Issues And Ideas: News Commentary & Analysis With Chris DeBello June 21 2026

Join us for expert discussions and analysis on today's news, politics, the U.S. deal to end the war with Iran, how Democrats need to approach the midterms, living with HIV and the importance of testing, the ways scammers use AI and what the Bible teaches about fatherhood.

(00:00) Peter D. Johnston, Managing Director with Negotiation Advice International, shares his analysis of the Memo Of Understanding between the U.S. and Iran, the way it came about and whether it will result in a lasting end to the war in Iran.

(13:24) Attorney and former Special Counsel for President Bill Clinton Lanny Davis discusses the current political landscape and how Democrats need to respond to it leading up to the midterms.

(27:48) In recognition of June 27 being National HIV Testing Day CVS Specialty Pharmacist Helen Everett and CVS Specialty patient Christopher Hooper who's living with HIV talk about the importance of testing and being proactive in addressing HIV.

(38:35) Cybersecurity expert Jeff Lunglhofer, Chief Security Officer with Coinbase, explains how criminals are using AI to launch scams and how to defend against them.

(47:06) On this Father's Day Chris DeBello looks at what the Bible teaches about fatherhood.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, welcome to Issues and Ideas. I'm Chris Tabello. Donald Trump is the master deal maker. Just ask him. That's what he'll tell you. Trump lives and breeze, of course, the heart of the deal. Trump entered his most recent deal-making effort, making great promises. Of course, I'm referring to the war in around. Now that we know what at least the initial result of that deal is, how well do you think Trump succeeded? I know it's a heavy lift given how often it changed, but think back to what the state of purpose of the war was. Does the agreement address that purpose? Pick whichever one you prefer. The first yesterday is here to provide his analysis of this example of Trump's deal making. Certainly a go-to person for this, considering his position as managing editor of Negotiation Advice International, as well as author of the book, Negotiating with Trump, Lessons on Power, Influence, and Dealing with Extreme Bargainers, Peter D. Johnson. How are you day, Peter?

SPEAKER_04 0:57

I'm fine, thank you, Chris. Thanks for having me on your show.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

And learn more about Negotiation Advice International, negotiationadvice.com. We have that link at our homepage. To build a foundation for the listener, based on your knowledge experience, Peter, define negotiation.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

So, Chris, we're effectively negotiating anytime we're trying to influence someone to do something. And so it's not what a lot of people assume in terms of it has to involve lawyers and boardrooms and detailed contracts. As an example of an informal deal, uh Americans go into the and put mark their X on their ballots, and they don't sign a huge contract with the president when they support him, but they go into the ballot booth and they vote for him, marking that X, and that's their way of closing the deal. Whether he follows through or not is another story. I think it's uh that is very much part of negotiation, being able to read other people. Uh the president is that's actually one of his strengths that I talk about in the book. Uh but it goes far beyond just the tells of people's uh body language uh and language at the table. You're negotiating away from the table as well, as Americans have done with the president uh when they've expressed those who are unhappy with his performance when they take him to the streets. That's negotiating. It's just doing it away from the table to influence whether the president changes his stance on a given issue.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Talk about the the elements of believability as well as trust, because a lot of people are saying with the way that Donald Trump handled things with Iran, and like I alluded to in the introduction, every almost every day it seemed like there was a different purpose. And then with that being the becoming more fluid than than a point of focus, what does that do as far as how much you could trust someone who who can't who can't keep a focus?

SPEAKER_04 3:31

Yeah, i uh well uh point taken on the deal with Iran, I I think the fact that the deal as it's been announced and the memorandum of understanding uh does not address most of the core interests that the administration expressed as being the reason the country was at war tells you something, doesn't it? It tells you that this was not about those interests, those national interests. This was very much driven by Trump's personal and political interests. And I believe that would include uh the Epstein files at home that were a distraction and undermining his power and authority domestically, and leading him to uh to uh a distraction in the Middle East, uh spurred on, of course, by his friend Netanyahu in Israel, uh, who assured him that Iran, as he's done for 20 years now, uh, was on the cusp of developing a nuclear weapon. And and I would just say overall, Chris, uh we shouldn't take this long-term agreement uh too seriously. I just don't, I think it's dead on arrival uh because of how it was negotiated to your point, in terms of you know, the the Iranians coming to the table because they were being threatened with extinction. That's a very deals are you know uh very much driven by the how. And that how is not a healthy how that builds trust and communication between the parties to allow for a long-term deal. The other question on the how was who was involved? I think the negotiators, including uh Kushner uh and Whitkop, uh and uh uh were are not they don't have the right expertise to be negotiating a deal like this. And as for the what, uh, if you were Iran at this point, uh would you uh give up uh uh your nuclear ambitions when you've been attacked in an unprovoked way two times in the last nine months? And would you give up uh your newly uh discovered superpower over the Strait of Hormuz? And anytime you're not happy with anything that's going on, or if people were to try to attack you, you can use that superpower. Why would you give that up?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Now, having said all that, Peter, and let's let's take it out of the specific case. But if you are in negotiations and you come out far shorter than what you said you were going to go for, what does that do in as your influence and position in future negotiations?

