phrases from the word of god that can challenge you to become better than yourself Holy spirit will empower you to do better than you ever ever done before The second one as I encourage you to listen to it We spent a lot of times driving how many you guys at least drive five minutes today at least five minutes One chapter is about three minutes to listen to One chapter is three minutes So what I do many times when I drive from from my house to work place about 15 minute drive I listen to one chapter around five times So with the more you listen to it the more it begins to reveal itself You know how many times you heard a certain phrase so many times and then one time somebody said it you're like What now I understand you know what I'm saying? That's how that is with the word of god When you listen to it so many times It will come to a place where that same verse will mean a whole different book to you Like I'm saying many times. I'm like reading the certain things. I'm like Until somebody says it again. I'm like Now I understand what the word of god says so first one is what read it second of it is Listen to it. So if you say well, I don't have a way to listen on our if you download our hunger gen App it's called the hunger gen app. I don't know if we have it You can actually play the chapter that you're reading it will actually read it to you On the lazy side But it actually can read it to you can read it and it can actually read it to you So challenge you the first one is actually reading it yourself Second of all is try read try listening to it. Let it let it read you Third one is memorize it Memorize it Oh, maybe we know lyrics from from songs that nobody needs to hear right Sometimes an accident during prayer comes out, right? So What I do many times when I when I read When I read during that thing during the morning and uh one chapter I see a scripture or maybe I don't find it. So maybe I don't have any scripture from that I try to find a scripture that I can memorize It helps you to replace that fear the junk That's the worry the anxiety out of your life Sometimes people come in says oh I have so much worry in my mind replace it You can remember you can never delete something you can only replace in your mind You can only replace it And sometimes you're you're worried about certain things and so much in your mind begin to shove that scripture until that worry leaves That's how it was for me the one time I literally spent one hour walking back and forth saying the same thing Everything my hand touches will be blessed. I was walking back and forth and said god make it make it a part of me because Right now what's part of me's failure? And literally took an hour to get it out of my mind But now if you ask me some people like why are you so positive?   This is where you speak the word of god the moment somebody hurts you That's where you speak the word of god. You don't speak the word of the situation You don't speak the word that's you know a failure all this thing. This is the time to speak the word of god It says the word of god that that our tongue has has power of life and death The word of god is power The word of god is life in itself So when you begin to speak you begin to reverse the situation that devil has created and some people like well I spoke it, you know for a day didn't go away. Some of us have been speaking it for five years We're still waiting And what you have today in this church as this church right now the hungry gen thousands local mess globally You know all these things that god has done. We've been speaking it so many times I mean even when we had one pew just just one pew full of people We were saying we're gonna have thousands locally We're gonna have people are gonna be saved every service And it was creating life it was creating life It was creating life It was speaking the dry bones and sooner or later those bones came to life and god was faithful for his promises Amen church At the last but not least Is obey it obey it somebody say obey it I want you to when you read the word of god ask the holy spirit To make the scriptures real real to you for me before actually before I read the bible. I actually pray and I ask god Help me to understand what I'm reading Help me to apply it in my life Because for me it I'm told you it's not easy Sometimes you're like man. I read the scripture so many times. It's just it's boring But if you ask holy spirit, give me a fresh love for the word of god god will begin to quicken that fresh love God will give give you that desire to wake up in the morning and to spend time with him God will give because it will it will but it's very nature change your life because we as human beings we we begin We repeat the things that bring us reward right the things that give us success.  Oh, I'm gonna come today to church and everything should be great.  Let's put our hands together for jesus christ Charles spurgeon said this visits many books But live in the bible Visit many books. It's so right to read other books, but live in the bible Yeah, I'm telling you for me for my life The word of god has has been is the been the biggest Let's support the biggest push through and then when things have seemed impossible And then back of mind the old scripture was ringing you'll be blessed as you walk in you'll be blessed as you walk out You'll be blessing the fields.  You can't even count the thoughts I have towards you It's it's not it doesn't compare to any Self-book any this or that book which they are important.  I want us to rise up on our feet And right now we're going to spend just a little bit of time and worshiping god And also we're going to pray that god's gonna give us grace To make the word of god a standard for life. I meant church. I want you to raise your hand I want you to begin to say it's father. I thank you for the word of god Father, I thank you that you say your word and every promise that you spoke into my life is for me It's every word father that is written was paid through the blood of jesus christ It's for my life for me to have a good life to me to have a prosperous life for me to have a healthy life For me to have a good marriage for me to have a good ministry that i'll be used by you father We thank you and we give you grace Hey, this is pastavlad and thank you for watching this sermon Please click on the subscribe so that you can be a part of our hungry generation The youtube community and click on the bell as well so that you can be notified when we upload the new sermon Thank you for watching and god bless you