Point of View December 30, 2024 – Hour 2 : End of the Year Updates

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

[00:00:20] Second Hour today, I think you probably appreciated the conversation we had with Lieutenant Colonel Allen West.

[00:00:25] And now let's if we can get into some of the issues in the news, but also let's look ahead in terms of the calendar.

[00:00:32] Of course, today is the 30th of December, tomorrow is December 31st, then we're into the new year 2025.

[00:00:39] It's not too early to begin to understand a couple of things that need to happen even before Donald Trump takes office.

[00:00:48] One of those happens on Friday, and that is when you convene Congress and then select your Speaker of the House.

[00:00:56] Now there's been some controversy associated with that, not the least of which is not all the Republicans in the House of Representatives have said that they would actually vote for Mike Johnson.

[00:01:07] And so I think it is significant. I have in front of me here this very long post by Donald Trump, the president elect, in which he spends a little bit of time talking about being the party of common sense, winning seven swing states, 312 electoral votes, the popular vote, and then goes through a long reminder of all the things the Democrats did in terms of spending $2.5 billion on a campaign.

[00:01:34] $11 billion going to Beyonce, $2 billion going to Oprah, and on and on and on and on.

[00:01:39] And then eventually said, look, they ran a very expensive sinking ship that also included the DOJ and the FBI weaponization.

[00:01:47] At the end then makes the statement it didn't work.

[00:01:50] But let's not blow this great opportunity which we have been given.

[00:01:55] The American people need immediate relief from all the destructive policies of the last administration.

[00:02:01] Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hardworking religious man.

[00:02:04] He will do the right thing.

[00:02:06] We will continue to win.

[00:02:08] Mike has my complete and total endorsement.

[00:02:10] We will see if that makes a difference.

[00:02:13] But it would certainly make it less contentious on Friday.

[00:02:17] But we will see.

[00:02:19] Because if you have another one of these battles over the speaker, you remember the one that actually removed the previous speaker and how they ended up against all odds, Mike Johnson, who I think it would be fair to say is perhaps one of the most conservative, if not the most conservative speaker of the House we've ever had.

[00:02:38] Then to jettison him because of some of the things that happened, whether or not it was the piece of legislation that was supposed to be 20 pages and ended up being 1,500 pages and all of that.

[00:02:51] I think if you want to hit the ground running, you really want a speaker of the House that is elected on Friday.

[00:02:57] And then you move to next Monday.

[00:03:00] Next Monday is January 6th.

[00:03:03] Does that bring back any memory at all?

[00:03:06] January 6th, 2021.

[00:03:08] One, of course, was where you had the mob.

[00:03:11] You had the riots.

[00:03:13] You had, of course, shooting and all sorts of other things.

[00:03:17] More than $2 million in damages.

[00:03:21] And I think we can hope and really believe that this January 6th, 2025 will have much less drama.

[00:03:31] As a matter of fact, as one commentator put it, Donald Trump's victory has made January 6th boring again.

[00:03:37] Because in the past, when the joint session of Congress would gather together and decide how we were going to elect our president and vice president, essentially all they had to do was count the electoral college votes that came from the 50 different states and territories.

[00:03:57] And as a result of that controversy was almost non-existent.

[00:04:02] But let me also say that people tend to look back four years.

[00:04:07] We're going to hear a lot of speeches about that between now and when the votes are counted.

[00:04:12] But I think it's worth looking back eight years ago when, at the time, Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote.

[00:04:21] Donald Trump won the electoral college vote.

[00:04:24] And there were a number of prominent Democrats, as well as some media personalities, that were actually encouraging electors in those states to vote for Hillary Clinton, even though they were supposed to be bound to vote for Donald Trump.

[00:04:42] Now, that controversy didn't go too far.

[00:04:45] But it also did highlight, in 2016 and when the vote was in 2017, the concern of what is called the faithless elector.

[00:04:55] Because you did have ten members of the electoral college who either voted or attempted to vote for a candidate other than the one for whom they were pledged.

[00:05:05] Now, three of those votes were invalidated because many of these states have what are called faithless elector laws.

[00:05:11] Since then, more have been passed.

[00:05:13] But you still had seven individuals who voted not according to what was required of them.

[00:05:22] In many cases, they voted for someone other than Hillary Clinton.

[00:05:26] But nevertheless, it did kind of highlight a controversy.

[00:05:29] And I think just illustrates again that it used to be that the vote or the counting of the votes, the tallying of the votes for the electoral college would be kind of straightforward and perfunctory.

