Point of View December 16, 2024 – Hour 2 : Weekend News Updates

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

[00:00:20] Second hour today, Monday of course, is our day in which we are focusing on a lot of news items and of course the saddest news item to begin with is the shooting that has taken place there in Madison, Wisconsin at the Abundant Life Christian School.

[00:00:37] These are such sad stories, but again the last time I checked, three dead, which includes the shooter, which was one of the students at the school, seven others transported to the hospitals and again trying to make any sense out of this.

[00:00:55] Of course, there will be all sorts of claims and counterclaims and this will be used to advance sometimes a political agenda.

[00:01:03] But I think for just a minute we just encourage first of all listeners to Point of View to pray for the students affected by this, the parents and families affected by this.

[00:01:13] And oftentimes when we say we're trying to understand the motive, well the motive was to kill people.

[00:01:20] I mean other motives may be secondary, but that was the primary motive.

[00:01:25] And just a very sad story that we obviously have to report on day in and day out.

[00:01:31] There are sad stories around the world and get when it touches closer to home here in the United States.

[00:01:39] Just a reminder that we are in a fallen world and there are so many problems.

[00:01:44] We have talked on this program many times about the suicidal tendencies, the suicidal ideation, the desire to strike out, the bullying, all the other issues.

[00:01:57] We don't know all the reasons, nor do we need to know all of those.

[00:02:00] We recognize that if anything, the hope of the gospel is one of the things we want to present.

[00:02:06] But most importantly, let me encourage you to pray for the people associated with the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:02:15] There are lots of things to cover today, so maybe take a couple of the small items.

[00:02:20] It is not a small item ultimately, but it is one we'll only talk about briefly today, but probably get into more by the Friday weekend edition.

[00:02:29] And that is we do have the bombshell report that has come out now from the Justice Department telling us that yes, there were quite a number of FBI agents there on January 6th.

[00:02:42] No real surprise about that other than now we have the number, and I just wanted to at least mention that is one of those things that came out the other day.

[00:02:51] We didn't really get a chance to talk about it.

[00:02:53] It is something which we'll probably delve into deeply later.

[00:02:57] But nevertheless, just always like to mention some of those items in case somebody says, well, you didn't cover about that particular issue or you didn't talk about this issue.

[00:03:07] We'll probably spend some time talking about that a little bit in the future.

[00:03:11] As a matter of fact, I would have planned on talking about it tomorrow, but we do have a real opportunity.

[00:03:17] Pennedexture had crossed paths with Tim Gageline, and Tim Gageline is an individual we've known for some time and has worked with Focus on the Family.

[00:03:24] Before that, of course, we worked with George W. Bush and a friend of this ministry, and he has a new book out called Stumbling Towards Utopia.

[00:03:31] And he asked her if she would do an interview with him on his book, which I thought was a great idea for a couple of reasons.

[00:03:40] Number one, I think very highly of him.

[00:03:42] Number two, one of the comments I get from people, sometimes even a complaint, we don't hear from Penna very often.

[00:03:48] Well, part of that is due to the busyness of Penna Dexter and Todd Dexter's life.

[00:03:53] But this is an opportunity for you to hear from her tomorrow, and she'll be doing an interview with him on the one-hour program, or the first hour, I should say.

[00:04:03] And then the second hour, a little bit of time with Mike Ferris about the so-called Johnson Amendment.

[00:04:08] So there will be some great material that will be covered tomorrow.

[00:04:11] So we may get to a few of these other issues when I'm back sitting in front of this microphone on Wednesday, but I think you will really enjoy the conversation tomorrow.

[00:04:20] Real quickly, I'll mention something else, and I'll get into a lot of the detail.

[00:04:25] But there was a defamation suit that former president, now president-elect Donald Trump, brought against ABC.

[00:04:33] And he has won that suit at a level of $15 million for defamation, basically against George Stephanopoulos.

[00:04:43] And, of course, you may remember the story about claiming that he had been found guilty of rape and had not.

[00:04:48] And, of course, it's interesting because there are – I've been hearing some other interviews that have been done with the president-elect about other lawsuits either he has brought or will bring because he really wants to not make money.

[00:05:03] I think he's doing fine financially.

[00:05:05] But to make the case that the media has been very corrupt.

[00:05:10] One of the ones he continually seems to be talking about is the fact that, if you don't remember, the New York Times reporters won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of what we now know as the Russian hoax.

[00:05:28] And so, as a result, he thinks that they should not only pull back the award, but also, in some respects, provide a reward as well.

[00:05:38] So, anyway, those are some topics we'll get into.

[00:05:41] And it also relates very much to some of the other articles we'll get into later about why there are individuals who have traditionally been supporters of the Democratic Party who, nevertheless, this time, backed Donald Trump.

