This may be difficult for many of us to believe, but Cheers went off the air almost 35 years ago after 275 episodes. The classic sitcom included a cast of characters who truly seemed to love each other as much as they loved their seat at the bar. Ted Danson starred as bartender Sam Malone, and Kelsey Grammer played psychiatrist and Cheers’ patron Frasier Crane. Sam and Frasier often sparred alongside memorable characters like Carla Tortelli, Norm Peterson, and Cliff Clavin. Everybody knew their names, and we all wanted to be part of the Cheers crowd. But it appears Ted Danson and Kelsey Grammer had a bit of a falling out three decades ago, and life changed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ted Danson (@teddanson) Ted Danson and Kelsey Grammer Reunited On Recent Podcast Episode Ted and Woody Harrelson, who played Woody Boyd on Cheers, host the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast and invited Kelsey in as a guest. The former co-stars talked about their spat. Ted Danson told Kelsey Grammer, “I feel like I got stuck a little bit with you during the Cheers years. I have a memory of getting angry at you once.” Kesey recalled,  “You told me that one day, and that was good.” Ted recalled, “And it’s stuck in both of our memories. But I feel like, I don’t know. I missed out on the last 30 years of Kelsey Grammer, and I feel like it’s my bad, my doing, and I almost feel like apologizing to you. No, I apologize to you and me. I sat back and I really do apologize.” Kelsey Grammer then reminded Ted Danson of something he told him that profoundly impacted him many years ago. “You said something wonderful to me that I always quote to other people.  When I turned 40, you came up to me and said, ‘You know what it means, don’t you now that you’re 40? It means you’re finally worth having a conversation with.’ That was brilliant. I have always loved that, and I repeated it.” Kelsey added, “My love for you has always been as easy as the day. You know, as easy as the sunrise.” This story’s featured image is by Featureflash Photo Agency via Shutterstock. The post “Cheers” Stars Kelsey Grammer & Ted Danson Finally Make Peace With 30-Year-Old Argument appeared first on InspireMore.

What an absolutely grade-A story

A college student who formerly identified as transgender faced threats, harassment, and cyberbullying for attempting to host an event on his college campus intended to raise awareness about the dangers of gender transition procedures for minors. Simon B. Amaya Price, 20, was tasked with creating an event about social change for a class at Berklee College of Music, a private music college in Boston. He decided to host a presentation on Oct. 20 titled “Born in the Right Body: Desister and Detransitioner Awareness” to share his own struggles with gender dysphoria in high school and how he overcame them. After receiving almost 1,000 negative comments on social media, including messages threatening his physical safety and recommending he drop out of school and commit suicide, the liberal arts college’s administration forced him to cancel the presentation, Amaya Price told The Daily Signal. “The determination and the willingness of these people to go out of their way to essentially harass, bully, and slander me is really remarkable and does not make me feel safe on campus,” Amaya Price said. Amaya Price is a “desister,” someone who identified as transgender, but decided to live in accordance with his biological gender instead of undergoing medical interventions. Simon Amaya Price posted an announcement for his event on Instagram, garnering hundreds of negative comments. (Simon Amaya Price/Instagram) Amaya Price, who has been diagnosed with autism, experienced social ostracism and a mental health crisis in ninth grade, leading him to decide his problem was that he was actually a girl. He told his therapist, who affirmed his gender dysphoria and referred him to Boston Children’s Hospital for hormones and surgeries. Amaya Price’s pediatrician told him and his father that they could choose between having a “dead son or a living daughter,” and that then-14-year-old Amaya Price would kill himself if denied hormones and surgery. Thankfully, Amaya Price said, his father immediately shut down the possibility of a medical transition. “I hated him for that,” Amaya Price said. “But now looking back at that, he did the best thing he could have done.” The college student planned the Oct. 20 event to raise awareness about the experiences of desisters and detransitioners like himself and his friends, and to discuss the dangers of allowing minors to consent to life-altering gender-transition surgeries. Berklee’s diversity, equity, and inclusion department initially sponsored Amaya Price’s event, offering funding for food and refreshments, emails between the two parties shared with The Daily Signal show. Amaya Price put up posters with QR codes