Unfiltered with Josh Cohen

Interview with James Reston Jr. - Iconic Author and Playwright

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 May 2025 17:12:00 +0000

Reston was an assistant to U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall (1964–1965) and served in the U.S. Army (1965–1968) as an intelligence officer. He was a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina (1971–81).^[1] Reston is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C.^[2] and has been a fellow at the American Academy in Rome and a resident scholar at the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.

Reston is the author of 17 books, three plays, and numerous articles in national magazines. His works of both fiction and non-fiction cover a wide range of historical and political topics. Five of his works, Galileo: A Life, The Last Apocalypse, Warriors of God, Dogs of God, and Luther's Fortress have been translated into thirteen foreign languages. Warriors of God was an international best seller. The Last Apocalypse was a main selection of the Book of the Month Club in 1999. His 2015 book, Luther's Fortress, was nominated for the prestigious Philip Schaff Prize for the best book about church history published in 2015-16.

Reston was David Frost's Watergate adviser for the historic Nixon Interviews which forced ex-President Nixon to apologize for his Watergate crimes and remains the most watched public affairs television program in broadcast history. (The Watergate interrogation had an audience of 57 million viewers.) His book on the historic interviews, The Conviction of Richard Nixon, is the basis for the hit play, Frost/Nixon, in which the Jim Reston character is the narrator. In the Hollywood film adaptation of the play, directed by Ron Howard, Reston is played by the actor, Sam Rockwell. The movie received 5 Academy Award nominations. Reston's 2013 work, The Accidental Victim, is a non-fiction book about John F. Kennedy's assassination which argues that Texas Governor John Connallywas Lee Harvey Oswald's intended victim.^[3]

In 1985 Reston was the Newsweek, PBS, and BBC candidate to be the first writer in space on the NASA space shuttle. That program was scrapped after the Challenger accident in January 1986.

Reston's three plays are: "Sherman the Peacemaker" which premiered at the Playmakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 1979; "Jonestown Express" premiered at the Trinity Square Repertory Company in 1982; "Galileo's Torch", which adapted from his biography of Galileo, has had seven productions between 2014–17, including at the University of Oklahoma, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, and the Castleton Festival in 2017.

Reston's articles have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Time, The New York Times Magazine, George, Esquire, American Theatre, Playboy, and Rolling Stone.r In recent years he has lectured widely in the United States and overseas on the millennium and the Crusades, citing their relevance to modern issues.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Reston_Jr.

Diagnosed Psychopathic Narcissist Tries To Control And Manipulate Me! Josh Speaks with World Renowned Narcissism Expert, HG Tudor

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 16:29:00 +0000

HG Tudor is an educational YouTuber whose channel exists to provide better public education about narcissism.

Tudor is a pseudonym, as the creator chooses to protect his real identity. He says he does this because he is a diagnosed narcissistic psychopath, and revealing this would cause problems in his personal and professional life.

Tudor's work has, according to multiple testimonies on his site and channel, helped many people understand that they had been in a toxic or abusive relationship with a narcissist and escape. He is credited, in some instances, with saving lives. People who support his channel are often informally known as "Tudorites".

Although he is a prolific YouTuber, Tudor is not a full time professional. He has a separate professional life, which he seldom discusses for fear it would compromise his identity. However, he frequently mentions that in the course of his work, he has met many famous people. Examples include Rowan Atkinson, Meghan Markle and Kate Moss.

Find out more about HG Tudor here:

/ hgtudorknowingthe... https://narcsite.com https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-H-G-Tu...

#narcissism #psychopathy #darktriad

"The 'Burbs" Star Discusses Tom Hanks, Linda Hamilton and Chad Smith!

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 23:07:00 +0000

Cory Danziger is an actor, political activist, and conceptual artist.

As an actor, his most notable role was as Dave Peterson, the son of Tom Hanks' and Carrie Fisher's characters in the 1989 cult film The 'Burbs. For his role he was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture category. That was his third nomination for the award, the other two being Best Young Actor Starring in a TV Movie, Pilot or Special for his performance in Married to the Mob (1988) and Best Young Actor, Featured, Co-starring, Supporting, Recurring Role in a Comedy or Drama Series or Special for the Beauty and the Beast television series, his 1987 acting debut.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, he appeared as the character Jake Potts in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled "Brothers".

His most recent role came in 2007, after a gap of fourteen years, as the voice of "Sean" in the television series The Magic 7.

Danziger co-owns SceneFour and co-created The Original Lefty's, in Los Angeles, California. SceneFour is an art team focused on the release of visual art collections created with acclaimed musicians.

Cory worked as a writer for Digital Entertainment Network, Channel One News, and Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment. At Sony, Danziger authored the division’s Style Guide for brand-centric elements.

Cory was the Creative Director of Charter Media in 2003, working with local and regional businesses on television commercials and campaigns. Over the next 2 years, Danziger authored more than 100 commercials with an extraordinary team. At Charter, Cory's work garnered 7 Telly Awards, 3 Communicator Awards, and several Videographer Awards.

During 2005, Cory became instrumental in the launch of Current Television. Headed by Vice President Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt. Danziger co-authored the “Laguna Reel” which served as a pilot programming block to showcase what would be the network’s unique approach to television. He was also responsible for the network's slogan "That's how I stay Current."

Over the Pandemic in 2020, Cory authored two books from his home. The first titled Sh*t I Know For Sure focuses on his three decade long career in art and entertainment and the lessons learned along the way. The Second Edition book is currently available. The second book titled On Manifesting was released in July, 2021.

https://www.corydanziger.com/

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Danziger

Interview with Rapper Cowboy Coder To Discuss His New Album, "Code Rage"

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 17:05:00 +0000

Before recording “Code Rage”, Cowboy Coder lived in Texas, with a day job working as an independent IT consultant for the past fifteen years. His debut album discusses what it was like having one foot in the music world, and the other in the ever-changing world of startups, featuring songs like “B01” (detailing the 2001 tech bust), “Linux Administrator” (a stark analysis juxtaposing office politics with archetypal hardcore Linux CTOs), and “3rd Generation” (a collab with Cowboy Coder’s producer and friend MC Lars, which uses and demonstrates musical history as a metonymy for the evolution of code).