SPEAKER_04 6:14

I think that's uh you've sort of answered your old question of asking that question. It it it is uh for sure a knock on the president's credibility going forward. I think this uh doesn't uh make the U.S. look stronger. It undermines the military and uh the threat of using that military when it wasn't effective in this situation in terms of getting uh what the president wanted from the Iranians. So uh I I think if we go back to last year and the bombings in June uh that uh uh supposedly had decimated Iran's nuclear uh uh potential, uh you'll recall that just weeks before that happened, the president became aware for the first time of Taco. Uh Trump always chickens out. And I I believe that was one of the spurs for why he attacked in the first place was he's all about power and authority and showing that military might, having the U.S. feared. And so uh he uh has undermined himself uh to your question on this uh negotiation in the shorter term and longer term. And as I say, this deal, people shouldn't get too fussed about it in the longer term, because I don't think it should have any roots given how it was negotiated and what's in it.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Peter Johnson, who is managing director of Negotiating Advice International, author of the book, Negotiating with Trump, The Lessons on Power Influence and Dealing with Extreme Bargainers, negotiationadvice.com, the website, and you are listening to issues and ideas. Turning to your book, Peter, you talk about the the principles, the psychological principles of negotiating, anchoring, loss aversion, reciprocity, authority. What what are the mo what what's the most misunderstood that opens the door for someone to fall short and succeeding in negotiation?

SPEAKER_04 8:13

Well, if we were to talk about those principles, and I do in explaining how President Trump negotiated his way to power twice, uh just let me give you the brief examples of Trump uh is brilliant at using anchoring, which is our first impressions of what a correct answer is, uh Chris, in in how he anchored people with the image he generated through The Apprentice. And to including up to 2024, we have evidence through research that shows voters who supported Trump, uh, you could tell that they were still influenced by their perceptions that had been anchored 20 years earlier around the apprentice, which was a remarkable success for the president. So what happens with anchoring is we uh uh create an initial impression answer. We think Donald Trump is successful in this case, and we ignore all the other data, and it's incre that would suggest otherwise in terms of a lot of the challenges and failings that the president had in his negotiations. So, anchoring, uh we have to all be careful uh about our initial impressions and challenge those impressions, and that's what we can learn from Trump, which is what I'm trying to show people in negotiating with Trump is not just how to negotiate better with the president, but how to negotiate in your own life. The other one I'll mention briefly is the combination of power and authority that the president projects and what that allows him to do in terms of uh appearing to be credible and uh strong with the American people, when you tie that into uh uh a perceived sense of loss and law uh we have twice the uh concern over losses as we do an equal gain, meaning you'd have to find $40 to be just as happy as you were unhappy losing $20, the president realizes that we have this tremendous uh aversion to loss, and he has built MAGA on that foundation in terms of uh make America great again. Why? Because of what's been lost. And when you tie that to authority, the reason the president's able to act in an authoritarian manner on many fronts is because 40% of Americans in some surveys want that authoritarian leader in certain circumstances. And what are those circumstances? They're them perceiving a big loss, whether it's through immigration or economically and what they had before. And when you tie that into power and authority, the president gains more power and authority to act in an authoritarian manner because of that perceived loss, which he is so good at selling Americans as a pain point, uh, making it clear to them not what they have, but what they have lost in the past and perceived losses going forward. So that's the power of that psychology. And, you know, insurance companies, for example, take advantage of our concerns over loss by pitching uh how we should protect ourselves from loss. That's why the insurance industry exists and thrives, uh, overstating what our perceived losses could be uh to their financial gain, just as the president has done so effectively politically.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Insurance companies also make, well, let's say, unrealist unrealistic promises. I just got an offer one time that says that if I make it to the to the age of 120, I'll get a huge cashback payout. So it sounds great, but the odds of that happening are uh I think Slim has left town already. But what Peter does with with negotiating with Trump is he takes the tactics used by one person and helps you understand the value they'll have in whatever it you're doing, and you might not even realize it, but from business to day-to-day life, you do get involved with some element of negotiation. And maybe throughout all Peter's books, there are so many valid points, but I think the one that might instantly click with you that you'll learn from the fastest, he does a complete different analysis from what we've heard already about the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky. You remember that? Spectacular moment. Oh, Peter gives you insight as well into negotiation tactics and styles and how they can result in what you were hoping for and maybe not what you planned that might wind up having you in a better spot than you even anticipated. Again, the book is Negotiating with Trump Lessons on Power, Influence, and Dealing with Extreme Bargainers. He is Managing Director of Negotiation Advice International at NegotiationAdvice.com. Peter D. Johnson, thank you for the really in-depth and easy to grasp understanding of the style, direction, and importance of negotiating. And thanks for being here today.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

