Point of View January 2, 2025 – Hour 2 : Thursday’s Headlines

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

[00:00:20] Second hour today and this was of course not the way to start out the new year, a rather bloody and terrifying existence, at least for those in New Orleans and for a while wondering if this was just the beginning of other terrorist activities that might unfold.

[00:00:36] We now have a little bit more specificity to what has happened in New Orleans and Las Vegas, but let's see if we can kind of put this together.

[00:00:45] First of all, one of the articles I've posted here is by Gabriella Killett, who I think was kind of gives us a good quick summary of what has taken place in case you haven't been in the news cycle.

[00:00:56] And I know some people have said, I'm just hearing about this now.

[00:00:59] Well, again, that's because sometimes the news doesn't travel as easily and I know some of you say, the only place I get my news is from Point of View.

[00:01:08] So let me tell you what we do know.

[00:01:10] And that is the individual who was able to now, I guess the number is up to 15 and more and about three dozen individuals that have been injured,

[00:01:21] plowed a truck, a Ford pickup truck through a crowd in Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning, about 3 a.m. in the morning there.

[00:01:30] We confirmed his name.

[00:01:32] I tend not to give it, but it is a name that sounds Muslim and probably no surprise there.

[00:01:38] Forty two years of age.

[00:01:40] The truck appeared to be rented.

[00:01:43] We now know that it was.

[00:01:44] As a matter of fact, as I mentioned in the last hour, it was rented interesting enough by the using the same car rental app as the other individual that blew up the Tesla truck in front of the Trump facility.

[00:02:02] There was a Trump International Hotel might give the right name there.

[00:02:06] And then a little bit later, after he was shot down by the police, there was a fire that broke out, which many people believe might have been limited to that as well because of maybe an IED that finally went off.

[00:02:21] So that's kind of what we know so far.

[00:02:25] Although I want to add to this as we go along because the FBI has said today that it believes that the suspect in the New Orleans New Year's Day attack acted alone.

[00:02:38] Probably true.

[00:02:39] Oh, there were sub for a while that wondered if there were other accomplices and also said that there was no definitive link between that attack, which killed 15 people.

[00:02:51] And the individual that exploded the Tesla cyber truck outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas hours later.

[00:03:00] That being the case, you've already heard my skepticism, but let me repeat it once again.

[00:03:06] And that is you have two individuals on different sides of the country, if you will, that are actually using the very same car rental app.

[00:03:18] Both rented vehicles going to the heart of two of these great American cities with a goal to try to kill as many as possible.

[00:03:28] The driver of the Tesla cyber truck is from Colorado.

[00:03:33] The individual that drove the Ford truck is from Texas.

[00:03:37] And in some respects, it's going to get me in just a minute into the topic, which we've addressed before on this program, even done programs on this in terms of the idea of homegrown jihadists as well.

[00:03:50] But, of course, part of the difficulty has been that the FBI has been, until recently, more unwilling to call this a terrorist action.

[00:04:00] I'll get into that in just a minute.

[00:04:02] But for you to say that this was just simply an action, as my friend Jim Garrity, who I quote from every once in a while, said,

[00:04:12] the car bomb in Las Vegas killed one person and injured at least seven more when you detonate a truck made by the company of Elon Musk in front of a hotel with Donald Trump's name on it.

[00:04:24] I think the political message of the attack is awfully darn clear.

[00:04:29] And the FBI was still trying to determine whether placing gas canisters, camp fuel canisters, and large firework mortars in a car associated with Musk in front of a building associated with Donald Trump meets the technical definition of terrorism.

[00:04:46] I think you probably know the answer to that question.

[00:04:50] Now, subsequently, let's give credit where credit is due, the FBI finally declared in a written statement,

[00:04:55] we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.

[00:04:59] That's good, because after all, that's what it looked like.

[00:05:02] The individual from Houston area is an individual whose life was unraveling, messy divorce, increasing debts, failed business ventures, and the rest.

[00:05:14] I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in just a minute.

[00:05:16] And so, obviously, an angry middle-aged man lashing out at the world.

[00:05:21] But also, if you were to think that that was all, you also have to then go to a series of videos where he, as he was driving from Texas to Louisiana, discussed planning to kill his family, having dreams that helped inspire him to join ISIS.

[00:05:41] In other words, whether he was an actual member of ISIS or not, the ISIS influence was significant in his life.

[00:05:49] And as I've said before, you've got some individuals that say, well, he wasn't technically a member.

[00:05:54] And my favorite line on that has always been, I don't think ISIS gives out membership cards.

[00:06:00] So, you know, just to say that he wasn't formally a member of ISIS is to miss the point.

[00:06:06] And then, of course, we've had this speech that was given by the sitting president.

