Point of View February 21, 2025 – Hour 2 : Weekend Edition

[00:00:04] Across America Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today, we'd like to join the conversation 1-800-351-1212. Liberty McCarter with us as well as Jeff Mater. We'll take some of those phone calls in just a minute.

[00:00:29] But I think it is appropriate to also say that given the speed at which the Trump administration has moved so far, there are obviously going to be a few issues. And we will talk about one right now, inflation and the whole cost in consumer confidence. A little bit later, maybe Ukraine. Now when you talk about this, the consumer price index went to about 3% year over year in January. So in some respects, it's like a cloud about the size of a man's hand.

[00:00:59] But as Prophet Elijah can remind you, eventually those clouds can get a little bit bigger. And so as a result of people are starting to see a decrease in consumer confidence. One, because of inflation. But two, if indeed you're spending time talking about tariffs, some people wonder if things, prices are going to go up. And I don't have to turn to Liberty to know what the cost of eggs are these days.

[00:01:24] And so in some respects, Donald Trump said, well, it's the previous administration's fault. And just the other day, Scott Jennings, who is a Republican strategist, one of the few sane voices sometimes you see on CNN, was reacting to people saying, well, inflation is up. Yeah, 3% versus 2.9%. But okay, it's up.

[00:01:46] But he was saying, do you think it is a legitimate political debating point for the prior administration to oversee historic inflation over four years? And then you come out and say, four weeks, I guess Trump's a failure. So obviously we recognize that there may be an overreaction. And as I said before, whether you look at the issue of inflation, presidents sometimes get credit for things that they can't necessarily control and get blamed for things they can't control.

[00:02:15] But he's also been talking about tariffs. And so the consumer confidence index dropped a full 10%. So you can see Liberty, let me come to you. You're a mom, you go grocery shopping, and you have seen the prices going up. And you can see that the blue may be coming off the rose if something doesn't change eventually. And it doesn't have to change tomorrow. And that's one of the biggest things people were unhappy with, you know, before the election.

[00:02:43] And I think people were hoping things would change under Donald Trump. And again, it's been a very short amount of time. And even if he does implement policies, it's going to still be, like you said, you know, a little bit of time before we definitely see those results. I know he mentioned offhand the other day that he was going to send some of the savings from Doge to the American people, which I'm kind of wondering about that. Shouldn't we be saving that money?

[00:03:08] But maybe he's trying to boost people's spirits or something and say, hey, you're going to be getting money. Just hang on. Just hang on. So I don't know. We'll see. I would say if you have some land, buy chickens and try to get your own eggs going because, man, in the grocery store they are pretty expensive. Yeah. I'm thinking of it. So my wife's birthday is next week and her favorite pie is egg custard.

[00:03:34] And you probably all don't realize this, but actually I actually enjoy baking. Yeah. I know you did. And so I was thinking, are you sure you want egg custard? We have to take out a loan to make egg custard. That's a precious pie. Yeah, to make egg custard. But, no, Liberty, your point's right. I mean, Joe Biden for four years, anything wrong with the economy, he blamed Donald Trump, right? I mean, he's three years into his presidency. Well, this is all Donald Trump. Blame the previous one, yeah.

[00:04:03] I mean, inflation in January has ticked up a little bit. Well, Joe Biden was president for 20 of those 31 days. Trump, just 11 of them. The tariffs, I'm concerned. I think that's legitimate. I mean, I'm for free trade, not restrictive trade.

[00:04:27] Although, again, giving Trump, President Trump, some benefit of the doubt, he's a negotiator, right? And I know we're going to talk about Ukraine here in a little bit. Yeah. But, you know, his is the art of the deal. And so we saw some success, right, very early with Canada. We're, you know, threatened to do something. In Mexico. In Mexico. In Mexico, right. In Colombia. In Colombia. They back down.

[00:04:55] And so, you know, he's playing that, although it is a dangerous game. Doge has got to help eventually with inflation. I mean, the more that we get a handle on. And energy. And energy. That's right. It's going to take, I mean, let's not 30 days into it. This is a disaster. Inflation is out of control. His policies. Let's just calm down for a few minutes. And let's allow these policies.

