Point of View December 12, 2024 – Hour 2 : Prison Fellowship Angel Tree

[00:00:05] Live, this is Point of View, and now, Kirby Anderson.

[00:00:20] Second hour we're going to be talking about some things that you can be doing to really bless individuals in your community, especially through Angel Tree.

[00:00:28] But just let me, before we go to that, mention that I did send out an email that talks about some of the issues we talk about here on Point of View,

[00:00:37] and really focused on the fact that one of the real benefits of supporting this ministry is the fact that we each month send out a booklet to those of you that are part of the Truth Team,

[00:00:46] those of you that give at least $1 a day, $30 a month, $360 a year or more.

[00:00:53] And some of the people have talked about how they've collected the 70 plus booklets and use them oftentimes when they're asking questions.

[00:01:01] And of course, then we have the idea of giving the gift of truth.

[00:01:05] So I would encourage you to look at that email.

[00:01:07] And one of the things that we encourage you to do, as a matter of fact, our December issue of Outlook is on generosity.

[00:01:14] And one of the places where I would certainly encourage you to be generous is through this ministry that has been around for many years.

[00:01:21] I think the very first time we talked about Angel Tree, I think that was three radio studios ago.

[00:01:28] That's how far back that goes.

[00:01:29] But nevertheless, this is a way in which you can bring joy to children this Christmas.

[00:01:35] And in order to once again educate us about the idea of Angel Tree and the good work done by Prison Fellowship,

[00:01:42] we bring to the microphone Sammy Perez, who is the Senior Director of Grassroots and Reintegration at Prison Fellowship.

[00:01:49] He also serves on the advocacy team by building and mobilizing really a network of people passionate about justice.

[00:01:58] As a matter of fact, one of our booklets is on the idea of criminal justice and about the prison issues, all of those resources which we've made available to you in the past.

[00:02:08] But Sammy, welcome back to Point of View.

[00:02:11] Thank you for having me, Kirby.

[00:02:12] I guess most people know about the Angel Tree, but I'm well aware of the fact that some people may have just tuned in today and thought,

[00:02:21] well, I've seen those when I walked to the mall and I don't know what the Angel Tree is all about.

[00:02:26] So educate those few individuals and re-educate all of us about the Angel Tree and the very dynamic ministry that it's had over the years.

[00:02:36] Absolutely.

[00:02:37] So the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree program is where we equip churches all across the country to serve incarcerated parents as well as their children and their families.

[00:02:50] So we work with over 4,500 churches in all 50 states to deliver a Christmas gift to children who have an incarcerated parent during the Christmas season.

[00:03:02] And with that gift, we also deliver the gospel message and specifically a letter from their loved one who's incarcerated.

[00:03:11] And our goal is really to be able to strengthen the family bond that oftentimes is separated during the period of incarceration.

[00:03:20] You might just mention that we do have a link to prisonfellowship.org, and that will get you in the general one.

[00:03:26] But we also have a link next to Sammy Perez's name in which it says Prison Fellowship Angel Tree.

[00:03:32] And that will take you directly there in which you can register, donate, and all the rest.

[00:03:37] But help us understand that because we're talking about, in round numbers, thousands of children who have either a mom or a dad, sometimes both, sadly, that are in prison.

[00:03:48] And just the opportunity to be a blessing to those children, I think, is really something that has touched the hearts of so many Americans across this country and literally now across the world.

[00:04:00] Yeah.

[00:04:01] Yeah.

[00:04:01] So we know that approximately in our country there's 1.5 million children who have a parent that's incarcerated.

[00:04:10] So we know that this need is pretty significant.

[00:04:14] And the research actually tells us that these children, because their parent is incarcerated, that they themselves actually have a higher likelihood of going to prison.

[00:04:25] So what we want to do, and one of our goals at Prison Fellowship is to ensure that these children actually have a first chance at life.

[00:04:33] So this starts with that gift during the Christmas season through the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree Program.

[00:04:39] But we also encourage churches to minister to these families all year round.

[00:04:44] So they can do things like invite families to their own church services or maybe invite them to sports camps or, you know, prison fellowship.

[00:04:53] We host STEM camps across the country that really just provide these children with an opportunity to be able to experience something new and hopefully be able to impact them in a way that allows them to reach their God-given potential.

[00:05:07] There are three ways in which people can be involved, donate, register, and share.

[00:05:11] Obviously, donate.

[00:05:12] And, of course, if you are walking by one of those angel trees, you can poke that out and say, okay, I want to buy that gift maybe for a young boy.

[00:05:20] And he seems to be into Lego, so I'll go to the Lego store and buy that.

[00:05:23] Or it might be a young girl.

[00:05:24] She would like a doll, whatever it might be.

[00:05:26] Register.

[00:05:27] Are we too late?

[00:05:28] Or is there still an opportunity for a church or a small group or an organization to register?

[00:05:32] What about that?

[00:05:35] Yeah, absolutely not.

[00:05:36] So there's actually a way to sponsor children virtually.