[00:05:43] In many cases, even the vote for the speaker was perfunctory.

[00:05:48] But, of course, we've seen some things that have changed dramatically.

[00:05:51] So, as we sort of look down the road here, we will sort of pay attention to that.

[00:05:57] But nevertheless, not forget how controversial all of that was four years ago on January 6th.

[00:06:05] But just before we take a break, and when we come back from the break, I do want to have a chance to talk a little bit with our vice president of stewardship.

[00:06:12] That is Jana Weidler.

[00:06:13] But let me just mention that our first article after the three articles by Alan West, so it would really be our fourth article,

[00:06:21] is this article that actually has a Texas judge which has now blocked Joe Biden from selling border wall parts before Donald Trump takes office.

[00:06:32] As you may know, there was this bombshell report that came out of the Daily Wire.

[00:06:38] Again, three cheers for some of the things that Ben Shapiro and his team have been doing.

[00:06:43] In which they were noticing that there were an attempt to take some of these materials to, in the particular case, Tucson, Arizona.

[00:06:53] And then, as a result, actually make them available for auction.

[00:06:58] So that they were auctioning off some of the materials that I suspect will be used by the incoming Trump administration to complete a section of the wall.

[00:07:09] And at first, you might remember I reported the fact that this was going to be something, if indeed that auction went forward,

[00:07:18] would be where the lieutenant governor of the state of Texas said he would actually vote, actually auction, and actually bid for, I guess is a better way to say it, these materials.

[00:07:30] But now you actually have the U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, who has a court order,

[00:07:37] which is now prohibiting President Biden from auctioning off the border wall materials before Donald Trump takes office on January 20th.

[00:07:47] And, of course, there is every reason to believe that he and his administration will restart construction of this barrier wall on the southern border,

[00:07:59] primarily in the state of Texas, although since some of the materials now have made its way to Tucson,

[00:08:04] maybe some of them will be constructed there in Arizona.

[00:08:07] So, again, not only do you see the particular action being taken by the lieutenant governor of the state of Texas,

[00:08:18] but then you also have the attorney general of the state of Texas, Ken Paxson, who's been on the program with us before,

[00:08:23] who also was trying to stop the sale and certainly applauded the judge for that.

[00:08:29] So anybody wondering whether or not some of those border wall parts would be up for auction,

[00:08:35] looks like that has been dealt with because of a ruling that came from a Texas judge.

[00:08:42] And we will then see a reconstruction of the wall in the future.

[00:08:47] Let's take a break, though. We'll come back with more right after this.

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

[00:09:02] As the year of 2024 winds down, I predict the year of 2025 will be different.

[00:09:06] There is reason to believe that the political landscape will be different in the U.S.

[00:09:10] due to the election of Donald Trump.

[00:09:12] But there is growing evidence that the political change here will also be felt in other countries due to the rise of populism.

[00:09:18] But I also predict that the economic landscape will be different.

[00:09:22] Earlier this month, I talked about the desire by some members of Congress to build a Bitcoin strategic reserve.

[00:09:28] And Trump has already been exploring the possibility of issuing an executive order to create a Bitcoin reserve.

[00:09:34] Other countries have noticed.

[00:09:35] Sarah Naffo is the European MP from France.

[00:09:38] She recently gave a speech in front of the European Parliament.

[00:09:42] The quotes I'm using here have been translated into English using AI.

[00:09:46] She began by giving a brief history about how one country has successfully used Bitcoin and then asked these questions.

[00:09:53] Bitcoin is skyrocketing.

[00:09:55] And what about the European Union?

[00:09:56] What is the European Union doing?

[00:09:58] It's squandering our money on unbelievable waste.

[00:10:01] It continues to accumulate tragically inflationary deficits.

[00:10:05] She then suggested that it is time to change the paradigm.

[00:10:09] She says it's time to protect our people from inflation and the poor economic choices of our states.

[00:10:14] It's time to say no to the totalitarian temptations of the European Central Bank, which wants to impose a fully controlled digital euro.

[00:10:23] Instead, she argues, it's time to bet on freedom.

[00:10:25] It's time for our states to invest in Bitcoin to build national strategic reserves.

[00:10:30] I would suggest to you that a speech like this wouldn't have been given six months ago in front of the European Parliament.

[00:10:36] We may be seeing an entirely new economic paradigm in the year 2025.

[00:10:41] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:46] For a free booklet on a biblical view of Patriot Preachers, go to viewpoints.info slash Patriot Preachers.

[00:10:54] Viewpoints.info slash Patriot Preachers.

