Media today doesn’t just blur facts—it distorts morality. From a young age, children are told that good and evil are relative, even reversed. Another “kids’ movie” came out teaching that villains are the heroes. In a world bent on confusion, our goal is to find moral clarity.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks so much for being here. Got a little sneak peek on something we're going to talk on the SiriusXM show tomorrow. There's a new movie coming out. It's called Steps, a new animated film for children that follows Cinderella's evil stepsisters who are actually depicted as kind and misunderstood. Starring Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu as the stepsisters releasing in 2026 on Netflix. 

So what's happening here? It's same as always. pretty much every aspect of our culture, and specifically entertainment for kids, stories, movies, et cetera. It's a moral inversion. The bad guys are actually the good guys. Or the bad guys, they're just victims of trauma from their childhood, or they're really just misunderstood. 

We see this in real life, too. We see this in the criminal justice system. Oh, that murderer, he just had a tough job. There are two 15 -year -olds from Afghanistan in Germany, no, London. who assaulted, in case there's kids listening, a young girl in a park in England. And the claim was, well, actually, let me, I don't think I'm making it up. 

There we go. I could pause right here, but I'm not. I keep forgetting this is a podcast. I'm recording this, not live radio. Here we go. During the trial, the defense attempted to excuse the rape of the 15 -year -old girl by citing, quote, cultural differences and the supposed trauma experienced by the rapist while growing up in their native Afghanistan. 

The lawyer told the court that his client is quote, not used to a society where women are free. and deemed equal to men. He's not used to a society where alcohol is freely available. He's morally at sea. There are massive cultural barriers that have become massive moral barriers. Fortunately, the judge said nice try, although many other judges have agreed with that. 

We see it in movies here, too. Oh, well, who's really the bad guy? You think that's the bad guy, but they're actually the good guy. I haven't seen Wicked because it looks awful and the stars of the movie just look awful. Like the wokest people imaginable, so I'm out. But I looked up the plot. 

It says here, a central point of Wicked is that the Wicked Witch of the West is profoundly misunderstood due to prejudice, propaganda, and her green skin, which leads to her being scapegoated as evil by her advocacy for the oppressed. The story reimagines her as a smart, fiery outcast who faces lifelong bullying and discrimination, challenging simplistic good versus evil narratives. Born different, the witch seeks acceptance while boldly opposing injustice. like the silencing of talking animals, earning her the Wicked label from the wizard's manipulative regime. The wizard brands her wicked to unify Oz against a common enemy using propaganda to control the populace. Devil, Deville, was bullied as a child and her mother died because she was pushed out of a window by a Dalmatian. 

That's why she hates Dalmatians. So who is the bad guy? The left just wants, the devil, wants to create moral confusion. I'm in the business of moral clarity. All right, that's the news. Let's bring it to the Bible. 

On the radio tomorrow, I'm going to go in a different direction. Here, we're going to thump the Bible. The other day, I decided to go through Isaiah because Isaiah 9, it is said, prophesies Jesus. But I want to know what's going on in 1 through 8. So here's the background. 

I'm just going to go through Isaiah 1 and a little bit of 2. Isaiah is a prophet. This is a period of Israel's history. It's from 2 Kings 15 through 21 and 2 Chronicles 26 through 33. It's all historically accurate. By this point, Israel had been in the promised land for 700 years. 

And it would be about another 700 years until Jesus came to earth, Emmanuel. Up until the time of Isaiah, the kingdom of Israel, the northern 10 tribes had 18 kings, all of them bad. The kingdom of Judah had 11 kings before Isaiah's ministry, some good, some bad. They were also surrounded by Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. So I want to read some of the parts of Isaiah 1 here, and you can see, you can decide if you think there's moral confusion here from God, or if he's pretty clear. Quote, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 

The ox knows its owner, the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. So the people of Israel are dumber than dumb animals. Even the animals know their owner, but we're so clueless we don't even know God. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. 

The whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land and your presence, and it is desolate and as overthrown by strangers. 

As long as Judah rebels, they will keep it. stricken with horrible things. Just repent already. But how about that strangers devour your land, right? Part of God's divine judgment is invasion from foreigners. And then God goes on and talks about the empty practices of sacrifice because their heart isn't in it. 

Bring no more your futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. Your hands are full of blood. I don't really know how he feels here in this scenario. He talks about how the people are like Sodom and Gomorrah, and you will end up the exact same way if you keep this up, Judah. 

There's no moral confusion here, but there's hope. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. 

Seek justice. Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow. Come now. Let us reason together, says the Lord. 

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they're red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. " That's moral clarity. Do these good things, good things happen. 

Do bad things, bad things happen. Pretty clear. Let me quote this from Spurgeon just because it's good. Charles Spurgeon says, a wicked old wretch who has taken his degrees in Satan's college has become a master of Baal, a prince and chief of sinners, a Goliath amongst the Philistines. Yet such a man is this word sent today. I would say the people who are putting out most of the content in today's world to children are in this category. 

on purpose. They're purposefully doing this. They're purposefully manipulating kids across the country to have confusion. Here's Spurgeon. Your hands are bloody with the souls of the young. You've kept a hell house. 

You have grid up public entertainments, which have debauched and depraved the young. You have gold in your pocket today, which you've earned by the blood of souls. You have the fool's pence and the drunkard's shilling, which have really come into your hands from the heart of poor women. You've heard the cries of the starving children. You've tempted the husbands to take the drink and ruin their bodies and their souls. You've kept the place where the entertainment was so low, so groveling that you awoke the slumbering passions of evil in the minds of either young or old. 

And so you shall sink to hell with the blood of others on your head, as well as your own damnation, not with one millstone around your neck, but with many. All this may be true of you, Spurgeon says, yet God can forgive your sins and you can be made white as snow. There's some hope. God goes on how the faithful city has become a harlot. My Bible said W. H. O. R. E. It was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in it. 

But now murderers, everybody loves bribes and follows after reward. 

That's all. 

What's in it for me is only all that matters. But we're not even done with Isaiah one halfway through Isaiah one. 

Let's let's skip. 

Let's skip to Isaiah two. 

Can we? 

I can't stop here. I got to do Isaiah two because there's a turn here. The Messiah Isaiah two. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains and shall be exalted among the hills and all nations shall float to it. Many people shall come and say, come and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the Lord. of Jacob. 

He will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. " It's a famous line in our nation's history too. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 

Oh house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Want to stop right there for now. This was to the people of Judah. Jesus was 700 years away, but Isaiah is saying, don't wait. Walk in his ways now. Walk in the light, walk in the light of the Lord. 

Now there's no moral confusion here. There's no, well, your ways are okay too, I guess. No, no big deal. You know, you do you coexist, kind of just figure it out along the way. Maybe it'll be fine. No, no, no. 

You are a harlot or worse. And you're going to die like Sodom and Gomorrah. Unless you do this very specific thing. And there's only one way. Walk in the light of the Lord. Isn't that so refreshing? 

Isn't that so freeing? It's so liberating knowing that that's just all you have to do. That's the answer. There it is. All these terrible things were happening and all I have to do is this. Sign me up. 

But every message from the world is like the serpent. Did God really say? Trying to confuse. Don't let people who hate you get to your children. And then for the rest of us, let's not be deceived. Pray for clarity while the world is trying to confuse you. 

We need to be people of moral clarity. 

Do more on this tomorrow as we build up to Isaiah 9. Mike Slater dot Locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot Locals dot com

A listener brought up this wonderful scene of accountability from George Bailey. Also, how can we "Take heed" and not be choked out by the "cares of the world" in this busy season?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. You hear Jack playing the piano? Probably just singing his Christmas carols, playing his Christmas songs on the piano. I don't want to tell him to stop. Anytime he's playing the piano, I'm like, knock off that racket. 

