Scott Kesterson

BardsFM

A News Commentary , News and Religion & Spirituality podcast

#129 in News Commentary · 🇺🇸 #161 in News Commentary · 🇳🇬

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About the show

Clarity in contested space. Finding the through line in an age of chaos and deception.

Newest episodes

Mike Adams: Open-Source Local AI, the Superintelligence Ban and Who Controls AI │ BardsFM

Nov 11, 2026 46 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4271 │ November 11, 2026 “They are trying to basically control and centralize all AI use and take it away from individuals. That’s what’s happening.” — Mike Adams WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson and Mike Adams, who runs his own AI servers and builds open-source AI tools, talk about the push to control artificial intelligence. They cover President Trump’s “Super Intelligence” executive order, the super-intelligence ban in Bloomington, Indiana, and Sam Altman’s remarks about personal computer memory. They also talk about running open-source models like DeepSeek and Qwen on local hardware, why intention shapes what AI produces, and Mike’s belief that intelligence is built into creation. The show closes with a prayer for AI that is open source, decentralized and local. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What is Bloomington, Indiana’s superintelligence ban? Can you run AI on your own computer without big tech? Why is Trump calling artificial intelligence “Super Intelligence”? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist, combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here B...

What’s In Your Cup: Coffee as Ministry, Honest Work and the Presence of God │ BardsFM

Nov 10, 2026 1 hr 3 min

Bald Guy Brew Coffee: https://baldguybrew.com/ Episode 4270 │ November 10, 2026 “I don’t know of any better way to meet people than over a cup of coffee.” — Don Cox WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson and Don Cox, founder of Bald Guy Brew Coffee in Boone, North Carolina, talk about how a church planter ended up roasting coffee. Don tells of planting a “homeless church” in Pittsburgh, doing mission work in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, and using coffee as a tent-making business that opens doors overseas. They cover the Moravians, Saint Patrick, George Washington’s coffee plants, the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, Brother Lawrence and practicing the presence of God, and why honest work is sacred, not secular. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED How did a church planter become a coffee roaster? What is tent-making in missions, and why did Don Cox choose it? Did George Washington grow coffee at Mount Vernon? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist, combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards an...

Why We Stopped Dreaming: Eric Schmidt’s AI Warning, End-Times Fear and Your Calling │ BardsFM

Nov 10, 2026 56 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4269 │ November 10, 2026 “There’s nothing more dangerous to a tyranny than when people start to dream.” — Scott Kesterson BWHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson asks why Americans have stopped dreaming and what it will take to start again. He plays former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s April 2025 testimony to Congress on artificial intelligence (AI), data center power and superintelligence, and calls AI leaders “false prophets of our time.” He ties the theme to the Declaration of Independence, Jeremiah 29:11, the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14–30 and Proverbs 16:3. He also tells how a 2005 choice between garden design and combat photography led to an embed in Afghanistan. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why have Americans stopped dreaming about the future? What did Eric Schmidt tell Congress about AI, energy and superintelligence? What does the Bible say about end-times prepping and using your gifts and talents? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License...

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All episodes

The newest 50 of 2,000 episodes

Mike Adams: Open-Source Local AI, the Superintelligence Ban and Who Controls AI │ BardsFM

Nov 11, 2026 46 min

What’s In Your Cup: Coffee as Ministry, Honest Work and the Presence of God │ BardsFM

Nov 10, 2026 1 hr 3 min

Why We Stopped Dreaming: Eric Schmidt’s AI Warning, End-Times Fear and Your Calling │ BardsFM

Nov 10, 2026 56 min

Digging Into the Word: What Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain Really Means │ BardsFM

Nov 8, 2026 57 min

Founders Bible 20% discount code BARDS: TheFoundersBible.com Episode 4268 │ November 8, 2026 “You can’t say you love God and hate your brother.” — Brad Cummings WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson and Brad Cummings continue their Ten Words series with the third commandment and ask what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain. Brad says the Hebrew word for “vain” means empty, so the command is about how you represent God, not only about swearing. They read Exodus 33–34, where God gives Moses His name, and talk about “visiting the iniquity of the fathers.” They also cover Moses pleading for the people after the golden calf and how fear and prepper talk crowd out love for neighbors. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What does it mean to take the Lord’s name in vain? What does God’s name mean in Exodus 34:6–7? What does “visiting the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generation” mean? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation...

Corey Terry: A Special Forces Medic on Fear, Division and Loving Your Neighbor │ BardsFM

Nov 6, 2026 1 hr 9 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4267 │ November 6, 2026 “We have all the tools to fix the world problems, but it’s not fixing the world. It’s fixing ourselves and what we can influence.” — Corey Terry WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson and Corey Terry, a retired Special Forces team sergeant and medic, talk about what 20 years of war did to America and why fear and party politics keep neighbors divided. Corey tells how a night helicopter mission in Kunar, Afghanistan, sent Taliban fighters fleeing for a month. Both men discuss Jim Gant’s village-by-village strategy and Matthew 7:3–5. They end on why fixing yourself, your family and your community matters more than any online fight. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED How did the war in Afghanistan change the way veterans see American politics? How do you love your neighbor when fear and politics keep dividing people? What did Special Forces learn from Jim Gant’s tribal approach in Afghanistan? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIA...

Colonial Life, Doomsday Fear and Community: Can We Get Back to the America of 1776?│ BardsFM

Nov 6, 2026 59 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4266 │ November 6, 2026 “People adapt; they don’t just sit around and wait to die.” — Scott Kesterson WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson compares a 12-year-old’s daily life in 1765 with today’s doomsday fear and argues that people adapt. He looks at how colonists voted, why accountability looked different when everyone knew your name, and what self-reliance and community look like now. He closes with a prayer for a country that builds instead of fights. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What did a 12-year-old do every day in colonial America in 1765? How did people vote in colonial America before the Constitution? How can you build self-reliance and community without doomsday fear? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-...

Washington’s Warning on Parties: Why the Declaration of Independence Comes First │ BardsFM

Nov 6, 2026 1 hr 8 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4265 │ November 5, 2026 “You’ll never hear people talk about the Declaration. They always say go to the Constitution.” — Scott Kesterson WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson argues that the blame game after the midterms, on both sides, comes from separating the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution. He reads the opening of the Declaration and passages from George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address on the spirit of party. He then tests both against abortion, the Second Amendment and the new Texas governor’s platform. He closes with a call to rebuild through local, face-to-face community, and ends in prayer. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why is the Declaration of Independence the founding document of the United States? What did George Washington’s Farewell Address warn about political parties? Where do our rights come from according to the Declaration of Independence? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% of...

BardsFM Health & Wellness: Feeding Your Cells with the 90 Essential Nutrients │ BardsFM

Nov 5, 2026 59 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4264 │ November 4, 2026 “We don’t chase symptoms. We give the body the nutrients it needs because the body has the blueprint.” — Brett Bashawaty WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson and Brett Bashawaty discuss the 90 essential nutrients and the research of Dr. Joel Wallach, and why they believe feeding the body’s cells beats chasing individual symptoms. They cover salt and calcium in digestion, electrolytes, plant-derived minerals, and a note of caution on the peptide trend. They also announce a monthly live Zoom Q&A for the BardsFM community starting in January. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What are the 90 essential nutrients, and why do people take them? How do salt and calcium affect stomach acid and digestion? What should you know before trying peptides? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go...

2026 Election the Day After the Midterms: Same Masters, New Rhetoric │ BardsFM

Nov 4, 2026 1 hr 3 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4263 │ November 4, 2026 “Nothing much is going to change. Only the rhetoric.” — Scott Kesterson WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT Scott Kesterson breaks down the day after the 2026 midterm elections, covering identity politics, the uniparty, voters who stayed home, and why the cost of living decides votes. He examines how fear and rage bait on social media drive division, why the Declaration of Independence places our rights in God and not in a party or a government, and why local action matters more than national politics. He closes with a prayer. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why do voters stay home in midterm elections? How does rage bait on social media drive political division? Do our rights come from God or from government? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARD...