[00:05:40] So if folks would go to our website, it's www.angeltree.org backslash sponsor.

[00:05:50] And that will allow folks to be able to see a list of children.

[00:05:54] So we have approximately 37,000 children who have yet to be sponsored.

[00:06:00] So for the small gift of just $30, folks could go online.

[00:06:04] They can actually see the child's name.

[00:06:06] They can see the letter that the parent will be sending or that Prison Fellowship will be sending along with that gift.

[00:06:12] And it's a very practical way that we could just spread the love and joy of Jesus this Christmas season.

[00:06:19] Well, and the other thing we also mentioned just in passing is the opportunity to share.

[00:06:24] That is that there is actually a toolkit so that you could actually share that on social media.

[00:06:30] We, of course, do have some of the links there.

[00:06:33] And as I mentioned just a minute ago, of course, we do have the link to Prison Fellowship, the link to Angel Tree.

[00:06:38] And you can find all of that right there.

[00:06:40] But if you would want to go and sign up, there are some ways in which you can also begin to spread that idea.

[00:06:48] Because as many people are listening to it right now, if each one of our listeners took the time to spread it through their social media,

[00:06:56] maybe they have a Facebook page or they have a Twitter page now called X or maybe want to share it on Instagram or something like that.

[00:07:03] There are some ways in which you can encourage other people to be involved.

[00:07:07] Because, Sam, as you point out, there's still a need and we need to see what we can do to fill it.

[00:07:14] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:07:15] And, you know, Kirby, we believe that we can actually meet this need.

[00:07:18] Like you said, social media is a very practical tool or a very practical way that we can utilize technology to be able to get the word out,

[00:07:26] to share it with our family and with our friends.

[00:07:28] I'd also encourage people just to reach out to folks who you know in your immediate circle.

[00:07:34] And just, you know, you can share the link with them.

[00:07:36] You can tell them about prison fellowship and the ministry that we are leading.

[00:07:41] And, yeah, I think it's – I'm encouraged that we as a church holistically can really work to meet the needs of these children

[00:07:50] and these families during this Christmas season.

[00:07:54] Let's take a break.

[00:07:54] When we come back, I thought, Sam, I might have you share a couple of the stories,

[00:07:57] some of those you can find online.

[00:07:59] And that way you can actually see the pictures of some of the people we're talking about.

[00:08:03] And all of that is available at the website, pointofview.net, and you can go down there.

[00:08:08] But as we've said before, this is a time, especially during the Christmas season, where we can do a great deal of good.

[00:08:14] And I'm hoping that you will think about that.

[00:08:16] As a matter of fact, sometimes we spend so much time giving gifts to young people that maybe appreciate them,

[00:08:23] but not have as much as somebody that maybe won't have anything under the tree.

[00:08:27] So I'm going to come back and talk about some of the impact that, again, prison fellowship

[00:08:31] and the Angel Tree program has had over the years.

[00:08:35] And so, again, if you would like to go even during the break to some of the links we have on our website,

[00:08:40] feel free to do so or go directly to Angel Tree or prison fellowship.

[00:08:44] We'll take a break.

[00:08:45] Come back with more right after this.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:02] Before the election, I would often do a feature on problems the next administration will face no matter who was elected.

[00:09:08] Now that we know that it will be the Trump administration that will face these issues,

[00:09:12] one of the most difficult to resolve will be federal deficits.

[00:09:16] Lynn Alden, author of Broken Money, has written about this and appeared on the Fox News program,

[00:09:21] Making Money with Charles Payne.

[00:09:23] Federal deficits are hard to fix for many reasons.

[00:09:26] First is the issue of Social Security.

[00:09:28] Put simply, the math breaks down when population growth slows down.

[00:09:32] The ratio between those who pay into it and those who receive has steadily declined for decades.

[00:09:38] And the Social Security fund that has built up for decades is shrinking.

[00:09:41] A second issue is health care spending.

[00:09:44] The U.S. not only spends more money per person on health care,

[00:09:47] but it also has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions,

[00:09:50] and the obesity rate is twice that of other developed countries.

[00:09:54] The accumulated debt interest is a third major issue.

[00:09:58] For the past four decades, the U.S. has had a rising debt-to-GDP ratio while also falling interest rates.

[00:10:04] Politicians aren't likely to choose austerity, even if the Government Efficiency Department recommends significant cuts.

[00:10:11] Therefore, increasing the money supply by printing more money becomes the only option.

[00:10:15] This leads to the fourth issue, the financialization of tax receipts.

[00:10:19] Let's assume that the next administration could shrink the deficit through tax increases and spending cuts.

[00:10:25] It won't have as much impact because asset prices in this country are more correlated to the performance of the stock market.

[00:10:32] These are just a few reasons why the next administration will face significant obstacles

[00:10:36] in trying to reduce the size of federal deficits.

[00:10:46] For a free copy of Kirby's booklet, A Biblical View on Loneliness, go to viewpoints.info slash loneliness.

