Point of View January 13, 2025 – Hour 2 : Weekend Headlines

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today, let me, if I can for just a minute, talk about our Take Action item. I mentioned it as we are going out for a break, but since I had guests in studio, I thought I'd just wait until the second hour to talk about that.

[00:00:31] And if you go to our website right now, pointofview.net, you will see that we have a Take Action item. And it really starts with a very simple question. Do you believe the president has the right to choose his cabinet members? That's an important question, and it is one that we think deserves an answer from your two U.S. Senators. Now, we actually have some quotes that you might want to go to.

[00:00:56] One that comes from former Senator Judd Gregg, who was a Republican from New Hampshire, who said at the time years ago that I think the president has the right to choose his cabinet, as long as those members have integrity, haven't misrepresented things or haven't done things that were improper. And you have, of course, Chuck Schumer said back in 2021, we need qualify Senate confirmed people not in an acting capacity in key national security position on day one,

[00:01:24] including Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of State, Attorney General and others. So you have a Democrat, Chuck Schumer, back when, of course, they were talking about Biden nominees that needed to be ready to hit the ground day one. And you have, of course, the quote that we give to you from former Senator Judd Gregg about that as well.

[00:01:50] And so if you go to our website right now, pointofview.net, middle section says take action. And it is a way in which you can encourage your two United States senators to confirm individuals. Let's hope that that takes place. We recognize there are one or two at least, maybe three or four, depending on which count you use of individuals that may be controversial.

[00:02:17] But at the same time, if we want to see a government that is going to be functioning properly, it is time to get those confirmations. And that is happening this week. So this is your take action item. We'll talk about it again throughout the week and we'll even give you a little bit of an update on who was confirmed.

[00:02:38] All of this, of course, is due to the fact that the Constitution does provide an opportunity for the United States Senate to provide advice and consent. That has been interpreted to mean that you actually have to be confirmed if you're in certain positions. That's not in the Constitution. Those are later decisions about what requires Senate confirmation, what does not.

[00:03:04] And of course, we've talked about some of the games that have been played over the years by if the Senate won't confirm an individual, sometimes a resource, a recess appointment. Don't need to go that direction. Let's hope. So that is our action item for you today. No doubt you also probably will be able to respond to that from an email that will be coming out. But either way, go to the website, respond to the email. Here's a way in which you can contact your two senators. And we're going to have a lot of other action items.

[00:03:33] But this one should be pretty straightforward. But then again, you never know. Let's get to the wildfires in California. Twenty-four dead. At least 12,000 structures destroyed. I mean, words kind of are impossible to come up with. There are all sorts of images. This is an apocalypse. This is one of the great disasters.

[00:03:59] And it certainly reminds you of things like the San Francisco earthquake or some of the great hurricanes or floods like the Johnstown flood. But whatever it might be, this is just an incredible disaster. And yet, the issue that has surfaced is whether or not a fire that already is raging could have been contained with the right policies.

[00:04:28] And it brings me to my first article. It was one we were going to use for Friday. But we had enough ice around here. Didn't want to have everybody having to race around in the ice and snow. So this is one that I decided to bring to Monday. And it's by Noah Rothman, in which it's called The Crisis of Democratic Overconfidence.

[00:04:49] Now, if you remember, during the time in which we had the virus, the pandemic, the vaccines, the masking, the six-foot distance and all the rest, Kelly Shackleford raised a good question. And that is, when you don't know, maybe the best thing to do is to say, you don't know. But what we had sometimes is people almost arrogantly saying, we know what is right and you need to follow this and we will punish you if you don't.

[00:05:19] And so it gets into this idea that sometimes you make a mistake, you admit that you make a mistake or you don't know or you don't know why. Or maybe you thought this was going to be the best policy. It didn't turn out. But this sense of overconfidence is the point he's talking about.

[00:05:36] And of all things, he quotes an individual, Nate Glazier, also Nathaniel Glazier, who wrote and actually in a lecture back in 1993, that one of the reasons we have in some cases so much dysfunction in many of our cities is due to the fact that, here's his quote, people that are voters elect to manage urban life simply got bored with the job description.

