Point of View February 3, 2025 – Hour 2 : Science and Faith

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today, we're going to spend some time talking about intelligent design, and we're going to get back into some of the issues in the news. In particular, America's schools keep flunking. We'll talk about that.

[00:00:30] Seem to know a little bit more about why some of those California wildfires started, and I think you would not be surprised. We'll get into that. And of course, a piece by Victor Davis Hanson about maybe some facts and figures you don't know about Mexico. And of course, that relates to some of the conversation we've already had about tariffs. But I do want to focus on this topic because we have the 7th Annual Dallas Conference on Science and Faith. And this is something we talk about every year.

[00:00:57] And whether you live in Dallas or not, this is something that you can watch by live stream. You can actually pull together the possibility of having a watch party. So those of you listening in the Dallas area or anywhere near Texas, I would encourage you to take the time to show up this Saturday to register ahead of time. I might recommend it's going to be at Denton Bible Church. And of course, it is put on by our good friends at the Discovery Institute.

[00:01:25] And I might just mention one of the speakers there, John West. I have pre-ordered his book on the Stockholm Syndrome in Christianity. It arrived yesterday. I've just handed that book to my producer, Steve Miller. We're going to try to get John West on to talk about that. And as a matter of fact, he'll be speaking on Francis Collins and the temptation of Stockholm Syndrome, Christianity and Science. Also, our good friend and frequent guest, Dr. Ray Boland, will be talking about the common woodpecker.

[00:01:55] And of course, we are going to be talking right now with Dr. Casey Luskin, individual who's both a scientist and an attorney, individual that has both a bachelor's and master's degree in earth science, later on got a law degree from the University of San Diego, and then a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Johannesburg,

[00:02:15] a very articulate guest and an individual that works as the associate director for the Center for Science and Culture there at the Discovery Institute. And so, Casey, welcome back to Point of View. Thanks for having me on, Kirby. I've been looking forward to this. Always enjoy being on your show. Well, and I always enjoy getting you in studio. But again, phone is good as well.

[00:02:39] But this is really a really outstanding opportunity to get a lot of young people involved, because you have Paul Nelson. Dr. Paul Nelson has been on the program talking about butterfly metamorphosis. We just, of course, talked about the woodpecker. We're talking about the amazing honeybee, intelligent design in plants. I thought that's kind of interesting. But you're going to be talking about how the theory of intelligent design can be a fuel for science discovery.

[00:03:08] You know, when we've had Nancy Piercy on the program, she made the case years ago that intelligent design is not a science stopper. It's really a science starter. And that's what you're going to be speaking on, isn't it? Yeah, that's right, Kirby. The theme of the conference is all creatures great and small. So we're going to be talking about everything from, you know, microscopic life forms and how they show evidence for design

[00:03:34] to, you know, the human beings and butterflies and honeybees, et cetera, et cetera. But my talk is going to be very broad. It's going to look at how intelligent design can function as a scientific theory and help us to make scientific discoveries in a variety of different fields. And this is sort of what I do at Discovery Institute. Essentially, I'm the research director here. We have a very active research program funding research all around the world looking at scientific evidence for intelligent design. So that's part of what I'm going to be talking about in my presentation.

[00:04:04] Well, again, I think that's very important because you know as well as I do. And, of course, we've had Stephen Meyer on the program in which they say, well, intelligent design is just a creation dressed up in a cheap suit. You know, he says, I always hated that. But nevertheless, I mean, it's the idea that really you're just saying, well, we can't understand it scientifically, so God did it. And that's just the opposite of what I'm sensing right now in terms of some of the research. What are you finding?

[00:04:32] You probably have some great examples of how scientists, which started with an intelligent design framework, looked at things that evolutionists probably ignored. That's exactly right, Kirby. So one of the things that intelligent design scientists really are studying and have focused on is how intelligence is always the cause of information. When we see new information arising in our experience, it always traces back to a mind or a personal agent.