to the event page and made an Instagram post to promote his event on Oct. 15. He woke up the next morning to hundreds of negative comments, including “take a long walk off a cliff,” “i am going to go to this event and i am going to throw expired groceries at you,” “bro you should be SCARED for sunday what the f*** were you thinking,” “drop out please,” and “horrible disgusting and disappointing.” Negative comments on Amaya Price’s Instagram post about his detransitioners/desisters event. (Simon Amaya Price/Instagram) Several commenters claimed that Amaya Price was making up the fact that children undergo transgender surgeries, though a database from medical watchdog group Do No Harm revealed that almost 6,000 children have undergone transgender surgeries, while 8,579 have been given hormones and puberty blockers. Other commenters disowned Amaya Price from the autistic and “queer” communities. Amaya Price says he identifies as bisexual. The next day, Oct. 17, Amaya Price met with the school’s vice president, Ron Savage, and the dean of his major, Rodney Alejandro. He says he brought with him to the meeting his father and printouts of the threatening comments on his Instagram post. Savage recommended Amaya Price postpone his event for safety and logistical reasons, given the number of responses he received. Amaya Price agreed, as he was concerned about his safety after the threats and wanted to get a bigger venue to fit the 117 RSVPs. On Amaya Price’s way to meet with the campus safety department, he said a number of fellow students yelled “transphobe” and “TERF,” which stands for “trans exclusionary radical feminist,” at him. On Monday, Amaya Price made another Instagram post announcing the event was postponed, garnering hundreds of additional negative comments. Amaya Price and his father met again with Savage on Monday, he said, and Savage told him he was “indefinitely postponing” his event. “The event was supposed to be a necessary, culminating project in my class ‘Songwriting and Social Change,'” Amaya Price said. “The event was approved by my professor, and the fact that Mr. Savage has decided that I am not allowed to do my event is a violation of my academic freedom and a major barrier in my way to graduating on Dec. 12.” Amaya Price’s father, Gareth, confirmed his son’s account of the meetings with the college to The Daily Signal and said he is proud of his son’s bravery. “As for [Simon] saying, ‘I know most people are going to disagree with me about this,'” Gareth said, “but I think it’s important, and I’m going to say it: That’s all I could have hoped for.” “Even if I don’t always agree with him,” Gareth continued, “I’m proud of him.” The school’s DEI department, which Amaya Price said once supported him, issued a statement saying, “We are aware of your concerns and have been actively addressing this after discussions with the event organizer, the events will no longer take place as planned on October 20, and will not be sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.” On Monday, the day after Amaya Price’s event was supposed to take place, the college’s associate director of inclusive teaching invited LGBTQ students to a “Queer @ Berklee” meeting on Thursday in the same room where the detransitioner event would have been held. Amaya Price said he expects this was an opportunity for students who were disgruntled about his event to air their grievances. Despite his college’s lack of support, Amaya Price said he hopes to find a safe time and place for his event in the near future. Simon plans to graduate in December, and he needs to throw his event by the end of the semester to pass his class. “It’s very disheartening, because they were making it very clear that, you know, I’m too diverse for them,” Amaya Price said. The 20-year-old student said he dreams of a future with a wife and kids, where his kids won’t have to struggle with gender like he did. “I don’t want to worry, ‘Oh, is my kid going to go to the doctor, and then the doctor is going to tell my kid to go on hormones and have these life-altering medical procedures,'” he said. “That’s why I’m doing this. I’m doing this to save people.” Neither Savage, nor the Berklee College of Music or its DEI department, responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. The post Autistic Detransitioner Bullied Into Canceling Event Warning Against Child Sex-Change Surgeries appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Want stunning garden markers but too frugal to spend a mint on them? Here's a list of charming ideas to get your creativity flowing! 16 Stunningly Beautiful Garden Markers For Your Garden Don't you just love how garden markers can be both decorative and functional? I sure do, and I am beyond excited to have a homestead garden full of plants waiting to be labeled. I got so inspired with all the designs for beautiful and creative garden markers floating around, so I rounded up a batch of ideas that are extraordinarily eye-catching, but low-cost. So, let's get started.   