[00:10:54] That's viewpoints.info slash loneliness.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:04] Back for a few more minutes, we'll be talking about Angel Tree and, of course, Prison Fellowship,

[00:11:08] a great organization worthy of your financial support.

[00:11:11] And I would encourage you to support Prison Fellowship.

[00:11:13] I do know that many of you, as we've done different programs over the years on prisons,

[00:11:17] have their own and have developed your own prison outreach through your church.

[00:11:21] But, again, I hope that you will connect up with them.

[00:11:24] And in this season, what a great opportunity during the Christmas time to actually focus on Angel Tree.

[00:11:31] And there have been so many individuals I've been with, not only family members but friends and others,

[00:11:35] that have grabbed one of those particular documents, one of those particular angels off the tree,

[00:11:42] and then decided that they would actually make a special gift.

[00:11:46] And, of course, you can give financially.

[00:11:48] Of course, you can give a special toy.

[00:11:49] You can do all sorts of things.

[00:11:50] As we mentioned, you can even do virtual sponsorships.

[00:11:54] So think about all the ways in which you can be involved.

[00:11:56] But Sammy Perez is with us a little bit longer.

[00:11:58] He is the Senior Director of Grassroots and Reintegration at Prison Fellowship.

[00:12:02] And, Sammy, I think it would be maybe encouraging for some of our listeners to hear a few stories about what takes place.

[00:12:09] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:12:10] So, Kirby, I've actually had the privilege of being able to be a part of teams that deliver these Christmas gifts to children who have incarcerated parents.

[00:12:22] And, you know, when you have an opportunity to deliver this gift and you just see that child's face just sort of light up, you know,

[00:12:33] it is just such an impactful experience.

[00:12:36] And, you know, it's really more than just delivering a gift because I think for some of these children,

[00:12:43] they actually have a realization, some of them for the first time in their life,

[00:12:47] that their mother or father who unfortunately is not there with them during this Christmas season,

[00:12:54] that they actually remembered them.

[00:12:56] And, you know, I think that's one of the most important or impactful components about the Prison Fellowship and Retreat Program

[00:13:03] is that it really helps children to know that their parents still are thinking about them,

[00:13:09] that their parents still love them, and that even though they're away for a time,

[00:13:14] that they have a desire to continue to be a part of their lives.

[00:13:18] One of the things you talked about and is worth mentioning again is not only do you get to deliver a gift,

[00:13:24] you also get to deliver the gospel, and you really, in a sense, get to deliver the love behind that.

[00:13:30] And we're talking about children with some very significant needs.

[00:13:34] Imagine if your parent was incarcerated and your life had been pretty much thrown up in some kind of upheaval,

[00:13:43] and you really didn't kind of even know what was the next step or what was going to happen in the future.

[00:13:50] And then someone with Prison Fellowship, like Sammy Perez, comes into your home and shares a gift from somebody that you probably will never meet.

[00:13:58] That, I think, has such a profound impact, but especially in terms of the fact that these young individuals

[00:14:05] oftentimes are going to head down the same path as their parents if it weren't for the fact that you're sharing the gospel with them.

[00:14:13] Can you speak to that?

[00:14:15] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:14:16] So we know, like you mentioned, that these children actually, you know, oftentimes they are really the innocent bystander of incarceration, right?

[00:14:29] Like their parents go to prison, and at times their lives are completely upended as a result.

[00:14:36] And, you know, we believe that through the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree Program that we have an opportunity to actually change that trajectory.

[00:14:45] So I mentioned earlier that we work to really minister to these families all year round.

[00:14:51] So we want to continue to wrap around the children.

[00:14:56] We want to wrap around the caregivers and just figure out very practical ways that we can be a part of their lives

[00:15:02] to ensure that they don't go down the same path as their parents and that they actually can have a very bright future.

[00:15:11] And I thought we might also, just for a minute, since I know we have church leaders that are oftentimes listening to this program,

[00:15:16] pastors and Sunday school teachers and deacons and elders and things like that, you have partner churches.

[00:15:22] So this would be more than just a one-off.

[00:15:25] If there's a way in which they can be involved in some of the, not just the physical and financial and emotional needs,

[00:15:32] but spiritual needs, even maybe allow them to attend a summer camp or a number of other things.

[00:15:39] So for just a minute, talk to the leaders and talk about what would be available through Prison Fellowship in that regard.

[00:15:46] Yeah, so we partner with over 4,500 churches across the country to not only deliver the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree Program,

[00:15:55] but to even go deeper than that.

[00:15:57] So as you mentioned, this is a very practical way that churches across the country can really serve families

[00:16:06] and children that are right in their communities.

[00:16:08] And, you know, whether that's inviting these folks to come out to services

[00:16:12] or continuing to serve them in other practical ways.

[00:16:15] And we have also found this as a way that churches can actually use it as a tool to sort of ignite the people who attend their church, right,

[00:16:25] that folks will begin to find a passion and calling for ministering to these families.

[00:16:31] And we've seen many churches start prison ministries.

[00:16:35] They begin to go into prison and minister to men there and women as well,

[00:16:40] and also just find other practical ways that they can continue to serve this population.

