Point of View June 12, 2026 : Weekend Edition

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View. Andy Anderson. Thank you for joining us. It is the Friday Weekend Edition. We're grateful that you could be part of this conversation. As you might imagine, we're going to cover a number of things related to religious liberty, because Jeff Mateer is here with us and representing First Liberty Institute.

[00:00:34] And we'll also be getting into some other issues from what's happening in Iran, summer jobs, as well as the 60 Minutes controversy and much, much more. So again, I hope that you can join us as we go into these various issues. And if you'd like to join the conversation later, we'll open up the phones. 1-800-351-1212. Liberty McArtor with us, of course, is the co-host and will be a host again on one of the programs next week. I think two programs next week.

[00:01:01] Jeff Mateer is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for First Liberty Institute. And if you go to our website, you'll see that our first three articles are basically press releases from First Liberty. And if nothing else, Liberty, these are some very important religious liberty issues, aren't they? Yeah, I'm kind of curious to hear some of the behind the scenes as much as you can give on some of these, because I shouldn't be surprised.

[00:01:27] And yet there are some things on here that I'm just like, what is going on? But I'm thankful that First Liberty is there. We just make them up. You can't make them up. No, we're not that good. We're not that creative. At all. And so, I mean, the first one, I mean, and this is New Jersey, so it's New Jersey. Yes. So that shouldn't surprise you too much, right? I didn't notice that. It's New Jersey. But this is a ministry that I'm sure a lot of our listeners are familiar with. I knew them as Teen Challenge. Yes, me too.

[00:01:56] And a few years ago they expanded and it's Adult and Teen Challenge. And, you know, they help individuals, adults and teens who have addictions. And they've been operating there in New Jersey for now over seven years. They operated for seven years. They have an 88-acre campus. So this isn't like a house in a neighborhood. I mean, this is a campus, 88 acres.

[00:02:24] And a very successful program that is both non-residential and residential. And so they bring in individuals and they seek to help them. And obviously it's a ministry because in addition to treating their substance abuse issues, they're also sharing the gospel with these individuals. And so they've been there for quite some time.

[00:02:52] And I think it's about two years ago they decided they needed to do some sprucing up and some expansion. And they have roadblock over roadblock and really becoming to a point of just ridiculous. The fire marshal was in and basically they had an exit sign. This is sort of the straw that broke the camel's back.

[00:03:18] The fire marshal's in, you have an exit sign, it's battery operated, it really needs to be live wired. Now, I don't know if that's true, if that makes it better that it's live wired versus battery. But the folks at Teen Challenge are like, well, okay, let's do that. Oh, but you need a permit for that. And the city says, oh, we can't issue a permit because until we get these other issues regarding your zoning.

[00:03:45] And again, they have been there for over seven years. They've existed. And now all of a sudden. So this is bureaucracy run wild. And it's obviously in a blue state that knows something about bureaucracy. But we've just basically come to a point where we've said enough is enough. And if you're going to continue to harass this ministry, then we'll go seek recourse in federal court. Hmm. Did something change?

[00:04:13] I mean, why all of a sudden all of these concerns about zoning and permits after them being there for so long? Yeah, I mean, that's a great question and certainly one that we asked our clients. And we don't know exactly. It's not it's not like, you know, there's some incident that caused this to happen. I mean, new leadership, you know, they're evidencing, you know, hostility towards Christianity to Christian ministry. They don't understand a ministry.

[00:04:42] I will tell you, one of my it's not related case, but it's a similar case where we're having an Alabama. One of the attorneys was telling me this morning who's handling the case that the it is similar thing. They've got a ministry that that that's helping people who have drug addictions and things like that. And this is responses. We don't think that's ministry. What you're doing is is is is is is is just a program. It's not ministry enough.

[00:05:12] And and they also said they had read the Bible and they didn't see. Yeah. And they didn't see any of that in the Bible. And I was like, you know, I think they maybe should reread some of the. They look for the checklist of ministries that are allowed. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Which is always you want your government doing. So we don't have that necessarily New Jersey. But this New Jersey one is I mean, it's you know, and these are good. The folks at Teen Challenge, I mean, they want to be good neighbors.

