Point of View February 4, 2025 – Hour 2 : Tuesday Headlines

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second in order today, quite a bit has been taking place and if again we don't cover all of it today, well there's always tomorrow. But let's get into it as I mentioned at the outset of the program before we did our interview with Ken Buck.

[00:00:31] We've seen some remarkable chances for various countries to reevaluate some of their ideas and a lot of that has to do with the power of the tariffs. Now, let me just mention that around the table we aren't really excited about tariffs and I gave you some good reasons why not. Our first article which you can read is The Dumbest Trade War, Fallout Begins. And this came from individuals at the Wall Street Journal.

[00:01:00] And I'll show you how in some respects some of the things that they were afraid of have not happened. And so sometimes you have to take even some commentary that is well meaning with a grain of salt or maybe a bag of salt. But let's just think this through for just a minute by working our way through a few countries. We saw a couple of days ago that Columbia was telling us the president of Columbia would not allow military aircraft to land

[00:01:27] because they wanted to assert their independence. And of course they were going to land and release individuals from Columbia who were in the United States illegally. And again, since most of the focus by Tom Holman has been the first worst, the worst first, however you want to say it. And those were individuals that probably were criminals and individuals that Columbia did not want.

[00:01:55] Donald Trump made it very clear that he would then begin to put tariffs on anything from Columbia. And literally within hours the president changed. You have, of course, Venezuela as well and some of the changes there. But one of the things that I did not know until it was last night is you had six American hostages. I didn't even know we had hostages there in Venezuela who were released.

[00:02:19] But also, Christy Noem has said that we have had this temporary designation for over 300,000 individuals from Venezuela. And these temporary designations have existed for Venezuela, have existed for El Salvador and others. Of course, we know some of the concerns there.

[00:02:41] And so this would be ending the temporary, if you will, disposition and allow for possibly the deportation of up to 350,000 individuals. Meanwhile, while we're looking at Latin America, let's talk about Panama. Marco Rubio goes down to Panama. And we have a couple of things a little bit later. I'll talk about the fact that he now says he's the acting director of USAID. And I'll talk about that later.

[00:03:09] But at least because of his interference in that regard and his negotiations with them, the individuals at Panama Canal have now pledged to end their deal with the Communist Chinese Party. And so a lot has been happening there. And then, of course, we have the tariffs. First, Mexico. President Claudia Schenbaum actually has now promised to send 10,000 troops to the border.

[00:03:40] Canadians, Pierre Trudeau, who is probably on the way out. Well, he is not probably is out of the way out because of a number of things promised cooperation. And so you've seen that, although in just a minute I'm going to read some of the material from the editors of the Wall Street Journal about the damage tariffs can do. They have been sometimes a rather blunt weapon, maybe more like a weak meat cleaver than certainly a scalpel.

[00:04:09] But it has certainly had some impact. No real change from China. Actually, just the opposite. There has been a desire for them now to counter with tariffs against U.S. goods. We were supposed to have a conversation today from Donald with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. I don't think that has happened and has been postponed. And again, here's something else we found out. Just one of those items in the news. Airstrikes in Somalia killing ISIS operatives.

[00:04:39] And, of course, at the border while we're talking about that, Kristi Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, now the head of Homeland Security, donned a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, began riding horseback with Border Patrol there in Del Rio, Texas. And Pete Hexeth, who is, of course, now the Secretary of Defense, met with the troops there at the border. So if you want to talk about a busy news day, well, that's what it looks like.

[00:05:08] And I hope that as you listen to Point of View, it brings you up to date on a variety of things that have been happening simultaneously. But, again, let's, as I've tried to do, talk about the pros and the cons, the positives and the negatives of tariffs. Here's the negatives. This comes from the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. They said President Trump conceded Sunday that there may be some pain from his sweeping tariffs on Mexico and Canada,

[00:05:35] but they will eventually lead to a new golden age. That's, of course, what he said on social media. And so they went on to say, we appreciate Mr. Trump's attention, though we're anti-tariff and not lobbyists, but bad policy has damaging consequences whether or not Mr. Trump chooses to admit it. Mr. Trump can't repeal the law of economics any more than Joe Biden could on the issue of inflation.

