Point of View August 10, 2026 – Hour 2 : Monday’s Top Stories

[00:00:04] Across America Live, this is Point of View. Kirby Anderson.

[00:00:19] Second hour today we're going to spend some time as you might imagine talking about socialism and capitalism. Those are our first two articles. As a program note I might just mention that tomorrow, as a matter of fact at this time, we will have Max Lucado with us and we'll be talking about his new book, Dealing with Courage. It's based on the life of Elijah, something I really appreciated because right now we are in the process in our own lives.

[00:00:42] We are going to be talking about his own church, teaching through Elijah and Elijah so we'll be getting into that with him tomorrow. Also, as we'll talk about in just a minute, socialism, very good piece that we'll be talking about in terms of Abdul El-Sayed, who is of course the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Michigan and what that might mean for the midterm.

[00:01:02] So we'll get into that as well as some other conversation. Matter of fact, talking about what's going on in Israel and as I mentioned in the conversation that we had with Mike Cote, got a very good piece where there are some individuals actually arguing that Israel, excuse me, Iran may be more concerned about the Secretary of Treasury than the Secretary of War.

[00:01:26] However, because as we've mentioned before, Scott Bessett, who is the Secretary of Treasury, knows how to bring a country down with currency devaluation. He's done it before and looks like he is doing it again in Iran and that is devastating. So we'll get to that in due course. As we go along, I always like to hold up some of the booklets. Here's the one I've done, a biblical point of view on socialism, which I think needs to get in the hands of young people.

[00:01:54] But if you don't want to get the booklet and you are a donor to point of view, you may have noticed that we have an outlook set of articles on socialism because we think this is a very significant issue. But my first piece that I thought we would talk about comes from Peggy Noonan. Now, we've known Peggy Noonan for some time. We quote her quite often. As a matter of fact, when she was in town a while back speaking at the Council for Life, I was asked to introduce her and that was a great privilege there as well.

[00:02:22] Do I always agree with everything she writes? Not always. But one of the things I do miss of Penna Dexter, and there are a lot of things we miss about not having Penna around with the busyness of her life in other areas, is oftentimes we would talk about some of these particular op-ed pieces, especially like Peggy Noonan. But this one has, I think, an arresting title. Socialism is here and it's serious.

[00:02:48] And she points out that socialism is not a passing thing, but an arriving thing. It must be taken seriously as a factor in our politics and the Democratic Party. She points out the latest poll a CNN-SSR poll issued this week reported, again, a third, that is, 34% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults identify as Democratic-socialists. This has become a big, big issue in the Democratic Party.

[00:03:16] She says that number won't be depressed by the success of Abdul Asayyad, who won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Michigan on Tuesday by racking up huge margins in progressive enclaves and university towns.

[00:03:30] Now, as I pointed out when we were doing the broadcast on Wednesday from New Hampshire, that certainly is true in those areas, but it was relatively close because in other areas of Michigan that weren't necessarily Ann Arbor or places like that did not do so well. But we will certainly find out. On the second page, then, Peggy Noonan reminds us of something we've talked about on the program, where Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday sat down with Megan Romner.

[00:04:00] She is one of the co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and just asked all sorts of questions. Abolish the Senate, yes. Replace the President and Supreme Court as we know them, yep. Abolish ICE, absolutely. Abolish the borders. And you go through the long, long list, which is hard to believe that she was so matter-of-fact and so honest. I mean, I know there have been people in the past that would want to accomplish that, but they haven't been so bold.

[00:04:26] But there is a tremendous amount of boldness now among Democratic Socialists. So Peggy Noonan goes on to say, Socialism's most enthusiastic promoters are quick and clever, comparatively well-educated, and very online. And so the bottom line is, we are dealing with something we've never seen before. And then reflects for just a minute, as she is wont to do, She says,

[00:04:53] I'm sorry to say that these new socialists never strike me with their warmth, as, say, your great-uncle Billy was warm when he spoke about the industrial workers of the world. Today's socialists strike me as colder, less human, fiercer, and occasionally sociopathic. You know, they're sociopaths, and that is the case. But she points out that we're dealing with a generational issue,

[00:05:21] and this is something we've talked about before. I've talked about it in one of my books on trends. We talk about it almost all the time in our Next Generation Roundtable. We're going to have one of those coming up in the future, because she points out that a voter who is age 25 was in grade school during the 2008 economic crash, and then, of course, saw all sorts of things happening to the free market economy.

