American Thought Leaders

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John Ondrasik, also known by his stage name, Five for Fighting, is a Grammy-nominated recording artist who released several number-one hits in the early 2000s, including his single, “Superman,” which became widely known as a 9/11 anthem.

“You know, silent majorities become silent minorities if nobody speaks up,“ he says. ”For me, making a record was really how you made a statement.”

Mr. Ondrasik is back in the spotlight for his songs about the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel.

“Many in the music business, particularly with Israel, have historically shamed our industry for all time because they’re afraid to speak out with common sense, moral clarity,” Mr. Ondrasik says. “One thing that I think folks don’t realize, especially on the right, is how critical the arts are to changing culture.”

We dive into his songwriting and look at how his music took him to war-torn Ukraine and Israel. We also get an exclusive, unplugged performance of two of Mr. Ondrasik’s hit singles.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In China, a grassroots, underground movement of Chinese has been cutting through the communist regime’s censorship and propaganda machines—one pamphlet at a time.

Since the Chinese communist regime launched a nationwide persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline 25 years ago, Falun Gong’s millions of adherents in China started creating secret underground print shops to expose the regime’s human rights atrocities.

All across China, they secretly distribute flyers, DVDs, and brochures en masse, hang posters in public areas in the dead of night, and circulate software to their fellow Chinese so they can circumvent China’s internet blockade. Those arrested face years in prison—as long as 15 years.

So who are these people? And why is their story critical to understanding China today?

In this episode, I sit down with Larry Liu, deputy director of the Falun Dafa Information Center.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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“I was born in a village where we were subjected to attacks on a monthly basis, or yearly basis. The government troops [would] come and burn down the villages—kill whoever that they will find. … When I see what happened recently in Israel, where they went and burned down, and shot people—that’s exactly what I experienced when I was a child.”

When Simon Deng was nine years old, he was kidnapped from South Sudan and brought to the North. He was given to an Arab family as a “gift,” and enslaved for more than three years.

“I’m here talking to you as a living proof of the slavery which still exists,” says Mr. Deng.

25 years ago, Charles Jacobs helped to liberate tens of thousands of slaves in Africa, and received an award from Coretta Scott King for his work.

“We went to the slave redemption sites, and we talked to the survivors who were brought back. And they told us their stories,” he says.

Today, Mr. Deng and Mr. Jacobs are cofounders of the newly-formed African Jewish Alliance, which raises awareness about the threat posed by Jihadism.

“Hamas is no different than Boko Haram in Nigeria,“ says Mr. Jacobs. ”It’s one front in Israel, but it belongs to a global movement. And people need to know that.”

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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These days, Hollywood blockbusters aren’t making much money in the Chinese market anymore, even when they do make it past the regime’s censors. How come? And does that mean Hollywood self-censorship will stop?

In this episode, we sit down with Hollywood veteran and producer Chris Fenton, author of “Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA & American Business.”

In this episode, he breaks down how the Chinese regime exploited American companies eager to access the Chinese market.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Chloé Valdary is the founder of an alternative model to the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training programs found in many corporations. Her alternative, called the “Theory of Enchantment,” first emerged from her work educating people about anti-Semitism and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

“They would say to you, ‘You are a white man, and therefore you are privileged. And therefore you belong to the ’oppressor class.‘ I, as a person of color, belongs to the ’oppressed class.' And we are—you and I—locked in a Manichean struggle from now until the end of time. There’s no escape valve,” said Ms. Valdary.

“There are three principles to the theory of enchantment. [The] first principle is treat people like human beings, not political abstractions. Second principle is criticize to uplift and empower, never to tear down or destroy. And third principle is root everything you do in love and compassion.”

We discuss concepts such as supremacy, identity, outrage, race, and religion.