[00:06:01] They make a very clear and, I think, convincing case. Tariffs are taxes. You might have remembered during the Democratic Convention and even during the campaign, Kamala Harris says, Donald Trump is going to raise your taxes. And I'm going, no, he's not. If anything, he wants to make sure that he extends the tax cuts. What they meant was he's talking about tariffs and tariffs are taxes. And so when you tax something, you get less of it. And so that is certainly the case.

[00:06:31] And so there was a real concern about the fact that the Mexican president, Claudia Schenbaum, would actually retaliate. She promised to do so. But I think what you can see at the moment, and of course, we've posted one of these articles on the idea that now we have a pause. We'll talk about that in just a minute.

[00:06:49] And of course, even Justin Trudeau said that on the tariff list that he was going to deal with all sorts of things that would be possibly coming from the United States into Canada.

[00:07:03] And even though he will not be the prime minister this time next year, most people believe that the conservative opposition leader, which would be Pierre Palliev, who I've quoted before in one of these commentaries recently, also called for retaliation, said that they were a bad idea and that they should not be implemented.

[00:07:25] So whether you are dealing with the previous president in Mexico or the current president, the current president or the future president of Canada, I think they're all pretty much in agreement that the idea of a tariff against Canada or Mexico could stimulate a trade war. So far, so far, that has not happened.

[00:07:49] And instead, we've seen that if you wanted to bring about some significant changes, that is the case. Now, to be fair, just before I take a break, the editors of the Wall Street Journal also said that the Trump tariffs might not be that damaging. They might not tip the U.S. economy into recession. Our growth is strong enough maybe to absorb some of the blows of tariffs.

[00:08:14] But nevertheless, you know, it certainly could affect prices for you. And so we will keep watching that. But it is amazing how these tariffs seem to have changed a few areas of foreign policy and domestic policy. And we'll just keep track of those as we go along. Let's take a break, though. We've got some more to cover. And we'll cover those issues right after these important messages.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. What are the three hardest words in the English language? Perhaps you've heard that the three hardest words to say in the English language are, I love you. I've also heard some people say the three hardest words are, I was wrong. Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner devote a chapter to this question in one of their books. They argue that the three hardest words are, I don't know. They lament that this is the case because it's impossible to learn everything.

[00:09:25] Apparently, our inability to say we don't know starts at an early age. There is this classic study of British school children who are given a story and then ask four questions about the story. Two of the questions were unanswerable. There wasn't any information given in the story. Nevertheless, three-fourths of the students answered these questions anyway. It becomes even more difficult to say you don't know as you get older. Children expect their parents to know everything, at least until they get to be teenagers. Then their parents are considered very stupid.

[00:09:54] Government leaders and recognized experts are not expected to say they don't know. And we've lived through a pandemic and now a political season where many of our leaders should have merely said, I don't know. Instead, they were confident about the value of masks and vaccines. They were confident that inflation was under control. They were confident about their proposed solutions to everything from rising crime rates to rising global temperatures. Often, these were merely opinions.

[00:10:20] As Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed, everyone's entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. This is why we need some skepticism and biblical discernment, especially when the so-called experts make such confident statements and predictions. Sometimes the best answer is merely, I don't know. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:46] 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. Back once again, one of the other articles I've posted here, Canada, Mexico, and tariffs.

[00:11:08] And it's a piece that reminds us and now educates us about the fact that these tariffs that were going to be implemented have been delayed, at least for Canada and Mexico. And I do want to spend a little bit of time in this segment talking about Mexico, and then we're going to get on to some other issues because there are quite of other things, as you've probably heard us talk about. But one of those issues, of course, is why the tariffs in the first place? And some of that has to do with the issue of fentanyl.