[00:04:59] So that then raises the question, do we find information biology and where does it come from? Well, it turns out that biology is chock full of information. Your proteins have information. You have to have the amino acids of your proteins have to be in a very precise sequence in order for your proteins to function properly. And this essentially is what we call complex and specified information in your proteins. So some of the research that we've been doing is we've been sponsoring scientists who are looking and studying proteins,

[00:05:28] subjecting them to experimental mutational sensitivity tests, and asking just how precisely sequenced does an amino acid sequence have to be in a protein in order for it to function. Another really fascinating discovery of biology over the last few years is something called orphan genes. Orphan genes are basically genes that are found in one particular species that are not found in any other known species.

[00:05:53] Now, according to evolutionary biology, genes always have to evolve from other genes. When you find orphan genes, basically unique genes that don't resemble any other gene in any other species, where did those genes come from? What we're essentially seeing is that information in biology does not have to be connected to some material antecedent coming from some other species or some other genetic source.

[00:06:17] Information is discontinuous from other material entities because information comes from mind and not from matter. And we've been funding research into orphan genes. A little over a year ago, our team published a paper in a very good biology journal. We'll talk about this at the presentation at the conference. But we are looking at evidence for orphan genes in biology, and this is very compelling evidence for design. I would think so. Of course, the other one was the so-called junk DNA, that this is DNA left over.

[00:06:45] It's kind of the flotsam and jetsam from past evolutionary experiments, and they're all junk DNA, and it doesn't have any function. Then we find out, oh, no, it has all sorts of function. And, again, just a good illustration. If you start with the assumption that there is a creator, start with the assumption of intelligence, you begin to look at things very differently. Let me take a break. We're going to go through some of the various sessions.

[00:07:09] And if you find yourself saying, well, I'm not really that science-oriented, and I'm kind of thinking it would be fun to learn about a caterpillar and a butterfly and a honeybee. Well, there's others on scientific evidence for the human soul, which I think you're going to find very interesting. So those of you that are kind of interested in the tech area, one on why humans can't be replicated by AI, the whole issue of artificial intelligence, a very big issue.

[00:07:34] And I might just say that one of the other speakers there, Dr. Stephen Meyer has been on the program many times, is going to be talking about archaeological evidence that has to do with Hezekiah and a number of other things. And so there are things for each one of you. There are the general sessions, and then there are the breakout sessions. And when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about how you can register. And if you're in Dallas, I think you need to be there because you'll be able to hear the music.

[00:08:01] You'll be able to maybe even meet some of these individuals, maybe even get them to sign one of their books. Of course, there will be exhibitor tables. But if you find yourself, as most of you are not very close to Dallas because we're broadcasting all over the country, you can still get involved by signing up for the live stream. You could even have a watch party. So we want to encourage you to go to the website right now, pointofview.net. Click on that particular banner.

[00:08:30] First of all, we have information about Casey Luskin, if you'd like to know about him. And then we have the seventh annual Dallas Conference on Science and Faith that's happening this weekend. It's one of those don't miss it if you can possibly make it. And so we'll be back to talk more about it right after this.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. The term equity has caused great confusion, perhaps because many social justice warriors intend it to be ambiguous. Sometimes I've been told by fellow Christians to stop criticizing DEI and equity because Christians should be for equality. Of course, that is not how the term is used. We began to see its meaning during the pandemic.

[00:09:23] Noah Rothman reminds us that some public health experts talked about the notion of grounding vaccination access inequity. What that meant was to provide vaccinations first to the disadvantaged, along with providing it to public servants. Further back in line would be white people, which would include the elderly who were at greater risk. According to one University of Pennsylvania ethicist, this was fine. Older populations, he said, are wider because society enables them to live longer.

