According2Sam Podcast

When Joe Biden first announced that he was running for president he claimed to be motivated to run by the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. He said he was appalled while watching the neo-Nazis and white nationalists marching with tiki torches, and said he wanted to return the 'soul of the nation'. He accused President Trump of encouraging white nationalist and neo-Nazis, and many Democrats even accused President Trump of being a white nationalist. White nationalism and white supremacy is all Democrats have been talking about in the United States for the past 6 years. They claim it is our greatest domestic threat. It's ironic they don't see the same threat of white nationalism in Ukraine as they do in the U.S., and they are currently leading us to cheer for white nationalism in Ukraine. How large is the white nationalist movement in Ukraine, and what impact does this movement have on Ukrainian politics and society? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #107.

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The 'Russian Reset' was an effort by the Obama administration to reset the relationship between Russia and the United States. At a bilateral meeting in Geneva in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a plastic red button inscribed with the word, "reset". She said it represented a new start for the two nations, putting the decades of enmity behind them. The two diplomates pushed to toy button together and joked with each other. It was the begging of a new era for Russia and the United States, one of cooperation and peace. Throughout the first term of the Obama administration this new relationship seemed to be working, so much so that President Obama even defended Russia when Mitt Romney called them a threat to the United States. He famously said, "the 1980's called and they want their foreign policy back." How did we go from the 'rest' back to a state of contention with Russia? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #106.

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In 2019 there were major protests and demonstrations all over the world. The year started with the 'yellow vests' protests in France, which started in November of 2018 and carried on throughout the entire year in 2019. In February protests started in Algeria and continued throughout the entire year, even after the Bouteflika regime was toppled. In March protests started in Hong Kong with massive demonstrations for freedom from China. The protests lasted the entire year, with the largest demonstrations over the summer of 2019. Protests against the Maduro regime in Venezuela started in January, but really started to get going in April. They also lasted the entire year. There were protests in Russia, Sudan, Chile, Lebanon, and many more places around the world. These populists uprisings were just getting started when Covid-19 interrupted them, but now that Covid-19 is over it seems the protests are starting again. How has the 'Freedom Convoy' in Canada reignited the global protests that were taking place before the pandemic? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #105.

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The roots of the cultural revolution in the United States can be traced back to one city. It was the epicenter of the counterculture, and that city is San Francisco. On January 14, 1967 an event was held in the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields that would launch a movement to change the world. It was a celebration of humanity, with music, art, poetry, and spirituality. The event was the 'Human Be-In', and it was the start of a wave that would crash into American traditions and customs. The movement was dedicated to peace, love, and goodwill to all men and women. It focused on political and environmental awareness, and breaking down cultural and institutional norms. It was fueled by psychedelic drugs, music, and promiscuity. In the end the movement set lofty goals that were never reached, but it did leave a lasting imprint on San Francisco and America that can still be seen today. What does the counterculture revolution have in common with other revolutions throughout history? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #104.

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Spotify has decided to put a warning on Joe Rogan's podcasts in response to the calls to censor him. After a few artists began to protest by removing their music from the platform, and many more subscribers canceled their subscriptions it was important for them to get ahead of the controversy. It's reminiscent of Tipper Gore's obsession in the late 20th century to censor Rap and Heavy Metal music. As her group, the Parents Music Resource Center, began to demand action from the record companies the record companies agreed to put a "parental advisory" on music with "explicit lyrics". Gore's objective was to reduce the consumption of music that she considered bad for society, music with sex, drugs, and violence. If you've listened to the radio lately you know she failed. How are those attempting to censor Joe Rogan making the same mistake as Tipper Gore, and how will it backfire on them? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #103.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

The Biden administration has suffered a string of defeats in the past few weeks. He was defeated in the courts on his vaccine mandates. He was defeated on his 'voting rights' legislation and failed to get it passed in the Senate. He also has failed to get his Build Back Better agenda passed, and he has been getting killed in the polls. A recent Quinnipiac poll had Biden at 33% approval, with 28% of Hispanics and 25% of independents in approval. To say that Biden has had a rough first year in office would be an understatement to say the least, but it seems he has a plan to change the narrative. All of a sudden our old Cold War enemy is at it again, "threatening democracy"! Just as Democrats did in 2017, Russia seems to be a handy tool that can be used on any occasion to change the direction that the wind is blowing in Washington. How is Biden using Russia to 'Wag the Dog' and change the perception of his administration, and why are some European allies not playing along? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #102.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

The Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, is a position like no other. It is a position that carries prestige and power, not only as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but as the head of state for Vatican City and all of the territories included in the States of the Church. However, the Pope hasn't always had this prestige and power. Until the late 8th Century the Pope had no lands, and he had to get permission from the Roman Emperors in Constantinople before he could even accept the election to Pope. It was a position that really didn't have much more influence than any other bishop in the Church. That started to change when the Pope made a deal with the Franks and the rich and powerful French family, the Carolingians. Pepin the Short donated what became the Papal States to the Pope, and it would change the Papacy forever. What did the Carolingians get in return for this donation, and how did this alliance kick off what many refer to as the Dark Ages? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #101.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

During a debate in the 2020 campaign for the presidency Donald Trump commented that we have to learn to live with Covid-19, suggesting that it would be apart of our world forever and we had to get on with our lives. To this Joe Biden scoffed and said, "We're learning to die with it"! Biden said that the idea that we would learn to live with the virus was unacceptable, and he promised many times during that campaign to, "shutdown the virus", suggesting he planned on succeeding where President Trump had failed to eliminating it. However, as we approach President Biden's first year in office he has failed to shutdown the virus. He has failed to supply the nation with rapid testing, another criticism that he made of President Trump. Now he and many others are admitting President Trump was right, and we will have to learn to live with the virus. What other ways is President Biden failing to meet the standards that he set for President Trump in response to Covid-19, and how are he and the media trying to change the messaging? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #100.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

After the death of Mohammad in 632 the armies of Islam spilled out of the Arabian Desert and quickly began conquering everything in their path. They first encountered the mighty Romans to their west, and the ferocious Persians to their east, both of these great empires had been in existence for centuries beyond this new religion that was barely as old as a single lifetime. The Muslims took them both on at once, and defeated them both. They seized Byzantine land pushing the Romans back into Anatolia. They conquered all of Persia, expanding the young caliphate to India in the east. They then moved into North Africa taking Islam all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. They even crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe, and conquered the Visigoths and nearly all of Iberia. The Muslims seemed invincible at this point, but after crossing the Pyrenees into France they were defeated by the Franks and chased back into Spain. How did this defeat of the Muslims in France potentially save Western Europe, and how would have a Muslim victory in France potentially changed the world as we know it today? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #99.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

The day before Halloween in 1938 a CBS Radio program aired that caused mass hysteria. This was a time before television, before the internet and social media, when everyone got their information and media from news papers, and radio. The CBS series was 'The Mercury Theatre on the Air', and the episode that cause the hysteria on this day was called, 'War of the Worlds'. It was an adaptation of a fictional novel that was being preformed as a Halloween special, but many Americans believed it was real and that they were in danger from an alien invasion from outer space. The scale of the hysteria caused by this broadcast was small. Not everyone was listening, but of those who happened to be listening to the program that day the panic was real and widespread. If this was a social experiment the reaction to the broadcast would have demonstrated how easily media could be used to whip the public into a frenzy of fear, and also how a greater medium, reaching more people, over and over again for a long period of time, could cause a greater, prolonged, mass hysteria. How is the reaction to the pandemic and the unvaccinated like the reaction to 'War of the Worlds', but greater, and how is this hysteria causing the zombie apocalypse? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #98.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com