When COVID both necessitated and obviated Cowboy Coder's need to continue the day-to-day grind of creating enterprise solutions for Fortune 500 companies, he moved to Puerto Rico and dove deeper into his creative calling, writing an album that combines elements of country, punk, hip-hop and even EDM. Connecting with MC Lars at a show in Austin in February of 2020, Cowboy Coder and Lars kept in touch. Coder began remotely working with Lars through the Lit-Hop Academy (http://lithop.academy), a program that explores the basics of songwriting and its literary crossovers, helping artists find their unique voices. The two worked remotely, creating “Code Rage”, finishing the album’s production IRL in the spring of 2022 while the two were both in Brooklyn. Following the record’s completion, Cowboy Coder embarked on his first International tour, opening for Lars in the UK, a run that featured Cowboy Coder’s festival debut at Slam Dunk.

Cowboy Coder’s debut video (also called "Code Rage”) was directed by Max Skaff, whose previous work includes video collaborations with MC Lars, Watsky, Wheatus and Soul Coughing’s Mike Doughty. The rage not only against the start-up world that Cowboy Coder left behind, but also addresses reflects the alienation that comes from interacting with sloppy code, intensified by Zoom meetings and the ennui of COVID lockdown. Just as “3rd Generation” is a metonymy for genre, Cowboy Coder’s debut album speaks as a larger metaphor for anyone frustrated with technology, its spiritual shortcomings, and is brave enough to try something new. Fans of quirky music will surely be checking for “Code Rage”, available everywhere on October 14, 2022, via Audentes Records. Thank you for helping Cowboy Coder tell his story.

Interview with Variety Writer and Fellow Movie Nerd, Jenelle Riley

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 18:55:00 +0000

Jenelle Lynn Riley is an American screenwriter, actress, journalist, and producer. Riley wrote the 2015 short film Warning Labels, directed by Jennifer Morrison, and is the host of Variety's Actors on Actors, for which she has won a Daytime Emmy Award and two Los Angeles Emmy Awards. She is also an editor for Variety^[2] and contributor to The Huffington Post.^[3] She wrote and directed the award-winning play "A Kind of Love Story" which had its world premiere at Sacred Fools Theater Company in Los Angeles. She is the regular host of career conversations for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, where she has conducted lengthy interviews with various actors.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenelle_Riley

https://variety.com/author/jenelle-riley/

Interview with "Swimming With Sharks" Director, George Huang

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 19 May 2022 14:04:00 +0000

George Huang is an American filmmaker. In addition to working on his own films, he also contributes work to other independent filmmakers, including Robert Rodríguez.

In 1992, Columbia acquired the distribution rights to the film El Mariachi by Robert Rodríguez. As the film was being prepared for release, Rodriguez struck up a friendship with the young studio assistant with whom he shared a love of film. As Rodriguez, a native and resident of Austin, Texas, had no L.A. residence, he stayed at Huang's apartment.

Rodriguez – known for his money-saving and high-quality filmmaking techniques – was amazed by Huang's blasé attitude toward the way his superiors spent millions and millions on the production of a single motion picture. Huang, believing his own original stories would never be told, shared some story ideas with Rodriguez, who promptly told his new friend and roommate that he needed to immediately quit his job and make his own films. Huang was understandably reluctant to this idea, but in January 1993, he resigned from his post at Columbia.

Huang next began writing, and seeking financing for, a script loosely based on his experiences at Columbia. Released in 1994, Huang's debut film, Swimming with Sharks, is a satire of Hollywood politics from the point of view of a studio underling.

Since then, Huang has gone on to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work with directorial turns on several short-lived television series, such as Significant Others, Live Through This, and The Invisible Man. He also directed the independent films Trojan War (starring Jennifer Love Hewitt) and How to Make a Monster (which has become a cult favourite, starring Clea DuVall as the only leading role).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Huang_(director)

Interview with Cult Deprogrammer Rick Alan Ross

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 20:56:00 +0000

Rick Alan Ross is the founder and Executive Director of The Cult Education Institute. He is an internationally known expert regarding destructive cults, controversial groups and movements and author of the book "Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out." Since 1982 he has been studying, researching and responding to the problems often posed by controversial authoritarian groups and movements. Ross has been qualified and accepted and testified as an expert witness in court proceedings across the United States including US Federal Court.

He has also frequently assisted local and national law enforcement and government agencies. He has personally assisted thousands of families in an effort to help the victims of destructive cults, groups and movements. Ross is one of the most readily recognized experts offering analysis about destructive cults, controversial groups and movements in the world today. GQ Magazine identified "Rick Alan Ross [as] America’s leading cult expert." And Britain's FHM Magazine named him "America's number one cult buster." He has been a paid consultant for the television networks CBS, CBC and Nippon of Japan. And also was retained as a technical consultant by Miramax/Disney. Ross' commentary has been quoted within publications such as Time Magazine, People, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe and the Washington Post.

His appearances on national television have included a wide range of venues from news programs such as the "Today Show, "CNN World News," "Dateline", ABC 20/20 and "48 Hours" to popular interview shows such as "Oprah," "Dr. Phil" and "Inside Edition." Ross has lectured at such prestigious institutions as Dickinson College, the University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon University, Baylor University, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Wuhan University, China, Zhengzhou University, China, GuangXi International University, China, Heilongjiang University, China, Shandong University, China and Assumption University, Thailand. Ross' analysis has been sought on virtually every major cult story for decades.

https://culteducation.com/culteducation.html

Interview with Voice Actor and Robot Sidekick From The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Josh Robert Thompson!