My pleasure, Chris. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Can you think of any other time in modern-day politics when there's been division like we're seeing today? What's been the result? Well, you know, very little legislation passed, programs that millions rely on for their health and well-being, not just endangered, even cut, server two to one, replacing serving the many. And uh, basic overall hostility that's expanding the division even more. Doesn't sound like there's much hope, does it? Well, I believe there is. If you learn from the ideas and insights my guest offers through his experience, and he also shares in his recent book, Finding the Third Way, Lessons in the Politics of Stay It With Me, Civility from my Journey Through History, Well of Being a partner and co-founder of the law firm David Goldberg and Galper, partner in the public relations firm Trident DMG, served as special counsel to President Bill Clinton, and to this day is a devoted Willie Mays fan, Lenny Davis. How are you today, sir?

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Say hey, Willie. Uh and now I'm a Knicks, uh always been a Knicks fan, but thank you for that intro. I do want to just jump into one very provocative and interesting comment you made. Has there ever been a time in U.S. history? And I don't think there has been, except for one time period where 300,000 Americans killed each other called the Civil War, and that was when we were using firearms. But short of using firearms, the Trump era and Democrats carry some responsibility too, is the worst in American history. So I do agree with you.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

But when you look at the just the sheer numbers of things in the House and the Senate, the numbers being so evenly divided, what's that does that tell what does that tell of the of the American citizenship that we don't know which one's the better offer right now, or is this an opportunity, as many believe in the midterms coming up in November, for the Democrats, to really see the door being wide open for them to make a difference and move forward?

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Well, first of all, the difference nowadays is personal demonization of somebody you disagree with. Uh back in the days uh where it was Ronald Reagan, very partisan conservative Republicans versus very liberal Democrats, and a lot of really uh vitriolic uh words being exchanged. At the end of a long day, uh it was absolutely a fact that uh President Reagan would get into the presidential limousine very quietly go out uh South Lawn exit, go up to the hill, uh go into a side entrance where nobody um uh would be surrounding him, although of course people were aware that the president was visiting. And where would he go? He'd go into Tip O'Neill's office, the speaker of the house who during the day was beating up on him, uh verbally but not physically, and what would they do? They would tip a scotch or whiskey, they would laugh, they would disagree, and they would figure it out. That's a big deal difference. And I know in the Clinton White House, with all the polarization between Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton and Democrats and Republicans during the daytime, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich and I would throw in Joe Scarborough because now he's a T V personality, but back then he was a backbencher hardcore conservative. They would sit down and what did they do? They balanced the budget. And when balance the budget, that's an expression that you say, what come on, nobody balances any budgets anymore. And when Bill Clinton left office on his last day after two terms, he left a three billion dollar surplus. And he didn't do that himself. He did it with Gingrich and Scarborough and the Republicans compromising. So that's a big deal of difference than today and back then.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Well, another big difference is, and I said this in the intro for for a reason, serving one versus serving the many, and you know it's great when you see Marjorie Taylor Green, John Cornyn, Tom Tillis, uh the list is growing, speaking out against Donald Trump, but the problem is they're all on their way out. Unless you know, for those who aren't getting primaried out or saying, you know, I've had enough, I'm out of here, those are the ones we need to hear that from.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Well, that's the reason they're uh free, is they don't worry about losing their office because they're out anyway. It'd be great to see a couple of members of the Republican caucus say, you know what, this job doesn't pay me enough to really undermine our Constitution because the Congress is supposed to be the check and balance to the executive, and we've got the spending power. That's what the framers wrote. We want there to be a stalemate between executive power and the Congress. We don't want a dictatorship of the Congress. They were more worried if you read the history of the writing of the Constitution. Believe it or not, uh James Madison wrote they were more worried about a parliamentary democracy because of their memories of somebody named Cromwell who took over the British Parliament and almost imposed a a dictatorship with the Parliament. So they were worried about too much power in the Congress. But the whole point is checks and balances don't trust anyone. And we're going to need Republicans who are not fearful about losing their jobs, not just the ones on their way out. But I I have to say, Democrats are no different. Democrats have not stood up to democratic presidents. Everyone feels a need to be loyal to the president of their party. So I'm trying to be even-handed here that I'm not just blaming it on a party or a group of Republicans. It's part of our system. This loyalty issue, overcoming patriotism and commitment to the Constitution. I think both parties now are waking up to the need for there to be checks and balances because Donald Trump's made it very clear he thinks executive power is supreme and that that there isn't a check and balance. There is a whole group of conservative Republicans who have invested in projects about executive power. They actually call it the unitary executive, which is contradicted by James Madison and the Constitution. There should be no unitary anything. The whole system was set up not to trust any part of the three branches of government. So we've got a challenge, certainly. And it's both parties.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