[00:05:23] Because traditionally, Republican presidents do a lot better on these type of issues. And we have such a wonderful, strong economy. Let's just let it go. And if we're going to reduce, if we reduce regulations, we get a handle on spending. Good things will happen.

[00:05:48] And, again, I recognize that you all have seen a situation where you do 10 things for your boss. And you get eight right and two wrong. They always bring up the two, right? You know. And so that's kind of where. And American voters are kind of, what did you do for me lately? But Liberty raised a good question. And that is, I've been following the career of Jasmine Crockett. Just because she is an unusual individual. She's maybe a future AOC.

[00:06:14] And the other day, she was on a program saying, oh, I'm, you know, this $5,000 check. You know, I don't even believe it or anything like that. There were all sorts of people on X saying, well, if she doesn't want the $5,000 check, I'll take the $5,000 check. And then people started suggesting, well, if you don't like Trump, you can't and should not cash the $5,000 check. You should send it back to the government, as Liberty suggested, maybe to pay off the debt.

[00:06:40] So this is the kind of debate that I think Donald Trump enjoys. Even there, again, is a fair amount of hyperbole. Because, again, you live by the hyperbole. You die by the hyperbole. He's the one during the campaign saying, day one, I'm going to bring prices down. And so you can see why, in some respects, the consumers, who can be very fickle, all of a sudden are saying, well, I'm not so confident now because inflation is still high. It seemed to even be a little bit higher.

[00:07:07] And what about these tariffs and everything? So I think there's some things to actually be addressing in the future. And all you have to do is have the price of eggs go down or for some energy expansion to actually drive the cost of gas down. And people are going to feel a lot less anxious. And right now, maybe the best way to simply have less anxiety is to figure out some ways to bring the price down and talk about it. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:07:35] Well, I will say, I mean, I know that Donald Trump has only been president for 30 days. But for a lot of people, January feels pretty long. There's a joke going around that it's, you know, the 48 weeks of January or whatever. So maybe people in their mind, they're expecting a little bit more progress during that time. Well, we'll just ask you, too, if you're going to be like Jasmine Crockett. If you get that $5,000 check from the government, are you going to give it back? Or would you cash it? I think we know the answer to that.

[00:08:02] Let's take a break, though, because I really wanted to learn a little bit more from Liberty about this issue of the abortion pill. It is one of the articles we've posted here in which, again, RFK Jr. says that Donald Trump wants a study of the abortion pill. And maybe we can kind of deal with a little bit of this issue, because in some respects, if you're really pro-life, you've got to be more attuned to this issue of chemical abortion than surgical abortion.

[00:08:31] More and more of these abortions are coming because of the abortion pill rather than going to the abortion clinic. And so I thought we would have kind of an open discussion about that. Couldn't think of a better person to talk about that than Liberty. And we'll have her kind of get into that issue right after these messages.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Eight months ago, I wrote about the book The End of Everything, How Wars Descend Into Annihilation, written by Victor Davis Hanson. In his book, he provides four historical examples. The city-state of Thebes, ancient Carthage, Byzantine Constantinople, and Aztec Tenochalon. The leaders believe their illustrious past would be enough to prevent their destruction.

[00:09:25] Alexander the Great, Roman Scipio, Muslim Mehmet, and the Spanish conquistador Cortez proved them wrong. The book is a warning to us today, but I also realize that few people will read the book. That is why I would encourage you to watch his five-minute video summary produced by Hillsdale College. He says his book is about the existential destruction of the losing side in a war. This is very rare in history.

[00:09:49] It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it should enlighten us how it does, why it does, and can it happen again. He explains that he wrote the book not just as a historical journey to document the rare cases of a targeted nation being completely destroyed, but as a warning that human nature doesn't change. We naively assume that globalization would create a common humanity and bring an end to global conflict.