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

[00:11:04] Back once again, let me just, as a program note, mention that next segment we'll spend a little bit of time talking about this battle between different forces in the Trump administration over H-1B visas.

[00:11:17] I do want to kind of give you a point, counterpoint, so I'm giving you two different articles that you can see.

[00:11:22] One that believes that what Donald Trump has said is right.

[00:11:25] Others that believe that there needs to be a change.

[00:11:28] And again, that's a good opportunity for us to see one of those battles that is certainly going to unfold.

[00:11:33] And we'll talk about it in just a few minutes.

[00:11:36] Also, there are some individuals that are talking about how the Trump administration can begin to crush what's called the censorship industry.

[00:11:45] And so we'll get into that as well.

[00:11:47] So lots of things to cover.

[00:11:49] But I thought we'd take a break since, as you well know, we are encouraging you to give to Point of View today and tomorrow, the last two days of 2024.

[00:11:59] And so I wanted to get on the line with me, the Vice President of Stewardship, Jana Weidler.

[00:12:05] And Jana, thank you for joining us today.

[00:12:07] Hi, Kirby.

[00:12:07] It is so good to be with you.

[00:12:10] Well, you know, you've been meeting with a lot of donors and talking to them.

[00:12:13] And, you know, I think you've gotten a chance to meet some of them.

[00:12:16] And I think we're really fortunate to have so many people that have been so supportive of Point of View.

[00:12:21] We are.

[00:12:22] We're very fortunate and blessed.

[00:12:24] We have this amazing ministry, and we are so proud of what we're able to do in getting the truth and biblical views out across this nation.

[00:12:34] And we meet people all the time that say that this program has changed their lives or affected them in some way, had some kind of wonderful impact on their kids.

[00:12:44] So, yes, being able to be out there and talk to our donors and our partners is such an incredible blessing.

[00:12:51] And knowing their background and what they're going through helps us serve them better.

[00:12:55] Well, again, I don't know of anybody that probably talks to more of our donors than you.

[00:13:00] But I, first of all, face-to-face because you go out to all of the different events that we've had but also on the phone.

[00:13:06] And it seems to me that many times you get a chance to hear from them about why they support Point of View.

[00:13:12] What do they say?

[00:13:12] Yes.

[00:13:14] Yes.

[00:13:14] Well, Kirby, a lot of them love the booklets and the magazine.

[00:13:17] And this provides them with the information that they need so that they can witness to others and be comfortable witnessing to others

[00:13:29] and sharing the truth about things going on in our nation today in their own circle of influence, which is huge.

[00:13:38] We also are very proud of the fact that our entire staff were very prayerful about all the people that donate, all the listeners and our partners.

[00:13:49] And it's wonderful to get a phone call every once in a while that they say, hey, thank you for praying with me.

[00:13:55] I want to tell you about how God worked in this situation and give him praise and glory for what he's doing.

[00:14:01] So that's always the highlight of my day.

[00:14:04] Well, again, I think as we've traveled around, you and I together and also some of the individuals that we both had a chance to talk to,

[00:14:12] really concerned about the future of this country.

[00:14:14] And, of course, we talked this last hour with Lieutenant Colonel Allen West about that.

[00:14:19] So that is certainly the case.

[00:14:21] And I don't know if you had a chance to hear, but Colonel West really made a very strong case for point of view.

[00:14:28] What would you say to our listeners in that regard?

[00:14:30] Well, I first want to say this is the second time I've been on the radio after Colonel West.

[00:14:35] And it's not very easy to come on after him.

[00:14:40] Such an incredible godly man and doing so much for furtherment, rather, of God's kingdom.

[00:14:47] So, yeah, I'm a little nervous right now, as you can imagine.

[00:14:51] But I do want to say that this doesn't really concern what you just asked me,

[00:14:56] but many, many ministries accept donations, and you never know how your gifts are being used.

[00:15:03] But we accept your gifts and simply turn around and provide you with the booklets and the magazine

[00:15:10] and being on the air to help you be better informed and give you the truth concerning issues

[00:15:16] and a biblical view on the issues that align with all of those who walk and live in faith.

[00:15:24] And one of the things that I was just thinking about in terms of outlook,

[00:15:28] we will have Kelly Shackelford with us a little bit tomorrow.

[00:15:31] Of course, we always have Penna Dexter.

[00:15:32] And those are individuals that are writing as well.

[00:15:36] The January issue, which I mentioned on Friday, has an article by Kelly.

[00:15:41] Of course, oftentimes we have an issue by Penna Dexter.