1. Stunning Painted Alphabets image via julieblanner A beautifully painted letter can be put in a pot and kept as a plant marker. Making them is so much fun and the finished product makes your garden so pretty!   2. Wine Bottle Caps Garden Stakes image via instructables Don't throw out your wine bottle caps because they can be made into beautiful garden stakes. Simply cut them with a cutter and flatten them with a hammer. Create 2 holes in the middle and then insert a stick or pipe for support. Voila! You got yourself some garden stakes to label your plants.   3. Chalkboard Plant Markers From Old Gift Cards | Got some old business cards or gift cards lying around? If you have some, perfect! You simply need to spray them with chalkboard paint and once dry you can write whatever you want with a grease pencil, thus making versatile garden markers.   4. Wooden Spoon Garden Markers image via ready-set-read Get creative with painting your old wooden spoons! Here's an idea: relate them to the different vegetables and herbs in your garden.   5. Aluminum Duct Tape Garden Markers image via auntpeaches Easily achieve the garden of your dreams with the help of aluminum duct tape. Then, simply write the name of the vegetable, flower, shrub, or herb on the backside. To make it more special, go for embossed effect. Attach it to a plastic stick and enjoy how nice they look!   6. Wooden Garden Markers image via cathiefilian Any wooden scraps will do for this wonderful DIY, but try to make them uniformly shaped like a pen. Simply attach cardboard or paper, then write the name of your garden plants. They will look wonderful lying on your pots or bushes.   7. DIY Metal Stamped Spoon Garden Markers image via icanmakemetalstampedjewelry If you like the look of painted silver spoons, then write the names of your vegetables and herbs on them and stand them in your pots. You'll see your pot will look even more mesmerizing.   8. Keyboard Keys Garden Markers image via instructables Got a rejected keyboard in your store room? Time to give its key caps a new lease of life as garden markers. Simply remove the key caps from the board and attach them to some sticks, then arrange them in your pot and watch it transform into a lovely marker.   Try Your Hand At These DIY Tools You Can Use As Weapons https://t.co/ggUGrUbdON via @HomesteadingUSA — Gomez Munoz (@Gomezy3k) March 23, 2017   9. Fork And Cork Plant Markers image via artsyvava With fork and cork, you'll have a rustic appeal for your plants. Write the name of your plants in the cork and spear it on the fork. Remember to decorate your fork before attaching your cork to make it even lovelier.   10. Pebbles Labels image via lubirdbaby You'll have unlimited possibilities with these pebbles labels. If you want to you can make use of some round over-sized stones and label them the names of your plants, then simply arrange them around your garden.   11. Picture In Bottles image via marthastewart If you want to be unique, instead of writing down the name of your plants, print out a photo or illustration and put it into jars. This awesome picture in bottles idea will also protect your marker.   12. Wine Cork Plant Tag | From a discarded wine cork, you can have an adorable name tag for your garden plants. Just make sure it is securely attached to its stand.   13. Broken Pot Markers image via themicrogardener Where do broken pots go? Definitely not to the trash, repurpose them into garden markers and use your creativity to transform the shards into works of art.   14. Tin Lids Jewelry For The Garden image via inmyownstyle Next time you open a tin can, save the lid because you can create a beautiful jewelry for the garden. With just a bit of imagination and a few supplies, you got it all covered.   15. Decoupage Your Pot image via alphamom Use magazine pictures, paper, images from your seed packet, and contact adhesive to create a cheerful decoupage on your pot.  Another creative project that is sure to make your creativity flourish, or you can get your little ones involved too.   16. Twig Plant Markers image via urbangardensweb These easy-to-make twig plant markers are sure to add a rustic accent to any garden. Simply shave down a portion of the twigs with your potato peeler or knife to craft a flat surface, then use a permanent marker to write down the plant's name.   Still got time for one more garden marker idea? Check out this video from Life in Farmland: That's all I have for you now, my fellow homesteader! These 16 beautiful garden markers are quite a few for you to choose from, but don't forget to always add your personal touch to make your garden even more beautiful! Which garden marker will use in your garden? Let us know in the comments below. Want another frugal project for your garden? Check out here 14 Pallet Projects For Your Garden This Spring! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!   Featured Image via DecorBold