[00:09:49] Instead of giving additional health benefits to those who already have more of them, we can start to level the playing field a bit. The wildfires in Southern California provide another example. One newspaper editorial criticized the fact that some wealthy residents were able to hire their own firefighters, but complained that they didn't suffer the same consequence of others. The real problem was the shortage of firefighters, water, and common sense fire management. Heather McDonald addresses the use and misuse of equity in her book, When Race Trumps Merit,

[00:10:19] How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives. The subtitle of the book might seem like hyperbole until you dig into some of the stories she tells. The word equity shows up in science, medicine, music, and the criminal justice system. We have seen this dangerous drift to equity. It's time for it to end. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:47] For a free booklet on a biblical view on big data, go to viewpoints.info slash data. That's viewpoints.info slash data. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Continue our conversation for a few more minutes with Dr. Casey Luskin as we talk about this Dallas Conference on Science and Faith. But we also have a link to his website, CaseyLuskin.com.

[00:11:14] And Casey, for just a minute, I thought we might talk about, as I mentioned, junk DNA. You've got all sorts of articles about junk DNA. But interestingly enough, Nobel Prize for finding the function of something that would have been considered junk DNA. It does seem to me that science is kind of coming in your direction the more we discover some of the intricacies of the cell. Yeah, exactly, Kirby.

[00:11:42] This is another great example of how intelligent design can fuel scientific discovery. We're kind of giving away my talk here. But basically, intelligent design predicted decades ago that when people were claiming that our cells are full of junk DNA, DNA that doesn't do anything, it's sort of useless evolutionary debris, we said, no, let's not make that conclusion. Let's actually study this DNA and try to figure out what it's doing. And lo and behold now, I would say really since about 2012, the scientific community has come around, as you said,

[00:12:11] and is now realizing that junk DNA is largely functional. And now you can find hundreds and hundreds, if not many thousands, of scientific papers in the peer-reviewed literature finding function for junk DNA. And this is actually an active area of research, again, that is going on within the ID community. We're funding and supporting scientific research into junk DNA. And even folks in our community who we're not funding but are doing research, looking at what exactly is the junk DNA doing, and they're doing this because of their conviction that design is correct.

[00:12:40] And what do intelligent agents do? They tend to make things that have a function and a purpose, and that led them to expect function for junk DNA. So this is exactly how ID can help spur on scientific discoveries. So, again, I won't take any more from your talk. You need to go and register for this. So here, all of the presentation. But as your geological background has been so relevant, and, of course, my background in the area of science and environmental, you had something that you posted, and this goes back almost eight months,

[00:13:09] about geological habitability parameters imply Earth is special and advanced life extremely rare. There, of course, many of our listeners would be familiar with Privileged Planet, and we've talked about that. Of course, when we've had, of course, individuals on the program talking about some of these issues, we've also gotten in, for example, Stephen Meyer, the return of the God hypothesis.

[00:13:32] We recognize that the Earth and the solar system, even the universe, have all these finely tuned parameters, which can only be explained, I think, in terms of intelligence, because you can't come to the point of saying that there are just an incredible number of coincidences, because we live in a Goldilocks universe.

[00:13:58] But even you have been looking at some of the geological issues that suggest, again, that our planet Earth is rare. It's rare Earth, as they've said it before, because there are too many things that all lined up for us to even be alive here on this planet. Can you explain some of that for us? Oh, for sure, Kirby. This is actually the topic of my presentation at our Dallas Conference in Science and Faith about three years ago,

[00:14:28] looking at geological evidence for design. The Earth is special in many ways. It shows that it was designed to sustain advanced life. One of those ways is the presence of plate tectonics on our planet. To our knowledge, Earth is the only planet that we're aware of that has plate tectonics. And yet plate tectonics is necessary to recycle vital elements that living organisms need, such as calcium or carbon. It basically recycles those elements. And so when, you know, it doesn't get locked up in sediment or in the oceans,

[00:14:57] it allows these elements to be recycled so that organisms can keep using them so that we can be alive. Another one of my favorite lines of geological evidence for design is our magnetic field. This is sort of what I studied in my PhD. Earth is the only small rocky planet in our solar system that has a very strong magnetic field. And that magnetic field is vital to protecting our Earth and all life on Earth from radiation coming from the sun and from outer space.