[00:16:46] So, you know, Angel Tree is often just an entry point for a lot of churches to become more deeply involved in prison ministry.

[00:16:55] And prison fellowship really serves as an organization to equip the church to do just that.

[00:17:01] And I might just mention there is a place where you can register and, again, give personal details,

[00:17:07] talk about the type of church, whether it's a church, Christian school, government, what your language might be, English, Spanish, both.

[00:17:14] I mean, all sorts of issues that would be very helpful to people at prison fellowship if you wanted to be one of those individuals that would like to register.

[00:17:21] So lots of resources we've made available to you there.

[00:17:25] Also consider whether or not you might want to be a sponsor.

[00:17:27] And so at this Christmas season, I wanted you to know about Angel Tree.

[00:17:30] We've talked about it virtually every year.

[00:17:32] And, Sammy, I appreciate you certainly being involved in this organization,

[00:17:37] and I appreciate you giving us some time to talk about it today here on Point of View.

[00:17:41] Absolutely.

[00:17:41] Thanks so much for having me.

[00:17:43] Again, Angel Tree, we have all the information that you need on our website at pointofview.net.

[00:17:48] And let me just mention real quickly a couple of things that certainly are important on our website just before we take a break.

[00:17:55] The first is, as I've mentioned before, we did send to you an email.

[00:18:00] There will be some others here as well.

[00:18:02] But one of those just reminding you that as we come to year end, we hope that you will consider giving the gift of truth.

[00:18:08] We have $120,000 matching fund so far.

[00:18:14] This is a challenge that's been put together through the generosity of a number of individuals that support Point of View.

[00:18:22] So, lots of times I am asked the question, well, if I give to Point of View, will my dollars be matched?

[00:18:29] And the answer is yes.

[00:18:30] I suspect that that will be available for some time.

[00:18:33] But if you want to get in on it now, what a great opportunity to do so.

[00:18:38] If you decide that you would like to maybe join us at a dollar a day, $30 a month, that $360 becomes $720.

[00:18:47] Or if you said, well, maybe I would like to give you a one-time gift of $1,000, that becomes $2,000.

[00:18:54] And we encourage you to join with us even now.

[00:18:58] And again, you can go to the website, pointofview.net.

[00:19:02] There's a banner there.

[00:19:03] It says $120,000 matching challenge.

[00:19:06] Give now.

[00:19:07] Give the gift of truth.

[00:19:09] And, of course, you might also look at the email that we sent out just reminding you of the kinds of topics we address in our booklets,

[00:19:18] including one that we just talked about a minute ago with Sammy Perez,

[00:19:21] the whole idea of the criminal justice system that we need to revise and begin to reform in significant ways.

[00:19:28] Some of the others we mentioned here about Israel, heresies in the church, the threats of nuclear war,

[00:19:34] censorship of Christians, AI, transhumanism, on and on.

[00:19:39] And so those are some ways in which you can get involved.

[00:19:42] I might also mention my commentary today is viewpoints on future deficits,

[00:19:47] some of the things that the incoming administration is going to have to deal with.

[00:19:51] And I think tomorrow we're going to have a new take action item.

[00:19:55] I'll give you a preview.

[00:19:57] If we don't get Congress to act by this time next week, we might start to run out of money.

[00:20:04] So that's an issue we'll talk about probably tomorrow with our weekend edition with Meryl Matthews and Jeff Mateer.

[00:20:11] But one last time, let me also mention to hold this up for those of you watching online.

[00:20:14] This is the brochure for our trip to Greece.

[00:20:18] As I've mentioned before, we have quite a number of people that have already signed up and paid and are ready to go.

[00:20:24] But we actually wasn't sure if we'd have room, but we do have room.

[00:20:27] So if you have been thinking this would really be something I'd like to do.

[00:20:31] Yesterday we spent some time talking with Paul Baraka, one of the other teachers there,

[00:20:35] about going to Thessaloniki and then going to, of course, the old Thessalonica and Philippi.

[00:20:42] We go all the way down to Corinth and Athens.

[00:20:45] Then we get on a boat and that gives us a chance to go to a number of places like Ephesus and Patmos and even Santorini

[00:20:54] and then come back to Athens and all sorts of things that I think you really appreciate.

[00:20:57] So if you would be interested, this is taking place May 17th to the 27th next year.

[00:21:04] Now's the time to get in your reservation because we already have set aside various plane flights and things of that nature.

[00:21:12] And so making your decision now will be absolutely crucial.

[00:21:16] We, again, would encourage you if you have questions about any of this, just give us a call on the order line number.

[00:21:22] That's 800-347-5151.

[00:21:26] 800-347-5151.

[00:21:29] We'll be right back.

[00:21:30] It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority.

[00:21:36] They say men can be women and women men.

[00:21:40] People are prosecuted differently or not at all depending on their politics.

[00:21:45] Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens.

[00:21:50] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing.

[00:21:53] You feel like giving up.

[00:21:55] But we can't.

[00:21:56] We shouldn't.