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 13:20:00 +0000

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Josh Robert Thompson spent much of his childhood making silly voices into a Fisher-Price tape recorder.

Josh's gift for mimicry eventually brought him to Los Angeles and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, where he appeared in a number of sketches—most notably as Robert De Niro, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk. Behind the camera, Josh provided the voices of an invisible house band, a talking rhino head named Sandra, celebrity insects, and every caller on Ferguson’s desk phone. But it was his role as Craig’s robot skeleton sidekick—Geoff Peterson—that proved to be Josh’s big break, creating one of TV’s most unlikely and endearing late night duos.

For over a decade Josh’s wide range of voices and impressions have appeared on FOX’s Family Guy, as well as American Dad, Robot Chicken and Skylanders Academy, just to name a few.

In audiobooks, Josh has provided character voices and narration on over 30 projects—most notably author Michael Kaminski's The Secret History of Star Wars and a series of scripted podcasts for Audible.

On radio, Josh became a Howard Stern Show favorite as the voice of “Fake” Arnold Schwarzenegger—famously fooling everyone from George Takei to Fox News.

As a stand-up, Josh has toured all over the U.S. and Canada, playing such legendary venues as The Chicago Theater, Town Hall and Radio City.

On screen, he starred in the romantic comedy Nowhere Girl, the indie supernatural thriller Revelator, and the award-winning comedic series F#ing 40.

Currently, Josh can be heard in the hit Netflix animated series Inside Job, the Kristen Wiig comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, and as “The Voice of God” on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

He is also the recipient of a Webby Award for his turn as George Lucas in Collider’s “deep fake” video series.

Vist his website at https://thejrtshow.com/

Interview With Journalist And Foreign Affairs Writer Mark Danner

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 02:36:00 +0000

Mark Danner is a writer and reporter who for three decades has written on politics and foreign affairs, focusing on war and conflict. He has covered Central America, Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq and the Middle East, among many other stories. Danner holds the Class of 1961 Endowed Chair in Journalism and English at the University of California, Berkeley and James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities at Bard College. Among his books are The Massacre at El Mozote, Torture and Truth, The Secret Way to War, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War and Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War. Danner was a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker and is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. His work has appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times, Aperture, and many other newspapers and magazines. He has co-written and helped produce two hour-long documentaries for the ABC News program Peter Jennings Reporting, and his work has received, among other honors, a National Magazine Award, three Overseas Press Awards, the Carey McWilliams Award and an Emmy. In 1999 Danner was named a MacArthur Fellow. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Association, and a resident curator at the Telluride Film Festival. He speaks and lectures widely on foreign policy and America’s role in the world. Recently, Danner has covered the election of Donald Trump.

Check out this lecture he recently gave: http://markdanner.com/2022/02/25/confrontation-in-ukraine-explaining-the-war-and-its-history/

Interview with Crossfire Producer and Slate Founding Employee, Cyrus Krohn

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 23:35:00 +0000

Cyrus Krohn has been a cutting-edge communicator, digital innovator, and new media executive for over 20 years. Krohn is Principal of Krohn Zone, LLC, a consulting firm focused on corporate digital media strategy. He was Senior Vice President of Business Development at Civic Science, Inc. He advises businesses including Democracy Live, a voting technology company, and Element Data, Inc., focused on decision intelligence software. He managed the acquisition of the Cheezburger Network, one of the world’s largest digital media companies focused on humor and entertainment, to Literally Media. Prior to Cheezburger, Krohn co-founded Crowdverb and sold the start-up to WPP, the world’s largest communication services group. Krohn has worked as a senior director and executive producer at technology companies including Microsoft and Yahoo.

In 2013, Krohn was named one of the Top 50 digital political strategists in the United States. Krohn served as director of digital strategy for the Republican National Committee’s eCampaign Division. He joined the RNC following two years at Yahoo! as director of content production and election strategy. Krohn worked under well-known Hollywood media executive Lloyd Braun at Yahoo! Media Group in Santa Monica, California, creating original programming.

Prior to Yahoo!, Krohn spent ten years at Microsoft. He was Slate Magazine’s first employee and then publisher while the webzine was owned by Microsoft. While publisher, Slate reached profitability and won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. He is editor of the Slate Diaries, published by Public Affairs Books. Krohn also managed the political advertising effort for MSN.com, the Microsoft Network and was executive producer at MSN Video.

Krohn worked in CNN’s Washington, D.C. bureau producing Larry King Live and Crossfire and served as an intern in the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) and White House for Vice President Dan Quayle. Krohn served as president of the Washington State News Council, an independent, nonprofit, statewide organization whose members share a common belief that fair, accurate and balanced news media are vital to our democracy.

Krohn graduated from Lynchburg College and served on the Board of Advisors of the George Washington University Institute for Politics Democracy and the Internet and the E-Voter Institute. He has lectured on the impact the Internet is having on the political process at the 2013 Personal Democracy Forum, University of Michigan Knight-Wallace Fellows, Johns Hopkins University, American University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania, The Aspen Institute, Harvard and MIT.

Source: https://cyruskrohn.com/bio

Interview with Wheatus Frontman, Brendan B. Brown

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 20:06:00 +0000

Wheatus are an American rock band from Northport, New York, formed in 1995. They are known principally for their 2000 single "Teenage Dirtbag", which appeared in the films Loser and Bully, as well as the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, the Netflix original series Girlboss, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Brendan B. Brown, commonly known as BBB to fans, is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and the only remaining founding member of Wheatus, which he formed in 1995 with his brother, Peter Brown (drums) and Rich Liegey (bass).^[2] Brown has also collaborated with James Bourne of Busted and McBusted (a collaboration between Busted and McFly) on several songs for McBusted's album, McBusted.