[00:15:25] If we did not have the magnetic field, life would become irradiated very quickly and it would die. So the magnetic field is a vital habitability parameter that allows life to exist on Earth. And yet Earth is the only sort of small rocky planet where you have hard surfaces where life could exist, the only planet like that in the solar system that has a strong magnetic field. There's other habitability parameters as well that come down to geologic evidence for design, but those are two of my favorites, Kirby.

[00:15:53] Well, again, we're in this Earth habitable zone. We're kind of in this galactic habitable zone. And again, to quote one of our friends, Dr. Norm Geiselman is alive and even Frank Turek, it takes more faith to be an atheist because to believe all of that just simply happened by chance certainly is taking a great leap of faith, if you will. But it also sort of answers the question, are there all sorts of aliens out there?

[00:16:19] Because you remember Carl Sagan when he was alive said, well, the universe should just be brimming with life. The more you do research, the more other people at the Discovery Institute do research, the more we know about astronomy and the far dimensions of space or even in the microscopes and the small dimension of space. We're seeing so many things that show that we have a fine-tuned universe.

[00:16:44] And that's why, again, one of the conversations that we've had before with an individual that you work with every day, Dr. Stephen Meyer, we've seen a return to the God hypothesis, aren't we? Yeah, exactly, Kirby. So you mentioned do aliens exist? We see news stories all the time saying, oh, they've discovered an extrasolar planet, a planet in another star system that maybe could be habitable.

[00:17:09] I saw a story like this just last week saying, oh, we've discovered another Earth in another solar system. Okay, well, let's look at our solar system. Let's take Venus and Mars. Mars actually is also in what you call the circumstellar habitable zone, which is basically the zone where you can have liquid water, kind of like we have liquid water on Earth. The problem is Mars does not have water. It doesn't have liquid water, at least. There's a little tiny bit of frozen water at the poles,

[00:17:34] but there's not enough water on Mars for there to be liquid water, which is necessary for life. Or you can look at Venus. Venus is a planet that is about the same size as our planet Earth. But Venus does not have the kind of atmosphere that is necessary for life to exist. On Venus, you have basically this runaway greenhouse effect that makes it extremely hot where no life could ever exist. So just because you have a planet, you know, they're detecting these extrasolar planets,

[00:18:01] and they say, oh, it's in the right position, the right distance from the star, it's the right size. Well, those are just a couple of the parameters. You've got to really dig deeper into those planets. And even in our own solar system, we can see planets that are the right distance from the star, that are about the right size, and yet they don't have life. You have to get so many things right for life to exist. And as far as we know, Earth is the only planet that gets those things right. So be skeptical when you see scientific stories in the news claiming that they discovered another Earth.

[00:18:31] I think that we have not found that at all yet. Again, if you want to learn more about science and about faith, learn how to be a little bit more skeptical, maybe a little more discerning, this is why we're talking about this seventh annual Dallas Conference on Science and Faith. So Casey, let's talk about this. Again, for people that can hear this and drive to it, I think going there Saturday will be a wonderful experience, 830 to 5 p.m.

[00:18:56] But there is a live stream where you can watch the sessions, at least the general sessions, although I think later on you make available some of the other sessions by tape. And you can even put together a watch party. And I know we've got a contact there where Pam Bailey, I've known her forever, is somebody that people can find out more if they want to ask some questions. There's a button that says register.

[00:19:20] And really, you're going to be talking about, as you said, all creatures great and small, from the smallest honey bee to the great whale, because that's one of the presentations there as well, and everything in between. I think it's just going to be a great opportunity. And it's certainly something that you'd want to bring kids to, because if they are really into the science, they are going to learn some things that they're probably going to learn nowhere else except right there at the Discovery Institute Conference.

