103.9 FM, WOZO Radio, Knoxville. Ladies and gentlemen, Digital Freethought Radio Hour. Hello and welcome to the Digital Freethought Radio Hour on WOZO Radio 103.9 LP FM right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Today is Sunday, December 6th, 2020. I'm Larry Rhodes or Dowder 5. And as usual, we have our co-host Wombat on the phone with us. Hello Wombat. I'm actually writing a musical for 2020. It's called Conspiracy. And the first song is Conspiracy. I'm working on the rest of the lyrics. Yeah, okay. I need some work. Anyway, welcome to the show. We have Dot Fire or Scott. Welcome. We have usual George with us today. Hello George. And we also have the Publications Director from the Atheist Alliance International. John Richards, welcome to the show. You're a special guest today. We're going to be asking you a lot of questions about the Atheist Alliance. Digital Freethought Radio Hour is a talk radio show about atheism, free thought, rational thought, humanism and the sciences. And conversely, we'll also talk about religion, religious faiths, gods, holy books and superstitions. And if you get the feeling that you're the only non-believer in Knoxville, well you're just not. There are several Atheist free thinking and rationalist groups that exist right here in Knoxville. And we'll show you how you can connect with them right after the mid-show break. Also, did you know that there's a streaming Atheist call-in video show broadcasting here in Knoxville? Been on TV for like 10 years now. Yeah. Did you know that Wombat? I mean, it's crazy because they always play it on mute when I'm in the gym. And I don't understand why they do that, but I guess Alex Trebek isn't on the show anymore. And they have like old contestants doing the hosting now. So I'm looking forward to seeing who they're going to get as new hosts and cross my fingers. Yeah, that would be nice too. Let's go, Wayne Brady. You got to answer our formal question. Come on. We like questions. Let's go. Four years you haven't seen the show yet. Anyway, we'll tell you how you can watch it and maybe even Wombat can watch it later after the mid-show break. What do we have today? Wombat interviews. Hey, you brought a friend. You brought a friend. You got things to talk about today. What do you have today, Dr. Frantz? Well, I'd like to welcome John Richards from the Atheist Alliance International. Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself and your organization? Yeah. Why don't you tell us your story in like 30 seconds? Yeah. Go. I was born at a very early age. Well, thanks for inviting me, guys. It's a pleasure to be here. And to tell you about Atheist Alliance International. Cool. First of all, I'll give you a brief rundown on myself. I'm a retired science teacher. Oh, nice. And I was lucky enough to be born in Britain where religion is not so rabid as it is in America. And I chose my parents very well because they were not religious. We only went to church. If there was a wedding, they went to a funeral. I didn't get taken as a small boy to the funerals. But apart from that, I didn't meet religion until I went to school when, as you may know, it's compulsory in this country. We're not a secular nation, oddly. Secondly, it's compulsory to have an assembly in the morning, which is Anglican, that variety of Christianity. And that involved a hymn, a reading, and the Lord's Prayer before the lotuses. Now, that was back then when I was at school. Since then, most schools have dropped that activity. It's illegal, but they flout the law.  Anyway, it didn't make any impression. And when I went to secondary school, I fell in love with science. I became a science teacher. And here I am, at the end of my life, retired and able to devote all my time to my mission of, I regarded it as teaching science, rationalism, critical thinking, which of course is contrary to religious beliefs. Now, that's wonderful. Mind if I chip in real quick? I think that was an excellent introduction. I feel remissed if we didn't take a moment to introduce ourselves, too. And that way, we all know ourselves around the room. I'll do mine real quick, then I'll go to Scott and then George and then Larry. You can follow up and show you guys are friends already. But I'm Ty. I'm Dr. Wells. I got my degree in biochemistry and I work in filtration science. And I've done science for my entire life and my career. I love it, too. And we're currently making face mask material for all of Tennessee because of the current COVID that's been hitting us has caused a huge demand for these kinds of materials. And we're issuing them out for free for local medical sectors. And it's just a really wonderful opportunity for us. But yeah, love science never had compulsory school religion.  I would fall asleep twice. I could tell you some stories about that, man. But I did. I was I was religious all the way until college. So it took me a while before I realized this is going to work and I'm sure we'll get into it more. Scott, why don't you give us a little intro on you? Yeah, so I was born in Florida and Tallahassee, Florida on that side of Florida. I didn't grow up in a really super religious home, but I discovered religion, probably around 1920, 21 years old and became heavily involved in Jehovah's Witnesses and moved up in the ranks with that particular religion. Had a lot of responsibilities at that congregation learned a lot about it became very zealous into that religion. And then found my way out of it, probably around my mid to late 20s. And I've been went into atheism. And ever since I've just been looking back have just looked back ever since then. So now, yes, what I do professionally, I'm in the IT IT world and nice doing that kind of stuff. But yeah, as far as philosophy, I'm probably more described as an agnostic atheist right now. Yeah. Same here. I will also say one cool thing. It's nice that you jumped from Jehovah Witness directly to atheism rather than the peg. What do you what's the right word for it? Plinko. Plinkoing your way to atheism where it's like, well, I did some spiritual Hinduism, then I tried deep state meditation, then crystal theory and then finally, get rid of it all. You forgot Buddhism. Sometimes it sneaks in, right? George, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Well, I won't take much time except to start by saying that I was, I'm an organic atheist. What I mean by that is that I was born into an atheist family. And my parents were humanists, I would say. And my father has attended humanist lectures at various places all his life. And yet he was not a militant atheist. My mother was militant about stuff. She was not militant about her atheism. So for me, the whole experience has just been pretty nonchalant, you know. I have not had a religion to throw off. I have not had to fight with the demons in my head that were placed there from an early age. I just haven't had that. But now you've moved from that state where you were organic atheist to like the Christian belt of America? Boy, yes. And listen, I grew up in New York City. I got my degrees in the state of Connecticut in New England. And then we moved to California where I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 40 years. Wow. And here I am halfway between Chattanooga and Knoxville, you know, in a very strange city that is in a little way, it's quite progressive.  And it's taken me five years to finally get to understand what I'm facing. Which is, quote, you're not from around here, are you? Well, it's also the religion part of it. Well, that comes along with the territory. Larry, why introduce yourself just to the audience again? Well, I'm the founder and past president of the Atheist Society of Knoxville. Well, I've been an atheist for 50 years in the closet as an atheist for 30 and then finally came out after 9-11. 9-11 was a pivotal issue for me.  And the response generally was from a religious standpoint. John, one thing, I mean, John Anti, one thing you may not eat, both of you remember, but I'm old enough to remember the prayers in school when I was a kid. I was born in 1950 and we had assemblies. And every time we had assemblies, as a matter of fact, home room, we had prayers. Wow. That was eventually outlawed, I believe, was in the 60s. Murray, Madeline Murray O'Hare took it to the Supreme Court and got it thrown out. So no more prayers in school. From the authority figure, you can't have state sponsors prayer. Of course, you can have assemblies with prayer. You can meet at the flagpole and have prayer. There's an old saying that says, as long as there are tests in school, there will be prayer. That's good. That's good. It's also true. You can't take prayer out of school. Oh, man, when did I stop praying before tests? They even took me a while. That was the hardest thing for me to give up. But yeah, yeah, it's solely true. John, getting back to you, can you tell us a little bit about the Atheist Alliance? What the heck is that? And what do they do? Sure, sure. Yeah. Well, it's Atheist Alliance International is an organization that's registered charity, registered in California. And that was 30 years ago. Coming up this next October, that will be our 30th anniversary. And we're planning a big bash. Nice. I can tell you a bit about that. I think my seat's just collapsed. Later on.  