I want to thank Daniel for calling in today and for giving a shout out to the podcast. Daniel, it was worth playing your phone call again here for the podcast audience. I love the movie. It's a wonderful life. Talk about it all the time on the radio. And Daniel wanted to comment on one of the scenes. 

Here it is. Oh, I should say this was a part of our gratitude Monday segment where people call in and say things they're grateful for. And we had a gentleman call in just before Daniel here whose father had the fifth stroke just the other day. And his mom has Alzheimer's and they're both in the hospital, but the whole family, his whole family's back. And they've had moments, distraction -free, where they've been able to just be together. And even in the midst of this horrible time, they're able to have these moments of joy. 

And it was a really beautiful phone call. And then we went to Daniel. 

Hey, Slater, I'm doing great. Boy, that's a tough call. tough one to follow. We're just thinking of Mark and everything he's going through, so say a little prayer for him if you're listening. But then again, this might be actually something perfect to follow up with this. So you were talking last week about It's a Wonderful Life, the movie, and you talked about that on your Politics by Faith podcast. 

I'm very thankful for that. for that movie. Oh, I only watched it on Christmas Eve. I know you said you watched it a couple of times before. I only watched it on Christmas Eve. I only watched the black and white version. 

So I'm old school like that. But you mentioned all these examples in the movie about George, George Bailey, and he's a good man taking a stand against things like trying to destroy his town, and he's just doing the right thing. And all the examples through Georges, and like I said, you brought up a couple of examples. And you said the best line, and it is a great line, by Big Brother George, the richest man in town. When you started playing that, I was blowing leaves this weekend, and you started playing that, and I knew I was going to tear up, and sure enough, I do. 

I always do. Watched it for 30 years, and I still do that. But the most interesting line to me, I wanted to find out, see if you thought this was interesting, because it's insightful. It actually kind of tells you who George is, and just in a way that, you know, Mark's sharing his story about his parents told us who he is. It's when George has lost the $8 ,000, or Uncle Billy lost the $8 ,000, and he's sitting there with Potter, desperate, at the end of his rope, and Potter's sort of toying with him, and Potter says, George, and I looked up the script just so I could get it right, so he says, George, could it possibly be there's a slight discrepancy in the books? And George, again, at the end of his rope says, no, sir, there's nothing wrong with the books. 

I've just misplaced $8 ,000. I can't find it anywhere. And George Potter looks up and says, you misplaced $8 ,000 because he knew Uncle Billy misplaced it because Uncle Billy misplaced that $8 ,000 with Potter there in the bank. But George takes the blame. George says it was me. And it shows you what kind of a man he is in the movie. 

all the sacrifices you mentioned, you know, the way he took care of his mother, the way he, you know, gave back to the town, the way he didn't leave, the way he showed grace to everybody. And there and there, that best of desperation Christmas Eve. I've always thought it was interesting how Potter looks up and sort of, and he says it quietly, says, you misplaced $8 ,000. In other words, it really hit him that George has taken the blame, and he knows it's not George's fault. And he sees a little glimpse, like it hits him how good of a man George is. 

And I've often wondered, had there been a sequel to It's a Wonderful Life where you got to look ahead past, you know, you know, to my big brother George versus Man of the Town, everything saved, happy ending. I always wonder what Potter, how he was affected by that, or if he was, or like, how did that change him? Did that impact him? And so I just I'm very thankful for that movie because it shows you what kind of an impact we can all make just by doing those little, those little things the right way. And when no one's looking, like Mark's doing with his parents. And just very thankful for that, thankful for the movie and your observations and these times on Monday where we all get to share that. 

Here is the scene in question. I'm in trouble, Mr. Potter. I need help. Through some sort of an accident, my company shortened their accounts. The bank examiner got there today. I've got to raise $8 ,000 immediately. 