[00:19:49] Yeah, I think there's going to be something for everybody at this conference, Kirby. As you said, you know, we've got the design of a human mind. We've got the design of butterflies and honeybees. We've got the design of whales and the woodpecker and all kinds of different types of organisms. So it's going to be a lot of fun. As you said, you can attend in person, or you can go and form a watch party, watch it online. If you go to our website, which is www.discovery.org, you can find links for where you can register online. And I'm really looking forward to this.

[00:20:18] I think it's going to be a great conference. There's also going to be some interesting presentations on sort of, I would say, topics that are a little bit offbeat. And a presentation actually by Stephen Meyer about the archaeological evidence for the invasion of Israel thousands of years ago and how this supports, you know, basically the brassity of the Bible. So there's going to be some very interesting presentations at the conference. Again, we have a link to CaseyLuskin.com. We have also a link to the 7th Annual Dallas Conference.

[00:20:47] Simply go to pointofview.net. Click on that registration button. And, of course, as you know, we've produced a number of booklets, including one, God and Science, which is basically the Cliff Notes version to The Return of the God Hypothesis. We have one on intelligent design. And after this conference, we'll probably have a few other booklets we'll make available to you as well. Casey Luskin, always great to be with you and look forward to the next opportunity. Thank you so much, Kirby. It's always fun. Going to take a break. And when we come back, we've got some other issues in the news that we need to cover.

[00:21:17] We will do that right after these important messages. It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men can be women and women men. People are prosecuted differently or not at all, depending on their politics.

[00:21:45] Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens. It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing. You feel like giving up. But we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[00:22:12] And that's what we say to you today. This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos. We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness. Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:22:38] Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:02] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, by the way, if you'd like to join us, 1-800-351-1212. I thought for just a minute I might cover a topic that we have covered for years here on Point of View, and that is education and the public schools.

[00:23:25] This particular editorial from the Wall Street Journal actually quotes from a very significant series of interviews and surveys, which again, oftentimes I have referred to the National Assessment for Education Progress. I've referred to that report as America's report card. Let me tell you, this is not a report card you would want to get.

[00:23:52] It's not a report card you'd want your kids to see, your parents to see. But you're the taxpayers, and this is what you're getting for an enormous amount of money that we are sending to the schools. Now, again, let me just hasten to add all my disclaimers. We are grateful for all the Christian teachers that exist in the public schools. We appreciate Christian administrators there.

[00:24:16] But the bottom line is, first of all, the schools oftentimes have become quite hostile to any kind of Christian perspective. If not, just listen to any Friday program we do on Point of View with somebody like Kelly Shackelford, or even last week I was traveling around Georgia, but Keisha Russell was on here. We're talking about that. And individuals that have talked about education for the years have certainly pointed out that, first of all,

[00:24:44] we have a public school system that really since its creation has been somewhat hostile, but now even more hostile to Christian values and morality. But then some people might put up with that if we were producing the best and brightest, and we're not. And that's what this is all about, because Congress spent, as this particular editorial from the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal said,

[00:25:10] Washington, Washington, D.C., spent $190 billion more to make up for the damage that happened during the COVID school shutdowns. What did the students and taxpayers get? Worse academic performance. The title of this piece is America's Schools Keep Flunking. This is a crucial issue.

[00:25:33] And if you want to understand why so many parents have taken their kids out of the public schools and put them in the Christian schools, why they've taken them out of the public schools and guided to homeschool them, why parents in the public schools are trying to find a way to get their kids into maybe a charter school, you can understand that. And, of course, if you want to try to understand why there has been a desire to actually close down the Department of Education,

[00:25:59] concluding that it's really doing no good and maybe, in some cases, costing the taxpayers a lot and maybe doing harm, there you are. You don't have to go very far. I will do a commentary on this, so you can certainly read the commentaries. By the way, I might just mention, as I've been traveling around, a lot of people don't know that I do a daily commentary that we send out to actually 600 radio stations around the country, many more than even hear point of view. Hear my commentary.