[00:05:41] They've tried to be good neighbors. But at the same time, they want to do their ministry. And what's great. We live in a country in which we have a First Amendment. We have a religious land. We have we have laws, federal laws which prohibit this type of discrimination. I might just mention for just a minute. One of the challenges that you won't hear is that what you're doing is not effective, because if you look at the studies and one of the booklets we have is a biblical point of view on drug abuse.

[00:06:10] And I'm going to probably update it, because when I wrote that, we didn't even mention the word fentanyl. So obviously there's a need for a new booklet on drug abuse. But if you look at the facts, Liberty, one of the things that's just off the charts is the success rate of Teen Challenge is so much better than the success rate of any governmental program that there may be some that would want to say, well, we don't think your program is effective.

[00:06:35] And they would run into an immense amount of statistical evidence showing that when you deal with the whole person, including their spiritual nature and their psychological issues, these programs have been very, very successful over time. Well, I just I love it when you get data to prove what we already know from God's word.

[00:06:59] And like you said, treating the whole person. And I'm not very familiar with the ministry, but just judging by the fact that it's a Christian ministry, I would imagine that, yes, they're addressing what might be the root cause underlying there. And and we are so interconnected, our body, our mind and our our soul. So, yeah, it sounds like they're doing important work and thankful that First Liberty is allowing them to continue doing that. I mean, and the other thing is they're doing it. And how much is the city paying?

[00:07:29] How much is the state of New Jersey paying? How much is the federal government paying? Zero. These guys are doing I mean, we should want to encourage. No, we just want to have our our our our our drug abuse people hanging around not being treated or being treated in some federal state program in which the taxpayers paying for. And as you pointed out, it is a lot less effective. Yes. Go take a break. And we have two other issues.

[00:07:57] And again, Liberty, sometimes when they bring them in here, we go. Are you kidding? The problem is that you won't provide a permit to connect up the emergency exit sign. And of course, there are other stories behind that, but it's good illustration. So we come back. We'll make our way to Florida first and then also to the state of Texas. And I think you'll get a smile, especially on the third one that we'll be talking about. Then we're going to get into some other things. We've posted a very good piece by the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal.

[00:08:26] Donald Trump needs a new Iran strategy that really correlates very well with some of the things we've talked about earlier in the week. Cal Thomas has a piece about the controversy at 60 minutes, which just reminds us again that maybe there's a little bit of media bias out there and a need for discernment. Anyway, we'll come back with more right after this.

[00:09:00] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. As we get closer to the 250th anniversary celebration of America, many commentators are talking about how this country survived a quarter millennium. John Stossel pulled together a video from his past interviews to answer that question. Rob Henderson reminds us that in the U.S. Constitution, you see a lot of phrases like Congress shall not or no law shall be passed.

[00:09:26] The focus is not about what government is going to do for you, but instead on how Congress and government are not going to interfere in your lives. Linnea Lucan points to the early settlers who by necessity were very independent. She says we went out into the untamed wilderness and established towns that didn't have to lean on central government to function properly. Without nobility controlling property, ordinary people could own land, start business, and keep their profits.

[00:09:52] Ryan McMakin observes that America is more devoted to property rights than any other country, and that is why America is more free. Others pointed to checks and balances. Wilford Riley reminds us that the founders created three branches of government designed specifically to check each other. Add to that the belief mentioned by Jennifer Grossman that this is the first nation in history founded on the inalienable right of the individual. Now, John Stossel also provides video of those who warn about the future of a republic.

[00:10:21] This includes concerns like the towering debt we continue to accrue and the targeting of political enemies. And this brings us to the famous response from Benjamin Franklin when asked what government they created. A republic, he replied, if you can keep it. The perennial question is whether we will work hard enough to keep it. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:49] Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net. That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again, we're going to spend just a little bit more time on some of these religious liberty issues. Then we'll get to Iran and many of the other topics. Liberty McArtor in studio as well as Jeff Mateer.

[00:11:16] And Liberty, we've talked about one out of three that we've posted, but let's get to that second issue as well. Yeah, so this happened in Florida, which I was a little bit surprised to see, but maybe I shouldn't be. But I guess I'm not surprised that Florida responded to the way it did. And this is interesting because just a few weeks ago, I think, or not too recently, we talked about the LifeWise Academy

[00:11:40] and the release time and that opportunity for parents to engage their children in some religious instruction during school hours. And yet there were some school districts that apparently weren't wanting that to happen. Yeah, the LifeWise Academy, a guy named Joel Penton, a former football player at Ohio State University, is the leader.