It happens. Yeah. Right. OK, I got it. Yeah, don't move. So one of the things I could do, which might be the easiest way to talk you through it, is just screen share the website. Can I do that? Sure, absolutely. Yeah. OK. And while he's doing that, I can describe it for our podcast listeners. So what we're being taken to right now is website Atheist Alliance International. And at the front of the page, it's a really, really nice looking website, black and white, I'm sorry, red and white themes all across and show some of the latest talkers that are speaking at the various events around the world. John, why don't you walk us through it? Sure. Yeah. Well, as you can see, those of you who are not just on radio, we have a banner, which is about ending blasphemy laws because in northern Nigeria, there's sharia law, which is technically unconstitutional since the Constitution of Nigeria, Constitution item number 10, I think it is, says that no state, the country, neither the country nor any state within it should have any religious connection. Never mind. We have sharia law in Cano State and other parts of northern Nigeria. And you may remember there was a big outcry in the news a couple of years ago when Muslims captured a school of girls laid off with them. Remember that? Yep. Well, the current conflict that we're engaged in is about some victims of blasphemy laws. And those of you who can see, we have Yahya Sharif Aminu, who is a singer-songwriter, and he spouted some lyrics that Muslims took exception to. So he is now in jail sentenced to death. We also have a young boy who's 13. He had an argument in the playground when he was younger, when he was 10, I think, but they couldn't prosecute him then. And he said some nasty things about Muhammad or whatever. And he's been sentenced to 10 years in prison with labour. Wow. Then we have Mubarak Bala, who was arrested, I think it was on the 28th of April this year. He's the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria. And up until quite recently, he hadn't even been charged, just detained. And the law in Nigeria is based on British law, because it was a colony many years ago. The law says he should be charged or released within $48. That hasn't happened. It's what is it, coming up to 200 days now that he's been imprisoned. His wife had just recently given birth, and she has been deprived of his support all the time that she's been raising this very young baby. We've been, Atheist Alliance International has been supporting the family financially in his absence and campaigning to get him released. So we have lawyers in Nigeria who are working on behalf of all these three individuals. But the problem is bigger than that, because Nigeria is corrupt. So there is no access to proper justice. We've taken them to court several times. And because the judiciary do not wish to be tarred with the brush of atheism, they don't turn up. So a date is set for hearing, the judge doesn't turn up. Another date is set months ahead, and the defence doesn't turn up. Postponement after postponement goes on. And that's not the only thing that's happening in Nigeria, because in southern Nigeria, we have a governor, devout Christian, who says that he is the Christian representative of his state. And he has spent public money building, well he hasn't gone to the building stage yet, but commissioning an international worship centre, a huge extravagant building. I might be able to find a picture of it on this website, if you give me a chance. And he spent public money, unconstitutionally, buying the land, clearing the land and having the building designed.  And all of this is completely unconstitutional. No public money should be spent on activities like that. So we're very active in Nigeria combating that. But that's not the only sort of thing we do. You can see, lower down the website, we've supported the introduction of Internet Cafe in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they've been pretty much deprived of access to the internet, which of course, as you know, it's a double-edged sword, isn't it? You can access rational information on the internet, but you can also be radicalised too. And I'm sure there's a brick-butter aspect where there's monitoring of which websites you go to or which ISPs are checked over there. Would you say that's accurate? Well, I'm not fully OK with what's going on, fully brought up to speed with what's going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So I know that we've funded it. And I'm in communication with the people there who are running it. And the first question I should ask them is, do they have filters on their internet to prevent that sort of radicalised material getting through?  Oh, OK. Listener is going to click a YouTube link. And I guess we're going to watch the video. We'll try to describe it the best we can after the fact. There's an audio to it. This means we'll be able to hear. OK. I mean, thank you so much for giving us the interview today. Can you tell me what happened to Mubarak on April 28th? On the 28th of April, 2020, I actually talked to my husband Mubarak that morning. I got a call from his friend that Mubarak had been arrested and taken to the Kadena police station. I was surprised. I was like, why? Maybe he'll come back home. Everything's going to be fine. But then since then, have you been able to speak to him or meet him or speak to him on the phone? No. Since that day on the 28th of April, I've never talked to him. Never have I spoken to him on phone or seen him. No. I tried. I tried even reaching out to anyone who has seen him since that day. And nobody has told me anything that had not seen him until that time. Have you been in touch with the police? The kind of state police, the PRO, he said that Mubarak is no longer in the custody. I was like, OK, where is he? I want to talk to him. He was like, he didn't give me a specific answer. He said that for security reasons, he can't tell me where he is. I pleaded that, OK, I have a son. My son was actually six weeks old when he was taken away. So I said, please, because of my son, let me just speak to him. Even if it's a phone call, even if they want to remind him there, let me just talk to him. Let me know that he's fine. He said he had an interview with Mubarak, that Mubarak is fine, that he's going to send the interview to me, that he will call me back. And until now he has not called me, and I've not had anything from him again. So you had a new baby just a few weeks old when Mubarak was taken away. How have you been coping then since then? It has not been easy. It has not been easy for me. It's depressing. I've been through psychological and emotional trauma since Mubarak was taken away. But I don't even know where he is. I don't know whether he's dead or alive. So for me, as a nursing mother, it's a hell for me. I am confused. I don't even know what to do. I don't know. So the police haven't allowed Mubarak's lawyers to see him, and they've not charged him with any offence which, by law, they're required to do within 48 hours. Mubarak's lawyers have asked the courts to intervene to force the police to comply with the law, but the courts seem to be intentionally dragging things out. What do you say to these people now? Well, all I want is for me to talk to my husband. That's all I ask for. Let the Nigerian government and the Nigerian police get me a proof of life that my husband is alive. That's all I ask for. That's all. It's not too much to ask. Police, I'm appealing, and I'm begging. Let me be sure, because I'm worried here. I'm worried. Well, obviously, as you can see, the lady didn't want to reveal her face. The male voice you heard there was our vice president, Bill Flevel. So we made that video way back in, I think, about June. But unfortunately, the situation is still the same. Although I think she has been allowed to talk to her husband since then. So not a happy situation. No, overall, it sounds like there's a stark lack of the right to be a critical thinker in Nigeria. And there's political, administrative, even police state-esque pressure to keep people from thinking on their own and staying subscribed to the local dogma. It is the world's most religious country. 98% of the people there say that religion is important in their lives. Wow. So we're going to go to a break pretty soon. I just want to give a quick update. We're talking with John Richards, representative of Atheist Alliance International. And we will have a bunch of fun stuff to talk about later on, hopefully. Talk some about the triumphs and things that we did as part of this group. And Larry, go ahead and take us out. Sure. This is the Digital Freethought Radio Hour on WOZO Radio 103.9 LP FM right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. We'll be right back after this short break. 103.9 FM. WOZO Radio Knoxville. Hello, and welcome back to the second half of the Digital Freethought Radio Hour. I'm Douter Five, and we're on WOZO Radio 103.9 LP FM right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Today, again, is Sunday, December 6, 2020. And let's talk about the Atheist and Freethought groups that you can join here right in Knoxville. First, there's the Atheist Society of Knoxville, founded in 2002. We're in our 18th year. We have over a thousand members. And you can find us online at KnoxvilleAtheist.org. By the way, if you don't live in Knoxville, you should still go to meet up and search for an Atheist group in your town. Don't find one. Start one! Right. Another large Freethinking group here in Knoxville are the rationalists of East Tennessee. Go to rationalist.org if you'd like to find out more about them and click on the upcoming events. Earlier in the show, we said we'd talk about Knoxville Atheist Call in TV show. Well, it's called Freethinkers United Coalition of Knoxville, and it's on YouTube. Now, it used to be on the local access community TV station, but they switched over to video, and you can find it now from anywhere in the world. So, if you don't want to search, well, if you want to see some of the archives that they have online, you can search for Freethinkers United Coalition of Knoxville, but the older stuff is under Freethought Forum Knoxville. So, all of that's available to you. Also, if you're interested in getting involved with the TV or this radio show, just come to our ASK page or rationalist page on Facebook and leave us a note. With us today on the show, we have Dot Fire, George and John Richards from the Atheist Alliance, which we'll be talking about more. How can people find you if they're not on Facebook? Hey, that's a great question. Well, they can go to KnoxvilleAtheist.org and send us emails that way. You can send an email to AskAnAtheist at KnoxvilleAtheist.org. You can find us that way. Several ways. You can go to YouTube and look for our stuff there. Just leave us a comment. Speaking of comments, I wanted to go around and sing our favorite written pop standards because we were doing that from the beginning of the show. My favorite English song is London Bridge, which goes, London Bridge is going down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down. Where is the love? Where is the love? Where is the love? Where is the listener love? Guys, we're going to go over some comments from last week's episode. Feel free to leave a comment and we'll go over them on the next week's show. Ecocentric, oh, by the way, last week's episode was called Jesus Hates Figs, which was all about us ranting about biblical stories that we may have believed or may have just found absurd when we applied just a little bit of critical thought. Such to the point where even if we were to take the story as a literal truth, it just makes all the characters in the story look bad. And I don't think there's any better example of that than just Jesus walking down the street being like, I hate this tree.   