[00:26:28] My commentary today is on equity and inequity. And if you click on the read now, you'll see a button that says never miss a viewpoint. Sign up here. And so I found a lot of people, even that listen to the program, don't know that I do a daily commentary. We send it to your inbox free of charge. Mine comes to your inbox Monday through Friday, the one for Pentacombs on Saturday. And I will probably do a commentary on this because, again, if you go to the National Assessment for Educational Progress,

[00:26:58] oftentimes referred to as America's report card, what did we find? Well, we found that fourth and eighth grade reading scores declined on average since 2022. About a third, that is 33%, of eighth graders scored below basic on the reading exam. This is a record low. So we actually do not have young people that can read at the basic level of reading.

[00:27:26] The eighth grade math scores remained about the same as two years ago, but they're really eight points lower than 2019. So if you really want to do a trajectory, everything is going towards the basement. Everything is going downhill. That's not what you would expect when we are now spending more money per student than probably any university,

[00:27:53] any basically group of countries or educational establishments that ever have been before. Where you see the greatest concern, and it's one I've tried to address as well, is the few places where we seem to be keeping level or even are only being level because the high math performers did better and the low performers did worse.

[00:28:22] So when you average it out, it's sort of even those which are level are actually worse because the best are doing better and the worst are doing worse. And so now you have what is called an achievement gap, which again is illustrative of the fact that if you're consigned to a school in the inner city, you're paying a heavy price.

[00:28:47] It's why there are so many parents that are trying to do anything they can to get their children out of that school into another one. Why there's such an interest in educational choice. If you've ever seen the video, Waiting for Superman, it's all about these parents in these low-income areas where the inner city schools are so awful, they are hoping to win the lottery.

[00:29:12] They actually have a lottery, and the kids that win, they are excited because they'll now be able to go to a better school, and maybe they'll do better, and you can just see the tears running down the face of the children and the parents whose kids are consigned to such a poorly performing school. So that is the case. And so again, there are all sorts of people saying, well, we need to figure out why this is happening.

[00:29:38] And I think you already know, but let's go to Harvard University. And education expert there, Dr. Tom Kane, points to the problems that I think we already can identify. The first he talks about is mental health problems. If you've heard me speak before, I spoke to two different groups in the fall. One of those who, when the pandemic hit, probably weren't that affected by it.

[00:30:07] And another group that were probably in high school or college and were deeply affected by that. And those individuals now that have graduated from college, they're dealing with level of mental health problems that are almost off the charts. Number two, less test-based accountability that he talks about. That is, we have a lot of institutions, a lot of even states that have said, well, since the kids are doing so poorly on the test, we just won't test them anymore.

[00:30:37] Yeah, that really solves the problem. And number three, and you know this one, increase screen time. You know, every moment that your student or your grandchild or your child spends in front of a screen, probably not going to be doing as well in that regard. And so again, on average, public school districts nationwide spend $15,825 per student in the fiscal year 2023

[00:31:03] compared to what was just $10,724 per student just a decade earlier. So we're spending more per student, $5,000 more in just one decade, and we have less to show for it. So then you go ahead and have all sorts of other people having suggestions. Of course, the head of the Texas, excuse me, the teachers' union would be Randy Weingarten,

[00:31:29] and she claimed that the reason these scores show a need for having wraparound services, maybe even good ventilation, smaller class sizes. I love the editors of the Wall Street Journal. Sorry, children aren't doing worse because of bad air filters or old computers. They scored better without 21st century technology.

[00:31:53] And by the way, if I can maybe insert my own bias into this, as much as I value technology, I've got two computers in front of me, one that connects me up to, of course, the phone calls that might come in, another one I have over here. Of course, I use a cell phone and everything else, but I'll be the first to admit that even though we post lots of articles for you to read on our website,

[00:32:16] pointofview.net, and I value how I can access so much more information using various kinds of search engines, I also recognize that when you put screens in front of kids, you're probably going to guarantee that they're going to produce not as well as the kids just certainly, maybe even a generation ago that did not have 21st century technology.