[00:05:57] And one of those is why a tech titan actually backed Trump.

[00:06:01] Also one I've got by Melissa Henson on Congress, Will You Stand Up to Big Tech?

[00:06:05] So, some of it has to do with big tech.

[00:06:08] Some of it has to do with the mainstream media.

[00:06:10] So, whether it's the legacy media or social media, we've got some problems.

[00:06:14] And that's ultimately, again, why we hope that you support Point of View.

[00:06:19] Because even in this first hour where we were talking with Lindsay Mittenwald about truth,

[00:06:26] it is important that we really do understand how important truth is and how much truth has been maligned in our culture.

[00:06:36] So, again, we've got all sorts of information that I have posted for you today.

[00:06:41] My Viewpoints Commentary or Take Action item, which let me just mention real quickly now,

[00:06:47] which we'll get into maybe a little bit later in this latter part of this hour,

[00:06:52] because we are headed towards a possible government shutdown.

[00:06:57] That is, back in September when the United States Senate said,

[00:07:02] well, we need to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.

[00:07:07] They passed it, 78 to 18, but it only extended to December 20th.

[00:07:14] Now, I'm of the opinion that there is not going to be a shutdown sometime, maybe even right now.

[00:07:22] Congress will extend it.

[00:07:23] But I thought, let's not just use this to tell your two senators that we need to fund the government into 2025,

[00:07:32] but also let's tell our senators, most of whom will still be there after we, of course,

[00:07:39] change out from the old Senate to the new Senate, because we've elected some new senators,

[00:07:43] that we need to actually pass a budget for fiscal year 2024-2025.

[00:07:49] If you're not familiar, the House of Representatives gets partial credit,

[00:07:53] because occasionally the House of Representatives has passed a budget.

[00:07:57] But in every case, when it's passed a budget, the Senate has not passed its budget.

[00:08:03] Let's hope that now, maybe when we change from leadership from Democrats to Republicans, that happens.

[00:08:10] And so this is an opportunity for you to take an action, number one, to say,

[00:08:14] we need to fund the government into 2025, but more important, we need to pass a budget.

[00:08:20] So that's one of them.

[00:08:21] Of course, we have also a video by Dr. Jack Graham on the Jesus book and all sorts of information about Pray for America.

[00:08:28] We put that out once a week of some very important prayer targets.

[00:08:31] Of course, we have the point of view highlights on Spotify and also when you can list this program on Apple.

[00:08:40] All of that is available at the website.

[00:08:42] We come back, though, we're going to talk about how Israel has turned the Middle East around.

[00:08:47] All that coming up right after this.

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

[00:09:02] This is Christmas week, and I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a moment to reflect on the words of the hymn,

[00:09:07] O Little Town of Bethlehem.

[00:09:08] It was written in 1867 by Philip Brooks, an Episcopal pastor from Philadelphia.

[00:09:14] He was in Israel two years earlier and had celebrated Christmas in Bethlehem.

[00:09:18] He wrote this song to reflect on what that night of the birth of Jesus might be like.

[00:09:23] O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.

[00:09:27] Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.

[00:09:31] Yet in the dark streets shineth the everlasting light.

[00:09:34] The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

[00:09:37] You know, while the streets of our cities are quiet on Christmas Day, most likely that day was just like any other day for the people in Bethlehem.

[00:09:44] But as evening came, the town grew quiet and something remarkable took place.

[00:09:49] In the second verse, the hymn says,

[00:09:51] While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wandering love.

[00:09:55] Just like today, our world goes about its business, usually oblivious to the spiritual realities around it.

[00:10:01] Jesus came into the world quietly.

[00:10:03] Yes, there was the angelic announcement to the shepherds, but most other people were unaware of the fact that the most significant event in history was taking place.

[00:10:11] God became man.

[00:10:12] But he was born in a stable and laid in a feeding trough.

[00:10:15] There was no pomp or circumstance as you might expect of a king.

[00:10:19] Jesus came not only to live among us, but to ultimately die for our sins.

[00:10:22] He took upon himself the sins of the world, your sins and my sins, and paid the ultimate penalty that we deserve to pay that we might have everlasting life.

[00:10:32] During this Christmas week, I hope you'll stop long enough to consider what happened in that little town of Bethlehem.

[00:10:37] But even more so, I hope you will think about what Jesus did for you on Calvary.

[00:10:42] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my Point of View.

[00:10:47] Go deeper on topics like you hear on Viewpoints by visiting pointofview.net.

[00:10:54] Pointofview.net.

[00:10:57] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:03] Mike, once again, let's if we can talk about the Middle East for a few minutes.

[00:11:06] Almost everything else is going to be sort of domestically oriented.