[00:06:11] And I thought I'd make some comment about that, because I'm sure we'll be getting into that tomorrow with Penne Dexter and Kelly Shackelford.

[00:06:19] Because Jeff Blahar has been on the program.

[00:06:22] We've talked with him before and actually posted, I think just recently, one of his articles.

[00:06:28] He said, was anyone reassured by the speech by the president?

[00:06:32] Did it alleviate anyone's ease that the sitting president of the United States is half functional at this point?

[00:06:40] He says, I'm also going to ask why we as Americans have become so cavalier about the fact that tolerating a president who is permanently mentally incapacitated invites crises like these.

[00:06:53] He said 19 days, now it's down to 18 days, yet remain until Joe Biden formally departs from the presidency.

[00:07:00] Pray for peace and hold your breath until then.

[00:07:03] So this has surfaced a number of questions.

[00:07:06] First of all, what does the formal definition of terrorism really look like?

[00:07:12] Are we maybe in need of some cover for those individuals that want to, on the one hand, understand that these are terrorist actions,

[00:07:24] whether they meet the formal FBI definition of terrorism or not?

[00:07:29] And I've said before on this program, and we'll probably do a commentary, maybe even a booklet on the issue of terrorism,

[00:07:36] because we've referred to terrorism as the so-called new warfare.

[00:07:41] But it's different than your typical warfare, even though we've produced a booklet on a biblical view on just war.

[00:07:50] Terrorists really turn the notion of war on its head.

[00:07:53] And that is, innocent noncombatants become the target for terrorist activities.

[00:08:00] And terrorist warfare holds innocent people hostage and makes soldier and civilian alike potential targets.

[00:08:08] So we'll come back and talk about that for a few more minutes at least.

[00:08:11] And then I want to move on to some other issues, because this is a topic we will revisit tomorrow.

[00:08:16] As a matter of fact, one of the articles we've posted by Noah Rothman really gets into,

[00:08:22] is it just impossible for the government, especially under this administration,

[00:08:27] to actually refer to something as a terrorist activity or a terrorist event?

[00:08:33] Apparently the answer is yes.

[00:08:34] And maybe that's another illustration for a while.

[00:08:38] Maybe it's going to be worthwhile to have a new president, a new FBI director, maybe a new attorney general.

[00:08:44] We'll talk about that right after these important messages.

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

[00:09:02] Everything you know about income inequality, poverty, and other measures of economic well-being in America is wrong.

[00:09:08] Former Senator Phil Graham was on my program to make that case recently.

[00:09:12] He is the co-author of the book The Myth of American Inequality, How Government Biases Policy Debate.

[00:09:18] I might mention that his co-authors hold to very different political views from him,

[00:09:22] but they do agree that we need to get the facts right before we can have a policy debate about economic issues.

[00:09:28] The myth of inequality really began back in the 1940s when the Census Bureau excluded all income that was not paid in the equivalent of cash.

[00:09:37] That simplification made sense back then, but made less sense when the 1965 War on Poverty expanded government benefits.

[00:09:45] Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and a hundred other government benefits are not counted as income to the recipients.

[00:09:53] Another popular myth is income inequality is growing.

[00:09:56] When all transfer payments just mentioned are counted as income to the recipients,

[00:10:00] and all taxes are counted as income lost to the taxpayer,

[00:10:03] income inequality is lower today than it was 70 years ago.

[00:10:06] As you might imagine, the bias we just mentioned also affects the official measure of well-being.

[00:10:11] For example, the government does not measure 88% of all transfer payments the poor receive when calculating the poverty rate.

[00:10:18] If those payments are included, then the poverty rate in 2017 would be 2.5%.

[00:10:22] For comparison, the official poverty rate that year was 12%.

[00:10:25] The authors also make specific recommendations for dealing with some of the reasons for income inequality.

[00:10:31] And if we're going to have a productive policy debate about these economic issues,

[00:10:35] we need to listen to these authors and get the facts right.

[00:10:38] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

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

[00:10:53] Viewpoints.info slash Patriot Preachers.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View.

[00:11:01] Your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:04] A couple more comments, and then we'll move on to some other topics,

[00:11:06] because there is quite a bit to cover today, even before, of course, this attack in New Orleans and in Las Vegas.

[00:11:12] But I think it is appropriate to at least give you a preview of some of the things I suspect we'll be talking about tomorrow,

[00:11:19] because I have posted already an article for Friday that I'm sure Kelly Shackelford and Penna Dexter want to address.

[00:11:26] That is the difficulty that we see at the FBI to define something as a terrorist act.