Wheatus was formed by Brendan B. Brown in 1995, on the lower east side of New York City. Brown began by writing a few songs, and subsequently enlisted the help of his brother Peter Brown on drums, Rich Liegey on bass and backing vocals and Philip A. Jimenez on various percussion instruments, keyboards, harmonica, providing samples and special effects. The band derives its name from the nickname "wedus" given to the Brown brothers by their father when they were children.^[3] Then, in 1999 they hired New York entertainment attorney Ray Maiello who booked them at the Luna Lounge on New York's Lower East Side for regular appearances. Maiello helped the group and shopped their self-produced debut album to major record labels. Maiello sent demos to Kevin Patrick from Columbia Records. Maiello invited Patrick to see a showcase at Mercury Lounge and Patrick quickly signed the band to a multi-album deal. Maiello was subsequently hired as the band's manager. Their self-titled debut album was released on August 15, 2000 and spawned the band's first and largest hit, "Teenage Dirtbag", a song which charted at No. 1 in Australia and No. 2 in the United Kingdom. Their second single, a cover of one of Erasure's signature songs – "A Little Respect", also reached very high chart positions, peaking at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart.^[4] The third single from the album, a double A-side of "Leroy" and "Wannabe Gangstar", didn't perform as well as expected, only reaching No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart. Another song from the album, "Punk Ass Bitch", was bought by the creators of Jackie Chan Adventures and reworked as "Chan's the Man", the end credits theme for the program's first season.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatus#Current

Live Acoustic Performance of "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 14:59:00 +0000

Teenage Dirtbag is a song by American rock band Wheatus. It was released on June 20, 2000, as the lead single from their eponymous debut album (2000). The song was written by guitarist and vocalist Brendan B. Brown and was inspired by a childhood experience of his. The song was successful in Australia, spending four weeks at number one, being certified 3× Platinum, and becoming the second-best-selling single of 2000. It also reached number one in Austria and Flanders while peaking at number two in Ireland, Germany, and the United Kingdom, where it was certified 2× Platinum in 2018. It has sold 5 million copies worldwide as of 2014.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Dirtbag

Full Video Interview With Renowned Scientist and Autism Advocate Temple Grandin

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 16:31:00 +0000

Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American scientist and animal behaviorist. She is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. Grandin is a consultant to the livestock industry, where she offers advice on animal behavior, and is also an autism spokesperson.

Grandin is one of the first individuals on the autism spectrum to document the insights she gained from her personal experience of autism. She is currently a faculty member with Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University.

In 2010, Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, named her in the "Heroes" category.^[2] She was the subject of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning semi-biographical film Temple Grandin. Grandin has been an outspoken proponent of autism rights and neurodiversity movements.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

Interview with Scientist And Autism Advocate Temple Grandin

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 02:55:00 +0000

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

Interview with Political Journalist and Founder of Washington Free Beacon Matthew Continetti

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 03:16:00 +0000

Matthew Continetti is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where his work is focused on American political thought and history, with a particular focus on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement in the 20th century.

A prominent journalist, analyst, author, and intellectual historian of the right, Mr. Continetti was the founding editor and the editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon.

Previously, he was the opinion editor at The Weekly Standard. Mr. Continetti is also a contributing editor at National Review and a columnist for Commentary Magazine.

He has been published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among other outlets. He also appears frequently on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” with Bret Baier and MSNBC’s “Meet the Press Daily” with Chuck Todd. Mr. Continetti is the author of two books: “The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star” (Sentinel, 2009) and “The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine” (Doubleday, 2006).

He has a BA in history from Columbia University. Experience Commentary: Columnist, 2014–present National Review: Contributing Editor, 2018–present The Washington Free Beacon: Editor-in-Chief, 2012–19 The Weekly Standard: Opinion Editor, Assistant Editor, Editorial Assistant, 2003–11 Education BA, history, Columbia University

Source: https://www.aei.org/profile/matthew-continetti/

Washington Free Beacon: https://freebeacon.com/

Interview with publisher emeritus and journalist for "The Nation" Victor Navasky

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 01:33:00 +0000

Victor Saul Navasky (born July 5, 1932) is an American journalist, editor, and academic. He is publisher emeritus of The Nation and George T. Delacorte Professor Emeritus of Professional Practice in Magazine Journalism at Columbia University. He was editor of The Nation from 1978 until 1995 and its publisher and editorial director from 1995 to 2005. Navasky's book Naming Names (1980) is considered a definitive take on the Hollywood blacklist. For it he won a 1982 National Book Award for Nonfiction.[1][a]

He was awarded the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence[2] by Harvard's Nieman Foundation in 2017.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Navasky

Interview with 9/11 First Responder and Advocate John Feal

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 01:18:00 +0000

John Feal is an American political activist and retired construction worker from Commack, NY, known for his advocacy on behalf of first responders to the September 11 attacks. In 2001, Feal was a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero when a falling steel beam landed on his foot. He developed gangrene, then sepsis, and eventually required partial amputation. As Feal's injury occurred just outside of a 96-hour window following the attack, he was denied compensation for the injury. The denial led to him becoming an advocate for 9/11 first responders.[1][2] Feal founded the FealGood Foundation, dedicated toward lobbying members of the U.S. Congress to provide additional funding to 9/11 responders, as well as connecting responders with various resources.[3] In 2019, Feal worked closely with comedian and fellow advocate Jon Stewart to lobby Congress for the renewal of a 9/11 victim's compensation fund.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Feal

Interview with MC Lars!

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:43:00 +0000

Check out my interview with the amazingly talented MC Lars!

We discuss his new album, Blockchain Planet as well as his writing and rapping philosophies. We even have a discussion about George Orwell. Enjoy!

He has recorded for Truck Records in the UK, Sidecho Records in the United States, Big Mouth Records in Japan, and Shock Records in Australia. He was formerly known as MC Lars Horris but changed his pseudonym to MC Lars in 2004 for purposes of simplicity.

In 2006, he released the single "Download This Song", which entered the Australian Singles Chart at number 29.