[00:10:16] Instead, he noticed that there were more and more existential threats coming from autocratic regimes. He wants us to be aware that what happened in the past could happen in the future. We need to learn from the past and protect ourselves in the future. As I mentioned in a previous commentary, the world needs a strong America so that we can prevent the end of everything. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:46] For a free booklet on a biblical view of Israel, go to viewpoints.info.com. Viewpoints.info.com. Viewpoints.info.com. Viewpoints.info.com. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again, the article we have here is, again, a study of the abortion pill safety. It is just one of many articles, but again, if you're not familiar, we have this booklet that we came out with,

[00:11:14] and this one actually came out in 2021, so it was actually needing an update, and that is exactly what Liberty has done. But give us some background, because for some of our listeners, when they hear about the abortion pill, they think, oh, okay, that probably affects a few women. But this has now, I think, become the majority way in which many women actually abort their babies.

[00:11:37] Yes, this is the new front for the pro-life fight, and so it's something we all need to be aware of. Even since I wrote that booklet a few years ago, the numbers of the abortion pill, also called medical abortion or chemical abortion sometimes, have risen, so that in 2023, 63% of abortions in the U.S. took place with abortion pills. So it's so prevalent.

[00:12:04] And, you know, unfortunately, even since Roe was overturned, abortion numbers have increased in the United States. So it's good that Roe was overturned. That's definitely a victory. But the push to use chemical abortion, to use abortion pills, to send them to women in states where abortion has been banned, has only increased.

[00:12:31] So I can take you through some of the history of where we, you know, how we got here. But the thing to know is that the abortion pill, which is actually a two-pill regimen most of the time, was first approved by the FDA in 2000. And there are a lot of doctors who argue that even then it shouldn't have been approved because not enough studies had been done on the detrimental effects of these pills. The obvious one is that it does kill an unborn life. It's meant to be taken in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

[00:13:00] But it also can be very dangerous to the woman as well. But the Clinton administration was pressuring the FDA to approve it, and so the FDA did. But even then, three doctor's visits in person were required to get both pills and then a follow-up appointment. In 2021, they lifted those restrictions, citing COVID. But really, the pro-abortion lobby had been trying to lift those restrictions for a long time

[00:13:26] so that now anybody can just get it via telehealth or often ordering online. And the thing is, you would think when you're ordering drugs online, typically that's something that people are not encouraged to do. But there are websites that are encouraging young girls, often teenagers, to even sometimes order from out of the country pills in the mail to take an abortion at home.

[00:13:55] And it's like, how does anybody think that that's safe? But if you heard at the Millennial Roundtable on Tuesday, we talked about a case where Louisiana actually has issued an extradition order for a doctor in New York. Of course, New York isn't complying because a mother in Louisiana ordered abortion pills online.

[00:14:18] A doctor in New York is trying to send chemical abortion to as many women as she can in the name of women's rights, really harming women. So she sent these pills to this mother who then forced her daughter, who is a minor, and reportedly did not want to take them. It resulted in a medical emergency. She had to go to the hospital, which, again, one in five women who take the abortion pills will have to require medical attention.

[00:14:47] It's actually four times more dangerous for the woman than surgical abortion. So there are, anyway, so many dangers, so much potential for abuse because it's not regulated, and doctors and abortion providers are just sending these out in the mail. Planned Parenthood is encouraging it. And you have no way to verify how far along the woman is in her pregnancy, whether she's being forced to take the pills or not. And then, of course, for the pro-life concern, in addition to the health of the mother, is the fact that this is killing unborn life.

[00:15:15] So it's a big, big issue that we need to pay attention to. Yeah, I mean, and I think it's incredible that, and I think you said it leading into it, that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now at the front of looking and making sure that the information

[00:15:40] that our side has known, that Liberty is detailing, that we actually have a fair assessment of what is, without doubt, a very dangerous drug. And even if you support the right to abortion, which I know none of us around this table does, and I'm sure almost all of our listeners.

[00:16:05] But even if you supported it, we cannot support danger. I mean, things that literally have the potential to kill women. They certainly kill the unborn child. Right. But they have the potential to kill women. They have potential to create very serious medical conditions. And that we have at least someone at now that we're going to have a fair. You know, we're talking in the last segment about the importance of free speech. It's the same thing.

[00:16:34] Let's get – let's not – just because we like abortion, we're going to suppress all the bad things that talk about this very, very dangerous bill. And there's really – I don't – there is not another drug on the market that has been able to go through this type of process, expedited process, that it just ignores the truth and the real evidence in the name of, you know, so-called women's rights on this.