[00:12:02] And they start in Ohio where they simply want to give parents the option to allow their children to leave campus during the day. And obviously not in the middle of English class, not in the middle of math, but when they have a free period that they can leave and receive biblical character instruction. And so good, good. I mean, just a wonderful, wonderful program. And LifeWise is starting to take off, I mean, throughout the country.

[00:12:30] And one of the areas that they've started doing their ministry is Florida. And I think incredibly, because I think the law is pretty clear, but incredibly, they had school districts in Florida push back and say things like, oh, we can't do that because that would be improperly supporting religion.

[00:12:54] And so a great state senator in Florida, Senator Yarborough, asked, as he has the right to do, the state attorney general, James Uthmeyer, whether it's permissible for the state of Florida and its school districts to allow students, parents,

[00:13:19] to choose to have their students participate in programs like LifeWise. And the attorney general of Florida issued, in our words, I know it came in and we all thought, this is good. It's beyond good. It's really good. And it's very strong. And it wasn't just you can do it. You absolutely can do it. And you should do it.

[00:13:45] And if you don't do it, Florida, you know, telling the school districts in Florida, then we will come after you. So we were, you know, First Liberty, we were extremely pleased with that. We're, I know, LifeWise and the folks there are very, very encouraged by it. And we also think this is a real opportunity for other states who are seeing issues. And LifeWise has had that. We have a case representing LifeWise in Washington, in the state of Washington.

[00:14:14] The same thing, a school district is not allowing them to do it. And we've actually got an injunction against the school district, which prohibits them from not allowing LifeWise to have a program. And there's a lot of misinformation. I mean, there's so much information about what LifeWise does. But what's clear is it enhances parents. Parents, no one is forced to go to it, right?

[00:14:41] I mean, it's just you're a parent in a public school, and this is an opportunity. Perhaps you can't afford. You're in a state that doesn't have school choice or you don't have the time or resources to homeschool. This gives a parent, and a lot of times it's a single parent who has to work during the day.

[00:15:02] It gives them the opportunity to take the public school education and to enrich it with some Christian character education as well. Let me just mention real quickly, some of you might say, I don't really know much about LifeWise. First of all, at First Liberty, you have some material on that. We did an interview with Joel Penton back on, I found it, June 5th, 2023. So it's back a couple of years ago. You can see the picture there and see that he actually played football.

[00:15:30] He is big. He fills the door frame, doesn't he? I've been with him. I like being with him because you feel protected. Yes, yes. Because he was an offensive lineman. Yes. I mean, again, Liberty, if you ever see him, he fills the door frame as he walks in. I mean, he's just enormous. And the nicest guy there is. Nicest guy in the world. Yes. And what a great heart. And a huge heart. Yeah, heart for children. So anyway, LifeWise Academy, and go and find out about that.

[00:15:56] Because what I want to do before I get on to our next story is, again, you've even encouraged people at First Liberty to support that ministry. Now, again, we are a ministry oftentimes encourage people to support other ministries. But that's pretty unusual. But you so believe in what they're doing that you're saying, we hope you'll support First Liberty. But we also hope you'll support LifeWise because of that and what they've been going through. So, again, find out if your community has that. And especially for our listeners in Florida today, now you've got an attorney general on your side.

[00:16:26] Yeah, absolutely. And so if you're in Florida and your child's in a public school, it is clear that the school, not should, must, must allow these release programs. And I know the people at LifeWise, if you don't have one, they'd love to hear from you. Because they are expanding. And, you know, it's something to get behind. So everything you say, Kirby, is 100% behind what LifeWise does. I think it's extremely important.

[00:16:55] I remember last time we talked about it, I looked it up on the website. And you can just enter in your zip code. And it's real easy to see if there is one in your area or if the ministry can come to your area and reach out to them. And so I think that's just a great thing to do. Because, yes, we've talked about it just a few days ago when I was on, how we are seeing so many young people leave the church. And families, it's important to have that religious instruction in the family.