I'm like, Jesus, that's people's property. They need food. We're in Mesopotamia, like Bronze Age. Like, we need to eat. Like, that's not a good thing to do. It's like, I don't care. I need figs now. Yeah, we just learned irrigation, you know? Yeah. It's like, we could just knock on his door. You'd probably give us some figs.  It's like, I want that fig from that tree now. It's like, OK. So anyway, eco-centric Homestead says, hey, you know, the thing about people of faith is that they only have faith in their religion. They have no faith in authority telling them that there's a pandemic. They have no faith in medical science. They have no faith in any naturalistic explanations to any phenomenon. So it's selective faith bias towards their own worldview. And I think that's very, very good point. It is essentially just confirmation bias and cherry-picking when people say I'm a person of faith. It's like, well, you only have faith in your God. It's like, that's true. I'm a believer, but I only believe in things I like. That's cherry-picking, not fake-picking, of course. It's big-picking. Thank you. Or it's cherry-picking. You're right. You're right. But I think we all do this. I think we all do this anyway. True. But I do it under the idea of, like, I'm aware that there's multiple things out here and I'm not going to invest my entire dogma on one cherry. Like, I'm aware that there's other cherries. And atheists draw the line generally as supernatural things. Yeah. We're not going to have faith in stuff that we have no evidence for at all. Right. Right. Save me your supernatural cherries. I'll have delicious normal ones, please. Crazy Praying Mantis says, figs are delicious. And I agree. Have you guys ever tried the natural fig? They're amazing. They're good. Fig Newton. You like fig Newton. If you like fig Newtons, you like figs. You've eaten figs before. Faith in Matthew's long-time commenter on the show says, Using Socratic Examination. We are big fan of Socratic Examination on this channel. Using Socratic Examination, you can realize that there isn't evidence to support biblical claims. But for me, the first major step away from religion was after scrutinizing Bible studies or stories. It was easy to see that these morals and role models of the Bible aren't worth following. There's better out there.  I think that was good. We have a guest, John Richards. He's back with us all the way from England. How can I ask a digner in American question? How is Brexit going? Are you guys still a part of Europe? Is it free to call you guys European? Is that not allowed anymore? Is it gray subject? What's going on? Oh, he's covering his face, guys. Because I wanted to say all the way from Europe. But then I was like, he might not be Europe. I was like, I hope that's OK. I don't know how it goes. I don't know what happens. It's a chronic mess. The whole thing.  I'm not one of them. OK. But the negotiations are going to come to a conclusion soon. However they do it, whether it's a no deal or a deal that we don't like, just watch. OK. This is going to collapse. Trust me. We are all caught up on political messes that have been going on, at least state side. But we're doing a good job clearing them up on our side. So there's going to be a point where like three years from now, we're just going to go back to our arrogant selves and be like, why aren't you fixing these problems? We don't have a problem anymore. What's your problem anymore? Yeah, well, I wish we could. But at the moment, we've got 55% of the population who doesn't want to leave. 45% still does. Wow. That doesn't count because we had a referendum in 2016. Although the referendum was not one that the government had to follow. It wasn't, what's the word, mandated. Thank you. That's the very word. Yeah, it was just an indication of feeling. It was something that we had to act on to form a law about. But they did. So the whole thing is a crazy, never have a referendum. George, you want to weigh in? I want to ask a question, John. Go for it. Go for it. Love questions. The whole thing has been looking so crazy to me from over here that I have to ask you this question. What's the motivation for Brexit? And more than that, who is going to make money off it? Follow the money. OK. Those are good questions. How about? Sorry. How about we make it just like a quick answer and then we can talk about more after the show? Because I do want to hear more about the atheist alliance that's going on. OK. We can always talk. Sure. Very, very quickly. The motivation was grievance, dissatisfaction in parts of the country which feel they've been left behind by the South East and London forge ahead. And they thought that we'll give the government a slapping by voting to leave the EU. So it wasn't specifically targeted at in a wonderful life in the future. It was a case of let's hit the Tories where it'll hurt them. And as for who's going to benefit? Well, it's a few rich Tories who actually, although they're supporting Brexit because they don't want to be de-selected or de-elected, they don't live in this country. They live in some tax haven somewhere. And they've already made a lot of money out of Brexit by hedging their funds. Wow. OK. It reminds me of here, right here in the US, the equivalent of our political revolution that happened in 2016. But I won't belabor that, you know? No. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what I do want to delve into. And I'm actually going to get to Scott's feedback section because I know Scott's got a lot of questions going on. But Atheist Alliance International, why don't you tell us some success stories that have gone on, John? Because I'd be really interested in some positive. Sure. Can I just do a little bit of screen share before I go on to that? You know you can totally share that screen. You go for it. This destiny, it's already yours. OK. So there we go. Mm-hmm. I'm bringing up the world picture of where we have presence, our affiliates. We have your chat on there, too, by the way. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Are you on this chat? Yeah. I'm surprised he has Apple in England. That's shocking to me. All right. I like Apple. Apple everything. Here we are in Africa. That's our African affiliates. This is our Asian affiliates. There's another list here. So it's not just Nigeria that you guys have a presence? Oh, no. Australia. We've got representatives there. Europe. Look, these are all our affiliates. Well, they're not all of them because I'm not, I'm scooting around it. I'm not showing you everybody. Look, we have a worldwide presence. So I just wanted to show you that, but now you want me to say something successful. Sure. Yeah. Let's get a positive story in. Yeah. Okay. Well, it's Nigeria related because the governor of the Kano State where the blasphemers are imprisoned and threatened with death. This particular governor. He's a lovely name. Abdullah. He has expressed an opinion that he's, he can't wait to sign the death warrant of the singer, songwriter who offended the Muslims. And guess what? East Carolina University. Offered to honor him by making him a professor, a visiting professor and some other title that he was about to have bestowed upon him. So what did we do? We wrote to the university and we spilled the beans. We told them what sort of a guy he is. And the success is they've withdrawn their offer to the governor. Okay. Shame. And you know, I wanted to say some, some cool things about Nigeria only cause there are some family relations that I have there too. It's on the west side of Africa. It's just below the big hang, but it's like I'm at west side. There's two main sections, the northern and southern section, some of the section, very, very, very, very Christian, northern side, very, very, very Muslim or Islamic. And what's really interesting is if you go there, if you go to any place in Africa, it's not just black people, like there's ethnic groups that are distinct among everyone. And you can recognize who's who. I've never been there, but like if I've had people tell me you don't look African, I was like, yeah, cause I got all this mixed up stuff from America. Like that's how that's what happened here. It's like I got white people, Indians, all that stuff in me. It's like, but you can tell when you look at a person like, oh, that guy's Sudanese, that guy's Iwi tribe, that guy's Yoruba. You can see the different ethnic groups there. Those groups have gone through a number of turmoil over, over just even like the last two centuries, like you had the slave trade taken away like half the men and you've had a migration that's happened around the 1950s to like 1960s. You've had political upheavals, MM introduction and indoctrination of religion in two different polarizing points of view in one more or less like country. And now it's just this constant conflict between if you're here and you're not a Muslim, you're not safe versus if you're here and you're not Christian, you're not safe versus if you're here and you're Yoruba, you're not safe versus if you're here and you migrated here 20 years ago, you're not safe. It's constant, constant conflict. And what that indoctrines is an us versus them mentality where it's like, hey, if you're not most, if you're not following the textbook list of traits that you need to have to be safe in this country, you're in danger. And because we're on this team of we follow all the rules on this paper and we do that for own security. And so the question might be like, why are, why are these, why are these Muslims acting so, you know, militantly in like a state police? It's like, that isn't, it's not just them. It's like, if you go to the south, you're going to have the same thing too. It's so wrapped into the idea of what does it take to be safe if I live here and there's no options anywhere else. The GDP for like Nigeria is like in the trillions. Like they, they're, they're like in the top 20 of GDP per capita, the per capita is like one of the lowest in the world, very, very poor people that as a country make a lot of money because the money doesn't go to the people. And so it's this very interesting dichotomy of like poverty, poverty, poverty, but someone's making a profit and it's the people who are like causing people to fight against each other that are continuing to just churn this really terrible conflict between people. It's a really unfortunate multi-tiered level of, of mess that's going on there.  