The midterms will measure our collective immunity to an ageless hatred that destroys everything it touches.

Islamic Groups Push Maximum Muslim Turnout for El-Sayed & Talarico: ‘It Is Our Ethnic Duty… Vote for the Ummah’

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Rabbi Michael Barclay is the host of the radio show and podcast “The Rabbi’s Table: Dialogue Not Debate” on CRN Digital Talk Radio, where he leads bold conversations on religion, freedom, Israel, America, and today’s most pressing cultural issues.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: sutton.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

At first glance, the 2026 election looks like any other midterm. The incumbent party is exhausted. The opposition is eager to rebuke an unpopular president. Economic concerns predominate. An electoral thumping seems inevitable. Check results from 2022, 2018, 2014, 2010 and 2006 for reference.

Under the surface, however, an ugly force is stirring in U.S. politics that makes this midterm campaign different. For the first time in generations, antisemitism has emerged from the shadows to influence American public life.

From Graham Platner to Abdul El-Sayed, from Hasan Piker to Tucker Carlson, antagonism toward Israel, “Zionists” and foreign intervention has morphed into fear and loathing of a minority that has lived peaceably and productively in this country for more than 300 years.

PLUG PODCAST: The Rabbi’s Table

ABOUT SHOW: What happens when faith takes on politics… culture… and the headlines everyone else is afraid to touch? Find out on The Rabbi’s Table with Rabbi Michael Barclay on CRN Digital Talk Radio.

No safe talking points. No scripted opinions. Just bold conversations about religion, freedom, Israel, America, and the issues dividing the world today.

If you’re tired of polite silence and ready for real debate, pull up a chair.

The Rabbi’s Table with Rabbi Michael Barclay—where tradition speaks, truth challenges, and nothing is off the table.

BIO: Rabbi Michael Barclay is the host of the new radio show and podcast “The Rabbi’s Table: Dialogue Not Debate,” airing on CRN Digital Talk Radio. The program features bold, unscripted conversations about religion, freedom, Israel, America, and the cultural and political issues shaping today’s world.

Rabbi Barclay is also a widely read columnist and Torah commentator. His work appears regularly in PJ Media, The Jewish Journal, and numerous other periodicals including The Jewish Forward, The Jewish Times, and The Acorn, where he writes on Judaism, ethics, politics, and culture.

He is the author of Sacred Relationships: Biblical Wisdom for Deepening Our Lives Together (Liturgical Press, 2013), a biblical commentary endorsed by leaders across multiple faith traditions—including rabbis, ministers, bishops, representatives of the Vatican, and the Chancellor of Oxford.

Rabbi Barclay previously served as a Professor of Theology at Loyola Marymount University and lectures internationally on Judaism, cross-cultural mysticism, and Jewish perspectives on politics and ethics.

In 2013, he founded a groundbreaking synagogue model: the first non-Orthodox synagogue in the United States with no membership dues. There is no cost for High Holiday services, classes, lifecycle events, or Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation. The full-service temple operates entirely on donations and grants and has become the largest provider of free High Holiday services in the nation. Notably, it was also the only synagogue in California that never closed and never restricted live attendance during the COVID pandemic.

This innovative model has inspired synagogues across the country to adopt similar “no-dues” structures, creating a growing national movement.

Rabbi Barclay has also served as a peak performance coach for elite performers and leaders—including Oscar and Emmy Award winners, NCAA athletes, corporate CEOs, and even professional sports organizations such as the Chicago White Sox. He is frequently invited around the world to lecture, teach, and officiate life-cycle events.

He is the recipient of the Bnai Zion Distinguished Humanitarian Award for his work in community leadership and interfaith dialogue.

FIND HIS WEBSITE HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: sutton.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

A change of power in Washington reaches far beyond the Capitol. For Mexican workers, American businesses, and families on both sides of our shared border, the consequences of the November midterms could be felt in factories, on farms, and in communities struggling with economic uncertainty and insecurity. If Democrats win control of Congress, the question is whether Washington will use the next two years to solve shared problems or allow partisan conflict to make them harder to solve.

Let me be clear about where I stand. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, and I cannot vote in American elections. I represent working families across nearly 600 workplaces in Mexico, including employees of global companies that connect our economies. From inside those workplaces, I have watched the effects of trade and labor policies under three Democratic administrations. I have seen how decisions made in Washington can shape the lives of workers who have little say in them.

For decades, the offshoring model has too often rewarded corporations for moving production to places where labor is cheaper and workers have less power. American communities have lost jobs and industrial capacity, while Mexican workers have frequently been promised prosperity only to find themselves trapped in poverty wages and unions that answer to management instead of their members. Corporations benefit from the savings, workers on both sides lose bargaining power, and strategic competitors such as China gain opportunities to expand their influence. These are not separate problems. They are connected failures of a system that too often puts cheap labor ahead of human dignity.

READ MORE HERE:

PLUG: National Food and Commerce Union

BIO: Alejandro Martinez Araiza is the head of the National Food and Commerce Union (SNAC), one of Mexico’s largest and most influential labor organizations representing workers in the commerce and food sectors. He is a leading advocate for independent unionism, higher wages, and stronger labor protections in Mexico.

Araiza has become an increasingly prominent voice in North American policy discussions, engaging directly with U.S. officials and institutions to promote cross-border solutions to shared economic and security challenges. His work focuses on strengthening Mexico’s middle class, improving labor standards, and ensuring that trade agreements deliver tangible benefits for workers.

ABOUT: SNAC México stands as a powerful symbol of renewal and resilience with its message, “105 Years Younger Than Ever!” a declaration that honors its long history while embracing a forward-looking vision rooted in justice, equity, and solidarity. For more than a century, SNAC has defended workers’ rights, championed fair wages, and worked to build humane and sustainable workplaces across the country. Also known as La Rebel, the organization integrates innovation through its AI advisor, a tool designed to awaken labor consciousness, empower workers with knowledge of their rights, and strengthen collective bargaining. Under the leadership of Secretary General Alejandro Martínez Araiza, SNAC promotes a model of pragmatic humanism that places people and their families at the center of every decision, seeking to reconcile relationships between workers and employers while fostering growth in Mexican industry. Representing over 25,000 families across 250 municipalities, with dozens of agreements and enterprises, SNAC continues to evolve trade unionism in Mexico—guided by purpose, grounded in people, and committed to transforming lives through dignity, empathy, and fair work.

FIND HIS LINKEDIN HERE:

FIND WEBSITE HERE:

FIND FACEBOOK HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

THE FRIEND WHO PICKS UP AT 2 A.M.

Rusty Humphries

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Rusty Humphries, nationally syndicated radio veteran, Gold Star son, and founder of My BFF Coach LLC, introduces Coach Jeff: Someone to Talk To, an AI conversational companion designed for veterans, first responders, and their families.

Official public launch: Veterans Day, November 11, 2026, at 11:11 a.m. Eastern.

FIND IN THE APPLE STORE HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

Millions of conversations happen in the hours nobody schedules: on the drive home, after a difficult shift, or at two in the morning when sleep won’t come. For veterans and first responders, the hardest part may be finding somebody to call. Rusty Humphries believes a good first step can be as simple as having someone who always answers.

Coach Jeff is an AI companion modeled on the heart, voice, face, and lived story of Army combat veteran Jeff Pelton. He talks about sports, politics, family, work, trucks, and everyday frustrations. He remembers what matters to the person talking to him, offers straight answers rather than automatic flattery, and is available by voice or text, including through Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

For Humphries, this is deeply personal. His father, Army Captain Gary D. Humphries, died in Vietnam when Rusty was young. His late wife Kathleen also experienced debilitating illness. After fifteen years hosting a nationally syndicated radio program, Humphries wanted to create something for the moments between appointments and outside ordinary support networks.

The product is not a therapist, a treatment, or an emergency service. Its design includes user-managed memories, trusted Battle Buddies, a safety plan, and one-tap access to 988. The central question for producers: Can technology make it easier for someone who would never book a counseling appointment to begin a conversation—and then reconnect with real people?

WHY BOOK HIM NOW?

· Veterans Day launch on 11/11 at 11:11 a.m. Eastern, during America’s 250th anniversary year.

· An unusual human-interest story: a Gold Star son and veteran radio host builds a companion for people who serve.

· A real combat veteran, Jeff Pelton, provided the lived experience and likeness behind the AI character.

· A timely technology conversation about AI companionship, trust, user control, and the importance of human connection.

· Strong visual and demonstration potential: voice conversations, remembered details, in-car use, and app tools.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS HE CAN OWN

1. THE FRIEND WHO ANSWERS AT 2 A.M.

Why ordinary conversation matters, particularly for veterans and first responders reluctant to seek formal help.

2. THE GOLD STAR SON WHO BUILT COACH JEFF

How Rusty’s father, Captain Gary D. Humphries, and his late wife Kathleen shaped his motivation.

3. A REAL SOLDIER BEHIND AN AI VOICE

How Army veteran Jeff Pelton’s voice, likeness, and biography informed the character.

4. AN AI THAT REMEMBERS—AND TELLS YOU THE TRUTH

How memory, humor, and accountability distinguish the experience, alongside important privacy and safety questions.

5. THE FRIEND IN THE TRUCK, NOT THE DOCTOR IN THE OFFICE

Voice-first conversations on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and why the drive home is an important moment.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR RUSTY HUMPHRIES

• After fifteen years on nationally syndicated radio, why did you decide to build Coach Jeff?

• What did losing your father in Vietnam teach you about the families of those who serve?

• How did Kathleen’s illness influence the idea of a voice available in the middle of the night?

• Why call this a friend rather than a wellness app or a therapy tool?

• Who is Jeff Pelton, and how did his Army experience shape the character?

• What happens when someone first opens the app and says, ‘I just want to talk’?

• Why is remembering a person’s family, work, and last conversation such a central feature?

• How does Coach Jeff respond when someone has a bad idea rather than simply agreeing?

• Why did you make Apple CarPlay and Android Auto such a priority?

• How do you keep users connected to real people rather than dependent on an AI companion?

• What are Battle Buddies, and what can a user control about the information the app remembers?

• What happens if a conversation goes beyond what Coach Jeff can responsibly handle?

• What can you say about privacy, and what promises would you deliberately avoid making?

• How much does it cost, and what is available without subscribing?

• What would you say to a skeptical veteran who says he would never talk to a machine?

• What do you hope happens after the November 11 launch?

ON-AIR INTRO

Rusty Humphries is a longtime nationally syndicated talk radio host and Gold Star son whose father was killed in Vietnam. He is now founder of My BFF Coach LLC and creator of Coach Jeff, an AI companion built on a real Army combat veteran’s story for veterans, first responders, and their families. Launching publicly on Veterans Day, Coach Jeff is designed to answer any hour, remember what matters, and help users stay connected to people they trust.

BIO: Rusty Humphries began his radio career in 1982 and hosted a nationally syndicated talk radio show from 2000 to 2015, carried on more than 250 stations. His press kit reports recognition on Talkers Magazine’s list of influential radio hosts for 17 consecutive years and induction into the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame. A Gold Star son, Humphries has supported veterans’ causes, traveled to military locations overseas, and worked with memorial initiatives. His father, Captain Gary D. Humphries, was killed in Vietnam in 1969. His wife Kathleen later died after a debilitating illness. These experiences inspired him to create Coach Jeff.

THE REAL COACH JEFF: JEFF PELTON

Jeff Pelton served in the U.S. Army as a military police soldier from 1989 to 1997, including active duty and Reserve service. His deployments and assignments included Panama during Operation Just Cause, the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Hugo, and Desert Storm. He left the service as a Sergeant (E-5). He provided his voice, likeness, and life experience for Coach Jeff and is also available as a spokesperson.

PRODUCT FACTS

Official app name: Coach Jeff: Someone to Talk To | Audience: Veterans, first responders, and families | Public launch: November 11, 2026, 11:11 a.m. ET | Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto | Cost: Free to download; conversation access requires a Basic or Pro subscription with current pricing shown in-app | Company: My BFF Coach LLC.

SAFETY & EDITORIAL GUIDANCE

Coach Jeff is an AI companion, not a human operator, therapist, doctor, or emergency service. Do not claim it treats PTSD, prevents suicide, or produces proven clinical outcomes. It directs users toward trusted contacts and 988 when appropriate, and 911 for emergencies. Users can review or delete remembered information; do not promise absolute confidentiality.

PLUG BOOKS — RUSTY HUMPHRIES

Rusty’s book — Amazon link 1

MEDIA ASSETS & HYPERLINKS

Official Coach Jeff website

Apple App Store — Coach Jeff

My BFF Coach LLC

Rusty Humphries website

Coach Jeff on Instagram

Coach Jeff on Facebook

Help A Vet

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

TERESA REILE | Entrepreneur • Cancer Survivor • Author • Patriox CEO

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Teresa Reile is a health and wellness advocate and author of From Tumor to Triumph: My Oxygen Awakening. She is the owner and CEO of Water es Vida Technologies, the company behind Patriox oxygen-enhanced water; an international speaker, longtime entrepreneur, cancer survivor. Her story brings a personal dimension to the growing conversation about oxygen, hydration, health innovation, and the evidence consumers should demand of wellness products.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

President Trump on Monday signed an executive order creating a women's health division within the National Institutes of Health and a White House Women's Health Task Force.

Teresa Reile weighed in, “I think this is a great initiative, and it’s long overdue. I know what it costs a woman when medicine hasn’t studied her. When I was facing a life threatening illness, the answers I needed weren’t in the system, so I went looking for them myself, and that search became a deep dive into hypoxia, the lack of oxygen in the tissue, and eventually a company.

Here is what I would say to every woman reading this: for decades, women have sat in exam rooms and been told ‘you’re fine’ when they knew they weren’t. We weren’t hard to treat. We were just never the priority. If this initiative changes that, if it funds the science of women’s bodies with the seriousness it has always deserved, then it will save lives that statistics never counted.

I applaud the First Lady for putting women’s health on the national agenda. Now let’s make sure the research reaches the women who have been waiting for it.”

First lady Melania Trump joined him for a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden and said the executive order will make progress on five objectives:

• Directing research funding to find cures that disproportionately affect women.