[00:05:46] A voter who is 25 also sees artificial intelligence rising and wonders if the economy as it exists today will even have a place for him in the future. Then she points out they also recognize that the Cold War has receded as a living memory. And then she points out, which is sort of the subtitle of her piece, As Religion Recedes, Politics Takes Its Place.

[00:06:15] The subtitle of our article is, As Religion Recedes, Politics Takes Its Place. As Confidence Fades, Political Movements Grow Radical. And so what before was religion is now politics has become religion. And the other part of that is, When confidence in Congress, confidence in the media, Conference in the university, conference in churches, conference in the courts declines,

[00:06:42] then reform movements become more radical, because why would I want to repair or reform them if I think they're broken in the first place? So some people can't understand why we've gone from, Okay, maybe we need more Supreme Court justices, to we don't really even want the Supreme Court. I want it to actually just be accountable to the Congress. We really maybe don't even need the presidency.

[00:07:10] Just all sorts of things that you never thought. We want to get rid of borders. We want to get rid of ICE. I mean, even people that are liberal going, Well, that seems like a little bit too much, a bridge too far, but there we are. So then she points out that sometimes capitalism can be brutal, unjust in its own ways, and can produce painful outcomes. But that's why we have a modern welfare state, to save those who might fall too far. But she points out that these individuals,

[00:07:39] these democratic socialists, are kidding themselves, because as she points out, no economic system can eliminate suffering. No economic system can eliminate injustice. And she says the socialists, if they win, will find this out. Well, first of all, some of them have already found out. If you are not paying attention to some of the disasters unfolding in New York City,

[00:08:06] and then an incredible YouTube video the other day, talking about the disasters unfolding in Seattle, we will probably try to cover that in a future Point of View program, because already, as we pointed out before, the socialist mayors in some of these cities are finding out that eventually you run out of other people's money, and you also tend to chase people out of town

[00:08:32] who don't want to put up with some of the policies and taxes you've implemented. And we will certainly talk about that in the future. Let's take a break, though. We'll come back and we'll talk about socialism. What about capitalism? John Stossel has a very good piece. We'll talk about that right after this.

[00:09:00] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Louis Marcos invites you to a dinner party in his new book. Over the years, this professor at Houston Christian University has invited international students and American students to a dinner. He has collected some of the most interesting discussions in My Apologetics Dinner Party. Now, the subtitle of his book explains his approach, which is a real-life Socratic dialogue. He lets you look over his shoulder as he listens to students

[00:09:29] and then follows up with questions intended to make them think and re-evaluate their original statements. You will enjoy the banter, humor, and lively discussion, and you will learn vicariously how to respond to questions you may have heard from family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Chapters deal with such topics as the claims of Christ, the reliability of the Bible, and the resurrection. He also takes on questions that are more likely to be asked by a younger generation, such as, why are Christians so obsessed with sex,

[00:09:59] and how can there be only one way to God? One of the chapters addresses the questions he gets from students who want to merge East and West by talking about New Age spirituality. This book fills a real need. We have some books that can be written in a way that can be given to a non-Christian asking questions, such as Josh McDowell's book, More Than a Carpenter. Some books allow us to listen in to discussions with apologetics experts. Lee Strobel's books on the case for Christ and the case for faith come to mind.

[00:10:28] Pull up a chair and learn how the professor deals with significant questions from students around the table. My apologetics dinner party lets you see how to use relevant facts and key questions in any dialogue we have with other people in our lives. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net. That's pointofview.net.

[00:11:00] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Just a minute ago we talked about socialism. What about capitalism? I posted this piece called The Case for Capitalism by John Stossel. As we've done so often, I take the commentary that he has put together, which then links you back to this very significant interview. In this case, he did with Steve Forbes. I've had a chance to meet Steve Forbes many times.

