Meet Dan Balmer. He’s a self-proclaimed “racist in recovery,” who once hid behind the comfortable claim that he was “not racist.”

Then, one day he had an epiphany and posted this on TikTok:

"Hi, my name is Dan and I'm a racist. I have been in recovery for 30-plus years. Would anyone else like to share?"

Now Dan is doing what he can to help others understand what racism really is and how they can overcome those feelings. He’s developing online workshops focused on “racial bias deconstruction”, has launched a blog, and is doing what he can to help ease the scourge of racism. And, he's our guest on the Lean to the Left podcast.

Who is this middle aged White guy who claims he's a "racist in recovery?"

Dan Balmer is a teacher with a master’s degree in education. His master’s thesis was a simplified model of learning theory focused on addressing barriers to learning. Understanding these concepts has helped him create non-traditional approaches to his instruction.

Throughout his career, Dan has needed to adapt his teaching style to meet the needs of doctors, nurses, billing, registration, and transport staff. These skills were utilized in other industries, including as a financial advisor and traveling trainer of retirement benefits for a variety of clients. 

Dan, welcome to The Lean to the Left Podcast. Tell us what brought you to this mission. And why is it so important?

Q. Why did you question yourself about racism? Did you have occasion to overtly claim that you were not racist? 

Q. How do you know if you are really racist? What qualifies a person as not racist? 

Q. Have you ever heard an obviously racist person describe themselves at not racist? 

Q. For many people, they don’t even think about whether they are racist or not, perhaps not until they are confronted with a situation that tests them. Do you agree? 

Q. What should people do if they come to realize that, gee, maybe they are a little bit racist. Is there such a thing as “a little bit racist?”

Q. Let’s talk about your workshop. It covers concepts that you say prevent growth and change. Take a minute to tell us about them.

Q. You wrote a blog entitled “The Luxurious Illusion of being Not Racist.” Tell us about that.

To learn more about Dan Balmer, please visit https://danielbalmer.org/. Check out his workshop for racial bias deconstruction at  https://racistsinrecovery.thinkific.com/courses/first-steps-toward-racial-bias-deconstruction.

Dan Balmer-Racist in Recovery

If there’s one thing Donald Trump both loves, and loves to hate, it’s numbers. Poll numbers, economic numbers, stock market numbers and, of course, crowd size numbers. 

When it comes to numbers, Trump is quick to embrace the positive while assigning blame to the negative. Trump is absolutely obsessed with numbers.

Not Fake News writer Chris Waldron takes a look at that in today’s podcast, Playing the Numbers. 

Take  Listen.

NFN Radio News - Episode 117 - Playing The Numbers - 6:15:20, 2.00 PM

Yesterday the New York Times reported that Vice President Mike Pence told governors in a phone call that really, the coronavirus is under control, and that increased numbers of cases is just because more testing is being done.

And then, he said the economy is booming back and everything is fine. He fed them the party line because Trump is desperate to at least make people think that it’s all good, even though it’s not.

What came to mind was Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman and his old line, “What Me Worry?”

That would be funny if it wasn’t so serious…in fact, deadly serious.  

That’s the topic of today’s podcast, so take a listen to “The Two Big Lies” from Not Fake News.biz.

NFN Radio News - Episode 118 - The Two Big Lies - 6:16:20, 3.42 PM

Journalist, blogger at https://notfakenews.biz. Author: Hijacked Nation, Donald Trump's attack on America's greatness. Political writer. Just a little lean to the left.

Dan Balmer-Racist in Recovery

The Lean to the Left Podcast

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