[00:11:38] Now, some people have said, I think rightly so, that fentanyl coming across the Mexican-American border is the bigger issue than fentanyl coming across the border from Canada to the United States. Very true. Here are the numbers of the amount of pounds of fentanyl that have been seized. Now, again, that isn't necessarily accurate because this is just what they caught.

[00:12:05] There could be a lot coming over that we don't have an idea, but it gives you a sense of the range. The amount of fentanyl that has been caught on our northern border, 43 pounds. The amount that was seized by Customs and Border Protection on the southern border, 21,000 pounds. So obviously there is a difference. But, again, you've got to recognize whether it's coming from Canada or Mexico,

[00:12:33] ultimately it's coming from China, this is of concern. And in just a minute I do want to talk about what's going on in Mexico because I've posted a piece here about Mexico and the cartels. But just on this issue of fentanyl, I've got a commentary coming out next week. Matter of fact, we tape these ahead of time so it really won't air until the 14th, and I will be taping that this afternoon.

[00:12:57] But it reminds us, and I think I mentioned that just the other day when we quoted from Victor Davis Hanson, that 75,000 Americans on average die of fentanyl each year. If you look at just the number of Americans who have died of fentanyl in this last decade, that's more Americans killed by fentanyl than were killed in action during, are you ready for this,

[00:13:22] World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. And yet you hardly have anyone ever mentioning that in the previous administration, and this is certainly one area of focus. So this article reminds us that both the Mexican president, Claudia Schenbaum, and the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, have promised to send 10,000 troops each to their border

[00:13:51] to help the U.S. curb illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking. And that seems pretty good. And so this tariff that was going to be implemented on imported goods from Mexico and Canada is now paused for one month. Just so you can hear kind of what President Trump has said, here's a quote from Truth Social. I just spoke with President Claudia Schenbaum of Mexico.

[00:14:18] It was a very friendly conversation, whereas she agreed immediately to supply 10,000 Mexican soldiers on the border separating Mexico and the United States. These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants into our country. We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for one month period during which we'll have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessett, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Letnick,

[00:14:48] and high-level representatives of Mexico. I look forward to participating in those negotiations with President Schenbaum as we attempt to achieve a deal between our two countries. And again, why did that happen? Threat of tariffs, I would say. The one for Canada. He says, Canada has agreed to ensure we have a secure northern border and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like fentanyl that have been pouring into our country,

[00:15:17] killing hundreds of thousands of Americans while destroying their families and communities all across the country. And again, I gave you some of those numbers and percentages to give you an idea of the very significant issue. But just before we take a break, I thought this piece by Rich Lowry was very helpful. It is about the issue of the cartels. He uses a title, comes from the movie, The Mexican Government Can't Handle the Truth.

[00:15:45] And he points out that the Mexican people, and of course the Mexican president, did not like, of course, the idea of the tariffs, but they disliked even more his comments about the fact that government was colluding with the drug cartels. Now, I, in my commentary, point out that when we deal with the cartels, either they would not or could not constrain them,

[00:16:14] but that was trying to be gracious because now you have some pretty strong statements made by both sides. Let's go to the president of Mexico who said, we categorically reject the White House's slanderous claim that the Mexico government has alliances with criminal organizations. Mexico's governors chimed in with a joint statement, and they said, we energetically condemn the accusations that suggest that there is a link between our government

[00:16:43] and narco-trafficking cartels. Okay, so this was what was in the Mexican newspapers. So again, should Donald Trump and maybe even the Secretary of State Marco Rubio actually apologize? Well, now let's give you the rest of the story because they don't like to be called out because they certainly weren't called out during the Biden administration. But let's now go to some pretty much left-of-center sources, and this is what they say.

[00:17:13] The New York Times has written that the cartels pay off the police, manipulate mayors, co-opt senior officials, and dominate broad swaths of the country. They also go on to make some other statements about the fact that the response from the president is maybe a protest too much. Then they go on and talk about the fact that the previous president of Mexico, that was Andres Manuel López Obrador,

[00:17:42] that he was kind of their populist president, that he, maybe some people suggested, was even in the pay from criminal gangs. Okay, let's go to another source. That would be ProPublica, which is, again, kind of left of center, and they have alleged that cartel payments worth up to about $2 million went to the previous president, even in his unsuccessful presidential campaign.

