In the first half, Katherine Albrecht, consumer privacy expert and VP of StartPage.com, discussed the latest technologies being used to track humans, and how this is connected to the mark of the beast, as prophesied in the Bible's book of Revelation. When she was a girl in the 1970s, her grandmother warned of a time when the mark of the beast was coming (not being able to buy or sell without having the mark) and asked her to promise she wouldn't take the mark. Now, as that reality seems to be drawing closer, Albrecht has just released a new Christian-themed children's book, called I Won't Take the Mark which helps other parents and grandparents have that same discussion with their kids.
The increased surveillance in our society could be related to the eventual enforcement of mark of the beast technologies, she remarked. Albrecht also announced the debut of StartMail, a privacy-oriented email program that encrypts users' messages. Citing Google as the biggest threat to people's privacy, she noted that a Google executive said he looks forward to the time they'll have microphones in all of the ceilings in America. Albrecht also cautioned about the use of smart TVs, some of which have built-in microphones and cameras capable of spying on people right in their living rooms.
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In the latter half, Andrea Mesich told of her journey from skeptic to paranormal investigator. The turning point for her was a number of dramatic encounters with ghostly activities at her family home in 2004. These included unexplained footsteps, lights being turned on and off, voices calling out her name, and eventually a box flew 8 feet out of the closet, spilling out a bunch of batteries, just as her TV remote control battery had gone dead. The incidents began shortly after her brothers had returned from Gettysburg with several souvenirs, leading to conjecture that spirits were attached to the objects.
Mesich said she prefers to incorporate a scientific approach to her paranormal investigations, conducting experiments to try and recreate specific effects. She detailed one of her most harrowing investigations-- the haunted coal cellar at the old First Ward Schoolhouse in Wisconsin Rapids. Near a wall that had been called a "portal to hell" the temperature dropped and she felt invisible fingers on her throat that started to choke her. Later, she saw a full body apparition of a child wearing knickers. She also spoke about her study of the anomalous Paulding Lights in Michigan, and the differences between spirits and demons.
News segment guests: Lauren Weinstein, John R. Lott, Christian Wilde