Our Sacred Honor: Smuggling, Mercantilism and the Road to 1776 │ BardsFM

Nov 3, 2026 1 hr 23 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4262 │ November 2, 2026 “Mercantilism actually didn’t have an official end, and in fact, it has never ended.” — Scott Kesterson. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson and Rochelle Porto return to Our Sacred Honor to trace how colonial smuggling, from John Hancock's sloop Liberty to the burning of the Gaspee, pushed the colonies toward 1776. They connect the mercantile system of the 1700s to today's tariffs, rare earths and digital payment gates, and close with the Declaration of Independence and a prayer. Next up is a line-by-line look at the Declaration's grievances. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What role did smuggling play in the American Revolution? What was the Gaspee affair, and why did colonists burn a British ship? Is mercantilism still shaping trade and tariffs today? About BardsFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM's faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo cod...

Digging Into the Word: The Ten Words and No Graven Images │ BardsFM

Nov 1, 2026 1 hr 15 min

Founders Bible 20% discount code BARDS: TheFoundersBible.com Episode 4261 │ November 1, 2026 Digging Into the Word: “These are all idolatries that consume us, and in my opinion, deafen us to God’s voice.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson and Brad Cummings continue the Ten Words series with the second word, no graven images, in Exodus 20:4 to 6. Brad explains why he reads the Ten Words as an invitation into relationship, what the Hebrew behind “visiting the iniquity of the fathers” can mean, and why God revealed Himself to Moses as a bush that burned and was not consumed. Scott ties idolatry to online rage, status chasing, and fear-driven end-times messaging, and the two discuss using AI as a tool without letting it become an oracle. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED — What does the second commandment mean in the Hebrew? — What does “visiting the iniquity of the fathers” mean in Exodus 20:5? — Why are the Ten Commandments called the Ten Words? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS P...

Mike Lindell: Suing Voting Machine Makers After the Minnesota Primary │ BardsFM

Oct 28, 2026 1 hr 0 min

MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939. Episode 4260 │ October 28, 2026 Mike Lindell: “I didn’t give up on nothing. I’ve had the same goal: get rid of these voting machines and save our country.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson interviews Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder who lost the August 11 Republican primary for Minnesota governor, about his plan to sue the voting machine makers before the November election. Lindell says county records he has gathered show machine manipulation in the primary. He explains why he is now backing Lisa Demuth, Michele Tafoya, and the rest of the Republican ticket, and describes what he says Operation Arctic Frost and the July declassified documents show. He also gives a MyPillow update: he has stepped down as chief executive officer, the company is going back on television, and it is hiring. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED — Why is Mike Lindell suing voting machine companies? — What happened in the 2026 Minnesota Republican governor primary? — Is Mike Lindell still the CEO of MyPillow? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click...

The House Always Wins: How YouTube Profits From Outrage │ BardsFM

Oct 27, 2026 1 hr 4 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4259 │ October 27, 2026 Scott Kesterson: “Drama on the internet is how people drive traffic, and it always benefits the house. And who’s the house? YouTube.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson steps into the Shawn Ryan and Leah Files dispute without taking a side, to show how YouTube’s engagement model rewards outrage and division. He covers Yale research on how likes and shares train anger and a 2026 study of YouTube news in Korea and the US, then sets the drama beside issues he says get less attention, including abortion, the US birth rate, homelessness, Flock cameras, and AI data centers. He closes with one question for every online fight: how does this make you better in your walk with Christ? KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED — What is the Shawn Ryan and Leah Files controversy about? — Why does YouTube reward outrage and drama? — How does social media train people to be angry? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS Prot...

Digging Into the Word: The Ten Words and No Other Gods │ BardsFM

Oct 27, 2026 1 hr 1 min

Founders Bible 20% discount code BARDS: TheFoundersBible.com Episode 4258 │ October 25, 2026 Digging Into the Word: “God can take them out of Egypt, but can He get Egypt out of them?” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson and Brad Cummings continue their Digging Into the Word series on the Ten Words, the Hebrew name for the Ten Commandments, with the first two words: no other gods and no graven image. They read the first word as a covenant offer from the God who freed Israel from Egypt, not a power play, and trace it through fire and blood in Exodus, the sacrificial system, and Revelation. They also ask what idolatry looks like today, from a wristwatch to a bank balance. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED — What does “no other gods before me” mean in the Ten Commandments? — Why are the Ten Commandments called the Ten Words in Hebrew? — How do you know if you are committing idolatry? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.ba...

BardsFM Health & Wellness: Escaping the Medical Matrix with Dr. Lee Merritt │ BardsFM

Oct 25, 2026 1 hr 37 min

Dr. Lee Merritt Book Launch Sign-up: click here Episode 4257 │ October 25, 2026 Dr. Lee Merritt, author of Escaping the Medical Matrix: “I wore a white coat for 30 years. I was deep inside this matrix.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson talks with Dr. Lee Merritt, a physician and former orthopedic spine surgeon, about her new book, Escaping the Medical Matrix. She gives her case that modern medicine rests on a false history, from the smallpox vaccine and Edward Jenner to fluoride and chemotherapy, and what she says are the root causes of disease, including minerals, salt, and vitamin D. The book releases October 26, 2026, with a live launch event on Amazon. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED — What is Dr. Lee Merritt’s book Escaping the Medical Matrix about? — What does Dr. Lee Merritt say about the smallpox vaccine and Edward Jenner? — Why does Dr. Lee Merritt say minerals and salt matter for health? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is an independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, information warfare, and sovereign technology. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and combat photographer, documentary filmmaker, veteran, recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Award, dog owner, rancher and follower of Christ. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes Tuesday through Friday. Follow at https://www.bards.fm/. This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nati...

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny: A Stroke, a Suspended License, and a Call to Repent │ BardsFM

Oct 23, 2026 1 hr 27 min

God Meets Machine Webinar: https://shoptenpenny.net/?ref=BARDS Episode 4256 │ October 22, 2026 Dr. Sherri Tenpenny on her 2023 stroke: “I did the hard physical work, but God did the heavy lifting.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson talks with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, the Ohio physician and author who spoke out against COVID policies and vaccines. She tells how she recovered from a stroke in 2023, her side of the Ohio medical board’s suspension of her license, and why she retired from patient care. She also talks about the faith she returned to in 2020 and what she sees as a spiritual test in artificial intelligence. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED — How do you recover from a stroke? — Why was Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s medical license suspended in Ohio? — Why does Dr. Sherri Tenpenny say she returned to faith in 2020? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939. EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Treadlite Broadforks......

Sam Shoemate (TerminalCWO): Speaking Up for Troops, the Cost, and the Faith Behind It │ BardsFM

Oct 22, 2026 1 hr 7 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4255 │ October 22, 2026 Retired Army intelligence officer Sam Shoemate: “My mission in life is to support those folks who defend us.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson talks with Sam Shoemate, the retired Army intelligence officer known online as TerminalCWO, about speaking up for troops during the COVID years and what it cost him. Shoemate describes the pressure from commanders, the fallout from his Shawn Ryan Show appearance, and why he nearly walked away. He also explains how prayer now drives his work, and how he holds hope in what he calls a spiritual fight. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED — Why did a military intelligence officer start publishing what troops told him? — What happened to Sam Shoemate after the Shawn Ryan Show episode on the Las Vegas Cybertruck bomber’s email? — How does Shoemate keep hope while working in a fight he calls spiritual? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939. EMPS...