[00:11:09] But I thought this particular piece by Barton Swain would be helpful.

[00:11:13] It is entitled, rather provocatively, How Israel Turned the Middle East Around.

[00:11:19] And he says no one knows whether the new Syrian government will generate fresh trouble or find its way to peace and stability.

[00:11:27] I think the former is more likely than the latter, but we'll see.

[00:11:30] He says that the fall of the house of Assad is an inherently good thing, however, is certain for more than 50 years.

[00:11:37] He's first under Hafez al-Assad, which we talked about last week.

[00:11:41] And since 2000, under his son Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian government has brutalized the country's citizens

[00:11:47] and allied itself with maligned regimes around the globe.

[00:11:53] Then he goes on to make a rather dramatic statement.

[00:11:56] Two nations deserve most of the credit for the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

[00:12:01] And alas, they don't include the United States.

[00:12:05] They are Ukraine and Israel.

[00:12:08] At this point, you've got to say, where are we going with this?

[00:12:11] He says Ukraine for preoccupying Vladimir Putin's Russia and Israel for preventing Iran's intervention

[00:12:20] by degrading Tehran's military and humiliating its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.

[00:12:27] He'll spend some time looking at each one of those, but I think it's interesting because it illustrates again

[00:12:33] that all sorts of different hot spots and various kinds of conflicts many times are interrelated.

[00:12:43] He says just as Ukraine wouldn't have troubled Russia if Russia hadn't invaded it,

[00:12:49] Israel wouldn't have decapitated Hezbollah, ravaged Iran's air defenses,

[00:12:55] and destroys Tehran's client in Gaza, Hamas, other than because of the October 7, 2023 attacks.

[00:13:05] Unlike Ukraine, however, Israel has been at war with America's foes since the founding in 1984.

[00:13:13] You know, one of the things that Barton Schwain says is critics used to complain

[00:13:18] about the so-called Israel lobby and its opposite ability to bend U.S. policy to its will.

[00:13:25] He said a better or more sane case could be made that Israel is constantly doing America's dirty work

[00:13:32] at immense cost to itself.

[00:13:35] For example, you think of its war right now against Hamas and Hezbollah.

[00:13:40] It isn't just a regional conflict over disputed territory, but it really is a battle against those who have put together

[00:13:48] this axis of evil.

[00:13:50] Those are my words, not his, against many of these democracies around the world.

[00:13:56] And so then he goes and tells kind of an intriguing story because he talks about having taken the time to meet with Ron Dermer.

[00:14:04] You might say, okay, who's he?

[00:14:06] Well, it turns out that Ron Dermer is the minister for strategic affairs with what?

[00:14:13] Israel.

[00:14:14] And so he begins by even saying some of the things he just mentioned.

[00:14:19] I mentioned a minute ago.

[00:14:20] He says, I begin by mentioning my view that Israel is fighting America's war in the Middle East.

[00:14:26] And, of course, Ron Dermer doesn't surprise me because he agrees.

[00:14:30] He says, we're the little Satan.

[00:14:32] That's exactly how Benjamin Netanyahu refers to Israel.

[00:14:38] And Benjamin Netanyahu also says America is the big Satan.

[00:14:42] And so as a result, Europe is annoyed because it's only the medium-sized Satan.

[00:14:48] I love that line.

[00:14:49] But nevertheless, he recognizes that in some respects, Israel has been taking out Iran or the Iranian proxies.

[00:14:59] And because of that, that made it even more likely that Syria would fall.

[00:15:06] He talks about the turnaround.

[00:15:08] Again, this article goes on for pages.

[00:15:10] I'm only going to really give you a brief summary of the first three.

[00:15:14] But if you would like to read more about it, it's, of course, our second article on the website.

[00:15:20] And he talks about the turnaround.

[00:15:22] He says,

[00:15:53] Remember, we talked about that.

[00:15:55] And he says,

[00:16:35] And again, he says,

[00:16:57] What's the point?

[00:16:58] What the point is, is that Israel literally has turned around the Middle East.

[00:17:03] And just a great illustration of the fact that we should, in many cases, be supporting Israel rather than condemning it.

[00:17:12] Yet there are still those young people out on the streets that want to condemn what Israel is doing.

[00:17:17] But that has changed the Middle East focus in dramatic ways.

[00:17:22] Well, that's all we'll talk about in terms of the Middle East.

[00:17:25] Because I want to spend some time talking about big tech.

[00:17:28] It deserves some attention.

[00:17:30] And that brings us to actually our first article, which is written by Michael Barone.

[00:17:35] He's been on the program with us before.

[00:17:36] But he's talking about an individual by the name of Mark Andresen.

[00:17:41] Now, I'm familiar with him because I kind of follow some of the tech news and some of the stuff about Bitcoin and crypto and the rest.