I keep saying Democrats have a lot of responsibility for this mess, as well as Republicans.com. You're listening to Issues and Ideas. So let's take that approach looking at both parties, because for the Democrats, everyone's saying a door wide open. I just said it earlier, too. But it's not an automatic. And for Republicans, what is it they need to do to avoid falling back to the days of almost irrelevancy, back to the days, I'm showing my political age here, Bob Livingston and Trent Lott leadership times.

SPEAKER_03 20:47

Two great people, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Oh yeah, no slam on them, but they were they were very complacent.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

Mr. Livingston and Mr. Gingrich uh over the years I've actually become friends with, which is shows it's possible. So I I think there's about two or three answers. Uh I'd speak to the Democrats first, because I'm a Democrat. I think we have failed miserably in giving the American people an alternative to Donald Trump. And the proof for me is I have a lot of liberal Democratic friends, uh some of them conservative Democratic friends, who voted for Trump. And the reason they always give me is they dislike Trump's character, they think he lies, they think he ignores the rule of law, all that stuff. Then why did you vote for him? Because you're worse, meaning you Democrats. You don't have anything to tell me positive. You only know how to trash Trump. So for me, my big goal the next few months, I'm writing some columns on the subject, is the way James Carvel said, if the economy's stupid, well I'm saying to Democrats, it's policies stupid. We have to change. Policies policies that have offended the middle class and working class of the country that we used to have that were Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy Democrats. We've lost a lot of them. So I'm focusing on what are we saying, what do we stand for that's offensive, and how can we have a positive message to the American people.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

When you take into account too, as of most recent polling, there's a huge block of voters that are just drifting right now, specifically the black and Hispanic voters. Trump did gain a lot of support from those two demographics, but for a variety of reasons. Is that going to be the the deciding factor what happens with the midterms?

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Well, you're absolutely right. They're turning away from, but they're not turning to the Democratic Party, because when you turn away from something, you have to have something that you're listening to that you like. You don't turn away and then hear silence. You think to yourself, I have nowhere to go if all you're doing is silence. So for me, I'll just give you a prelude to what I'm about to start writing for Real Clear Politics, which is a series of columns about what are we for? And it comes down to without imitating him exactly, it comes down to thinking like Bill Clinton. When he left office on his last day after two terms, can you imagine if Donald Trump could say something like this, which of course he can't, on Bill Clinton's last day after two terms, get a sixty-six percent gallup job approval rating? That is unprecedented in American history. How did he get with all of the issues and controversies and when I was at the White House they called them scandals, which I was responsible for handling with the White House press corps. How did Bill Clinton achieve two-thirds of the American people gave him a positive job approval rating? Right now, Donald Trump is down to thirty percent job approval.