Well, it's hard to take a stance against that as an atheist. It's hard to say, listen, I'm not subscribing to these arbitrary list of rules of thought and these dogmas. This is clearly not benefiting any of us. Let's try to be independent and think for ourselves and, you know, come up with their own rights. We can do this as a system. In the north, if you come out as a normal believe you're likely to be stoned to death. Yeah, it's very stark. Of the situation in Nigeria. It is the mess of all messes. Yeah, it's, it's a big fiasco. And it's not a simple thing as just, hey man, just give them episodes to the atheist experience on YouTube and they'll solve everything. Like that's not going to solve it. Like we're talking about political, cultural, on a personal, a personal level, like indoctrinated into the system. I once, I once, you had experiences with Nigerians and when they found out that I was an atheist it was like this really bizarre concept for them. Like the idea of not having religion is like a new thing that a lot of, that a lot of them are primitive because it's just not a safe position to be in. How do you, how, how would you even possibly bridge that kind of gap? And before I drop that all on John, I'm going to, I'm going to throw out, I'd like to see if anyone want to take a piece of it. We'll try it. Scott first, Scott, I gave you a big problem to solve, but I haven't heard you talk for a while, but it looks like you're getting geared up and ready to answer. Uh-oh. It's a complicated mess that's going on in Nigeria right now. Let's say you had all the money in the world, all the leverage and power. How would you even go about fixing it? Oh wow. Um, you know, it's, it's so easy and it's so cliche to say, oh, they just need education. Oh, they just need exposure. You know, I think in today's world, there's a lot of exposure, but that's not the problem. It's, we kind of spoke about this before about feelings and, you know, safety.  Not sure what the money is going to do to help that situation other than, um, you know, somehow you could pay to replace leadership. You know, maybe that would be something to do, but I'm not sure how that would even work. Um, maybe bribe the officials to become more, um, secular minded. Maybe that, maybe that's what makes them tick. But they understand bribing, certainly. Yeah, that's, that's what I'm thinking. Um, my wife is from Kenya. And so she lets me know all the time. That's, that's pretty much the rule of law throughout Kenya and really a lot of countries in Africa is, um, bribing people to do whatever is effective. But I don't really know if that's realistic in this case of what we're talking about. I just don't know enough about it, but, uh, it's, it's so complicated. Yeah. There's a lot of hurt there to, to recover, but I do like the idea of education and exposure. I think if that can help, if that can help even someone that's just not even trying to get rid of their atheist or the religion, and it's just like, whoa, you just turned on a light that I can't shut off. That could do an amazing thing. And like, let's, let's reinvest some of that money that's going away from the people and put it back into schools, build some new infrastructure, get some new years there, introduce, huh? But how? I mean, if, if you have no control over where the money is going, uh, and, and being held, to me, Nigeria is kind of like the end game of capitalism. Fewer and fewer people have control of more and more of the money until it's just out of circulation for everybody else. Right. Uh, and the only thing that you can do if the government is complicit with that is have a revolution. Yeah. I'm not saying they need to have a violent revolution, but they need to. He's not doing a call to action. No, not, not at all. But I'm just saying, uh, the rest of the world, the capitalist countries of the world may very well be heading in that direction. Yeah. Um, that, you know, the resources are leaving the people and going and being pooled to fewer and fewer people all over the world. Right. I was thinking maybe like government sanctions of some sort to say like, hey, listen, if there's not a distribution ratio of XYZ, if like literally all this money is going right up here and when we check one level below that and there's like no money, what's going on? You have a per capita of $5,000 per hundred people. Like that's nuts. If you're like a trillion dollar producing country, we can, we aren't supporting this. What do you think, John? Just going to tell you what we've been doing. And incidentally, there was some unrest in Nigeria recently and the police shot a few people. So that's the problem. Yeah. When the government is complicit, there's very few resources that you have. Yeah. And if you try to rise up, you're going to face violence in return and what's the answer? I don't know. I can tell you as a black person, even in America, that is a common narrative that you will face, that there will always be conflict against the status quo, especially if it's a group of people benefiting from the status quo. Right. And so the thing is, tends to be the case that violent actions are not the measured intention for people who are trying to highlight problems in a status quo culture. It tends to be the response of when a group gets marginalized to the point where they are hurt can no longer be contained within that group and that it's expressed out loud. And so what's unfortunate is... And have no representation. And have no representation. And what's unfortunate is like, you know, that only furthers to muddy the narrative. There have been peaceful means of like showing like we're distressed, but a lot of people will ignore that and that's just the reality that we live in. So... So what we've been doing... Go for it, John. Tackling it from two directions. Yeah. We've lawyered up and we're challenging the behavior of the governors in these two states that I mentioned earlier, the Christian and the Muslim states. So we're trying to use their own constitution as one way of getting them to behave. And the other angle is we're trying to set up more and more atheists. They don't like the word. Humanist or free-thinking groups from the ground up amongst the population. And we have several now. We have... I can think of three cities in Nigeria where we have an established little atheist group. But also, on the internet, we're trying to get... We're trying to give Nigerians an opportunity to express themselves freely. So I'd like to show you another video that's only 1.23 minutes long. Now that's not one point. The answer is 1 minute and 23 seconds. Okay. Go for it. It'll only take them five minutes to start the screen share, everybody. Hello. Good. Here we go. There we go. Yeah. Nice. Do you think should happen to those who are imprisoned in northern Nigeria on charges of blasphemy? Each time I think of Mubarak, each time I think of blasphemy laws, each time I think of people being sentenced to death on ridiculous charges, it's painful. It reminds me of Afghanistan. We can see what we can do with lawyers to defend them in court and see if we can get an acquittal. This is inhumane, and we have to come out in full defence, in full force in any way we can. It's very important that we all over the world, it doesn't matter which region you are, come out to fight for the freedom, for the freedom to ask questions, vital questions that are important for the development of human society. Personally, I think they should be freed immediately.  Those who have been arrested or detained like Mubarak, Bala, Yahya Sharif, or Uba Fagruk should be set free immediately, unconditionally. And yeah, I agree. We shouldn't be imprisoning the rapes. I would also say this. The reason why I like educating schools is it doesn't change things overnight, but what it does do is foster a hunger for critical thought. And one of the coolest things that I've seen even when I was at Georgia Tech was we would have students from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran come over to Atlanta, and Atlanta is a giant melting pot in Georgia. It's no way representative of what life is like in the South. It's like basically New York, but hotter, believe it or not, with more humidity. And you will see people who are like, oh, man, there's not a lot of other Muslims. There's not a lot of other Pakis.  