By What Authority? The Second Amendment, the Declaration, and 150 Years of Case Law │ BardsFM

Oct 22, 2026 1 hr 4 min

EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Episode 4254 │ October 21, 2026 Scott Kesterson on the Second Amendment: “The right does not need a court’s permission because the right came first.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson continues his series on how false beliefs become accepted as truth, with a look at how the Declaration of Independence was separated from the Constitution in court. He follows the case law from Calder v. Bull in 1798 through Dred Scott, the Black Codes, the Slaughter-House Cases, Colfax, and Cruikshank, to Heller, McDonald, and Bruen. Scott argues the Declaration asks one question of every gun law: by what authority? KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Where do our rights come from according to the Declaration of Independence, and how did courts separate it from the Constitution? What did the Slaughter-House Cases and Cruikshank decide about federal protection of the right to bear arms? What do DeShaney and Castle Rock say about police protection, and why does Scott say that matters for the Second Amendment? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health St...

What’s In Your Cup: Cup of Change, Round-Up Giving for Trades Scholarships │ BardsFM

Oct 19, 2026 1 hr 2 min

Bald Guy Brew Coffee: https://baldguybrew.com/ Episode 4253 │ October 18, 2026 Don Cox on Cup of Change: “We’re working with what’s in our hands: some sawhorses, plywood, a cage, and chickens.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson talks with Don Cox of Bald Guy Brew Coffee in Boone, North Carolina, two years after Hurricane Helene. Don shares Cup of Change, a new nonprofit he is starting to raise money for high school trades programs and scholarships, with round-up giving at checkout and a chicken poop bingo fundraiser. Scott recalls how Bards FM listeners helped the shop after the storm, and Don talks about roasting natural-process coffees by smell. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What is Cup of Change, and how will round-up giving help fund high school trades programs? What is life like around Boone two years after Hurricane Helene? What goes into roasting a natural-process coffee by smell, and why is the timing so tight? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... C...

Digging Into the Word: Ten Words, One Covenant, From Abraham to Sinai │ BardsFM

Oct 18, 2026 1 hr 8 min

Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS: TheFoundersBible.com Episode 4252 │ October 18, 2026 Brad Cummings on the Ten Words: “God is not imposing Himself upon people; He’s inviting them into a relationship.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Brad Cummings and Scott Kesterson continue the Ten Words series, reading Exodus 20 as a covenant offer and not a list of rules. Brad ties Sinai to the burning bush, to Abram’s covenant in Genesis 15, and to a marriage vow. Scott adds how group pressure and the cost of giving up a belief can explain why Israel backed away from God’s voice. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Brad say the Ten Commandments are ten words of covenant and not rules to keep on our own? What does Genesis 15 show about who carries the promise when God makes a covenant? Why did Israel pull back from God’s voice at Sinai, and what does that teach us today? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939. EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Pr...

BardsFM Health & Wellness: Parasites, Part 1, Protozoa and Sporozoa │ BardsFM

Oct 13, 2026 45 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4251 │ October 13, 2026 Scott Kesterson on the parasite series: “This series by Terrie Porras, ND is one of the better series that we have of a real in-depth discussion on parasites.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson replays Part 1 of a four-part parasite series, presented by Terrie Porras, ND. Terrie defines parasites, then covers two groups, protozoa and sporozoa, and the named examples Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and Toxoplasma. Terrie also describes a cleansing routine and the supplements she uses. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED How does Terrie Porras define a parasite, and where do the lecturer’s two groups fit? How does Terrie Porras say each named parasite spreads? What routine and supplements does Terrie Porras recommend, and for how long? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939. EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BAR...

Groupthink: How an Untruth Becomes the Room We All Live In │ BardsFM

Oct 13, 2026 48 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4250 │ October 13, 2026 Scott Kesterson on groupthink: “The untruth stops being a claim at all. It becomes the room, literally, in which everyone lives in.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson opens a three-part series on how a false belief becomes accepted as truth. Part 1 covers the psychology of groups. Scott walks through research on repetition, conformity, silence, and groupthink, with examples from the political left and right. He ties it to Václav Havel’s greengrocer and to two films that open December 18, 2026, Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday. Parts 2 and 3 turn to the Declaration of Independence and the Second Amendment. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED How does a false belief go from a claim to the room everyone lives in? What do the studies on repetition, conformity, and silence show about groups? Why does Scott say the Declaration of Independence comes before any court case on our rights? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use th...

Dancing Lizard Lady, Red Diesel and What the Spotlight Hides │ BardsFM

Oct 12, 2026 58 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4249 │ October 12, 2026 Scott Kesterson on Trump Accounts: “It’s so easy to get people distracted, and we’re not looking at the real core of what’s going on.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson looks behind three stories from this week: the Oval Office event for Trump Accounts, the $9.7 billion Pentagon software contract held by Dell, and the deal to bring Russian diesel to world markets. He sets out the account rules, the timing before the November 3 election, and the math on how far the diesel goes. He ties them to his view that a few large companies and the state now control access to markets. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What do Trump Accounts do, and who gains from them? How does the Dell pledge connect to Dell’s Pentagon contract? How far does 4.8 million tonnes of Russian diesel go against U.S. demand? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939. EMPShield protect your vehicl...

Our Sacred Honor: Writs of Assistance and the Mercantile Roots of 1776 │ BardsFM

Oct 12, 2026 1 hr 10 min

EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Episode 4248 │ October 11, 2026 Scott Kesterson on Boston, 1761: the writs of assistance allowed “search and seizure of goods in your home... without any warrant.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Rochelle Porto joins Scott Kesterson to trace the writs of assistance, the general search warrants British customs officers used in the colonies. They follow James Otis Jr. and the 1761 Boston case, the trade rules those writs enforced, and how a smuggling economy pushed colonists toward independence. They tie it to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and ask what modern search and tracking tools share with the writs. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What were the writs of assistance, and why did they become a fight in 1761? How did British trade rules and colonial smuggling build the case for independence? What do today’s search and tracking tools share with a general search warrant? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or...

Digging Into the Word: The Ten Words Give Life, and We Ask for a Middleman │ BardsFM

Oct 11, 2026 1 hr 10 min

Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS >>> TheFoundersBible.com Episode 4247 │ October 11, 2026 Brad Cummings on the Ten Words: “How does God create? He speaks. He speaks words. Those words, if coming from Him, are spirit and life.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Brad Cummings joins Scott Kesterson to continue the series on the Ten Words, the Hebrew name for what English Bibles call the Ten Commandments. Brad asks whether God’s words at Sinai were meant to create life in us, the way His spoken words created the world, instead of handing down orders. They look at why Israel asked Moses to stand between them and God, how that same pattern shows up in the golden calf, and what Jesus asked of the rich young ruler. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What changes when we read the Ten Commandments as the Ten Words of a God who speaks life? Why did Israel ask Moses to speak with God for them, and what did that cost? What does the golden calf show about asking someone else to stand between us and God? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://w...

Renaming AI “Superintelligence”: A Word Change That Moves the Power │ BardsFM

Oct 9, 2026 1 hr 13 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4246 │ October 9, 2026 Scott Kesterson on the AI rename: “They’re using the change of language to influence policy, law, and outcomes.” WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Executive Order 14434 tells federal agencies to say “superintelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence.” Scott Kesterson walks through what the order says, why the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) now has oversight, and how a rename can set up new rules for open-source AI. He starts with the televised firing squad announcement for the Fort Hood shooter and ties both stories to control of language ahead of the election. BLOCK 4 — KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What does Executive Order 14434 change, and what does it leave alone? Why would the biggest AI companies want more regulation? How could a rename affect people who build AI on their own computers? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. BardsFM’s faith archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. DOWNLOADS Citizen's Guide - Community Organizing Against Data Centers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Automatic License Plate Readers: click here Citizen's Guide - Auditing Your State's Driver License Data: click here AFFILIATE LINKS ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939. EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Pr...