In 2006, Lars worked with the Canadian independent record label Nettwerk Records to release The Graduate. Following this release, Lars toured extensively throughout the US, then he toured UK and did shows in Japan,[9] and Australia. Not long after the album was released on iTunes, Lars received an e-mail from a 15-year-old fan Elisa Greubel on his web forum saying she identified with "Download This Song" since her family was one of many being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America. This led to Nettwerk executive Terry McBride and a team of major-label artists managed by Nettwerk to support the Greubels with their case. MC Lars returned to the UK in October 2006.

In April 2007, MC Lars and Nettwerk made the component tracks for his single "White Kids Aren't Hyphy" available for remix under a by-nc-sa Creative Commons license on the Jamglue online mixing site as a contest.[10] In May, MC Lars toured the UK on the third installment of the Good To Go Tour, making friends with Wheatus front man Brendan B. Brown. In July Lars and Brown recorded new songs, two of which would later appear on This Gigantic Robot Kills. In November, Lars returned to the UK on tour with pop-punk band Last Letter Read who performed their own set and then on stage with Lars, debuting Lars' new song "Hey There Ophelia".

MC Lars performing with Australian band Wherewolves at Bang! Nightclub in Melbourne, May 2009.

In 2008 and 2009, Lars worked with "Weird Al" Yankovic, Wheatus, the Rondo Brothers, Nick Rowe and Mike Kennedy of Bloodsimple, Daniel Dart of Time Again, Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan, MC Bat Commander of the Aquabats, Suburban Legends, Worm Quartet, Gabriel Saporta of Cobra Starship, Brett Anderson of the Donnas, MC Frontalot, Jesse Dangerously, Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup, Adil Omar, Linus Dotson of Size 14, Parry Gripp of Nerf Herder, Jonathan Coulton, Aesias Finale, Sebastian Reynolds, Joe Ragosta of Patent Pending and classical musician Walt Ribeiro to complete his album This Gigantic Robot Kills.

Nielsen has opened for Snoop Dogg, I Fight Dragons, the Matches, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup, Gym Class Heroes, Say Anything, Streetlight Manifesto, Suburban Legends, Test Icicles, Jack's Mannequin, Bayside, Fightstar, MC Frontalot, MC Chris, Wheatus, The Aquabats, T-Pain, Yung Joc, Cartel, Zebrahead[11][12] and Insane Clown Posse.[13]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC_Lars

My Written Interview with Five For Fighting aka John Ondrasik

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 03:04:00 +0000

Vladimir John Ondrasik III^[ (born January 7, 1965), known by his stage name Five for Fighting, is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer, and philanthropist. He is best known for his piano-based soft rock ballads,^[2] such as the top 40 hits "Superman (It's Not Easy)" (2001), "100 Years" (2003) and "The Riddle" (2006). He also had a string of moderate hits on the adult contemporary charts in the late 2000s and into the 2010s, including "World" (2006), "Chances" (2009), "What If" (2013) and "Christmas Where You Are" (2017).

Ondrasik has recorded six full-length studio albums, one EP, and several live albums as Five for Fighting. Ondrasik's song "Superman" was nominated for a Grammy in 2002.

INTERVIEW: Answers in Bold

1) I know that you’re a massive hockey fan and that is, in fact, where the name

“Five For Fighting” comes from? To start somewhat randomly, what was it like

drinking out of the Stanley Cup?

It was a dream come true. As a L.A. Kings fan, I never thought I would live to see us win the cup. To celebrate with family and some of the Kings organization who are longtime friends was a sports memory for a lifetime. FYI, The Keeper of the cup is one cool dude.

2) You said that you have worked “45,000 hours before [you] made a penny in the

music business”. Likewise, you have noted that you are “a twenty-year overnight

success”. What was it like coming up as a young, struggling artist? What inspired

you to keep at it?

To succeed in the arts you need a thick skin as well as a few suits of armor. Most of us are rather insecure as artists and the rejection that comes along with the pursuit of a career can be exhausting and debilitating. I guess my plan was to keep at it until the car went flaming over the cliff…One lesson to be learned from my experience is that at times perseverance and work ethic can be as or more important than talent.

3) Richard Marx in one of his vlogs has said that when he is “stuck” lyrically in the

course of song-writing, he will turn to some of the great romantic poets, Pablo

Naruda, primarily for inspiration. Do you have such a resource that you turn to for

inspiration when you’re “stuck”?

At times I will read some Dylan, L. Cohen, or Sondheim lyrics, but typically I get away from the song for a while and try to come back with a fresh look. Lyrics can be excruciating and fickle as some lyrics come in an hour, and others take a year and a dozen rewrites. IMO though, when it comes to songwriting, melody may get you on the radio, but lyrics keep you there 20 years.

4) You’ve performed before huge crowds. Tens of thousands of people. What is

that rush like when you get up on stage? Do you ever get nervous?

Sometimes I get nervous, especially when it’s a live television as you never know what can happen. The more you do it, the easier it is like anything. Having 10,000 people sing your song back to you is exhilarating and I wish every singer/songwriter could experience that wonder.

5) Let’s talk about your 2001 song, “Superman”, written, as you’ve said in previous

interviews, in about 45 minutes and after 9/11. The song, by my view, deals with

Archetypal themes of self-worth and trying to reconcile how you see yourself with

how you are perceived. The lyric “Even heroes have the right to bleed”, in

particular stands out to me. It may be a hopelessly broad question, but I would

love to know what inspired the themes of that song?

Who knows, but I guess you could look at the fact I was a struggling songwriter looking to be heard and in my mind I thought it was not easy to be me. I’ve learned since that there are those who truly struggle with immense challenges in life, and perhaps that is where the song was most embraced. It’s not a song I could write now, but I’m blessed it was my first child that led to a career.