[00:32:43] And I don't think that you can blame it on old computers or bad ventilation. And I think people are grasping for straws and trying to come up with some of the answers. So the bottom line is, why is there such a flight from the public schools? Because they can't even produce kids that can read and write and do math at the basic level.

[00:33:07] It's a sad commentary, but it's actually borne out by the 2024 National Assessment for Educational Progress. If you want to read more about it, it is our fourth article on the website. I guess it's the third article on the website, fourth article we're going to get to right after the break, as we talk about what's going on in immigration and in Mexico. So we've got a lot to cover, but we need to take a break.

[00:33:34] If you'd like to find out a little bit more about some of these issues we've covered today here on Point of View, go to the website, pointofview.net. We'll be right back. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:00] Back for a few more minutes, let me just as a program note mention that former Congressman Ken Buck will be with us tomorrow, and we're going to spend some time talking about his book, Crushed, Big Tech's War on Free Speech, forward by Senator Ted Cruz. We'll spend some time talking about that issue. We'll get back into issues of the news. If you think about it, we've only briefly talked about tariffs. We'll come back to that. Haven't talked much about deportations. We'll get back to that as well. Haven't talked at all about air traffic safety. We'll get to that.

[00:34:28] I mean, each day we'll try to cover so much is happening every single day, and it's hard to necessarily cover all of it, but I hope that you will find that as you listen to Point of View over a lengthy period of time, we will cover some of those topics. And if you think we are missing a topic, well, then contact us. We've actually this week when I was in Georgia asked people for suggested ideas. I've already come back with about three or four different interviews we probably will be doing in the future.

[00:34:54] So you are certainly the eyes and ears for us, and if you can help us out, that is the case. One topic that we probably won't come back to any time soon, but I thought I'd mention, the California wildfires. In the Grammys last night, I think they did honor the Los Angeles Fire Department. Good for them. I wasn't sure that would happen. But this particular article, Madeline Liesman points out that news broke that three brush fires in San Diego, California,

[00:35:22] were started in homeless encampments. Matter of fact, the title of this piece is, We Now Know How Several of the California Wildfires Started. Now, again, don't take my words out of context. I know some people dislike this program and like to take something I say and then twist it. I'm not saying that all the fires in Los Angeles, all the fires in Southern California, started in homeless encampments.

[00:35:46] But these three fires we know were started in homeless encampments. Those would be the Friars Fire in Mission Valley, the Center Fire in Rancho Bernardo, and the Gilman Fire in La Jolla. So, again, not surprised that some of that actually took place from homeless encampments. But it's an illustration, again, of something that maybe we're willing to cover. Maybe other sources of news and information will not.

[00:36:16] And, of course, a lot of people have moved on. But I'm going to keep coming back to that. There are lessons to be learned from the fires in Southern California. And that might have some implication in some of these upcoming elections. But for just a minute, I did want to focus on Mexico because it really surfaces in two ways. First of all, the issue of immigration and border security.

[00:36:40] We've already talked about that a little bit because you have the unwillingness is seemingly from the president there in Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, to do too much about that. And that's, of course, then led to the other issue of the tariffs. Now, isn't it interesting that we actually now have Mexico telling us that they have arrested one of the leaders of the cartel? Now, you could just say that's an interesting coincidence.

[00:37:10] I tend not to believe that. I think just with the threat of the tariffs and then the implementation of the tariffs over the weekend, we're seeing a little bit of a change of attitude there. So we'll see what happens. Nobody is claiming, again, don't take my words out of context, that the Mexican president is working with the drug cartels. This, in some respects, is seen more as a sin of omission than a sin of commission.

[00:37:41] But nevertheless, that is the case. But here from Victor Davis Hanson are a couple of facts to think about that really, I think, help us understand that we are dealing with some really significant problems south of the border. Of course, we can also talk about some of the changes that will be taking place north of the border in Canada. But let's get into these. First of all, he talks about the fact that you had Mexican nationals, probably cartel members,

[00:38:09] crossing the border, shooting and wounding an American hiker. Wondered, do they still think Joe Biden's in office? Or do they realize that there's been a change of administration? There was one where Mexico balked at allowing a U.S. transport plane to land and return people there who were in the United States illegally. Wondered again, do they think that Alexander Mohoros is still the Secretary of Homeland Security?