[00:17:49] Most of you might not know him.

[00:17:50] But let me introduce him because he actually is the inventor of the first Internet web browser.

[00:17:56] So now you browse the Internet with all sorts of devices.

[00:18:01] But back then, that was the first.

[00:18:03] He's also a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.

[00:18:07] And Michael Barone says, why did he switch from his longstanding support of the Democratic Party and go out and back President-elect Donald Trump this year?

[00:18:19] And he says, according to Michael Barone, because in his view, the Democrats who claim to be the great scourge of disinformation are actually threatening to embed disinformation into the bedrock of society.

[00:18:33] He says, at least that's my interpretation, Michael Barone says, of Andresen's comments in a wide-ranging interview with the free speech co-founder Barry Weiss.

[00:18:42] By the way, I might just mention, used to write some of the editorials or oversee some of the editorials in the New York Times.

[00:18:49] And he said, now I'm quoting from Mark Andreessen, the big tech individual.

[00:18:56] My concern is that the censorship and political control of AI is a thousand times more dangerous than censorship and political control of social media, maybe a million times more dangerous.

[00:19:10] He goes on, he says, the problem with AI is I think AI is going to be the control layer for everything in the future.

[00:19:17] By the way, I've heard other people say that as well.

[00:19:19] How the health care system works, how the education system works, how the government works.

[00:19:23] So if AI is woke, biased, censored, politically controlled, you're in a hyper Orwellian China-style social credit system nightmare.

[00:19:33] And so that's kind of the point he's making.

[00:19:36] I also watched an interview that Mark Andreessen did with Joe Rogan in which he was talking about the number of leading lights in Silicon Valley that have been debanked.

[00:19:49] Now, again, if you're not familiar with debanked, I've done commentaries on it.

[00:19:53] We've done all sorts of discussions about it.

[00:19:55] It's where we say, well, we can't really control you, so we'll just not let you have access to the banking system.

[00:20:02] That was tried years ago.

[00:20:04] The federal government, if you're a liberal, can't get rid of the Second Amendment, but you can debank individuals that actually sell guns or ammunition.

[00:20:13] Well, now, debanking has been used to attack anybody that you might disagree with.

[00:20:18] Maybe somebody that actually believes that the virus came, as Michael Barone talks about here, from, oh, I don't know, maybe the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

[00:20:31] Or maybe you believe that the laptop of Hunter Biden is actually his laptop and disagree with the 51 current or former intelligence officials that said it had all the earmarks of Russian disinformation.

[00:20:45] The point is, is you're starting to see some individuals who have been traditional donors and supporters of the Democratic Party.

[00:20:54] A lot of them in Silicon Valley, who all of a sudden found themselves on the wrong side of the Biden administration and said, we never thought we'd say this, but we are actually going to turn around and support Donald Trump.

[00:21:10] And that, I think, is a very striking change.

[00:21:14] And that's why I thought you might want to read this very good piece by our friend Michael Barone, Free Speech, Why a Tech Titan Backed Trump.

[00:21:23] It's our first article on the website.

[00:21:25] I encourage you to read it.

[00:21:26] We'll come back with more right after this.

[00:21:30] If you have ever wondered what kind of impact you have when you give to Point of View, let me introduce you to Bill.

[00:21:39] His story is a perfect illustration.

[00:21:42] Well, I've been a supporter of Point of View since the 70s.

[00:21:46] And I appreciate the fact that truth and love are discussed equally and that God's word never changes.

[00:21:52] We have four generations in my family who have been taught these things, these truths, and the fifth generation we've just been blessed with, who I'm sure will be blessed by this ministry also.

[00:22:04] So I just appreciate the fact that it's solid, it's truthful, it's honest, and there's no changing God's word.

[00:22:11] And that is the kind of multi-generational impact you have when you support Point of View.

[00:22:18] So give today. Equip the next generation with the clarity of God's unchanging word.

[00:22:25] You can give online at pointofview.net or call us at 1-800-347-5151.

[00:22:35] That's pointofview.net and 800-347-5151.

[00:22:47] Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:56] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:01] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[00:23:09] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:12] Back once again, if you'd like to join the conversation, 1-800-351-1212.

[00:23:17] If you find yourself saying, I'd like to read a little bit more about some of the things you're talking about,

[00:23:21] those articles are available on our website at pointofview.net.

[00:23:25] You can just simply go to the page, pointofview.net.

[00:23:28] See the button that says, See More.

[00:23:30] Click on that.

[00:23:31] And then you can scroll down and find all sorts of information.

[00:23:35] Of course, we have the information about Lindsay Meadenwalt.

[00:23:39] And also the book, Bridge Building Apologetics.

[00:23:42] We have the various articles on free speech.