[00:21:57] We must not.

[00:21:58] As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II,

[00:22:03] Never give in.

[00:22:04] Never give in.

[00:22:05] Never, never, never.

[00:22:07] Never yield to force.

[00:22:09] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[00:22:13] And that's what we say to you today.

[00:22:15] This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join point of view in providing clarity in the chaos.

[00:22:23] We can't do it alone.

[00:22:25] But together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness.

[00:22:30] Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:22:38] Point of view will continue after this.

[00:22:52] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:02] The opinions expressed on point of view do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[00:23:10] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:13] Back for the final half hour.

[00:23:14] Let me just, as a program note, mention tomorrow is our weekend edition.

[00:23:17] And there will be an opportunity to hear from Meryl Matthews as well as Jeff Mateer.

[00:23:22] And we'll also have for two segments Robert Knight, his book, actually his article, I should mention,

[00:23:28] although I would recommend many of his books, but his article about the transgender issue in front of the Supreme Court.

[00:23:34] I thought I'd also get some comments from Jeff Mateer about that as well.

[00:23:38] The issue that most people are talking about today, and it's time for us to talk about it,

[00:23:42] President Biden has set a record.

[00:23:44] Not a record you want to set.

[00:23:46] This has become the largest single day act of clemency in modern history.

[00:23:51] President Joe Biden will be commuting and now has commuted the sentences of 1,500 Americans

[00:23:58] who were released from prison and placed on house arrest during the pandemic.

[00:24:03] He'll also be pardoning 39 individuals who were convicted of nonviolent crimes.

[00:24:10] Now, I'll believe in grace.

[00:24:12] I always believe that if an individual has been truly rehabilitated,

[00:24:16] that is certainly something to cheer.

[00:24:20] But I also recognize the recidivism rate is very high because of the way in which our criminal justice system functions oftentimes.

[00:24:28] And, of course, when you start seeing these pardons, of course, not only do you have the pardon, of course, of Hunter Biden.

[00:24:35] The other day did I see that one?

[00:24:37] Bill Clinton said that maybe there should be a preemptive pardon for Hillary Clinton.

[00:24:43] Before it's all through, this individual in the White House may not be very busy doing anything else,

[00:24:50] but he certainly has been busy commuting sentences and granting pardons.

[00:24:56] And this, without a doubt, is certainly the most significant.

[00:25:01] As a matter of fact, he broke the record because the record was held, you probably would have guessed this by now,

[00:25:08] Barack Obama, who issued what you might call the second largest single day act of clemency back in 2017.

[00:25:14] So we're seeing a trend here, and I just thought I would mention it.

[00:25:19] There's probably some things we can talk about on our Friday weekend edition.

[00:25:23] But if you have not seen that news, now you have heard us talk about it here on Point of View.

[00:25:29] A couple of things I did want to talk about.

[00:25:31] I find that there are all sorts of reasons to actually want the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, to be effective.

[00:25:41] And a good illustration of that comes from John Stossel.

[00:25:45] Of course, he has a video that goes out with this, but I have posted here something that's about three pages in length.

[00:25:52] It's kind of the commentary that comes from his video.

[00:25:56] And it simply says, your tax dollars not at work.

[00:25:59] He says, government excels at not getting things done, but politicians, he says, promise more things anyway.

[00:26:07] Kamala Harris declared that our government would build thousands of miles of fiber optic cable.

[00:26:12] The broadband connectivity agenda was supported by, quote, every House Republican on the Committee of Energy and Commerce.

[00:26:20] Three years later, are you ready for this?

[00:26:23] Not a single person is connected.

[00:26:26] Why?

[00:26:26] Well, he says, let's go back to, quote, Milton Friedman.

[00:26:31] I quoted him the other day in one of my commentaries.

[00:26:33] Milton Friedman said, few people spend other people's money as carefully as they spend their own.

[00:26:39] Well, that's one explanation.

[00:26:41] Also, it has to do with the fact that because government gets involved, they add all sorts of disclaimers, writers, requirements, and regulations that make it hard for government to really get much done.

[00:26:53] Private individuals, John Stossel says, and businesses constantly adjust to save time and money.

[00:27:00] But politicians spending your money have little interest in that.

[00:27:04] They routinely add rules that make everything take longer.

[00:27:07] He quotes from one individual, Matt Cole, in the Vizio, in which he says, you know, you have to hire certain people based on their color, based on their sex.

[00:27:16] And you already have a talent problem.

[00:27:19] And now you're looking at only able to recruit from a very small minority of individuals.

[00:27:25] And, of course, then you have the climate pledges as well.

[00:27:28] And then you have to hire from the unions.

[00:27:31] John Stossel pushes back and says, but diversity is good.

[00:27:35] And that's when, again, this individual, Matt Cole, says, that doesn't mean you should hire someone because of their race or skin color.

[00:27:43] We have all these companies that could actually build broadband, but it's not possible to implement it because of all the restrictions.

[00:27:53] And they just simply walk away.

