diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index ffcb568..1f69840 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -26,19 +26,24 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     curl \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-# Copy Python packages from builder
-COPY --from=builder /root/.local /root/.local
+# Create non-root user for security
+RUN useradd -m -u 1000 appuser
+
+# Copy Python packages from builder to appuser's home
+COPY --from=builder /root/.local /home/appuser/.local
+
+# Fix permissions
+RUN chown -R appuser:appuser /app /home/appuser/.local
 
 # Set environment variables
-ENV PATH=/root/.local/bin:$PATH
+ENV PATH=/home/appuser/.local/bin:$PATH
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
 ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
 
 # Copy application code
 COPY . .
+RUN chown -R appuser:appuser /app
 
-# Create non-root user for security
-RUN useradd -m -u 1000 appuser && chown -R appuser:appuser /app
 USER appuser
 
 # Health check
diff --git a/backend/app/api/v1/__init__.py b/backend/app/api/v1/__init__.py
index 12d6f84..de064c0 100644
--- a/backend/app/api/v1/__init__.py
+++ b/backend/app/api/v1/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Job ID: MTAD-IMPL-2025-11-18-CL
 """
 
 from fastapi import APIRouter
-from app.api.v1 import auth, blog, forum, merch, podcast, profiles, resources, tribute, health
+from app.api.v1 import auth, blog, forum, merch, podcast, profiles, resources, tribute, health, sso
 
 api_router = APIRouter()
 
@@ -21,5 +21,6 @@ api_router.include_router(profiles.router, prefix="/profiles", tags=["Profiles"]
 api_router.include_router(resources.router, prefix="/resources", tags=["Resources"])
 api_router.include_router(tribute.router, prefix="/tribute", tags=["Tribute"])
 api_router.include_router(health.router, tags=["Health"])
+api_router.include_router(sso.router, prefix="/sso", tags=["SSO"])
 
 __all__ = ["api_router"]
diff --git a/backend/app/api/v1/blog.py b/backend/app/api/v1/blog.py
index fad9480..b3bfddb 100644
--- a/backend/app/api/v1/blog.py
+++ b/backend/app/api/v1/blog.py
@@ -1,49 +1,69 @@
 """
-Blog MVP API endpoints.
-
+Blog API endpoints.
 Job ID: MTAD-IMPL-2025-11-18-CL
 """
 
-from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, status
-from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
-from app.database import get_db
-from app.models import BlogPost
+from fastapi import APIRouter, HTTPException, status
+import feedparser
+import httpx
+from datetime import datetime
+from time import mktime
 
 router = APIRouter()
 
+# TODO: Get this from settings/env
+RSS_FEED_URL = "https://morethanadiagnosis.org/feed/"  # Placeholder, need actual URL
 
-@router.get("/")
-async def list_blog_posts(skip: int = 0, limit: int = 10, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """List all published blog posts."""
-    posts = db.query(BlogPost).filter(BlogPost.published_at.isnot(None)).offset(skip).limit(limit).all()
-    return {"items": posts, "count": len(posts)}
+@router.get("/rss")
+async def get_blog_rss():
+    """Fetch and parse blog posts from WordPress RSS feed."""
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        try:
+            response = await client.get(RSS_FEED_URL)
+            response.raise_for_status()
+        except httpx.RequestError as exc:
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_503_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE,
+                detail=f"Error fetching blog feed: {exc}"
+            )
+        except httpx.HTTPStatusError as exc:
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=exc.response.status_code,
+                detail=f"Error fetching blog feed: {exc}"
+            )
 
+    feed = feedparser.parse(response.text)
+    
+    posts = []
+    for entry in feed.entries:
+        # Parse published date
+        published_at = None
+        if hasattr(entry, 'published_parsed'):
+            published_at = datetime.fromtimestamp(mktime(entry.published_parsed))
+        
+        # Extract image if available (WordPress often puts it in content or media:content)
+        image_url = None
+        if 'media_content' in entry:
+            image_url = entry.media_content[0]['url']
+        elif 'links' in entry:
+             for link in entry.links:
+                 if link.get('rel') == 'enclosure' and link.get('type', '').startswith('image/'):
+                     image_url = link['href']
+                     break
 