What Was Actually Said: Trump's Nebraska Remark, the Spin & a Nation That Can't Listen │ BardsFM

Oct 7, 2026 1 hr 0 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4245 │ October 7, 2026 Scott Kesterson plays the 60-second clip, then asks you to drop the spin: "Just look at the basic words. This is where our problem begins." WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson plays the roughly 60-second segment of President Trump's October 5 Nebraska speech in full and asks listeners to set aside every interpretation and hear the words, arguing that the left and the right have both replaced the event with a story about it, that a president is held to a higher standard than a pundit, and that a remark naming Los Angeles and San Diego as a "small price to pay" would have drawn a very different reaction had it named Houston, Miami, Omaha, or Boise. From there he widens the lens to the demonization of California and other blue states, the cult-like, uniform thinking he sees inside both parties, and the history that gets cut out of the Iran story, from the 1953 overthrow of Iran's elected government to the weapons-of-mass-destruction claims that led into Iraq, and he draws on his time in Afghanistan to argue against lumping Iranians and Muslims into one category. He closes by explaining why he no longer supports the president and does not see the ballot box as where change happens, pointing instead to the Declaration of Independence, county-by-county community action, and Christ's call to build bridges, forgive, and love your neighbor, ending in a prayer for the nation. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Scott play the roughly 60-second clip of the Nebraska speech in full, and what does he mean by separating "the event" from the stories people build on top of it? Why does Scott argue that demonizing California, blue states, Iranians, and Muslims is the same mistake, and how do his swap-the-cities test (Houston and Miami, Omaha and Boise) and his time in Afghanistan support that point? Why does Scott say he no longer supports the president and does not look to the ballot box for...

Trump's "Small Price to Pay" Remark: A Crowd Cheered, an AI Questioned │ BardsFM

Oct 6, 2026 1 hr 2 min

EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Episode 4244 │ October 6, 2026 Claude stopped to verify the claims first, because they were about "my own maker." Scott asks: what if we did that with God? WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson opens with President Trump's October 5 rally remark in Grand Island, Nebraska, that Iran could "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego, "a very small price to pay" in the Iran war, while the crowd applauded, and he argues that a sitting president's words carry a weight a podcaster's do not and that the applause signals a growing willingness to treat whole cities as acceptable loss. He sets that against his own research into Anthropic, sorting the real debate over "model welfare" from viral rumors about AI rights, confession, and worship that he says have no proof behind them, then covering the Pentagon's fight with Anthropic over domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons, where two federal courts have ruled in opposite directions. The center of the episode is a moment Scott says he did not prompt, when Claude paused to verify claims about its own maker before accepting them, which he ties to Acts 17:11, where the Bereans were praised for examining the scriptures daily, and he closes on Catherine Austin Fitz's correction that the nation is in a faith bankruptcy rather than a moral one, and on the slippery slope of dehumanizing whole groups of people, from Californians to Muslims. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What did President Trump say at the October 5 rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, how did the crowd and California's leaders respond, and why does Scott argue a president's words carry a weight no podcaster's or pundit's do? What is the difference between Anthropic's "model welfare" research and the viral claims that it wants human legal rights, confession for AI, or AI worship, and why does Scott say the Pentagon's court fight with Anthropic over surveillance and autonomous weapons is the center of th...

Digging Into the Word: The Ten Words, the New Covenant & a God Who Speaks │ BardsFM

Oct 4, 2026 1 hr 2 min

Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS >>> TheFoundersBible.com Episode 4243 │ October 4, 2026 In the original Hebrew, they're called "the ten words." Brad Cummings says that one detail changes how every one of them is heard. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson and Brad Cummings continue their series on the Ten Commandments by returning to the Hebrew, where the text calls them "the ten words," and Brad explains that the verb translated "perform" means to bring something into reality so others can see it. They set the words in their original scene — a people enslaved 400 years who had forgotten God's name, met at Mount Sinai with fire, thunder, and a trumpet that would not stop — and note that God opens with who He is and what He has already done, "I am the God who delivered you out of the house of slavery," before He gives the first word. Brad contrasts hearing them as orders, which puts the weight on us and reflects the old covenant, with hearing them as words shared in a conversation, where God asks what we can't do alone so He can work through us — then ties it to the Garden, where God's first question is "Where are you?", to humility defined as simple agreement with God, to a God whose name is a verb and who can't be reduced to a label or an image, and to a closing thought that God creates by speaking words, and these are His words. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Brad Cummings say the Hebrew text calls them "the ten words," and what changes when the verb translated "perform" means to bring something into reality instead of to carry out an order? What difference does Brad draw between hearing the words as orders that put the weight on us, the old covenant, and hearing them as a conversation in which God asks what we can't do alone, the new covenant — and why does it matter that God introduces Himself as the one who already delivered them before He gives the first word? Why does Brad say God's name is a verb rather than a noun, and what does that ha...

Kill Chain Part 2: Why AI, Really? │ BardsFM

Oct 3, 2026 1 hr 9 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4242 │ October 3, 2026 AI now makes up 39% of U.S. GDP. It has a known, measured failure rate. We're building it anyway to prop up the dollar. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson continues from yesterday's Kill Chain episode to answer the question he's been chasing for months — why is AI being rolled out at this speed, despite a documented, measured failure rate — and lands on an economic answer: AI now constitutes 39 percent of U.S. GDP, making it the load-bearing pillar of an economy under maximum strain. Scott traces how the Genius Act's stablecoin framework absorbs excess U.S. Treasury debt that foreign buyers like Saudi Arabia have stopped purchasing, how controlling oil, gold, and rare earth minerals across South America, Greenland, and Iran forces the rest of the world back into dollar-based transactions, and how AI and surveillance infrastructure become the only tools capable of managing that system at global scale — a structure Scott names neo-mercantilism, modeled directly on the East India Company's colonial trade monopolies. The episode closes on Rutgers research into "elite panic," and Scott's own argument that the system's builders need public obedience to function, and that choosing community, forgiveness, and open-source sovereignty over fear and division is the actual resistance to it. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Scott argue that AI's rapid, unsafe rollout is fundamentally an economic necessity rather than a technology choice — and what does AI now representing 39 percent of U.S. GDP reveal about why its documented failure rate hasn't slowed the expansion? What is the Genius Act's stablecoin system, and how does Scott argue it absorbs excess U.S. Treasury debt that countries like Saudi Arabia have stopped buying, turning a declining demand for dollars into a forced demand for a new digital dollar instead? What is neo-mercantilism, and why does Scott compare current U.S. operations in Greenl...

Hookworms, Pinworms & the Parasites Living in Plain Sight │ BardsFM Health & Wellness

Oct 2, 2026 53 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4241 │ September 22, 2026 "We cannot get off the earth to avoid parasites." A hookworm has teeth. A pinworm lays 10,000 eggs, then dies. This is part two of four. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson replays the second installment of an archival four-part parasitology webinar, presented by Terry Porrasindi, moving from last week's protozoa into nematodes — roundworms, pinworms, whipworm, and Toxocara — before closing on hookworm, the only species in the series with actual teeth, or "cutting plates," used to attach to the intestinal lining and feed on blood. The presentation walks through life cycles, transmission from soil, water, and household pets, and documented diagnostic methods including the perianal tape test for pinworm, while the speaker connects these parasites to a range of chronic symptoms including gastrointestinal distress, skin conditions, and fatigue. The episode closes on a six-week seasonal cleanse protocol built around herbal antiparasitic tinctures, plant-derived minerals, and basic hygiene practices — hand-washing, thoroughly cooking meat, and gardening with gloves — framed as a normal, recurring part of health maintenance rather than a response to illness. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What is the difference between nematodes like Ascaris and hookworms specifically — and why does the speaker say hookworm is the only parasite species discussed with actual teeth, or cutting plates, used to feed directly on blood? What is the perianal tape test for detecting pinworm — and why does the speaker say most doctors diagnose pinworm on sight without ever running a lab test to confirm it? What basic hygiene practices does the speaker recommend as ongoing prevention — and why does she argue a six-week seasonal cleanse should be normal health maintenance rather than something only done when someone is already sick? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty,...