[00:17:23] But the support around is so important. And we can't just rely on culture to reinforce those biblical values anymore. And I think parents are very open to saying, yeah, I would like some moral instruction for my kid. They see the way that the world is going. So I'm not surprised that it's taking off like it is. And so, yeah, I would encourage people to look that up and see if you can get that in your school district. Yeah. One other point is we mentioned the other day, Liberty, that they put up a Ten Commandments monument.

[00:17:53] Of course, we've mentioned one in Fort Worth. And this one is actually to the east of us. And so on the west of us and the east of us where the studio is, put up a Ten Commandments monument. But apparently that was controversial for some people. Well, whenever I was looking at the press release, Jeff, I was scrolling waiting to see who it was going to be because I think I already knew who was challenging this. But I was also just as a native Texan, like there was a lot of pride in the response.

[00:18:22] So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is, you know, it's a little personal for me because this is my county, Rockwell County. And I know the leadership there pretty well and was involved very early in the idea. And I remember the breakfast where I said, hey, you know, Tarrant County is putting one of these up. What? Can we do that? You absolutely can do that. And so Rockwell did and unveiled it Memorial Day weekend.

[00:18:52] And almost – it's almost like I don't even think the cover was off. And the folks at Freedom From Religion Foundation were writing a nasty letter to them. Now, the letter is interesting, the nasty letter, because it's like the letter they wrote ten years ago.

[00:19:11] And so they haven't updated it, and the reason they haven't updated it is because the new law – I mean, the Supreme Court decisions recently, which we at First Liberty know something about because the two key ones were First Liberty cases. The American Legion case against the American Humanists and the Coach Kennedy case make it very, very clear that these type of Ten Commandments displays are constitutional.

[00:19:35] And if there was even recently our Fifth Circuit here that's based in New Orleans that covers Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, recently had a case about the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools saying that's okay. But in that decision, the Fifth Circuit, the entire Fifth Circuit – so this is all the judges in the Fifth Circuit together coming together saying that these type of things, these type of what are called passive displays, you're not forced.

[00:20:05] You're not forced to look at it. You're not forced to do anything. Are entirely constitutional because of the Coach Kennedy case and because of our American Legion case. So for me, it was personal and because it was personal and because we feel so strongly. And as a proud Texan, I mean, one of the iconic phrases in Texas is come and take it. And so our letter may have used that phrase. It warms the heart. It warms the Texan heart.

[00:20:35] It really does. Come and take it. Okay. Application here and maybe even an action item. If you type in RFIA, that stands for Restoring Faith in America. And, of course, that's something that First Liberty has said. We've given you the right to do this. And if you're saying, well, they put up a monument in Tarrant County. They put one up in Rockwell County. Could we put one up in our county? Yes, we could. Yes.

[00:20:58] And if you would like to know more, you can go to First Liberty or just go to RFIA, Restoring Faith in America, because they give you some suggestions on what you can do in your own community. And there's even a nice little video there about the Ten Commandments going up. So you can watch that for about two minutes. And that's your action item. If you'd like to have a Ten Commandments go up in your town square, you can do it. And we've actually given you the legal opportunity to do it.

[00:21:25] So take that opportunity and make it actually take place. We'll be back right after this. Who can you trust? Years ago, many of us could probably have provided a fairly long list. But today, well, today it seems we almost can't trust anyone. Educators don't even know what a woman is anymore. Many so-called public servants have shown all they care about is themselves.

[00:21:55] The FBI has been accused of bias, law-breaking, betrayal, and journalism. It's largely corrupt, with no Clark Kent standing up for truth, justice, and the American way. All of this is why Point of View Radio is more important than ever. And your part in supporting us is more needed than ever. Do your part today in supporting trustworthy truths.

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[00:22:50] Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. 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. Going to spend some time talking about Iran.

[00:23:18] We did some of that yesterday in studio with me. Jeff Mateer, Liberty McCarter, if you'd like to join us, 1-800-351-1212. Yesterday, I did talk real briefly before we get into this particular piece by the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. We talked about some of the extraordinary things that have unfolded even in this last week. First of all, talk about drones. A drone took down an Army AH-64 Apache helicopter. Fortunately, the drone hit between the two men.