[00:11:33] Let's understand that even as we were learning more about this,

[00:11:39] the FBI in Houston was actually beginning to surround the trailer home of the individual who made the attack in New Orleans there in Houston.

[00:11:48] I'll talk a little bit more about how the FBI was actually second to arrive there.

[00:11:53] The media beat the FBI there.

[00:11:56] That tells you something as well.

[00:11:57] But at the same time, the police had obviously found the ISIS flag hanging on his vehicle

[00:12:03] and also had heard many reports about how he had been radicalized.

[00:12:08] Of course, now we have the videos, including even one that I've been able to watch,

[00:12:13] and I'm sure you can watch it on YouTube as well,

[00:12:16] of a video he made years ago when he was actually working for Deloitte,

[00:12:22] and he seemed just very rational.

[00:12:24] That's not the case now.

[00:12:26] But nevertheless, you had this post.

[00:12:28] FBI special agent says the New Orleans event is not a terrorist event.

[00:12:34] And somebody on YouTube and I think on X said,

[00:12:39] sure seems like an event.

[00:12:41] Somebody please call Kash Patel.

[00:12:43] If you don't know who that is, he is the possible incoming director of the FBI.

[00:12:48] We'll see how that nomination goes as well.

[00:12:50] And so, again, you have a man inspired by ISIS, a terrorist organization,

[00:12:57] intentionally killing people in a crowd event with IEDs in his truck and having an ISIS flag.

[00:13:07] Wouldn't that lead you to think maybe that's a terrorist attack?

[00:13:11] I don't know.

[00:13:12] What's so intriguing about this is I didn't know this until I started looking at some of these posts.

[00:13:18] The media made their way to his trailer home in Texas hours before the FBI showed up.

[00:13:25] And that's kind of intriguing as well.

[00:13:28] So we'll get into that as well.

[00:13:30] But, again, here's a couple of things.

[00:13:31] FBI investigators have uncovered the writings by this individual,

[00:13:35] along with the ISIS flag found in his vehicle after the New Orleans attack,

[00:13:40] indicate that he was recently radicalized by ISIS to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States.

[00:13:46] Here's another post.

[00:13:48] A man who knew him says that he had converted to Islam, then began acting erratically in recent months.

[00:13:55] The concerning behavior led him having limited contact with his children.

[00:14:00] The terrorist, who killed, of course, now 15 people, was an American-born military veteran

[00:14:06] who was living in a run-down trailer park where he kept sheep and goats in the yard just blocks away from the local mosque.

[00:14:14] And so, again, then you have, of course, these series of video recordings,

[00:14:19] which he made while driving from Texas to Louisiana.

[00:14:23] In the videos, he says, for example, that he first planned to gather his family with the intention of killing them,

[00:14:29] then decided to join ISIS instead.

[00:14:32] And, again, one neighbor said that he had remained isolated in his home,

[00:14:37] was not seen at his Muslim neighbor's local place of worship.

[00:14:42] And, of course, the Army says he did serve eight years, including deployment to Afghanistan.

[00:14:48] And on a now-deleted X account, posted information about real estate and the rest.

[00:14:54] And had a job at Deloitte where he was paid six-figure income.

[00:14:59] And one that still makes everybody kind of roll their eyes.

[00:15:03] The FBI were not the first people to show up at the suspect's address.

[00:15:07] They didn't show up until about 1 p.m. yesterday.

[00:15:11] Well, who beat him to them?

[00:15:13] Well, maybe the New York Post actually got to the house before the FBI.

[00:15:18] So, sleep well, America.

[00:15:20] This is, again, maybe just more of an illustration of some of these topics.

[00:15:25] Just before we take a break, though, let me just one more time emphasize the fact that

[00:15:30] we will always see terrorism overseas for obvious reasons.

[00:15:35] That is, Islam is the reason for many of these terrorist actions.

[00:15:40] I've always tried to make the claim that not all Muslims are terrorists.

[00:15:45] But up until fairly recently, most terrorists have been Muslim.

[00:15:49] I do believe that's going to change when we start, as we talked about the other day with Colonel Allen West,

[00:15:55] a significant number of individuals who are here from China of sort of military age.

[00:16:03] Why are they here?

[00:16:04] Why did China let them go?

[00:16:06] And what do they have to plan?

[00:16:08] And, of course, our March issue of Outlook goes into the issue of China in some detail.

[00:16:14] But we do have to recognize that there are a couple of reasons why we're starting to see more of an increase in homegrown jihadism,

[00:16:25] homegrown terrorism.

[00:16:27] One of those goes back to testimony given by previous FBI director James Comey.

[00:16:34] You won't always see us quoting him favorably,

[00:16:37] but I think what he actually said when he was speaking to the National Association of Attorneys General

[00:16:43] was that ISIS had developed a chaotic spider web,

[00:16:47] and it was using social media to radicalize people in this country.