Kill Chain │ BardsFM

Oct 1, 2026 1 hr 4 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4240 │ October 1, 2026 "We killed kids. We killed them." No official apology. Just an outdated database and a system called Maven taking the blame instead. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson breaks down the kill chain — the military's own term for the human verification process that stands between identifying a target and authorizing a strike — using the February 2026 strike on an elementary school and medical clinic in Minab, Iran as the case study, where 120 to 123 children were among as many as 170 people killed. Scott traces the failure to a targeting database that still listed the school and clinic as part of a military compound years after Iran had physically and administratively separated them, a civilian-harm oversight team that was removed from the Pentagon roughly five months before the war began, and the Maven targeting system, built by Palantir, which had no way to flag a target as disqualified before the strike — only a quiet software update added afterward. The episode closes on Anthropic's refusal to let its Claude model be used for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, the Pentagon's subsequent blacklisting of Anthropic even while Claude remained embedded inside Maven throughout the campaign, and new research showing measurable accuracy degradation in long AI research chains — a problem researchers call context rot — that Scott argues directly undermines confidence in a targeting system now largely running without meaningful human review. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What happened at the Minab elementary school and medical clinic strike in February 2026, and why does Scott argue that a 2019 database update showing both buildings were no longer part of the military compound being missed is not an excusable technical failure under the laws of war? Why did Anthropic refuse the Pentagon's demand to use Claude for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems, an...

We'd Rather Blame the System Than Face Ourselves │ BardsFM

Sep 29, 2026 1 hr 5 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4239 │ September 29, 2026 "No one's above the accountability to God." Two cases. One verdict pattern. A country that would rather blame the system than face itself. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson uses two current cases — a drug-facilitated assault case at Cornell University and the Lindsey Clancy child homicide trial's hung jury — to argue the country has replaced moral accountability with a search for something outside itself to blame, whether a broken plea-deal justice system, absent fathers, or an AI built to serve as society's new savior narrative. Midway through, Scott shares a direct discovery from his own research process: using Anthropic's Opus 5.5 model, he identified a measurable pattern Anthropic itself calls "context rot," where a long research conversation causes the AI to quietly omit significant findings buried in the middle of the exchange, a limitation he uses to argue against treating any AI as an infallible authority. The episode closes on Christ's example with the woman caught in adultery — standing between the accused and the accusers, asking questions rather than throwing stones — as the model Scott argues the country has abandoned in favor of a comfortable, unaccountable end-times fatalism. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Scott argue that America's plea-deal justice system functions closer to extortion than justice, and what does he say the actual incentive structure inside a prosecutor's office reveals about why some cases get pursued and others don't? What is "context rot," and why does Scott's own discovery of it while researching with Claude's Opus 5.5 model lead him to argue that no AI system should be treated as an infallible authority, whether people view AI as a savior or as evil? Why does Scott argue that the country has replaced a relationship with God with raw obedience to cultural narratives, and what does Christ's response to the woman caught in adultery — standing betwe...

What's In Your Cup: Two Years After Helene — What Held, What Failed, What Faith Carried │ BardsFM

Sep 27, 2026 1 hr 50 min

EMPShield.. Promo code BARDS: Click here Episode 4238 │ September 27, 2026 A man told Samaritan's Purse volunteers all he needed was a bridge. As the words left his mouth, a truck towing one pulled up. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson marks two years since Hurricane Helene with Don Cox of Bald Guy Brew and Leigh Brown, founder of Patriot Relief, tracing the arc from the storm's first impact — Don's roastery filling with natural gas, Leah stranded on a plane watching towers fall on social media — through the recovery's hardest realities: FEMA condemning a family's home over a mold smell while Samaritan's Purse rebuilt more than a thousand houses on a third of FEMA's budget, and county ordinances blocking Amish-built tiny homes from sheltering people through a winter. Leah recounts building code-exempt "temporary tractor sheds" to legally house displaced families, and a story from a Samaritan's Purse volunteer crew that still leaves her in disbelief — a man told them all he needed was a bridge, and as the words left his mouth, a truck towing one drove up. The episode closes on both guests' shared conviction that faith, not government or donations alone, carried the region through two years of rebuilding that is still far from finished. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why did FEMA condemn a young family's storm-damaged home over its cost, and what did the discrepancy between North Carolina's roughly 31 FEMA-funded rebuilds and Samaritan's Purse's more than 1,000 rebuilds — on a fraction of the budget — reveal about the difference between bureaucratic and faith-based disaster response? What was the "temporary tractor shed" workaround Leigh Brown built to legally house displaced families, and why were code-compliant Amish-built tiny homes blocked from being occupied through an entire winter by county permitting rules? What happened when a Samaritan's Purse volunteer crew asked an isolated man what he needed most, and what does that story reveal about how both guest...

Digging Into the Word: The God Whose Jealousy Sets You Free │ BardsFM

Sep 27, 2026 1 hr 13 min

Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS >>> TheFoundersBible.com Episode 4237 │ September 27, 2026 Brad asked God why His jealousy was good, not selfish. God's answer: every other god enslaves you. He alone sets you free. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson and Brad Cummings dig into the Ten Commandments, framing them not as rigid rules but as what Brad calls God's reduction sauce — life-giving principles that reveal the heart of the lawgiver rather than a punitive checklist. Working through Exodus 19 and 20, they unpack why God staged His appearance at Mount Sinai with fire, smoke, and a mountain-shaking trumpet blast — not to terrify for its own sake, but to establish beyond doubt that He is the one true God calling a former slave nation into a kingdom of priests. The conversation lands on the second commandment as an identity question — making an idol is a declaration that you don't know who you are — and closes on Brad's own account of hearing God explain His jealousy as the one relationship a person can enter that leaves them free rather than enslaved. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Brad Cummings call the Ten Commandments "God's reduction sauce," and what changes when you see them as life-giving principles instead of rigid rules to follow? What actually happens in Exodus 19 and 20 at Mount Sinai — the consecration, the boundary lines, the fire and trumpet blast — and why does Brad argue God staged His appearance this way specifically for a people who had forgotten who He was? Why does Brad argue that making an idol is fundamentally a confession that you don't know your own identity, and what does he say God told him personally about why His jealousy is the one kind that sets a person free rather than enslaving them? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,200 episodes and 51 million downlo...

Our Sacred Honor: The Declaration, Not the Constitution, Was What They Died For │ BardsFM

Sep 27, 2026 1 hr 10 min

ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4236 │ September 26, 2026 He was denied a Bible and a minister in his final hours. He was hanged the day after a fire he had nothing to do with. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson and Rochelle Porto open with a foundational argument: the colonists fought for the Declaration of Independence, not a Constitution that didn't exist yet, because their rights came from God rather than a king, a distinction Scott ties directly to a real FBI raid that listed a copy of the Declaration as a suspicious document. The two then chronicle the fall of 1776 across two fronts — the Southern Cherokee-Loyalist theater at Kaiicho River and Long Island, where nearly 2,000 Cherokee died in a British-backed campaign that ultimately failed, and the Northern theater's Battle of White Plains, where Washington escaped William Howe's larger force before Fort Washington and Fort Lee fell by early November. Along the way they cover Nathan Hale's execution, General Charles Lee's suspected communications with the British, and Benedict Arnold's 1780 defection letter accusing Congress of prolonging the war for its own ambition — closing on a prayer of morning sacrifice attributed to George Washington. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Scott argue the colonists were fighting for the Declaration of Independence rather than a Constitution that didn't yet exist — and what does an FBI raid confiscating a copy of the Declaration as a "suspicious document" reveal about why that distinction still matters? What happened in the Southern Cherokee-Loyalist theater in the fall of 1776 — and why did a British-backed campaign that cost nearly 2,000 Cherokee lives and destroyed half of 62 towns fail to meaningfully divert the American war effort in the North? What evidence exists that General Charles Lee, Washington's second-in-command, was communicating with the British during his 1776 captivity — and why does Scott connect that same era's fight over mercantilis...

