The Truth Starts Now

The Truth Starts Now

By Dan Perkins MediaSociety & CultureNewsPolitics
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The Truth Starts Now episodes

  • Donna Jackson, Project 21 black leadership network


    Donna Jackson, who serves as the the director of membership development for the Project 21 black leadership network, is a seasoned accountant with public and private sector experience as well as previous forays into politics and ministry.

    Donna earned a Bachelor of Accountancy (cum laude) from the California State University San Marcos. She has worked in accounting, auditing and management roles with major companies such as Ernst & Young and Marriott International in the private sector before serving in the public sector as a deputy controller for the Export-Import Bank of the United States. She is a member of the National Association of Black Accountants.

    Prior to her career in accounting, Donna was a political operative in the state of Arkansas. She worked on the successful campaigns of Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Tim Hutchinson and Representative (now Governor) Asa Hutchinson. She was active in campaign recruiting and communications. She played a vital role during the Huckabee governorship in recruiting black candidates for executive-appointed boards and commissions in addition to helping create job-training programs at a local community college and the Arkansas Office of Workforce Development.

    She is a former board member of the Little Rock Minority Disability Advisory Network and a former member of the Crittenden County (Arkansas) Workforce Development Planning Committee. She was also a contributor to the Ernst & Young Diversity Think Tank.


    Donna originally sought a role in the church. She is a former divinity graduate of Charles H. Mason Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. It was there that she was taught the gift of administration as a vital part of the Christian ministry.

    Donna is a firm believer in free markets and entrepreneurship, rather than government, as a means of lifting people out of poverty.

    30 min
  • Scott Shepard
    In this episode, Dan chats with Scott Shepard. Scott Shepard is a fellow at the National Center as well as the director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project, the conservative movement’s only full-service shareholder activism and education program.
    Scott has taught at law schools including the Wake Forest School of Law in North Carolina and the Willamette University College of Law in Oregon. He is the author of the legal textbook Wills, Trusts and Estates in Context.
    He previously served as a policy director with the Yankee Institute in Connecticut and the manager of the Water Law Project at the Pacific Legal Foundation. He also has experience in government and private practice.
    Scott earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Richmond.
    31 min
  • Stella Morabito on Depression and Loneliness
    In this episode, Dan chats with Stella Morabito. Stella is a senior contributor at The Federalist. She is author of "The Weaponization of Loneliness: How Tyrants Stoke Our Fear of Isolation to Silence, Divide, and Conquer." Her essays have appeared in various publications, including the Washington Examiner, American Greatness, Townhall, Public Discourse, and The Human Life Review. In her previous work as an intelligence analyst, Morabito focused on various aspects of Russian and Soviet politics, including communist media and propaganda.
    34 min
  • Robert Spalding
    In this episode, Dan chats with General Robert S. Spalding III. Gen Spalding is a retired United States Air Force brigadier general and a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. Spalding has served in senior positions of strategy and diplomacy within the Defense and State Departments, as Senior Director for Strategy to the President, he was the chief architect of the framework for national competition in the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS). He has earned recognition for his knowledge of Chinese economic competition, cyber warfare, and political influence. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Foreign Affairs, The American Interest, War on the Rocks, FedTech Magazine, Defense One, The Diplomat, and other edited volumes.
    32 min
  • Ivan Eland
    Ivan Eland is an American defense analyst and writer. He is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute. Eland's writings generally propose libertarian and non-interventionist policies. Books that he has authored include Recarving Rushmore.
    33 min
  • Walter Blanks Jr. - AFC
    This week, Dan chats with Walter Blanks Jr.
    Walter Blanks Jr. is the Press Secretary for AFC and a private school choice program beneficiary. From a young age, Walter recognized that many children are still stuck in underperforming schools and wanted to do something about it. Before joining AFC full-time, Walter was chosen for the first cohort of the American Federation for Children Future Leaders Fellowship, a year-long advocacy and professional development program for graduates of private school choice programs.
    Before moving to Washington, D.C. to join the national team, Walter championed educational freedom and shared his story across the country serving as a 2018 50CAN National Voices Fellow, an advocacy fellowship that aims to find, connect and support young leaders in education.
    At AFC, Walter leads both the Voices for Choice and Future Leaders Fellowship programs. These flagship programs of the National Communications team elevate the voices of students, parents, and educators who have benefitted from school choice programs across America. Walter also serves as a spokesperson for AFC and frequently appears in local and national print and news media. A gifted and in-demand speaker, Walter travels across the country sharing his story and advocating for expanding educational opportunities to more children and families.
    Walter received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Media Production from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
    30 min
  • Bruce Fenton
    This week, Dan chats with Bruce Fenton. Bruce Fenton (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent New Hampshire. He lost in the Republican primary on September 13, 2022.
    34 min
  • Harlan K. Ullman
    This week, Dan chats with Harlan K. Ullman.
    Harlan K. Ullman is a strategic thinker and innovator whose career spans the worlds of business and government. Chairman of several companies and an advisor to the heads of major corporations and governments, he was the principal author of Shock and Awe.A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he served in combat in assignments in Vietnam. He holds an MA, MALD, and PhD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and lives in Washington, D.C.
    32 min
  • David E. Bernstein
    This week, Dan chats with David E. Bernstein.
    David E. Bernstein is a law professor at the George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia, where he has taught since 1995. His primary areas of scholarly research are constitutional history and the admissibility of expert testimony. Bernstein is a contributor to the legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy.
    28 min

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(Formerly known as Black & White) Open, honest, respectful, entertaining, and informative conversations.