• Using artificial intelligence to speed up medical discoveries.

• Accelerating new therapeutics for women.

• Delivering medical breakthroughs for women at an affordable price.

• Making conversations about women’s health less taboo.

“This is a transformative moment for women in America,” the first lady said. “Beginning today, we will change the reality of women’s health. Previous generations fought for women’s rights. Our generation will fight to discover the cures that will ensure a woman can live her life in health and to the fullest.”

Mr. Trump credited the first lady with conceiving the idea for a women’s health division within NIH. The first lady added her signature to the executive order after the president did, although her signature has no legal weight.

“Think of it, a women’s health division,” Mr. Trump said. “Who the hell wouldn’t have a women’s health division? Melania said, ‘They don’t have it.’”

READ MORE HERE:

ABOUT: Everyone knows oxygen is essential to life. But can putting more dissolved oxygen into drinking water deliver meaningful benefits beyond ordinary hydration? Entrepreneur and cancer survivor Teresa Reile believes the question deserves attention—and has built a business around it.

After a life-changing health experience, Reile began exploring oxygen-focused approaches to wellness. That journey led to Patriox, an American-made, oxygen-enhanced spring water produced using a proprietary processing method. The company says its process increases and stabilizes dissolved oxygen without adding external oxygen or chemicals.

Reile now leads Water es Vida Technologies, which distributes Patriox, and uses her personal story to encourage people to ask questions about cellular biology, hydration, fatigue, and wellness. Her book, From Tumor to Triumph: My Oxygen Awakening, chronicles her experience with illness, recovery, resilience, and self-advocacy.

The product creates an accessible, provocative interview: how is Patriox made, how is dissolved oxygen measured, how stable is it, and what happens after someone drinks it? Reile can explain why she believes in the product while discussing the independent clinical evidence still needed to substantiate claims about oxygen delivery, immunity, fatigue, recovery, or disease.

For producers, this is a compelling combination of human-interest story, female entrepreneurship, product innovation, and an important consumer-health question: What is the difference between an intriguing wellness technology and a clinically demonstrated health benefit?

WHY BOOK HER NOW?

· A cancer survivor and author can tell the deeply personal story behind a consumer wellness brand.

· Patriox offers a tangible product for an on-air demonstration and a clear point of comparison with ordinary water.

· Reile brings experience across business leadership, journalism, public speaking, and wellness entrepreneurship.

· The oxygenated-water category raises timely questions about consumer science, marketing, evidence, and health claims.

· Her book provides a second promotional lane for lifestyle, entrepreneurship, faith/resilience, and long-form interview shows.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS SHE CAN OWN:

1. FROM TUMOR TO TRIUMPH

How Reile describes her health crisis, the choices she made, and how her experience inspired a book and a company.

2. WHAT EXACTLY IS PATRIOX?

The water source, proprietary production process, dissolved-oxygen testing, shelf stability, and how Patriox differs from ordinary bottled water.

3. OXYGEN IS ESSENTIAL—BUT CAN DRINKING IT HELP?

The distinction between oxygen delivered through breathing and oxygen dissolved in water, and what clinical studies would need to demonstrate.

4. BUILDING A WELLNESS COMPANY FROM A PERSONAL MISSION

How Reile moved from a broad business career into manufacturing, distribution, branding, and consumer education.

5. THE NEW AGE OF WELLNESS CLAIMS

How consumers can evaluate testimonials, product demonstrations, laboratory measurements, and independent clinical research.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR TERESA REILE:

What happened in your own health journey that changed the direction of your life?

What inspired the title From Tumor to Triumph?

How did you first encounter the oxygen-enhancement technology behind Patriox?

What is Patriox, in plain English, and how is it different from ordinary bottled spring water?

What does your company mean by stabilized dissolved oxygen?

How do you measure dissolved oxygen, and how long does that level remain stable in a sealed bottle?

Where is Patriox sourced and manufactured?

What is known about how much dissolved oxygen from drinking water reaches the bloodstream or tissues?

What independent, controlled human studies support the specific benefits your company promotes?

What is the difference between a personal testimonial and clinical proof?

What questions should someone with cancer or another serious illness ask before trying a wellness product?

What have you learned about communicating health claims responsibly?

What was hardest about moving into the beverage industry?

How did your background in business and communications help launch Patriox?

What would you like skeptical scientists to test next?

What is your vision for Patriox over the next five years?

PRIMARY PLUG: PATRIOX OXYGEN-ENHANCED WATER

Patriox is marketed as American-made, oxygen-enhanced spring water under the tagline “Water for Health Freedom.” Its website describes a proprietary processing method intended to create elevated, stable dissolved-oxygen content.

PLUG THE BOOK

From Tumor to Triumph: My Oxygen Awakening — Teresa Reile’s account of her diagnosis, recovery, personal transformation, and evolving interest in oxygen-focused wellness.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Teresa Reile is an entrepreneur, international speaker, cancer survivor, and the owner and CEO of Water es Vida Technologies, the company behind Patriox oxygen-enhanced water. She is also the author of From Tumor to Triumph: My Oxygen Awakening. After a major personal health challenge, Teresa turned her attention to oxygen-focused wellness and built a brand designed to challenge how consumers think about hydration. Today she joins us to share her story, explain Patriox, and discuss the science questions surrounding oxygenated water.

BIO: TERESA REILE

Teresa Reile is an entrepreneur, author, international speaker, and wellness advocate. Her official biography describes a career spanning communications, public relations, media, renewable energy, and other business ventures. She is the owner and CEO of Water es Vida Technologies, Inc., the company behind Patriox, and identifies herself as a cofounder of Oxygenaissance Oxygen Spa in Florida. She has spoken at TEDx and other events in North America, Europe, and Asia. A cancer survivor, she wrote From Tumor to Triumph: My Oxygen Awakening to explore illness, resilience, recovery, and personal responsibility in health decisions.

PRODUCT / BOOK / MEDIA ASSETS — CLICKABLE LINKS

Patriox official website

https://patriox.us/

Patriox product background https://patriox.us/pages/about

Teresa Reile official website

https://teresareile.com/

Teresa Reile author page https://teresareile.com/author

Teresa Reile wellness page https://teresareile.com/wellness-advocate

Patriox Instagram https://www.instagram.com/patrioxwater/

Teresa Instagram provided by client https://www.instagram.com/prbytr/

Amazon book link provided by client https://a.co/d/04K11mEm

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

How the West Came to Misclassify Islam

Cause, Consequence, and Correction

By Elaine Ellinger

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Elaine Ellinger, researcher, author and creator of Perspectives on Islam, is available to discuss her new book The Deen Fallacy: How the West Came to Misclassify Islam: Cause, Consequence, and Correction. Her research challenges the conventional Western categorization of Islam as solely a religion and examines how historical translation, scholarship and legal assumptions influenced government policy. The argument is Ellinger’s interpretation and is open to scholarly and constitutional debate.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

One word can shape centuries of policy. Elaine Ellinger argues that the translation of the Arabic term deen as “religion” encouraged Western institutions to understand Islam through a narrower category than its historical sources warrant.

In The Deen Fallacy, Ellinger traces that classification through early encounters between Western and Islamic societies, British imperial administration, translation history, scholarship and modern law. She examines figures including Edward William Lane and Marmaduke Pickthall and asks whether inherited assumptions have shaped legal recognition, education and public policy.

Her book introduces two concepts: the “Deen Fallacy,” her term for what she sees as a category error, and “credism,” prejudice or unequal treatment based on creed. It proposes a legal framework that, in her view, would distinguish freedom of belief from the public privileges associated with recognition as a religion.

This is a controversial thesis, not a settled legal or academic conclusion. The question for an interview is both intellectually provocative and practical: How should free societies understand comprehensive systems of belief and practice while protecting individual religious liberty and equal treatment under law?

WHY BOOK HER NOW?

· Her 2026 book challenges an assumption embedded in legal, academic and media language.

· The subject connects translation history, constitutional protections, comparative religion, diplomacy and public policy.

· Ellinger offers a specific proposed correction, creating a debate about both the diagnosis and its legal consequences.

· Her Perspectives on Islam website and social channels provide a continuing platform for discussion and audience engagement.

· The argument invites a substantive interview about what the sources establish, where scholars disagree and how any reform would protect individual rights.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS SHE CAN OWN

1. CAN ONE TRANSLATION CHANGE PUBLIC POLICY?

Why Ellinger considers the translation of deen central to Western understandings of Islam.

2. HOW DID THE WEST ARRIVE AT ITS CLASSIFICATION?

Her account of historical translators, British India, diplomacy and inherited scholarship.

3. RELIGION, LAW AND SOCIAL ORDER

How systems of belief can also address family life, politics and legal obligations, and whether that makes Islam distinct from other religious traditions.

4. WHAT IS “CREDISM”?

Ellinger’s proposed concept of unequal treatment based on creed and how it relates to religious freedom.

5. WHAT WOULD HER LEGAL CORRECTION ACTUALLY DO?

Her proposal for distinguishing personal freedom of belief from legal recognition, and its implications for constitutional protections.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR ELAINE ELLINGER

What first led you to question the Western translation of deen as “religion”?

What does deen mean in the primary sources you examine?

Is your argument that Islam is not a religion at all, or that it cannot be understood only as a religion?

How did early translators and scholars influence later Western law and policy?

Why do Edward William Lane and Marmaduke Pickthall matter to this history?

What role did British India play in shaping these categories?

Do Christianity, Judaism and other traditions also contain comprehensive legal and social teachings? How is your proposed distinction applied consistently?

What is the strongest scholarly objection to your thesis?

Can you give a concrete policy example where you believe classification produced a mistaken result?

You introduce “credism.” How does it differ from religious discrimination?

What would your proposed legal standard protect, and what would it change?

How would your framework preserve equal protection, freedom of conscience and the rights of individual Muslims?

Who would decide whether a belief system qualifies for legal recognition, and by what neutral criteria?

How do you prevent a classification debate from becoming a judgment about individual believers?

What evidence would change your conclusion about the historical translation?

What is the single misconception you most want readers to reconsider?

PLUG BOOK

The Deen Fallacy: How the West Came to Misclassify Islam: Cause, Consequence, and Correction

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION

Elaine Ellinger’s historical and legal argument that the Western translation of deen contributed to a consequential classification of Islam, together with her proposed framework for reconsidering religious recognition while safeguarding freedom of belief.

ON-AIR INTRO

Elaine Ellinger is a researcher, writer and creator of Perspectives on Islam. Her new book, The Deen Fallacy, examines how the Arabic word deen came to be understood as “religion” in Western institutions and argues that this translation has had lasting consequences for scholarship, law and public policy. She joins us to discuss the history, the controversy and her proposed correction.

BIO

Elaine Ellinger is an author and researcher publishing through Perspectives on Islam. Her work examines Islamic doctrine, translation, historical interpretation and the ways Western institutions categorize and respond to religious and political ideas. She is the author of The Deen Fallacy and Timeless Essays About Islam and Its Doctrine. Additional professional credentials and career history were not established in the supplied materials and should be confirmed before publication.

MEDIA ASSETS — CLICKABLE LINKS

Official website — Perspectives on Islam

Substack — Perspectives on Islam

LinkedIn — Elaine Ellinger

YouTube — Perspectives on Islam

X — @Elaine_Ellinger

TikTok — @poinps

Amazon — The Deen Fallacy

Apple Books — The Deen Fallacy

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

Invisible Hands and the Pursuit of Happiness

By Samuel Gregg

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Samuel Gregg is president of the American Institute for Economic Research(AIER), an award-winning author and commentator on political economy, economic history, and the moral foundations of free enterprise. His new Encounter Books title, The Civilization of Commerce: Invisible Hands and the Pursuit of Happiness, makes the case that commercial society is not merely a means of generating wealth but a remarkable civilizational achievement.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

Americans debate inflation, tariffs, corporate power, inequality, and whether capitalism is still delivering the American Dream. But Samuel Gregg asks a deeper question: Have we forgotten why a free commercial society matters in the first place?

In The Civilization of Commerce, Gregg argues that markets are not simply mechanisms for buying and selling. They help strangers cooperate, disperse knowledge, encourage creativity, and create the conditions in which individuals and communities can pursue better lives. Drawing on Adam Smith, the Scottish Enlightenment, and Nobel economist F. A. Hayek, he makes the case that commerce belongs at the center of a civilization committed to liberty and justice.

Gregg acknowledges the longstanding criticisms of capitalism: materialism, inequality, and the fear that markets reduce human life to transactions. But he challenges the assumption that greater top-down control or romantic rejection of modern economic complexity would produce a freer, happier society.

His warning is that commercial civilization is fragile. Political planners who believe they can direct complex economies, and idealists nostalgic for a simpler world, can both undermine the rule of law, innovation, prosperity, and individual freedom.

The result is a bigger conversation than the latest economic headline: Is free enterprise merely an economic policy preference—or one of the essential achievements that makes a free and flourishing civilization possible?

WHY BOOK HIM NOW?

· Debates over tariffs, industrial policy, economic intervention, and the role of government make the book immediately relevant.

· Gregg can connect kitchen-table prosperity to larger questions of liberty, justice, institutions, and human happiness.

· His arguments engage both critics of capitalism and market advocates who sometimes defend markets only in terms of efficiency.

· As AIER president and a widely published commentator, Gregg can translate economic history and philosophy into accessible television, radio, and podcast segments.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS HE CAN OWN:

1. DID FREE MARKETS BUILD MODERN CIVILIZATION?

How exchange, specialization, enterprise, and economic freedom transformed opportunities and living standards.

2. WHAT ADAM SMITH ACTUALLY BELIEVED

Why the invisible hand is not simply a slogan for greed, and how commerce can depend upon moral norms and institutions.

3. IS GOVERNMENT PLANNING MAKING US LESS FREE?

What Hayek teaches about dispersed knowledge and why centralized economic decision-making can fail.

4. DOES CAPITALISM MAKE PEOPLE HAPPIER—OR JUST RICHER?

The relationship between prosperity, meaning, dignity, voluntary cooperation, and human flourishing.