[00:16:52] And he referred to, really, a couple of problems.

[00:16:56] Problem number one, of course, open borders.

[00:17:00] Back when you were allowed to talk about open borders,

[00:17:02] these last four years, we've been assured that the border is secure.

[00:17:07] We know that that's not the case.

[00:17:09] The other concern that he raised was the fact that you had a number of individuals

[00:17:14] that had gone overseas to fight for ISIS,

[00:17:18] but since they're Americans, they were allowed to come back to this country.

[00:17:23] Because, after all, they're American citizens,

[00:17:26] but they actually fought with ISIS.

[00:17:28] So those are what we call the returnees.

[00:17:30] But James Comey talked about the homegrown jihadists as being city wolves.

[00:17:35] And these are individuals that may have, in some cases,

[00:17:40] simply gone online and through social media were radicalized.

[00:17:45] Some of those potential ISIS converts actually went over to places like Syria,

[00:17:52] Sudan, Afghanistan, or the rest.

[00:17:55] And so ISIS has been using social media to do that.

[00:18:00] But just before we take a break, we did a very significant series of interviews,

[00:18:06] and this goes back a while, to the whole problem of homegrown jihadists.

[00:18:12] Because what we were beginning to see then is that some of these individuals

[00:18:19] were not necessarily being radicalized on social media.

[00:18:23] They were being radicalized in the U.S. prison system.

[00:18:27] As a matter of fact, in one of my articles, I quote from the late Chuck Colson,

[00:18:32] who, when he was alive, said,

[00:18:33] I don't usually make predictions, but here's one I'll venture.

[00:18:36] If, God forbid, an attack of homegrown Islamic radicals occurs on American soil,

[00:18:42] many, if not most, of the perpetrators will be converted to Islam while in prison.

[00:18:48] And we've seen this happen in other countries.

[00:18:51] We see that it happened here in the United States as well.

[00:18:55] There was also a very good study that came out a number of years ago from George Washington University

[00:19:00] and the University of Virginia, which had the title,

[00:19:04] Out of the Shadows, in which it was talking about some of the problems of homegrown terrorism.

[00:19:10] And, of course, you have to see that you've had attacks on mosques

[00:19:15] that have taken place from some of these jihadists.

[00:19:18] You've had some that have been involved in attacking military bases,

[00:19:24] some trying to set them off by remote control and the rest.

[00:19:29] And then we've even done some interviews about the fact that you've had,

[00:19:33] in some particular places, what looked like, from the outside, maybe terrorist camps.

[00:19:40] Now, fortunately, a lot of those have been closed down,

[00:19:43] but we, at the time, covered some of this through some interviews we did with the Christian Action Network.

[00:19:50] And the problem with this was is that sometimes these would be areas

[00:19:55] which would be off kind of in the periphery.

[00:19:58] The local law enforcement didn't have, first of all, the jurisdiction to deal with some of that.

[00:20:04] But more importantly, even if they went in,

[00:20:07] they would have been outgunned and outmanned in those areas.

[00:20:12] And it illustrates, again, that this whole documentary, which you can still watch online,

[00:20:17] is called Homegrown Jihad, Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.

[00:20:22] It illustrates the fact that that is an area of focus that needs to take place

[00:20:28] from, hopefully, the new incoming attorney general and the incoming director of the FBI.

[00:20:35] Some of that has been allowed to go for too long.

[00:20:38] And part of it is always this idea that we don't want to make Muslims,

[00:20:43] who are peace-loving, feel uncomfortable.

[00:20:46] But on the other hand, we don't want to allow individuals who intend us harm

[00:20:52] to use our freedom or even sometimes our hesitancy to cover some of these issues.

[00:20:58] So it's a complex issue.

[00:21:00] It's one we will continue to cover here on Point of View.

[00:21:04] But if you want to watch that video on Homegrown Jihad, Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.,

[00:21:10] it's a little more dated now.

[00:21:12] And fortunately, some of that has faded away.

[00:21:15] But it's just a reminder again that this phenomenon of Homegrown Jihadists

[00:21:20] is something to be with us for a while.

[00:21:22] Something we'll be talking about, I suspect, for quite a number of months right here on Point of View.

[00:21:27] Let's take a break.

[00:21:28] We have more to cover right after this.

[00:21:30] In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle,

[00:21:36] not with guns and bombs, but words and ideas.

[00:21:40] London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism,

[00:21:44] and legendary Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon.

[00:21:48] London was in many ways the center of the world economically, militarily, and intellectually.

[00:21:55] Marx sought to destroy religion, the family, and everything the Bible supports.