[00:06:04] So the people that the voters elected, they just sort of got bored with all the basic stuff. He goes on to say, New York stopped trying to tell and do well the kinds of things a city can do and started trying to do things that a city cannot do. The idea is, is that you really want to keep the streets and bridges in repair. You want to build new facilities that accommodate needs.

[00:06:33] But once you start getting involved in, well, that's kind of boring to make sure that every pothole has a pothole cover and is actually taken care of and every manhole cover is on every manhole. I probably should. It's that way. And we make sure that the bridges are not in disrepair.

[00:06:54] You start then thinking, well, maybe what I need to do as a mayor, city council is try to end racism, eradicate poverty, maybe even see if I can try to change the weather, as he points out.

[00:07:09] And he says this is a good example of this, because he says the people in Los Angeles have long elevated politicians who believe they have a writ to, for example, eliminate racial disparities, achieve equality and equity by disrupting harmful trends and transforming systems and policies. And that is a quote from the head of the urban league in Los Angeles.

[00:07:34] And that's kind of why many of the voters thought, well, then let's elect L.A. Mayor Karen Bass to actually try to, if you think about this, treat the city's fire departments as kind of a social experiment. And as a result, of course, we have all sorts of questions that are now being raised, legitimately so, because of her decision to cut the city's fire department budget by $17 million.

[00:08:04] I'll get to, in just a minute, another thing that she was going to do that indeed didn't exactly turn out so well and as a result was not taking place, because fortunately a few days after that recommendation, we had these fires in Los Angeles. But I think it is important to recognize that we're going to be talking about this for a long time.

[00:08:26] 12,000 structures, houses, apartments, churches in a few cases, even a couple places, fire departments, city council chambers, all destroyed. We'll come back and talk about what happened in Los Angeles right after this.

[00:08:57] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. A week from now, Donald Trump will take office and the Biden presidency will end. Jeff Carrere put together a few statistics that put some of the Biden presidency in perspective. His legacy will last longer than his presidency since 235 federal judges have been confirmed while he was president. This total surpasses the total number of judicial confirmations during President Trump's administration.

[00:09:26] Congress also passed a bill that would have added additional judgeships to relieve some of the backlog in federal cases. Although the bill was passed by both houses of Congress, President Biden vetoed the bill perhaps because Trump will now be in office and could nominate judges for those positions. The totals on the economic front should concern all Americans. The Biden administration and Congress added an additional $8.5 trillion to the national debt.

[00:09:51] It stands at $36 trillion or over $323,000 per American taxpayer. Inflation and interest rates outpaced wage growth and families fell deeper into debt. The average home is valued at 7.6 times greater than the median household income. And according to a recent report from the House Committee on Homeland Security, 10 million illegal migrants entered the country from fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2024.

[00:10:18] And that number does not count the approximately 2 million who entered without encountering Customs and Border Protection, the so-called gotaways. This is the situation Donald Trump will inherit next week. And I think it is fair to say this is not what the American people voted for four years ago and some of the reasons why they voted differently in 2024. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:47] For a free copy of Kirby's booklet, A Biblical View on Critical Race Theory, go to viewpoints.info.com. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Pat, once again, let me just mention that, of course, any fire has taken place, and certainly that is something to pay attention to. I grew up in California, in Northern California, and there was a time later on after I left home,

[00:11:15] but while my brother and his family are still being raised in the house we grew up in, in which fire almost destroyed that home, so we recognize that these homes in Northern California, and especially in Southern California, are always potential fire hazards because of the environment around. But the question a lot of people are asking is, would we have been in a better situation with individuals that enacted better policies?