[00:23:48] They brought it into the water. Then the next thing, they were rescued by a drone, if you will. It is actually a drone seagoing vessel. It's called Corsair. It's a 24-foot autonomous surface vessel. It actually has speeds of more than 35 knots. It can carry up to 1,000 pounds over 1,000 nautical miles. So it was a drone that brought them down. It was a drone, if you will, ship that picked them up.

[00:24:18] And if nothing else, Liberty reminds us that we are in a very different world. In the world of artificial intelligence, the issue of drones, the issue of robots has changed everything. And, of course, that's something you've been writing about and talking about even on, of course, the next generation conversation and the new why podcast. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I don't know a whole lot about all of the military technology anyways,

[00:24:47] but I do know that there definitely is a rush to take advantage of a lot of these artificial intelligence tools as quickly as they can. So it's been interesting. I'm trying to learn more about that, but it's interesting to see a lot of these examples of it. And it sounds like there are some life-saving capabilities there. So that's most of all, I'm happy that the service members were able to be rescued in that scenario. This article I've posted here, of course, just talks about the fact that after weeks of insisting the deal with Iran is around the corner,

[00:25:17] President Trump may be admitting that, you know, maybe we've been played. And I might just point out that right now we're doing this live on Friday, but some of the individuals here in this program might hear it over the weekend because they tend to rebroadcast it on Saturday and Sunday. Really, by the time we come back here on Monday, who knows what's going to happen? But there has been on again, off again. But there have been some real concerns about the fact that each time there has been an attack during the so-called ceasefire,

[00:25:45] each time the president said not a big deal. That's what he said about the downing of the Apache helicopter. After then later on, they responded. Not a big deal when they attacked one of the particular air bases there as well. And so in some respects, I might come to you first, Jeff. We are dealing with a regime. It's hard to tell who's responsible.

[00:26:07] But more importantly, they are seemingly trying to just play us along because they recognize that the clock is ticking in terms of the midterm elections. And Donald Trump's not going to be patient forever. I think that's exactly right. And I think one of the things that we've seen even in the last 24 hours, and as people are listening this upcoming weekend,

[00:26:29] it may be playing out a little bit more, is I think on this one they decided not to call the president's bluff. Now, I mean, it is an interesting negotiating strategy to say you have a deal when you don't. And then the other side is saying we don't have a deal or sort of saying we don't have a deal.

[00:26:55] Although the president said either this morning or late last night that he was asked in response to a reporter's question about, well, has the supreme leader agreed to this? And the president said yes. And, you know, just listening, I did, you know, remember a story from my childhood and perhaps Liberty, you remember, and Kirby as well. Remember the story about the boy who cried wolf?

[00:27:24] I mean, you can't keep saying you have a deal if you don't have a deal. The president also said earlier today that the vice president, he expects the vice president to be in Europe this weekend signing the deal this weekend. And so, I mean, I, you know, although I mentioned off the air, there are at least one foreign outlet, the BBC, reporting that they think there is a deal from their sources,

[00:27:53] that actually they're just working out some final details. So, I mean, the key being, you know, what is the deal? Yeah, that's the question. I mean, what is the deal? What does that mean? I mean, obviously, you know, they're not, I mean, I did think, Kirby, you mentioned, I mean, isn't it a pretty big deal that, like, the Kuwaiti airport got bombed? Yeah. Oh, that's not it. I guess if you're not Kuwaiti or at that airport, you don't care. Wasn't a big deal.

[00:28:22] I'm supposed to be flying to Doha at the end of July, so I care that maybe, you know, at least in Qatar that Doha is not getting attacked. But, you know, I, again, it, they, you know, it may be a deal. Because, but if there is not, then it is the boy who cried wolf.

[00:28:45] And it is an interesting negotiating strategy to declare a deal when your opponents are saying, what? Deal? What deal? We don't know about a deal. Yeah. I just keep going back to what Rubio said when everything started. I think he just laid out the stakes of everything so well that there was an opportunity. But he also reminded people that the regime they're dealing with is an apocalyptic sect of Islam.

[00:29:13] It's almost, you know, how much can they really be dealt with or reasoned with? And so I would say I know that a lot of people, they don't want the war to have taken place at all. I think there are a lot of reasonable people who understand the stakes and that there was an opportunity. But, of course, we don't want it to drag on forever. So if you went in, yes, the midterms are coming up. But finish the job because we're there now.