5. CAN AMERICA PRESERVE ITS COMMERCIAL CIVILIZATION?

Why the rule of law, stable institutions, creativity, discipline, and a culture of liberty matter as much as individual policies.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR SAMUEL GREGG:

Why call commerce a civilization rather than simply an economic system?

What did Adam Smith understand about human nature that modern critics—and even some defenders—of capitalism miss?

If markets have done so much to reduce poverty, why does capitalism remain culturally unpopular?

What is the most serious moral criticism of free markets, and how do you answer it?

How does voluntary exchange teach people to cooperate with strangers?

Why is Hayek’s knowledge problem still relevant to today’s economic policymakers?

What is the difference between sensible economic rules and top-down economic planning?

Does industrial policy risk giving government too much power to pick winners and losers?

How do tariffs and protectionism fit into your argument about commercial civilization?

Can free enterprise survive if the rule of law and public trust deteriorate?

What do you say to younger Americans who believe capitalism has failed them?

Is nostalgia for a supposedly simpler economy a dangerous temptation?

Can markets support virtue and community, or do they inevitably erode them?

Why is economic growth insufficient without freedom, order, and institutions?

What does the pursuit of happiness mean in an economy?

What would you change first to strengthen America’s commercial culture?

How should business leaders defend markets without sounding like they only care about profits?

If listeners take away one lesson from The Civilization of Commerce, what should it be?

PLUG BOOK:

The Civilization of Commerce: Invisible Hands and the Pursuit of Happiness

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION:

An argument that free markets are a civilizational achievement that enable prosperity, cooperation, liberty, justice, and human flourishing—and that preserving them requires more than sound economic policy.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Samuel Gregg is president of the American Institute for Economic Research and an award-winning author of seventeen books. His new book, The Civilization of Commerce, draws on Adam Smith and F. A. Hayek to argue that free markets are about much more than money: they are essential to freedom, opportunity, and human flourishing.

BIO:

Samuel Gregg is president of the American Institute for Economic Research. An award-winning author of seventeen books, including The Next American Economy, he has written hundreds of articles and essays on economics, economic history, and political economy. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, National Review, City Journal, The Spectator, Fox Business, and other outlets. He is a frequent guest on broadcast media and podcasts.

MEDIA ASSETS & HYPERLINKS:

AMAZON BOOK PAGE: https://www.amazon.com/Civilization-Commerce-Invisible-Pursuit-Happiness/dp/1641775300/

BOOK DESCRIPTION: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=9LSvEQAAQBAJ

AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH:

https://www.aier.org/

ENCOUNTER BOOKS:

https://www.encounterbooks.com/

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

THE BOY WHO NEVER STOPPED DREAMING

WATCH DJ ON FOX NEWS

PUBLIUS PR | FEATURED INTERVIEW: COAUTHOR JARRED WEISFELD

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Jarred Weisfeld, coauthor of Special Agent DJ with Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel, is an entertainment producer, literary representative, and publishing professional available to tell the extraordinary story behind the new children’s book. With DJ’s health and treatment needs taking priority, Weisfeld is the primary guest for interviews; participation by DJ or his family is not assumed.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

At six years old, Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel faced a devastating brain-cancer diagnosis. But he held on to a dream: becoming a police officer. After seeing officers help his family during a hurricane, DJ came to see the badge as a symbol of protection, kindness, and hope.

What followed became a remarkable national story. Law-enforcement agencies across the country welcomed DJ as an honorary member of their teams. Then, in March 2025, President Donald Trump introduced DJ during an address to Congress and asked the Secret Service director to make him an honorary agent, prompting an emotional standing ovation.

Now that story is being told for young readers in Special Agent DJ, a 32-page illustrated book coauthored by DJ and Jarred Weisfeld. It is a story about an enormous dream, the compassion of first responders, and a child whose determination reached the highest levels of American government.

Weisfeld brings a distinctive perspective as a working entertainment producer and literary professional who helped turn DJ’s journey into a book that families, classrooms, and law-enforcement communities can share. He can discuss how the project came together, what the book emphasizes, and why the story resonates beyond any political moment.

The booking proposition is straightforward: a powerful human-interest interview with the coauthor who can carry the story while respecting DJ’s medical needs and privacy. The focus is not on asking a seriously ill child to relive his ordeal; it is on celebrating his ambition, the people who rallied around him, and the lasting message of courage and kindness.

WATCH DJ ON FOX NEWS RECENTLY HERE…

WHY BOOK JARRED WEISFELD NOW?

· Special Agent DJ is a new 2026 children’s book, with a verified hardcover publisher listing dated September 29.

· The story has a nationally recognizable moment: DJ’s honorary Secret Service appointment during the president’s 2025 congressional address.

· Weisfeld can speak as a credited coauthor and publishing professional without making DJ’s appearance a condition of booking.

· The interview fits national news, local television, morning shows, parenting, children’s books, first-responder programs, faith and inspirational podcasts.

· The book opens a broader discussion about childhood dreams, public service, kindness, and how adults can support children through adversity.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS HE CAN OWN

1. THE LITTLE BOY WHO DREAMED OF A BADGE

How a family’s experience with police during a hurricane inspired DJ’s lifelong goal.

2. THE MOMENT AMERICA MET SPECIAL AGENT DJ

What the March 2025 congressional tribute meant to DJ’s story and the country.

3. HOW A NATIONAL STORY BECAME A CHILDREN’S BOOK

The creative decisions behind adapting a difficult real-life journey for young readers.

4. WHY FIRST RESPONDERS EMBRACED DJ

The bond between DJ and police departments and what it says about community service.

5. COURAGE, KINDNESS, AND A CHILD’S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

What parents, teachers, and families can take from DJ’s determination without minimizing his health challenges.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR JARRED WEISFELD

How did you first learn about DJ Daniel, and what made you believe his story belonged in a children’s book?

What did DJ most want young readers to understand about police officers?

How did the hurricane experience shape the opening of the book?

What was your approach to telling a child’s story of courage without defining him by his illness?

What did you learn about DJ’s personality and sense of purpose through this collaboration?

How did the extraordinary support of law-enforcement agencies change the direction of his story?

What was your reaction when DJ was made an honorary Secret Service agent during the address to Congress?

How did you decide what to include and leave out in just 32 pages?

Why is this a book for families with very different political views?

What do you hope police officers and first responders feel when they read it?

What do you hope a child dealing with a serious illness takes away from DJ’s story?

How can adults encourage a child’s dreams while being realistic and compassionate about medical limitations?

How has your background in television and publishing shaped the way you tell this story?

What does DJ’s story teach about the power of small acts of kindness?

What is the best way for audiences to support DJ and his family while respecting their privacy?

If a parent reads Special Agent DJ to a child tonight, what conversation do you hope follows?

PLUG BOOK

Special Agent DJ — by Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel and Jarred Weisfeld.

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION

An uplifting illustrated children’s book about a boy whose dream of joining law enforcement, extraordinary courage, and the kindness of officers nationwide culminated in an unforgettable presidential tribute.

ON-AIR INTRO — JARRED WEISFELD

Our guest is Jarred Weisfeld, an entertainment producer, literary representative, and coauthor of Special Agent DJ. The new children’s book tells the story of Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel, the young cancer patient whose dream of becoming a police officer inspired departments across the country and led to an honorary Secret Service appointment during President Trump’s 2025 address to Congress. Jarred joins us to share the story behind the book and the extraordinary young person at its heart.

BIO — JARRED WEISFELD

Jarred Weisfeld is an entertainment producer, literary representative, and publishing professional. According to his Objective Entertainment biography, he began at VH1, where he developed a project with rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard and subsequently became his manager. He later created and produced programming for VH1, MTV, Spike TV, and Nickelodeon, and worked on projects including Gone Too Soon, Charlie Sheen: Hollywood Blackbook, and Chasing Gaga. His work has also included literary representation and nonfiction publishing. He is a graduate of Lynn University. Weisfeld is the credited coauthor, with Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel, of Special Agent DJ.

ABOUT DJ — FOR PRODUCER CONTEXT

Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel was diagnosed with brain cancer as a young child. His ambition to join law enforcement inspired honorary appointments with agencies around the country. During President Trump’s March 4, 2025 address to Congress, he was made an honorary U.S. Secret Service agent. His health circumstances require sensitivity: the primary interview offer is Jarred Weisfeld, and no live appearance, medical update, or personal disclosure from DJ should be presumed.

MEDIA ASSETS & CLICKABLE LINKS

Official publisher / hardcover: https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/Special-Agent-DJ/Devarjaye-DJ-Daniel/9798880925896

Jarred Weisfeld publisher profile: https://www.simonandschuster.biz/authors/Jarred-Weisfeld/271080401

Amazon book listing: https://www.amazon.com/Special-Agent-DJ-Devarjaye-Daniel/dp/B0H3BPHRXN

Objective Entertainment biography:

https://www.objectiveent.com/?id=1&page=content

Reuters coverage of DJ’s Secret Service honor: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-makes-13-year-old-cancer-survivor-secret-service-agent-during-speech-2025-03-05/

ABC Good Morning America coverage: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/trump-makes-13-year-dj-daniels-dream-true-119459614

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY HERE:

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Hannah Puder, producer and director of Operation Arnon: A Story of Hope and Sacrifice.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com,

Operation Arnon reveals the gripping inside story of a daring, high-stakes IDF rescue mission to free four hostages from Hamas in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. Through harrowing firsthand accounts, the film explores the extraordinary courage and sacrifice that prove hope can endure, even in the darkest of moments.

On June 8, 2024, Israeli special forces executed a daring daylight raid deep into Hamas-controlled territory in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. In a meticulously planned mission involving precise intelligence, simultaneous assaults on multiple buildings where hostages were held by Hamas in civilian homes, and extraction under intense enemy fire, the IDF successfully rescued four hostages: Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv — all kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, Nova Music Festival massacre.

The operation, originally codenamed “Seeds of Summer,” was renamed Operation Arnon in honor of Chief Inspector Arnon Zmora of the elite Yamam counterterrorism unit, who was fatally wounded while leading the breaching force to free three of the hostages. His sacrifice, alongside the heroism of commanders, intelligence officers, and the rescue teams, underscores the extraordinary risks taken to bring innocents home.

From Palladium Pictures, this powerful documentary features rare firsthand accounts from Israeli commanders and intelligence officials, emotional interviews with Arnon Zmora’s family, and a gripping reconstruction of the planning, execution, and chaotic firefight that ensued as Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters swarmed the area. It also addresses the international controversy and debates surrounding the raid.

The film is the latest release in Palladium Pictures’ new slate of original documentaries and is now premiering on RealClearPolitics.

This is a story of courage, sacrifice, precision, and the human cost of rescuing hostages from a terrorist organization that uses civilians as shields. In an era of ongoing global conflict and hostage crises, Operation Arnon offers viewers an unfiltered look inside one of Israel’s most complex special operations.

PLUG DOCUMENTARY: Operation Arnon: A Story of Hope and Sacrifice

BIO: Hannah Puder is a media professional with over a decade of experience in the film industry. As a producer, she has worked on feature documentaries and numerous short-form documentaries, while also producing commercials in the DMV area for the past eight years. Hannah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Communications and a Master’s degree in Business Law from Regent University.

ABOUT Palladium Pictures incubator:

Michael Pack has launched a documentary incubator through Palladium Pictures designed to train and fund emerging filmmakers who operate outside the documentary industry’s prevailing liberal orthodoxy. The program selects a small cohort of proven but early-career directors and provides them with mentorship, hands-on development guidance, and a $30,000 production budget to create short, narrative-driven documentaries (15–25 minutes).

FIND THE INCUBATOR WEBSITE HERE:

FIND HANNAH’s X HERE:

WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com,

Netanyahu confirms that flydubai pilot conducted stabbing, commends passengers’ heroism…

‘We’re in charge of the flight now’: Passenger describes fight for flydubai cabin

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Rabbi Michael Barclay is the host of the radio show and podcast “The Rabbi’s Table: Dialogue Not Debate” on CRN Digital Talk Radio, where he leads bold conversations on religion, freedom, Israel, America, and today’s most pressing cultural issues.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

While other Israeli passengers fought the attacker near the cockpit, he was trying to get two additional pilots to move. The aircraft was diving, he said. The men who could fly it had frozen.

“I had to shake them to get them to move to the front and take control of the plane, because it was diving.”

The Israeli passenger described those moments to me during several hours of WhatsApp correspondence on Wednesday. He was still in Saudi Arabia, where his flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv had made an emergency landing. By his account, he had been part of the group that intervened at the front of the aircraft.

He began with a pilot attacking another pilot. There was a small knife, he said, and repeated stabbing. The attacker was trying to force the wounded man out of the cockpit. The wounded pilot was resisting.

I asked how the cockpit door had opened. He said the attacker was trying to push the other pilot out, apparently to take control alone. Israeli passengers sitting near the front rushed toward the struggle.

PLUG PODCAST: The Rabbi’s Table

ABOUT SHOW: What happens when faith takes on politics… culture… and the headlines everyone else is afraid to touch? Find out on The Rabbi’s Table with Rabbi Michael Barclay on CRN Digital Talk Radio.

No safe talking points. No scripted opinions. Just bold conversations about religion, freedom, Israel, America, and the issues dividing the world today.

If you’re tired of polite silence and ready for real debate, pull up a chair.

The Rabbi’s Table with Rabbi Michael Barclay—where tradition speaks, truth challenges, and nothing is off the table.

BIO: Rabbi Michael Barclay is the host of the new radio show and podcast “The Rabbi’s Table: Dialogue Not Debate,” airing on CRN Digital Talk Radio. The program features bold, unscripted conversations about religion, freedom, Israel, America, and the cultural and political issues shaping today’s world.

Rabbi Barclay is also a widely read columnist and Torah commentator. His work appears regularly in PJ Media, The Jewish Journal, and numerous other periodicals including The Jewish Forward, The Jewish Times, and The Acorn, where he writes on Judaism, ethics, politics, and culture.

He is the author of Sacred Relationships: Biblical Wisdom for Deepening Our Lives Together (Liturgical Press, 2013), a biblical commentary endorsed by leaders across multiple faith traditions—including rabbis, ministers, bishops, representatives of the Vatican, and the Chancellor of Oxford.