unknown 24:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

The lowest in American history. How did Clinton do it? It's the policies stupid. Sure, he had a great personality, he was likable, came from Arkansas, good old boy, but that's personality stuff. What were his policies? And the policies were I started out a little bit with you and I won't go on further than one sentence. When is the last time we spent what we took in and we didn't use a credit card and keep spending using a credit card? Because who pays for that credit card? We don't, our kids pay for the credit card. We pile up debts, we go around the world, if you don't mind the metaphor, first class airfare, first class hotels, great vacation, we parents, you know, have a great time. When we come home, what do we do? We take all the receipts from the credit card and we dump them on the beds of our children and we say, You pay. That's what Democrats stand for. Democrats vote for great programs that they say, Oh, we need Medicare, we need Medicaid, we need help for child care, we need all these things. Yes, we do. But you know what Democrats also say? We're not going to pay for them. We're going to use a credit card. And our kids will pay. Or our grandkids will pay. So everybody sees through the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party not being willing to pay for all these great social programs. And that's the difference between Bill Clinton and today's Democrats. We have to explain to the American people we stand for balanced budgets, fiscal responsibility, but we also believe in government. We're Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Democrats. That's what we stand for. Everyone asked what do the Democrats stand for? We stand for government that helps people. But the big but is we have to pay for it. And if that means increasing taxes, we have to increase taxes. If that means cutting spending, we have to cut spending. Or both. That's what Bill Clinton did, and that's why I wrote my book called Finding the Third Way. That was his third way.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

And that's always the foundation of open-minded well uh ability and willingness to listen and to look at solutions like Lanny just described, as opposed to personal uplifting and glorification, which too many today seem to want to exist. You know, it's uh matter of how much can I do for the person who gave me this job as opposed to how much time can I get on pick the media of your choice. Again, the book is Finding the Third Way. He talks about uh through personal experience. This isn't theory or studies or research, it's through personal experience and observations of how there lies before us answers and opportunities for a stronger, better population as opposed to politicians. You can also learn more about Lanny's life and world at LannyJDavis.com. Lanny, it's always an education speaking with you. Look forward to your upcoming columns. I know they will additionally be educational. Thanks for being here today.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Can I add a personal comment before you hang up because I'm a Jersey city boy and I'm a great fan.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

If you're listening to us via your favorite podcast platform, don't forget to follow and subscribe. When the HIV virus first came to people's attention, the reactions ranged from fear to dismissal. Today, mention the HIV virus and the reaction of the menu will be right from fear to dismissal. The truth and reality actually exists in the middle. That's one of the purposes of National HIV testing day, which is coming up on Saturday, June 27th, joining us to discuss the efforts of CVS Pharmacies to help people gain the information and care that they need. Christopher Hooper. Thanks for being here today, guys.

SPEAKER_06 28:28

Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

And learn more about CVS Pharmacies and what they are providing at CVShealth.com. And for you listening, let me place some numbers in your front of mind for you to better understand. At last estimate, 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV, 38,000 new diagnosis every year. And as far as the impact, it depends on race for black and African American individuals. Make up about 12% of the population, represent 38% of new infections, as an example. So so Helen, like I referred to in the in the introduction, people without knowledge won't know the path to take as far as either prevention or dealing with it. What's CVS doing to help bring that awareness up to where it needs to be?

SPEAKER_06 29:20

At CVS specialty, um I'm always informing my patients about prevention. So in getting tested. So the first step then in HIV or knowing your your diagnosis. So we want people to get tested. They start a medication for 28 days to prevent. And I tell them at that time, you know, um you can get on if you think this is going to be ongoing. There's medications that you can take daily. And there's also a long actin injectable that you can take um that they can administer to prevent once you're um if you're negative. So that's what that is always what I tell them, especially a person that comes in as uh uh exposed that's been exposed to.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

That's certainly important too, as I said back in the introduction. The key is understanding that you can live a life, not limit your life when you have the diagnosis. And Christopher, take us back to that day when you were diagnosed and what first went through your mind when when the when you learned that.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Um Well, I was diagnosed back in 1992, so the atmosphere was completely different uh in regards to HIV. Um there was a ton of stigma going on, a lot of fear, um, and you know, everyone was talking about it, and so the day that I found out, um everything changed at that moment. The best they could tell me after my diagnosis um was that I was positive and that maybe I had two years to live. So, you know, I was a college student at the time and everything just became completely different. And so from that moment on, um I compartmentalized it. Um I searched for trials to um get on medications which were not the same as they are today. Um there was a lot of uh side effects and not even sure how at that time they weren't even sure how well they were gonna work or how what the long term was gonna be for those. And so I kept that whole thing a secret for 30 years. And then um when U equals U came out, um the CDC declared U equals U, which means undetectable means untransmittable. And uh that's really powerful. It means if you're s you stay on your medications and you take them regularly, you do your blood work, um, and you keep your viral load count down, you cannot transmit the disease. At that moment, that was really the groundbreaking moment for me to um kind of alleviate 30 years of of that secret and um a lot of the shame and the stigma. And then after that I've started talking about my HIV diagnosis and build a support team.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