[00:29:40] So that's my big concern is, okay, is this going to be Obama 2.0? I would think not. But I think I care more about really eradicating the capabilities, the deadly capabilities of the Iranian regime, which is what the objective initially was, more than just hurry up and end it. Well, the markets think there's a deal because the price of oil is down. And I did advise my wife.

[00:30:07] I said this might be a good day to buy some gas for your car because prices are lower the last two days. You filled them up. You filled it up. Yeah. I mean they're lower the last two days. And if there's not a deal, it's going to go back up. The market reacted favorably overall thinking again. But if there's not, then it will come back on Monday if there's not a deal. But, I mean, obviously, I mean we're kind of a little bit making a little light of it.

[00:30:35] But if what had happened, if Trump last night, before he called off the attack, he was really doing something that we talked about last Friday, which was Victor Davis Hanson talking about, look, if you're going to do this, then you just need to go in and actually inflict. And, of course, when we say that, what that also means is civilians and that this would ratchet it up.

[00:31:05] And that's what Trump was talking about last night before he called it off. And I assume that the Iranian leadership, that's not something that they want. But you make a good point, Liberty, and that is, I mean, if you're under an ideology that believes in this sort of – that this is part –

[00:31:34] your religion's teaching, this is a part of history and that you're following your God, you're following Allah, then who knows what you will do or what you'll withstand or what the leaders will cause your people to do or withstand. Yes, we had Gary Frazier on, and he was just talking about some of the apocalyptic visions of what are called the Shiite Muslims, which are different than the Sunni Muslims and that.

[00:32:01] But since you mentioned the price of gasoline, one of the things the president said Wednesday, and I just mentioned it, but it's in this article, the president also said Wednesday that the U.S. had a secret mission, and actually they helped over 200 ships and 100 million barrels of oil escape the Strait of Hormuz. And you say, well, how did they do that? Well, they took them out at night running without any lights, and that's why he says oil is at $85 a barrel,

[00:32:30] because we've been hearing for some time that closing the Strait of Hormuz this long, you run out of reserves, and many people are predicting that the price of oil or a barrel of oil would be $200, and it's under $100. And part of that is we've been sneaking oil out. He finally announced it because the Iranians figured it out. But when they don't have the radar, and we have radar and sonar,

[00:32:56] there are ways that we can actually sneak oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, and that has been good news. Yeah, I mean, that is good news. Again, amazing capabilities. We're thankful for it this morning, but I know Americans are wondering about what that long-term prognosis looks like. Well, we're going to take a break. If nothing else, it reminds me of the movie Top Gun Maverick. Remember at one point the rear admiral says, you know, we aren't going to need pilots anymore.

[00:33:23] And at the end Maverick says, well, maybe so, sir, but not today. And he goes out and flies out. But there is a sense in which we've seen in these last two weeks the use of unmanned vehicles, one to bring one down, one to actually rescue them. And what is the future of military going to look like? Something we'll be talking about for sometime here on Point of View. We'll be right back.

[00:33:47] Six years ago, in the thick of COVID, Regents at the University of California voted that applicants to the prestigious school system would no longer be required to submit SAT or ACT scores. Regent Jay Shores told reporters, I believe the test is racist.

[00:34:15] One woke argument was that test questions contain cultural biases that make it harder for racial and ethnic minorities or low-income applicants to do well. But the Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley, who is black, pointed out that questions that depend on exposure to white privilege are rare, not typical. He said scrapping standardized tests is unfortunate because low-income minorities have more to lose than gain from the end of standardized testing. The SAT was designed to measure potential to succeed in college.

[00:34:43] This includes identifying students with the aptitude but not necessarily the educational opportunities to attain good high school grades. Still, the 2020 UC rollbacks on ACT-SAT scores were adopted by over 90% of four-year universities. Now, top schools like Yale and Dartmouth are reversing course. Two years after suspending the testing requirement, MIT restored it, and 1,200 members of the UC faculty, many of whom who teach in STEM programs,

[00:35:09] have signed a letter to the Board of Regents asking that the UC system bring back the SAT-ACT requirement for admission. Among the signers were seven of nine math department chairs. The letter states,

[00:35:33] A November report compiled at UC San Diego revealed about 900 freshmen unable to do high school-level math, up from just 30 in 2020. 70% of those students struggled even with middle school math. Due to grade inflation, high school transcripts alone are insufficient. It's good the academy is rethinking the SAT. For Point of View, I'm Penna Dexter.