[00:18:12] They went on, I'm now quoting from them, according to more than a dozen interviews with U.S. and Mexican officials and government documents reviewed by ProPublica, The money was provided to campaign aides in 2006 in return for a promise that López Obrador's administration would facilitate the traffickers' criminal operations. They go on in another part. The investigation did not establish whether López Obrador sanctioned

[00:18:39] or even knew of the traffickers' reported donations, but officials said the inquiry, which was built on the extensive cooperation of a former campaign operative and a drug informant, a key drug informant, I might add, did produce evidence that one of his closest aides, that is, López Obrador's closest aides, had agreed to the proposed arrangement. Then, one more set of quotes. I think you can get the idea. We can quote others, but you can see kind of where this is going.

[00:19:09] Again, ProPublica says, By some estimates, criminal gangs dominate more than a quarter of the national territory, operating openly, imposing their will on local governments, and often forcing the state and federal authorities to keep their distance. Their violence has hovered near historic levels, while the gangs, extortion rackets, and other criminal enterprises have metastasized into every layer of the economy.

[00:19:37] You can kind of get the idea, but Rich Lowry did not mince words, and he actually quoted from various sources, which certainly would not be sympathetic to Donald Trump, maybe now they're going to try to backtrack, because they don't want to lose the opportunity to develop sources within Mexico, but the reality is, this is sort of understood, and it's one of the reasons why we've had such an influx, because the cartels can move drugs,

[00:20:08] they can move people, of course the traffickers can move children, and sex slaves, and all sorts of things across the border, but now we have American troops on one side of the border, and soon we're going to have Mexican troops on the other side of the border, I think we're going to see some significant changes, and so as you will hear people complain about Donald Trump and his tariffs, and some of the things he said, by the way I have some comments about that, before the end of the program, you might also keep in mind

[00:20:37] that we are dealing with a very different kind of Mexico, actually one that is very different from just about a month ago, maybe I think fair to say even a different Mexico from about a week ago, and the only thing I can think that you could actually attribute that to, might actually be the tariffs we've been talking about, let's take a break, we have some other things, Marco Rubio has been working in a number of areas,

[00:21:07] and want to give you some update on that, and talk about some other things about immigration, and before we're done, did want to make some comments about the plane crash over the Potomac, it didn't used to be that way, we'll talk about that before the end of the program, right after these messages. In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle,

[00:21:36] 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. 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.

[00:22:04] 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? 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

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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. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, let's see if we can get to a couple of other issues. And I have, of course, mentioned the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. And, of course, he has been able to travel to Panama. And that success, I think, came very quickly in which, again, the various officials there in Panama Canal

[00:23:32] pledged to end their deal with China. I think it was overplayed by the President and maybe a little bit of hyperbole to say that China controls the Panama Canal. But, again, we can look back and say there probably were some things that should have been changed. And certainly, one that is coming through is maybe even the idea that various warships that are traveling through the Panama Canal will not have to pay. And, of nothing else,

[00:24:00] that is just one more issue where, again, Donald Trump said this is something we need to deal with. I think some of us rolled our eyes. Sometimes with him we shake our heads. And then, look what's happened. The bigger issue has been what is happening here domestically. And that is, as you well are aware, we have Elon Musk kind of hanging around everywhere. Some of us have said I'm not sure Donald Trump should have given him this much power. But, again,

[00:24:30] he can't stop something unless Congress acts. Or, in some cases, the president can defund an agency or change an agency because it is part of the executive branch. And one of those is USAID. And this is the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. Now, you might, if you really have a great memory, know that sometimes in the past,

[00:25:00] I've talked about some of the things that USAID has done, whether we're talking about Hamas, whether we're talking about what's happening in other countries. And there is quite a long list of things that certain individuals have been engaged in that were probably not what we want our tax dollars to go for. There's a growing list of waste and abuse and fraud at USAID.