[00:11:44] And the argument from Noah Rothman is, is that we have this sort of almost democratic overconfidence, and so as a result, you now are starting to see over 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for the resignation of the mayor of Los Angeles. Saw a piece the other day saying, how is it that Governor Gavin Newsom is still the governor? And, you know, so these are inevitably going to come out. But back to, of course, the mayor of Los Angeles,

[00:12:13] as Noah Rothman points out, when disaster struck, of course, this particular individual, Karen Bass, was in a junket in Ghana. The mayor appeared quite literally dumbfounded. If you need help, emergency information, resources, and shelters available, she told residents, all you can do is found at the URL, but didn't tell what the URL was, the actual address of the website. Sort of good luck. And, of course,

[00:12:42] I saw Gary Bauer the other day say, the reason Karen Bass was not there is she went to the inauguration. Not the inauguration of Donald Trump. She wouldn't be caught dead there. But the inauguration of the president in Ghana. And, of course, you also have the question about insurance. Because, as Noah Rothman points out, many of the people in California who lost their homes may be underinsured because private home insurers have been fleeing the state, forcing residents to rely

[00:13:12] on a publicly funded stopgap program. You can kind of see where this is going to go. First of all, there is going to be a requirement that insurers have to actually come back to California to insure. There are regulations that require, in some cases I've heard, up to 85% of really high-risk areas need to be insured. And it's like, why would you want to do that if you can't even begin to know whether or not you could even break even?

[00:13:42] And then, most states, matter of fact, 49 states have what is called insurance on insurance. I was unaware of that until recently. It's called reinsurance. There's one state that does not allow that. Which one would you guess? California. So, again, there are some things that are really happening here. Now, in just a minute, I want to get to another one because we're going to hear, of course, that it's the problem of the insurance companies. It's maybe the problem of climate change. We'll get to that

[00:14:11] in just a minute. It's maybe the problem of the fact that we don't have, we aren't taxing the individuals enough. Sooner or later, you know it's going to be Donald Trump's problem, of course. They're going to find any reason to not acknowledge that maybe some of this could have been mitigated in a significant way. And so, of course, we also have the other issue, and that is, as he points out,

[00:14:41] the first responders actually ran out of water. And the real estate developer and former candidate for mayor, Rick Caruso, maintains that the local reservoirs were not filled to meet the emergency demand. Of course, you've probably heard the story now. For those of you watching online, here is the reservoir in Palisades. You might recognize that Pacific Palisades is where this particular fire was most devastating. And you can see

[00:15:11] by the picture I have here that this reservoir is completely empty. And it was empty because it was scheduled for maintenance at a time when we were in fire season. Again, sometimes it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and say the coulda, shoulda, woulda, but there are some things that are causing a lot of people to ask political questions about an environmental disaster that is unfolded. Now, one of the questions

[00:15:40] that we also address, and this comes from the editors of the Wall Street Journal, is that certainly Los Angeles wildfires are very awful to behold, and certainly that is something that we should always be aware of the danger. But the editors say instead of trying like Don Quixote to change the climate, maybe they could spend their money on mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. So even if you believe

[00:16:10] that climate change is the reason for this, and I don't believe that it is, I believe the winds, the fires, and a couple of issues of fire management we'll get to in just a minute, are, again, you can blame the blazes on climate change, but okay, then recognize if indeed that is what you believe is the problem, what did you do to mitigate against that problem? And as we have seen the back and forth,

[00:16:39] we've had Donald Trump, who is never going to let an issue like this rest without making a few comments, has pointed out that much of this mismanagement goes all the way back to Sacramento, California. For example, as the editors point out, the state never has had enough of water to go around because much of the Sierra Nevada snowpack, one of the state's largest natural reservoirs, gets flushed out into the Pacific Ocean

[00:17:08] rather than stored for dry years. And farmers, interestingly enough, received only 50% of their allocation this past year despite the fact that you have two very wet winters and Donald Trump made an issue about the question of species protection. Now that brings us to the Delta smelt. The Delta smelt is about this long, two inches, about 10 grams. They discovered it

[00:17:37] years ago and have used it to block any kind of water releases in Central and Southern California. And so, as a result, you can see that this little Delta smelt has actually changed some of the water that could have been sent in the right direction because there's a lot more water in Northern California than there is in Southern California. But again, the consumption of water, as we are told,

[00:18:06] by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, who, by the way, makes $750,000 a year, was faster than water in the trunk line can be provided, which I think brings us back to supply and demand. By the way, I might just mention, I might do a commentary on this, but there was a other fish known as a snail darter, which was used to prevent a dam in Tennessee.