[00:27:54] He says, essentially, and eventually, I assume the government will install some broadband, but by then their cables will be unnecessary because of what's called Starlink.

[00:28:07] What is that?

[00:28:08] Well, that's, of course, the satellite internet link, which wouldn't then require you even having to dig up the streets.

[00:28:15] And what I think is so interesting is Matt Cole says you could do that literally today.

[00:28:20] You could have devices in people's homes within the next few months.

[00:28:24] So then, of course, he asks, well, why don't government officials do that?

[00:28:30] And Kilwin points out, well, the Biden bureaucrats said that Starlink failed to demonstrate that it had the technical and financial ability.

[00:28:39] Then when it became clear that Starlink obviously did have the technical and financial ability, the administration then immediately called it a monopoly.

[00:28:48] And one of the heads, this is now the chair of the FCC, which again will be new individuals pointed to the Federal Communications Commission by the incoming administration, the Trump administration.

[00:28:59] But the ones left over from the Biden administration said our economy doesn't benefit from monopolies.

[00:29:05] And that's once again where Matt Cole says, first, they're not functional.

[00:29:08] Now they're a monopoly.

[00:29:09] The reality is they didn't want it to be a solution.

[00:29:12] And I think you've figured out now why that was the case.

[00:29:16] Biden Democrats all loved Elon Musk until Elon Musk bought Twitter, turned it into X.

[00:29:24] And then they really didn't like Elon Musk when he started piling around with Donald Trump.

[00:29:30] And so as a result, he's no longer a friend, at least of the Biden administration.

[00:29:36] Maybe that will change with the Trump administration.

[00:29:40] And this is what I appreciate about John Stossel.

[00:29:42] Even if he is, government shouldn't be just giving contracts to friends.

[00:29:49] That's not good policy.

[00:29:50] We should be giving it to individuals and companies and institutions and services for those that are able to actually fulfill that function.

[00:30:00] And that is the case.

[00:30:01] He gives you one more example.

[00:30:03] And if nothing else, I use this one because we have quite a number of listeners in California and they know about this one only so well.

[00:30:10] He says bureaucrats wasted.

[00:30:12] Are you ready for this?

[00:30:13] Five hundred million dollars of your money on a solar company, Solyndra, which then went bankrupt.

[00:30:19] Then they wasted millions more trying and failing to create what's called synthetic fuel.

[00:30:25] More recently, you also have the Biden administration doled out seven.

[00:30:30] Now this is with a B.

[00:30:31] Seven billion dollars to build five hundred thousand electric vehicle charging stations.

[00:30:39] Two years later, how many do they have?

[00:30:42] Seven.

[00:30:43] Seven.

[00:30:44] That's all we have.

[00:30:45] So you can begin to see we have some problems.

[00:30:48] And again, this is where you've had so many difficulties.

[00:30:52] One more, since it looks like I'm always beating up the Biden administration, let's admit that we have both Republicans and Democrats involved in the third issue he talks about.

[00:31:02] And that is the Chips Act.

[00:31:04] That was one to try to get more chips manufactured in this country, which I think, by the way, was a very good goal.

[00:31:12] Just have questions about how they wanted to achieve it.

[00:31:15] Because, after all, most of the chips made in the world are made in Taiwan.

[00:31:21] What happens there?

[00:31:23] Well, what happens there is the possibility that China could, if not take over Taiwan, certainly disrupt the flow of chips from Taiwan to the rest of the world.

[00:31:35] And this is, again, where the individual he's interviewing, Matt Cole, says, even if they get what they promise, Congress appropriated, are you ready for this, $53 billion for 115,000 promised jobs in the Chips Act.

[00:31:52] That works out to almost a half a million dollars per job.

[00:31:56] And he says, I guess you expect nothing else from the government.

[00:32:00] So the point is, is that when they're spending your money, first of all, they're spending it more haphazardly than you would spend it.

[00:32:09] Number two, when it has to go through government functions, one of the big problems is then there are all sorts of various requirements added to it.

[00:32:18] It has to be jobs given to people of certain ethnic background, certain gender background, certain ties to unions, whatever it might be.

[00:32:28] And as a result, you can see the problem.

[00:32:31] He also, of course, mentioned some others.

[00:32:33] One of those is tariffs.

[00:32:35] You know, Donald Trump implemented those tariffs.

[00:32:38] The steel tariffs probably hurt jobs in America.

[00:32:41] And for people that say, well, then didn't Biden take them off?

[00:32:45] Well, no, he didn't.

[00:32:46] And so this is the problem.

[00:32:48] And then also some of the benefits given to big agriculture.

[00:32:51] It just goes on and on and on.

[00:32:54] So if you want some documentation of your tax dollars not at work, that is our next article that we've posted on the website at pointofview.net.

[00:33:04] And it's just a reminder that we know how to produce things, but they are much more effectively produced in the private sector than they are in the public sector.

[00:33:15] It doesn't mean there aren't some places where we need to use government in the public sector to achieve things.

[00:33:21] But most of the efficiency is not found in government.

