The Beached White Male Podcast with Ken Kemp

Send us Fan Mail In this election year, immigration has become a major political issue. Some would like you to believe immigration is tantamount to a veritable “invasion” of undesirables or worse. However, since the 1980s, a little-known faith-based movement has taken a very different view. Humanitarian organizations, legal advocates, and religious groups have collaborated to provide advocacy, she...

Send us Fan Mail The two Ken’s reconvene at about 23 days out. The predictions seem to be coming true. The conspiracies, the threats, the misinformation, the falsehoods, and name-calling all proliferate. Kemp and Fong remain stymied that the race could possibly be this close. From the outset, the Two Kens make movie recommendations: Kemp - Bad Faith and Fong - Conclave . It opens up a conversation...

Send us Fan Mail Just this year, Neelam Warren-Pal graduated from DePauw University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. Her late grandfather, Melvin Warren, was Ken's classmate in the late 1960s. When Ken left Southern California after graduating high school in 1966, he traveled to Chicago where he became a student at the Moody Bible Institute. Among his freshman dorm mates was...

Send us Fan Mail The Republican Vice-President candidate had two objectives: 1) to appear the “nice guy” (as opposed to the extreme MAGA champion) and 2) to make the former President’s campaign sound reasonable (which it isn’t). It seemed to work until the second half. New to the national stage, Tim Walz had a rough start. Prepped by Pete Buttigieg, he appeared nervous and over-prepared. Ken compa...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes Ed Oxford, key researcher and contributor to the film 1946 - The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture. Ed, who identifies as a gay Christian, graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Talbot Theological Seminary in New Testament. In the years that followed, his study of the original languages and the many English translations of the Christian scriptures brought h...

Send us Fan Mail When Adey and Tom Wassink launched a Vineyard Church in the university town of Iowa City (IA) twenty-five years ago, it didn’t take long to fill the worship center. A winsome and intelligent couple, they brought a love for the church, an intense engagement in the wider community and a focus on their own education. Tom, a medical doctor, when on to certify as a psychiatrist. Adey p...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. David Gushee returns to continue the timely discussion of his new book, The Moral Teachings of Jesus . Ken and David expand on the Golden Rule. Gushee’s doctoral work at Union Seminary focussed on ethics and the Holocaust. His work on the horrors of torture got the attention of Christianity Today when the horrific American abuses against prisoners held at Abu Ghraib and Guanta...

Send us Fan Mail As promised, here is the heartwarming, personal story - when Mark Bodnarczuk reached out to Philip Yancey’s brother Marshall. Phillip shared Marshall’s story in his memoir and on the podcast. The two brothers responded to their father’s early death and their hyper-fundamentalist church in their own unique way. Philip became a prolific writer of Christian books. Marshall began as a...

Send us Fan Mail The Two Kens are back with their take on the Presidential Debate. Just a few days later, the spin masters have already had their impact, obscuring Kamala Harris’ blistering victory over her opponent, Donald Trump. Most everyone agreed, including Republican politicians and pundits, that Harris won. Kemp and Fong recorded the day after the debate, with fresh commentary from start to...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes Mark Bodnarczuk back to the podcast.  As he shared with Ken in March of this year, the fentanyl crisis in our country is real - and made an unwelcome visit to his home. Thomas, Mark’s then 17-year-old son, took a pill he bought on the Internet that he believed was  Xanax. He died a short time after swallowing the tablet. The autopsy showed that it was fentanyl - a dea...

Send us Fan Mail David Gushee - author, ethicist and global influencer - returns to talk about his new book entitled The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God. Professor Gushee, like Ken, interacts with many folks of all ages and stages who have become disillusioned with Christianity - particularly the evangelical version that has become identified with political conserv...

Send us Fan Mail Ken welcomes Darcy McKenzie back for a follow-up conversation post-DNC (Democratic Convention). When Tim Walz made his acceptance speech on Thursday Night, Darcy contacted her considerable network of political activists in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to come to her home for a Tim Walz watch party. Local ABC affiliate Eyewitness News (Channel 5) sent a crew to Darcy and Dane’s ho...

Send us Fan Mail The morning after the 2024 Democratic Convention closed with a dazzling acceptance speech from Kamala Harris. Ken Fong joins Ken for a week’s end review. Harris is the first woman of color in history to receive a party’s nomination for President of the United States.      Kemp’s Substack Article became the theme of their talk, rooted in Abraham’s Inaugural Address from 1861 when h...