[00:25:29] And so that's one of those reasons why Donald Trump just simply wants to disband it. And so, interestingly enough, we have something I didn't see coming. And that is this interview. And you can see it. We have posted that. It is our fourth article in which the interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his trip to, after being in Panama, goes to El Salvador, reports to the individuals there,

[00:25:59] the press, the reporters, that he has been named the acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development. So, again, just subsuming the agency under the State Department. And so, any problems that this sort of independent agency might have is resolved very quickly because the boss is Marco Rubio. Well, there you go. In case you want to hear just a few of the more outrageous things

[00:26:28] that your tax dollars have gone for, there was a kind of spontaneous press gathering with the press secretary for Donald Trump outside the White House. And here's some of the things that she mentioned to the press, which then she posted on X. One and a half million dollars to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces. Seventy thousand dollars for a production

[00:26:58] of a DEI musical in Ireland. Forty seven thousand dollars for a transgender opera in Colombia. India. Thirty two thousand dollars for a transgender comic book in Peru. I can go on, but you get the idea. And that's where in the midst of this she said to the press, I don't know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this. And she uses a word I won't use on the air.

[00:27:28] But you know what we're talking about here. And I think it's a good illustration of the fact that here is one of those agencies. You're probably going to hear people saying, I can't believe that they're going to shut down the USA Department. And that sounds like a really good organization until you kind of see where some of the money gets spent. And at that point you realize, okay, that's probably a good idea. And there is more to come. I did mention this, but again, let's talk about the fact that

[00:27:57] we now have a situation in which individuals have been in this country, both from, like El Salvador, where Marco Rubio has been recently, or Venezuela. And they are under a particular, what is called, temporary protected status. You might remember we talked about some of that because of the concern about some of the Venezuelan gangs and others. And so, the argument

[00:28:26] that is being made now by the head of the Department of Homeland Security, which would be Christy Noem, is that temporary means, I know this is controversial, temporary. And so, the temporary protected status for more than 300,000, I've seen some numbers say 350,000 people from Venezuela, means that in terms of the fact that they may or may not be deported, but the bottom line is this was temporary status.

[00:28:56] Now, why do we have some of those issues? Well, of course, when we were talking about El Salvador, you had a lot of the gangs that were running El Salvador, but the president, Bukele, has put most of those gangs and gang leaders behind bars. Matter of fact, you've probably seen some of the videos if you go out on YouTube showing what has happened to them. It's a lot safer place there now. Of course, it's also been a place where Bitcoin,

[00:29:26] they've got the Bitcoin beach and all sorts of stuff, the economy is growing and it's more safe. So, individuals who came here on a temporary status, well, they can return back. This, of course, gets back to foreign policy. I already talked about the fact that you had Venezuela holding six Americans hostage. Now, they've been released. Also, pushing there because this is an attempt to actually hold them to responsibilities because Venezuela used to be one

[00:29:55] of the wealthier countries in South America. But, of course, when you then go to socialism and Marxism, that's not the case. And so, Venezuela has agreed to accept the return of those nationals, even including those who were involved in criminal activities. And so, that is, I think, going to be the movement of these individuals who were here under what is called temporary protected status, TPS.

[00:30:24] You've had the vice president, J.D. Vance, talk about that. So, again, those are some success stories there as well. And that was something acted upon by the secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Just before we take a break, and I've got some final comments here, I thought I would have a shout out to our friends in Georgia. I was there last week. But, the first Liberty Institute has a success story there. Lee announced

[00:30:53] that at Georgia State University, it will now allow the evangelist, Stephen Atkerson, to speak with students on campus about his Christian faith when he's invited by students to engage in the conversation. You may remember a couple weeks ago, if you were listening on Friday, Kelly pointed out the fact that he would sometimes be in a place which was designated a free speech place. I'm sorry, but I thought their free speech

[00:31:23] was allowed anywhere on a campus, but apparently not. And so then, when it was raining, they went over to a place where some of the students were wanting to get out of the rain and some of them ordered lunch. They started asking him, you know, a little bit more about their Christian life. And he began to share that and, of course, was told that that was the case. So, here they're at a table outside the dining hall, really due to the weather, and the conversation was halted by three police officers.