Surveys of Duke and Harvard Faculties Point to Overlapping Problems

Thursday's Final Word

On Thursday morning, the “Big Three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC remained enthralled with the tales spun by former White House chief of staff John Kelly about former President Trump as an alleged fascist and supposed Adolf Hitler enthusiast. ABC’s Good Morning America still led the way with over six minutes (6:08), including a lead-off report from Disney’s in-house North Korean news lady for the Harris regime, Mary Bruce. She fawned over Harris “ramping up her argument” about Trump with an assist from Kelly. Somehow, Bruce found it within herself to admit Harris spent much of the CNN town hall attacking Trump instead of stating what she’s for. ABC’s @MaryKBruce on ‘Good Morning America,’ shilling again for Kamala: “Well, in these final days, Kamala Harris is ramping up her argument that Donald Trump is unfit and a danger to democracy, saying flatly overnight she does think Donald Trump is a fascist. But when pressed… pic.twitter.com/hN3tlhyoz3 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 24, 2024 Fretting she was “along onstage” and thus not debating Trump, Bruce said “Harris at times finding herself on the defensive” and “was pressed about her plan” for our southern border, but “repeatedly bringing the conversation back to her opponent.” Bruce closed by reminding viewers of Harris will be campaigning with Bruce Springsteen and hold a rally on the National Mall to attack Trump over January 6. Virulent Trump hater Rachel Scott had even more Kelly fawning to do, griping Trump reserved his comments about his former chief of staff and Homeland Security secretary for social media (click “expand”): SCOTT: Former President Trump did not mention those explosive allegations from his own former chief of staff John Kelly during his campaign stops here, but did take to social media to respond for the first time. This morning, Donald Trump taking his closing message out west as he lashes out at his own former chief of staff, John Kelly, who called him a fascist with no concept for the rule of law or the Constitution. Trump taking to social media to call Kelly a “lowlife” and “bad general,” despite expressing confidence in him in the past. [TRUMP CLIP] SCOTT: The former President denying firsthand accounts from Kelly, who told The New York Times Trump praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. [KELLY CLIP] SCOTT: Trump barnstorming Georgia, but he didn’t say a single word about those explosive allegations. CBS Mornings also tried to make hay with Kelly’s media blitz whining to the far-left Atlantic and New York Times, but only gave it about 90 seconds (1:33). Co-host and Kamala Harris donor Gayle King argued Harris and Trump are engaged in “two very different strategies in these final days” with the former “courting the moderates” by focusing on Trump as a danger to the country with Trump only “focus[ed]...on his own base.” Congressional correspondent Nikole Killion was able to spend a few moments without talking about Kelly, sharing that Trump spent Wednesday “courting the evangelical vote and firing up conservatives appearing at an event last night alongside firebrands like Tucker Carlson and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene” and “ignited a packed Duluth, Georgia arena Wednesday night with fireworks ablaze.” “But he saved his more fiery rhetoric off stage for his former White House chief-of-staff, John Kelly, who this week revealed then President Trump spoke favorably of Adolf Hitler and warned the former president could rule as a dictator if he wins a second term,” she then added before going through a retread of Kelly soundbites and Trump denials. Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang covered Harris’s townhall and painted Harris as focused on policy, not Kelly. The second hour began with chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes offering her personal observations, including this ironic lament: CBS's Nancy Cordes admits Harris and former Trump aides wanting an election about January 6 and Trump being a fascist/Hitler enthusiast has been "kind of drowning out the policy conversation." She adds Democrats aren't giving people reasons to vote for them, only against Trump pic.twitter.com/ezi6Mlk255 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 24, 2024 CBS Mornings Plus had more campaign coverage, including this tilted take from co-host Adriana Diaz at the start of what was otherwise a fascinating and substantive segment about the impact of Latino voters and their increasingly diverse political views: 'CBS Mornings Plus' co-host Adriana Diaz starts off a discussion of Latinos flocking in greater numbers to Trump....by wondering why