[00:21:59] Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers.

[00:22:04] Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth.

[00:22:09] It is truth for all of life.

[00:22:11] Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom to stand against darkness today?

[00:22:15] Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues delivered to your inbox

[00:22:21] when you sign up for the Viewpoints commentary at pointofview.net slash signup.

[00:22:27] Every weekday in less than two minutes,

[00:22:30] you'll learn how to be a person of light to stand against darkness in our time.

[00:22:35] It's free, so visit pointofview.net slash signup right now.

[00:22:41] pointofview.net slash signup.

[00:22:47] Point of view will continue after this.

[00:22:57] 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.

[00:23:10] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:13] Back for the final half hour, and if you would like to join us,

[00:23:17] certainly you can do so by going to the website, pointofview.net,

[00:23:21] finding four of the articles we're going to be talking about here.

[00:23:24] And if you, of course, want to leave a comment on Facebook or other places, you can do so.

[00:23:28] We would certainly love to hear from you.

[00:23:31] And I just, a while ago, but since people sometimes tune in and tune out, did mention that we made our goal.

[00:23:38] We met our first match, but we had a second match, which is still on the website.

[00:23:44] So if you are saying, well, I'd like to give in 2025 and have my gift match dollar for dollar, that's still available.

[00:23:52] So I did mention that is up there.

[00:23:54] And also, earlier, I did mention the fact that because of some things that have changed, we do have some openings on our trip to Greece.

[00:24:02] So hold this up.

[00:24:02] This is our brochure for those of you watching online, which we'd be glad to send to you.

[00:24:07] And you can give us a call at 800-347-5151 if you'd like to get a brochure about our trip to Greece in May.

[00:24:15] Or if you'd like to make a donation in 2025, since we're now in the new year and have it matched,

[00:24:21] we still have a little bit left over there, which I think we certainly would be glad to give you a dollar for dollar match for that as well.

[00:24:29] Again, the trip to Greece, May 17th to the 27th.

[00:24:32] I'm really excited.

[00:24:33] Not only do we have a chance to go to all sorts of places like Athens and Corinth and Philippi and Thessaloniki and all the rest,

[00:24:42] then we get on a boat and we get to go to Ephesus.

[00:24:45] We get to go to Patmos, Crete, Santorini, and a number of other places.

[00:24:49] And if you'd like to know more about that, you can certainly give us a call, and we'll be glad to send that to you as well.

[00:24:56] Four articles that are on the website.

[00:24:58] I was going to maybe do that for an entire hour.

[00:25:01] I'll see if I can squeeze this in to the half hour that we have.

[00:25:04] But the first one is about the congressional agenda.

[00:25:08] We are right up to the vote for the Speaker of the House, which will take place tomorrow.

[00:25:14] Perhaps by the time Penne Dexter and Kelly Shackelford are on, that will already be a done deal, but we don't know.

[00:25:21] And as this article by Audrey Falberg points out, the Republican leaders in the House will ring in a new year with a 2,000, or excuse me,

[00:25:31] a 219 to 215 majority, which is going to go a lot slimmer.

[00:25:38] One, you've already lost Matt Gaetz because he has withdrawn from consideration from the Justice Department but has also resigned.

[00:25:46] But you have two other representatives, Mike Walls from Florida and Elise Stefanik from New York.

[00:25:54] And so that will bring the number to 217 to 215.

[00:25:57] So this is going to be very difficult for the current Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

[00:26:04] But we'll see where this is because once you, until those seats are filled, have a 217 to 215 majority,

[00:26:10] it's going to be a real test for Speaker Mike Johnson, as they point out.

[00:26:14] But again, the first item on the agenda happens tomorrow, and that is who they vote for Speaker of the House.

[00:26:22] Then the real question is, what is next?

[00:26:28] Now, the big question is whether or not you will have enough votes.

[00:26:33] Because you might say, well, you still have 217 or 219 votes from the Republicans,

[00:26:40] but you also have to go back in history a little bit and recognize that Mike Johnson was trying to push through a bipartisan bill.

[00:26:48] It was 1,500 pages.

[00:26:49] It had all sorts of things that were so controversial that Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance

[00:26:56] and billionaire Elon Musk all put their thumbs down, and so that didn't work.

[00:27:02] So then Mike Johnson came back with a second 116-page legislative attempt.

[00:27:09] That one went down because, if nothing else, it was going to suspend the nation's debt ceiling for two years.

[00:27:17] So finally, they ended up with a funding bill that was like that second one but did not have the debt limit provision.

[00:27:25] Well, all of that has caused, for example, as we talked about on Tuesday,

[00:27:31] Representative Thomas Massey, Republican from Kentucky, saying,

[00:27:34] I'm not going to vote for Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House.