[00:11:28] Also have, of course, interviewed him by phone, and I think he brings quite a bit to the table. Of course, as you well know, has related to the Forbes business and the magazine, Malcolm Forbes, then Steve Forbes and others, that's where the name comes from, have been involved. But again, whether you take what Steve Forbes says or some of the things I have, and I'll hold up this booklet, a biblical point of view on capitalism and socialism, I spend some time, of course,

[00:11:57] addressing that issue as well, talking about the benefits of capitalism, but also then spend some time trying to answer the legitimate objections of capitalism. Oftentimes, I'll be honest, the objections are about crony capitalism or big business capitalism, not necessarily what was originally intended, but I want to, in many cases, give you, okay, not straw man arguments,

[00:12:27] but steel man arguments so that you know how to respond. You will be in conversation with individuals, and sometimes you know you're winning the argument because then they start calling you names because the arguments on the other side aren't very good. And the history of what socialism has wrought is amazing. As a matter of fact, I've got a piece coming out next week based upon a very in-depth evaluation that appeared in a YouTube video

[00:12:55] just comparing East Berlin and West Berlin, comparing a grocery store in East Berlin and a grocery store in West Berlin, because again, this is almost like a scientific experiment. Let's divide a city down the middle and have them run two different experiments. Of course, we've had the same thing in North Korea and South Korea, but nevertheless, I think we will get to those topics. But John Stossel says, you know, I failed.

[00:13:23] I make the case for free markets, yet young people are electing socialists. And so he then goes to Steve Forbes and say, have we failed? What's going on here? And Steve Forbes says, well, getting the right environment, this country's done it better than anyone else, give people a chance to be creative, experience liberty, and humanity moves forward. These, of course, some of the questions that socialists have difficulty answering. He goes on to point out

[00:13:51] that let's just face what is dealing with right now. After quoting from one of the actors who said capitalism is failing us, Steve Forbes says, no, the facts are the other way around. Capitalism has done just the opposite. Deaths from famines are down 99% in the last 60 years. The standard of living, 10 times better than it was 50 years ago. There are all sorts of arguments, some of whom I put in the book.

[00:14:20] Also, some that you will get to a little bit later when I hold up my booklet on why empires fail, because I have a whole section based upon this book, Peak Human, by Johan Norberg. I'll get to that in just a few minutes, because it relates to the third article we'll be looking at in just a minute. Capitalism, free market, free enterprise, whatever you call it, Steve Forbes says, is a moral system, because success comes from meeting the needs and wants of others. He says, go to the old Soviet Union, go to Cuba,

[00:14:49] go to North Korea, and compare the opportunities. It's a reason people want to come here. They can flourish here, whereas they get crushed by regulation elsewhere. That is something we even mentioned the other day in terms of these grocery stores. By the way, as you might imagine, I do have a commentary coming out about the grocery stores, because we now have the mayor of New York City, Zaron Mamdani, who has indeed identified the place where the first grocery, I should say not first grocery store,

[00:15:19] the first city-run grocery store is going to be. It's only going to cost him $70 million, and I think you're going to have all sorts of disasters. We'll talk about that one in due course, but we know what's going to happen, because this has been tried before. Not only in the Soviet Union, in Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, whatever, but it's been tried in even places like Kansas City, Chicago, and others. But we will do our best to educate people.

[00:15:48] You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can give the best arguments possible for a naive, maybe brain-addled, young graduate of a university, but you can't necessarily convince them, but hopefully we will be able to win some over. Because again, as Steve Forbes points out, free markets are going to only work if you can actually entice people

[00:16:17] to buy your product or service. Now I recognize there are monopolies and all the legitimate arguments about that, but in a truly free market, the only reason I'm going to buy product A rather than product B is because it's cheaper or it's a better quality or whatever it might be. And this is, again, something that Adam Smith wrote about 250 years ago in 1776 called The Wealth of Nations, that it wasn't necessarily

[00:16:45] the desire of the butcher, the baker, or the brewer to bring about the common good, but he was led by an invisible hand to bring about an end that he may not have intended, but the only way he can get people to buy his product or his service is to provide one at a lower cost with better quality. And so free markets, as again, Steve Forbes points out, rely on mutual benefit. He also says,

[00:17:14] capitalism is all show humane. You may not love your neighbor, but you sure want to sell something to your neighbor. It gets people working on a common objective even if they don't realize it. Steve Forbes says, okay, is it a perfect system? No, but it's a way of enabling humanity to move forward. It enhances lifestyles of everyone. It's a system, which I talk about so often, a system in which bad people can do least harm because economic power