[00:18:35] And since I went to Yale University and also took classes in biology and environmental issues, the other day I received a post in which, after all these years, the geneticist working at Yale University at the snail darter concluded that it really was not a unique or endangered species. It was very much like many of the other fish. So, who knows what we'll find out about this Delta smelt,

[00:19:04] but the snail darter back in, well, this goes back decades, so some of my younger audience wouldn't even know what that was that was used to prevent a dam. Turns out, well, now that we've done the research, we recognize genetically it's really no different. A couple more things real quickly. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is a local municipal utility, struggled to maintain its system, and yet you've got to recognize they have to maintain 7,337

[00:19:34] miles of pipe, which on average are more than 60 years of age. You might say, well, why don't they update that? Well, again, the editors of the Wall Street Journal say, unfortunately, California politicians prefer to spend money on income transfers and green subsidies that buy votes than infrastructure that pays off in the future. And, of course, you have one other issue because the demand for renewable energy

[00:20:03] mandates have forced Pacific Gas and Electric to spend heavily on wind, solar, and batter power in expense that, in many cases, prevents them from upgrading the aging power lines that, in some cases, in the past, have actually sparked some of the state's most catastrophic fires. And, of course, we mentioned the governor deciding to cut back on some various issues

[00:20:32] as well as the mayor cutting back some budget elements as well. So, there's a lot more to say when we come back. I'll make a few other comments. If nothing else, this very good piece, which I haven't posted, which we can if you'd like to read it, which came out by Michael Schellebarger, who is a leftist center environmental activist, but has been, in some respects, overreacting and reacting to some of the leftist comments, has this very

[00:21:02] long explanation about how so many times over the last couple of days, there has been disinformation and misinformation, but it hasn't really been coming from the people writing in some of these blog posts. It's actually come from people in the California government. We'll talk about that with Michael Schellebarger right after this. There is an old

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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 me just mention again we have an action item for you. Do you believe the president has the right to choose his cabinet members? And this is a good time for you to contact your two senators. This particular lead article, Senate braces for train wreck as hearings kick off

[00:23:31] our Trump cabinet picks. Some are expected to have smooth confirmation paths like Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, while others like Defense Secretary of Pete Higseth face headwinds. So we'll see where those take us, and some of those are going to take place as recently as tomorrow. And so again, something very important for you if you wanted to contact your two senators, we make that easy for you. And just for another few minutes, I wanted

[00:24:01] to spend some more time talking about California. I recognize many of you listening to this program don't live in California, but in some respects, it's reminiscent of the book that we had last week with Tim Anaya. We talked about the California Left Coast Survivors Guide, which was kind of almost a Babylon Bee kind of piece, but the argument he was making is, okay, we live in California, Pacific Justice, but nevertheless, many others of you don't, but it's a cautionary

[00:24:30] tale to learn from that. And I thought we would come to at least one other article I've posted by Alicia Finley, how the left turned California into a paradise lost. I grew up at a time when you had Republicans and Democrats in the Assembly and in the Senate. My father, I remember running for California Assembly in 1960, and then again in 1962, lost both of those races, but in 1966, right? Yeah, I guess it was

[00:24:59] 62 and 64, that's right, and then in 66 we had, of course, Ronald Reagan as the governor. But now you have essentially a super majority of Democrats, and as a result, that is very different. And Alicia Finley starts off with really asking an important question. After the November election, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, announced his plans to Trump-proof the golden state. How about fire-proofing?