[00:15:43] And if you say, well, I learned so much.

[00:15:46] Well, I do, too, because lots of times I'll be reading through our magazine

[00:15:50] because I sometimes don't get to see an advance copy.

[00:15:52] And I go, oh, I didn't know that.

[00:15:54] Oh, that's a good idea.

[00:15:55] And so all of us are learning together.

[00:15:57] And it seems to me that that's just another real benefit about this.

[00:16:01] We don't claim that we have all the answers,

[00:16:03] but we try to bring in the best guests of the most articulate individuals.

[00:16:08] We give you commentaries.

[00:16:09] I think many people appreciate the fact that I have a daily commentary today

[00:16:13] about the new economic paradigm and one tomorrow relating to China about Plan Red.

[00:16:20] These are things that you will probably see nowhere else.

[00:16:23] And that's another thing, Jana, you've been talking about,

[00:16:26] is that as you've met these individuals, they say,

[00:16:29] I just don't know where else I'd get this information if it weren't for point of view.

[00:16:33] That is true.

[00:16:34] We hear that a lot.

[00:16:36] And listen, folks, you know, we can't meet our budget without big gifts,

[00:16:39] and we are very appreciative of the people that can provide these big gifts.

[00:16:44] But let me encourage you to consider a monthly gift.

[00:16:48] Of just $30 or more, you're going to get those, the Outlook magazine.

[00:16:52] You're going to get the biblical view books that come out every month.

[00:16:57] They're easy to read.

[00:16:58] You can read them in about 10 minutes.

[00:17:00] And, again, you can feel better about standing up with your faith or in your faith with these issues.

[00:17:07] And $30 is just a dinner out, possibly foregoing a couple of fancy coffees during the month.

[00:17:14] But if you're saving up for something big, consider saving someone for Christ,

[00:17:19] because this really is the biggest gift.

[00:17:22] And we are able to reach out across this nation, and with these booklets and with the commentaries that come out

[00:17:30] and with being able to hear Kirby on the radio Monday through Friday and even on the weekends sometimes,

[00:17:38] people are going to be able to hear what they need to develop that seed inside them to have that desire to seek God,

[00:17:47] seek his will, and that's what we need.

[00:17:49] We're striving to get in tune with the next generations coming up so that biblical culture is going to be established in the next few years.

[00:18:00] Instead of looking back and saying, well, those were the good old days when we used to be godly people,

[00:18:05] well, no, we need to be raising godly people now.

[00:18:09] And, again, one of the other things I thought I just might mention is that you are in the Colorado Springs area,

[00:18:14] and you drive by some of these very large ministries, and yet when you've come here,

[00:18:20] you recognize that we do a lot with a little, don't we?

[00:18:23] Oh, we certainly do.

[00:18:24] All ten of us.

[00:18:26] We don't have that big of a budget, and we are striving to hit that $300,000 mark by midnight on December 31st.

[00:18:34] And we are falling a little short.

[00:18:36] We are getting closer and closer to making our matching challenge,

[00:18:41] but we also have another matching challenge coming up behind that.

[00:18:45] Someone's calling in and saying we are about to pledge a matching challenge of $5,000.

[00:18:51] So, folks, we've got these challenges on the table.

[00:18:55] We really want to take advantage of every dollar.

[00:18:58] So, if you're listening to my voice right now, please stop what you're doing.

[00:19:02] Call in.

[00:19:03] Give the best gift that you can.

[00:19:05] And I know that, you know, the holidays are expensive.

[00:19:08] You've been eating well.

[00:19:09] You've been shopping well.

[00:19:11] If you want to call in a pledge and say, I will write a check on the first,

[00:19:16] if we know that that pledge is coming in, it can go towards this matching challenge and be doubled.

[00:19:21] Again, we live in a world of misinformation, and we certainly have a desire to try to give you trustworthy information.

[00:19:29] But also, there is a need, as we've talked about even with Alan West and now with Jana,

[00:19:34] that we are needing to really educate more people about a biblical worldview.

[00:19:39] Only about 4% of Americans or about 9% of born-again Christians have a biblical worldview.

[00:19:45] So, there is a lot of work to do, and that's what we are dedicating to do.

[00:19:50] But let me just mention that if you go to the website, pointofview.net,

[00:19:54] there is a section there that simply says, give the gift of truth.

[00:19:58] We have a matching challenge, which we still have some of that money available.

[00:20:03] Now, Jana's added the fact that there's some more maybe coming in.