[00:17:44] in a very good free market, and we have some very sad exceptions right now in our reality, but in a truly free market, there's not a concentration of economic power. So as a result, if you don't like product A, you can go to product B. If you don't like that big box store, you can go to another big box store. If you don't like that grocery store, you can go to another grocery store. And so as a result, they can't coerce you to buy it. So it's a system which bad people can do least harm,

[00:18:13] and good people have the freedom to do good works. Then he ends by telling three stories, so I'll pick them off real quickly. The first is John Deere. My father-in-law loved John Deere trackers. We still got lots of John Deere tractors up there now when my brother-in-law is running the farm. And John Deere, if you are not familiar, was a blacksmith in Vermont. And he was having trouble making it. So he moved to Illinois. I've been to the John Deere factory right there in Illinois

[00:18:42] and noticed that farmers were struggling with the thick soil there in the Middle East, Middle West, Midwest, I should say. And that was sticking to their iron plows. And every few feet, they had to stop and scrape the dirt off. But he remembered the steel needles his seamstress mother used and experimented with steel plagues. And those steel blades gave us, of course, the steel plow and turned some of the soil

[00:19:11] in the Midwest into the breadbasket of the world. And that, I think, is a great story. He then tells another one about Eastman. George Eastman, of course, Eastman Kodak, developed the Kodak camera, making photography cheaper and simpler. By the way, you can also learn the story of how once they developed a digital camera, some of the people at Kodak didn't realize this was something that could really affect their business. But there you go.

[00:19:40] And then one other story talked about a North Carolina trucker, Malcolm McLean. He was so bored waiting for cargo to be offloaded that he invented the shipping container. And so as a result, the cost of shipping items fell by as much as 95%. Anyway, this is a great piece, might even be a future booklet, on just the case for capitalism and some of the great stories about how

[00:20:09] when people have freedom and they have entrepreneurial activities and they have imagination, we see the standard of living go up and the products improve and the costs go down. Nevertheless, fascinating piece and again, it is our second article today, Socialism is Here as Serious, Peggy Noonan, the second one, The Case for Capitalism by John Stossel. As we take a break,

[00:20:39] let me mention one more time, we do have an opportunity, if you scroll down to the bottom there, in the section called Take Action, we have Protect Privacy Against Flock Cameras, we again, as I mentioned, have Representative Keith Self on to talk about his bill, the Privacy Act, I think this would be a way in which we can reassert our Fourth Amendment rights and still use these cameras in a very positive and effective way. So if you'd like

[00:21:09] to know more, you can simply go to the website pointofview.net, I think you'll find that to be very helpful and I hope that you'll take the time to contact your member of Congress, he said, if nothing else, he needs some more co-sponsors so we can get people's attention. Your letter might produce that. Let's take a break, we'll be back with more right after this. The Bible tells us not to worry and yet there is a lot of worrying

[00:21:38] stuff in our world today. Thankfully, the Bible doesn't stop at telling us not to worry, God gives us a next step. He says we need to pray. But sometimes even knowing what to pray can be difficult and that is why Point of View has relaunched our Pray for America movement, a series of weekly emails to guide you in prayer for our nation. Each week, you'll receive a brief update

[00:22:08] about a current issue affecting Americans along with a written prayer that you can easily share with others. We'll also include a short free resource for you in each email so you can learn more about the issue at hand. Will you commit to Pray for America? Go to pointofview.net, click on the Pray for America banner at the top of the page to subscribe. Again, that's

[00:22:37] pointofview.net, click on the Pray for America banner. Let's pray together for God to make a difference in America. Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on

[00:23:06] Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, let's see what we can for just a few minutes, a look at a couple of other issues. And one of those is a piece by Mark Lewis. Can America rise above the tide of history? And in some respects, it relates very much. I'm holding up booklets today just to illustrate the value, of course, supporting Point of View. This one is entitled Why Empires Fail.

[00:23:36] And this one came out to our donors, those of you that are Truth Team members, in June because it talks about the collapse of civilizations, which is a YouTube piece. then it also talks about a couple of books. This is almost like a Cliff Notes version of Victor Davis Hanson's book, The End of Everything, as well as one I mentioned just a few minutes ago, kind of a Cliff Notes version of the piece by Johann Noberg, Peak Human.