[00:33:25] Efficiency is found outside of government, as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramachwamy are going to confront over these next years as they are part of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.

[00:33:39] We're going to take a break.

[00:33:40] We've got a few more things to cover.

[00:33:42] We'll do that right after these important messages.

[00:33:55] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:01] I just mentioned tomorrow we're going to spend some time talking about, first of all, a real attack on religious liberty at Georgia State University.

[00:34:08] We'll get into that with certainly some of the conversation we'll have with Jeff Mateer.

[00:34:13] A couple of good pieces by Dr. Merrill Matthews of Trump's revenge having to do with the new head of the NIH and also how to lower drug prices.

[00:34:22] He's quite the expert on some of these medical issues.

[00:34:25] Steve Gruber, the unfriendly skies.

[00:34:28] Because, as Gary Bauer said the other day, let's think about this.

[00:34:32] We sent a billion dollars to Ukraine because we wanted to deal with the issue of drones over there.

[00:34:37] And we can't stop drones from flying over our military bases.

[00:34:42] Quotes from Representative Chris Smith, who's been on the program with us before, representative from New Jersey,

[00:34:46] who talked with a Coast Guard officer saying that one of his vessels, a 47-foot vessel, was trailed closely by a dozen drones,

[00:34:55] some of which the size of a car.

[00:34:57] Don't think these are coming from hobbyists.

[00:34:59] As a matter of fact, there have been some that have suggested that maybe the Air Force needs to shoot some of them down

[00:35:06] so we can figure out how well they are.

[00:35:07] Because at one point, one law enforcement officer saw at least 50 drones approaching from the shoreline.

[00:35:14] So we'll get back into that topic as well.

[00:35:17] And, of course, Cal Thomas has a piece, No Peace on Earth.

[00:35:21] Yeah, you think?

[00:35:22] And that relates very much to a piece I did not post, but it's worth mentioning by Stephen Moore.

[00:35:27] He's been on the program with us.

[00:35:28] He says, Trumpism is going global because the point he's making is around the world, the world's kind of a mess right now,

[00:35:35] you have all sorts of political leaders and parties that are starting to have some significant problems.

[00:35:41] For example, in Britain, the Conservative Party grew government, lost its moorings, were chased from office,

[00:35:48] only to be replaced by, what he says, an incompetent labor party that came into office, plunged the economy into recession.

[00:35:54] France just ousted its prime minister for the first time in decades,

[00:35:59] thrusting, according to CNN, the country into chaos.

[00:36:03] Of course, I haven't even talked this week about South Korea other than a mention.

[00:36:07] Germany's government is on the verge of collapse.

[00:36:09] The chancellor there has been forced to request a vote of no confidence.

[00:36:13] Lots of luck on that one.

[00:36:14] In Japan, the party that has ruled the country almost continuously since 1955,

[00:36:20] according to the BBC, was voted out in October.

[00:36:23] In Mexico and Canada, they have some pretty liberal prime ministers, presidents,

[00:36:29] and they're losing support.

[00:36:32] And really, as he says, the hour of the entire world's discontent has arrived.

[00:36:38] And these dominoes in some of these governments are following very quickly.

[00:36:43] And he says there's a reason for that.

[00:36:45] One word.

[00:36:46] Trump.

[00:36:46] The whole world is watched kind of with fascination, maybe in some cases, maybe even admiration,

[00:36:52] about just kind of what has become sort of a populist uprising.

[00:36:57] Now, that began in 2016, if you think about that.

[00:37:01] Not just here in the United States with the election of Donald Trump,

[00:37:04] but even over in Europe at the time because you had Brexit and all sorts of other issues.

[00:37:08] And if you'd like to understand some more about that,

[00:37:11] one of the most recent booklets we set out was on cycles of history,

[00:37:16] in which I take you through some of those cycles.

[00:37:18] And one of those is the fact that we have been in the midst of this cycle

[00:37:22] that sort of just arrived in about 2016 and has now carried on into 2024 and 2025.

[00:37:30] So, again, if you want to try to get some of that in a historical context,

[00:37:34] certainly would encourage you to get that booklet.

[00:37:37] And, again, you can give us a call, 800-347-5151 for a booklet.

[00:37:42] Or, of course, if you'd like to make a donation to this ministry,

[00:37:45] because, as I've mentioned, we do now have a matching fund,

[00:37:50] which is already up to $120,000.

[00:37:53] So that means your gift of $100 becomes $200.

[00:37:56] Gift of $500 becomes $1,000.

[00:37:59] And we're matching it right now even as we come to year end.

[00:38:03] And that's still a couple weeks away.

[00:38:06] Let me just real quickly also talk about an issue.

[00:38:10] We try to talk about tech issues every once in a while.

[00:38:12] And the other day, Google announced that it has actually had a breakthrough

[00:38:16] with a quantum computing chip.

[00:38:20] And that is significant, but it's also led to a lot of FUD.

[00:38:24] That's fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

[00:38:26] So let me get into that very quickly.

[00:38:28] What the first we're talking about here is a true quantum chip.