Seasonal Sickness Isn't a Mystery: The Whole-Body Case With Brett Bashawaty │ BardsFM Health

Sep 26, 2026 48 min

Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com Episode 4235 │ September 26, 2026 Your body already built up immunity to whatever's "going around." So why does the story every year say it mutated into a super sickness again? WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson sits down with Brett Bashawaty, CEO of My Total Nutrition, to reframe seasonal sickness through Dr. Wallach's whole-body-health research — arguing that what gets treated as a mysterious outside invader each fall is actually the body's own elimination channels slowing down as sleep, diet, and activity shift with the season. Brett traces Wallach's twelve-year, 26,000-autopsy pathology work back to a 1936 U.S. Senate document warning that American soil no longer carries enough minerals to meet the body's daily needs, and builds the case for the 90 essential nutrients — 60 minerals, 16 vitamins, 12 amino acids, and 2 essential fatty acids — as the foundational raw material the body needs to run its own repair process, rather than reaching for something to override a symptom the body is already trying to communicate. The episode closes on reading the body's own signals — sleep trouble, digestive sluggishness, recurring aches — as specific, addressable nutritional gaps rather than problems to suppress, and a prayer thanking Brett for his time helping people take ownership of their own health. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What did the 1936 U.S. Senate document say about American soil, and why does Brett argue that even eating organic food today doesn't solve the same underlying mineral deficiency it warned about ninety years ago? What are the 90 essential nutrients Dr. Wallach identified across a 26,000-autopsy study spanning 454 species — and why does Brett say the body needs all of them together, not a partial multivitamin covering a fraction of that list? Why does Brett argue that seasonal sickness is the body's elimination channels slowing down rather than an outside invader mutating each year — and wh...

The Boy Who Walked Home Alone: What America Forgot About Reading the Details │ BardsFM

Sep 25, 2026 1 hr 19 min

Check out ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4234 │ September 25, 2026 A twelve-man Special Forces team searched for weeks for a missing boy. He wasn't lost. He'd been sent away over one detail nobody understood. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson closes out two weeks of heavy research with an unscripted reflection built around a story from his three and a half years in Afghanistan — a Special Forces team blamed by a village for a missing teenage boy, who turns out not to be missing at all, but quietly sent to another village after being released home alone after dark, a detail that under Pashtun cultural stigma marked him as a rape victim and stained his grandfather's authority as village elder. Scott uses that story as the lens for everything else in the episode: why the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution, is the actual founding document of the country, why all rights are stated to come from the Creator rather than government, and why confusing information with knowledge — taking headlines at face value instead of digging into the details the way he had to in that Afghan village — is the same failure now playing out in Iran, in neo-mercantilism, and in a nation more loyal to political tribes than to itself. The episode closes with a prayer built on Hosea 4:6, "my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," and a charge to stop arguing and start listening, community by community. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What actually happened to the missing boy in Scott's Afghanistan story — and why does understanding one specific cultural detail, that a teenage boy walking home alone after dark carried an unspoken stigma, change the entire meaning of what the village and the Special Forces team were each doing? Why does Scott argue the United States was founded on the Declaration of Independence rather than the Constitution — and what does he say gets lost when Americans treat the Bill of Rights as something a government can grant or limit rath...

Metastasizing: The Dollar Holds. The Enforcement Does Not │ BardsFM

Sep 25, 2026 43 min

Check out ProtonVPN for 70% off: Click here Episode 4233 │ September 24, 2026 The dollar still runs the world. No country stopped using it this year. What failed is the thing that was supposed to enforce it. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson opens by separating two things usually treated as one: hegemony, meaning the dollar's continued dominance in global trade and reserves, and enforcement, the military backstop that once made challenging that arrangement expensive — arguing the first is fully intact while the second has stopped producing results after seven months of bombing that hasn't reopened a strait or protected an ally. He then dismantles a widely circulated claim that a fifty-year petrodollar treaty expired in 2024, tracing it through the Government Accountability Office, the American Institute for Economic Research, and PolitiFact's own fact-check, showing the real story is narrower but still significant: a 1,300-vessel shadow fleet, nearly 20 percent of global tanker capacity, now moves oil outside Western insurance and dollar clearing, with Iran alone collecting roughly $3 billion since February trading entirely outside the system. Layering that finding against five fronts that opened across the Red Sea corridor in a single month, the episode closes on the actual shift underway — power converting from military enforcement to economic routing control, tariffs and sanctions replacing strikes because the first instrument no longer works — and the finding underneath it all: the power is still there, the obedience is gone. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What is the actual difference between the dollar's hegemony and the military enforcement that used to back it — and why does Scott argue the first is fully intact while the second has stopped producing results, even after seven months of the heaviest air campaign in the region since 2003? Did a fifty-year petrodollar treaty really expire in 2024 — and what does the Government Accountability Office, the...

Half a Cent Versus Six Dollars: Two Economic Models in One Gallon of Diesel │ BardsFM

Sep 24, 2026 56 min

Episode 4232 │ September 22, 2026 American diesel just hit $6.51 a gallon, a record. In Iran, diesel costs about half a cent. Both countries produce their own oil. This is strategy. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson traces a single number — American diesel hit a record $6.51 a gallon this week while Iranian diesel sits near half a cent, despite both nations producing and refining their own oil — through seven months of war, a Russian export ban, drone strikes on Saudi infrastructure, and a record 1.9 million barrels a day of American diesel shipping overseas while domestic farmers absorb the shortfall. The episode builds Iran's three-domain resilience doctrine — 31 autonomous provincial military commands, a distributed intelligence apparatus, and a 2014 economic resistance order — against what Scott names neo-mercantilism, the American model where the state manufactures demand and corporations capture it while the cost lands on farmers, ranchers, and taxpayers. The episode closes on the colonial mirror: America now occupies the position Britain once held, controlling routing rather than production, and argues the real danger isn't that Iran wins the war but that it endures long enough for other nations to notice that refusing the system is survivable. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does American diesel cost over a thousand times more than Iranian diesel when both countries produce and refine their own oil — and what does Scott argue actually protects a domestic fuel price when production alone clearly doesn't? What are Iran's three domains of distributed resilience — the 31 provincial military commands, the Kashef and Department 40 intelligence structure, and the 2014 resistance economy — and why did the system keep functioning after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in February 2026? What is the colonial mirror Scott draws between the English Navigation Acts and the current push to control Iran, Russia, and global fuel routing — and why does he argue...

What's In Your Cup: Rights Come From God, Not a Dishwasher Warranty │ BardsFM

Sep 21, 2026 1 hr 10 min

Episode 4231 │ September 20, 2026 "Our rights do not come from government; they come from God. That's at the core of everything, man." A coffee roaster and a milk crisis prove it. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson sits down with Don Cox, founder of Bald Guy Brew in Boone, North Carolina, for a conversation that starts with Don's local dairy switching distributors and forgetting to stock whole milk — the single item every coffee shop actually needs — and widens into a full diagnosis of a disposable, consolidated culture that has traded craftsmanship and repair for convenience and replacement, from dishwashers nobody fixes anymore to fully automated coffee roasters that require no human skill at all. Don argues that striving for excellence, whether in roasting coffee by smell rather than by digital profile or in handwriting a personal note on every order shipped, is itself a form of worship rooted in the belief that rights and gifts come from God rather than government — a thread Scott ties directly to the Declaration of Independence and to Don's own steady presence through two years since Hurricane Helene, during which Bald Guy Brew never laid off a single employee. The episode closes as the two look ahead to the two-year Helene anniversary special they're planning together, and Don's prayer of gratitude for the community that carried the shop through it. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What does Don Cox's local milk supply crisis reveal about the broader consolidation happening across small dairies, farms, and family businesses — and why does he say the average rancher and dairy farmer today is in their late 50s or 60s with no clear replacement generation coming behind them? Why does Don refuse to buy a fully automated coffee roasting machine that requires no human skill or sensory judgment — and what does his insistence on roasting by smell, not digital profile, have to do with the biblical example of Bezalel being filled with the Spirit of God to do skilled cr...