[00:24:06] And then also, if you will, kind of a Cliff Notes version of Cal Thomas' piece in his book, America's Expiration Date. And I use this from time to time just to remind us that even though we see the United States and the American Empire, as some people call it, as being very significant in terms of the world, it also is dealing with some very significant challenges and the

[00:24:35] lack of, if you will, seriousness, even among many of our politicians, and the almost incredible naivete of some of the younger individuals that are convinced that all we have to do is elect a few individuals, tear down all the American institutions, get rid of the police department, get rid of ICE, open the borders, and everybody's going to hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

[00:25:04] It is really the most naive utopian dream you can imagine. But whether you are on the right side of the political spectrum or on the left side of the spectrum, I think any wise individual has to say there are some concerns, valid concerns, about the future of this republic. So Mark Lewis quotes from Alexander Fraser Teitler. I years ago made

[00:25:33] the mistake of using that quote and had somebody question whether or not it's valid, and it's a classic example of a quote that is used all the time that has really never been verified. There are some things that Alexander Teitler said that are similar, but this quote I think was created out of whole cloth to try to in a more simple way illustrate what he was trying to say back in the 18th century. What the quote, you've heard it before,

[00:26:03] is a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury, and then goes on to talk about how more and more people vote for themselves benefits from the public treasury, and a democracy collapses. Well, his warning was out there, the warning by the way, of individuals in this country, Alexander Hamilton, John J, certainly James Madison, and many

[00:26:33] others were, again, very concerned about this, but whether you can accurately attribute the quote to Alexander Teitler or not, I think we all recognize that it is an accurate understanding of the circumstance we find ourselves in, and so that's where he says, look, as a historian, I've got to acknowledge that I'd love to write that this country is firmly united together, is

[00:27:03] soaring to new heights of spiritual, moral, and economic strength, that self-control, righteousness, integrity, honesty, truth, and brotherly love are the dominant characteristics of our people, and how virtuous liberty and godly patriotism are something that all Americans cherish and are willing to fight for. He says, I'd love to write those things, but I think we know almost none of them are true. There is a lot of work to do. He says, look, I'm a historian, and

[00:27:32] thus as realistic as I can be based on the teachings and trends of the past, it is plain to me that America is going through the same kind of progression worn by Dr. Alexander Teitler, and that's where it says they go from bondage to spiritual faith, to courage, to liberty, from abundance, to selfishness, to apathy, to dependence, and back into bondage. And you've seen that before. And interestingly enough, this country was born out of bondage.

[00:28:02] That may have been overplaying it a little bit, but that's what Mark Lewis says, because indeed, as a colony of England, and as I've started again on this 250th anniversary of this country, dug into some of the writings and some of the things that were happening, I think it was more difficult to be in the colonies than I anticipated. I've had people before say, I can't believe we separated from England on such simple things as no taxation

[00:28:31] without representation, which, by the way, is one of those issues, certainly, but there were 29 others, or 28 others, if you count them, in the Declaration that had nothing to do with taxation, everything to do with all sorts of abuses. And, of course, the framers of the Constitution and even the writers of the Declaration, which is, of course, Thomas Jefferson plus his committee, said that when there's a long train of abuses and usurpations, we have the right and the

[00:29:01] duty to abolish government and establish another one. And he goes on to point out that it wasn't just to remove from the bondage, but he says the colonists developed a deep spiritual faith in God that led them to thirst for liberty. And that, of course, gets us into the booklet I've done on America's founding, which bring us back back to some of the very important spiritual principles that were undergirding this country.

[00:29:30] Not all of them were Orthodox Christians, but many of them, almost all of them, had some kind of faith in God. Many of them had what today we would consider to be a Bible college or seminary education, which is how things were taught back then. And so as a result, they recognized that to really bring about the kind of change that needed to take place, that progression that

[00:29:58] would actually take place from first bondage to even the idea of courage and liberty. Then as they did gain that liberty, at the same time in 1776 we have not only the declaration, but as we mentioned a minute ago, the writing of the wealth of nations. So as we started having a focus on entrepreneurial activity, free markets, we have, of course, the Industrial Revolution

[00:30:28] that if you want to tie that to 1776 with the invention of the steam engine and other things, and as a result, it led to incredible abundance, not only in the 19th century, but in the 20th and now 21st century. And so in some respects, we could understand why to go from that level of abundance. Now we have a whole generation growing up taking for granted

[00:30:57] that abundance. And so that leads, of course, to this progression according to Titler. And again, I'm somewhat questioning it. Selfishness, apathy, dependence, and then bondage. And this is why some people even get talking about the fourth turning. You can find my booklet, for example, where I talk about some of these stages of development, and that is the case. And so, as he winds down his piece, Mark

[00:31:26] Lewis says, can America rise above the tide of history? Because, unfortunately, he said it has been the way of mankind from the beginning that we see eventually the rise and then the fall of so many different empires. Some take place over a short period of time, the Carthaginians and the Etruscans and things like that. Some take place over a very long period of time. That would be the Roman Empire.