[00:20:06] And so, if you have been waiting to the last day, now it's last day and a half, really, is all we have left,

[00:20:13] then I would encourage you to make that phone call.

[00:20:16] It's 1-800-347-5151.

[00:20:20] Or you can go to the website, pointofview.net.

[00:20:23] Or, of course, you can also simply click on the emails that we've been sending out.

[00:20:28] And, Jana, just before I let you go, again, our listeners, they can call you if they have other questions.

[00:20:32] And, of course, they can always ask you to pray for them,

[00:20:36] because you're quite willing to accept those prayer requests, aren't you?

[00:20:40] Oh, I am.

[00:20:41] I really am.

[00:20:41] My direct number is 972-692-1350.

[00:20:48] And when I leave messages on answering machines or send an email or a note, I include my phone number.

[00:20:55] And I really want to encourage you to call me.

[00:20:58] If you have a burden on your heart, if you have someone who is ill, we know that corporate prayer works.

[00:21:05] And let's get as many people praying for the situation as we stand in the gap for others that maybe can't pray for themselves or are struggling.

[00:21:14] But, yes, please join us in prayer.

[00:21:17] Let's take a break.

[00:21:17] And, again, you can give us a call, 800-347-5151.

[00:21:21] Jana, thank you very much.

[00:21:22] We'll come back and talk about more in the news right after this.

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[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 once again, let's, if we can, for just a few minutes, try to sort out, as best as we can, a debate, kind of an internal debate that's taking place.

[00:23:22] But it's one that I've started seeing so many people talking about that it's worth talking about here on Point of View.

[00:23:28] And it has to do with these visas, which are given to primarily individuals that have technical expertise and are used in large part by people in Silicon Valley and other places.

[00:23:41] They're called H-1B visas.

[00:23:44] I give you both a point and a counterpoint here.

[00:23:47] One, it is the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal with the title, Trump is right on H-1B visas.

[00:23:56] And then I also give you one by Josh Hammer, Immigration Moratorium Now, in which he disagrees.

[00:24:03] He does, I think, illustrate the fact that this debate is not over, as he says, the relatively easy issue of illegal immigration.

[00:24:12] I think everybody's in agreement on that.

[00:24:13] But over the more complex, and I might even say nuanced, issue of legal immigration.

[00:24:21] The issue is, is these visas are provided for individuals.

[00:24:25] A lot of those individuals come from India.

[00:24:28] And, of course, you can see part of the reason why this surfaced, because of some comments that were made by Vivek Ramashwamy about the culture.

[00:24:37] I'll get to that in just a minute.

[00:24:38] But the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal basically said that Donald Trump is right to endorse the value of H-1B visas.

[00:24:46] In a debate, it is kind of put on one side, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramashwamy.

[00:24:52] On the other side, Steve Bannon, a lot of other individuals concerned about immigration.

[00:24:56] And also talks about the fact that he says, I've had H-1B visas on my properties.

[00:25:03] They're thinking maybe Donald Trump has confused H-1B visas with H-2B visas, which would be for workers and hotel properties.

[00:25:11] But that's not the case.

[00:25:13] But the issue is, is that, again, one of the arguments that candidate Donald Trump, now President-elect Donald Trump, made, even back in a podcast with Silicon Valley individuals,

[00:25:26] was anybody who graduates from a college, goes there for two years or four years, if you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from college, you should be able to stay in this country.

[00:25:35] In other words, we bring people here from other countries, they get a degree here, and they have the potential to really help America, and they should stay.

[00:25:47] The argument from the Wall Street Journal is, I think, relevant in the fact that the program is small.

[00:25:54] 85,000 individuals each year that have qualified for an H-1B visa, and they've always reached their quota.

[00:26:04] Some 30,000 employers actually are able to get an applicant through a lottery system.

[00:26:12] In other words, there are, if you want to really understand this, maybe more job opportunities than there are H-1B visas anyway.

[00:26:23] So that's the first thing to say, maybe this is a little bit of a controversy that doesn't need to be quite so contentious.

[00:26:31] That's the argument on one side.

[00:26:34] Some critics, although, have also said that H-1B visas let companies pay U.S. workers less because they don't have to pay those visa holders as much.

[00:26:46] But at least on paper, the theory is they should be paid the prevailing wage or actual wage.

[00:26:54] And, of course, there have been some abuses, but their argument is that shouldn't be the reason for actually getting rid of the program.