[00:17:04] So, I mean, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I applaud Secretary Kennedy. And, you know, I think he is – I think what's captured him is – look, he does – I mean, he is on so many different issues about trying to protect the American consumer.

[00:17:30] I mean, he's very concerned, I know, about our food and has raised some really interesting issues around that. But us healthy eating. The other thing I – and I don't know if you want to go here yet. The other part of this – and I don't want to – and we can talk more about the abortion pill. But the other part of his interview where he recognizes that America is in a – his words – spiritual crisis. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[00:18:00] And that we need a spiritual alignment. Now, I don't know if he means what we mean when we say that. I've watched enough interviews to know that he's not an evangelical. He's not evangelical. But he's coming at least with more of a – and I think him coming out of – Yeah, more of a – Him being a prior, having issues with drugs. I mean, he's shared that. Yeah, being an addict. And that changed his life, yes. And I'm just hoping he gets to Hunter Biden. I'm just kidding. I couldn't.

[00:18:29] I mean, yeah. But – But, I mean – But he brought it up in the confirmation hearings. Isn't that amazing? And he's 110% correct. You know, we have a lot of problems in this country, but almost every one of them relates to a spiritual issue. Spiritual issue. Yeah. Absolutely. Give him credit for that. Again, I mean, if I heard Scott Turner, our new HUD secretary, say this, then I'd be like, oh, of course Scott is saying that, right?

[00:18:58] You know, a problem. I mean, there's a spiritual – but this is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who, one, is telling us that we need to have a fair and honest assessment of a very dangerous drug that harms women. And applaud him. But then at the same time is saying, we need a spiritual realignment. America's in a spiritual crisis. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah.

[00:19:23] And he talked about the fact that he read a Carl Jung book, and Carl Jung is not C.S. Lewis. Okay. But, you know, just thinking about the spiritual issues is really interesting. So, first of all, this article by Ryan Foley really takes you into the studies, which I think is very helpful. But, again, as I mentioned before, one of the benefits of actually supporting point of view is you get these booklets.

[00:19:47] And I can't wait to read Liberties because just before I take a break, one of the things I thought was so interesting, Liberty, is you found there are all sorts of environmental issues. And if you're talking to a liberal, even if they're saying, well, I support the idea of abortion, these abortion pills are affecting the environment, aren't they? Yes. And so Students for Life of America has really led the charge on this, and I applaud them because it is an issue that the left can't ignore.

[00:20:13] And there are scientific papers that have looked at the effect of abortion pills on the environment because what happens is women are told to do this process at home. You flush the remnants down the toilet. And so people are saying that active enzymes from the abortion pills have been found in cities drinking water, which has all kinds of potential effects on health of humans, of animals, of fertility. So that's an issue that's being looked at, and that's going to be something that I think is a big part of the conversation about the abortion pill going forward.

[00:20:43] So, again, I wanted you to maybe read the article because, on the one hand, you can learn about abortion. On the other, the spiritual pilgrimage of whether it's Jordan Peterson or, in this case, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or whatever. So those are some very good prayer targets. And I'm sitting across from the individual that helps write a lot of those prayer targets on our particular website, which is the Pray for America. Of course, we have our viewpoints commentary, and we need to take a break. When we come back, we'll get into some other issues.

[00:21:11] But I want you to hear about this issue of abortion because this is going to be kind of the cutting edge. And if you are already concerned about pro-life issues, you'll be working at a pregnancy resource center. These are resources we want to put in your hands. We'll come back and talk about Ukraine and some of the challenges there right after this. The Bible tells us not to worry. And yet there is a lot of worrying stuff in our world today.

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

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

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

[00:23:01] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, if you would like to join the conversation, 1-800-351-1212. Jeff Mateer and Liberty McCarter with us. And we want to at least focus on Ukraine. The article I've posted here came from the editors of National Review. Ukraine is not the problem. Or the one that just came out today by Rich Lowry.