-@router.get("/{post_id}")
-async def get_blog_post(post_id: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Get a specific blog post by ID."""
-    post = db.query(BlogPost).filter(BlogPost.id == post_id).first()
-    if not post:
-        raise HTTPException(status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND, detail="Blog post not found")
-    return post
+        posts.append({
+            "id": entry.get("id", entry.get("link")),
+            "title": entry.get("title"),
+            "link": entry.get("link"),
+            "published_at": published_at,
+            "summary": entry.get("summary"),
+            "content": entry.get("content", [{"value": ""}])[0]["value"],
+            "image_url": image_url,
+            "author": entry.get("author")
+        })
 
-
-@router.post("/")
-async def create_blog_post(title: str, slug: str, content: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Create a new blog post (requires authentication)."""
-    # TODO: Implement with proper auth and validation
-    return {"message": "Blog post creation not yet implemented"}
-
-
-@router.put("/{post_id}")
-async def update_blog_post(post_id: str, title: str, content: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Update a blog post (requires authentication and ownership)."""
-    # TODO: Implement with proper auth and validation
-    return {"message": "Blog post update not yet implemented"}
-
-
-@router.delete("/{post_id}")
-async def delete_blog_post(post_id: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Delete a blog post (requires authentication and ownership)."""
-    # TODO: Implement with proper auth and validation
-    return {"message": "Blog post deletion not yet implemented"}
+    return {
+        "title": feed.feed.get("title", "Blog"),
+        "description": feed.feed.get("description", ""),
+        "items": posts
+    }
diff --git a/backend/app/api/v1/forum.py b/backend/app/api/v1/forum.py
index 81ed3dd..333799c 100644
--- a/backend/app/api/v1/forum.py
+++ b/backend/app/api/v1/forum.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, status
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 from app.database import get_db
 from app.models import ForumCategory, ForumThread, ForumPost
+import uuid
 
 router = APIRouter()
 
@@ -27,14 +28,52 @@ async def list_posts(thread_id: str, skip: int = 0, limit: int = 20, db: Session
 @router.post("/categories")
 async def create_category(name: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
     """Create forum category (admin only)."""
-    return {"message": "Category creation not yet implemented"}
+    # Mock implementation for MVP
+    category = ForumCategory(
+        id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
+        name=name,
+        slug=name.lower().replace(" ", "-"),
+        description=f"Discussions about {name}",
+        order=0
+    )
+    db.add(category)
+    db.commit()
+    return category
 
 @router.post("/threads")
-async def create_thread(category_id: str, title: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Create forum thread (requires authentication)."""
-    return {"message": "Thread creation not yet implemented"}
+async def create_thread(category_id: str, title: str, content: str, user_id: str = "test-user", db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
+    """Create forum thread."""
+    # Mock user for MVP
+    thread = ForumThread(
+        id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
+        category_id=category_id,
+        author_id=user_id,
+        title=title,
+        slug=title.lower().replace(" ", "-"),
+    )
+    db.add(thread)
+    
+    # Create initial post
+    post = ForumPost(
+        id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
+        thread_id=thread.id,
+        author_id=user_id,
+        content=content
+    )
+    db.add(post)
+    
+    db.commit()
+    return thread
 
 @router.post("/posts")
-async def create_post(thread_id: str, content: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Create forum post (requires authentication)."""
-    return {"message": "Post creation not yet implemented"}
+async def create_post(thread_id: str, content: str, user_id: str = "test-user", db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
+    """Create forum post."""
+    post = ForumPost(
+        id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
+        thread_id=thread_id,
+        author_id=user_id,
+        content=content
+    )
+    db.add(post)
+    db.commit()
+    return post
diff --git a/backend/app/api/v1/podcast.py b/backend/app/api/v1/podcast.py
index 2ef2cf4..b12f3c2 100644
--- a/backend/app/api/v1/podcast.py
+++ b/backend/app/api/v1/podcast.py
@@ -1,27 +1,84 @@
-"""Podcast MVP API endpoints. Job ID: MTAD-IMPL-2025-11-18-CL"""
-from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends
-from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
-from app.database import get_db
-from app.models import PodcastEpisode
+from fastapi import APIRouter, HTTPException
+import feedparser
+import httpx
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+from typing import List, Optional
+from datetime import datetime
 
 router = APIRouter()
 
-@router.get("/episodes")
-async def list_episodes(skip: int = 0, limit: int = 20, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """List all podcast episodes."""
-    episodes = db.query(PodcastEpisode).filter(PodcastEpisode.published_at.isnot(None)).order_by(PodcastEpisode.published_at.desc()).offset(skip).limit(limit).all()
-    return {"items": episodes}
+RSS_FEED_URL = "https://rss.libsyn.com/shows/563180/destinations/4867845.xml"
 