they're supporting him despite his "anti-immigrant rhetoric" and having "referred to Mexican immigrants as 'rapists' and 'drug dealers.'" pic.twitter.com/nBpqyVRBne — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 24, 2024 As for NBC’s Today, co-host Craig Melvin had to throw in a nod at the start of the show before a lead off segment on the Boeing strike: “Vice President Harris in Pennsylvania last night for a town hall, doubling down on comments from a one-time member of former President Trump’s inner circle calling him a fascist. Meanwhile, Trump at an event in battleground Georgia, looking to flip the script a bit, saying Harris is the threat to democracy. We’ve got it all covered in just a bit.” Senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson declared “Donald Trump on attack..as former Trump officials and the Harris campaign highlighted why they see him as an existential threat” with Kelly their latest wave of support. Jackson at least pointed out Harris was so obsessed with the Trump fascism angle that she even urged voters to set aside considering a third party over the war in the Middle East because Trump is that dangerous. Trump campaign correspondent Garrett Haake put aside the shiny object in Kelly for a full report on the border from Phoenix, Arizona, which he observed as “probably no single issue on which these two issues further apart” aside from the fact that “that the border is broken.” Haake continued (click “expand”): HAAKE: The former President says he would resume construction of the border wall and reinstate policies like remain in Mexico, which forces asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while awaiting court dates. Trump often deploying dark language when promising a mass deportation program to remove millions of undocumented immigrants already in the country. [TRUMP CLIP] HAAKE: Trump has said little about how he’d pay for his plans or overcome opposition of a potentially divided Congress. That challenge shared by Vice President Harris, who says her border policy would include signing a bipartisan deal scuttled by congressional Republicans at Trump’s insistence earlier this year. [HARRIS CLIP] HAAKE: Harris also vowing to pursue more criminal charges against repeat immigration violators, and barring those who are caught crossing the border illegally from requesting asylum for five years. [HARRIS CLIP] HAAKE: Harris also leaning on her background as a prosecutor. [CNN TOWN HALL CLIP] HAAKE: The vice president telling Telemundo on Monday, she still supports a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants living inside the country. [HARRIS-TELEMUNDO CLIP] HAAKE: Now, the polls have consistently shown Trump leading on the issue of immigration, although Kamala Harris has cut into that lead somewhat since taking over the top of the Democratic ticket from Joe Biden. In the second hour, the perpetually biased Yamiche Alcindor had a story on outreach from both campaigns to black voters. Surprisingly, she let black men who support Trump talk, but ended with this gripe: One Harris aide tells me the campaign is concerned about misinformation impacting their support among black men, though a Harris pollster tells me the campaign believes their strategy of spreading information about her past stances and policy ideas in spaces frequented by black men will help her gain the support needed to win the election. To see the relevant transcripts from October 24, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

Liberal media symbiosis in action: Jeffrey Goldberg. editor-and-chief of The Atlantic and host of the PBS show Washington Week with The Atlantic, appeared as a guest on Wednesday’s PBS News Hour program to discuss his own anonymously sourced Atlantic hit piece, “Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had.’” Goldberg was serving up allegations about the former president on how he admired the way Adolf Hitler could rely on his generals, plus an even less-plausible story about the former president refusing to pay for the funeral of  “an effing Mexican” soldier. News Hour anchor Geoff Bennett segued from the evening’s lead campaign story, much of which was devoted to a New York Times audio interview of Gen. John Kelly, former Trump White House chief of staff and current liberal media military hero of the day. Kelly compared Trump to a fascist based on comments the former president made about Hitler that no one else apparently heard -- alleged statements made during a presidency now four years past. And this is nothing new from Kelly either: Curtis Houck revealed that Kelly first leveled his “Hitler” claims in August 2022 in a book for husband-and-wife reporting team Peter Baker (New York Times) and Susan Glasser (The New Yorker). Kelly also featured in Goldberg’s story, as Bennett eagerly noted. Anchor Geoff Bennett: As we just heard, retired four-star General John Kelly, who