[00:23:31] Ukraine never should have made the mistake of getting invaded. Okay, so they're really having some fun at the president's expense. And he is a target-rich environment. When he refers to the president of Ukraine as a dictator or a less-than-successful comic or the grifter, as well as claiming that Ukraine was part of the problem or even in some respects,

[00:23:57] this war would not have taken place if I were president and all those kinds of things. And we'll fix it on day one. Okay, there's a lot to deal with here. But the bottom line is that everybody, I think, would want to get rid of what has become a meat grinder in which we are sending enormous amounts of money and armaments over there. And we're seeing so many Ukrainians, Russians, and others killed all because of a true dictator, Vladimir Putin,

[00:24:27] as well as a Ukrainian government that has been trying to hold on in the midst of an onslaught from the invasion. So, Liberty, any thoughts? It's not exactly easy to sort out, and it's not helped by some of the comments the president has made. Well, yeah, when I heard that he had called Zelensky a dictator, I thought, isn't Putin on his fifth term of being president of very fairly elected, I assume. Yes, good line.

[00:24:57] But anyways, you know, it does seem unfortunate that he's making those statements. I know, again, I was reading in the articles you sent, it's not really realistic to expect a perfect bow, you know, tied up.

[00:25:15] But we do want the war to end, and we do want, I think, Europe to be more involved in defending, you know, their territory over there. And so hopefully that gets accomplished. But, yeah, a little bit ridiculous, some of the things the president has said. Yeah, and I think we need to take a step back. First, the current situation is not sustainable. Of course not.

[00:25:41] I don't think anybody would, you know, us spending billions of dollars in a war and that no end in sight. Right. And so I think the objective is we need to end. This war needs to end. We have a president now who's, I mean, the art of the deal. He's a dealmaker.

[00:26:09] I think what's different than in the past is a lot of discussions would go on behind the scenes in which, you know, things that people could perceive as threats or another way to put it, encouragement. You know, sometimes it's the stick and sometimes it's the sweet. Right.

[00:26:36] And try to encourage with Donald Trump. That's all in public or a lot of it's in public. And so I, you know, I think, maybe hope, that this is an effort. I mean, I don't think Donald Trump believes Ukraine caused the war.

[00:27:01] I don't think he truly believes Zelensky is a dictator. I think he's engaged in rhetoric because and a long time ago when I was in private practice. So we're talking many years ago. I did do some mediations in which I was the mediator. I've been as a as an advocate, have been in mediations as counsel, but I've been the mediator.

[00:27:28] And you often meet with each party outside the presence of the other party in their counsel. And so you go in the room. And you get at some point, you know, the goal is not who's right, who's wrong. The goal is let's get a deal. Right. This is not sustainable anymore. This this this lawsuit's not sustainable anymore.

[00:27:56] It's hurting everyone. It's hurting both sides. Some cases it may be hurting others. Not not not between the two parties. It's hurting others. And so as a mediator, you immediately say, look, in order to get a deal, I'm really going to have to beat up one side over the other. I mean, one side wants a deal. And so I know they want a deal. But this other side and look, they could be the party who is the aggrieved party.

[00:28:26] And again, my rhetoric, probably in this situation, probably not as strong as Donald Trump's rhetoric. But, you know, you've got to persuade them that, look, you need to you know, this is one. Yes, you're not going to get 100 percent of what you want. But but and so I think I think that's what I hope that's what Donald Trump's doing. And again, trying to bring everybody to the table, because the first thing is, well, can I get Russia to the table? And they've even talked about whether or not to maybe allow Russia to return to the group of seven.

[00:28:56] Well, that's, you know, a concession to Russia, which a lot of people would react. But at the same time, to bring it back to full circle to what we talked about at the very beginning, the president's Alinsky, assuming we can trust what he says, has said, you said you sent this much, but only this amount showed up. And so that is a question as to where some of that went. And you mentioned Hunter Biden before.

[00:29:23] So let's bring him back to the conversation here, because he was sitting on a Ukrainian energy company. And we now through various studies can document that money for years has been flowing through Ukraine to not only, by the way, Democrats and Biden, but even to Republicans, one of whom was in the Trump administration the first time. So you can begin to see that this has been a little bit of a gravy train, too.