[00:25:29] Los Angeles' horrific fires, she said, are exposing the cost of some of these progressive policies. When even wealthy liberals in the Palisades palaces cannot escape. And she talks about a couple of issues. First of all, start with the environmental obsessions. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 2019 sought to widen a fire access road and replace old wooden utility poles in one of the canyons there with

[00:25:58] steel ones to make power lines fire and wind resistant. That makes sense. In the process, though, they removed a number of milk vetch plants, which were considered and are considered an endangered species. The utility halted the project as state officials investigated the destruction of the plant. More than a year later, the California Coastal Commission, you're going to be hearing a lot about them in the next few weeks, issued a cease and desist order and fined the

[00:26:27] utility $2 million and required mitigation for the project's impact on the species. species. Now, Elisa Finley, with tongue placed in cheek, having a little bit of fun here, said, since the milk vetch requires wildfires to propagate, the only way to boost its numbers is to let the land burn. A cynic might wonder if environmentalists interfered with fire suppression and prevention in hopes of evicting humans from what they view as the plant's rightful habitat. Okay, she's kidding, but

[00:26:56] only slightly. And then he says, look at the misallocation of the resources. Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristen Crowley complained that the city cut her budget by $17 million. I just mentioned that a few minutes ago this spring, which she said reduced overtime compensation and interfered with wildfire preparation. But in truth, this is the real issue, and I'd only found this in the Lisa Finley article. The budget didn't really shrink.

[00:27:26] What happens is you had a new union contract that boosted the pay and benefits of 70 by 76 million, or about $20,000 per firefighter. And even before this race, firefighters on average earned from $200,000 plus $90,000 in benefits. Many can retire at 55, age 55, with pensions equally 90% of their final salaries. And so when you talk about right now, Los Angeles spent

[00:27:54] $350 million this year on firefighter pensions and benefits, much of that could have been used on fire prevention, but nevertheless just illustrates again some of the budget priorities because after all, one of those priorities, you knew it was coming, DEI, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. And the fire department has nine DEI positions.

[00:28:24] So when you hear people talking about some of this is due to wokeness, yeah, I think it's probably a fair criticism. And then you have a couple of others. Consider, as she points out, the state's response to crime and homelessness, which may have contributed to the fires. Last year, Park Fire, which is the fourth largest in the state's history, was allegedly ignited by a man with two prior felony convictions who was on parole for DUI.

[00:28:53] And the Los Angeles Times reported that in early 2021 that 24 fires on average were breaking out each day. And of course, you might have seen the story of a number of good Samaritans who on Thursday last week detained a homeless man who was using a flamethrower to incinerate Christmas trees and garbage cans around the same time as the major fire erupting. We don't know where they

[00:29:23] came from, but you can certainly do a guess. Which brings me to a piece which I did not post. Maybe I'll post it tomorrow by Michael Schellenberger because Michael Schellenberger has been an individual who really would I describe himself as left of center. He has an office in Berkeley, California, but he's also best known for this book, which we've quoted on a number of occasions on our especially in our booklet on homelessness called San Francisco in

[00:29:51] which he takes on some of these so-called disinformation misinformation claims. For example, that racial and gender quotas through DEI aren't to blame. No, Mayor Karen Bass didn't cut the fire department's budget. No, Gavin Newsom didn't cut Cal Fire's wildlife and wildfire prevention budget. And no, there wasn't any way to prevent these fires or the fire hydrants from

[00:30:20] running out of water because all of this is due to climate change. Michael Schellenberger says they're all lies. The fire department had made DEI such a priority that the city's deputy fire chief dismissed concerns that women would not be able to carry a man out of a fire by saying he got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of the fire. And so, again, that's one of the DEI ideas.

[00:30:49] Also, he points out that maybe some nuances required. An offhand comment by the fire chief is not proof that DEI contributed to an inadequate response. But the disaster has been decades in the making because Los Angeles leaders have known the city was unprepared for the catastrophic fires ever since the Bel Air fire of 1961. But again, you have, as we

[00:31:19] pointed out before, the city council in November approved $53 million to raise salaries and fundings. But that's completely irrelevant, he says, because Karen Bass, the mayor, actually cut, which her file chief last month said severely limited the department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large scale emergencies, including wildfires. And this is why you have the

[00:31:48] owner of the Los Angeles Times went on national television to call it crazy that we don't elect leaders with more competence. And as he's reported before, because he's become quite the expert on the issue of homelessness, he says over half of the fires that the L.A. Fire Department put out are started by the homeless. And these have been going on for some time. I gave you some of the facts and figures on that just a few minutes ago.