[00:38:37] And he points out that there are just a lot of issues because one of those is fentanyl. Mexico, he says, either cannot or will not address the billions of dollars of raw fentanyl products shipped in mostly from China and then processed for export to the United States by the cartels along what is kind of a non-existent border.

[00:38:59] He says Mexico seems to have little concern about some 75,000 Americans who on average die from mostly Mexico imported fentanyl each year. Those are more deaths in just the last decade than all the Americans killed during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined. Again, is Mexico our friend or is Mexico our enemy?

[00:39:29] He also goes on to remind us that Mexico encourages expatriate illegal aliens, that is individuals from Mexico living in the United States, to send back, are you ready for this, $63 billion per year in remittances. That's significant. It's a huge sum. Matter of fact, it's one of the largest sources of foreign exchange that Mexico receives,

[00:39:56] which surpasses even their revenues from tourism and their revenues from oil. And he goes on to say these billions are often subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. That would be American, local, state, and federal governments providing billions of dollars in food and housing and health care entitlements that allow these Mexican citizens then, either most of them illegal but not all,

[00:40:22] residing in the United States to free up cash then they can send home. And so that is very significant. And while we're talking about these trade deficits, it gets back to the tariffs, the trade deficit with Mexico has increased from $50 billion a year, 20 years ago, to $160 billion a year. And that, I think, is of great concern as well.

[00:40:50] One last one, I might point out that the previous president, before we had Claudia Schoenbaum, was Andres Manuel López Obrador. And the former Mexican president, Obrador, used to brag about the millions of illegal aliens that were residing in the U.S. He bragged about that sometimes.

[00:41:12] And he even advised those individuals who were expatriate Mexican-Americans not to vote for Republicans because he felt that the Republicans, that is Donald Trump, would close the border. So it brings to you some things that you're not going to hear. What you're going to see, and I saw it over this weekend, are people in front of microphones protesting the fact that their parents or even they might be sent back to Mexico.

[00:41:41] I would advise some of those people holding those protests not to do it while they're draped in a Mexican flag. In almost every one of these rallies, I've seen Mexican flags hardly ever an American flag. If your goal is to stay in America, probably be better if you kind of toned down some of the Mexican flags. One of the signs that said, no one is illegal. This is stolen land.

[00:42:09] Probably not going to win over middle America with those kind of ideas. But nevertheless, there's where we find ourselves. But Victor Davis Hanson, and I only gave you some of the quotes because we're simply out of time, can give you a little better perspective on is Mexico a friend? Is Mexico an enemy? Is it neutral? What is it? And there's some facts and figures there that I'd never seen before. And I thought, since you probably won't see those in any other venue,

[00:42:36] it is our fourth and final article we've posted today on the website pointofview.net. Hope you can join us tomorrow. We're going to talk about social media censorship, and that may be changing a little bit. So we'll see where that takes us. Most importantly, I want to thank Megan for her help engineering the program. You might also go and check out her highlights of Point of View, which are on Spotify. I also want to thank Steve for help producing the program.

[00:43:02] And we look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View. In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle, not with guns and bombs, but words and ideas. London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism, and legendary Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon.

[00:43:27] London was in many ways the center of the world, economically, militarily, and intellectually. Marx sought to destroy religion, the family, and everything the Bible supports. Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers. Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth. It is truth for all of life. Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom to stand against darkness today?

[00:43:56] Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues delivered to your inbox when you sign up for the Viewpoints commentary at pointofview.net slash signup. Every weekday in less than two minutes, you'll learn how to be a person of light to stand against darkness in our time. It's free, so visit pointofview.net slash signup right now. pointofview.net slash signup.

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