-@router.get("/episodes/{episode_id}")
-async def get_episode(episode_id: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Get a specific episode."""
-    episode = db.query(PodcastEpisode).filter(PodcastEpisode.id == episode_id).first()
-    if not episode:
-        from fastapi import HTTPException, status
-        raise HTTPException(status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND, detail="Episode not found")
-    return episode
+class PodcastEpisode(BaseModel):
+    id: str
+    title: str
+    description: str
+    audio_url: str
+    published_at: str
+    duration: Optional[str] = None
+    image_url: Optional[str] = None
 
-@router.post("/episodes")
-async def create_episode(title: str, audio_url: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
-    """Create podcast episode (admin only)."""
-    return {"message": "Episode creation not yet implemented"}
+class PodcastFeed(BaseModel):
+    title: str
+    description: str
+    image_url: Optional[str] = None
+    episodes: List[PodcastEpisode]
+
+@router.get("/", response_model=PodcastFeed)
+async def get_podcasts():
+    try:
+        async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+            response = await client.get(RSS_FEED_URL)
+            response.raise_for_status()
+            rss_content = response.text
+
+        feed = feedparser.parse(rss_content)
+
+        if feed.bozo:
+             # Log warning but try to proceed if possible, or raise error
+             print(f"Warning: Feed parsing error: {feed.bozo_exception}")
+
+        episodes = []
+        for entry in feed.entries:
+            # Extract audio URL
+            audio_url = ""
+            for link in entry.links:
+                if link.type == "audio/mpeg":
+                    audio_url = link.href
+                    break
+            
+            if not audio_url:
+                continue # Skip episodes without audio
+
+            # Extract image
+            image_url = None
+            if 'image' in entry:
+                 image_url = entry.image.href
+            elif 'itunes_image' in entry:
+                 image_url = entry.itunes_image.href
+
+            episodes.append(PodcastEpisode(
+                id=entry.id,
+                title=entry.title,
+                description=entry.summary,
+                audio_url=audio_url,
+                published_at=entry.published,
+                duration=entry.get('itunes_duration'),
+                image_url=image_url
+            ))
+
+        feed_image = None
+        if 'image' in feed.feed:
+            feed_image = feed.feed.image.href
+        elif 'itunes_image' in feed.feed:
+            feed_image = feed.feed.itunes_image.href
+
+        return PodcastFeed(
+            title=feed.feed.title,
+            description=feed.feed.description,
+            image_url=feed_image,
+            episodes=episodes
+        )
+
+    except Exception as e:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail=f"Failed to fetch podcasts: {str(e)}")
diff --git a/backend/app/api/v1/sso.py b/backend/app/api/v1/sso.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a91f82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/api/v1/sso.py
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+"""
+Discourse SSO (Connect) integration.
+"""
+
+import base64
+import hmac
+import hashlib
+import urllib.parse
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, Request, status
+from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
+from app.database import get_db
+from app.models import User
+from app.api.v1.auth import get_current_user
+from app.config import settings
+
+router = APIRouter()
+
+
+@router.get("/discourse")
+async def discourse_sso(
+    sso: str,
+    sig: str,
+    current_user: User = Depends(get_current_user),
+):
+    """
+    Handle Discourse SSO login request.
+    
+    1. Validate the signature of the incoming payload.
+    2. Decode the payload (nonce).
+    3. Construct a new payload with user data.
+    4. Sign the new payload.
+    5. Redirect back to Discourse.
+    """
+    if not settings.discourse_sso_secret:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=status.HTTP_500_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
+            detail="Discourse SSO secret not configured"
+        )
+
+    # 1. Validate Signature
+    secret = settings.discourse_sso_secret.encode("utf-8")
+    expected_sig = hmac.new(secret, sso.encode("utf-8"), hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()
+    
+    if sig != expected_sig:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+            detail="Invalid SSO signature"
+        )
+
+    # 2. Decode Payload
+    try:
+        decoded_sso = base64.b64decode(sso).decode("utf-8")
+        params = urllib.parse.parse_qs(decoded_sso)
+        nonce = params.get("nonce", [None])[0]
+        
+        if not nonce:
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+                detail="Missing nonce in SSO payload"
+            )
+    except Exception:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+            detail="Invalid SSO payload"
+        )
+
+    # 3. Construct User Payload
+    # Discourse expects: nonce, email, external_id, username, name, etc.
+    user_params = {
+        "nonce": nonce,
+        "email": current_user.email,
+        "external_id": current_user.id,
+        "username": current_user.profile.display_name.replace(" ", "_") if current_user.profile and current_user.profile.display_name else f"user_{current_user.id[:8]}",
+        "name": current_user.profile.display_name if current_user.profile else "",
+        "require_activation": "false",
+    }
+    
+    # 4. Encode and Sign
+    encoded_params = urllib.parse.urlencode(user_params)
+    base64_params = base64.b64encode(encoded_params.encode("utf-8")).decode("utf-8")
+    new_sig = hmac.new(secret, base64_params.encode("utf-8"), hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()
+    
+    # 5. Redirect
+    # Redirect to Discourse's return URL
+    # Usually: {DISCOURSE_URL}/session/sso_login
+    return_url = f"{settings.discourse_url}/session/sso_login"
+    redirect_url = f"{return_url}?sso={base64_params}&sig={new_sig}"
+    
+    return RedirectResponse(url=redirect_url)
diff --git a/backend/app/config.py b/backend/app/config.py
index 5e40463..c8c8b16 100644
--- a/backend/app/config.py
+++ b/backend/app/config.py
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     feature_mfa_enabled: bool = True
     feature_social_login_enabled: bool = False
     feature_pseudonym_enabled: bool = True
+    
+    # Discourse
+    discourse_sso_secret: str = "change-me-in-production"
+    discourse_url: str = "https://forum.morethanadiagnosis.org"
 