Rabbi Barclay previously served as a Professor of Theology at Loyola Marymount University and lectures internationally on Judaism, cross-cultural mysticism, and Jewish perspectives on politics and ethics.

In 2013, he founded a groundbreaking synagogue model: the first non-Orthodox synagogue in the United States with no membership dues. There is no cost for High Holiday services, classes, lifecycle events, or Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation. The full-service temple operates entirely on donations and grants and has become the largest provider of free High Holiday services in the nation. Notably, it was also the only synagogue in California that never closed and never restricted live attendance during the COVID pandemic.

This innovative model has inspired synagogues across the country to adopt similar “no-dues” structures, creating a growing national movement.

Rabbi Barclay has also served as a peak performance coach for elite performers and leaders—including Oscar and Emmy Award winners, NCAA athletes, corporate CEOs, and even professional sports organizations such as the Chicago White Sox. He is frequently invited around the world to lecture, teach, and officiate life-cycle events.

He is the recipient of the Bnai Zion Distinguished Humanitarian Award for his work in community leadership and interfaith dialogue.

FIND HIS WEBSITE HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

A Mike Holman Novel

By Scott McKay

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Scott McKay, author of The Necessary Men, the fourth novel in his satirical Mike Holman political-thriller series. McKay is a political writer, editor, publisher, and novelist. He is a contributing editor at The American Spectator, publisher of The Hayride.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

The Necessary Men takes political satire out of Washington and drops it ninety miles off the Florida coast. Scott McKay’s newest Mike Holman novel imagines a modern-day crisis in Cuba and games out what McKay describes as a potential “friendly invasion” - blending geopolitical intrigue, regime collapse, organized crime, independent media, private power, and sharply drawn political comedy.

At the center is Mike Holman, an independent journalist, podcaster, and professional maker-of-enemies who has built a career asking questions other people would rather leave alone. After adventures involving a South American war, imprisonment in Britain, and a revolution in American media and Hollywood, Holman is pulled into another audacious project. This time, the target is Cuba.

The novel opens with Cuba under severe economic and political strain and explores a fictional scenario in which the island’s communist regime, criminal interests, Washington policymakers, Cuban exiles, billionaires, and unconventional operators collide over what comes next. Underneath the satire is a serious question: If an authoritarian regime finally reaches the end of the road, who are the necessary men capable of building what comes after it?

WHY BOOK HIM NOW?

· The novel is set against contemporary headlines and imagines a political transition in Cuba rather than treating the island as a Cold War relic.

· The book gives hosts an unusual way to discuss Cuba, communism, organized crime, U.S. foreign policy, regime change, and the Cuban-American experience through political fiction.

· The Necessary Men is being serialized by The American Spectator in ten installments before the full book’s September 26, 2026 release.

· McKay is both a political commentator and novelist, allowing an interview to move naturally between current events and the fictional world he has constructed.

· The Mike Holman series uses satire and thrillers to explore independent media, political power, censorship, capitalism, Hollywood, foreign policy, and institutional failure.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS HE CAN OWN:

1. What Would a Post-Communist Cuba Actually Look Like?

Beyond slogans about regime change, who governs, who keeps order, what happens to the economy, and how does a country rebuild institutions after decades of communist rule?

2. Why Cuba Still Matters to America

Why an island ninety miles from Florida remains geopolitically significant - and why Americans may underestimate what instability there could mean.

3. Can Political Fiction Tell Truths Political Journalism Can’t?

How satire and fiction allow writers to test scenarios, expose absurdities, and push ideas further than conventional commentary.

4. The Rise of the Independent Media Antihero

Why Mike Holman - journalist, podcaster, entrepreneur, and relentless troublemaker - reflects the collapse of old media gatekeepers and the rise of alternative media power.

5. Who Are the ‘Necessary Men’?

What happens when functioning institutions disappear and consequential events depend on imperfect people willing to make decisions, take risks, and accept responsibility.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR SCOTT McKAY:

Why Cuba, and why did you decide this was the moment to send Mike Holman there?

You have described the novel as gaming out a “friendly invasion” of Cuba. What does that mean inside the world of the book?

How much of the novel is deliberately ripped from today’s headlines, and where does the fiction take over?

What surprised you most when you began researching present-day Cuba?

Political thrillers usually take themselves very seriously. Why did you lean harder into satire and a sardonic style with this book?

Mike Holman is an independent journalist and podcaster who keeps finding himself inside stories the establishment would rather avoid. How much does that character reflect your own view of modern media?

Why call the book The Necessary Men? Who qualifies as a ‘necessary man’ when institutions stop functioning?

Do you see fiction as a way to make political arguments that would be less effective in an op-ed?

If the Cuban regime actually collapsed tomorrow, what part of your fictional scenario do you think might suddenly look less fictional?

What do you want readers who know almost nothing about Cuba to understand by the time they finish the novel?

PLUG BOOK: The Necessary Men: A Mike Holman Novel

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION: A contemporary satirical political thriller that imagines a crisis and potential political transition in Cuba, placing independent journalist Mike Holman in the middle of a collision among communist power, criminal interests, Washington, Cuban exiles, and unconventional people willing to determine what comes next.

ON-AIR INTRO: SCOTT McKAY

Scott McKay is a political writer, editor, publisher, and novelist. He is a contributing editor at The American Spectator, publisher of The Hayride, and author of the Mike Holman series of satirical political thrillers. His newest novel, The Necessary Men, imagines a high-stakes political crisis in Cuba and asks what happens when the old order collapses and somebody has to build what comes next.

BIO: SCOTT McKAY

Scott McKay is a contributing editor at The American Spectator and publisher of The Hayride, which covers Louisiana and national politics, as well as RVIVR.com, a national political news aggregation and opinion site. He is the author of political nonfiction including The Revivalist Manifesto: How Patriots Can Win the Next American Era and Racism, Revenge and Ruin: It’s All Obama. His fiction includes the Tales of Ardenia novels and the Mike Holman series. The Necessary Men is the fourth Mike Holman novel.

MEDIA ASSETS & HYPERLINKS:

OFFICIAL MIKE HOLMAN WEBSITE: MikeHolman.com

THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR - MIKE HOLMAN NOVELS: Mike Holman Novels at The American Spectator

THE NECESSARY MEN - EPISODE 1: Nothing Left to Rent

THE HAYRIDE: TheHayride.com

AMAZON BOOK PAGE: The Necessary Men on Amazon

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

How the NGO-Administrative Complex Seized Power — And How to Get It Back

By Jennica Pounds (@DataRepublican) & Joshua Lisec

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST ONE: Jennica Pounds, the software engineer and data analyst known online as @DataRepublican, is coauthor of Unelected, a new book examining federal grants, NGOs, charitable foundations, international aid, administrative power, and what the authors call the “NGO-Administrative Complex.” Pounds built DataRepublican.com to make federal-award data searchable and to map relationships among government agencies, nonprofits, contractors, and funding networks.

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST TWO: Joshua Lisec is a bestselling author whose work focuses on turning expert research and arguments into narrative nonfiction. In Unelected, Passage Publishing credits Lisec with bringing a narrative framework to Pounds’s data-driven research.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

Americans vote for presidents and members of Congress. But Jennica Pounds asks a different question: How much of government policy and taxpayer spending is actually shaped by institutions and networks that voters never directly elect?

In Unelected, Pounds and New York Times bestselling author Joshua Lisec investigate what they call the “NGO-Administrative Complex” — the dense ecosystem of federal departments, nonprofits, NGOs, charitable foundations, contractors, grant recipients, and policy networks that can move enormous sums of public money while remaining largely invisible to ordinary taxpayers.

The book grew out of Pounds’s work as @DataRepublican. A software engineer and data analyst, she built open-source tools that allow users to search federal award descriptions and trace relationships among grants and organizations. Her publisher says that work provided public access to billions of dollars in federal grants and helped drive a national debate about government waste and accountability.

Unelected argues that the story is bigger than individual grants or organizations. The authors trace the intellectual roots of what they call “supranationalism” and contend that a self-reinforcing system of government agencies and nongovernmental institutions can acquire influence without the direct electoral accountability attached to elected office.

The book’s claims are deliberately sweeping and politically contentious. That is precisely what makes Pounds a strong interview: she can show audiences the underlying data, explain how her tools work, distinguish documented funding relationships from interpretation, and answer critics who dispute the conclusions she draws from those networks.

The central media question is simple: If taxpayer money is flowing through layers of agencies, nonprofits, NGOs, and contractors, how can an ordinary American follow the money — and who is ultimately accountable for what that money does?

WHY BOOK HER NOW?

· Pounds rose to national prominence by turning complex federal-grant data into searchable public tools that ordinary citizens can use.

· The book connects government spending, NGOs, foreign aid, administrative power, philanthropy, and taxpayer accountability — subjects that cut across politics, technology, and public policy.

· Her background as a software engineer gives producers a different kind of political guest: someone whose public profile began with databases, network maps, and open-source analysis rather than elected office or traditional punditry.

· The interview naturally allows skeptical questioning: what the data proves, what it merely suggests, where interpretation begins, and how transparency reforms could be designed without undermining legitimate nonprofit work.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS SHE CAN OWN:

1. FOLLOW THE MONEY: HOW DO FEDERAL GRANTS ACTUALLY MOVE?

How federal-award databases work, why the money trail can be difficult for ordinary citizens to follow, and how Pounds built tools to make those relationships more visible.

2. WHAT IS THE “NGO-ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLEX”?

The authors’ term for the overlapping system of agencies, nonprofits, foundations, contractors, and policy organizations that they argue can wield substantial influence without direct electoral accountability.

3. WHAT DOES THE DATA PROVE — AND WHAT DOES IT NOT PROVE?

A crucial conversation about the difference between documented financial relationships, network analysis, correlation, institutional influence, and claims about motive or coordination.

4. WHY DOES “SUPRANATIONALISM” MATTER TO A TAXPAYER?

The book’s historical and philosophical argument that political authority can migrate upward or outward from national voters into transnational institutions and nongovernmental networks.

5. HOW DO YOU MAKE GOVERNMENT SPENDING LEGIBLE TO ORDINARY PEOPLE?

What transparency tools, disclosure rules, auditing practices, grant reforms, and citizen-accessible databases could make public spending easier to scrutinize.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR JENNICA POUNDS:

Start with the basics: what did you see in federal spending data that made you believe ordinary Americans were missing a much bigger story?

What exactly is DataRepublican.com, and what can someone with no data-analysis background actually do with it?

You use the phrase “NGO-Administrative Complex.” What institutions are you including in that term?

How much federal money can move through NGOs, nonprofits, contractors, and foundations before the average taxpayer loses sight of where it ultimately goes?

What is the strongest example in the book where the raw data changed your own understanding of how government works?

Your publisher describes your work as “receipt-backed analysis.” What counts as a receipt in your methodology?

How do you distinguish a legitimate funding relationship from evidence of improper influence or coordination?

Critics may look at a network map and say that two organizations being connected does not prove wrongdoing. Where do you agree with that criticism?

What safeguards do you use to prevent a data visualization from implying more than the underlying records establish?

Why does the book go all the way back to the Treaty of Westphalia and the history of supranationalism?

What do you mean when you argue that power can become “everyone and no one” at the same time?

How does foreign aid fit into the larger argument of Unelected?

Are NGOs inherently a problem in your view, or is the problem opacity, incentives, government dependence, or lack of accountability?

What role did USAID play in the research that first brought your work national attention?

How much of the system you criticize was built under Democratic administrations, and how much under Republican administrations?

If a new administration cuts one program, does the larger network simply adapt and move elsewhere?

What reforms would make federal grants and NGO relationships easier for taxpayers to understand in real time?

Should every federal dollar be traceable through a public-facing database from appropriation to final recipient?

You are a software engineer, not a traditional political reporter. Did that outsider status help you see patterns insiders had normalized?

What do you want a skeptical reader — someone who disagrees with your politics or conclusions — to take away from Unelected?

PLUG BOOK:

Unelected: How the NGO-Administrative Complex Seized Power — And How to Get It Back

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION:

A data-driven investigation in which Jennica Pounds and Joshua Lisec map federal grants and institutional networks and argue that an increasingly powerful ecosystem of agencies, NGOs, nonprofits, foundations, and other unelected institutions has accumulated influence with too little public visibility and accountability.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Jennica Pounds is a software engineer and data analyst best known online as @DataRepublican. She built a public data platform that lets users search federal award descriptions and map relationships among government grants, nonprofits, and other organizations. Her new book, Unelected, coauthored with Joshua Lisec, examines what they call the NGO-Administrative Complex and asks a basic accountability question: when billions of taxpayer dollars move through institutions voters never directly elect, who is actually responsible for how that money is used?

BIO: JENNICA POUNDS

Jennica Pounds is a software engineer and data analyst best known as @DataRepublican. Passage Publishing describes her as a former Big Tech engineer and Utah small-business owner who rose to public prominence in 2025 after her federal-spending research drew national attention. She created public-facing tools that make federal grants searchable and visualize relationships among organizations receiving or moving government funds.

Her work has made her a prominent and controversial figure in debates over federal spending, NGOs, government accountability, and open-source research. Pounds is deaf and has discussed using technology and AI-assisted tools as part of her research and public communication. In Unelected, she brings that data-analysis background to a broader historical and institutional argument about how unelected networks acquire and exercise power.

ABOUT COAUTHOR JOSHUA LISEC

Joshua Lisec is a bestselling author and professional ghostwriter whose work focuses on turning expert research and arguments into narrative nonfiction. In Unelected, Passage Publishing credits Lisec with bringing a narrative framework to Pounds’s data-driven research.

MEDIA ASSETS & HYPERLINKS:

OFFICIAL BOOK PAGE: Unelected — Passage Publishing

JENNICA POUNDS AUTHOR PAGE: Jennica Pounds (@DataRepublican)

DATAREPUBLICAN: DataRepublican.com

X: @DataRepublican

AMAZON: Unelected on Amazon

JOSHUA LISEC: Joshua Lisec

JOSHUA LISEC ON X: @JoshuaLisec

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com

Democrats call on Trump to establish agreement with Xi Jinping to slow AI development

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Lloyd Chapman, is Founder and President of the American Small Business League which is a watchdog group that protects the middle class and mom & pop businesses from economic abuse both foreign and domestic.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

Democratic senators are pushing President Donald Trump to establish an agreement with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to mutually slow or pause artificial intelligence development.