And what you just described too, Christopher, is important for someone listening. When you get diagnosed, if you get diagnosed with HIV, take action. Just don't just don't stop living. There there are choices, there are options far more now than there were certainly in 1992. But even back in the in the ancient days, as far as HIV research and and and medical care was concerned, be proactive. Take actions and learn as much as you can about what what possibilities exist for for a a prolonged and a and a regular life as opposed to a limited life.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Yeah, that's I mean that's very true. I mean, I I take one pill a day every morning with my vitamin, um, and that's how I manage my care uh with HIV. I take more uh medications for my high blood pressure than I do for HIV at this point, um at at 56 years old. So um uh, you know, it's it it is definitely not the end of the world anymore. Um it is uh something that's manageable and um that you can control. And so, you know, just be aware of it. And it's of course really important for you to get on that medication as early as possible. So if you are diagnosed, uh make sure you get on that and keep your viral your viral load count down.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

So CVS specialty pharmacist Helen Ever, along with CVS specialty patient, who is also, as you've heard, living with HIV Christopher Hooper. National HIV testing day came up on Saturday, June 27th. You can learn more about CVS's work on this. CVShealth.com found this stats too that out of those, I mentioned some numbers before, there are those who are diagnosed with HIV. There there's about one out of seven that do not know that they have it. So talk about the testing process, Helen. What does it involve? And because people hear medical testing and instantly the the curl up and say, uh no, but testing is testing is a good thing, as we like to say.

SPEAKER_06 34:54

It is a good thing. It's um it's easy to you can talk to your provider, you can go where there are CVS Minute Clinics, you can check with the CVS Minute Clinic for testing your uh public and um so your state and your local local um agencies, but I would probably you could start with your provider uh for testing. Testing is the you can also um buy uh you can buy uh tests at CVS. So there is an oral test if you want to if you want privacy. Um but there are so many options for testing, but we want people to get tested is we know that um to prevent the transmission you have to know if you have the disease first.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

And without a doubt, and to to also think long term as far as like Christopher was saying, Helen, to know what there is out there as far as options and opportunities to once if you are diagnosed with HIV, to take those steps to make sure your life is is staying as strong and on the direction you want it to. Last one last question for for Christopher. For the person listening right now, if they're one of those one out of seven who might have it and they're thinking their lifestyle, whatever it may be, might have made them prone to the virus. Talk to that person right now.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Um I think I think it's important to know these days that this is a virus. And so, you know, it's important to um be responsible. Um, you know, we just got over the COVID moment, and so, you know, there's lots of things that can that can be done um as far as vaccines and uh with COVID, but at the same time, you know, just be responsible, I think, um, about your own uh condition. You just gotta know if you're positive or not. I think if you think about it this way, if you um if everybody that is positive currently um is on medication and becomes undetectable and cannot transmit the disease, and then everybody that has it um tests it, tests and then gets on medication, we can eliminate HIV as a whole. And I think I think that's the goal.

SPEAKER_06 37:27

And if I want to interject also, Chris, is if you think that you're at risk, there is also medication now that you can take to prevent. So if you think that you're gonna have um um continuing risk factors, you can go on prep. And that's also a daily pill or uh long-acting injectable medication. So depending on your risk, you may want to take something to prevent it as well.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Talk to your medical provider if you have not, and use this day as the motivation to change that not into a do, and to learn more about CVS and what they provide and they're testing their guidance from supplies, medications, CVSHealth.com. We've been talking with CVS specialty pharmacist Helen Everett, or with a CVS specialty patient who is living very strongly and well in spite of HIV, not with HIV, Christopher Hooper. Thanks for the education you brought to all of us today. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_06 38:32

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

So much of our financial life going digital has certainly proven to be a great convenience, but at the same time it's brought about great risks if you don't keep your eye on things. Do you think you're tech savvy enough that online thieves won't, you know, whack you? Well, guess what? There are cyber thieves using AI as a weapon out there that are more tech savvy and work faster than you can watch out for. Information, awareness, that is definitely what you need to avoid an online financial disaster. And my next guest joins us to ride you with exactly that. He's a cybersecurity expert, chief security officer of Coinbase, Jeff Lungelhofer. How are you today, Jeff?