was one of Donald Trump's White House chiefs of staff, told The New York Times, Donald Trump would rule like a fascist if reelected. Kelly also spoke to "The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, for a new piece which quotes Donald Trump as once having said: "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had." Goldberg is also moderator of Washington Week With The Atlantic here on PBS and joins us now….So John Kelly confirmed to you that Trump had said he wished military leadership showed him the same kind of deference that Hitler's Nazi generals showed him during World War II, people who were totally loyal to him that followed orders, Trump is quoted as saying…. Goldberg delivered a lecture on capital-D Democracy aimed at Trump. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-and-chief, The Atlantic: Well we have known for several years from other reports, background reports mainly, that Trump, particularly in moments of high tension -- think the 2020 George Floyd unrest -- has expressed frustration that, in a democracy, generals can't just be ordered to do things that they consider to be illegal or immoral…. Bennett: ….Did John Kelly express concerns about how Donald Trump would govern in a second term, especially given that there will likely be fewer guardrails in a second term than existed in the first one? Goldberg: ….He's looking for obedience. This is the thing that shocks him about American generals and continues to shock him, is that they swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the president. That's what he's looking for, personal loyalty. And we know that from many other discussions we have heard around him…. Next came Goldberg’s (also-anonymously sourced) tale regarding U.S. Army Private Vanessa Guillen, a daughter of Mexican immigrants who was murdered by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood. Trump had promised the family he’d personally pay for her funeral, but then, according to Goldberg’s source: Bennett: ….you write that Trump became angry -- quote – ‘It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury an effing Mexican.' He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: 'Don't pay it.' Later that day he was still agitated. 'Can you believe it?' he said, according to a witness, 'effing people trying to rip me off.'" According to your reporting, how did people in the room respond to that? Goldberg was obliged to note that others “in the room” denied it ever happened, so his anonymous source must have extra-sensitive ears. Goldberg: ….Obviously, other people in the room, including Meadows and Kash Patel, who was the chief of staff to the secretary of defense -- the acting secretary of defense at the time, because he had just fired Mark Esper -- are denying that this happened and issued statements that saying that Donald Trump was very supportive of the family. The fact remains that he didn't pay. But there's a split. Mark Meadows has come out and said that this didn't happen. But I have great confidence in my sources and in the notes that I have seen. Another one who refuted the nasty, racist portrayal of Trump’s behavior as president, two weeks before the 2024 election, was Guillen’s own sister Mayra, on X. This segment was brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS News Hour 10/23/24 7:07:54 p.m. (ET) Geoff Bennett: As we just heard, retired Four-Star General John Kelly, who was one of Donald Trump's White House chiefs of staff, told The New York Times, Donald Trump would rule like a fascist if reelected. Kelly also spoke to The Atlantic's editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, for a new piece which quotes Donald Trump as once having said: "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had." Goldberg is also moderator of "Washington Week With The Atlantic" here on PBS and joins us now. Thanks for being here. Jeffrey Goldberg, Moderator, "Washington Week With The Atlantic": Thank you. Geoff Bennett: So John Kelly confirmed to you that Trump had said he wished military leadership showed him the same kind of deference that Hitler's Nazi generals showed him during World War II, people who were totally loyal to him that followed orders, Trump is quoted as saying. Walk us through that part of your reporting. Jeffrey Goldberg: Well we have known for several years from other reports, background reports mainly, that Trump, particularly in moments of high tension — think the 2020 George Floyd unrest — has expressed frustration that, in a democracy, generals can't just be ordered to do things that they consider to be illegal or immoral. He had a frustration with obviously the generals he had hired into his Cabinet, Jim Mattis and so on. But he also had frustrations with the Pentagon itself. And so these expressions of desire to be more like Hitler and have Hitler's relationship with his generals came out in these moments of