[00:29:52] And there may have been some reasons why, indeed, the previous president, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden, did not want Ukraine to actually be taken over by Russia, apart from just, of course, the concern about the Ukrainian people. But because there are just all sorts of secrets that will all of a sudden surface in the midst of that. This is some of the trillions of dollars that we can't track and don't know where it is. Maybe it's gotten lost.

[00:30:18] Yeah, I mean, I this is not my area of expertise, but I learn a lot. I think Jeff said it well. And I think even people watching who are very compassionate and sympathetic with Ukraine, again, this war needs to end. And so at this point, what's the best way to make that happen so that it's not continuing? There's not loss of life continuing. And how do we achieve that? And hopefully that's what President Trump is working toward.

[00:30:47] Let me just mention some people say, well, where would I read to find that out? Well, Peter Schweitzer has been on this program many times before. And there are a couple of books. And every one of these books I'm going to mention has Joe Biden on the cover, sometimes others. Secret Empires has Joe Biden on the cover. Of course, it all has Barack Obama on that one. Blood Money has Joe Biden there with Xi Jinping. Profiles in Courage. Well, that has all sorts of individuals from Nancy Pelosi on.

[00:31:15] And then Red Handed, which again shows Joe Biden. And one was Xi Jinping. So there's right off the top of my head four books. And all four of those have Joe Biden on them. And some of them actually go back to Ukraine. Some go to China. And I think you have to understand that it's not like this is, oh, my goodness, I didn't know that any of this money was flowing out of Ukraine. People in Washington, D.C. know this. And for many years, there has been the assumption of that.

[00:31:45] So again, there are some things where we can say on the one hand, I'll hold up my booklet on just war. Has Russia violated the various canons of just war? Absolutely. Has it been brutal? Yes, it has. Certainly agree with that. Let me hold up my other booklet here on nuclear war. Is it possible if we don't manage this carefully that Vladimir Putin would think about going nuclear?

[00:32:11] And so there are a lot of issues to really sort out here. And I think sometimes we're not helped by individuals who take one side or the other and don't acknowledge that really there's some arguments on both sides of this unfortunate situation we find ourselves in. Right. And I think if your position is we need to defend Ukraine, whatever it takes, they were wrongfully invaded, which they were, and we need to defend them, whatever it takes.

[00:32:40] Then you need to be prepared to send U.S. troops. There you go. And whatever the consequences are for that. And I think that, you know, a realistic is we can't we I mean, that's not where we want to go. You would not get the American. The American public will not support American troops going into Ukraine. Well, then we have to figure out a solution. And and the current, as I said at the beginning, the current situation is untenable. It cannot we cannot continue with it.

[00:33:10] We've got to do something to stop the bloodshed. And this is for the Ukrainian people and quite frankly, for the gospel as well, because the you know, for the believers who are in Ukraine or are suffering. We there has to be a different approach, I think and hope that's what President Trump's up at. Again, be concerned about those Ukrainian people. We've done some programs on refugees and outreach. And in my neighborhood, I've got a Ukrainian family and I've got a Russian family.

[00:33:39] It's kind of interesting to watch their perspective on that as well. Let's take a break, though. We've got one more segment. We'll talk about that right after this. Who or what is to blame for the scale of the wildfires that destroyed massive swaths of Los Angeles this winter? Some politicians point to climate change and fossil fuels.

[00:34:04] Two California legislators have filed a bill to allow insurers and homeowners impacted by the fires to sue oil companies for their losses. Lawmakers hope to cover damages the state is liable for through its underfunded insurance, the last resort for millions of Californians, as state-imposed price controls have driven private insurers out of the state. Tom McClintock, eight-term member of Congress from California, says climate change is not the culprit here. It's the state's environmental and social policies.

[00:34:31] In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Representative McClintock says California's once competent fire management policies and infrastructure explain why fires became less threatening throughout most of the 20th century. He points to federal environmental legislation first passed in the 70s, which has been taken to extremes in California. Consequently, forest-thinning projects cost millions and take an average of 5.3 years to be approved. Brush suppression is made more difficult.