I'm going to know these names, and I still communicate with a lot of these people from various different countries as if we're like brothers and sisters. We're family members. It's really great to know these people because they inform me on their cultures, but it also informs them of other people's cultures such that when they get, when those cultures get demonized when they go back home, they'll know, oh, but it's not like that because I have a friend who's black. I have a friend who's atheist, and he makes good points. And if it wasn't for the fact that I have to live here, I'd probably actually ask more to this guy's point of view. And it just helps to not only modernize their points of view, but also de-radicalize the points of view. And those are people who are ingrained in their culture, who are trusted by their members, who might even be officials, who might be educated and looked up to by the next generation. And these are the figures that are going to help to curb the culture away from this attitude, where if you're different from me, you're a problem and you need to go away. It'll be like, you're different from me, and that's not as bad because I know what different people are like. Now, sorry, I just wanted to pick up on what Scott mentioned. He said his wife's from Kenya. We have presidents in Kenya. We support a Kenyan free thinking group. And we also have a school in Uganda, accompanied by the country north of Kenya, which we support financially, and it's a humanist school. So we determine the curriculum. Cool. Very good. I was just going to say that I had a conversation with a Nigerian a few months ago, and we were discussing multiculturalism in America. And he was telling me how in Nigeria, the economy's bad, there's a lot of division, a lot of problems among people of different things, whether it's the issue of homosexuality or religion, whatever it is, politics, there's so much tribalism and things of that nature as well. And he was asking me, how is it in America? How do you overcome these type of things in America that Nigeria could learn from? And the answer that I gave, and we kind of discussed it, was that everybody benefits in America from diversity. It's our strength. Mutual benefit. Yeah. So there's a lot of talented, gay business owners and people like that. And it would behoove everyone to support these people because it gives people jobs. It gives people good services that they need. And the same with religious people. We've got talented people from all walks of life. We all depend on each other. So we have a more symbiotic relationship, and it helps us to be inclusive and want to support each other. So, you know, and maybe that's part of the reason there's so much poverty and division and everything in Nigeria is probably because you're not giving anyone a chance to do anything to help the economy, to help the country. Well said. Well said. Yeah. The power of mutual benefit is what drives not only just functioning societies, but morality in my opinion as well. Like, this benefits everyone if we do this, not just you, not just that person, but everyone. And that's a great thing to build a society on. It's a great fuel. What do you think, George? I don't, you know, from where I live, from the focus where I live, I think that this aspect of what's great about America, the diversity of our people. And believe me, I think this is the greatness of America. You know, when somebody says, make America great again, hey, that's what they're talking about. But this is mainly focused, I think, in the cities and out in the boonies like where I live, I'm afraid to be different. Yeah. Let me tell you something. Boonies, watch out. The cities are coming for you. It's just going to trickle in everywhere. You can't hide for long. I think the boonies are the last bastion of like, the last bastion for ignorance, the last tree leaders for I don't need to know that. It's like where you will, you will eventually. So we're coming for you. Indeed. And the children, the children get it, you know. Yeah. Absolutely. Especially with the internet. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I think, I think I have a lot of faith in young people. And I think that generations before us, free thinkers, let's say, also had a lot of faith in young people. And we are the young people there. They were having faith. Right. So it keeps, it keeps progressing. And it's always too slow for us. Yeah. The other note I like is when something terrible happens that what used to be a thing that only I would notice is now a thing that everyone's upset about as a country and are vocalizing at the same time too. And that makes me feel like, yes, we are aware that bad things are happening. It's not like they're going away. But now everyone's upset about that. And that's a good thing. And that's a very good thing. And so thank you for continuing to vocalize this thing, even that's going on, even in Nigeria, John, because that's so far away from our daily operations. It's easy thing to ignore or even forget about.  It's happening now. And you have some power to change it by making people know. And that's really, that's a wonderful thing. So can I do a promo? Yeah, go for it. Go for it. Why don't you promote and then we can all do a shout out as we head out to the end of the show. Go for it. Great. New Year's Eve. 2020 has been what the Queen would call an annus or abilis. And we want to say goodbye to it with a bang and welcome 2021. So we're putting on a show. An online telethon. Do you remember Live Aid? Yeah. Yes. We're doing live stream aid. Oh, cool. We've got entertainers from pretty much, well, three continents to the moment, but more coming in. Nice. And they're going to give their video performances free and come online and chat with me and our co-host. And we have an appeal or several appeals being made at the same time. So it's like Live Aid. It's a mixture. You know, it's entertainment and appeal melded together. And it ends in fireworks on midnight London time. Wow. How do we find it? It's going out. I will send you a link, but it's going out. This is something else that's exciting on a new service. You know how we've been complaining about Facebook running people for offending. No-flake religious. And so we're setting up an alternative. Whoa. Whoa. Interesting. It's called Back of Head Book. John, what I need from you, if you're a central person in this service, is assurance that I will not be surveilled if I participate. That is a major concern of mine. And I do not participate in Facebook at all. Because the government wants to know how many plaid jackets George owns. And he refuses to tell anybody. That's his own information. Every single time George is on this channel, he's telling us about his neighbors, his history, his family, the clubs he used to go to. The internet figures that out on its own. No-go whatsoever. So what does the service be called? We respect the data protection laws, which are stronger in this country than they are elsewhere. But of course, we're registered in the U.S. So we'll have to go by then. So, yes, we have, I can show you, for example, we're running out of time, but can I come back? And I'll show you some more things. You're welcome on the show. You can come back anytime. John, how can we find out more about your organization before next week? What can we do to... I will put the web address in the chat. Oh, yeah, and you can also say it out loud, too. Yeah, because this is radio. Okay. It's Atheist Alliance. Larry with the very... Yeah. Atheist Alliance. It's Atheist Alliance. Dot O-R-G. Dot org. That's A-T-H-E-I-S-T-A-W-L-I-A-N-C-E dot org. Scott, I'm putting you under the fire. What's something that you would recommend we check out this week before next week? Wow, you know, you're always asking this question, and I always have nothing to say. Anything. Literally anything. I don't know. Just check me out on my Facebook, man. Ooh, okay, yeah. Scott Williamson on Facebook? Scott Williamson at Facebook, man. That's where it's all going down. That's nice. Hey, my thing... My thing I would recommend... How do we tell you from all the other Scott Williamson? He's the only handsome one. He's the most handsome one. Handsome guy, you know? He's the most handsome one. Well, I should have known. I would recommend you guys check out different accents of Africa, because they are very, very different. And I think even in that video, I was getting like, ooh, I know where that guy's from. That guy's not from there. That guy, hell, interesting last name accent combination. The funny moniker to start off with, just to start off with it, is if they're Kenyan, it's a very happy accent. But as you get to like Ethiopia, it gets more tired. It's like, hey, how you doing? I'm from Kenya. It's nice. And Ethiopia was like, what? I don't have time to talk to you right now. It's very different. That's your starting lesson. The altitude. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, yeah, there it is. How much tea leaves I've noticed has grown per capita? Well, Swahili is beautiful. Yes. Larry, why don't you take us out? We're at the bottom of the tower. Excuse me. If you have any questions for the show, as we said earlier, you can send them by email to askanatheist at Knoxvilleatheists.org and we'll answer all our future shows. If you're having trouble with screw velocity or leaving religion and having some emotional or psychological problems from that, I recommend you discover recoveringfromreligion.org. They can help you there. If you're watching this on YouTube, be sure to like and subscribe to be notified for new episodes posted and be sure to visit our home site, it's digitalfreethought.com for our radio show archives, atheist songs and many articles on the subject. My book is called Atheism What's It All About. It's available on Amazon and this has been the Digital Freethought Radio Hour.  The time to worry about it is when they prove that heavens and hells and souls are real. Until then, don't sweat it, enjoy your life and we'll see you next Wednesday. Take care, everybody. Say bye-bye. Bye-bye. How easy we are to accept stories when we're told them at a very young age that with just a minimal critical thought, not only does a story not make any sense, but even if you were to take it as a little true thing, it just makes Jesus look like a jerk and not like this really nice messiah guy because he's just going around killing plants that aren't making food for him. It's not even a season for figs. Jesus is like, I don't care. You don't have figs and you don't have figs. Stop, that's someone's food. Somebody's property. Someone needs that tree.


The study assessed the generation of protective immune responses in mice previously infected with respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, using virus-like particle, VLP, vaccine candidates containing a stabilized pre-fusion form of the RSVF protein or a stabilized post-fusion F protein. The results suggest that prior RSV infection can induce neutralizing antibody memory responses, which can be activated by pre-F protein VLPs but not by post-F protein VLPs or a subsequent infection. Additionally, the study found that the F protein confirmation has a major impact on enhancing production of neutralizing antibodies in RSV experienced animals and that the pre-F VLP stimulated significantly higher titers of total anti-G protein IgG than the post-F in both naive and RSV experienced animals. This article was authored by Laurie M. Cullen, Madeline R. Schmidt, and Trudy G. Morrison.