SPEAKER_02 39:14

I'm great. Thanks so much for having me, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Learn more about Coinbase and get more information at Coinbase.com and forward slash blog. I know we make jokes about this out of the past, but you know, it used to be very blatant cyber attacks, you know, the the infamous Nigerian Prince emails, but by and large, I think we became a lot more text-avvy, and a lot of the attacks became crystal clear. How clandestine are these AI attacks?

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Yeah, you you nailed it, Chris. Um, you know, AI, artificial intelligence is supercharging scams beyond anything that we've seen in the past. So like those things are the generic, the obvious stuff with the grammar and the Nigerian princess, forget it. That's history. Now what we're seeing are very targeted, customized scams that are specifically targeting, like, Chris, you, like your job, your interests, your background. And the and the really crazy thing is that with the tweets that these scammers are using the artificial intelligence, it doesn't take days to set up that scam. They can literally execute a scam like that with the click of a mouse button.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Yeah, I've used some of the AI software. I'm not going to say what or where I found it, but literally with three to five seconds of a voice, you could create a person that could hold a conversation, make a pitch, because that's something else that is a new attack, is these are verbal attacks that are happening. They are these aren't text in messages or emails.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

That's right. And then they feel, to your point, totally real, right? And it may be somebody that you personally know, their voice, or even, Chris, even forget the voice, it might be a video of that person and the voice on a WhatsApp or a Telegram or one of those video apps that you can, you know, that you can uh see the person. And and you're gonna notice though, the commonality between all these scams is reduced to what they sound like, what they look like, there's gonna be that sense of urgency that because you gotta do it now, you gotta do it now. And your best defense as a as the recipient of a scam like that is when you start to feel that pressure, that oh, they're now talking about money. They want me to send money, they want me to do something. Take a breath, slow down, hang up the phone, and verify before you act.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

Typically, when there used to be phone scams, I always told people, if you don't recognize the number, don't answer, because even if you answer and hang up, that tells the scammer the number is active, it's worth something, they'll sell it to another scammer. How how frequent do these do we have an understanding how frequent these AI-driven scams come after you? Do they just come after you over and over and over again and attempt to break you, or they just catch a catch on, okay, this is a dead fish and move on?

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Oh, I I I would suspect that somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of Americans will be the target of a scam every single year. And I can tell you personally, Chris, my phone, personally, um, I have to block all unknown numbers on my phone because it will literally ring all day, every single day. And and here's an important tip: if you do get on that phone, if you do answer, and it's a financial institution that's calling you, step one, hang up the phone. Immediately hang up the phone. Then what I want you to do is go to the website of that company directly. Don't search for it, go directly to the website, get in your browser, get the absolute phone number, and you call them. Anytime anyone calls you, asking for sensitive information, asking for money, your very best defense is hanging up that phone.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Is that the main thing these AI scammers are after, the money, or are they looking for access to your money, such as crypto or uh investment accounts or things like that?

SPEAKER_02 43:01

Well, the end result is always the same, Chris. So if they're asking you for sensitive information, passwords, uh codes, things like that. They're only doing that for one reason. It's so they can get access to your hard-earned money. So generally speaking, money is always the goal when it comes to scams.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

It's not like the email scams where depending on your browser, you could hold over hold the cursor over a link, for example, and you'd see Bankofamerica.com, but then you'd see a little pop-up window that would have this totally long, totally different, usually based in a foreign country URL. So those days you could kind of clue yourself in and learn as you go and protect yourself. What kind of defense is out there right now for these games other than common sense? But then again, you're trying to have common sense uh against a scheme that's trying to cause you to panic.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

That's right. Absolutely right. So a couple of tips that I want to give to everybody out there. One, remember And if in a situation asking you for money, hey, I'm going to hang up and call you back and B let the code work. That lets you authenticate that person a bit so that you know you're talking with a legitimate member of your family. You're not talking to artificial intelligence.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

That's a brilliant idea, too. I was thinking for all of your financial matters, because you know, phones are relatively inexpensive versus back in the day, to have a phone number dedicated for just your financial aspects so that way you're narrowing the signal you're putting out with it with a phone that you're using for pretty important business.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Yeah, Chris, I would actually add one to that. So having a dedicated phone and phone number is great, but here's a really important one as well. Have a dedicated email that you use, a dedicated Gmail account or some other email account, but isn't the one that you use every single day. And why is that one of the top targets of a space is your email? Because if you access your email, think about this for a minute. Every email that is received, it is a sense of your reason, it is a famous use of business with. It is a big line of information, and it can use, once again, artificial intelligence to mine all that information to create an incredibly believable scam that targets you specifically. So using that dedicated email for financials is just as important as a dedicated phone. That's a great tip.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