[00:27:03] The reason for this controversy comes, of course, well, maybe not of course, because you may not have been watching all the Twitter posts,

[00:27:11] but from Vivek Ramishwamy, who has made the case that these are worthwhile because, if nothing else,

[00:27:20] it is due to the fact that we, as Americans, can't seem to produce enough individuals of the best quality

[00:27:28] and certainly the achievement in terms of engineering because of an American culture that doesn't encourage more performance.

[00:27:39] On the one hand, people have said, well, he's attacking American culture,

[00:27:43] but at the same time to at least defend part of the statement by Vivek Ramishwamy,

[00:27:48] who does sort of engage in hyperbole.

[00:27:51] Have you ever read the book The Coddling of the American Mind?

[00:27:54] Or just a few minutes ago, talking with Alan West about participation trophies.

[00:28:00] Sometimes we aren't doing the best job sometimes of encouraging people to be the best that they can be

[00:28:06] or to actually pursue rigorous degrees in engineering, computer science, and the rest.

[00:28:12] So the argument that they were making is simply that we certainly should continue to keep these visas

[00:28:21] even at a time when we want to begin to close down illegal immigration.

[00:28:27] And so Josh Hamner says the trouble with these individuals is they want to apply one set of principles to the border,

[00:28:35] but a different set of principles to individuals that come here, in many cases from India,

[00:28:42] and he says, if anything, if you really want to be part of the American first or America first

[00:28:49] or make America great constituencies, then we should certainly not allow so many individuals

[00:28:58] from other countries to come in and take jobs that Americans can receive.

[00:29:04] The argument that he makes is, again, one of those issues where I wish the two sides were talking to each other

[00:29:11] because he gives a very arresting quote that comes from the podcaster for Blaze Media.

[00:29:18] That would be Daniel Horowitz.

[00:29:20] It's been a while since we've had him on the program, in which he pointed out that in recent decades,

[00:29:25] 71% of the jobs in Silicon Valley have gone to foreign workers,

[00:29:30] while 74% of American STEM graduates have failed to secure jobs in STEM fields.

[00:29:37] And so the argument that he's making there is because we've made it much easier for those individuals

[00:29:45] from other countries, primarily India, or sometimes from other countries to take those jobs

[00:29:52] is it's prevented American workers from getting those jobs.

[00:29:56] And so there, of course, are a couple of other issues that neither side seems to be talking about.

[00:30:03] One of those is simply the abundance of the number of people in, say, a country like India

[00:30:10] to actually be able to take those jobs.

[00:30:14] There was a very good article, or actually a book even, that came out called

[00:30:19] The Flattening of the World, A Flat World, in which the author made the case

[00:30:26] that when you have a billion-plus people in India,

[00:30:30] if you just take the most educated, those who would be qualified, if you will,

[00:30:35] as a national merit scholar, you have the potential,

[00:30:39] not that they have national merit scholars in India per se,

[00:30:42] although I suspect some of them are actually qualifying when they come to this country,

[00:30:47] you have as many national merit scholars in India as you have students in America,

[00:30:52] because you have more than a billion people.

[00:30:55] So obviously, if we don't have a program that has some limits on it,

[00:31:01] yes, there are going to be a lot of qualified individuals that could come from India

[00:31:07] or other countries.

[00:31:08] I don't want to just pick on India.

[00:31:10] We can talk about the number of qualified individuals that come from Germany

[00:31:13] or the U.K. or France or a variety of other places who could take some of these jobs.

[00:31:20] So, again, you have to be careful, I think,

[00:31:23] to recognize that you don't want to flood the market,

[00:31:27] which brings me back to the statistic we mentioned just a minute ago,

[00:31:31] that if it's capped at $85,000, it does seem to me that it might not be so disruptive,

[00:31:38] or if we conclude that it is, well, maybe we lower the cap down to $60,000,

[00:31:43] but certainly we can benefit from individuals with very good brain power

[00:31:49] who want to come to this country legally under these visa programs.

[00:31:54] So, again, this is a good example of where each site cites some relevant statistics.

[00:32:01] I'd love to get everybody in the same room and stop talking past each other

[00:32:06] and start talking to each other.

[00:32:08] But as one of the individuals who probably has thought about this a great deal,

[00:32:14] an individual that came from India, Dinesh D'Souza pointed out,

[00:32:17] this is a great example of a debate taking place internally with Trump aficionados, if you will,

[00:32:26] MAGA people, America First people, that was not created by the mainstream media.

[00:32:32] And he says, if nothing else, it's an illustration of the way things need to go in the future

[00:32:37] and no longer have the agenda being set by the New York Times or the Washington Post,

[00:32:44] but let individuals within the movement talk about some really important issues

[00:32:50] and really begin the discussion.