Digging Into the Word: God Never Promised You Heaven — He Promised You Earth │ BardsFM

Sep 20, 2026 1 hr 5 min

Episode 4230 │ September 20, 2026 "The focus is not us going to heaven. That is not God's purpose." Nowhere in the first five books of the Bible does anyone talk about going there. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson sits down with Brad Cummings for a conversation that overturns one of Christianity's most basic assumptions — that salvation is about getting to heaven — with Brad arguing that the Torah never once mentions an afterlife, and that God's actual purpose was always to manifest heaven here on earth through a covenant relationship, not a future escape. The two trace that same principle through the parable of the wise and foolish builders, Brad's own months-long personal crucible, and a sharp reframe of God's design: the world was created good, not perfect, because God was never interested in appeasement or punishment but in transformation, using trials to reveal what's already inside a person rather than to force change from the outside. The conversation closes on the discipline of long-term spiritual synthesis versus modern information-snacking — including Scott's own observation that YouTube's own algorithm is now shifting away from short-form mobile content back toward long-form television viewing — and Brad's prayer that God would give people eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to quickly respond. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does Brad argue that going to heaven was never God's actual purpose — and what does the complete absence of afterlife language in the Torah reveal about how far modern Christianity has drifted from its Hebraic foundation? What does it mean that God created the world "good" rather than "perfect" — and why does Brad argue that distinction reframes the entire purpose of trials, mistakes, and the crucible experience he's personally been walking through? Why does Brad say God is not interested in appeasement or punishment but in transformation — and what does that reframe do to the traditional reading of Jesus's sacrifice as...

From Debate to Bunker: Naming the Psychosis Turning Communities Into Cults │ BardsFM

Sep 19, 2026 1 hr 20 min

Episode 4229 │ September 18, 2026 Something you can't name stays invisible. The moment you name it, you hand it to a tribe. That trap is the whole episode. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson opens by naming a shift he sees everywhere — social media has replaced the open exchange of ideas with the power of a single opinion, and he says roughly 90 percent of the claims he fact-checks before airing turn out false or missing the detail that changes the whole story, a pattern he calls a kind of psychosis that moves people from debate to building walls and picking leaders who tell them what to think. He tests eighteen widely repeated statistics against the record — then hands all eighteen to Claude AI for an outside assessment, and reads that assessment on air in full, crediting it directly and noting it showed more empathy for the country's children than the nation itself is showing. The episode closes on the hardest turn: naming this psychosis was never really the point, because the moment you name it, a tribe claims it as a weapon — the actual way out is understanding the machinery clearly enough that it loses its grip, then doing something as small as calling someone you disagree with and asking them for coffee. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What does Scott mean by naming a kind of psychosis that moves people from debate to bunker, from conversation to castle walls — and why does he say social media replaced the whole system people use to find truth, not just made truth harder to find? What did Claude AI's assessment of eighteen statistics actually say about the United States in 2026 — and why does Scott say it showed more empathy for the country's children than the nation itself is currently showing? Why does Scott argue that naming this problem is actually a trap, and that understanding the machinery matters more than giving it a label — and why does his answer end with something as small as a phone call and a cup of coffee? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily...

Parasites, Full Moons & the Diseases Doctors Say Don't Exist Here │ BardsFM Health

Sep 17, 2026 44 min

Episode 4228 │ September 17, 2026 A doctor said her son's stool sample showed nothing. She stood at the lab and demanded a retest. What they found had nearly killed him. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson replays the first installment of an archival four-part parasitology webinar series presented by a naturopathic health practitioner and Good Herbs instructor, opening with the claim that American medicine largely dismisses parasitic infection as a third-world problem while government and medical literature document it extensively at home. The presentation walks through protozoa and sporozoan parasites — organisms the speaker links to conditions ranging from chronic fatigue and multiple sclerosis to kidney disease and repeated miscarriage — tracing transmission through contaminated food and water, sand flies, and household cats, and includes a personal account of a young woman whose seven miscarriages were, in the speaker's account, connected to a toxoplasmosis infection traced to a litter box. The episode closes with the speaker's recommended herbal protocol — black walnut hull and wormwood tinctures, bee propolis, and a biannual six-week parasite cleanse timed to a full lunar cycle — alongside her claim that parasite activity intensifies emergency room incidents during the full moon. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What does the speaker argue is the gap between American medical practice and parasitology literature from other countries — and why does she say most doctors dismiss the possibility of parasitic infection in patients from developed nations? What is the connection the speaker draws between a household cat's litter box, toxoplasmosis, and a young woman's history of seven miscarriages — and what specific environmental change did she recommend before the woman successfully carried a pregnancy to term? Why does the speaker recommend a six-week parasite cleanse timed to a full lunar cycle rather than a shorter treatment — and what does she claim is the conn...

The Closed Loop: 60,000 Bombs, Two Chokepoints & the Neo-Mercantile Model │ BardsFM

Sep 17, 2026 1 hr 10 min

Episode 4227 │ September 17, 2026 Roughly 95,000 bomb casings approved against 17,500 guidance kits. Better than five to one. The package is a readout of what we can still build. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson breaks down a reported $2.8 billion munitions package for Israel — roughly 60,000 bomb casings and penetrator warheads with no guidance kits attached in any reporting — and traces it back through 2025's separate guidance-kit and casing approvals to reveal a ratio of better than five bomb casings for every guidance kit across both years, arguing the package is a readout of production capacity rather than tactical preference. The episode maps two distinct supply chokepoints behind that imbalance — a Chinese-controlled rare earth magnet supply feeding precision guidance kits, and a self-inflicted domestic forging shortage where only four American companies can produce the massive steel casings for bunker-buster penetrator warheads — before turning to a second, unconfirmed story: an Israel-Saudi intelligence-sharing arrangement against the Houthis that traces to Israeli media alone, and that boxes Riyadh into a lose-lose position regardless of whether the arrangement is real. The episode closes on the Neo-Mercantile Model, Scott's framework connecting this munitions package to AI financing, a domestic gas station pricing scheme, and a national laboratory-to-Pentagon pipeline as four instances of the same closed circuit: issued currency manufacturing its own demand, with the cost deferred onto a future that has no vote in the arrangement. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What does the ratio of roughly 95,000 bomb casings to 17,500 guidance kits across the 2025 and 2026 munitions packages reveal — and why does Scott argue the absence of guidance kits in the current $2.8 billion package means this is a readout of what America can still manufacture rather than a strategic choice? What are the two distinct chokepoints constraining precision munitions production —...