[00:27:38] There could be some others, so we'll see where that goes.

[00:27:41] And so this is kind of a big issue.

[00:27:43] Who will be the Speaker of the House?

[00:27:45] And if it's not Mike Johnson, who are you going to pick?

[00:27:49] I can't even imagine who they'd come up with.

[00:27:51] So we'll see.

[00:27:52] And as this article points out, it is possible a handful of members could join

[00:27:57] Thomas, Representative Massey,

[00:27:59] Thomas Massey, in opposing Johnson on the floor vote,

[00:28:02] if only on the first ballot, because what you also have at the time is the possibility that the Democrats could pull together enough

[00:28:11] to actually have a different individual.

[00:28:15] And so we'll see where that goes.

[00:28:16] So that's the first issue.

[00:28:18] That is who's Speaker of the House.

[00:28:21] Second issue could be Monday, although I don't think that's going to be a big issue now,

[00:28:26] where simply you have the counting, if you will,

[00:28:31] the ratification of the votes that took place in the 50 state capitals for the Electoral College.

[00:28:37] And so this January 6th is going to be much less controversial, I suspect, than the previous January 6th,

[00:28:45] but that is the case.

[00:28:46] But then we come to one other issue.

[00:28:49] What happens first?

[00:28:51] There has been a desire to get one or two items dealt with simultaneously.

[00:28:59] And it is possible, as this article points out,

[00:29:02] that the congressional leaders in the House of Representatives might follow the plan that was put forward by the new Senate Republican leader,

[00:29:12] and that would be John Thune,

[00:29:14] in which you'd have one legislative package which would be focused on energy defense and immigration,

[00:29:21] and the second would be dealing with the 2017 tax cuts, very significant kind of two-step route.

[00:29:30] And this would require, if you did this, actually budget reconciliation twice,

[00:29:35] which would be difficult because that's the only way you can circumvent the Senate 60-vote filibuster rule,

[00:29:43] and it allows lawmakers at least to pass a legislation with a simple majority vote.

[00:29:49] But the question is, what comes first, the tax cuts or the vote on energy defense and immigration?

[00:29:59] And right now you have in the House of Representatives the Ways and Means Chairman,

[00:30:04] that would be Jason Smith, who believes that the tax-related legislation should come first.

[00:30:09] By the way, I happen to agree with that.

[00:30:11] But that would be one where you would deal with the provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,

[00:30:19] because that is set to expire on 2025 at the end of this year.

[00:30:25] And so the argument is if we don't get this done first, it could linger forever and then cause some real problems.

[00:30:33] It would also send a very positive signal through the economy and to individuals in Wall Street as well as Main Street

[00:30:41] that those tax cuts will be there, if not permanent, at least for many years.

[00:30:47] And that allows business to plan.

[00:30:50] As we've talked about, and even Kelly Shackelford brought it up, and I brought it up as well the other day,

[00:30:56] one of the things business does not like is uncertainty.

[00:31:00] And we've had a great deal of uncertainty until now.

[00:31:03] That would add even more certainty about the economic future of this country

[00:31:08] and the tax scheme that would be affecting businesses.

[00:31:14] So as much as there's going to be a hue and cry and complain about it, I think that makes the most sense.

[00:31:21] But we'll get into that conversation perhaps tomorrow with Penne Dexter and Kelly Shackelford.

[00:31:26] And for those of you that like TikTok, talking about my two daughters in that regard,

[00:31:32] there's a big question about that as well.

[00:31:35] It turns out that, of course, you've had a vote by Congress which says that if the United States

[00:31:43] finds itself in a situation in which the Chinese owner of TikTok, which would be ByteDance,

[00:31:49] does not disinvest from China, that after 270 days after the enactment of the law which bans TikTok,

[00:32:00] it would actually then cease to exist and would be banned in the country.

[00:32:05] Well, if you do the math, it turns out that that deadline happens to fall on January 19th,

[00:32:11] which is one day before Donald Trump becomes president.

[00:32:16] And Donald Trump then has actually wanted the Supreme Court to hear and will hear on January 10th

[00:32:23] a case known as TikTok versus Garland, which is an attempt by Donald Trump to actually say,

[00:32:31] can't you just postpone it a few days?

[00:32:33] Because in some respects, I still think that TikTok is something that we can negotiate.

[00:32:40] If you read the amicus brief, you have to smile a little bit because with his trademark puffery,

[00:32:47] it says, well, President Trump alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise,

[00:32:53] the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform.

[00:32:59] And also points out in that amicus brief that he has founded the resoundingly successful social media platform,

[00:33:08] Truth Social, and he is one of the most powerful, prolific and influencers of social media in history.