6) My personal favorite song of yours would have to be “100 Years”. Released in

2003, the single reached number one on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary

chart and number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2007 the song earned a

Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for

more than 1,000,000 copies sold. When I interviewed Tal Bachman last year, he

told me an amazing story about how he found out “She’s So High” became a hit

song. How did you find out that the song became #1 on the US Billboard Adult

Contemporary chart, for instance? Do you remember where you were when you

got that news?

Thank You. I don’t remember but having a popular song, hearing it on the radio then and now, is incredibly rewarding. Actually, ,I think over the decades 100 years may have had more of an impact on the culture than Superman, which is pretty amazing to contemplate.

7) “100 Years” deals with, I think, wonderful themes that we could all bear in mind.

Chief among them would be, I would say, recognizing the moment. “Enjoying

every sandwich”, as Warren Zevon put it towards the end of his life. It reads

rather like a poem to me, dealing with intervals of time. How did you decide how

you were going to structure the song?

It went through many permutations but you are right, the song is a life and speaks to the easy to say, but sometimes hard to execute, appreciate the moment, good, bad or ugly…something I personally struggle with.

8) If you have one, do you have a big career regret that comes to mind?

Not that it’s a huge one, but I wish I would have embraced the opportunity to work with more of my fellow songwriters…

9) I admire very much your commitment to the men and women who serve in our

Armed forces. I have two brothers, one in the Army and one in the Marines and

they wanted to pass along their gratitude as well. I know you have done some

work with actor Gary Sinise and his wonderful foundation. What has that

experience been like?

The most humbling experience of my life. To be able to say Thank You to our troops and their families (like yours), through music, and have an impact on some of their lives has been wonderful and illuminating. Without our troops, their courage and sacrifice, all the good things we have in America go away.

11) This question comes from my friend David DiMuzio, who is a very talented professional musician with a YouTube channel: What's the one song of yours that's been released but that wasn't a single that you most wish the whole world knew the way they know your songs like Superman and A Hundred Years

I was told “World” was going to be as big as those songs but it never happened. I do think the question “What kind of World do you want” applies more than ever now and would be a healthy conversation for the culture that seems to be so divided and angry.

12) What upcoming projects do you have in the works that people can look forward

to?

Getting the family biz through Covid, and hope to write a new record.

13) Has there ever been a question that hasn’t been asked of you that you wished

someone would ask?

What was it liked playing left wing with Gretzky?

14) If you weren’t a singer/song-writer, what do you think you would be in life?

Sadder.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_for_Fighting

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel and to my blog at http://theunfilteredpodcast.blogspot.com/

My Third Interview with the Best-Selling Author, J. Randy Taraborelli to Discuss His New Book!

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 01:16:00 +0000

CLICK HERE FOR THE INTERVIEW!!!

My Interview with the Creator of Roger Rabbit, Gary K. Wolf!

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 01:11:00 +0000

CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW!!!!

Gary K. Wolf is an American author. He is best known as the author of Who Censored Roger Rabbit? (1981), which was adapted into the hit feature-length film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_K._Wolf

Photo: https://suubnews.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/gary-k-wolf-and-tunetown-hardboiled/

Interview with former Neo-Nazi Frank Meeink

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 06:07:00 +0000

CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW!

At 17, Meeink was arrested after he had nearly killed a man and had kidnapped another. Meeink used a gun in the kidnapping, which led to him being tried as an adult; he had recorded the attack on videotape. Meeink had also been arrested prior for smaller crimes, but for these crimes, however, he was sentenced to three years in prison. Meeink served his prison term near Springfield, Illinois.

Prison changed his life. He met people of many different ethnicities. Due to a shared interest in sports, Meeink became friends with many African American prisoners. In games like football and basketball, Meeink earned the respect of fellow African American inmates. Moreover, Meeink felt that the black inmates supported him more than the skinheads while in prison.

After getting released from prison, Frank tried to return to his past life, but realized that during his time in prison he had learned that he did not have the same prejudices he had prior to prison. He also continued to suffer from not having a stable home and was almost lost to drug addiction.

The 1998 film, American History X, is loosely inspired by Meeink's life in many ways. The film's main character, Derek, played by Edward Norton, becomes a skinhead after his father is killed by black drug dealers and helps start a Neo-Nazi gang in Los Angeles. The character goes to prison for 3 years (like Meeink), for the murder of a black gang member. In prison, he too forms a bond with an African American inmate, and they share love of basketball, among other things. After he gets out of prison, he decides to leave the Nazi movement he helped form. Norton was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.

After Meeink served his prison sentence, he went back to where he had spent his childhood in South Philadelphia and by helping with the local hockey team, the Philadelphia Flyers, he created Harmony Through Hockey. This organization was created to give young kids a chance to stay out of the way of violence and have fun while participating.

He also visits schools and gives lectures on his life and how to avoid falling into violence and crime.

Frank's Website: http://www.frankmeeink.com/index.html

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Meeink

Interview with Three-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner and Member of "Spotlight" Investigative Team Stephen Kurkjian

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 22:59:00 +0000

CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW

Stephen A. Kurkjian is an American journalist and author. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting in 1972 and 1980. Additionally, he contributed to The Boston Globe Spotlight Team's coverage of the clergy abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003. He also received the George Polk Award in 1982 and 1994. He won the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award in 1995.Stephen Kurkjian is of Armenian descent. A lifelong Bostonian, he is a graduate of the Boston Latin School, Boston University (1966) and the Suffolk University School of Law (1970). Kurkjian attended the latter institution as a part-time student while working as a general assignment reporter for the State House News Service and the Globe and remains a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Along with former wife Ann Kurkjian Crane, he became a founding member of the Spotlight Team (now the oldest investigative journalism unit in the United States) in 1970; from 1979 to 1986, he served as the unit's editor. He also served as the newspaper's Washington bureau chief and senior assistant metropolitan editor for projects before retiring in 2007.