A fiery horse with a speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a ha-hee-hio-silver, the Lone Ranger. With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked writer of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Come with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the Great Horse Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again!  Let's go big fellows! Are you still there? When a jury brought in a verdict of guilty against Jess Wade and Pete Moore, two bandits who killed a guard during a bank holdup, the sentence of death was mandatory under the state law. They were lodged in the jail at Adobe Hills while a scaffold was being constructed to hang them both. From the window of their heavenly barred cell, Jess and Pete could see the work going on. It's almost finished, Jess. And workmen should have it done by suppertime. Yeah, looks that way, Pete. Eh, can't figure out why left he hasn't shown up. He always has. Well, all I've got to say is that if he don't show up mighty soon, two of us will be swung from that scaffold come sun up.  Here comes a sheriff with our biddles. Yeah, good morning, gents. Hi, sheriff. Dr. Breckins, how's your appetite? All right, how's yours? Mine's good.  Shop it under the door. All right. Now, gents, according to law, you've got a right to say what you want to eat for your last meal. Yeah, we know that. That'll be your supper tonight. You can eat it any time up to midnight and you can start figuring what you'd like to have. All right, sheriff. We'll let you know. Always try to oblige, you know. Tell the deputy what you want. He'll get it if it's bad. Meanwhile, the Lone Ranger, having learned through a newspaper account of the pending execution, rode toward Adobe Hills in company with his Indian friend, Tonto, making camp a few miles from town. The Lone Ranger began putting on a disguise. Why you put on disguise, Kimusari? Because I'm going to town, Tonto. The execution will draw a crowd and I can mingle with it without my identity becoming known. You think maybe someone tried to help Jess Wade and Pete Moore get out of jail? Yes. Those two men are broken out of some of the best jails. It's my opinion that they've always had outside help. If I mingle with the people on the streets, the cafes, and so forth, I may recognize one of their associates. Maybe you go see Sheriff, huh? Not unless I see someone I think he should know about. See, Tonto, I don't know Sheriff Abernathy. He was elected only last fall. And you remember him take job after other Sheriff died. Yes, that's right. The former Sheriff was familiar with criminals. I'm not sure the present one is. Now, do you think I can pass as a farm hen? Oh, and nobody know you now. Overalls and straw hat make you look plenty like farmer. Then I'll get on my way to town. Here's a look. When the Lone Ranger reached town, he decided to look over the physical setup for the execution before mingling with a crowd that was already beginning to fill the town. He rode leisurely around the jail, carefully studying all possible avenues of escape. But finding none, he started to look for a shady place to hit silver. Inside the jail, Jess Wade pressed his face against the bars of the small window. Give me the jitters staring at that scaffold, Jess. Come away from that window. I'm not looking at the scaffold. And what in thunder are you looking at? Come here, Pete. What's the matter? You look across the street yonder by that big cottonwood. Yeah, what about it? See that fellow hitching that white horse to the right? Yeah. Give me something familiar about him. Not that I recollect the one. Yeah, I can't figure it out. I don't recollect seeing him either. But that white horse, I'd swear I saw one or both of them somewhere. Hey, Jess, look. Isn't that the sheriff starting over to him? Yeah, it's the sheriff, all right, because he's going to have a talk with him. What do you make of that? Good morning, mister. Good morning, Sheriff.  Yes, I am. I've been watching him. So? You seem mighty interested in jail and that scaffold. They're building over there. I was curious. Yes, oh my. Curious to know just who you are and what you're doing in town. What you're doing, Sheriff, courting the farm of the whole town? I think I can identify myself to your satisfaction. Well, then do it. Don't let that farmer sell any goose eggs, Sheriff. I'd rather not hear, Sheriff. Could we go to your office? That shoots me. I was figuring out taking you there anyway. Come on. Don't take any goose eggs. I see them. They're heading across the street like they're coming here. Well, it's some farmer friend of the chef's. Yeah, I guess so. I can't get that white horse out of my mind. Hey, Jess, there's Lefty Hill. Where? In the crowd down there watching the cop in a seat. Oh, yeah, yeah, I see him. I knew he'd show up.  Leave your hand out the window. Let him know you see him.  Somebody might get suspicious of him. Anyway, he sees us. Jess, look at him.  He sure is.  I wonder what he's got in that bag he's told. Whatever it is, it's got something to do with getting us out of here. Hey, quiet down. Sheriff just came to his office. All right, cool this down. That farmer's with him. I can hear him talk. Quiet now, Pete. I'm going to listen over by the cell door. Maybe I can make out that far.  Does this mean anything to you? Bullet. Silver bullet, eh? That's right. You don't mean nothing to me, mister, unless you're implying a threat of some kind. No, it's no threat. All right, now answer me. What's your name? Where do you live? I'm sorry, Sheriff. I can't answer that. I hoped you'd recognize what I just showed you. Most lawmen know what it means. To me, you're just a suspicious character, dressed up like a farmer, wearing two guns like those. All right, now get your hands up. And if I don't? I'll put a bullet through you. Realizing that the new sheriff meant business, the lone ranger submitted to arrest. But as the lawmen searched and disarmed him, he was thinking of some way to contact Tuttle without having the same misfortune before him. I'll take them fancy guns. You can put your hands down. What are you going to do with me, Sheriff?  Civil questions. I'll get moving down the cell corridor. Would you do me one favor, please? What is it? You saw where my horse is hitched. Yeah, the white stallion, I know. Would you have one of your deputies take him over to the livery's table and put him up? You can pay for his keep out of the money you took from me. All right, I'll do that much for him. Will you attend to it right away? I'll see you get stable when I get around to it. I'm busy right now, so get a move on. As the sheriff and the lone ranger, the latter disguised as a farmer, moved down the corridor toward a cell at the rear. Jess Wade drew back, but studied them closely and was they passed? Can you make out who he is, Jess? No, I don't recognize him. Yet that voice is familiar.  Don't you figure so? Yeah, maybe. I wonder why the sheriff locked him up. Hey, someone just come in. Maybe the sheriff's deputy. Anybody at the home? Hey, that's Lefty. I know his voice. He's got plenty of nerve to come walking in here.  We'd never get out of town alive.  Just keep quiet, listen. Anybody at the home? Keep your shirt on, I'm coming. Morning, sheriff. Howdy, mister, what can I do for you? I won't take but a moment of your time, sir. Peddler, eh? Well, I haven't got any time to waste on peddler. I assure you I'm no peddler, sheriff. To the contrary, I'm selling nothing. Then what have you gotten that bag? A gift for you, sir. Yes, sir, a gift that will cost you absolutely nothing. Here you are. So? A free sample, understand? I'm passing through your fair city here, giving away these free samples of our soap in order to acquaint the public, sir. Just smell of it, sir. Isn't it fragrant? It smells like a French barbie down the street. No, I don't want none. Yeah, take it. Oh, no, no, no, sir. Perhaps it is a bit fragrant for your masculine taste, sir. But please accept it with the best wishes of my company. All right, I'll keep it. But I can't waste no more time clevering with you. I'm sorry. Quite all right, quite all right, sir. I know you must be very busy. They tell me you're hanging two gentlemen tomorrow morning. Yeah. Only they're not gentlemen. They're bums. I see. Well, good day, sheriff. Hope you enjoy our product. Yes, I must see what was it I was aiming to do. Oh, yes, now recollect that farmer's horse. Well, Sheriff, you can knock off and get some sleep. I'll take your order. Oh, hello, deputy. Yeah, I could use some sleep. I've been up all night. Trot along home. I'll take care of things around here. Yes, deputy. I've got a fellow locked up in that back cell. Yeah? He's a farmer, at least wise. He looks like one. I caught him looking over the jail a while ago. He wouldn't say who he is or what's his business. So I locked him up on suspicion. I'll keep an eye on him, sheriff. I'm going to take his horse to the Liberty Stable now. After I get some sleep, I'll be back. About supper time. Interest to contact Toto immediately, the lone ranger had not taken his eyes off the great horse Silver from the moment the sheriff turned the key in the cell door. From the small window that overlooked the street, he saw Sheriff Abernathy approach Silver. Oh, there, sir. Steady now. I'll take you over to Liberty Stable and buy you some oats. Easy now. Just back up a little so I can get my foot in the strip. You trained that farmer out of his horse, Sheriff? Yeah.  Steady now. You're hurting him, Sheriff. Hey, what's the matter with you? Hey, you're hurting him. He threw the sheriff a mile high. Help me, help me.  Here, here, here, I'll give you a hand. Are you hurt? I don't think so. But that critter sure tossed me. Look at that horse go. You'll never catch him, Sheriff. Well, as far as I'm concerned, I hope I never lay eyes on him again. Oh, my bad. The curtain falls on the first act of our Lone Ranger story. Before the next exciting scenes, please permit us to pause for just a few moments. Now to continue our story. When the sheriff tried to mount the great horse silver, the highly intelligent animal did exactly as the Lone Ranger believed he would. The stallion threw the sheriff. And over the laughter of the crowd, he heard a sharp whistle, which went unheated by all but him, wheeling about his heels lashing out at those who would have grabbed his reins. The great horse sped out of town. Tuttle was grooming his own horse scout when the latter neckered. Oh, scout, oh, for the whole. What the matter with you?  