[00:31:55] That would be England and others. But whatever you look at, we are dealing with empires that rise and fall. There are a few exceptions to that, and those are the times in which there's been some kind of spiritual revival. We can see the possibility of one. We had a first great awakening, a second great awakening, and I know many of you may be praying for another awakening. But, as I have been asked so many times as we were traveling through

[00:32:25] from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire, what do you see for the future? I say, again, got to be honest. The trajectory doesn't look good, but that also is based upon the assumption that there is no chance to turn things around. And there have been some times in history in which we've seen things have been turned around. But those always happen during great spiritual revivals and reformations.

[00:32:53] And are we at the edge of one? Well, there's some hints, but there is a long way to go. And so this is a sobering question. All empires eventually collapse. What about this empire? And I think it illustrates, again, the need for us to get involved. He says Americans are human, too, and apparently they aren't the kind of people who can defy history and rise above the tide. Sad, but nobody else has done it either.

[00:33:24] The only place where I disagree is we do see a few changes that came about through spiritual revival. And so the question about the future of America is a relevant one, and that's why we encourage you to do what you can to take action, even today, based upon what we've posted on our website. We'll take a break, come back with more right after this.

[00:33:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes, let me just mention that tomorrow we're going to talk about how Iran fears the Secretary of Treasury, maybe even more than the Secretary of War. A very good piece by Demetri Bolt. Also one by Sasha Stone, shocked by cancel culture. You know, now that you're starting to have some pretty outrageous things being said, and we'll find

[00:34:26] out who might be elected in the primary in Wisconsin as governor, or Hassan Parker and others. Now you're starting to have AOC and Bernie Sanders and others saying, you know, can we just get rid of cancel culture? And that's where Sasha Stone says, wait a minute, you Democrats created this cancel culture. Now when it's working against you, can we get rid of that? And so I think you're going to appreciate that piece. We will be, of course, as I mentioned, talking with our good friend Max Lucado.

[00:34:56] He was originally going to be in studio, but he needed to get home, so we'll just do it by phone. And then we have Victoria Churchill, who's been on the program with us, about Abdul Syed in Michigan and what that might mean. So lots of things that we will be looking forward to talking about tomorrow and hope you'll join us then. But let me, just as we wind down today, also say we don't talk about sports very often, but everybody else is, and it's worth at least a mention when we talk about the WNBA.

[00:35:26] Okay, you know where I'm going with this. Caitlin Clark, outstanding athlete. As a matter of fact, really just unbelievably gifted in terms of not only physical ability, but basketball IQ. I know a little bit about that because I played basketball in high school. Sometimes people say, oh, you played basketball in high school. I say, well, it may not look like the same thing you played. You've got to understand, when I played, we didn't have a three-point line and we didn't have a shot clock.

[00:35:55] So things were a little different, but nevertheless, having watched basketball, played it, coached it for my son and friends, I know at least a little bit to say incredible. And then also, of course, one of her teammates, Sophie Cunningham. And if you are being aware at all of what's going on in the WNBA, you know where I'm getting to because my last piece is by our good friend Kevin McCullough, who's a talk show host. He calls it clothesline

[00:36:25] privilege. Now, if you're not familiar, he says, imagine you're jogging down the basketball court. You're going to make a layup, and I can remember doing that many times, and someone comes up behind you and clotheslines you across your face and neck so hard that the officials review the tape and you get ejected. And then minutes later, the person who did this, and this is the guard for the Chicago Sky, who then posts on social media white privilege.