Oh, that's what the reporters wanted to talk to you about. The reporters? 

Yes, they called me up from your building and loan. Oh, there's a man over there from the DA's office, too. 

He's looking for you. 

Please help me, Mr. Boyd. 

Won't you please? Can't you see what it means to my family? I'll pay any sort of a bonus on the loan, any interest. If you still want the building and loan, I'm... 

George, could it possibly be there's a slight discrepancy in the books? 

No, sir, there's nothing wrong with the books. I've just misplaced $8 ,000. I can't find it anywhere. 

a wonderful scene, Daniel. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. I was reading this morning, Luke 21. Maybe we can make this both fit together. Jesus is telling people about the last days and he ends with, therefore, this is how you should live. This is Luke 21, 34. 

But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life. and that day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. " So many words we could focus on here. I always love when there's something like take heed. 

It's always a good word to focus on, but I want to focus instead, maybe this ties into the Christmas season as well, the cares of this life. Same word as Matthew, about the parable of the sower. As for those for the seeds that were sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. Choke the word and it proves unfruitful. Same in 1 Peter 5, 7. Cast all your anxieties, there it is on him, for God cares for you. 

He cares for you. The Greek word here means to draw in different directions, to pull apart. Isn't that an amazing word for anxiety, for cares, for worries, to be pulled apart. That's what anxiety is, right? You're pulled in all these different directions. There's another connotation to the old English word meant to strangle. 

So pulled apart, you're strangled, but that's what worry does to our life. It strangles us. The cares of the world, they strangle us. Let me quote the American hero. Dictionary. It's Middle Eastern descendant, Wurian, keeps this sense and developed the new sense of to grasp by the throat with the teeth and lacerate or to kill or injure by biting and shaking. 

That's what worry meant. It's what it meant to be worried. This is the way wolves or dogs might attack sheep, for example. In the 16th century, worry began to be used in the sense to harass. as by rough treatment or attack. It is, worry is an attack from the devil. 

To assault verbally. In the 17th century, the word took on the sense of to bother, distress, or persecute. And it was a small step from this sense to the main modern sense, to cause, to feel anxious or distressed, and to feel troubled or uneasy. First recorded in the 19th century. George lived an upright life. He served others. 

Found an amazing woman, by the way. We had another caller later in the show. Turned out to be That radio show's turning a bit into the, uh, it's a wonderful life show, but that's okay. Someone called in and said, Hey, Mary deserves a lot more love. It was her idea to spend the $2 ,000 from their honeymoon to save the bank during the bank run. It was her idea. 

She only, she not only didn't complain about George choosing the bank over their honeymoon, it was her idea to spend the money to save the bank. And then she went off and put together a little bit of honeymoon in that old rundown house. It was her idea to spend that money to save the bank. And it was her idea, while George was about to jump off a bridge, to go and get the whole town together to help her husband get that $8 ,000 back. Mary's the star of the show. In these busy Christmas days, take heat. 

Don't worry. Watch and pray that every day you are counted worthy. Stand before the Son of Man and go watch It's a Wonderful Life. Mike Slater dot locals and read your Bible. Mike Slater dot locals dot com for the transcript and commercial free. Mike Slater dot locals. .com.

Even if you've seen it 100 times or if you've only seen bits and pieces, watch all of It's A Wonderful Life this weekend. And don't wait until Christmas to watch it. Let it inform your entire Christmas season starting now.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. This is my annual reminder to watch It's a Wonderful Life, the movie. Go watch it right now, this weekend. Don't wait till Christmas. You don't have to watch it on Christmas Eve. 

I feel like you miss it. You miss the whole month. You should watch it now so it informs the whole month of Christmas, not after Christmas. And then you forget about it by the new year. I watched it last year for the very first time. It's my favorite movie. 