A group of 17 senators sent a letter, shared exclusively with POLITICO, to Trump Wednesday ahead of his long-awaited summit with Xi. Their demands represent the latest call from industry and Washington policymakers for an accord between the U.S. and China on AI.

“As you prepare for the upcoming summit, we urge you to engage with President Xi directly to discuss efforts to avoid the potential harms of this technology for the safety and benefit of the world,” the letter, led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), states.

Some AI accelerationists argue the threat of the U.S. losing the AI race to China is an existential risk that could jeopardize America’s superpower status. But Democratic lawmakers, including those hawkish on China, argue both countries have an interest in preventing advanced AI models from causing harm.

READ MORE HERE:

BIO: Lloyd Chapman, founded the American Small Business League (ASBL) in 2004, with a goal of stopping the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations.

Mr. Chapman began his career working for legendary Texas political leader Bob Bullock. He spent eight years in the Texas Controller’s office, before moving to California in 1986 to enter the computer industry. It was at this time that he first became aware of major problems in federal small business contracting programs, and soon became an advocate for small technology firms.

His latest project, Don’t Cheat Woman, is a project of the American Small Business League.

FIND HIS X HERE:

FIND HIS PERSONAL WEBSITE HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

The Ten Kings Prophecy & Bible’s Revelation of Coming Final Days

By Pastor Paul Begley & Troy Anderson

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUESTS: Pastor Paul Begley and Troy Anderson, bestselling coauthors of Revelation 911, return with Trump vs. the Beast, a Humanix Books release interpreting geopolitics, artificial intelligence, digital control, global institutions, Israel, revival, and Donald Trump through the authors’ biblical-prophecy framework.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

Is today’s geopolitical chaos simply another turbulent chapter in history — or, as Pastor Paul Begley and investigative journalist Troy Anderson argue, are world events increasingly resembling the prophetic warnings described in Daniel and Revelation?

Trump vs. the Beast is the sequel to Revelation 911. The authors describe it not as conventional political analysis but as a prophetic analysis and investigative exposé connecting current events with their interpretation of biblical End Times prophecy.

At the center is Revelation’s enigmatic ‘Ten Kings’ prophecy. Begley and Anderson organize their investigation around ten spheres of power — drugs, media, education, food, transportation, military, government, energy, banking, and religion — and examine how centralized political, technological, economic, and cultural systems could fit what they describe as an emerging ‘beast system.’

The book also tackles artificial intelligence, digital currencies, surveillance, transhumanism, censorship, the Disclosure movement and alleged alien deception, Israel and Jerusalem, global instability, doomsday bunkers, and speculation surrounding 2027–2030.

Donald Trump occupies a provocative place in that framework. The authors explicitly state that they do not portray Trump as the Messiah; instead, they ask whether an unconventional political leader could function, in their theological interpretation, as a temporary restraining force against trends they associate with centralized global power.

But the authors insist this is not a book of fear. Their stated destination is hope: spiritual discernment, preparedness, prayer, revival, and what they call the Great Harvest Revival.

WHY BOOK THEM NOW?

· Trump vs. the Beast was released from Humanix Books.

· The book connects AI, surveillance, digital currencies, global power, Israel, war, sovereignty, religion, and political polarization to biblical prophecy.

· Begley brings the perspective of a pastor, evangelist, prophecy broadcaster, and host of The Coming Apocalypse; Anderson brings an investigative-journalism and bestselling-author background.

· The book follows their bestseller Revelation 911 and fits Christian, prophecy, political-talk, technology, culture, and long-form podcast audiences.

· Its stated message emphasizes spiritual preparedness and revival rather than fear.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS THEY CAN OWN:

1. WHAT ARE THE ‘TEN KINGS’ — AND WHY DO THEY MATTER NOW?

How the authors interpret the imagery in Daniel and Revelation and organize modern concentrations of power into ten sectors.

2. COULD AI BECOME THE ‘IMAGE OF THE BEAST’?

Why they connect AI, surveillance, digital identity, digital currencies, and centralized technology with biblical warnings about future control.

3. WHY IS DONALD TRUMP IN AN END-TIMES PROPHECY BOOK?

Their theological argument that Trump is not a messianic figure, but may be understood as a political disruptor or restraining force within a larger spiritual conflict.

4. IS THE WORLD MOVING TOWARD CENTRALIZED GLOBAL CONTROL?

The book’s concerns involving global institutions, sovereignty, banking, media, technology, censorship, and the authors’ concept of an emerging beast system.

5. WHY THEIR END-TIMES MESSAGE ENDS WITH REVIVAL, NOT FEAR

The Great Harvest Revival, spiritual preparedness, prayer, discernment, and why the authors say Christians should respond with action and hope.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR PASTOR PAUL BEGLEY & TROY ANDERSON:

What exactly do you mean by ‘the beast’?

Why did you decide the Ten Kings prophecy was the right framework for this sequel to Revelation 911?

You divide modern power into ten sectors. How did you arrive at those ten?

Where does artificial intelligence fit into your interpretation of Revelation?

Are digital currencies inherently dangerous, or is your concern how governments could use them?

Why is Donald Trump central enough to the argument that his name is in the title?

You explicitly say Trump is not the Messiah. What distinction are you making between political leadership and divine providence?

Critics will say you are retrofitting modern politics into ancient prophecy. How do you answer them?

What evidence would make you conclude that a contemporary event does not fit your prophetic framework?

Why is Israel still central to your understanding of End Times prophecy?

You discuss potential Antichrist candidates. What characteristics does Scripture actually require?

Why does the Disclosure movement and what you call alien deception belong in this book?

You examine elite doomsday bunkers and 2027–2030. What should readers — and should they not — infer from that?

How do you distinguish legitimate concern about concentrated global power from speculation that cannot be proven?

Why do you call this a book of hope when so much of its subject matter is apocalyptic?

What is the Great Harvest Revival, and what evidence do you see that it may be beginning?

If readers remember one message from Trump vs. the Beast, what should it be?

PLUG BOOK:

Trump vs. the Beast: The Ten Kings Prophecy & Bible’s Revelation of Coming Final Days

ON-AIR INTRO:

Pastor Paul Begley and Pulitzer Prize–nominated investigative journalist Troy Anderson are the bestselling coauthors of Revelation 911. Their new book, Trump vs. the Beast, examines artificial intelligence, digital control, global power, Israel, Donald Trump, the Antichrist, and the Ten Kings prophecy through a biblical End Times lens — while arguing that the Christian response should be faith, discernment, preparedness, and revival rather than fear.

BIO: PASTOR PAUL BEGLEY

Pastor Paul Begley is an evangelist and Bible-prophecy broadcaster who has held revivals across America and internationally. He hosts PaulBegley34 on YouTube and the weekly syndicated TV show The Coming Apocalypse. Begley and Troy Anderson are the bestselling authors of Revelation 911. He lives and works in the Orlando, Florida, metro area.

BIO: TROY ANDERSON

Troy Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize–nominated investigative journalist, six-time #1 bestselling author, founder and president of Inspire Literary Group, former executive editor of Charisma magazine and Charisma Media, speaker, and television and radio commentator. He founded Prophecy Investigators and Battle-Ready News and co-founded Revelation Watchers with Pastor Paul Begley.

INSIDE THE BOOK:

· The prophetic significance of contemporary world events

· AI, digital currencies, surveillance, and technocratic control

· The Ten Kings prophecy

· The Antichrist and potential candidates

· The Disclosure movement and alleged alien deception

· National sovereignty and global institutions

· Israel and Jerusalem

· Doomsday bunkers and 2027–2030 speculation

· The Great Harvest Revival

· Prayer, discernment, and spiritual preparedness

MEDIA ASSETS & HYPERLINKS:

PASTOR PAUL BEGLEY: PaulBegleyProphecy.org

TROY ANDERSON: TroyAnderson.us

INSPIRE LITERARY: InspireLiterary.com

PROPHECY INVESTIGATORS: ProphecyInvestigators.com

REVELATION WATCHERS: RevelationWatchers.com

BATTLE READY MINISTRIES: BattleReadyMinistries.org

HUMANIX BOOKS: HumanixBooks.com

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

BULLETPROOF: BLACKWEED

UNBREAKABLE HEROES FOR A BROKEN WORLD

Created by Michael Letts • Written by Redd Harvey

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Michael Letts, founder, president and CEO of InVest USA, longtime law-enforcement and first-responder advocate, police chaplain, State Constable in South Carolina, media commentator, and creator of Bulletproof: Blackweed,a new graphic-novel series that transforms three first responders into superheroes while celebrating courage, faith, sacrifice, service, and the battle between good and evil.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

Superman can fly. Batman has billions. Michael Letts believes America already has heroes walking its streets every day: the police officers, firefighters, and paramedics who run toward danger while everyone else is trying to escape it.

That idea is the foundation of Bulletproof: Blackweed. Created by Letts and written by Redd Harvey, the 51-page first issue follows Michael Stone and his team of unlikely heroes as they stand between innocent communities and forces that prey on them. Stone, Heart, and Flame confront hidden conspiracies and dangerous enemies while risking exposure of their secret powers.

But Bulletproof is not simply another superhero story. Its moral universe is deliberately built around protection, sacrifice, faith, courage, and unbreakable resolve. The series frames good and evil clearly and places first responders - people whose real-world professions require them to run toward emergencies - at the center of the heroic mythology.

For Letts, that mission is personal. Through InVest USA, the national nonprofit he founded, he has spent decades working to protect first responders, provide body armor to agencies and officers in need, advocate for law enforcement, and raise public awareness of the dangers and pressures facing the people who protect American communities.

Now Letts is taking that mission into popular culture. Bulletproof gives him a new way to reach children, families, schools, first-responder communities, and comic-book readers with a provocative question: At a moment when America is debating policing, public safety, recruitment, morale, and civic values, can storytelling help a new generation see first responders as heroes again?

WHY BOOK HIM NOW?

· Bulletproof: Blackweed was published in 2026, making this a new entertainment and culture story rather than a retrospective project.

· The comic arrives amid continuing national concern about police recruitment, retention, morale, public safety, and the relationship between first responders and the communities they serve.

· Letts brings more than a comic-book pitch: he has decades of firsthand involvement in law-enforcement support and first-responder advocacy through InVest USA.

· The project creates a family-friendly way to discuss courage, faith, service, sacrifice, good and evil, and why young people choose careers in police, fire, and emergency medicine.

· Letts is already a seasoned national media guest and host of The Michael Letts Show, making him comfortable in television, radio, and podcast formats.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS HE CAN OWN:

1. AMERICA HAS SUPERHEROES - WE JUST STOPPED CALLING THEM THAT

Why Letts believes police officers, firefighters, and paramedics deserve a larger place in American popular culture and why he chose first responders as the heroes of Bulletproof.

2. CAN A COMIC BOOK CHANGE HOW KIDS SEE FIRST RESPONDERS?

How storytelling, heroic archetypes, schools, families, and community engagement could help younger Americans understand what first responders actually do and why service matters.

3. FROM BULLETPROOF VESTS TO BULLETPROOF HEROES

How Letts’s decades-long work through InVest USA protecting real officers with body armor evolved into a fictional universe built around protecting the protectors.

4. WHY FAITH, COURAGE, AND GOOD VS. EVIL ARE BACK IN THE STORY

Why Bulletproof embraces an unapologetic moral framework in which courage, sacrifice, faith, duty, and protection are virtues rather than punchlines.

5. WHO WILL BE AMERICA’S NEXT GENERATION OF FIRST RESPONDERS?

What Letts sees happening to recruitment and morale in law enforcement and public safety, and whether culture can help inspire young people to consider careers in service.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR MICHAEL LETTS:

Michael, you have spent decades putting bulletproof vests on real police officers. When did you decide to put first responders into a superhero comic?

Why call the series Bulletproof?

Who are Michael Stone, Heart, and Flame, and why did you choose law enforcement, emergency medicine, and firefighting as the three pillars of the team?

The tagline is ‘Unbreakable Heroes for a Broken World.’ What do you think is broken about the world these characters are entering?

Are you trying to create a pro-police comic book, or something broader about service, sacrifice, and first responders generally?

Why make faith an explicit part of the heroes’ identity and resolve?

Comic books often thrive on moral ambiguity. Why did you want Bulletproof to be more direct about the battle between good and evil?

How much of Michael Stone is drawn from officers and first responders you’ve known personally?

You’ve said for years that America has to protect those who protect us. Is this comic the cultural version of that mission?

What do you think young Americans misunderstand most about police officers today?

Are recruitment and morale problems partly a cultural problem rather than simply a pay-and-benefits problem?

Could you see Bulletproof being used by school-resource officers or first responders as a way to start conversations with kids?

How do you make first responders heroic without pretending that every person wearing a badge or uniform is perfect?

What kinds of real-world threats or dilemmas do you want future issues to explore?

Why did you choose the name Blackweed for the first issue?

Is the ultimate goal entertainment, education, recruitment, cultural change - or all four?

If a 12-year-old finishes Bulletproof and wants to become a police officer, firefighter, or paramedic someday, would you consider that mission accomplished?

Where do you want the Bulletproof universe to go from here?

PLUG COMIC:

Bulletproof: Blackweed - First Issue

OFFICIAL SERIES DESCRIPTION:

Bulletproof follows Michael Stone and his team of unlikely heroes as they stand between innocent communities and the forces that prey on them. From hidden conspiracies to dangerous enemies with no regard for human life, Stone, Heart, and Flame face each new threat with courage, faith, and unbreakable resolve. The series is about protection, sacrifice, and the battle between good and evil - fought one mission, one city, and one soul at a time.

