In the first half, a graduate of Princeton University with a master's degree in history and a law degree from Harvard University, Joseph F. Johnston, Jr., discussed historical examples of empires declining, detailing their trajectory from dominance to failure. Johnston examined the fall of the Roman Empire, which went from a civilization that covered an enormous territory from the British Isles to parts of Asia, with a strong economy and military, to essentially disappearing by the Middle Ages. He says this was due largely to declines in education, discipline in the armed forces, and a general hedonism among the population. He sees these issues as paralleled in other civilizations that rose and fell throughout history and are worryingly present in the United States.
Johnston also emphasized that many nations and civilizations that have gone into decline have expanded to the point where they "simply could not afford to defend all those places." Although the U.S. remains a strong country, he believes it is "overstretched financially" with 27 trillion dollars of debt. China has openly stated that they wish to become the dominant military and economic power in the world, and Johnston suggested that America should be concentrating on "anti-missile defense, space warfare, and cyber warfare" to counter this situation. He also lamented the decline of our educational system that is characterized by children who "don't do enough homework, and the textbooks have been dumbed down." Johnston believes traditional values should be emphasized in schools and that "a strong-minded and patriotic and civic-minded people" is necessary to preserve a nation.
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In the second half, inventor of orthopedic surgical devices and entrepreneur, Julie Ryan revealed what it's like being a medical intuitive, how past lives affect present-day conditions, and what happens during the dying process from the spiritual perspective. Unlike many who have or claim psychic talents, Ryan said that she learned how to be a practitioner by taking educational courses on the subject. She described her psychic medical process as "like a human MRI" when searching intuitively for aliments in humans and even animals. Ryan also claims that she communicates with living and deceased pets, and strangely enough, related that many dogs have told her to ask their owners to "use scent-free laundry detergent and dryer sheets."
Ryan believes that angels are real and represent energy, vibrating at different levels. While they often are seen by people in the West as humanoid beings, they could just as easily "appear as just a blob of purple energy" to an indigenous person, she asserted. She also described her theory of the "12 phases of death" that a person's spirit goes through as they die. A soul, she explained, will stay near the top of the head at first, followed by other phases that involve angelic beings and the recently deceased's maternal spirit and other loved ones who "orchestrate what happens in the spirit world." In her view, we reincarnate and "live many lifetimes exploring the same basic script, but different aspects of that script." In the last hour, Ryan answered questions and gave readings for callers and their pets.
News segment guests: John Curtis, Charles Coppes