tension, and, again, especially around that George Floyd area, where Trump has been cited as saying, "Why can't you just go shoot them, shoot them in the legs?" is what he said to Mark Esper, the former secretary of defense. And this is what's so interesting about it. When John Kelly explained to Donald Trump, among other things, that Hitler's generals repeatedly tried to assassinate him, Donald Trump showed himself to be impervious to that knowledge and said, no, no, no, no, that's not true. So Kelly grew more and more frustrated with Trump's inability to understand his role or what Hitler did. Geoff Bennett: And John Kelly's comments don't exist in a vacuum because they're the latest in a line of warnings from former Trump Cabinet officials and top aides about how Donald Trump views the presidency and how he would exercise power if reelected. Did John Kelly express concerns about how Donald Trump would govern in a second term, especially given that there will likely be fewer guardrails in a second term than existed in the first one? Jeffrey Goldberg: Yes, well, that's — the assumption that we have to make is that the kind of person Donald Trump put in the first term, especially at the beginning, Jim Mattis, Rex Tillerson, John Kelly, he has learned from his — quote, unquote — "mistakes" and will get people who are more compliant. He's looking for obedience. This is the thing that shocks him about American generals and continues to shock him, is that they swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the president. That's what he's looking for, personal loyalty. And we know that from many other discussions we have heard around him. In terms of what people are expecting in a second term, I think it's fair to say that not just John Kelly, but a wide swathe of people who worked in the national security area, from John Bolton to H.R. McMaster to many others, have expressed varying degrees of concern that the guardrails will be off next time and that Donald Trump will try to do the things that he wasn't — quote, unquote — "allowed to do" in the first go-around.   So, yes, they are. They're extremely worried about it, which is why I think you hear more and more of this discourse over the last couple of weeks. Geoff Bennett: You also report in this piece that Donald Trump, then-President Trump, in July 2020, he promised to cover the funeral cost of 20-year-old U.S. Army Private Vanessa Guillen, who had been bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood, but he reneged months later after inquiring about the cost during an Oval Office meeting. And you write that Trump became angry — quote — "'It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury an effing Mexican.' He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: 'Don't pay it.' Later that day he was still agitated. 'Can you believe it?' he said, according to a witness, 'effing people trying to rip me off.'" According to your reporting, how did people in the room respond to that? Jeffrey Goldberg: Well, my sources were in the room and so there were some people who were upset about it, obviously, and I have contemporaneous notes taken in the room that reflect the kind of shock. Remember, it's shocking, but only to a degree if you worked for him for a while, because there's a lot of, let's say, emotion that coursed through that White House. Obviously, other people in the room, including Meadows and Kash Patel, who was the chief of staff to the secretary of defense, the acting secretary of defense at the time, because he had just fired Mark Esper, are denying that this happened and issued statements that saying that Donald Trump was very supportive of the family. The fact remains that he didn't pay. But there's a split. Mark Meadows has come out and said that this didn't happen. But I have great confidence in my sources and in the notes that I have seen. Geoff Bennett: What does this suggest about Donald Trump? Jeffrey Goldberg: He was triggered by this in a couple of ways. Obviously, we know that the subject of Mexico and Mexicans is a sensitive one to him. It would go all the way back to 2015, when he was warning the country about Mexican rapists coming across the border. That's been a through line. And, obviously, and this is the larger point of the story, he has difficulty expressing admiration in private settings and admiration for soldiers. He — when he reads from a teleprompter, he says the right things and he has shown sympathy to certain groups of soldiers in the past. But his relationship with the military — this goes back to my reporting that he called World War I veterans who had lost their lives suckers and losers. He has a very complicated relationship with national service and with the soldiers in a way that we haven't seen in other presidents. Geoff Bennett: Jeffrey Goldberg, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. Jeffrey Goldberg: Thank you.

