EmpowerU America Podcast

LETHAL FORCE AND THE LAW with SEAN MALONEY
The use of lethal force is justified only under conditions of extreme necessity as a last resort, but did you know that just touching a gun might be considered lethal force. “Stand Your Ground” means something different in every state, if you are a gun owner make sure you know the laws of your state. Did you know that you may be judged by a “reasonable man” standard? What does that mean, and does it mean something different in every state?Own a gun or thinking about buying one? Join us for this class as Attorney and gun law expert Sean Maloney from Second Call Defense will break it all down for us by reviewing the basic concepts of lethal force, how they are interpreted by the legal system, and what it all means for you as a gun owner.   Make sure you leave this class knowing the 5 Universal Concepts all gun owners must know. 

ORLANDO SONZA, CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, OHIO DISTRICT 1
As an Assistant Prosecutor in Hamilton County, Orlando understands the importance of focusing on real crime prevention. As a former military officer, he knows what it takes to keep our nation safe. And as a son of immigrants, Orlando can speak to the importance of securing our southern border while at the same time working to fix our broken immigration system so that immigrants can come here safely and legally and pursue the American dream just like Orlando’s family. Orlando Sonza joins EmpowerU to talk about his run for Ohio Congressional District #1 and what differentiates him from sitting Congressman Greg Landsman.   Congressman Landsman was invited to attend this event, but declined.
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SPEAKER BIOSSEAN MALONEY is a licensed Ohio attorney with a firearms legal practice emphasizing Gun Rights.  He practices in all areas of firearm-related law in both state and federal courts, including 2nd Amendment rights, criminal defense related to federal and state firearms charges, federal and state restoration of gun rights, National Firearm Act issues, federal firearms license representation, state lawsuits to enforce violations of Ohio’s preemption laws, and federal background Form 4473 NICS appeals.Sean is a criminal and civil firearms consultant and has appeared as an expert witness in a variety of civil lawsuits related to firearms. He is also a national speaker on topics related to the 2nd Amendment, self-defense, lethal force, and concealed carry.  Sean co-founded Second Call Defense (www.SecondCallDefense.org), a national organization that provides complete legal protection for armed self-defense, with thousands of members in all fifty states.
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ORLANDO SONZA is proud to be an Ohioan. A second generation Filipino American, Orlando was raised in New Jersey and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point.  While there he met his wife, Jessica, a Mexican/Filipino American, fellow Academy classmate, and Cincinnati native. Orlando graduated top ten in his class at West Point where he majored in political science and minored in systems engineering. Upon graduation, he and Jessica both commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. Orlando served on active duty as an Infantry Officer and a Finance Officer with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. After leaving active duty, Orlando and Jessica moved to Cincinnati to raise a family. While helping to raise their kids, Orlando obtained his master’s degree in taxation from the University of Cincinnati and his law degree from Georgetown Law. Orlando is an Ohio CPA with experience working in Big 4 Accounting as a senior tax accountant. While in law school, he was a legal intern at the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal & Tax Divisions. Orlando currently works at the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office. Orlando and Jessica currently live in Springfield Township with their four children.

The events of October 7 shocked the world, and what has happened since is even more shocking. The conflict between Israel and Hamas is gradually expanding, and every day the risks of an even wider conflict increase.

The United States is deeply divided over the conflict, with a faction supporting Israel’s action, another supporting Hamas, and another supporting Israel’s self-defense as long as innocent Palestinians aren’t injured.  The Biden administration is sending mixed messages, contributing to the escalation.

Joel Pollak has been covering the Israel-Hamas conflict for Breitbart from the beginning, and he has visited Israel several times since October 7. He’ll join EmpowerU to share his insights about the conflict, including its underlying causes, its expansion, the mainstream news coverage of the conflict, the trajectory the conflict seems to be taking, the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict, and what an effective solution will look like.

Hear the facts straight from the source as EmpowerU Podcast Host Jerry Thomas talks with Joel Pollak.

Frank Lloyd Wright is considered to be one of the premier American architects of the 20th century. Fallingwater — located in southwestern Pennsylvania, built over a waterfall, and constructed using sandstone that was quarried near the building site — is considered to be Wright’s masterwork.  Edgar Kaufmann, Sr., owner of the Kaufmann Department Store in Pittsburgh, commissioned Wright to design Fallingwater, and construction was completed in 1938. At that time Wright’s career was considered to be over, and many viewed him as irrelevant.Yet the completed structure was so celebrated that Wright, in his late 60s at the time, saw his career reignited, and he received hundreds of commissions until his death in 1959 at the age of 91.  Fallingwater was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and a World Heritage Site in 2019.We’ll learn from Michael Desmond, Professor of Architecture at Louisiana State University, about the evolution of Wright’s overall approach to design, the thinking behind the design of Fallingwater, and the structure’s impact and legacy. Step outside your comfort zone and learn something new!ABOUT 