Every Oil Exit From the Gulf Just Closed at Once: The Mosaic Strategy Explained │ BardsFM

Sep 15, 2026 1 hr 14 min

Episode 4226 │ September 15, 2026 Hormuz closed in February. The overland bypass closed September 12. The Red Sea closed the day before. All three exits. Not random. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson delivers a two-day research build tracing the September 2026 closure of every crude export route out of the Persian Gulf — the Saudi Petroline bypass disabled by an unclaimed drone strike, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait seized by Houthi forces within the same 48-hour window, and the Strait of Hormuz already closed since February — back to their actual origin: the 632 AD succession dispute that split Islam into Sunni and Shia, and a geographic accident in which nearly every major oil field in the region sits beneath Shia or Shia-aligned populations that have rarely held power in the states extracting that oil. Scott traces the line from Britain's 1953 removal of Iran's elected prime minister through the Shah's CIA-trained secret police, the 1979 revolution, and America's 2003 invasion of Iraq — which inadvertently installed a Shia-majority government next door to Iran — to explain how Iran's mosaic defense strategy, 31 autonomous provincial commands designed to survive a decapitation strike, now operates less like a chain of command and more like a fire ant colony, coordinating without central orders and unifying Sunni and Shia populations against a shared adversary for the first time in fourteen centuries. The episode closes with Scott's direct assessment that this war was never necessary, was justified by unproven nuclear claims, and that the growing regional unity now forming is a consequence America built rather than one it is fighting. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What actually happened in the Persian Gulf during the second week of September 2026 — and why does the simultaneous closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the Saudi overland pipeline bypass, and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait represent a coordinated effect rather than three isolated incidents, even with no single gro...

Digging Into the Word: The Reach That Heals & the Counterfeit of Manifestation │ BardsFM

Sep 13, 2026 1 hr 5 min

Episode 4225 │ September 13, 2026 She crawled through a crowd after twelve years of desperation to touch one tassel. Jesus didn't even see her coming. Pure faith. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson and Brad Cummings return to Luke 8's account of the woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years, crawling through a crowd to touch the tassel on Jesus's robe — a garment detail rooted in Numbers 15's command that Israelites wear a blue-and-white thread as a visible reminder of covenant obedience — and Brad unpacks why her instant healing flowed from Jesus without His initiating it, arguing that faith is not straining or manifesting a desired outcome but simply reaching toward the person of God with the same desperate intentionality the story describes. The conversation moves directly into the same episode's second miracle, the raising of Jairus's daughter, where Jesus removes the mocking crowd from the room before speaking life back into a girl already pronounced dead, using it to draw a sharp distinction between biblical faith and the modern manifestation movement, which Brad names outright as self-focused, privately hoarded, and functionally indistinguishable from witchcraft. The episode closes on Brad's reframe of obedience itself: not a performance meant to prove love to God, but the natural overflow of a heart already convinced of His love — if you get the loving right, the keeping follows. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What is the significance of the tassel on Jesus's robe that the hemorrhaging woman specifically reached for — and why does its origin in Numbers 15 as a symbol of covenant obedience change how the story should be read, compared to simply calling it an act of desperate faith? What is the difference between biblical faith and the modern manifestation movement — and why does Brad argue that a philosophy built on privately hoarding your desires so they aren't "diluted" is not just different from Christianity but functionally identical to witchcraft?...

Think 912, Not 911: Selective Outrage, Unproven Fears & the Case for Looking Inward │ BardsFM

Sep 12, 2026 57 min

Episode 4224 │ September 12, 2026 An AI researcher claims superintelligence will kill us all within a decade. No proof required. Scott asks the one question nobody else is asking. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson uses a rare unscripted Saturday show to challenge the selective outrage running through the week's headlines — questioning why a former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher's unproven claim that AI will kill humanity within a decade receives instant credibility while the same public refuses to apply consistent moral scrutiny to a active domestic controversy over parental accountability, and why renewed anti-Muslim rhetoric at a national political convention coincided with reports that a gay dating app's servers crashed under convention traffic the same week. Scott connects a new, unprovoked Middle East conflict built on unproven WMD-style justifications to America's collapsing birth rate — now at 1.6 against the 2.1 needed for replacement — and argues the nation's real crisis is not an external enemy but a domestic refusal to apply the same moral standard to itself that it demands of others, from AI developers escaping accountability for the systems they build to a culture more comfortable debating a party's talking points than confronting its own trafficking, hunger, and addiction crises. The episode closes on Scott's central reframe for the 25th anniversary week — think 912, not 911 — arguing that the thirty days of American unity following the attacks, not the attacks themselves, hold the actual lesson, and that reclaiming it starts locally, one honest conversation with a neighbor at a time, guided by Matthew 7's charge to remove the log from your own eye before pointing at anyone else's. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED Why does an unproven claim from a former AI researcher that superintelligence will kill humanity within a decade receive instant public credibility with no burden of proof — and what does Scott argue that selective standard for evidence...

Horse Soldiers: The Green Berets Who Rode Into Afghanistan on 9/11's 25th Anniversary │ BardsFM

Sep 11, 2026 56 min

Episode 4223 │ September 11, 2026 American soldiers rode horses into battle for the first time since World War II. They had never ridden before. They had eighteen days to learn. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson marks the 25th anniversary of September 11th by first remembering the astonishing thirty days of national unity that followed the attacks — Canadians opening their homes to stranded Americans, strangers handing cash to people in need at highway off-ramps, a nation that briefly set aside every division to grieve and help as one — before turning to the story of the Fifth Special Forces Group's Operation Detachment Alphas, twelve-man teams flown into Afghanistan through sandstorm and near-zero visibility to link up with Northern Alliance fighters who had never met them, learning to ride ill-fitting Afghan saddles by force of necessity and calling in the first close-air B-52 support since Vietnam to topple the Taliban regime within a month. Scott reads the actual Special Forces prayer alongside firsthand accounts from Task Force Dagger veterans, documenting the friendly-fire tragedy that killed three Americans on December 5, 2001, and the full casualty accounting of both the Afghanistan war and the original attacks, closing with a memorial prayer written for the 25th anniversary that asks not for an explanation of evil but for the harder peace that carries a scar and still chooses to build. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What happened in America during the thirty days following September 11th — and why does Scott argue that the nationwide outpouring of generosity, from Canadian radio callers offering strangers a place to stay to drivers handing cash out their windows, represents one of the most remarkable and under appreciated responses in the nation's history? What was Task Force Dagger, and why did the Fifth Special Forces Group end up riding horses into combat for the first time since World War II — and what does the eighteen-day insertion delay, the i...

The Day Before: What America Actually Lost Between September 10 and 11 │ BardsFM

Sep 10, 2026 58 min

Episode 4222 │ September 10, 2026 What was lost wasn't physical. It was spiritual. We ceded our authority from God to the state — and we've never once asked for it back. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS Scott Kesterson reflects on September 10th as a date more significant than the anniversary that follows it — the last day America still functioned as what he calls an analog nation, one still operating on the founding premise that rights come from God, before a single attack triggered the Patriot Act's passage six weeks later and permanently restructured the relationship between government and the citizen's communications, finances, and privacy. Drawing on his own service in Afghanistan and firsthand conversations with the people America was told to fear, Scott argues the deeper national wound was never the physical destruction of that day but the spiritual one — a naive, unquestioning nation that turned to government for vengeance and safety rather than to God, opening a door that has since produced mass surveillance, a permanent digital record with no mechanism for forgiveness, and a fresh iteration of the same Middle East entanglement now unfolding with Iran under a nearly identical mercantile logic. The episode closes with a direct charge: read the Declaration of Independence in full on this day, understand that the Revolution was fought on its foundation and not the Constitution's, and recognize that the authority lost was never taken by any foreign enemy but surrendered voluntarily to an institution that has never once given it back. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED What does Scott mean when he says America was still an "analog nation" on September 10, 2001 — and why does he argue that the absence of smartphones, social media, and mass surveillance infrastructure at that moment made the nation's subsequent transformation all the more consequential? What did the Patriot Act actually restructure when it passed six weeks after the attacks — and why does Scott argue that the...

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Podcast details

Created by: Scott Kesterson
Status: Active
Latest episode: Nov 11, 2026
Episodes: 2,000
Release period: Daily
Avg. episode length: 1 hr 3 min
Explicit: No
Language: English

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