Now, if you asked me two years ago, have I ever seen It's a Wonderful Life? I would have said, yeah, like twice. Most of it, probably, I've seen bits and pieces, so yeah, I get the gist of it. Belle, Angel Wings, I get it, yeah. That was two years ago. Last year was the first year my wife and I sat down and watched the whole thing. 

I loved every second of it. So we just watched it again the other day with the kids this time, and it's amazing. The whole movie is perfect. Now, if you're gonna watch it with your kids, a warning, there's a lot of drinking in it, and there's a couple sexually inappropriate kind of things, but it's like 1940, so it's okay. There's a scene where Violet is wearing a dress and all the men are oogling. And they say, nice dress. 

And she says, oh, this old thing, I only wear it when I don't care how I look. And then she walks away. She's like, all right, like we can handle this. Whatever Frank Capra in 1946 thought was risque, I think we can handle in the twenty twenty five. So don't let that stop you. Interesting. 

It's a wonderful life fact when it came out in nineteen forty. So actually, let me go back. It started with this guy wrote the story and he tried to pitch it to the thirties and he tried to pitch to a bunch of magazines and they wouldn't take it. So he sent it out to friends in a Christmas card. And somehow it made it to Frank Capra. Frank Capra loved the story. 

They bought it, made the movie, flopped, lost $500 ,000. The reason it became a Christmas classic is because in 1974, the production company made some clerical mistake or something, and the movie ended up in the public domain. They lost the copyright to it. So the TV stations could air it without paying any royalties. So they just played it over and over and over again. 

It's just to fill time. And that's how it became a tradition. That's how people saw it and loved it. And now they keep playing it, right? Isn't that amazing? The total fluke that we even know it exists. 

The author of the original, say, book, it's not even a book. I bought the book. It's by Philip Van Doren Stern. He wrote this, uh, he wrote the Christmas card. So I bought it and it's all right. It's like, fine. 

There's a couple points that he makes that are in the movie, but the movie is way better. I've never said that before. I mean, usually it's the book that's way better, right? In this case, the movies are way better, but he just sent out this Christmas card to friends and family and somehow it made it away. It's unbelievable. I love everything about the movie. 

Next time I watch it, hopefully this weekend again, I want to write down more of my favorite parts and favorite lines. I love how it starts off with people praying for George, the story of sacrifice. George wants to do all these things. He wants to travel the world. He wants to go hit it big. He wants to go on a honeymoon with his wife and he always sacrifices for other people. 

And his wife serves him in that last point of sacrifice. Love, love that story. Love that storyline. This is the best line in the movie. Think right here. 

Right in the middle of it. Soon as I got Mary's telegram, good idea, Ernie, a toast to my big brother, George, the richest man in town. 

Come on. There's so many great lines. I love that relationship between the brothers throughout the movie as well. That line always does it to me. One line came up during the show the other day. Why did it come up? 

Oh, darn it. Why did it come up? It was the line where George crashes his car into a tree and the owner of the house comes out. Do you remember what he says? The owner of the house? He said, my great grandpa planted that tree. 

Took a nick out of the tree. This part's actually in the Christmas card. My great -grandpa planted that tree. That amazing, that incredible connection to the land, to the town, to his home, that still this guy's living in the same house where his great -grandpa planted the tree in the front yard. Doesn't that speak to something so beautiful? Of course, the story of good man taking a heroic stand against forces trying to destroy the town. 

The last two times I've seen it, that theme always stands out to me, this beauty and importance of a town, a story of community where everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows Bert the policeman, Ernie the taxi driver, Sesame Street said, that's just a coincidence. I don't know how that could possibly be. How could that be a coincidence? The movie came first, by the way, and Sesame Street came after. You're going to call the two main characters Bert and Ernie and not be a reference to, and the good guys win and the good guys win with the help of the people. 

It's all the great things. On my SiriusXM show, I'll go into more detail about the town and the importance of towns. But this is a religious, I shouldn't say religious. I don't like saying religious because religious is like, Oh, we allow all the great faiths of history to be... No, it's a great... body. 