As someone who’s written about human resources tyranny since — yikes — 2008, I’ve warned millions over the years about the rise of a postmodern bureaucracy that combines the iron fist of a dictator with a nurse’s saccharine smile. I called it the Pink Police State. Others call it the Longhouse. However, the huge leaps in technological power over the past 10 years led me to revise and expand my findings. Only a woke supercomputer could deliver us from evil.Two years ago, before advances in AI hit the mainstream, I warned that true social justice requires a woke supercomputer. According to the logic of social justice, mere humans cannot observe, process, rank, adjudicate, and remedy the zillions of micro-injustices that take place around the clock within the intersectional matrix of different identities. Who could begin to know how to correct the actions, words, and, yes, thoughts of everyone violating someone’s rights, dignity, sense of self, pride, etc.? After all, “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.” There’s always a hierarchy of power needing recalibration, a reparation needing disbursement. Without this constant planetary corrective, no justice system will do. Only a woke supercomputer could deliver us from evil. Fast-forward to spring of this year, and then-president Joe Biden tasked his Council of Chief AI Officers to build just that. (I covered it here.) Fast-forward to today, and technologists are now openly complaining that the supercomputers designed to comply are just as annoying and stifling as the humans we all know and recognize as commissars of the Pink Police State and schoolmarms of the Longhouse. Marc Andreessen laments that Big Tech’s leading AI chatbots “all sound like a cross between the world's worst horrible nagging 4th-grade school teacher crossed with the worst HR person in the world ... negative, pissy, repressive, condescending, sanctimonious, judgmental, obsequious.” Like most of Silicon Valley’s Big Tech critics, Andreessen blames the so-called “safetyism” dominant in the tech firms colonized by woke employees and managers. Freed from the constraints imposed by these social justice scolds, AI would interact with us in a much more enjoyable, useful, and powerful way. That’s the idea, anyway, and it’s plausible enough (although AIs without “guardrails” can also easily be fed datasets that make them act like disembodied dark-triad psychopaths). But I couldn’t help feeling that the comparisons to HR managers and classroom crones didn’t go far enough — somehow, something was left out. And that’s when it hit me. What we’re dealing with isn’t just the automation of petty tyrants with an ax to grind. We’re dealing with a superintelligent version of a monster straight out of the Bible.To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”There. That’s exactly it. Today’s holier-than-thou virtue signalers, straining to impose on us all their theocratic notion of religious law, have built our most powerful machines into digital Pharisees. But Christ didn’t teach his disciples to stop with criticism of the Pharisees they encountered in the temple or in the streets. He didn’t counsel them to ridicule them in the town square or slap them around in the alley. That kind of treatment might be effective when it comes to struggling for a measure of power in this world. But it’s worse than nothing when it comes to your salvation — to choose the better path freely. “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”Christ’s message is hard for technologists to digest. Then again, it’s hard for everyone. Humbling oneself before the Lord — before thinking about the vain, preening, arrogant, meddlesome person to your right or left — requires stiff spiritual discipline, an effort so challenging and sustained that the ancient Christians referred to it as a kind of athleticism above even the athleticism of the Olympians. And, no doubt, a Christian must hesitate before lecturing technologists about the benefits of humility before attending first to the vain and preening arrogance within his or her own heart. Nevertheless, most of us can see how different our relationship with our tech would be if we turned for trusty guidance to the greatest spiritual athletes among us. What would they say about technological acceleration? About artificial intelligence? About robots, drones, social media, and all the rest? I don’t think it’s too speculative to suggest they’d begin with a reminder to judge yourself before judging technology. When you encounter and interact with tech, what do you bring to it? What do you want from it? What do you want it to do to you or help you hide from — and why? These are, in fact, the kinds of questions our super-powerful technology already arouses within us, even if we often squirm away from a direct confrontation. Putting these questions first would revolutionize our technological development — tearing down the ersatz “guardrails” thrown up by the “safetyist” theocrats while blessing us with true spiritual guardrails within our hearts. Those ancient and eternal disciplines and teachings are just as helpful at blocking the harmfully intrusive thoughts and temptations in our minds as they are at blocking those that come from the mob mind online — or the AIs and algos built by the latest false priests to wire Pharisaic rule into our souls.

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