[00:34:58] Cattle grazing has largely been regulated out of use, and leftist officials neglected the region's basic water infrastructure in favor of wind and solar spending. The 21st century result? Devastating loss of forests and homes. There are fixes for aging water lines, pumping systems, water tanks, and even reservoirs, but they have mostly not been implemented.

[00:35:19] National Review's Noah Rothman describes a bombshell report published in the Los Angeles Times, which could help Angelenos hold leaders to account for their maladministration. This review of thousands of pages of records reveals how thoroughly officials in Southern California dropped the ball when it came to fire management. But officials and the press have mainly tried to persuade the public that the details revealed in this report amount to misinformation. Our country has bold new leaders. Californians should find some.

[00:35:48] For Point of View, I'm Penna Dexter. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again, and as you know, if you've listened to Point of View for some time, we oftentimes play Penna Dexter's commentary in the quarter before the hour. We played it last hour, played it again. This one is entitled California Blame Shifting.

[00:36:14] And since we have quite a number of listeners in the state of California, and of course all of the nation has focused some of the time and attention on what's happened in Southern California, I thought it was very appropriate. And Liberty, you've had a chance to read that, even though Penna's not here to explain her commentary.

[00:36:32] I thought it was good because if you're trying to actually figure out why we had such devastating fires, and if your argument is to point to climate change, fossil fuels, or maybe previous administrations, that doesn't necessarily fix the problem. It gives you some sense of actually being able to check off some boxes.

[00:36:58] But if we want to prevent the kind of devastation that has happened in the past, we need to, going forward, think about the right solutions. Isn't that fair? Yes. So you should definitely subscribe to Viewpoints or go to pointofview.net and you can read it for yourself because she includes links to data that really answered this question.

[00:37:22] I didn't know this, but before 1800, California lost an average of 4.5 million acres a year to wildfires. By the end of the 20th century, the average had dropped to 250,000 acres a year lost. And then in 2020, you go back up to 4.3 million. And between 2019 and 2023, an average of 1.5 million acres lost every year due to wildfires. So why that sudden change?

[00:37:52] It's interesting because in that same time period, you had a lot of environmental policies be put in place that we're undoing a lot of the things that people had done or discovered or worked on in the first place to try to mitigate the effect of wildfires, which just naturally occur in that region. So it made me think just from a biblical point of view, so many people on the left, you know, very extreme environmentalists will say,

[00:38:21] well, humanity needs to die out for the sake of nature. But God put humans on the earth to take care of the earth. And so the environment actually needs humanity. And we can see the destruction that happens both to humans and to nature itself whenever humans are not being wise in the way that they're taking care of it. And so this is not anti-environmentalist, but it's just really interesting to see the effect that those policies are actually having,

[00:38:49] the opposite effect, I think, that we want them to have. And one of the things I thought was so interesting is it shows a picture of the bridge there. I think it's the Bay Bridge there, and it's just interesting to see how you've got this picture of orange because of all the fires and things like that. And, of course, we've had those in the past, and we've shown what it looks like, and we've shown pictures from aerial pieces. But, again, I would come to you, Jeff, because we are not only dealing with the fact that you need to clear the brush,

[00:39:19] you need to have the water, but if you're concerned about the delta smelt, I knew I was going to get your attention with that one, and want to make sure the poor delta smelt doesn't actually die out because it doesn't have enough water, then we're going to help the smelt, and we're not going to fill the reservoirs. And that gets to be a problem, too, don't you think? No, absolutely. And then, I mean, there were pictures about that you saw during the fires, the areas that didn't get hit

[00:39:46] because they actually had good policies and good management in place, and then you had the ones where there were complete failures. So I think Pena does a great job of highlighting, which is more and more my fault. Of course not it's my fault. It's the big, bad oil companies. It's their fault. It's like, what? Who? What? The oil companies? Oh, yeah, the oil companies. Well, again, I just thought it would be a very helpful piece. And first of all, as Liberty mentioned, you can go to the website.

[00:40:16] There's a place where it says never miss a viewpoint commentary. My viewpoint commentary comes out Monday through Friday into your web box free of charge. Pena's will come out tomorrow, Saturday, so you can sign up for that. While you're there, there's a couple of other things I always like to mention, and that is, first of all, of course, you have the Pray for America. Liberty, you've been writing that, and that is something that we encourage you to sign up for as well. That is separate from that, and each week we have a prayer target.