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION:

A first-responder superhero graphic novel in which Michael Stone, Heart, and Flame use extraordinary abilities, courage, faith, and unbreakable resolve to protect innocent communities from hidden conspiracies and dangerous enemies.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Michael Letts is the founder, president and CEO of InVest USA, a longtime law-enforcement and first-responder advocate, police chaplain, South Carolina State Constable, media commentator, and creator of the new graphic novel Bulletproof: Blackweed. After decades working to provide real first responders with life-saving body armor, Letts is taking that mission into popular culture with three new superheroes - a police officer, paramedic, and firefighter - built around courage, faith, sacrifice, and protecting innocent communities.

BIO:

Michael A. Letts is the Founder, President and CEO of InVest USA, a national grassroots nonprofit that partners with communities to provide body armor to first responders at no cost to the officer or agency. According to his official biography, more than 13,520 concealable and active-shooter vests had been distributed in the United States and internationally by June 2023.

Letts has more than three decades of law-enforcement experience and service. His current and past roles listed by his official biography include Chaplain at the Columbia Police Department, State Constable for South Carolina, Chaplain at the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, former Executive Pastor at Hope Baptist Church, and service involving regional government, airport, and counterterrorism bodies.

He has received numerous civic honors, including South Carolina’s Order of the Palmetto. Letts is also a frequent television, radio, and podcast guest on law enforcement, public safety, officer protection, and national issues, and hosts The Michael Letts Show. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, Karen.

ABOUT InVEST USA:

InVest USA is a national nonprofit whose mission is to ‘Protect Those Who Protect Us.’ The organization works with grassroots communities to provide body armor to first responders at no cost to officers or agencies. Its work has expanded beyond protective equipment to public advocacy, first-responder awareness, education, and initiatives focused on the needs and sacrifices of law-enforcement and public-safety personnel.

MEDIA ASSETS & HYPERLINKS:

AMAZON: Bulletproof: Blackweed

MICHAEL LETTS OFFICIAL WEBSITE: MichaelLetts.us

MICHAEL LETTS BIO: About Michael Letts

InVEST USA: InVestUSA.org

InVEST USA - MICHAEL LETTS BIO: Founder, President & CEO

MICHAEL LETTS MEDIA APPEARANCES: InVest USA Media & Press

THE MICHAEL LETTS SHOW: Apple Podcasts

INSTAGRAM: @InvestUSA

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

Who’s Actually Controlling the Votes Behind Your 401(k)?

Dr. Siri Terjesen • Florida Atlantic University Responds

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Dr. Siri Terjesen, Florida Atlantic University professor and author of a new Club for Growth Foundation white paper examining the influence of proxy advisory firms over shareholder voting, the transparency and accountability of the proxy-advisory system, foreign-linked interests within that ecosystem, and potential market-based and government reforms.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

More than 100 million Americans have retirement savings tied to the market. But when major votes are cast inside corporate America, are those Americans actually calling the shots?

A new report from the Club for Growth Foundation and Florida Atlantic University’s Dr. Siri Terjesen raises questions about how much influence a small group of proxy advisory firms has amassed over U.S. companies — and, critically, the foreign interests behind parts of that system.

Proxy advisers make recommendations to institutional investors on consequential shareholder votes. The report argues that those recommendations can be followed with insufficient independent scrutiny, potentially concentrating substantial influence over corporate governance in the hands of a relatively small number of outside players while ordinary pensioners and 401(k) holders have little visibility into who is shaping those recommendations or whose interests they ultimately serve.

The paper also examines concerns about foreign-linked ownership and capital within the proxy-advisory ecosystem and asks whether outside interests can indirectly influence decisions inside major American companies.

The bigger question is straightforward: Who is really voting America’s retirement savings? If millions of Americans are the ultimate economic owners of pension and retirement assets, how much influence do they actually have over the corporate votes cast with their money — and how accountable are the intermediaries making or following those recommendations?

Terjesen’s report does not stop at diagnosis. It outlines potential responses involving the SEC and executive branch, Congress, state attorneys general, institutional investors, and market-based reforms designed to increase transparency, accountability, competition, and investor control.

WHY BOOK HER NOW?

· More than 100 million Americans have retirement savings tied to the market, making proxy voting relevant to a vast number of households.

· The report translates an obscure corporate-governance system into a simple consumer question: Who is actually exercising influence with the money in your 401(k) or pension?

· It raises questions about concentrated influence, transparency, accountability, and foreign-linked interests within the proxy-advisory ecosystem.

· The issue reaches beyond Wall Street into retirement security, corporate governance, shareholder rights, national economic interests, and the responsibilities of institutional investors.

· Terjesen offers potential policy and market-based solutions, giving producers a forward-looking interview rather than simply another critique of the financial system.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS SHE CAN OWN:

1. WHO IS REALLY VOTING YOUR 401(k)?

How retirement assets are voted through institutional intermediaries, where proxy advisers enter the process, and why ultimate investors may have far less visibility into major corporate votes than they realize.

2. HOW DID PROXY ADVISERS BECOME SO INFLUENTIAL?

Why institutional investors rely on proxy-advisory recommendations, how concentrated the industry has become, and what the report argues about recommendations being followed without enough independent analysis.

3. WHAT FOREIGN INTERESTS ARE INSIDE THE PROXY-VOTING SYSTEM?

The report’s concerns about foreign-linked ownership and capital within parts of the proxy-advisory ecosystem and why those connections deserve greater scrutiny and transparency.

4. ARE RETIREMENT SAVERS LOSING THEIR VOICE IN CORPORATE AMERICA?

Whether the preferences of pension beneficiaries and 401(k) investors are adequately reflected when large institutions vote shares on their behalf.

5. WHAT CAN WASHINGTON — AND THE MARKET — DO ABOUT IT?

Potential reforms involving the SEC, executive branch, Congress, state attorneys general, institutional investors, transparency requirements, competition, and market-based changes.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR DR. SIRI TERJESEN:

Start with the simplest version: I have money in a 401(k). Who is actually voting the shares connected to my retirement savings?

What exactly is a proxy advisory firm, and why should an ordinary investor care what one does?

How much influence can a proxy adviser have over the way major institutional investors vote?

Your report argues that recommendations can increasingly be followed on autopilot. What does that mean in practice?

How concentrated is the proxy-advisory business, and why does concentration matter?

Who is accountable when a proxy recommendation influences a major corporate decision but the underlying investors never knew the recommendation existed?

Your report raises concerns about foreign-linked interests in this ecosystem. What specifically should American investors understand about those connections?

Are you arguing that foreign interests are directly controlling American companies, or that the current system creates channels of influence that deserve greater transparency?

Do pension funds and asset managers have a responsibility to independently evaluate these recommendations rather than simply relying on outside advisers?

How much do ordinary retirement savers currently know about how their shares are voted?

Could technology eventually allow individual 401(k) investors to express their own voting preferences more directly?

What role should the SEC play in increasing transparency and accountability?

What reforms would require congressional action?

Why do state attorneys general have a role in what sounds like a Wall Street and federal regulatory issue?

What can institutional investors do voluntarily without waiting for Washington?

How do you reform this system without creating another layer of regulation that simply makes investing more expensive?

If you could change one thing about proxy voting tomorrow morning, what would it be?

After writing this report, who do you believe ultimately has too much power — proxy advisers, asset managers, activists, or the system connecting all three?

REPORT / WHITE PAPER:

Restoring Balance: Transparency, Accountability, and Market-Based Reforms to Curb Proxy Advisor and Activist Overreach

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION:

A new corporate-governance report examining the influence of proxy advisers over shareholder voting, concerns about transparency and foreign-linked interests within the system, and reforms intended to give investors greater accountability and control over how their capital is represented.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Dr. Siri Terjesen is a professor at Florida Atlantic University and author of a new Club for Growth Foundation white paper examining a part of Wall Street most Americans rarely see: the proxy-advisory system that can influence how major shareholders vote inside America’s largest companies. Her research asks whether ordinary pensioners and 401(k) investors have enough visibility and control over how their money is represented — and what policymakers and markets can do to increase transparency and accountability.

MEDIA / REPORT ASSETS:

FIND HER ON TWITTER HERE:

FULL REPORT: Restoring Balance — Full Policy Report

WHITE PAPER: Club for Growth Foundation White Paper

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY: FAU

CLUB FOR GROWTH FOUNDATION: Club for Growth Foundation

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

The Taliban is Laughing At Us

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Michael Pack, producer and director of The Path to Zero, the latest addition to WSJ Opinion Docs, a series of documentary films produced by a collaboration between The Wall Street Journal Opinion and Palladium Pictures, an independent production company.

As Americans reflect this week on the 25 years that have passed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, CBS News has returned to Afghanistan, where the war those attacks triggered ended five years ago with the Taliban’s stunning return to power.

When the last U.S. and allied soldiers left after a brutal two-decade war, the Taliban’s fighters seized billions of dollars worth of American-purchased military hardware. President Trump, whose first administration negotiated the deal to end the war with the Taliban, has accused the Biden administration of “totally botching” the withdrawal.

Five years later, the hardware of America’s longest-ever war is still easy to spot on the streets of Kabul. Taliban fighters patrol in armored vehicles once supplied to Afghan forces, wearing American tactical gear and carrying American weapons.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

ABOUT: The filmmakers and featured voices of The Path to Zero, a documentary reconstruct the chaotic final weeks of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan through firsthand accounts from senior military commanders, diplomats, intelligence personnel, Afghan allies, journalists, and the Marines who stood at the gates of Kabul’s airport.

Five years after the fall of Kabul, the images remain almost impossible to forget: desperate civilians surrounding Hamid Karzai International Airport, families separated in crushing crowds, babies passed over walls, Marines deciding who could enter and who had to be turned away, and finally the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate that killed 13 American service members and scores of Afghan civilians.

The Path to Zero goes behind those images and reconstructs how America arrived there. Through extensive firsthand interviews, the film traces the chain of decisions that carried the United States from a planned military withdrawal to the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and military and a desperate, last-minute evacuation of more than 124,000 people.

The documentary examines the decision to withdraw all U.S. forces, the closure of Bagram Air Base, the removal of military support systems relied upon by Afghan forces, the delayed civilian evacuation, the Taliban’s rapid advance, the chaos surrounding Kabul airport, the ISIS-K threat, the Abbey Gate bombing, and the subsequent U.S. drone strike that killed ten civilians, including seven children.

But the film’s most powerful story begins where the headlines ended. Marines and other service members who carried out the evacuation describe being forced into impossible moral choices: determining which desperate families possessed the right documents, returning others to exits controlled by the Taliban, witnessing death and suffering they could not prevent, and then returning home to live with those decisions.

That is where The Path to Zero becomes more than a documentary about a failed evacuation. It becomes an examination of accountability, abandonment, leadership, and moral injury - and asks whether those who made the decisions have adequately answered to the young Americans ordered to carry them out.

WHY BOOK THIS STORY NOW?

August 2026 marks five years since the fall of Kabul and the end of America’s longest war, creating a natural national moment to reassess what happened and what remains unresolved.

The documentary includes firsthand testimony from senior U.S. military leadership, diplomats, special operations personnel, Afghan military leadership, and Marines who executed the evacuation on the ground.

The film moves beyond partisan argument by reconstructing the sequence of decisions and allowing participants closest to the events to describe what they saw, believed, and were ordered to do.

Moral injury among the Marines who served at Kabul airport provides a powerful and underexplored human story about the long-term consequences of military decisions.

Afghanistan remains relevant to debates over American credibility, military leadership, alliances, deterrence, veterans, and what the United States owes to partners left behind.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS THIS FILM CAN OWN:

1. HOW DID AMERICA GET FROM A PLANNED WITHDRAWAL TO THE CHAOS AT KABUL AIRPORT?

A reconstruction of the decisions involving the full U.S. withdrawal, Bagram Air Base, evacuation planning, the Afghan government’s collapse, and the frantic final weeks of August 2021.

2. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT THE GATES OF KABUL AIRPORT?

Firsthand accounts from Marines and commanders describing the crowds, conflicting guidance, impossible screening decisions, Taliban presence, violence, and the extraordinary effort that ultimately evacuated more than 124,000 people.

3. ABBEY GATE: THE DAY THE WITHDRAWAL TURNED DEADLY

The growing ISIS-K threat, the August 26 suicide bombing, the American service members and Afghan civilians killed, and the questions that remain about security and decision-making.

4. THE HIDDEN WOUND OF THE WITHDRAWAL: MORAL INJURY

Why some veterans describe the experience not simply as trauma, but as moral injury - the psychological and spiritual consequences of witnessing or participating in events that violate deeply held values.

5. WHO WAS ACCOUNTABLE - AND WHAT DOES AMERICA OWE THOSE LEFT BEHIND?

A conversation about political and military responsibility, Afghan allies, veterans, the return of the Taliban, and whether the country has fully reckoned with the way its longest war ended.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR THE FILMMAKERS & FEATURED GUESTS:

Five years later, what do Americans still misunderstand about how the Afghanistan withdrawal unfolded?

Was the collapse of Kabul inevitable once the decision was made to withdraw all U.S. forces, or were there specific decisions that dramatically accelerated it?

How important was the closure of Bagram Air Base to what followed?

Why did the civilian evacuation become such a last-minute operation?

What were young Marines actually being asked to do at the airport gates?

The film repeatedly returns to the idea of moral injury. How is moral injury different from PTSD?

Several participants sharply criticize political leadership. What evidence and firsthand testimony does the film present about where responsibility belongs?

What did commanders know about the threat to Abbey Gate before the bombing?

How do you reconcile the chaos and tragedy with the fact that U.S. forces still evacuated more than 124,000 people?

What happened to the Afghan interpreters, military personnel, and other allies who were unable to get out?

What has happened to the Marines featured in the film in the five years since Kabul?

Did the withdrawal alter how America’s allies and adversaries viewed U.S. credibility?

If the people who carried out the evacuation could sit across from the leaders who ordered it, what do they want to hear?

What would genuine accountability for the withdrawal look like?

After making this film, do you believe the tragedy could have been prevented?

