bronze star

John Lawyer was a counterintelligence special agent and an asymmetric warfare specialist during his service in the Army. He was responsible for coordinating various operations for a special USAF unit in Afghanistan for six years and received a bronze star for counterterrorism operations. Afterwards he had to disconnect himself from war and reconstruct his life. Nowadays he acts as one of several guides for Kishar, a non-profit online spiritual community for people to explore their own unique spiritual path. As an Omnist, John believes in the validity of great human thought from around the world and throughout time. He offers individual spiritual guidance and coaching services as part of the Kishar Spiritual Community.

 https://kishar.org

Martini (2 1/2 ounces gin, 1 ounce dry vermouth, 4 olives)

Award winning author and recipient of the Bronze Star, Silver Star and Purple Heart, Elliot reveals a secret handshake to counter program the famous Trump handshake-yank, shares his thoughts on the Great Man Theory of history and what he’d do about a young Hitler, how he and Adm. James Stavridis have worked together on novel writing, and gives his opinion of the best war movie ever made (you won’t see this one coming).

New York Times columnist David French grew up in the Church of Christ, graduated from Lipscomb University (a school with deep roots and strong ties in the Church of Christ tradition), and shaped his political mind in the conservative Republicanism of the 1980s and 1990s. He began and built his legal career litigating institutions that threatened religious liberties, mostly of Christians. His experience serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq began a slow but sure maturation of his conservative ideals. For the last ten years, he has spoken and written more about how certain kinds of politics might corrupt the integrity and mission of Christians and the church...and how Christians, in the long run, may be the biggest threat to their own religious liberties. In this episode, Christian Chronicle CEO Erik Tryggestad and host BT Irwin ask David for his take on Christians and politics at this moment in the history of the church and the country.
Link to David French’s homepage at The New York Times

Link to David French’s latest book, Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How We Restore Our Nation

Link to news release about David French’s appointment as visiting professor at Lipscomb University’s College of Leadership and Public Service

Link to Lipscomb University College of Leadership and Public Service

Link to David French’s author page at amazon.com

Link to When Character Was King by Peggy Noonan

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to The Christian Chronicle at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send comments, ideas, and questions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

TAGS

David French, New York Times, The Dispatch, The Atlantic, National Review, Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation, United States Army Reserve, judge advocate general, Iraq, Bronze Star, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, religious liberty, Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tennessee, distinguished visiting professor of public policy, College of Leadership and Public Service, Church of Christ, free speech, social media, cancel culture, American founding, 1776, 1619, Harvard Law School, The Babbler, Nancy French, Brentwood Hills Church of Christ, Brentwood, Southside Church of Christ, Lexington, Kentucky, Georgetown, Craig Bledsoe, Dwight Tays, Jerry Gaw, Ralph Reed, Ronald Reagan, Reagan Republicans, GOP, Al Qaeda, grievance, grievance politics, Sunni Muslim, Shia Muslim, political violence, policy, policies, Mitt Romney, partisan mind, partisan, partisan politics, 2016, ideology, hatred, disunion, January 6, Roe v. Wade, abortion, George Bush, Michael Dukakis, Cold War, pro life, Peggy Noonan, When Character Was King, Bill Clinton, character, Bill Clinton scandals, Monica Lewinsky, Democrats, pro choice, Bob Dole, Donald Trump, leadership, morals, culture, culture war, decision-making, corruption, political parties, cynicism, kingdom of God, upside down kingdom of God, Roma

James Patterson: red wine 

#1 bestselling author of all time discusses his early struggles as a writer when his first manuscript was rejected by 31 publishers, his eventual career transition from advertising executive to full-time writer, the frustrating lack of media attention for his new book about cops, Walk the Blue Line, which was co-authored with Matt Eversmann (retired Army Ranger, winner of the Bronze Star, group leader of the Black Hawk Down, Mogadishu raid), how Amazon is changing the character of Alex Cross for the new streaming series (and why Amazon is doing it), and his worst-ever book event.

QUOTE:

• There’s a narrative that female service members are victims. That’s a problematic stereotype for me.

About the Guest:

Attorney Emily Trudeau is an Assistant State’s Attorney with the State’s Attorney’s Office for the Judicial District of Hartford, Connecticut. Her practice focuses primarily on gun violence and sexual assault prosecution. Prior to working within the Division of Criminal Justice, Attorney Trudeau was a member of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps for six years, leaving active duty at the rank of Lieutenant. 

Attorney Trudeau is a Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where she served with the Law and Order Task Force (LAOTF) from 2007 to 2008. LAOTF was a multi-agency, multi-national task force committed to promoting the Rule of Law in Iraq by training and mentoring Iraqi investigators and judges while aggressively prosecuting crimes of national strategic importance. 

Attorney Trudeau also created and chaired a multi-national, multi-agency working group consisting of the US and coalition military, CIA, ATF, FBI, and other law enforcement agencies which led to direct improvements in the collection and use of forensic evidence in counter-insurgency rule of law missions throughout Iraq. She was identified within Iraq as a national subject matter expert in the investigation and prosecution of improvised explosive device manufacturers and co-authored a field manual on evidence collection and sensitive site exploitation.

In addition to her service in Iraq, Attorney Trudeau filled a number of other roles within the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, including Legal Assistance Attorney, in which she assisted military members and their families with a number of legal issues; Physical Evaluation Board Attorney, in which she represented military members in disability hearings; Defense Counsel, in which she represented military members in courts-martial and administrative disciplinary proceedings; and Trial Counsel, in which she prosecuted military members at courts-martial. 

Her military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, two Navy Achievement Medals, Marksman ribbons on both the 9mm handgun, and sharpshooter ribbons on the m16 rifle, and various campaign and service medals and ribbons.

Where to Find Attorney Emily:

• LinkedIn

About the Show:

There’s a Word For That! is a weekly podcast that centers around a different word or expression for each episode. Host Suzanne Dressler believes in pushing the envelope to explore why and how we use words and the ways this impacts our lives. With a diverse assortment of intelligent, creative, and exciting guests, TAWFT! will force you to analyze and consider words in an entirely original and eye-opening way. Even better? NOTHING is off-limits.

Where to Find Me:

• Instagram
• Twitter