[00:36:54] If you haven't figured out the Sky Guard, Chicago Sky Guard is African-American, Sophie Cunningham is white. And again, the more appropriate response would be, my bad, heat of the moment, even something else, but white privilege? college. And again, you've got to understand how devastating that is. It has been a long time since I've been clotheslined, but I

[00:37:22] did play basketball, and one of the ways we sort of kept up our ability was we'd play summer ball. Not a good idea. I guess there was a referee that sort of allowed that to happen, but too many fouls, too little calls. I remember one time getting knocked off my feet, and I'm again, since we don't have the video, and it's been decades, don't know if I was clothes lined or somebody just knocked my feet out from under me, and boom!

[00:37:52] And Sophie Cunningham got up real quickly to kind of fight, and I'm thinking, I didn't get up quickly. As a matter of fact, I remember one of the guys there says, big man down! But I'm only 6'2". That shows you how short our team was, but that's another story. But, you know, could hardly breathe when it was counting fingers and toes and hands and everything, and I can see that that is so dangerous. And nevertheless, the point that Kevin McCullough is making is,

[00:38:21] if getting hit is a privilege, is not getting hit also a privilege? Is being upset about getting hit a privilege? What is Sophie Cunningham's crime here? Evidently, it was popping off the floor with some fire in her eyes rather than accept the blow with serene, grateful nod. And, of course, nobody, as he said, is claiming that Sophie Cunningham threw the first punch.

[00:38:49] Nobody disputes that the Chicago Sky Guard Carrington's arm connected with her head and neck on a play that officials deemed excessive and unnecessary. Those are the physical facts of what happened. Yet, somehow, some of the social media is discussing whether Sophie Cunningham has white privilege because she got decked and dropped to the floor. And he says this is where, of course, this stops making sense.

[00:39:18] And I think we should expect that this is going to unfold over the next few weeks because we've also heard that, well, Caitlin Clark is just going to have to live with the kind of fouls that are going to come against her and how sometimes, for example, she ran into a ref and it was pretty obvious it was unintentional. That ends up being a technical, all these kinds of things. And there is a real argument being made right now by individuals who, and again,

[00:39:47] I had to check myself, okay? Since I'm white, let's see what African-American sports broadcasters are saying about this. Let's see what African-American YouTube influencers are saying about this. And they're all simply recognizing, again, that this has just gotten out of hand. And now we can use race and racial comments and white privilege, even when we talk about

[00:40:15] things that happen on the floor of a basketball court. And so, again, Kevin McCullough says, worth noting, too, this isn't, of course, Carrington's first run-in with a referee's whistle and then gives you, if you'd like to read it, some of the things that were going on, including a rather heated exchange with an official which required the security security guard to come in and break them up. And then later she reposted online, it was

[00:40:43] just a, the fact that you brought a security guard in there felt like a microaggression. You know, we've been warning about this for some time. Remember when we had Jonathan Haidt on here talking about the coddling to the American mind and microaggressions and all sorts of warnings that were given and all the rest. And now what he was into the college classroom has made its way into politics. And, of course, it's made its way into the WNBIA.

[00:41:12] And I think at some point we just need to let some of these individuals who are less progressive as sports broadcasters speak to the issue. because, as he points out, the facts are pretty simple. One player delivered the foul, the other absorbed it, and somehow the acquisition afterward landed on the player who got knocked down. And that's quite a trick.

[00:41:40] So, I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the WNBA, but there are a lot of people that are saying this is a particular sports franchise that could really benefit in a whole gathering of associations that could benefit from very talented players like Caitlin Clark and, of course, Sophie Cunningham, who sometimes ends up being the enforcer. And if you're going to bring them to the floor,

[00:42:10] you're going to then, to use an old trite phrase, kill the golden goose. And it's a sad commentary because, once again, how you get white privilege from a clotheslining act against a person making a layup, Kevin McCullough calls it clothesline privilege, and probably won't say much more about it, but I thought it was at least worth a mention

[00:42:37] because it's illustrative of how even some of these ideas we talk about every day on Point of View make their way into politics, make them way into the classroom, and make them way their way onto the basketball floor. That's all we have for today. It was great to meet so many of you in the East Coast. Looking forward to future trips, but I simply want to say to Megan, thank you for engineering the program. Derek, thank you for producing the program, and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here

[00:43:06] on Point of View. It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men can be women and women men. People are prosecuted differently or not at all depending on their politics. Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens. It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing.

[00:43:36] You feel like giving up, but we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. And that's what we say to you today. This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos.

[00:44:06] We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness. Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151. pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.