[00:32:17] And as he also points out, even though there had been some cuts, there was a leaked Los Angeles government memo that revealed that Mayor Karen Bass had also intended to cut an additional $49 million on top of the $17 million already cut. But that was released just about days before, or was going to be implemented just days before, of course, the fire that changed everything.

[00:32:46] And so finally, he asked the question, why do the L.A. Times and others in the media defend Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom? He says, well, they officially endorse them. They actively campaign for them. And in particular, they are certainly interested in trying to maintain the kind of impact that they've had. So he raises some very good questions. He deals with some of the issues of disinformation and misinformation

[00:33:16] and points out that a lot of those are coming from people who are in positions, political positions of leadership in California government. Well, that's it all for California. I'm sure we'll be talking about it for days. But I just think, once again, it's a cautionary tale and a reminder that you really want to elect mayors and people in city councils that really want to deal with the boring things like fire suppression and infrastructure.

[00:33:46] We'll take a break. Come back with more right after this. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes. Let me just mention tomorrow we're going to be talking about Tolkien and philosophy of war. I think you'll be really interested in that. And then we'll get back to some of the issues in the news. But let's recognize that a week from today we have an inauguration of the President of the United States.

[00:34:15] By that time, I think some of the individuals that will be considered by the U.S. Senate this week will be confirmed. And again, if you would like to take the time to contact your two United States senators to encourage them to quickly confirm some of these individuals so they can hit the ground running on day one, you can go to the website pointofview.net. Let me also mention that as we begin this new year and as we have a new administration, one of the great

[00:34:44] challenges will be China. So I've posted this particular article about China's military buildup, which is larger since Nazi Germany in the 1930s. This is the kind of story that deserves to be covered more extensively and is not. I might just mention for those of you that are donors to point of view, we have a future outlook magazine that covers this in a lot more detail. But whether you support point of view or

[00:35:13] not, I think you might want to get this particular article. It's all of about two and a half pages. And it is based upon this report that comes from the Department of Defense, 182 page report, in which they make it very clear that China is conducting the largest military buildup since that of the 1930s under Nazi Germany. Now, prior to this, we recognize that there

[00:35:40] had been some of that taking place, but there is a lot more evidence of it. And a lot of this comes from Colonel Grant Neusom, who is an individual who was a Marine liaison officer to Japan. He has written a book, which I would commend to you, called When China Attacks, A Warning to America, in which he spent some time really dealing with this issue. He's also a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy and has said, really, this

[00:36:09] military buildup has been going on for 30 years. Whether we've had a Republican in the White House or the Democrat in the White House, as a matter of fact, if anything, during these last four years under Joe Biden, they have been emboldened by their perception of American weakness and decline. He does point out, though, that the first administration was the first one in my lifetime that actually frightened Beijing. And so that is the case.

[00:36:38] But he also argues that Beijing, that is China, and the Chinese communist leaders will not let up in their quest to dominate and even defeat, if possible, the U.S. and the U.S. military. And this is a multifold strategy that they are implementing, which involves military, cyber attacks, and a variety of others. And for those of you that actually support Point of View, as we've pointed out before,

[00:37:05] if you give to Point of View a dollar a day, $30 a month, $360 a year, however you want to do that, or more, you will receive not only the monthly Outlook magazine, but also the booklet. And I'm probably going to do a booklet on this whole issue of China as well. But we have an issue coming out next month on the subject of China, which goes into a lot more detail and something that this new administration and whoever becomes the

[00:37:34] Secretary of Defense will have to address. So that article is there for you. And of course, that one's free of charge. But if you would want to support this ministry, one of the benefits is all the material that we mail to you, which includes the magazine as well as the monthly booklets. But as we wind down, this might put a smile on your face. What about all the things Donald Trump has been saying? OK, I only have five minutes, so we'll have to make it quick.