[00:38:33] Now, what's the difference between the normal chips that we have versus others?

[00:38:39] Well, your typical computer has ones and zeros.

[00:38:43] And so as a result, you know, it's either one or it's zero.

[00:38:47] But we have some of these what are called quantum bits or quibits.

[00:38:52] And it now has quibits.

[00:38:55] And so quibits are much more powerful.

[00:38:58] How so?

[00:38:59] Well, Google said this, and I have no reason to disagree with them,

[00:39:03] that this new chip called the Willow chip can perform a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes.

[00:39:12] That same benchmark computation would take one of the fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years to complete,

[00:39:22] which is, as some people point out, longer than the age of the universe.

[00:39:26] Of course, I don't believe the age of the universe that we've been told.

[00:39:29] But nevertheless, we're talking about being able to process just unbelievable amounts of evidence in that regard.

[00:39:37] Now, for those that are saying, wait a minute, that means they're going to be able to crack every code.

[00:39:42] Because that's led some people say, well, they could crack the Bitcoin codes because they use a shot 256 and everything.

[00:39:49] And I'll calm down for just a minute because what we're talking about is the need to have all the other things that are associated with it.

[00:39:58] And those would be the logical quibits and the physical quibits.

[00:40:02] I don't want to nerd out on you too much, but I've done enough with computers to be dangerous.

[00:40:07] And the highest performing chip that we've had up until now was called Sycamore.

[00:40:14] And it had 53 quibits.

[00:40:17] This one has 105 quibits.

[00:40:19] So we're talking about something that is absolutely powerful.

[00:40:23] But if you're going to then try to break into some of these very, very significantly protected areas.

[00:40:33] And I use one of those.

[00:40:35] Bitcoin is a good example, which uses an encryption called ECDCA 256 or probably the one that most people know is SHA-256, which is used for the algorithm.

[00:40:47] You're going to need a lot more than just 105 quibits.

[00:40:51] You're going to need probably pretty close to a million.

[00:40:54] So we're not there yet.

[00:40:56] But as a matter of fact, even if you don't get into all the tech parts of this, just think about this.

[00:41:02] The danger doesn't come to something like Bitcoin, which you're starting to see things showing up on all the Internet threads and all that, which are not true.

[00:41:09] The issue is if it indeed is developed, you're going to go where the money is.

[00:41:15] You know the old phrase, why did you rob banks?

[00:41:17] Well, that's where the money was.

[00:41:18] Well, the money is going to be in the banks and the information that you're going to want to get from the federal government, all this national security information.

[00:41:27] You're going to be able to crack that a lot faster.

[00:41:30] So it does seem to me that there's not a great deal of threat.

[00:41:34] And even in this article I've made available to you, an individual working in this area of quantum computing says we're still quite a ways away.

[00:41:44] There's some major roadblocks that we need to overcome to get it to scale.

[00:41:49] And not the least of that is that you need not only that the computers are fast, but also that they don't make mistakes.

[00:41:58] And that tends to sometimes be the problem when they're traveling at that speed.

[00:42:03] So Google's willow chip 105 qubits.

[00:42:08] That is impressive.

[00:42:09] We have never gotten to that point.

[00:42:11] And it may provide some great answers to the needs that we have in the 21st century.

[00:42:19] But it also reminds us that we're still a few years away from the implications of that and the application of it as well.

[00:42:28] But I just thought in case you're interested in knowing a little bit about that tech area, since we do talk about AI and transhumanism.

[00:42:37] And those are some of the booklets we make available to you.

[00:42:41] It's another reason to maybe visit our website, pointofview.net.

[00:42:45] Click on that button that says Gift, A Gift of Truth.

[00:42:48] If those are some things you'd like to know about, we're going to cover those on Point of View along with everything else.

[00:42:54] Well, I look forward to our Friday weekend edition.

[00:42:56] We're going to have some really outstanding guests around the table and by phone.

[00:43:00] And most importantly, I want to thank Megan for her help engineering the program.

[00:43:04] Steve, thank you for producing the program.

[00:43:05] And we look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View.

[00:43:11] If you have ever wondered what kind of impact you have when you give to Point of View, let me introduce you to Bill.

[00:43:20] His story is a perfect illustration.

[00:43:23] Well, I've been a supporter of Point of View since the 70s.

[00:43:28] And I appreciate the fact that truth and love are discussed equally and that God's word never changes.

[00:43:33] We have four generations in my family who have been taught these things, these truths.

[00:43:39] And the fifth generation we've just been blessed with, who I'm sure will be blessed by this ministry also.

[00:43:45] So I just appreciate the fact that it's solid, it's truthful, it's honest, and there's no changing God's word.

[00:43:52] And that is the kind of multi-generational impact you have when you support Point of View.

[00:43:59] So give today.

[00:44:01] Equip the next generation with the clarity of God's unchanging word.

[00:44:06] You can give online at pointofview.net or call us at 1-800-347-5151.

[00:44:16] That's pointofview.net and 800-347-5151.

[00:44:27] Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.