[00:33:15] Nobody's accused Donald Trump of being humble or shy.

[00:33:20] But nevertheless, the Supreme Court will hear this case on January 10th.

[00:33:25] They'll have to issue a decision pretty quickly because if nothing happens on January 19th, TikTok will be banned.

[00:33:36] If you'd like to know more about the inner workings of that, that is our second article on the website.

[00:33:41] You can read about it and we'll probably talk about it again.

[00:33:44] But we need to take a break.

[00:33:46] We'll be back with more right after this.

[00:33:55] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:01] Back for a few more minutes.

[00:34:02] Let me just mention tomorrow will be our weekend edition.

[00:34:04] We'll get into some of these issues in a little more detail.

[00:34:07] But our third article is one that Douglas Carr has put together, how Bidenomics sank Kamala.

[00:34:13] I just called it Bidenomics in the future because it helps us understand that some of the issues that the incoming president,

[00:34:21] Donald Trump, and the incoming vice president, J.D. Vance, are going to have to deal with are sort of locked into place for a while.

[00:34:28] You can't turn the economy around instantaneously.

[00:34:32] You can't make inflation go away.

[00:34:34] You can't all of a sudden wave a wand and get rid of $36 trillion of national debt.

[00:34:40] But it reminds us of what actually tanked Bidenomics, that is Joe Biden, what it tanked Kamala Harris,

[00:34:49] and what could tank the Republicans if they don't pay attention.

[00:34:52] And this is about 10 pages, so if you really want to kind of geek out here or nerd out, you can do so.

[00:34:59] But it's just a documentation, finally, which illustrates that what you were feeling at the gas pump,

[00:35:08] what you were feeling at the grocery store, what you were feeling in terms of all sorts of expenses,

[00:35:14] was not just your crazy imagination, as you were oftentimes told by some of the people in the administration.

[00:35:21] It was very real.

[00:35:23] First of all, there's an incredible chart here that talks about current financial situation,

[00:35:28] whether you're better off or less off.

[00:35:30] And he, at the end, gives us a commentary where he says more American families are worse off than they were a year ago

[00:35:37] by 19 percentage points.

[00:35:40] The difference is increased by University of Michigan methodological change,

[00:35:45] but it is still unprecedented outside of recessions.

[00:35:49] Normally you have people dealing with that kind of economic pain during a recession,

[00:35:55] and here you can actually see the graphs.

[00:35:58] I'm a firm believer that not only is a picture worth a thousand words,

[00:36:01] oftentimes a graph or a chart is worth a thousand words.

[00:36:04] And so as a result, it shows that even for young adults, we're talking 18 to 35,

[00:36:11] they may be seeing their financial situation improving somewhat,

[00:36:16] but still their financial situation compared to a year ago is not as good.

[00:36:22] And it brings me to a commentary that I've quoted before,

[00:36:26] in which we point out that a variety of economists have said,

[00:36:31] look, the current generation is not doing as well as the previous generations of the same age.

[00:36:37] And I think, as I've illustrated before,

[00:36:40] you can't solve these economic problems if you don't acknowledge them in existence.

[00:36:46] And so it certainly was something where you had Janet Yellen, who was the Treasury Secretary,

[00:36:53] Joe Biden, who was maybe the caretaker president, not acknowledging the obvious.

[00:36:58] I think J.D. Vance understands that.

[00:37:01] I certainly believe that Donald Trump understands that.

[00:37:04] And J.D. Vance, because he's more in that age group,

[00:37:07] perhaps understands it more than anybody in the administration, and that's a good thing.

[00:37:11] Well, then this also then talks about some other issues,

[00:37:15] because the economic downturn and difficulty has really fallen on the backs of those who don't have a college degree.

[00:37:24] He says,

[00:37:54] because there are very good jobs that are available, many more jobs available for those who don't necessarily have to go through four years,

[00:38:04] spend their time racking up debt and the rest.

[00:38:08] And so that is something that is going to have to be addressed in this next administration as well.

[00:38:14] Finally, when you look at the whole issue of labor participation,

[00:38:20] one of the most significant issues is if you look at this chart,

[00:38:25] you can see that private sector jobs and public sector jobs have been kind of following pretty well.

[00:38:31] And then you have, of course, the great recession that comes about because of the pandemic.

[00:38:38] And then it never quite gets back to where it was supposed to be.

[00:38:43] So even though the jobs position looks good, it's not because private sector jobs have completely recovered.

[00:38:51] They have not.

[00:38:52] It's that there have been an additional number of public sector jobs.

[00:38:56] Put another way, the spending of Joe Biden has increased more people in government jobs,

[00:39:02] but that has not helped people in the private sector as well.