His father, an artist, was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. His cousin is sportswriter Tim Kurkjian.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Kurkjian

In Response To Nathan Robinson's Guardian Article on Jordan Peterson

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 06:32:00 +0000

My eye was caught earlier today by an article in the Guardian recently offered to us by Nathan Robinson. For full context, please find link to that article here. First point I want to make clear is that Mr. Robinson's article (ridiculously called "Publishers are not obliged to give bigots like Jordan Peterson a platform") is an Op-Ed and clearly listed as such. That's quite a bit better than most of the media which are opinions masquerading as objectivity. I suspect many of you can think of your own favorite example of this. Second point is this isn't an attack on Mr. Robinson himself, but on his article. I'm sure he's a genial man who is kind to animals. Hopefully that won't make it less entertaining. That is where my charity ends.
Robinson's article regarding Dr. Jordan Peterson's new book is a proverbial grab bag of half-truth, mistruth, and downright untruth. Mr. Robinson is showcasing either his intellectual laziness or his intellectual dishonesty and I'm not certain which is worse.
From Robinson's very first invocation in his opening sentence he shows his predilection for intellectual suicide. The first part of his opening sentence reads "Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychology professor and lobster-loving life coach who came to public attention after refusing to use the preferred pronouns of transgender people...". This is a flat out lie. I say lie because the articles, interviews and indeed footage of his launch into the public forum are comically well-documented. Jordan Peterson came to public attention after taking a stand against an amendment to Canadian bill C-16 (it's very easy to dig this up which makes one wonder why Mr. Robinson didn't bother mentioning this in his article) which would have extended human rights legislation in Canada to include making misgendering someone who is transgender a human rights violation. Dr. Peterson explicitly stated that his issue isn't preferred pronouns, but compelled speech. I beg you, dear reader, to watch this interview Peterson gave two years ago where he explicitly states he would refer to a person by their preferred pronoun on a personal level (as would I, by the way, in case you're wondering). Dr. Peterson's issue, once again, concerned linguistic tyranny and freedom of speech, not "...refusing to use preferred pronouns...". It took me a whopping 30 seconds to find that interview. It's called research, Mr. Robinson. Robinson goes on to state that there have been "dozens of complaints from staff" at the publishing house which is releasing Peterson's new book which Robinson slyly says was "predictably...criticized as overly sensitive and excessively woke". Robinson's clear implication here is that said criticism would be as unwarranted as it is expected. I would encourage anyone who reads this to consider that for a moment. In fact, one employee from the publisher told Vice magazine that “People were crying in the meeting about how Jordan Peterson has affected their lives,”. Crying because your company is making a decision that you don't personally agree with? That does seem like a bit much to me. I won't belabor this point long and only add that the book, which is an addition to Peterson's hugely popular "12 Rules For Life", is effectively a self help book. To provide a referential context, Peterson's first book contains such controversial and threatening ideas as "Treat yourself like you are someone you are responsible for helping" and "Make friends with people who want the best for you". Ideas like this are worth crying over? Also, because I simply can't resist a well-aimed snipe, rule 10 is "be precise in your speech", which I would submit to Robinson for his own consideration. If these rules and rules like them are worth crying over, it might be time to do some soul-searching. Robinson continues a lazy attempt at ascription of motive to Peterson by opining that "Peterson himself was thrilled, believing it had proven his point about “snowflake” leftists...". Well, it kind of did, did it not? If Robinson felt a crying employee didn't prove that point, would he care to state what would prove that point? He wouldn't and, indeed, he didn't, at least not in this article. Moving right along, Robinson casts a rather wider net, going after the idea of a publishing house "censoring" a book. To quote him directly, he states that "It’s not reasonable to claim that employees who object to publishing Peterson are “censorious”.". Weather a publishing house should lend its imprimatur to tricky subject matter could well make for an interesting discussion and debate. That's forgetting the fact that the subject matter here very likely is not all that tricky. Perhaps that's best reserved for another article. However, here are the facts. The publisher did lend its imprimatur to the book, they likely read it several times, and they have scheduled the book to be published early next year. Surely the case to be made isn't in the area of censorship but of the responsibility the publisher has to honor its agreement with Peterson and publish the book? Perhaps Mr. Robinson can educate me on this point as he is a published author of many books. One simply has to wonder how he would react if, say, his 2017 book, Trump: Anatomy of a Monstrosity were to be rejected by Demilune Press on the grounds that a Trump supporter who worked there cried upon hearing it would be published? A simple thought experiment for your review, Mr. Robinson. I cordially invite you on my podcast, by the way to discuss your piece and this point in particular. One small point is that Robinson has a rather roguish and snide aside later in the piece where he states that "The things [Peterson] says are often false, prejudiced and dangerous." and that "What possible obligation does a publisher have to publish the ravings of bigots?". Well, the ridiculous tone aside, my response to the last question is imbricated in what I just stated regarding publishing houses. In response to the first question, Robinson makes the accusations bravely enough, but even more bravely declines to give any examples of Peterson making either a false, dangerous, and , most ludicrously, prejudiced, statement. Perhaps he will address in a later article, perhaps not. Is my point about intellectual dishonesty becoming clear? I daresay it is to at least some of you. Mr. Robinson then flounders through a few more paragraphs regarding censorship and publishing, as if censorship or even censorship in simulacrum are of no great consequence. To me, that's a rather extraordinary position to take given Mr. Robinson's position as a man of letters. Finally, Mr. Robinson caps off the article with a plea for funding to The Guardian. Good luck with that is all I have to say. The final stanza to this melody of mistruth ends with Robinson stating that... [he’ll] fight for the free speech rights of [Peterson], but nobody has a human right to a lucrative book contract without regard for whether their opinions are sound or valuable.". On this final point, I submit to the intelligence and judiciousness of you, dear reader. Those of you that have read Peterson's previous book and understand that the forthcoming piece is an extension of it, will any of you state that its content are not sound or valuable? Even if it were to be judged as such, that's a decision for you to make, not Mr. Robinson.