[00:23:44] How Israel turned the Middle East around.

[00:23:46] Going to now talk about Congress and big tech.

[00:23:49] And also the issue of tariffs.

[00:23:52] And before we're done, probably have to talk about the unfriendly skies.

[00:23:55] This whole drone issue has really gotten big, so we'll get into that.

[00:24:00] Probably we'll cover it a little bit more later in the week as well.

[00:24:04] Certainly, as hopefully we know a little bit more.

[00:24:06] But all of it available at the website pointofview.net.

[00:24:10] And if you value the kind of news, information, commentary that we make available to you,

[00:24:15] I might just mention that we have a banner on the website right now which says,

[00:24:21] Give the Gift of Truth.

[00:24:23] And we also have a matching challenge.

[00:24:26] Sometimes people say, Well, I'll wait until the last day to see if you have a matching challenge.

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[00:24:32] So if you're one of those people, and we do have a lot of people in this audience that like to wait until the last day or the last few days,

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[00:24:59] and help us out financially as we want to finish off this year in good financial shape.

[00:25:05] Let's see if we can get into a couple of other issues.

[00:25:07] I've already kind of been pounding big tech.

[00:25:10] I think I might do it just one more time because of this very good article by Melissa Henson.

[00:25:15] You might remember her.

[00:25:17] She is the vice president of Parents Television and Media Council.

[00:25:21] Oftentimes she tends to be on with Penna Dexter.

[00:25:24] Penna is always a good friend of hers.

[00:25:26] I've had her on too, but I might just mention that sometimes I leave that to some of the interviews that Penna likes to do.

[00:25:32] And she is asking a very good question.

[00:25:37] Congress, will you stand up to big tech?

[00:25:40] It's similar to an article I probably will post on Wednesday.

[00:25:44] There's this open letter being sent right now to the possible,

[00:25:49] because again we have to go through Senate confirmation,

[00:25:51] but the possible Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,

[00:25:58] in which in the open letter it's suggesting that if indeed Robert Kennedy becomes Secretary Kennedy

[00:26:04] of the Health and Human Services, HHS,

[00:26:09] that one of the things he should do is work with the FCC chairman

[00:26:13] to try to prevent so much of the big pharma ads on various forms of media.

[00:26:21] The argument being made that when you spend that much money,

[00:26:25] it really kind of constrains the ability of the media to be independent

[00:26:31] and to maybe raise some very good questions about what big pharma is doing.

[00:26:36] Well, this is the same kind of argument that Melissa Henson is raising as well,

[00:26:42] because she begins by saying every month we read news stories about teenagers

[00:26:47] who were harmed or even died as a result of something that happened to them

[00:26:51] because they were on social media.

[00:26:54] Whether it was sexual extortion, fentanyl-laced drugs,

[00:27:00] algorithms that pushed an eating disorder or even suicide or whatever,

[00:27:04] these are horrific stories, but she points out that even worse,

[00:27:09] instead of taking responsibility, she says the digital and social media platforms

[00:27:15] have actively lobbied against legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act

[00:27:21] that would protect children online.

[00:27:24] She goes on to say that the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta,

[00:27:28] an Alphabet's Google unit, have poured nearly $90 million

[00:27:33] over the past three years into lobbying out a range of topics that includes this bill,

[00:27:39] according to federal disclosures.

[00:27:42] And her argument is simply this,

[00:27:45] $90 million versus our children, our kids don't stand a chance.

[00:27:50] She points out that what has happened because of that is big tech, she argues,

[00:27:54] has spread misinformation to both Democrats and Republicans

[00:27:58] in the attempt to kill the bill.

[00:28:00] But, again, this particular bill, Kids Online Safety Act, does not censor content,

[00:28:07] and it ensures that tech platforms have a duty to protect children with a duty to care.

[00:28:15] Right now they have no necessarily incentive to do so,

[00:28:19] and she reminds us that the harms and the risks to our children using social media are great.

[00:28:25] Here's just a few examples.

[00:28:27] We know that suicide is the second leading cause of death among children and young teens in America.

[00:28:33] The U.S. Surgeon General has warned about the looming mental health crisis facing youth.

[00:28:39] And, again, new data suggests that the suicide rates rose in 2021,

[00:28:44] especially for even males aged 15 to 24.

[00:28:49] Recently, another study found that the more screen time is linked to mental health risk for tweens.

[00:28:56] Researchers found that the more time kids ages 9 to 10 spent with screens,

[00:29:00] the higher the risk for depression and all sorts of other issues.

[00:29:03] That goes a very long, long list.

[00:29:05] She also points out that this isn't news to the tech groups.

[00:29:10] We know that Meta, that's the parent company of Facebook and Instagram,

[00:29:14] had an internal investigation that revealed, and this is now the quote,

[00:29:19] we make body image issues worse for one to three teen girls.