[00:38:03] What about wanting Canada to be the 51st state? What about wanting to take over the Panama Canal? What about buying Greenland? OK, you've got to have to have a smile on your face because you just never know what the incoming president is going to say. But this piece that came out from the Wall Street Journal kind of pokes some holes in some of the things that the president or incoming president-elect is saying. But I love how they start.

[00:38:33] Donald Trump has always enjoyed talking real estate. But these days, instead of hotels or condos, his acquisition targets are sovereign nations and territories. Let's look at them. One, two, three. Number one, of course, Canada, pure trolling. No doubt about that. And of course, that has been kind of interesting because now all of a sudden we have a very different possibility of who the new prime minister might be.

[00:39:01] And that would be Pierre Pilyev. And so maybe that has helped in that regard. But nevertheless, they say this is pure trolling. Mr. Trump likes to taunt Canadians progressive prime minister Justin Trudeau, of course, who's now going to be stepping down and even belittling him as governor of the soon to be 51st state. Of course, that's not going to happen. But the argument he's been making is that Canada doesn't pull its weight in NATO.

[00:39:32] And if you're going to be part of the North American Treaty Organization, you need to give a little bit more. And if you can't actually come up with the money, well, then maybe we should just annex you and become the 51st state. Canada doesn't want to be the 51st state. We don't want Canada as the 51st state. But if nothing else, he's trolling them for sure. What about Panama?

[00:39:58] The editors of the Wall Street Journal say on Panama, it's kind of a muddle. He says, well, Panama is vital to our country and it's being operated by China. OK, that's a little bit overdone, but not completely. And the argument that he makes is that the handover of the canal under Jimmy Carter, who just had his funeral, is a big mistake. And he argues that's one of the reasons Jimmy Carter lost the election.

[00:40:27] Well, I think there were many other ones. But nevertheless, the Panama Canal is the second one. The third one, though, the editors of the Wall Street Journal say Greenland. It's intriguing. Of course, Donald Trump says we need Greenland for national security purposes. People have been talking about it for a long time. And I did not know this until I read this editorial that back when you had the Secretary of State, William Seward, who actually was the one that negotiated the

[00:40:56] purchase of Alaska for in 1867. When I was in Juneau, Alaska, they have a statue of William Seward. He also talked about not only buying Alaska, which he did, but also buying Greenland. And, of course, if you're not familiar, Greenland is a place where we do have military bases. And so they said, you know, I don't know, Trump might be serious on that. But is it really possible we could buy Greenland from Denmark or anything? Probably not.

[00:41:26] But one possible option, they point out, might be a defense-free association compact with Greenland, similar to what we have with the Pacific Island states. So if you've been trying to make any kind of sense out of some of the statements the president-elect is making, this piece from the Wall Street Journal, which they called Trump's Bully Pulpit Diplomacy, kind of helps you understand maybe what he means about Canada, Panama, and Greenland.

[00:41:55] We'll keep following that. I don't know that any of them will take place, but I've given up trying to make predictions when Donald Trump is the individual involved in making those predictions. Let me one last time, though, mention that if you would like to know a little bit more about the film that we talked about with both Nate and Derek, that film is entitled Brave the Dark. Click on that button. There's a place for you to find out more about that.

[00:42:24] I think you would really appreciate that. If you would want to send it to someone, we have a red button that says watch or listen since they were in studio with us. You could send it on to others that might benefit from this. I think it would be a great outreach opportunity for young people that are really struggling. And of the else, again, it is PG-13, so those warnings are appropriate. But again, we have that. And, of course, we have the various articles I've just been quoted from today.

[00:42:52] First of all, I want to thank Megan for help engineering the program. I would also encourage you to see some of the highlights she's posting these days on Spotify. And I also want to thank Steve for producing this program. And we look forward to seeing you 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.

[00:43:20] 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. 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.

[00:43:49] 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. 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.

[00:44:19] Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.