[00:32:52] So if you want to see both the pros and the cons of whether or not to keep the H-1B visas,

[00:32:59] which at the moment Donald Trump seems quite willing to do,

[00:33:03] or the argument that we need to have a moratorium not only on illegal immigration,

[00:33:09] but a moratorium on legal immigration,

[00:33:12] you had that article by Josh Hammer.

[00:33:15] I'm sure this won't be the only time we talk about it,

[00:33:17] but I wanted you to see once again that we're not afraid to cover some of these contentious,

[00:33:23] sometimes even somewhat controversial issues here on Point of View.

[00:33:26] And if you want to read both a point and counterpoint,

[00:33:29] those are the next two articles on our website at pointofview.net.

[00:33:34] Let's take a break.

[00:33:35] After a lot more to cover,

[00:33:36] we'll try to squeeze some of it in the last segment right after this.

[00:33:56] You're listening to Point of View,

[00:33:58] your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:01] Back for a few more minutes, let me just mention that as a program note,

[00:34:04] tomorrow we'll have Pentatextra in studio,

[00:34:06] Kelly Shackelford in studio,

[00:34:07] and by phone, Gary Bauer.

[00:34:09] Should be a good way to end 2024.

[00:34:11] And again, if you would like to join with us in terms of reaching our goals,

[00:34:17] we encourage you to go to the website pointofview.net.

[00:34:20] There's a banner that says, Give the Gift of Truth,

[00:34:23] a matching challenge.

[00:34:24] And it looks like we're going to replenish some of that if indeed we're able to reach our goals.

[00:34:30] So let's again encourage you to give.

[00:34:32] But just before we run out of time,

[00:34:34] I did want to talk about the idea of the censorship industrial complex.

[00:34:40] That is something people have been talking about.

[00:34:43] And more importantly,

[00:34:44] it's one thing to talk about it.

[00:34:45] What are you going to do about it?

[00:34:47] So I thought I'd pull back the curtain a little bit

[00:34:49] and tell you a little bit about some of the plans

[00:34:52] that seem to be implemented by the Biden administration.

[00:34:56] You can find some of this in a very good piece by Caitlin Richardson

[00:35:00] in which she talks about how Trump administration

[00:35:03] could help crush the censorship industry.

[00:35:05] And that is there has been a real desire to deal with this issue.

[00:35:10] And even in a campaign video a couple of years ago,

[00:35:14] interestingly enough,

[00:35:14] Donald Trump talked about trying to shatter the left-wing censorship regime.

[00:35:19] And you're familiar with the fact that we've had for some time

[00:35:23] this desire to stop the kind of censorship that is taking place.

[00:35:29] And we do know now because of the so-called Twitter files

[00:35:33] that under the Biden administration,

[00:35:35] the White House staff made explicit requests

[00:35:38] for platforms to restrict COVID-19 restricted speech.

[00:35:43] Other agencies engaged in speech suppression,

[00:35:47] that would be the Centers for Disease Control,

[00:35:50] the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency,

[00:35:54] and much more.

[00:35:55] And so one of the problems with all of that is

[00:35:59] the government cannot prevent you from having your free speech,

[00:36:04] but private entities sometimes can be recruited to do that.

[00:36:10] And this particular quote from Nicholas Berry,

[00:36:14] who is a legal counsel for America First,

[00:36:17] said private entities cannot be permitted to partner with the government

[00:36:21] to censor American speech.

[00:36:23] And so what is going to be done?

[00:36:26] Well, let's talk about a couple of these appointees,

[00:36:29] who I'm pretty sure most of the ones I'm going to mention will be confirmed.

[00:36:33] The first is Andrew Ferguson.

[00:36:36] He has been selected by Donald Trump as the new Federal Trade Commission chair.

[00:36:42] And he said in an interview recently that Trump can cut off some censorship outright

[00:36:49] by ordering officials to stop communicating with platforms

[00:36:53] and then ending government funding for entities participating in speech suppression.

[00:36:58] But, he says, also private censorship would likely move to new fronts,

[00:37:05] making it important for the FTC, that would be the Federal Trade Commission,

[00:37:10] to take some very important first steps.

[00:37:13] So that's what Andrew Ferguson of the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, has said.

[00:37:19] Let's go to another one.

[00:37:21] That would be Brendan Carr.

[00:37:22] He is the head, or will be the head, of the Federal Communications Commission.

[00:37:28] The FCC.

