In the first half, Stephen F. Cohen, a Professor of Russian Studies and History Emeritus at NYU, discussed why he thinks the situation with Russia is as dangerous as the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also addressed Russian influence over the presidential election. The three intelligence agencies-- FBI, CIA, and NSA, don't offer any specific facts in their public report about the hacking of the Democratic Party, and the NSA refers to having "moderate confidence" in finding Russia at fault, which in "spook talk" means "we don't know," said Cohen. Though it's possible the Kremlin was behind the computer hacking, no solid evidence has been presented thus far, he continued.
Cohen believes that President-elect Trump has been demonized as being Putin's puppet, when he's actually seeking a peaceful relationship with Russia, which is in the best interests of America's national security. The current US confrontations with Russia (NATO building up troops in the Baltic along Russia's borders, the political crises in Ukraine, warfare in Syria) could trigger a major conflict, even with an accidental incident, Cohen warned, and if Trump is hobbled in his ability to defuse the situation, the US and Russia could be drawn into war with each other. "I think Vladimir Putin...is potentially the single most important national security partner that the United States could possibly have," he remarked, especially when it comes to terrorism and nuclear attacks.
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In the latter half, experts in mysteries of the unknown including UFOs, and psychic phenomena, Trish and Rob MacGregor talked about their work on synchronicity and pre-cognition. They've discovered that hunches and feelings could be signs from the universe about what is to come. Precognition probably first developed as an alert system in earlier humans, said Trish, and along with synchronicity, it seems to exist on the border between a hidden reality and the external world, as a way to better understand our lives. She also spoke about the prevalence of premonitions in dreams. For instance, in the 1966 Aberfan disaster, in which a Welsh school was engulfed in mining debris, there were 76 documented cases of such dreams, including one student who told her mother she wasn't afraid of dying. She had dreamed her school was gone and something black was on top of it, two days before she was killed.
Rob recounted how the abolitionist Harriet Tubman was able to use precognitive skills and out-of-body travel to lead people to freedom on the Underground Railroad. She seemed to develop her psychic skills after being hit in the head years earlier by a slave owner, he noted. Rob shared accounts of his own precognitions, such as when he lost his wallet while surfing, and didn't report his cards lost, as he had a strong sense it would be returned-- and it was, five days later. He also detailed some of his research into the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon, and the testimony of pilot Bruce Gernon, who disappeared into a strange fog in his plane and survived.
News segment guests: Andre Eggelletion, Steve Kates / Highlighter Podcaster: Brooks Agnew