[00:31:52] These were campus police officers, I believe, and told that either you go back to the free speech area or you'll be escorted off of campus. And so now, we have Georgia State University allowing this evangelist Stephen Eckerson to speak with students. And, of course, it's based on the assumption they're going to ask to actually be spoken to, but nevertheless, just wanted to let you know a victory. And as I've said to many of my friends that I met this last week

[00:32:22] in Georgia, it seems like every time we turn around we're talking about something happening in Georgia, and there's just another success story about that as well. One last one I thought I'd mention, if you've heard this program before, we've talked about this program called Passages, and we've had the head of Passages on the program. It's where they take Christian young people and they take them to Israel so they can learn more about Israel. It's a good way to really challenge some of the anti-Semitic bias

[00:32:51] on college campuses. Well, it turns out that the new CEO of Passages is Zachary Bauer. If that name sounds familiar, that's Gary Bauer's son. So maybe we'll get Zachary Bauer, Gary Bauer's son, on here to talk about that. In the latest issue of, of course, the End of Day Report, he talks about an interview they did with his son, Zachary, with the Jewish Insider, and you can learn a little bit more about that as well.

[00:33:21] But just another one of those little pieces of news that I thought you'd like to know. And next time we have Gary Bauer on, I suspect we might have him on during our Truth Team next month. We will maybe talk about that, or maybe we'll just have his son on to talk about some of the things Passages is doing, taking Christian young people to Israel. Let's take a break. We have one more comment or two right after this.

[00:33:55] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Well, let me just give you a little bit of an understanding of what we're going to be talking about tomorrow. First of all, we're going to be talking with Jason Carver. His new book is 40 Day Stand for Marriage Restoration, a 40-day journey empowering you to stand supernaturally for marriage restoration. His story, first of all, is incredible. That is, he says goodbye to his wife and children and comes back

[00:34:24] and his wife is not there, his daughters are not there, they have moved out and that looks like the end of the marriage. It ends up with all sorts of things including a divorce but then eventual reconciliation and restoration and so it's a really powerful story for him but also just a reminder as we talk about so often here, couples many times go to the divorce courts to end a marriage that other couples

[00:34:54] are willing to work through and bring about some success. So we're going to spend some time talking with him and really just encouraging you to work on your marriage and I think you'll appreciate that. So that's what we'll talk about the first hour. The second hour for those of you watching online really relates to this. Now if you're watching online you see that I've got a picture of Luka Donjic. You might say where are you going with this? Well stay tuned here. Luka Donjic if you're not familiar and you may not be

[00:35:23] he's one of the best basketball players in the world and just the other day right here in Dallas the Dallas Mavericks traded him away a franchise star. Okay so what? I don't care about the NBA. Well there have been a lot of people trying to figure out why this looks like the worst trade in the history of the NBA and then people started pointing out that the Mavericks are not owned by Mark Cuban they're owned by the Adelson

[00:35:53] family and the Adelson family of course made their fortune in gambling and there are some that are suggesting that this has a lot to do with the attempt to trying to build a new arena in the Dallas Fort Worth area that would have a casino and of course if you're not familiar when you talk about gambling one of the biggest prizes for people that are in the gambling area is the state of Texas because it has been virtually impossible

[00:36:23] to get a casino here in large part because of if you will the Texas Senate and the lieutenant governor and others and so sports betting and gambling are not legal in Texas and there have been attempts by this family which now owns the Mavericks and others spending enormous amounts of money lobbying trying to get that to take place well whether the incredibly