[00:37:30] He said in an interview recently that one of his top priorities would be to smash this censorship cartel.

[00:37:38] And again, there are some certain things that the FCC can do.

[00:37:42] So that's, first of all, the FTC.

[00:37:44] Then the second is the FCC.

[00:37:47] Then, even when you talk about people that aren't in communications,

[00:37:52] I think there are some good news.

[00:37:53] And that would be the individual that Donald Trump has selected to head up the National Institute for Health, the NIH.

[00:38:02] That is Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.

[00:38:04] And he is the individual at Stanford University who actually was dealt with in some rather unsavory ways.

[00:38:13] He was the one that co-authored what was called the Great Barrington Declaration,

[00:38:19] which was a criticism of the COVID-19 lockdowns and responses.

[00:38:24] And, of course, found himself deplatformed or censored a few times.

[00:38:28] And then, of course, you have the nominee of the Department of Health and Human Services.

[00:38:32] You know who that is, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

[00:38:35] He might be controversial.

[00:38:37] We'll see if he gets confirmed.

[00:38:39] But, again, he actually has a lawsuit right now against the Biden administration because of so-called First Amendment violations.

[00:38:49] And I'm not through because you have a few others.

[00:38:52] Harmeet Dillon is the individual who is set to actually oversee the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

[00:39:00] And she has worked with her firm, her law firm, in challenging the California Secretary of State's office in their coordination with Twitter to suppress speech as well.

[00:39:13] So you really have quite a number of individuals, and I just picked those few real quickly in the interest of time,

[00:39:20] to illustrate that it's one thing to say, oh, it's really bad of all the censorship of free speech, and to wring our hands.

[00:39:28] It's quite another to have people in positions of authority that are going to bring about some kind of change.

[00:39:34] And that brings me to one other, I think, positive movement, and that comes from the Alliance Defending Freedom.

[00:39:42] The other day, of course, we had Lathan Watts on the program, and he is the vice president for public affairs for ADF.

[00:39:49] We never got to this point, and in some respects, it's sort of outside of his purview.

[00:39:54] But ADF, that is the Alliance Defending Freedom, have launched a new center for free speech,

[00:40:01] which is really aimed at targeting censorship entities and pointing to opportunities that might exist for individuals to prevent that censorship from taking place.

[00:40:14] So in some respects, not only do you have people on the inside that I believe most of those probably will be confirmed as nominees,

[00:40:24] but you also have organizations on the outside doing some work there as well.

[00:40:30] And so it does appear that this might actually be somewhat successful,

[00:40:35] and it's something I'm going to try to maybe cover in a future commentary,

[00:40:39] because a lot of people really do wonder whether or not that is something that is really going to take place.

[00:40:46] I also have a commentary coming out next week about all the people that have been debanked,

[00:40:52] and I think I mentioned this the other day, that Mark Andreessen was on with Joe Rogan,

[00:40:57] and if you don't know Mark Andreessen, he's kind of a tech industry leader, also best known as a co-founder of Netscape.

[00:41:05] But he on Joe Rogan said that there were 30 tech company founders who had been debanked.

[00:41:11] It's one thing to limit your free speech.

[00:41:14] It's another to say, we're not even going to let the banks provide you services.

[00:41:18] And then for those of you that have been reading the memoir by Melania Trump,

[00:41:23] she points out that her longtime bank closed her account and also refused to open an account for her then-teenage son, Barron,

[00:41:31] who was in high school at just the time.

[00:41:33] So you can see that this problem of censorship is getting to be a lot worse than we might have imagined.

[00:41:40] Some of that came from things like the Twitter files.

[00:41:44] Others have simply come from Freedom of Information Acts.

[00:41:47] And a few have just come from individuals that have been affected either directly or indirectly by some of that censorship.

[00:41:55] And it does seem to me that there's a new sheriff in town.

[00:41:58] There are new individuals that are going to be part of that cabinet.

[00:42:01] Maybe it's going to change something for the better.

[00:42:04] So if you have been a little bit discouraged about censorship of free speech,

[00:42:08] I think you have been wisely discouraged about some things that need to change.

[00:42:13] But maybe some change is on the offing.

[00:42:16] Just before I run out of time today, one last time before we go off the air,

[00:42:20] let me mention that we do still have a match on the table.

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[00:42:52] Just before we run out of time, let me also say thank you to Megan for engineering the program today.

[00:42:58] Karen, thank you for stepping in and being the producer today.

[00:43:02] We look forward to seeing you tomorrow on our last day of 2024 right here on Point of View.

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