ABOUT MICHAEL DESMOND
Michael Desmond, professor of architecture at LSU, received a Bachelor of Architecture from Louisiana State University, a Master of Architecture and Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a PhD in history, theory, and criticism in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests focus on the role of architecture in society and include American architecture and urban history and cultural mythology and belief systems as frames for evaluation of architectural forms. His doctoral research explored the community-scale work of Frank Lloyd Wright in the context of Emersonian themes in American history and the modernist interest in subject/object perception. In line with that work, he published several chapters in Frank Lloyd Wright: The Living City, the catalog for the first significant traveling exhibition of Wright’s work in Europe. Desmond received a Campus Heritage Grant from the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles to conduct an inventory and analysis of the historic LSU campus. This effort produced an architectural history highlighting the roles of the Olmsted brothers and Theodore Link; a technical report documenting external building conditions; a large public exhibition that traveled the state throughout the university’s 150th anniversary in 2010; and the book, The Architecture of LSU, published by LSU Press in 2013. Desmond’s chapter, “The Architecture of Louisiana,” is included in The Pelican State, Wayne parent (ed.), published by LSU Press in the fall of 2014. As a practicing architect he was awarded a Gulf States Region Merit Honor Citation for Excellence in Design from the American Institute of Architects for the Bluebonnet Swamp Interpretive Center Education Building. He has an extensive record of taking LSU students on architectural tours of Europe.

In this episode of the EmpowerU Podcast we will explore the nature of modern propaganda and psychological operations (PSYOP) with SSG Andrew Matre, and special guest SFC Mike Currier. Andrew and Mike served in an Army field PSYOPS unit in the Middle East. They will share their experiences conducting PSYOPS and explain how our military uses these operations abroad and possibly at home.

Topics we’ll cover include the science and tools military PSYOP, and just how common or wild these operations really are. We’ll then delve into the world of PSYOP from the civilian perspective. They’ll share with us some tricks of the trade, and how to recognize propaganda and other malicious influence.

We hope you will tune in to equip yourself with the knowledge to recognize and navigate the war over minds.EmpowerU Podcast Host Jerry Thomas talks with Andrew Matre and Mike Currier as they share their experiences from the military and what the public can learn from it.

African-Americans in cities throughout the United States are being asked to stand aside while the officials they elected to protect their interests ignore them and bring large numbers of illegal migrants into their communities, and then provide these foreign nationals with free food, housing, education, healthcare, phones, and, sometimes, pre-paid debit cards. These elected officials in some cases are taking crucial resources from these underserved communities and using them to support the migrants.

Why are so many billions of dollars suddenly available to supply basic necessities for non-citizens, but not for Americans? Who is making the decisions that are allowing this outrage to continue? And what can be done to address the problem?

We begin by learning firsthand from black residents in Chicago and New York City how this crisis is impacting them, and how they feel about it. The guests in this first segment are Adrian Wright and David Barnes from Chicago, and Au'Starr from New York City.

We then hear from community leaders on how they view this crisis from a political perspective. This segment includes Pastor David L. Lowery, Jr., in Chicago, and Conservative Party candidate and BLEXIT leader Dion Powell in the Bronx.

We’ll close the episode with former immigration judge Matt O’Brien — currently at the Immigration Reform Law Institute — who will explain immigration law, the asylum process, and which aspects of this migrant crisis are in compliance, or in violation, of the law.

It wasn’t until sanctuary cities began buckling under the weight of the thousands of illegal immigrants flooding their streets that Democrats began to acknowledge the crisis at our southern border. NYC Mayor Eric Adams was one of the first Democrat critics of Biden’s border policy — he visited the border, met with Mexican officials, and called on the Biden Administration to address the problem.

Now the border is shaping up to be a major 2024 campaign issue. Democrats put forth a so-called border security bill that did nothing to secure the border; instead, it codified into law a daily quota of 5,000 asylum seekers, or, 1.8 million per year. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has put together a detailed implementation plan to deport the millions of asylum seekers who have entered the U.S. in the past 3 years.

Chris T. Clem, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol, will join EmpowerU to discuss the current state of the southern U.S. border. Topics we’ll address include the Biden Administration’s policies that are facilitating the border problem, DHS Director Mayorkas’ contribution to the problem, how the flood of migrants is impacting communities around the country, the risk we may experience acts of terror resulting from lax vetting procedures, the politicization of the crisis, and Trump’s deportation plan.

ABOUT CHRIS CLEM
Chris T. Clem is the former Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, AZ. Chief Clem retired on December 31, 2022, after serving more than 27 1/2 years with the U.S Border Patrol. Chief Clem served in multiple locations throughout his career and in key leadership positions across the southern border and in Washington, D.C. Known for his matter of fact and honest approach, Chief Clem has been on the frontline in the border crisis in both El Paso, Texas and most recently Yuma, Arizona. Chief Clem has not only been a leader and innovator on border security issues, but he has also led several mental health and resiliency efforts for his employees. Chief Clem has been a member of the Senior Executive Service since 2018 until his retirement.

Chief Clem has a B.S and M.S. from Sam Houston State University and is certified from the Harvard Kennedy School for Senior Managers in Government.