So let me bring in some scripture here because all good stories have a Christian roots in them. The one scene when Potter, the evil Potter, thinks he finally can beat George Bailey. Well, he realized he can't beat him, so he's going to join him or really get George to join him. So he's going to offer him a huge paycheck. Also, there's one line when George, when Potter is talking to Bailey, he says, oh, Bailey, you only make this much a month. And after you pay to provide for your mother, you only end up with this much for your wife and kids. 

And I love that little note there because then when George Bailey goes back, you know, as if he never existed, he goes to his mom's house and his mom is running a boarding house and she looks terrible versus that lovely scene when mom is bright eyed and thriving. And she tells George to go, go find that girl. Go, go meet Mary, go see Mary. And they, they kiss each other. They love each other so deeply. But then when George doesn't exist, no one's there to take care of her. 

And it's just that one little line that informs us that he's in fact doing that. So he gets enamored with the money. George does. It's a lot about falls off his chair. He says, well, let me, let me give it a day to think it over. Talk it over with the wife. 

Oh, sure, sure, sure. 

Go talk it over with the missus. I'll work on the papers. You let me know tomorrow. I sure will. Mr. Potter holds out his hands. And the second they shake hands, second, George Bailey feels the coldness and he's about to do business with the devil. 

He wipes, wipes his hand, like wipes the grime. off of his hand on his coat. Can't believe I even... considered it for a second. And then he told him off. Reminded me of Psalm 52. 

Psalm 52 is David writing about a story that happened in 1 Samuel 21. The very short of that story is Doeg, who was Saul's chief herdsman, told King Saul that David visited some priests. And then Doeg falsely accused the priests of helping David against Saul. So Saul ordered the priests to be executed, and Doeg is the one who carried it out. Killed 85 priests, along with other women and children too, but 85 priests. So that's Doeg. 

And here's David talking about him. Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor working deceitfully as his potter as well. You love evil more than good. lying rather than speaking righteousness. 

You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck you out of your dwelling place and uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him. Doeg, God took him out, right? Shall laugh at him saying, here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself. 

in his wickedness. That's Potter, isn't it? Strengthening himself in his wickedness, surrounding himself with as much wealth as he can possibly accumulate from the people. And then when he's in charge of the town, it becomes a den of gambling and prostitution and sin. But with George Bailey, salt and light, he brings a purity and a goodness to all around him and to his town. We are called to be these people. 

We are called to be George Bailey's. We are called, whatever business you work at, responsibilities you have, maybe business you own, I believe you're called to be Bailey building and loan as much as you can to your customers and to your employees. Well, I've been saying recently that as John Adams said, that our constitution was only made for a moral and religious people. I believe capitalism is only made for a moral and religious people too. We are called to be George Bailey. We're called to be and run our businesses like Bailey building and loan. 

And of course, more than George Bailey, we're called to be like Jesus. We talked today to the CEO of Trail Life USA. The Secretary of War has officially cut off the military from all connection with scouting America. It used to be called the Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts are no longer for boys. They've completely abandoned everything that made them amazing for 114 years. 

And they're a total disgrace. Trail Life USA has risen from the ashes. And it's a proudly Christian scouting organization. TrailLifeUSA . com. We talked to their CEO. 

He was wonderful. Talked to him this morning. The motto of Trail Life USA is walk worthy. That nice walk worthy. Where's that come from? Colossians 110. 

That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work. and increasing in the knowledge of God. May we dedicate ourselves this month, it's Christmas month and forever, but this Christmas month to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. If Mr. Potter can give us a visual of what not to be, and if George Bailey can give us a little artistic visual of who to be more like, that's just great, as long as it's pointing us closer to Jesus. mikeslater . locals . 

com transcript commercial free on the website. Go watch the movie right now. Go go watch it. mikeslater .