[00:39:06] And then when you look at the burst of prices caused by real incomes and all the rest,

[00:39:13] you can see that when people were saying, I feel a pain at the pump, I feel a pain at going to the grocery store,

[00:39:21] that was not in their heads.

[00:39:24] It was due in large part to the fact that that really was the case,

[00:39:29] because especially when you look at living standards, this is the final graph there,

[00:39:34] you can see a decline in living standards caused by inflation,

[00:39:38] which have been perhaps felt the hardest by people that are low-income Americans.

[00:39:44] And even the Brookings Institute, which is kind of a left of center think tank, if you will,

[00:39:51] said inflation systemically and systematically eroded the purchasing power of all families in recent decades.

[00:39:58] But it turns out the effects of rising prices have been more pronounced on poorer families,

[00:40:04] especially families of color.

[00:40:06] And so you can see that your experience was actually quite accurate,

[00:40:12] and these graphs and charts really illustrate that.

[00:40:16] So if you wanted to have that available for maybe a post on Facebook or X or TikTok while it's still around,

[00:40:24] it's there for you as well.

[00:40:26] One last one I thought I'd just mention real quickly,

[00:40:29] that John Stossel has done this interview with an advocate of the Second Amendment,

[00:40:34] and that's Maj Touré, who, by the way, is African American,

[00:40:37] and probably best known for an individual that has founded the organization Black Guns Matter,

[00:40:44] in which he points out that gun control in the past was racist,

[00:40:48] argues that it is still, if you look at the way in which there are individuals

[00:40:54] who are allowed to get a concealed carry license,

[00:40:57] many more are given to white than to black,

[00:41:01] very individuals that are in certain parts of affluent California

[00:41:06] compared to, say, Auckland, Compton, Los Angeles County.

[00:41:10] And he goes through that in some detail,

[00:41:12] and I think it's really quite illustrative.

[00:41:15] And so if you are, in some respects, wondering about this whole issue of gun control,

[00:41:22] especially as it relates to that,

[00:41:24] the latest study shows that about one-fourth of African Americans now own guns,

[00:41:29] which, again, if you watch the video or read this article,

[00:41:33] will, I think, be a great education for people that maybe aren't aware

[00:41:37] of some of our past history as it relates to gun control.

[00:41:41] I wish I had more time, but we simply tried to cover some of the important issues today,

[00:41:46] and that's certainly what took place in New Orleans and in Las Vegas.

[00:41:51] We will probably know some more tomorrow,

[00:41:53] and we'll bring that to the table with Pentadexter and Kelly Shackelford.

[00:41:57] But if you'd like to read any one of these four articles,

[00:41:59] you can simply go to the website, pointofview.net.

[00:42:03] If you'd like to know more about the book we talked about in the first hour,

[00:42:06] Anticipating Heaven by Dr. Pamela Pyle.

[00:42:10] Well, that is available on the website as well.

[00:42:13] And one last time, since I did mention the trip to Greece,

[00:42:16] sadly we've heard of couples that have had to cancel because of a death in the family.

[00:42:21] That definitely indicates the fact that if you've been thinking that this might be a trip you'd like to take,

[00:42:26] let me encourage you to call us and find out a little bit more.

[00:42:30] The trip is May 17th to the 27th.

[00:42:33] I'm very excited about it, and I think you would certainly love to, if you will,

[00:42:38] follow the journeys of Paul and John over through Greece and Turkey,

[00:42:45] and it's going to be a great trip, and I hope you can join us there.

[00:42:48] Again, you can give us a call, 800-347-5151.

[00:42:52] First of all, let me thank our engineer today, Doug.

[00:42:55] Thank you again for stepping in to help us out here.

[00:42:57] As always, we thank Megan for all the things she does, in this case, as the producer.

[00:43:02] We look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View's Weekend Edition.

[00:43:06] We'll see you then.

[00:43:07] It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority.

[00:43:17] They say men can be women, and women men.

[00:43:20] People are prosecuted differently, or not at all, depending on their politics.

[00:43:25] Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens.

[00:43:30] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing.

[00:43:33] You feel like giving up, but we can't.

[00:43:36] We shouldn't.

[00:43:37] We must not.

[00:43:38] As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II,

[00:43:43] never give in.

[00:43:44] Never give in.

[00:43:46] Never, never, never.

[00:43:47] Never yield to force.

[00:43:49] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[00:43:53] And that's what we say to you today.

[00:43:56] 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,

[00:44:07] we will overcome the darkness.

[00:44:10] Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net

[00:44:14] or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:44:19] pointofview.net

[00:44:21] and 800-347-5151.

[00:44:28] Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.