Send us Fan Mail Piper Dellums, keynote speaker, author, filmmaker, poet, and activist returns to the podcast as the nation’s political drama intensifies. Piper responded enthusiastically to Ken’s Substack article, “ Yeah, … She’s a DEI hire ” (a reflection on the Republican’s vain attempt to diminish the Democratic nominee for President, Kamala Harris.) Piper brings profound insight into the stat...

Send us Fan Mail For Part II in our series, Ken welcomes political activist and friend of the podcast, Darcy McKenzie. Darcy has been actively involved in local politics from her home in Mendota Heights, just south of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Darcy gives us the backroom story of the selection of her Governor, Tim Walz, to be Kamala Harris’ running mate in her pursuit of the Presidency. Like our fri...

Send us Fan Mail In a two-part series, we explore the Vice President’s decision to invite Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. Ken admits his unbridled enthusiasm, especially following that Philadelphia Rally where the two made a joyful, energetic launch in front of a roaring, capacity crowd. Betsey’s enthusiasms are somewhat muted because for the past few weeks, she has been active...

Send us Fan Mail When a young man gets bored during the sermon in a starched Presbyterian Church on a Sunday morning, he pages through the Hymnal. That was Scott barely twelve years old who found, of all things, a Swastika at the top of the page at the end of the book he found in the church pew. The Swastika was crossed out. A cross appeared beneath it, indicating a clear Christian protest against...

Send us Fan Mail The Two Ken’s reconvene to talk about Joe Biden’s decision to step aside and pass the torch. He gave his full endorsement to his Vice President. Kamala Harris quickly emerged as the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. It triggered an explosion of enthusiasm. After the assassination attempt, the Republican Campaign reported that their candidate was a “changed man.” Determi...

Send us Fan Mail Betsey returns to review the historical events unfolding right before us. The former President’s final convention speech upended the claim that he is “a changed man.” Betsey and Ken were depressed when headlines blared talk of a landslide victory for him - but then, the news came that Biden would relinquish his role as presumptive nominee. The announcement that VP Kamala Harris wo...

Send us Fan Mail THIS EPISODE WAS RECORDED PRIOR TO THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN BUTLER< PA. Ken and Betsey reconvene for a post-debate debrief. Just before highly anticipated Presidential debate between the 45th and 46th Presidents, Ken and Betsey gave their predictions. They agreed that the “State of the Union Joe” would show up, energetic, focused and ready to take on his vulnerable opponent...

Send us Fan Mail Ken shares some brief thoughts about the shocking events at a Butler, Pennsylvania political rally.  Support the show Become a Patron  - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you! Ken’s Substack Page The Podcast Official Site : TheBeachedWhiteMale.com

Send us Fan Mail When Ken first knew Rick Axtell, he was a high school student. Ken, a seminarian in his early 20s, was his Youth Pastor at a church in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Rick was a leader in the youth group. When Rick moved to Mississippi and Ken graduated, they bid farewell - turns out, for fifty years. Just in the past few months, they have become re-acquainted, chatting on video...

Send us Fan Mail The headlines are filled with tragic stories of clergy misconduct - abuse, power, control, and church cover-ups. Elizabeth Pankey-Warren, M.Div., MSW, and Spiritual Director (The Living School), has counseled the victims and perpetrators of abuse both as a therapist and as an ordained minister. In her work, she has also encountered clergy abuse in the context of her own church wor...

Send us Fan Mail The two Ken’s check in the day after the GREAT DEBATE. While Ken Fong refused to make pre-debate predictions, Ken Kemp did. In the pre-debate Beach Talk with Betsey Newenhuyse, they anticipated that the energetic, focussed, forceful “State of the Union Joe” would appear. Most Republican commentators, including the 45th President, did, too. That’s why they concocted stories about J...

Send us Fan Mail Ken checks in with Betsey to make some predictions in anticipation of the Presidential debate. Betsey predicts that Joe Biden will step up and perform as he did at the State of the Union and that Donald Trump will announce his VP pick in an effort to make news that will overshadow any possible gaffs. Betsey points out that the abortion issue is triggering a serious backlash among...