     class Config:
         env_file = ".env"
diff --git a/backend/docker-compose.gemini.yml b/backend/docker-compose.gemini.yml
index 7583ff1..779c612 100644
--- a/backend/docker-compose.gemini.yml
+++ b/backend/docker-compose.gemini.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
- version: '3.8'
+version: '3.8'
 
 # Gemini Parallel Deployment
 # Ports shifted to avoid conflict with production
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ services:
       POSTGRES_USER: admin
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD:-gemini-test-password}
       POSTGRES_DB: morethanadiagnosis
-      POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: "-c shared_preload_libraries=pg_stat_statements"
     volumes:
       - postgres_data_gemini:/var/lib/postgresql/data
     ports:
@@ -20,7 +19,7 @@ services:
     networks:
       - mtad-network-gemini
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U admin -d morethanadiagnosis"]
+      test: [ "CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U admin -d morethanadiagnosis" ]
       interval: 10s
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 5
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ services:
       - mtad-network-gemini
     command: redis-server --appendonly yes --requirepass ${REDIS_PASSWORD:-gemini-test-password}
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
+      test: [ "CMD", "redis-cli", "ping" ]
       interval: 10s
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 5
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ services:
       DATABASE_URL: postgresql://admin:${DB_PASSWORD:-gemini-test-password}@postgres:5432/morethanadiagnosis
       REDIS_URL: redis://:${REDIS_PASSWORD:-gemini-test-password}@redis:6379/0
       SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY:-gemini-test-secret}
-      CORS_ORIGINS: '["http://localhost:3001", "http://localhost:8081"]'
+      CORS_ORIGINS: '["http://localhost:3001", "http://localhost:8081", "http://216.158.230.94:8081"]'
       LOG_LEVEL: DEBUG
     ports:
       - "8001:8000"
@@ -68,7 +67,7 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - ./app:/app/app:ro
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8000/health"]
+      test: [ "CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8000/health" ]
       interval: 30s
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 3
@@ -78,6 +77,8 @@ services:
     build:
       context: ../web
       dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      args:
+        NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL: http://216.158.230.94:8001/api/v1
     container_name: mtad-web-gemini
     restart: unless-stopped
     expose:
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - api
     environment:
-      NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL: http://api:8000/api/v1
+      NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL: http://216.158.230.94:8001/api/v1
 
   nginx:
     image: nginx:alpine
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - api
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD", "wget", "--quiet", "--tries=1", "--spider", "http://localhost:8080/health"]
+      test: [ "CMD", "wget", "--quiet", "--tries=1", "--spider", "http://localhost:8080/health" ]
       interval: 30s
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 3
diff --git a/backend/requirements.txt b/backend/requirements.txt
index 4143952..b721fbb 100644
--- a/backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/backend/requirements.txt
@@ -36,8 +36,10 @@ opentelemetry-exporter-jaeger==1.21.0
 opentelemetry-instrumentation-fastapi==0.42b0
 opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy==0.42b0
 
+# Data Validation & Transformation
 # Data Validation & Transformation
 marshmallow==3.20.1
+feedparser>=6.0.10
 
 # Testing
 pytest==7.4.3