Lone Ranger, not random. Oh, silver, oh, for the whole, for the whole. Tuttle knew that something had happened to the Lone Ranger. Quickly, he saddled scout. And with silver in the lead, he started for town. Come on, silver, get him up, scout. When he arrived in town, he went to the livery stable. And after making inquiry about a farmer and learning nothing, he left scout and silver in a stall and went to search through the crowd for the Lone Ranger. It was late in the afternoon when the deputy, the sheriff left on guard at the jail, went down the corridor to the cell occupied by Jess Wade and Pete Moore.   Oh, we don't want to put the sheriff to any trouble. Anything you got will suit us, huh, Pete? Yeah, we're not particular. It's going to be your last meal. Don't forget that. He'll be hanging you before breakfast. Yeah, we know. But there is one thing we'd like to get. Won't be no trouble to you. What's that? Well, we'd like to take a bath, kind of clean up. We haven't had a bath since we got put in here. Well, that's not asking much. I guess I can fix you up with water for a bath. Well, can't you get us a bar of decent soap? All we got in here is soft lye soap. That stuff takes the skin off a mule. That's right, deputy. I'd rather use carbonic acid than that stuff. Well, maybe I can fix you up with a cake of soap at that. There's a big bar of soap laying out in the sheriff's desk now. Well, that's good.  There's only one thing about it. What's that? It smells mighty fancy. Maybe you'd rather have me buy something that's not quite so high-smelling. Oh, no. Don't go to any bother. We don't mind the perfume. Of course we don't. Just bring it along, deputy.  The sheriff's deputy brought a bucket of water and the bar of soap that had been left in the office. He shoved these through a small gate at the bottom of the barred iron door. There's the water. And here's the soap. Now, go to it. There's only one bucket of water. We've got to rinse off the soap and we're done. Yeah, deputy. Can't you fetch another pair of water? Yeah, to rat it, you glutes want mansion house service. Oh, but we don't. Never mind. I'll get you the second bucket. Being as this is your last bath, I reckon you've got a right to make it a good one. You know, people, you've got to work fast. Give me that cake of soap. I've got a busted open. There she is. I figured we could count lefty to get help to her somehow. You got the soap busted. Yeah. Look what was inside. A pistol. A derringer. Small but plenty deadly. It's a gun with authority that the deputy will recognize. Good. Hold on. There's a note stuck inside one of the barrels. What's it say? Listen, when you're ready to make the break, hang a shirt in the cell window, then meet me at the livery stable. I'll have horses there for the getaway. Here comes the deputy with a bucket of water. Good. We're ready for him. Hey, haven't you just started that bath? What's the rush, deputy? We're not going nowhere. Well, here's the rinse water. I'll open the gate and shove it through the record. Freeze. It's a gun. Don't move, Lohman. Don't move an inch or I'll let you have both barrels. You can't get away with this. Come over close to the bars. Step on it. You can't get away with this, Jess. Keep them hands at shoulder level. That's it. Pete, grab those guns out of his pocket. I'm getting them. That's it. Now unlock this door. You won't get two miles before that.  I got squeak at our chute. And the door's open. Good. Now fix them so he don't yell. Jess, wait. Listen. Yeah, he'd be quite for a time. Now, Pete, hang your shirt in the window. And we'll get to the livery stable and meet Lefty Hill. Meanwhile, Tata would fail to learn anything of the Lone Ranger. And returning to the livery stable had taken Scout and Silver. When they reached the street, he noticed that Silver seemed to object to being led. So he gave him pre-rain to lead as he might. A few minutes later, the great horse trotted under the big cottonwood on the square and stopped at the hitch rail. More scott, more funner. Easy scott. Easy, easy. Silver want to stop here. Maybe this is where Lone Ranger lives. That Lone Ranger whistled. Silver hear him. Tata looked about him, searching for his friend, whom he now knew to be somewhere near him. But he saw no one in the crowd garbed in farmer attire. Then he heard the shrill whistle again. He faced toward the jail. Whistle come from jail. Me go there. Me find Lone Ranger there. As Tata raced into the sheriff's office, he heard a familiar voice calling his name. Hello? Hello? And knew it came from the rear of the cell block. Halfway down the corridor, he saw the deputy lying face down upon the floor. And he paused, realizing what had happened. Take the keys, Tata. They're on the floor of the deputy. Ah, they got keys. Let me let you out now. Justin Pete got out. We'll see if they kill the deputy. Dad. I could hear him groaning a moment ago. Help me roll him over. Uh-uh. Him on the floor. Yes, he is tunnel. But he got a heart blow on the head. Go get a doctor to attend him. Then meet me at the liveries table. Why you go there, Kimosabi? I overheard Jess Wade say that that's where they'd meet lefty hill a confederate. Now hurry. I'll get my guns are in the office. Hey, that's stallion. Hey, lad. Be a dog gone. You're the same kid to the throat bee. Now you're right back to the same hitch rack. Get out of your shelter. Well, I wonder how he got back here. Yeah. Well, I wonder how he got back here. Well, I wonder how he got back here. Well, I wonder how he got back here. Well, I wonder how he got back here. He sure was traveling when he left. So are you traveling? Only you was going out. I don't know. I'm going to road him into town this far. How'd you get out? There's been a jailbreak. You don't have to tell me that. No, get him up. No, you don't. Post to that Johnny. Let me go. Got him down bin. No, you don't. The first man who reaches for a gun will wish he hadn't. It's the fastest go I ever saw. Hey, someone shoot him. Don't just stand there. Can you reach for a gun, Bill? Don't try it. Don't try it. Don't try it. Don't try it. Don't try it. Don't try it. Don't try it. Now, listen to me. There's been a jailbreak. Yes, Wade and Pete Moore escaped. They may be at delivery's table now. Sheriff and I are going there to stop them.  Don't do it, men. It's a trick. He's pulling on you. All right, Sheriff. Get on that paint horse next to mine. Come on, move fast. All right, all right. Keep that gun out of my bag. Hey, go off if you don't. Oh, there, who? He's just got it all right. He said he's silver. He's a big fella. All you men do, as I say, get to your horses and follow. Get up there. Sheriff. Yes, what do you want?  Stand guard there. I'm running to the rear. That's a trick to get away. I'll run you down with a poshie. I mean it. Do as I say. Get to the front of the stables. You hear a shot come inside. Get up there. After having escaped from jail, Jess, Wade and Pete Moore made their way unnoticed through the excited throng that had happened. They made their way unnoticed through the excited throng that had congregated in town to see them hang. Being on foot, it had taken some time to reach the livery stable, but they walked right past the aged stablekeeper who was dozing in a chair in front of the barns. They found Lefty Hill bringing the horses into the runway. Oh, steady land. Are you Lefty? Land worked out perfectly. Sure did. I'll listen you to. Maybe you're out of jail, but you're not out of danger by a long shot. All we gotta do is get on them horses and hightail it for cover. We won't be missed for an hour. What did you think? Well, let me tell you something. What? Less than ten minutes ago, an Indian came in here and took out two horses. One was a white stallion. Well, I happened to know that stallion. The Indian called him Silver. What about it? You fool, that's the lone ranger's horse. What? You bet your boots. It means he's in town right this minute. I'll give you one guess as to why he's in town. Just a minute. Let's manage this. No, I get it. Pete, you recollect that farmer the sheriff locked up this morning? Hey, you're right. You was riding a white stallion. You said you were sure you knew him. Wait a minute. What are you always talking about? Lefty, you don't have to worry about the lone ranger getting on our trail for a while. That's right, Lefty. Why not? The sheriff locked him in jail. He's in a cell right now. Are you sure of that? Sure, I'm sure. Remember his voice now. Hey, listen. That's a mob and they're riding this way. You're right, Pete. Swing open that back door. We'll have to walk that way.  Hey, I'm Ashman. It's him. It's the lone ranger. Gun him down. No, you don't. Drop your gun. Get him. That'll take care of you. I'm shot. I'm shot. I give up. I quit. You don't hurt.  Look, the sheriff in a posse. Tomorrow morning, you'll hang. When the lone ranger had left the sheriff, he had written to the back of the big livery barns, where he quickly removed his disguise as a farmer and donned the attire which distinguished him as the masked rider. It was little wonder that the sheriff was not only mystified but angry when he failed to see the farmer. Little Ashman, I want to thank you for grabbing these crooks before they get away. I only wish you got that other fellow who was mixed up with him. Uh, another man was concerned in their escape. Yeah, that's right. A farmer. He was riding a white stallion. The finest stallion I ever saw. Here's another. What? Do you mean this horse? That's him. Did you get the fellow who was riding him? Take a look at this, sheriff. Huh? That's a bullet. That's a shell, old boy. Does it mean anything to you now, sheriff? That voice, that bullet. You're the farmer I locked up. Yes, that's right. Yes, hello. I'm here to get doctor. Him say deputy, not hurt bad. Good. Well, hello. Our work here seems to be finished. Let's be going. Come, silver. Well, I'll be done. Now who in Sunday do you reckon that critic would be? All I gotta say is if it hadn't been for him you'd never have gotten your hands on us, sheriff. Well, do you know him, your crook? He's the Lone Ranger. Lone Ranger. This is a feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated. Created and produced by George W. Trendle. Directed by Charles D. Livingston. And edited by Fran Stryker. The part of the Lone Ranger is played by Brace Beemer.


Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Robin Basilen and I'm Ryan Gertzma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live. In the mountains of Kenya, an old man stands at a gate. His skin is aged and his hair is white. He stands bent over his walking stick. He is wearing blue school clothes and he has a blanket over his shoulders. This man waits outside the Kapkendwewa Primary School near Eldoret Kenya. This is not the first time the man has come to the school. He has come many times over the last few months. Today, he watches the children sing in the schoolyard. He waits at the gate for the headteacher. He asks her the same question as he always does. He asks if he can attend the school. In the past, the headteacher told him no. She told him that this school is for children. However, this time is different. This time, she says yes. Today, 84-year-old Kemani Marughe will start his first day of school. This story is from the recent film The First Greater. The film is based on the real-life story of Kemani Ngenga Marughe. Today's spotlight is on Kemani Marughe and his desire to become educated. In 2003, the Kenyan government passed a new law. This law established that the government would provide free education for all primary school students. In Kenya, primary school includes eight grades or levels. Usually, primary students start grade one when they are six or seven years old. However, when Kenya began free education, many older children started school for the first time. New students filled schools all over the country. In many grade one classrooms, children had to share seats or even sit on the floor. Schools were prepared for the thousands of new students. However, no one was prepared for a student like Kemani Marughe. At 84, he set a new record in the Guinness Book of World Records. He became the oldest person in the world to ever start primary school. When Marughe decided he wanted to go to school, nothing could stop him. He told the mirror, At first the head teacher said no. I thought it must be because I did not have the official school clothes. So I saved my money and bought clothes. However, Marughe had to visit the school four more times before the head teacher let him stay. Head teacher Jane Obinchu told the mirror, At first we thought this was insane. But I knew we would have to admit a man who was so serious about learning. I told the teachers to prepare for the oldest school boy ever. Many people wonder why Marughe wanted to start school at such an old age. The reason is simple. He was not able to attend school when he was younger. Marughe was born around 1920. He had no official papers to tell him the exact date of his birth. He was the oldest son of seven children. When he was old enough to attend school, he could not go. Instead, he helped his father work on their farm. He sacrificed his education so that his younger brothers and sisters could go to school. In the 1950s, Marughe joined the Mao Mao rebels. This group of Kenyans were mainly from the Kikuyu tribe. Together, they fought against the British people that occupied Kenya. Kenyans did not gain their independence from this rebellion. But many people believe this rebellion began a process. This process led to Kenyan independence in 1963. After years of farming and fighting, Marughe then had a wife and children of his own. He needed to continue farming to support his family. Many years passed. Marughe raised 12 children. He never had the time or money to spend on his own education. However, in 2003, that all changed. The government had promised to provide free education for all. So, Marughe decided it was his time to go to school. Marughe wanted to learn to read and write for many reasons. He wanted to be able to read letters from friends, family, and the government. He also wanted to be able to read official business papers. He wanted to be able to make more educated decisions. He told the Mirror, I have suffered so many problems from being uneducated. People used to cheat me when I bought goods. However, letters and business were not the most important reasons Marughe wanted to go to school. For Marughe, religion was the most important reason. Marughe was a Christian. He had attended church all of his life. However, he had to depend on religious leaders and his children to learn about the Christian Bible. He told news writer Kate Snow, All my life, I have wanted to read the Bible. When Marughe started school, he attended with three of his children's children. They were all in higher grades than Marughe. However, with much hard work, Marughe learned quickly.  When he came to school, he could not write his name. But now he reads the newspapers. We are learning from him. Many people agreed with Marughe's teacher. Marughe was a student, but he also had much to teach. In 2005, the United Nations invited Kimani Marughe to come to New York City. They wanted him to speak about the importance of free education. Marughe accepted the invitation. And in his speech, he said, I want all children in the world to be educated. That is what I really hope to see. Even after great success, there were still barriers to Marughe's education. In 2007, riots began in Kenya. Two major tribes were fighting over land and government rule. Marughe had to move to a refugee camp where it was safe. At the time, he was 88 years old. The camp was more than three kilometers from his school. However, the long walk did not stop him from attending school. He told the news organization Reuters, It is hard. There is no one to help me walk. I do to the school alone, but the urge to learn keeps me going. Kimani Marughe continued to go to school until he became sick in 2008. And on August 14th, 2009, Marughe died from stomach cancer. He was 90 years old. Although Marughe is now dead, his story lives on. The film The First Greater will continue to spread his story. And his message is simple. As Marughe once told the Mirror, A person is never too old to learn. The writer of this program was Robin Basilen. The producer was Mark Drenth. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to and read this program again on the Internet at www.radioenglish.net. This program is called The Oldest First Greater. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.


Hi everyone, Joe for JaspiesCaseBreaks.com coming at you with a 2023 Topps Bowman National Sports Convention Silver Pack Break, ten of these silver packs right there. This is random letter break number three. You can see that the next one is already in the store. There are the letters right there. First letter, their first name. Really easy. If you get a randomized letter E, yeah, L-E-Della Cruises go to you. And all hardship. Big thanks to this group for getting into the action. Appreciate you. And there are the letters right here. And let's roll it in randomized names and letters, five and a three, eight times each. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eighth and final time. Got Anthony down to Adam after eight, five and a three, eight times for the letters. We got T down to Y. All right, so Anthony with T, David with J, Dave with A, David with V, Charles M and S, Jason with D, Dave with NF, Stacey with R, David with K, Adam with C, William with E, Eugene with G, William with O, Jared with B, and Adam with Y. So let's sort this alphabetically by letter. And we are going to pause the video just for a little bit. And we're going to see if there's any letter trades. And when we come back, we'll have the 10-pack break. So stick around, VRB. All right, welcome back, everybody. No deals are done here in 10-pack break number three. So there's the list right there here on a Tuesday. Break number three. All right, so we got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 packs. So I see they got a national stamp on them. That's kind of cool. I like that. All car shipped, obviously. I don't know if there's like special parallels or autographs of possibilities. Let's find out. All right, we've got some mini diamonds coming up here. That's Juan Soto. If you like the national stamp right here, which is pretty cool. And that's 18 out of 99. And we've got a Gunnar Henderson gold, 45 out of 50. It's a national exclusive. I like that look. That's for G. That'll be for Eugene. Tristan will go to Anthony. And the Juan Soto will go to J. David M. It's a sharp look, I think. What's up, Michael? How are you? Julio Rodriguez. Got an Otani. And there are autographs. Elijah Green, two out of 25 from the National Silver Pack. Number E. That'll be for William. Shohei will go to Charles. Letter S. Got a gold Brett Beatty, six out of 50. Option to triple A recently, but hopefully he'll bounce back soon. He has to, right? 12, four more 12th overall pick. We'll be back. There's Ronald Acuna Jr., Rodgers Arias, there's Oscar Colas, mini diamonds, 10 out of 99. Kind of hard to see the number against the speckle, but it's there or against the mini diamond pattern, but it's there. Oscar Colas will go to William. Letter O. More Tristan Casas, more Gunnar Henderson, Adela Cruz, Bowman Crone. It's not a rookie or a first or anything like that, but it's still a national exclusive. So we'll top load that William with a letter E. We've got Marco Luciano, four out of 50, gold for Charles in the letter M. Got a nice Michael Harris rookie also for Charles in the letter M. Letter F, Dave Casey, Francisco Alvarez, and a Jordan Walker and a Josh Young, nice. So some fun stuff here. Letter J, David M with the Josh Young, and the Jordan Walker. These are national exclusives ladies and gentlemen, a lot of fun here. So get in on it, jasmizcasewrakes.com. Thanks for watching. Thanks for breaking with us. I'll see you next time for the next one.