And certainly too. All it takes is one email to one of your financial aspects, and the scammer is they've got you. They don't even need to bother cracking into the database of the financial institute. If you're not careful, you just open the door and let them let them walk in. And to learn more about these ideas as well as the services of Coinbase, which is really again another secure way of protecting your financial aspects and doing some wise choices and decisions in your financial financial life at Coinbase.com. And they keep you updated too with the latest information about what we talk about here, other things at the oversee at Coinbase.com forward slash blog. We've been talking with Cybersecurity Expert, Chief Security Officer of Coinbase, Jeff Lungeloffer. Jeff, thanks for the wake-up call, and hopefully a lot of people will become a lot more aware of what they're being bombarded with and be a lot more cautious. Thanks again.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

Thanks so much for having me, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

Today is Father's Day. Bible teaches a great deal about fatherhood. These lessons include who a father is required to be, the respect his children are to show him, and guidance for doing what's right for their children. Considering all the books which have been written, claiming to offer help for fathers, especially first time dads, God's word is and will always be the best resource for the truth. So let's explore some of this. There's no need to be confused or spend months looking for guidance when you learn you're about to become a father. All you need to do is look to our Father for the wisdom and direction that will make you a great dad. Jesus in Matthew chapter six, verses thirty one and thirty-two tells how God the Father provide for us as you should for your child. Therefore do not worry, say what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear for after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Fathers are to be teachers and guides for their children, so they grow up right as well as righteous. There's no such thing as autopilot fathering. Here's how this is explained in Isaiah sixty four, verse eight. But now, O Lord, you are our father, we are the clay, and you are our potter, and all we are the work of your hand. In Matthew chapter six, verse twenty six, Jesus teaches how Father God feeds and shows love for his children, as all fathers should. Jesus speaking, look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them, are you not of more value than they? A good and godly father never holds a grudge when the child does wrong. Of course, discipline is a crucial part of being a father, but it must also come with forgiveness. Paul writes this in Ephesians chapter six verse four. And you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Proverbs chapter nineteen, verse eighteen teaches the importance of discipline. Chasten your son while there is hope, and do not set your heart on his destruction. Which of course means spiritual destruction. As I mentioned, there are two parts to correcting a child, with the second being forgiveness, allowing anger to take root is allowing Satan to gain strength and home. Going back to Ephesians, here is what Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter four, verses thirty and thirty-one. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Then the very next verse gives us insight into what will prevent that anger from taking root and ensure that we won't grieve the Holy Spirit. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. It's always a blessing to see how fast God and His chosen get to the point. Isn't that the truth? If only the same could be said about many people we have to deal in the earthly world. Listen to how all this is explained in Proverbs chapter ten, verse twelve. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. Consequences of that is presented in Colossians chapter three, verse twenty-one, and I hope they're unwanted by you. Fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Father's Day, just as it is with any one day designated for a special purpose or cause, is designed to remind us that the love and respect we show our fathers today is expected of us by God to be shown to our fathers every day. This is so important to God, He made it a part of the Ten Commandments that he gave to Moses. As you hopefully recall, first four commandments tell how we are to worship God. Then the very first after that instructs us to be good children for our parents. We find this in Exodus chapter twenty, verse twelve. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Yes, there's more that God expects of you as children of your parents. You are to honor your father and mother with the way that you carry yourself. Let's go to Proverbs twenty, verse eleven. Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right. Having a godly father on earth as we have a godly father in heaven, when we walk right, think right, and live right, we bring joy to both. As told to us in third John chapter one, verse four, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. So on this Father's day I say to all dads that when you follow God's instructions, Fatherhood will bring to you all the joys that it contains. For all children, I say to you, that we're looked at by God as precious gifts to our father and mother. So don't live as if you came wrapped in a dirty, stained paper. Live according to the Word of God, honoring the responsibilities He's given to you, so your father and mother will always see you as a bright, vibrant, spectacular gift. Be sure to check out our website, issues and ideasradio.com. You'll find more information about the guests who joined us here on the show today. If you've been listening to us on your favorite podcast platform, make sure you follow and subscribe. Always glad to have you along for the ride, and look forward to being with you right here this time next week for our next edition of Issues and Ideas.