[00:29:23] That's a quote.

[00:29:24] Another quote, teens blame Instagram for increases in the rates of anxiety and depression.

[00:29:31] Unquote.

[00:29:32] So, again, those are their quotes in their study.

[00:29:34] We also know that staffers have warned Meta that its subscription feature enabled child exploitation.

[00:29:43] She also goes on to say,

[00:29:44] we also know that TikTok knew exactly how many videos it takes for a teen to become addicted to its platform.

[00:29:53] And they also knew that teens as young as 15 were being paid by adults to strip on TikTok's live features.

[00:30:01] She says, basically, the bottom line is this.

[00:30:04] These tech companies know their product is putting children in harm's way,

[00:30:09] and they do nothing to mitigate the harm.

[00:30:12] We may come back to, once again, maybe seeing if, in the new session of Congress,

[00:30:18] maybe we have, hopefully, some more enlightened voices that can, once again,

[00:30:24] look at the Kids' Online Safety Act and recognize that this is dangerous.

[00:30:29] And the argument that, well, children just need to stay off those platforms,

[00:30:35] parents need to control those platforms with their kids is not the answer.

[00:30:41] And as much as we're not big around this table for calling for more regulation,

[00:30:47] we are calling for more accountability, and I think the time has come for big tech.

[00:30:53] So, enough on the big tech issue.

[00:30:55] I'll probably do a commentary on it.

[00:30:57] Pretty sure Penn and Dexter is going to do one as well.

[00:31:00] But, nevertheless, that's another issue that you might want to pay attention to.

[00:31:04] It's our third article on the website.

[00:31:07] And before we take a break, let me just mention the fourth article real quickly.

[00:31:11] And that is the fact that we are, again, going to have a debattle,

[00:31:16] a real ongoing battle about tariffs.

[00:31:19] If you've listened to this program, you know that we're not convinced that tariffs are the ultimate answer.

[00:31:25] But tariffs can be a weapon and maybe are a very effective way to get the attention of some of the individuals

[00:31:33] in some of these other countries around the world to pay attention.

[00:31:38] And, of course, the other day when the president-elect, Donald Trump, was on Meet the Press,

[00:31:43] he was arguing that the tariffs should cost Americans nothing.

[00:31:48] And yet he also said we can't guarantee that, which led, of course, to all the opponents of Donald Trump

[00:31:53] to say, well, the tariff is a tax.

[00:31:55] Remember that line that came?

[00:31:56] Because when they used to, at the Democratic Convention, say,

[00:31:59] Donald Trump's going to raise your taxes, I'm going, where is this coming from?

[00:32:03] Oh, I see.

[00:32:04] If he's calling for a tariff, that's a tax.

[00:32:07] Well, first of all, real quickly, this article, I think, summarizes this very well.

[00:32:13] Ben Salas points out there's two kinds of tariffs.

[00:32:15] One is a protective tariff, which is aimed primarily to safeguard specific commerce sectors.

[00:32:22] And we have a lot of those already.

[00:32:24] And the second time is a tariff designed to primarily increase revenue.

[00:32:29] And he points out that not every tariff is a tax, because a tax, by definition, is a measure designed to raise revenue.

[00:32:37] And that isn't necessarily the case.

[00:32:40] And then points out that if, indeed, there is going to be an impact of tariffs,

[00:32:47] first of all, the impact might be felt the greatest by Canada, Mexico, and especially communist China.

[00:32:55] But there are reasons to believe that it might affect the American consumer.

[00:33:00] But there are also reasons to believe, in light of past experiences,

[00:33:05] it may not be as devastating or as impactful as many of the particular critics say.

[00:33:13] I won't get into all the details.

[00:33:15] I think probably sometime once we have the president in office,

[00:33:18] we'll cover this issue of tariffs in more detail.

[00:33:22] But I just wanted you to know that there are reasonable answers to some of the arguments being made

[00:33:29] that tariffs are going to hurt the American people.

[00:33:33] I think the tariffs may be a very effective weapon in the hands of incoming President Donald Trump.

[00:33:39] So we'll continue to watch it, and we'll talk about it again in the future.

[00:33:43] Let's take a break.

[00:33:44] We'll be right back.

[00:33:54] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:02] We'll be right back.

[00:34:02] Back for a few more minutes, and we're going to spend some time talking about the drones.

[00:34:06] Just before we do so, let me just mention that this week before Christmas is kind of a Christmas week,

[00:34:11] and so I thought it would be appropriate once again to actually have some commentaries.

[00:34:16] My one today is, O Little Town of Bethlehem.

[00:34:19] And I might just mention that tomorrow will be Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Emmanuel.