“We are a Protestant nation. Protest is our founding religion. And so, we are confronted with a great challenge, which is the challenge of growing up. We are a very young nation, and I think that all of these ‘culture wars’ are an invitation to engage in some self-reflection, collectively, and grow up,” said Ms. Valdary.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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“We don’t know who the peer reviewers are. Imagine opening a newspaper and there’s no masthead. You don’t know who any of the editors are? There’s no accountability for why this work got through or not?”

In this episode, I sit down with Emily Kaplan. She is an investigative journalist, author, business leader, and passionate advocate for women’s health and for a return to what she calls “the roots of true scientific exploration.”

“We’re one of two countries where you can directly market pharmaceutical products to consumers,” says Ms. Kaplan.

Today, she is the co-founder and CEO of the Broken Science Initiative, an alternative approach to health and science that promotes predictive value, access to data, and prioritizing patient welfare over profit.

“My sense is we’re not going to fix these big systematic problems, but you can empower the individual to critically think about things and allow them to make better choices for themselves and their family. So, that’s really the goal of the Broken Science Initiative,” says Ms. Kaplan.

We discuss various forms of scientific misconduct, touching on peer review, statistical manipulation, and the over-medicalization of childbirth.

“The highest predictor of whether you’re going to have a C-section or not is what hospital you deliver in. It’s not you. It’s not your doctor. It’s the hospital,” says Ms. Kaplan.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In a major decision last week, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine in a 6–3 vote.

Critics called Chevron the “Lord Voldemort” of administrative law. So what was Chevron deference exactly? How did it transform the federal government? And what are the implications of this recent Supreme Court decision?

In this episode, I do a deep dive with constitutional law scholar and Columbia Law professor Philip Hamburger. He’s the founder and CEO of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which argued the two relevant cases in front of the Supreme Court.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

There is a largely unknown U.S. territory that Chinese citizens can enter legally without a visa.

China expert Cleo Paskal argues it’s an “open backdoor into the United States” that the Chinese communist regime can exploit. The area has seen problems with drug trafficking, birth tourism, controversial Chinese casinos, and allegations of corruption.

Ms. Paskal is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and an expert on the Indo-Pacific region.

In this episode, we dive into the Chinese communist regime’s tactics in the Pacific and its strategies to subvert America.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In 1997, in a small town in East Texas, Bishop W.C. Martin and his wife Donna felt moved to adopt two children from the foster care system.

They went on to inspire other families in their church to do the same. In total, 22 families in the community adopted 77 children.

This moving true story is depicted in the new Angel Studios film “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.”

In this episode, I sit down with award-winning actor Demetrius Grosse, who depicts Bishop Martin in the film, and Angel Studios CEO and co-founder, Neal Harmon.

In America today, there are more than 400,000 children in the foster care system.

One study found that about 70 percent of those who age out of the system are arrested at least once by the time they’re 26. Seven out of 10 girls who grow up in the system will become pregnant by the time they turn 21.

The film “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” will be released in theaters on July 4, with some early screenings on July 3.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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“Within the law, rule of law, and in a robust competitive model, you want to maximize freedom ... Economic freedom, in the context of the rule of law, is the best formula for success and prosperity.”

Mark Skousen is said to be one of the top 20 most influential living economists in the world. He’s written over 25 books on personal finance and investing, including two of America’s definitive textbooks on economics.

“We have to make the right decisions to encourage, to increase our standard of living. That is the ultimate purpose of economics—to tell us how to do that,” says Mr. Skousen.

He’s also the producer of the annual libertarian FreedomFest conference. In anticipation of the event next month, we sat down to discuss some of the major myths and misconceptions about our economy today.

“Even the stock market, by the way, is at an all-time high. But in real terms, after inflation, it’s the same [as] it was in 2021,” says Mr. Skousen.

He says that since World War II, America has been in a state of permanent inflation, and that returning to the Adam Smith model of economics is the only way to get back to what he calls “enlightened capitalism.”

“I judge every economist on whether they are defending and improving upon the Adam Smith model of economic liberty, or are trying to tear it down and build their own system of socialism, Keynesianism, totalitarianism, and so forth,” says Mr. Skousen.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.