PROJECT LOGLINE:

Through firsthand accounts from military leaders, diplomats, and the Marines who stood at the gates of Kabul’s airport, The Path to Zero reconstructs the final weeks of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan - the chaotic evacuation, the Abbey Gate bombing, and the lasting moral injury carried by those who were there.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:

The Path to Zero takes viewers inside the final weeks of America’s longest war, examining the decisions that led to the collapse of Afghanistan and the chaotic evacuation from Kabul in August 2021. Through firsthand accounts from military leaders, government officials, intelligence personnel, Afghan allies, and Marines at the airport gates, the film explores the impossible choices and devastating consequences of the withdrawal - including Abbey Gate, the evacuation of more than 124,000 people, and the thousands of Afghan allies left behind. Ultimately, the film examines the lasting moral injury carried by those who were there and asks whether the tragedy could have been prevented.

THE MORAL INJURY STORY:

Joseph Laude, founder and CEO of Operation Allies Refuge Foundation, describes moral injury as the damage that can occur when a person witnesses or participates in actions that violate his or her moral compass. In the film, Marines describe being placed in situations where paperwork, orders, crowd control and security concerns could determine whether a family escaped Afghanistan or was sent back toward Taliban-controlled exits. Their testimony raises a question that extends far beyond Afghanistan: What responsibility does a nation have to the service members who must live with the moral consequences of decisions made far above them?

PLUG DOCUMENTARY: The Path to Zero

BIO: Michael Pack is the President and CEO of Palladium Pictures LLC, an independent film company he launched in 2023 with his wife, Executive Producer Gina Cappo Pack. Palladium focuses on high-quality documentaries that reclaim cultural narratives through compelling storytelling, with three main pillars: long-form feature documentaries, short-form documentary series, and a film incubator program to train the next generation of fair-minded documentarians.

FIND HIS WEBSITE HERE: AND HERE:

FIND HIS X HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

My Three Sons and Baseball’s Wildest Pitch

By Brian Gaffney

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Brian Gaffney, vice president of documentary programming at Fox News Media, veteran investigative journalist, longtime youth baseball coach, father of four, and author of School of Hard Knucks: My Three Sons and Baseball’s Wildest Pitch.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, julio.publiuspr@gmail.com

Baseball spent a century trying to make pitchers throw harder, spin the ball faster, and overpower hitters. The knuckleball does the exact opposite. Thrown with almost no spin, it floats, darts, drops, and changes direction so unpredictably that even physicists struggle to explain it. It is baseball’s strangest weapon - and it is disappearing.

School of Hard Knucks begins when Brian Gaffney discovers that his three baseball-obsessed sons - Joe, Emmett, and Ben - have a knack for throwing the pitch. What starts in the backyard becomes a decade-long, cross-country father-and-sons quest to find out whether an almost extinct pitch can still create an unlikely path through modern baseball.

Along the way, the Gaffneys seek out some of the greatest knuckleball minds in the game, including Phil Niekro, Charlie Hough, R.A. Dickey, Steven Wright, Wilbur Wood, Tom Candiotti, and pitching expert Tom House. They also encounter scientists studying why the pitch moves, baseball analysts trying to quantify it, and executives interested in whether the knuckleball can survive in an era dominated by velocity and data.

But the book is ultimately bigger than one weird pitch. As the boys move from Little League through travel baseball, high school, college prospect camps, and beyond, Gaffney confronts the complicated business of being an ambitious sports parent: when to push, when to back off, how to let children own their dreams, and what happens when a father’s enthusiasm begins to look suspiciously like obsession.

School of Hard Knucks is part baseball history, part sports-science mystery, part family road trip, and part memoir about parenting, faith, growing up, growing older, and chasing the long shot. The irresistible media question is simple: Can one family help save baseball’s wildest pitch from extinction?

WHY BOOK HIM NOW?

· School of Hard Knucks publishes September 29, 2026, from Post Hill Press and is distributed by Simon & Schuster.

· The knuckleball has become a genuine rarity in modern professional baseball, making its possible extinction a compelling sports-history and baseball-culture story.

· Gaffney and his sons spent years learning directly from legendary knuckleballers and pitching experts, giving him access to stories and knowledge few baseball writers can replicate.

· The book opens a broader conversation about youth sports, travel ball, college recruiting, helicopter parenting, specialization, ambition, and how parents navigate a child’s athletic dream.

· Gaffney is an experienced television storyteller who has produced hundreds of hours of long-form programming and interviewed hundreds of newsmakers, making him an unusually media-ready author.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS HE CAN OWN:

1. WHY IS BASEBALL’S STRANGEST PITCH DISAPPEARING?

How the knuckleball works, why hitters hate it, why only a tiny number of pitchers have mastered it, and why a game obsessed with velocity and measurable spin may be squeezing out its most unpredictable pitch.

2. THE SECRET SOCIETY OF KNUCKLEBALLERS

What Gaffney and his sons learned from Phil Niekro, Charlie Hough, R.A. Dickey, Steven Wright, Wilbur Wood, Tom Candiotti, Tom House, and the small fraternity devoted to keeping the pitch alive.

3. CAN SCIENCE EXPLAIN THE UNEXPLAINABLE PITCH?

Why a nearly spinless baseball behaves so strangely, what scientists and engineers have discovered about its movement, and why even elite catchers can struggle to handle it.

4. WHEN DOES A SPORTS DAD BECOME A HELICOPTER DAD?

A funny and candid discussion of travel ball, coaching, college recruiting, parental ambition, pushing children to improve, and learning when a child’s dream has to belong to the child.

5. WHAT BASEBALL TEACHES FATHERS AND SONS ABOUT THE LONG SHOT

Why the family’s pursuit of an unconventional pitch became a story about perseverance, failure, faith, growing up, letting go, and believing there may still be room in sports for the kid who doesn’t fit the standard athletic mold.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR BRIAN GAFFNEY:

Let’s start with the obvious question: how does a father discover that all three of his sons can throw one of the strangest pitches in baseball?

What exactly makes a knuckleball move, and why is it so difficult even for the pitcher to know where it’s going?

If the pitch can get hitters out without 100-mile-an-hour velocity, why has baseball almost stopped teaching it?

Is modern analytics killing the knuckleball - or could data ultimately be what saves it?

You met some of the greatest knuckleballers ever. What is the one piece of advice they all seemed to agree on?

What was Phil Niekro like when your family entered his world?

R.A. Dickey won a Cy Young Award with the pitch in 2012. Why didn’t that spark a knuckleball renaissance?

Steven Wright spent years tinkering with the pitch before trusting it professionally. What does that tell us about how difficult the knuckleball is to master?

How much of becoming a successful knuckleballer is mechanics, and how much is temperament?

Your subtitle says ‘My Three Sons.’ Did all three boys want this quest as badly as Dad did?

At what point did you realize you might be becoming the helicopter parent in your own story?

What did you get wrong as a youth baseball coach and sports dad?

Travel baseball has become a huge business. Are parents spending too much money and putting too much pressure on kids chasing college scholarships?

Your son Ben is still throwing the knuckleball in college. What is it like watching this experiment continue in real time?

Could a pitcher who isn’t a physical phenom still use the knuckleball as a legitimate path into high-level baseball?

What did this decade-long project teach you about your sons that you never would have learned without baseball?

Is the knuckleball actually going extinct - and if so, what would baseball lose when the last one disappears?

If a 12-year-old is listening right now and wants to learn the pitch, where should he start?

PLUG BOOK: School of Hard Knucks: My Three Sons and Baseball’s Wildest Pitch

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION: A funny, heartfelt father-and-sons baseball memoir about one family’s decade-long quest to master - and perhaps help save - the knuckleball, baseball’s rarest and most unpredictable pitch.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Brian Gaffney is vice president of documentary programming at Fox News Media, a veteran investigative journalist, longtime youth baseball coach, and father of four. His new book, School of Hard Knucks: My Three Sons and Baseball’s Wildest Pitch, follows his three sons on a decade-long quest to master the nearly extinct knuckleball, learning from legends including Phil Niekro, Charlie Hough, R.A. Dickey, Steven Wright, Wilbur Wood, Tom Candiotti, and Tom House along the way.

BIO:

Brian Gaffney is vice president of documentary programming at Fox News Media. He began his journalism career as a sportswriter and has worked as an investigative reporter and television magazine producer covering sports, politics, entertainment, business, and culture. He has produced and written hundreds of hours of long-form television programming and interviewed hundreds of newsmakers. His work has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, Dateline NBC, ABC 20/20, Discovery’s Animal Planet, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications and networks.

Gaffney’s journalism honors include an Emmy nomination and the Gerald Loeb Award, one of business journalism’s highest honors. He was a 2006 Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow and is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School. A husband and father of four who has coached dozens of youth baseball teams, he splits his time between Morristown and Lavallette, New Jersey.

PRAISE FOR SCHOOL OF HARD KNUCKS:

Brian Kilmeade, Fox News anchor: calls the book a heartfelt and gripping tale of a father and sons chasing baseball’s long shot.

Steven Wright, Red Sox All-Star knuckleballer: recommends it both for understanding the knuckleball and for the life lessons woven through the journey.

Rick Reilly, eleven-time National Sportswriter of the Year: praises Gaffney for giving baseball’s miraculous, unpredictable pitch the book it deserves.

Ron Shelton, writer/director of Bull Durham and White Men Can’t Jump: describes the story as a magical exploration of the pitch and its power to connect fathers and sons.

Daniel Krauthammer, writer and commentator: calls it a distinctly American story about growing up, choosing dreams, and sharing baseball across generations.

MEDIA ASSETS:

OFFICIAL PUBLISHER BOOK PAGE: Post Hill Press — School of Hard Knucks

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOK PAGE: School of Hard Knucks

SIMON & SCHUSTER AUTHOR PAGE: Brian Gaffney

BRIAN GAFFNEY LINKTREE: Brian Gaffney — Links

X: @BrianGaffneyFNC

LINKEDIN: Brian Gaffney on LinkedIn

AMAZON BOOK PAGE: School of Hard Knucks on Amazon

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, julio.publiuspr@gmail.com

Rudy Giuliani calls for Mamdani to skip 9/11 memorial ceremonies: ‘It offends me

FDNY commish during 9/11 attacks slams Mamdani’s signing ceremony with terrorist’s lawyer, urges him to stay away from memorial…

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Dr. Carole Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H., internationally known as “America’s Psychiatrist” and The Terrorist Therapist®, is a board-certified NYC raised forensic psychiatrist, expert witness, media commentator, bestselling author, and host of Dr. Carole’s Couch and The Terrorist Therapist® podcast. Since September 11, 2001, she has focused extensively on the psychology of terrorism, trauma, fear, and how families and societies cope with extremist violence.

The Terrorist Therapist® — 25 Years After 9/11

Has America Remembered the Lessons of September 11?

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

Twenty-five years after September 11, America will once again read the names, ring the bells, replay the images, and promise to never forget. But Dr. Carole Lieberman is asking a more uncomfortable question: What exactly have we remembered?

A born-and-raised New Yorker, Dr. Lieberman says 9/11 changed the direction of her professional life. She became known as The Terrorist Therapist®, created a Terrorist Stress Hotline, developed programming to address fear of flying and terrorism, wrote books designed to help adults and children cope with terror, and traveled to communities affected by attacks in London, Manchester, Paris, and Israel.

For the 25th anniversary, she is bringing that mission back to Manhattan. For the sixth year, a mobile billboard will travel through New York City playing one of her music videos; this year, Dr. Lieberman plans to ride inside the truck on September 11 as it carries a three-part message through the city: remember what happened, examine where America stands a quarter-century later, and rebuild a stronger sense of shared American civic identity.

Her argument is deliberately provocative. Dr. Lieberman believes Americans have become complacent about terrorism and insufficiently attentive to extremism, assimilation, civic cohesion, and the teaching of 9/11 to younger generations. She also argues that debates over immigration, religious accommodation, public demonstrations, and New York politics should prompt a broader conversation about how a pluralistic country balances religious liberty with national security and a common civic culture.

But her affirmative message is as important as her warning: revive patriotism, teach American history honestly, display the flag, restore civic education, encourage the Pledge of Allegiance, and give children a clearer understanding of both what happened on 9/11 and what binds Americans together.

The booking question is powerful and timely: Twenty-five years after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, have we honored

WHY BOOK HER NOW?

· September 11, 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks — the most significant commemorative milestone since 2001.

· Dr. Lieberman is a native New Yorker whose terrorism work began directly in response to 9/11 and has continued for a quarter-century.

· Her planned Manhattan mobile-billboard event gives television and digital producers a visual, location-based anniversary hook rather than another studio-only remembrance.

· She can discuss both the clinical psychology of terrorism and the political/cultural debate over national memory, extremism, fear, resilience, and civic identity.

· Her award-winning children’s book creates a second interview lane: what children born decades after 9/11 should be taught about the attacks and how parents can discuss terrorism without unnecessarily frightening them.

THREE ACTS OF THE 25TH-ANNIVERSARY MESSAGE:

ACT I — REMEMBER 9/11

Revisit what New York and America experienced on September 11, 2001; honor those who died and those who responded; and explain why collective memory matters psychologically and historically.

ACT II — WHERE ARE WE 25 YEARS LATER?

Dr. Lieberman’s argument that America should reexamine complacency about terrorism, extremist ideology, assimilation, national identity, and how younger generations are being taught about September 11. Her examples involving Muslim religious practices and New York politics are presented as her concerns within a broader debate over religious liberty, security, integration, and civic cohesion — not as evidence that ordinary Muslim religious practice is itself terrorism.

ACT III — REBUILD AMERICAN CIVIC IDENTITY

An affirmative call for patriotism, American flags, the Pledge of Allegiance, stronger civic education, honest teaching about 9/11, and renewed emphasis on the principles and history Americans share.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS SHE CAN OWN:

1. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF 9/11 — 25 YEARS LATER

How a terrorist attack changes the psyche of a city and a country, why anniversaries reactivate trauma, and what has changed psychologically since 2001.

2. ARE WE TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATION WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED?

What children who were born long after 9/11 know about the attacks, how schools present the history, and how parents can explain terrorism without traumatizing children.

3. HAVE AMERICANS BECOME COMPLACENT ABOUT TERRORISM?

Dr. Lieberman’s case that vigilance has faded and why she believes denial, normalization, and political discomfort can interfere with recognizing extremist threats.