[00:34:24] Well, I heard the bells, which is a new one that I've created, as well as Mary, did you know, on Friday,

[00:34:30] the next week, the first Noel, Holy Night, and all the rest.

[00:34:33] And so I did want to at least acknowledge that as we get closer to the Christmas season,

[00:34:38] we would certainly talk about some things related to Christmas.

[00:34:42] As we have over the last couple of weeks, we did, of course, one on the Christmas idea, the advent towards Christmas,

[00:34:50] and we've also done a couple of others that are related to that.

[00:34:54] And, of course, there is a lot taking place right now, not the least of which I thought I'd end with a brief discussion about the drones.

[00:35:02] On Friday, I did post this piece by Steve Gruber, we didn't really get to it, called The Unfriendly Skies.

[00:35:09] And he says, you know, there's a line in Hollywood that nobody knows anything.

[00:35:15] Well, it's probably, he says, true about politics.

[00:35:18] No one at the White House seems to know anything either.

[00:35:21] And here's the issue.

[00:35:22] No Democrat knows if Iran has a mothership in the Atlantic,

[00:35:26] or whether the drones over the skies of New Jersey, now I might add Maryland, are a threat rather than a nuisance.

[00:35:33] Regardless of who is responsible, Iran now knows that it is easy to breach our airspace.

[00:35:39] Ditto for China and Mexico's drug cartels.

[00:35:43] Ditto for illegals and Islamists in the United States.

[00:35:47] So much for our trillion-dollar defense budget.

[00:35:51] So much for the Air Force or the Navy or the National Guard or the Coast Guard.

[00:35:56] So much for the FAA or the FBI or any federal agency in charge of safety or law enforcement.

[00:36:03] That's how he begins his piece.

[00:36:05] It goes down from there.

[00:36:07] Again, quoting different individuals at the time.

[00:36:10] And I think you have seen now an editorial that has come out more recently from the Wall Street Journal,

[00:36:17] which has the title, Drones and the Cost of Lost Trust.

[00:36:22] Because they point out, the editors of the Wall Street Journal point out,

[00:36:27] that the loss of public trust in U.S. institutions is well chronicled.

[00:36:32] And for example, of its cost considering the national mini-panic over unidentified aerial objects,

[00:36:39] no one in America seems to believe that anyone in authority says about them,

[00:36:44] and unproven claims are filling the vacuum.

[00:36:47] Thousands of Americans who aren't cranks have seen drones or what they think are drones overhead.

[00:36:53] New Jersey, of all places, is a hotbed of sightings for reasons no one has been able to explain.

[00:36:59] But sightings have occurred across the Northeast as well as California.

[00:37:04] Military facilities and critical infrastructure sites seem to be the targets if the eyewitnesses are right.

[00:37:11] And of course, in that first article by Steve Gruber, he points out,

[00:37:16] remember the Chinese spy balloon that traveled over the United States?

[00:37:20] And of course then, the editors of the Wall Street Journal say,

[00:37:23] yet no one in Washington seems to be able to convincingly explain the sightings.

[00:37:29] I'm going to try to mention the four possibilities in just a minute.

[00:37:33] A joint statement that came out from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said,

[00:37:39] quote, we have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security

[00:37:45] or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.

[00:37:49] Because as we pointed out the other day, shortly after you had the statement that came from one member of Congress,

[00:37:58] and that would be Congressman Jeff Van Drew,

[00:38:01] who is a congressman or member of Congress from New Jersey,

[00:38:05] used to be a Democrat, then became a Republican.

[00:38:07] If nothing else, actually made the case that there was a mothership off of the East Coast.

[00:38:14] That was quickly tamped down by the Pentagon and even by Jean-Fierre,

[00:38:19] Karine Jean-Fierre in the White House.

[00:38:23] But when you don't know what it is,

[00:38:27] then how can you come to the very dogmatic claim

[00:38:32] that they pose no national security threat,

[00:38:37] no public safety threat,

[00:38:39] and aren't of foreign origin.

[00:38:42] So nevertheless, that is the case.

[00:38:44] You have had some really disastrous things.

[00:38:48] You had at Stewart International Airport,

[00:38:50] which is in the Hudson Valley of New York,

[00:38:53] had to shut down its runways for an hour

[00:38:55] because of what was up in the sky there on Friday night.

[00:39:00] You've had some other claims of other airports that have been affected by this,

[00:39:06] and so we are dealing with all sorts of choices.

[00:39:10] I know that we'll have our Millennial Roundtable again on Thursday.

[00:39:14] Last time they engaged in all sorts of speculation,

[00:39:17] so I'll leave it to them to speculate.

[00:39:20] But our good friend Jim Garrity has a couple of explanations,

[00:39:26] four that you can come up with.