[00:40:44] We also have a take action item, and we now actually have an opportunity for you to respond to that. Tell the House no taxpayer funding for abortion. You heard us talk about that before. The Hyde Amendment is something we've talked about, and so one of the concerns, Liberty, is the fact that with these executive orders, yes, we've appreciated what President Trump is trying to do, but executive orders can be reversed.

[00:41:12] And so this one is on the issue of abortion. There's going to be another one on DEI and a variety of others. It makes sense to not just have the executive order, but to actually have it passed by the House and the Senate and signed by Donald Trump. Yes, Planned Parenthood is still getting so many federal dollars, and so this would really codify that protection, which Americans are in favor of, even if they are personally pro-choice, not forcing other taxpayers to spend their money on abortions.

[00:41:41] So definitely check that action alert out. We didn't do a real good job of promoting it, but next week I know you will because you'll be sitting in on Tuesday and Wednesday, and so you, if you are able to actually take action, we have a take action item there as well. But I always like to also end by talking about what is happening there at First Liberty. We, in some respects, already have an obvious prayer request, and that is for the pastor, Pastor Avila, because he's criminally charged,

[00:42:09] but you also have a couple of very important cases that might make their way to the Supreme Court. Yeah, actually, we're sitting here on Friday afternoon, and this morning the Supreme Court considered two of our cases in their private conference. What the justices do is they meet just the nine of them, no staff, and they review the petitions, the requests for cases to be reviewed,

[00:42:37] and two of our cases were on the docket for today. And the first one is our fire chief, Ron Hiddle. We've talked about that a lot, who was fired by the city of Stockton because he took a couple of his colleagues with him to a leadership conference at a church. Of course, it's the world-class global leadership conference that we're all familiar with. And so his case is being considered today by the Supreme Court.

[00:43:05] And the other is representing a Christian university in Bethesda, which is an important case because it's who gets to control the university. Is it the board of the university who's following its principles, or is it courts? Who gets to decide who's qualified to serve at a university? And so it's a doctrine known as Church Autonomy Doctrine, but what it really is, it's can government invade decisions relating to ministries?

[00:43:34] And so that case is being considered today. So both prayer requests that the court take our cases. Yes. And you can go to First Liberty or F-L-I, First Liberty Insider, and get that on a regular basis. And you've got, of course, Know Why Podcast coming up, don't you? Yes. So Know Why Podcast, we're on YouTube now. So definitely find Know Why Podcast on YouTube and subscribe. Next week I'm actually going to be talking a little bit about some of the comments

[00:44:02] that RFK made that we mentioned here in his hearings on spiritual crisis in America. So go subscribe. I might just mention also, of course, we have a link to the Point of View Highlights, which is on Spotify. And so you've got some opportunities there. One of the more recent ones was an interview we did with former Representative Ken Buck on Crushed and that whole issue of censorship. Something we've talked about before. So we have lots of resources for you.

[00:44:28] And even as you go to the weekend here, if you find yourself saying, I'd like to maybe check some of this out, simply go to pointofview.net. There's a place where you can certainly see the Take Action item, My Viewpoints Commentary, Penna's Viewpoints Commentary is there. We also, of course, have the links that we mentioned before to Pray for America, Point of View Highlights, Spotify, and much, much more. Or as I've already alluded to, next week is the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.

[00:44:57] So Liberty will be sitting in on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll be back on Thursday. And have a great weekend. I want to thank Megan and Steve for their help behind the scenes. Enjoy the weekend. See you back here on Monday right here on Point of View. It was not that long ago that censorship appeared to be almost inevitable. Free speech was being attacked and strangled in many places. And some of us wondered if this was the end.

[00:45:23] But now, many feel a new sense of hope, a chance for a fresh dawn. Let me caution you. Now is not the time to relax. It's a time to press forward, to use this fresh opportunity to proclaim and learn how to apply truth to current issues. By the fact you're here, listening right now, that tells me that you recognize the vital role Point of View plays as a voice of truth.

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