My final statement is directed to you, Mr. Robinson. I hope you get the chance to read this piece. You will, because I will be tweeting this out to you and emailing you as well. If you want to correct the record or discuss the piece, consider this article an open invitation to come on to my podcast to discuss.

How My Interview with Dave Rubin Fell Through

joshcombatsports@gmail.com (Joshua Cohen) — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 21:41:00 +0000

From the outset, I want to make a few quick statements as to a) why I'm writing this piece and b) what my emotional response is to the whole mess.

1) I bear no ill will to either Dave Rubin, the publishers, or Dave's assistant Helen (who was a pleasure to have an interchange with) for how everything went down. The only issue I have is the thunderous silence that characterized the "responses" to my subsequent emails and how the situation was handled.

2) This article isn't an attempt to make anyone look bad necessarily, it's primarily my own attempt at ventilating my own angst and irritation. My thoughts and opinions are my own and no one else's.

3) I also wanted to write this article as an answer to everyone that has inquired as to how this interview fell through.

4) In spite of it all, I do still admire Dave, Peterson, Harris and the rest of the IDW crew. It would be a pleasure to interview any one of them.

With those pro visos in place, enjoy -

Of all the questions I get regarding my podcast, the most I get seem to revolve around my scheduled interview with the very well-known political commentator, Dave Rubin. It won't come as a surprise to many of you that when the prospect of interviewing Mr. Rubin became a real possibility, my response was marked by my signature meekness and humility. Sound-offs on all my social media and anyone within earshot was my daily routine. After the interview date came and went with nothing published, many people came up to me either in person or via email to ask me what happened. First, some background...

I had first reached out to Dave directly after tracking down his email address on Twitter back in 2017. I can get quite obsessive when appropriately motivated and this was one such occasion. I found a tweet that he had sent several years ago with his email and enthusiastically reached out.

Dave kindly responded within an hour thanking me for the email and said that he was on tour with Jordan Peterson. This would have been during their world tour and CC'd his assistant Helen as my point of contact. Helen had said that Dave's schedule was full but to reach out every couple of months to check in, which I did about once per quarter. If demand is high enough after this piece is published, I'm not unwilling to publish that email exchange.

Fast forward a couple of years, Dave Rubin was just finishing up a book which has since been published, called "Burn This Book", and Helen very graciously agreed to mark me as part of Dave's promotional tour. Among the repertory of interviewers were such luminaries as Douglas Murray, Lauren Chen, Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck and many others. I suspect most of these names will be known to you, so I was ecstatic to be in such company. Now, in addition to my blog, I also write for Laura Loomer, whom I have interviewed previously, as well as a couple online magazines, which had agreed to publish the interview. Helen had put me in touch with Rubin's publishing house, Penguin Random House. The publisher kindly sent me a free advanced copy of the book to me in preparation for our interview, which I read all the way through in about three days. For what it's worth to either Helen, Dave, or the publisher, I enjoyed the read.

The interview was several months out, so as the date approached I wanted to check in with Helen to confirm. This would have been two days before the scheduled interview. Helen happily confirmed an hour or so later. All was well at this point. The day before the interview I get a very sudden and abrupt email from the publishers: "Hi Josh. Apologies for the last second notice, but we have to cancel tomorrow's interview". You can imagine the cocktail of emotions swirling within me after reading this. I think one part anger, two parts confusion and one part depression. I mean this really was a golden interview to me. Granted I have had some very high profile guests which include best-selling authors and musicians, Pulitzer prize winning journalists and several people that have had major motion pictures made about them. But, it meant so much to have a chance to speak with him as I had been following him for some time, and I thought if nothing else, we could at least bond over our mutual fondness for the late, great Christopher Hitchens.

Following this emotional bodyblow (trust me, it hurt), I reached back out to the publisher and Helen, both separately and together, in an attempt to reschedule. All in, there must have been about 5 emails sent by me. There was no response.

Now, I didn't know and still don't know why they abruptly canceled the interview. Especially after sending me an advanced copy of the book, after setting the interview date in stone, and the assistant confirming the interview two days prior. So the question has to be asked (and I have no legitimate answer), "what could have occurred between Helen confirming and the publisher canceling?".

I want to be very clear that I am as much a slave to speculation at this point as any of you are. I do have a working theory which could be way off the mark, but it's truly my best shot, given the startling lack of information at my disposal.

The day prior to the interview, Dave was on FOX news as part of his promotional tour. If memory serves, I believe he was being interviewed by Tucker Carlson. The conversation turned to Tech censorship and shadowbanning. There was a public message that got sent out by Laura Loomer denouncing Rubin. I can't recall her exact phrasing (so take this with a grain of salt), but the crux was that Dave wasn't in a position to comment about censorship as he had never been canceled/censored. Now, I will not comment on Laura's feelings or on Dave's feelings. That's not for me to do and if either decide to make a statement about the other, they can do so on their own volition. I have no conversation for you on this point, other than to say I consider Laura a friend and hold absolutely no ill will there either; we've talked many times since.

However, my belief (again this is only speculation) was that word of that message (it was publicly made) got back to the publishers and the publishers, having already known I was a writer for Laura got scared and were expecting some kind of an ambush, and canceled the interview on the back of that presumption.

I want to reiterate one of my pro visos and say that I don't necessarily hold ill will to the publisher for doing this. If I was in their position and I have someone on a book tour and someone who I do not know other than their association with someone who denounced my client wanted an interview, I would probably cancel it also. At a minimum, I would set ground rules (which I believe we had done, by the way, in previous correspondence). My gripe comes from their non-existent responses. There is a marked lack of courtesy and general professionalism accompanying the "ghosting" of a journalist. It's the giant question mark that hangs in the air, and is thus accompanied by the miasma of my angst. As we all know misery loves company, so I figured I would share this experience with all of you.

What are your thoughts? Am I overly sensitive? Should I reach back out again? Any points anyone wants me to clarify? Should the emails be published? I would love to hear from you all.