[00:39:27] First of all, what people are seeing could be our drones.

[00:39:34] At least one individual has pointed out

[00:39:37] that if you look at this flying object up there,

[00:39:41] one of those so-called drones,

[00:39:43] it has a stubby nose, straight wings,

[00:39:47] and a long tail with dual forked fins.

[00:39:51] So some are saying, you know what that probably is,

[00:39:54] is it's one of the Terro Dynamics XP4 transwing drones.

[00:40:00] So it's actually one of ours.

[00:40:02] And I don't know why the government couldn't just say,

[00:40:05] well, it's one of ours,

[00:40:07] especially given the fact it's over a military base,

[00:40:09] and you could say, well, we were doing some reconnaissance,

[00:40:13] or we were practicing,

[00:40:14] or we were actually doing a test flight.

[00:40:17] That could end it pretty quickly.

[00:40:20] So even though that's one explanation,

[00:40:22] it's not one that really rests very well.

[00:40:25] The second is what we're seeing are other people's drones.

[00:40:29] And of course, I quoted from Jeff Van Drew.

[00:40:32] He said these are from highly imported sources,

[00:40:36] that these are not hobbyist drones.

[00:40:39] And so it is a possibility that indeed,

[00:40:43] it's coming either from Iran or China.

[00:40:47] We know that China has made a deal with Iran

[00:40:50] to purchase drones and other ships and technology.

[00:40:53] So that is a possibility.

[00:40:56] And some people still think that it is.

[00:40:58] And yet we've just been told confidently by the Pentagon

[00:41:02] that that's not the case.

[00:41:03] So then the third explanation is,

[00:41:06] well, what they're seeing are not drones or aircraft at all.

[00:41:10] You have this one video by Larry Hogan saying,

[00:41:13] well, these are just two stars in the Orion constellation.

[00:41:18] I'm trying to keep a straight face when I'm doing this,

[00:41:21] but this one's tough for me.

[00:41:23] We, as you well know,

[00:41:24] have a day four ministry that we oftentimes work with,

[00:41:29] Parker, Ng, and others.

[00:41:30] We go out there, we do Star Watch parties.

[00:41:32] And I'm thinking I pretty much know where the Orion constellation is

[00:41:37] and what those stars are,

[00:41:38] which leads us to the fourth explanation.

[00:41:41] And of course, the alien people love this.

[00:41:44] And that is, these are alien spacecraft.

[00:41:48] And the only answer I can give to that is,

[00:41:51] if these are aliens looking for intelligent life,

[00:41:54] why are they hanging out in New Jersey?

[00:41:56] No, I'm only, that's only a joke.

[00:41:58] Although I don't think we have a radio station in New Jersey,

[00:42:01] so we probably can get away with that.

[00:42:02] But, you know, that's the joke everybody's been using.

[00:42:05] If indeed these are aliens,

[00:42:07] why are they only in New Jersey?

[00:42:08] Well, it turns out now they're also in Maryland and some other places.

[00:42:11] But nevertheless,

[00:42:13] we'll get to that probably someday.

[00:42:16] But I am struck by the fact that in the past,

[00:42:19] when the various members of the federal government

[00:42:23] confidently told us that the virus could not have come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,

[00:42:30] it must have come from a wet market,

[00:42:32] we found out that as confident as they were,

[00:42:36] they were completely wrong.

[00:42:38] And you might even read the piece by Michael Barone,

[00:42:41] because he goes into that in some detail

[00:42:43] in his particular issue about free speech as well.

[00:42:46] But we're just simply out of time before we're out of content.

[00:42:50] Let me first of all say,

[00:42:52] Doug, thank you for engineering the program.

[00:42:54] Appreciate you being there covering for Megan.

[00:42:56] You might say, where is Megan?

[00:42:57] Well, Megan is producing the program.

[00:42:59] So you might wonder where Steve is.

[00:43:01] Well, he's actually out acting right now

[00:43:03] in, I believe, a science fiction film,

[00:43:05] but he'll be back soon enough.

[00:43:07] So I want to thank Doug and Megan for the help behind the scenes.

[00:43:10] See you back here tomorrow on Point of View.

[00:43:11] Two towering historical figures did battle,

[00:43:15] not with guns and bombs, but words and ideas.

[00:43:20] London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism,

[00:43:23] and legendary Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon.

[00:43:27] London was in many ways the center of the world,

[00:43:30] economically, militarily, and intellectually.

[00:43:34] Marx sought to destroy religion, the family,

[00:43:37] and everything the Bible supports.

[00:43:39] Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers.

[00:43:44] Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth.

[00:43:48] It is truth for all of life.

[00:43:50] Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom

[00:43:53] to stand against darkness today?

[00:43:55] Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues

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