4. HOW DO WE DISCUSS EXTREMISM WITHOUT TREATING AN ENTIRE FAITH AS THE ENEMY?

A necessary conversation about distinguishing violent Islamist extremism from ordinary Muslim religious life while still discussing radicalization, security, assimilation, and ideological threats directly.

5. CAN PATRIOTISM BECOME PART OF AMERICA’S MENTAL-HEALTH RECOVERY?

Why Dr. Lieberman believes flags, civic rituals, shared history, national identity, and the Pledge can help rebuild social cohesion in an increasingly fragmented country.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR DR. CAROLE LIEBERMAN:

You were born and raised in New York. What did September 11 change in you personally that made terrorism a major part of your life’s work?

Why did you start calling yourself The Terrorist Therapist?

Twenty-five years later, what psychological scars from 9/11 does America still carry?

Is there a difference between remembering the victims of 9/11 and actually remembering the lessons of 9/11?

What do children born 10 or 20 years after the attacks actually understand about what happened that day?

How should parents explain terrorism to children without making them afraid of the world?

You argue that America has become complacent about terrorism. What are the clearest signs of that complacency?

How do we have a serious conversation about Islamist extremism without suggesting that ordinary Muslims practicing their religion are terrorists?

Where is the line between healthy assimilation into a common civic culture and respecting religious freedom in a pluralistic country?

What concerns you about the way New York itself has changed since the attacks?

Why take your message onto a mobile billboard through Manhattan instead of simply giving interviews from a studio?

What will people actually see and hear when your truck moves through New York on September 11?

You want more American flags, more civic education, and the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. Why do you see patriotism as psychologically important rather than merely political?

Is national unity possible when Americans increasingly disagree about their own history?

What did you learn from visiting communities affected by terrorism in London, Manchester, Paris, and Israel that Americans should understand?

If a parent has your book Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! in hand on September 11, what is the first conversation you want them to have with their child?

If you could deliver one message directly to New Yorkers on the 25th anniversary, what would it be?

PLUG BOOK:

Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror — Dr. Lieberman’s five-time award-winning guide for children and the adults who love them, designed to help families understand terrorism, cope with fear, and build resilience.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Dr. Carole Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H., is a board-certified psychiatrist, forensic psychiatrist, bestselling author, and media personality known internationally as America’s Psychiatrist and The Terrorist Therapist®. A native New Yorker, she devoted a major part of her career after September 11 to helping adults and children cope with terrorism and traumatic events. On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, she is taking that message back onto the streets of Manhattan with a mobile billboard asking whether America truly remembers the lessons of that day.

BIO: Carole Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H., is a board-certified Beverly Hills psychiatrist, forensic psychiatrist and expert witness, bestselling author, media commentator, and professional speaker. Her psychiatric training included NYU-Bellevue, where she served as Chief Resident, and she earned a Master of Public Health degree from UCLA.

Known as America’s Psychiatrist and The Terrorist Therapist®, Dr. Lieberman has appeared across major television and radio outlets and hosts Dr. Carole’s Couch as well as The Terrorist Therapist® podcast. Since 9/11, she has devoted extensive work to the psychology of terrorism and trauma, including creating a Terrorist Stress Hotline and developing resources intended to help adults and children cope with fear.

She has written two books addressing terrorism, including the five-time award-winning Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror, as well as Coping with Terrorism: Dreams Interrupted.

MEDIA ASSETS & LINKS:

THE TERRORIST THERAPIST® WEBSITE: TerroristTherapist.com

DR. CAROLE WEBSITE: DrCarole.com

CHILDREN & TERRORISM RESOURCE: Terrorism4Kids.com

ABOUT DR. CAROLE: Official Biography

DR. CAROLE’S COUCH: VoiceAmerica

THE TERRORIST THERAPIST® PODCAST: Apple Podcasts

LINKEDIN: Carole Lieberman, M.D.

FACEBOOK: Carole Lieberman MD

X / TWITTER: @DrCaroleMD

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

A Journey from Addiction to Courage and Purpose

By

Ben Bergquam

Foreword by Stephen K. Bannon

PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Ben Bergquam, award-winning journalist, conservative commentator, founder of Frontline America, host of Law & Border on Real America’s Voice News, and author of Step Into Fear: A Journey from Addiction to Courage and Purpose.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

Before Ben Bergquam was reporting from cartel-controlled territory, the Darién Gap, America’s southern border, riots, and political flashpoints, he was fighting a far more private battle: crack cocaine addiction.

Step Into Fear tells the story behind the reporter audiences know today. Bergquam describes living a double life as a husband, father, and businessman while addiction, deception, and secrecy were steadily destroying his marriage and his sense of who he was. When that life finally collapsed, he was forced to confront the damage he had caused and begin the difficult work of recovery.

The book follows what came next: restoration of his marriage, a deepening Christian faith, lessons learned through failure, and a transformation that ultimately pushed him toward dangerous frontline journalism. The man who once hid from the truth began deliberately walking toward situations most people would avoid.

That transformation gives Step Into Fear its central idea: courage is not the absence of fear. It is the decision to move forward despite fear - whether the obstacle is addiction, shame, a damaged marriage, spiritual emptiness, or physical danger.

Part redemption story, part Christian memoir, and part frontline adventure, the book gives Bergquam a much broader interview lane than politics alone. The central media question is deeply personal: How does a man go from nearly destroying everything he loves to discovering a purpose powerful enough to rebuild his life?

WHY BOOK HIM NOW?

· Step Into Fear releases September 8, 2026, from War Room Books, creating a timely new-book interview opportunity.

· Bergquam’s story reaches beyond his existing political audience into addiction, recovery, marriage, fatherhood, faith, masculinity, courage, and personal transformation.

· He brings unusual credibility to the subject of fear: his present-day work repeatedly places him in physically dangerous environments, while the book reveals the private fear, shame, and addiction that preceded his journalism career.

· The memoir offers producers a radically different Ben Bergquam interview - one centered not simply on the border or politics, but on the life experiences that made him who he is.

· His story can work across political talk, Christian media, men’s programming, recovery and addiction shows, motivational podcasts, news programs, and long-form interview formats.

FIVE CONVERSATIONS HE CAN OWN:

1. FROM CRACK ADDICTION TO REDEMPTION

How Bergquam’s double life unraveled, what finally forced him to confront his addiction, and why recovery required more than simply stopping drug use.

2. CAN A MARRIAGE SURVIVE A DOUBLE LIFE?

The lies, secrecy, betrayal, consequences, and difficult process of rebuilding trust after addiction nearly destroyed his family.

3. WHY FAITH BECAME THE FOUNDATION OF HIS RECOVERY

How Bergquam’s Christian faith changed his understanding of failure, forgiveness, responsibility, courage, and purpose.

4. WHY A FORMER ADDICT NOW RUNS TOWARD DANGER

From the U.S.-Mexico border and cartel territory to the Darién Gap and riots in American cities, how confronting fear in his personal life shaped the reporter willing to enter dangerous places.

5. WHAT DO YOU TELL A MAN WHO THINKS HE HAS ALREADY RUINED HIS LIFE?

A conversation about shame, accountability, second chances, fatherhood, purpose, and whether the worst chapter of someone’s life has to become the final chapter.

GREAT QUESTIONS FOR BEN BERGQUAM:

People know you as the guy walking into dangerous places with a camera. How many of them have any idea that before all of that, you were addicted to crack cocaine?

You describe living a double life and even becoming ‘Nick.’ Who was Nick, and what did that identity allow you to hide from yourself?

At your lowest point, what did you believe you were going to lose?

What finally broke through the denial and made you admit that you could not keep living that way?

Getting sober is one thing. Rebuilding a marriage after years of deception is another. How did your wife ever learn to trust you again?

Was there a moment when you realized that recovery wasn’t simply about quitting drugs but becoming a different man?

Where did faith enter the story, and why wasn’t willpower alone enough?

Your book is called Step Into Fear. Most people spend their lives trying to avoid fear. Why do you believe the answer is to move toward it?

Is the fear you experience walking through cartel territory fundamentally different from the fear of admitting to your family what addiction had turned you into?

How did your past change the way you report on addicts, migrants, criminals, victims, and people living at the edge of society?

You’ve reported from the Darién Gap and some extremely dangerous border environments. What is the closest you’ve come to believing you might not make it home?

Does a man need adversity to discover what he is actually capable of?

What did addiction teach you about lying - particularly the lies people tell themselves?

What would you say to the spouse or parent of an addict who is listening right now and has almost given up?

What would you say directly to a man who believes he has destroyed his marriage, his reputation, or his future beyond repair?

After everything you’ve lived through, what scares Ben Bergquam today?

PLUG BOOK: Step Into Fear: A Journey from Addiction to Courage and Purpose

ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION: A former crack addict’s journey from deception, shame, and a collapsing marriage to recovery, Christian faith, restored purpose, and a career reporting from some of the most dangerous places on earth.

ON-AIR INTRO:

Ben Bergquam is an award-winning journalist, conservative commentator, founder of Frontline America, and host of Law & Border on Real America’s Voice News. For more than a decade he has reported on border security and immigration in the United States and abroad, including from the Darién Gap and other dangerous frontline environments. But his new book, Step Into Fear, tells the story audiences haven’t heard: his battle with crack cocaine addiction, the near-destruction and restoration of his marriage, the faith that transformed his life, and the journey that taught him to move toward fear instead of running from it.

BIO:

Ben Bergquam is an award-winning journalist, conservative commentator, founder of FrontlineAmerica.com, and host of Law & Border on Real America’s Voice News. He has spent more than a decade reporting on border security and immigration issues in the United States and abroad, with reporting that has appeared across national media.

Born in Dallas to Christian missionary parents who served in Africa, Bergquam later lived in California and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fresno State. His political and civic involvement included conservative student activism, the Central Valley Tea Party, campaign work, and service in California state politics before he developed Frontline America and expanded into national reporting.

In Step Into Fear, Bergquam reveals the personal story behind his public career: addiction to crack cocaine, the deception and double life that nearly destroyed his marriage, his recovery and Christian faith, and the transformation that eventually led him toward frontline journalism. He lives with his family in Arkansas.

MEDIA ASSETS:

OFFICIAL BOOK / PUBLISHER PAGE: Step Into Fear — Skyhorse Publishing

FRONTLINE AMERICA: FrontlineAmerica.com

BEN BERGQUAM BIO: About Ben Bergquam

SUBSTACK: Frontline America on Substack

X: @BenBergquam

VIDEO ARCHIVE: Frontline America Video Archive

AMAZON BOOK PAGE: Step Into Fear on Amazon

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com

Illinois mom accused of killing 2-year-old son was ‘very invested’ in Lindsay Clancy trial: Reports

LAW ENFORCEMENT EXPERT AVAILABLE: Michael A. Letts, Founder, President, and CEO of In-Vest USA, a national grassroots non-profit organization that is helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bullet-proof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com

An Illinois mother allegedly hanged her 2-year-old son that she described as the “anti-Christ” — hours after discussing the Lindsay Clancy case with friends, authorities said.

Corie Walsh, 38, is facing first-degree murder charges after one of her neighbors found Walsh’s son, Barrett, hanging from the rafters in the family’s basement, FOX 32 reported.

Walsh allegedly told investigators she killed her young son because he’s the “anti-Christ” and “devil,” according to prosecutors.

Little Barrett was found with his feet off the ground, and a ligature around his neck.

The neighbor told 911 operators that Walsh had no pulse while she was administering CPR.

Emergency responders pronounced the tot dead at the scene and an autopsy later confirmed that he died of asphyxiation.

Walsh was reportedly found lying in a bathtub, fully clothed and drenched in bloody water.

She was hospitalized after police determined she had attempted to self-harm, according to a court proffer viewed by FOX 32. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Three other children were found unharmed inside the home.

ABOUT: INVESTUSA is dedicated to “protecting those who protect us”.

This mission has expanded and evolved over the years to not only ensuring that every first responder has the necessary protective gear to enable them to come home safely to their families after putting themselves in harms way to protect our freedom, liberties, and values that keep our communities as safe havens and beacons of hope, but to serve as a voice for these American Hero’s.

That voice ranges from telling their sacrifices to ensure our protection, to their needs for judicial reform to protect us all, their equipment updates and needs to enable better job performance, the history of their struggles and success, and the need to provide greater care for the affects of the job.....PTSD and the consequences they suffer.

PLUG ORGANIZATION: InVest USA

BIO: Michael Letts is the Founder, President, and CEO of InVest USA, a national grassroots non-profit organization that is helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs. As of June 2023, more than 13,520 concealable and active shooter vests have been distributed to police officers throughout the United States, and globally as the result of his leadership and passion. The organization’s efforts have helped police officers from areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina to nations such as Nicaragua, and Mexico.

His involvement has earned him a Congressional Gold Medal Award for Community Service and the SC Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor for extraordinary lifetime achievement and service to the state and nation. His efforts have been recognized globally with the bestowing of the title.

In addition to being the CEO and President of InVest USA, he is also the Chaplain at Columbia Police Department, the State Constable for the State of South Carolina, the Chaplain at South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, was the Executive Pastor at Hope Baptist Church, Councilman at Central Midlands Council of Governments, Airport Commission, SC State Counter Terrorism Council, Founder, President, and CEO of Salty Fin Realty and Holdings, LLC, Board Member, and Partner, Talaus Technology, LLC, and a member of the First Palmer Trust.

He also holds numerous leadership positions in the Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts of America, and Kiwanis.

A few of his numerous honors and awards include His Excellency Count, Sir Michael Letts, Chevalier, Knight of Honour of the Imperial Teutonic Order, Republic of Germany, the CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL AWARD-100TH CONGRESS, and the S.C. Order of the Palmetto.

Michael resides in Columbia, South Carolina with his loving wife and partner, Karen.

FIND HIS PERSONAL WEBSITE HERE:

FIND HIS COMPANY WEBSITE HERE:

FIND HIS X HERE:

FIND HIS FACEBOOK HERE:

FIND HIS INSTAGRAM HERE:

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com, sutton.publius@gmail.com