[00:36:51] foolhardy trade of Luka Donchuk is due to gambling and I'll give you the whole story tomorrow because there's a very good social media essay by Christopher Credeville or not we also are headed this Sunday to what? Super Bowl more sports gambling will take place this Sunday than any other day and so again I want to talk about this we have probably not covered the issue of gambling in general and sports

[00:37:21] gambling in particular here on Point of View for many years but it seemed like a good time to do so it's one of those things that I have spoken on in the past as a matter of fact just as a footnote I think the first time I was ever on the McNeil-Lerer news hour on public broadcasting is when they had me doing a debate it was supposed to be with at the time Jimmy the Greek but ended up being with somebody else who was doing sports betting and sports gambling and of course that has

[00:37:50] taken the country by storm and I think it's about time to maybe talk a little bit about some of the dangers of gambling some of the impact I think the negative impact that sports gambling has had on sports and would certainly welcome your phone calls and comments and questions as well so whether we look at the trade of Luka Donchuk to the Los Angeles Lakers or whether we look at the sports gambling

[00:38:20] for the Super Bowl and others I think it is certainly something that we do need to talk about and so second hour tomorrow that's kind of what we're going to focus on for a while and if you have some comments or questions agreement or disagreement let's open up the phones and give you a chance to join that conversation there as well but I thought I'd end by a piece that came out just recently which had the arresting title what none of us want to admit about the plane

[00:38:50] crash over the Potomac and I do it in part because of the younger listeners here because the writer puts it this way it didn't used to be like this it

[00:39:52] being ingested and analyzed and scrutinized and dissected by countless millions, too many of whom rushed to social media to spawn their conspiracy theories. Here we go. That had to be intentional. There must have been someone on the plane that the government wanted dead. Or otherwise cannon fodder for the political marksman. This is the result of DEI programs on the one side,

[00:40:20] or it's no coincidence that Donald Trump made cuts to the FAA eight days before this happened on the other. And he points out, and I think wisely so, not only have we lost our ability to keep our mouths shut, that's the president and everybody on social media, and grieve with one another when a tragedy strikes, we've lost our ability to accept that sorrow, tragedy, and disasters happen

[00:40:46] with all too common frequency in this fallen world. Of course, from there, it gives a great, if you will, evangelistic close, which I think we need to hear. We should, I think, just step back when a shooting takes place, a crash takes place, an earthquake, a tornado, a fire, whatever it might be, and just simply step back and say, this is just a tragedy. We should lament. We've done programs on Point of View to Lament,

[00:41:16] and maybe be a lot more likely to be quick to listen and slow to speak. Hey, isn't that in the Bible? Yeah, I think it is, as a matter of fact. And it's just a reminder for especially some of our younger listeners, it didn't used to be this way, and maybe it's time to go back to the way in which it was. I know the news organizations are eager to bring all that to us immediately,

[00:41:41] and they're trying to get ratings and eyeballs and attention, but I think we've lost something in this 24-7 fast-paced society. And too many times people have used this to spawn a conspiracy theory that makes no sense or to use that to advance your political agenda. Maybe it's time for us as Christians to step back, pray for the families that are left behind,

[00:42:09] and certainly search for answers to prevent it from happening once again. Well, that's enough of my sermon, but I thought I would at least take the time to acknowledge that we've had a plane crash, and we're probably going to learn a lot more in the future. But if you are concerned about the plight of many marriages, I would encourage you to listen in tomorrow and talk about restoration. And if indeed you, like me, are convinced that maybe this whole idea of gambling

[00:42:37] and especially sports gambling has gotten out of hand, maybe we can get into some conversation about that tomorrow here on Point of View. Once again, you can find lots of information about the various topics we've addressed, all sorts of articles we've posted. You can find them on the website pointofview.net. My very important commentary today, three of the hardest words. I think you'll appreciate that commentary. Most importantly, I appreciate what Megan does engineering the program and what Steve does producing the program.

[00:43:07] We'll see you back here tomorrow right here on Point of View. 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. 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.

[00:43:37] 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. 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.

[00:44:03] 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. Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.