[00:36:00] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Once again, let me just mention real quickly that the June issue of Outlook, for those of you watching online and holding it up, is on artificial intelligence. I have an article in there. Liberty has an article in there. John Stone Street has one as well. And it just kind of helps you understand some of the issues.

[00:36:24] And as it points out, navigating the significant ethical and human issues that AI explosion brings. Of course, one of those, Liberty, is education and humans, whether or not we're going to have robots teaching our kids. I hope not. But nevertheless, these are the kinds of issues that we want to and will continue to address here on Point of View. And as we come to our fiscal year end, which is June 30th, this is an opportunity for you to support us.

[00:36:50] And in about a week or so, we're going to talk about how you can certainly join with us. And your monthly gift to Point of View also ensures that you will receive the Outlook magazine. If you join at the Truth Team level, which we talked about before, you'll receive the booklets on those topics as well. But let's get to another piece real quickly. Cal Thomas, known him for a long time, talks about the 60 Minutes controversy. And speaking of knowing people for a long time, Scott Pelley, who just was given his marching orders,

[00:37:19] given his pink slip from 60 Minutes, first got to watch him right here in Dallas because he was one of the broadcasters for WFA Channel 8. So followed his career literally for decades. But, Jeff, let me come to you for just a minute because Cal Thomas made a good point. Correspondent Scott Pelley violated a cardinal principle, not just in journalism, but any job. He bit the hand that had been feeding him.

[00:37:45] You don't come in when you've got new leadership and immediately tell everybody that they're incompetent and that they actually shouldn't be working there in the first place. Yeah, I have to imagine, because Scott Pelley is not an idiot, but this was an idiotic move if he thought he was going to remain there. And I mean, I was, as usual, love Cal's commentary on this. And I was thinking back. I mean, I don't know the last time I watched 60 Minutes. I mean, I really don't.

[00:38:15] It was must-watched for a long time. I think as a kid, what I recall is you'd be watching football on Sunday afternoons, and then 60 Minutes would be delayed because it's supposed to start at 6 or 7, whatever time. And the football game would go over, and then you would roll right into 60 Minutes. And I remember watching 60 Minutes. But I honestly, and I know they've done some interviews, some sensationalistic interviews in the last year,

[00:38:42] but I haven't watched it, and I think part of his watch it is exactly as Thomas starts this, is there's no objectivity, and they're not fair. And it's sort of always like a gotcha type situation. And I think that's the whole point. Why has Barry Weiss been brought in to revamp CBS News? Because that's the perception. And I think from her perspective is CBS News and 60 Minutes are dying.

[00:39:12] And so we need to change things in order to survive. And if business continues as business has been going, I mean, Scott Pelley would have lost his job anyways because there wouldn't be a 60 Minutes. So, yeah, and the other thing I liked in this was Pelley thinks it's all about him, not the audience. And that's a problem when you're a journalist, right?

[00:39:40] I mean, you can think you've written the greatest piece, but if people don't like it, then you're not going to get paid. You're not going to have a job. He seems to have forgotten a principle of journalism that I learned back in the day, which is don't make yourself the subject of the story. It shouldn't be all about you. But, yeah, I mean, you're right. I think Barry Weiss was brought in at a needed moment. I've been following her since she got fired from the New York Times and started the Free Press.

[00:40:10] And I really appreciate it because they really do publish a wide array of takes and opinions and writers because, like Cal Thomas said, we can't be purely objective as humans. We just can't because of our sin nature. Only God is truly objective, but we can be fair. And so just kind of a case in point, there was the story that she did or that 60 Minutes was doing earlier this year

[00:40:36] that caused a big controversy on some of the places where migrants had been deported to out of the country and some of the places where they were being held. Well, she held back the story, as is her right, as head of the news team, and they made a big fuss saying she pulled the story. She's pro-Trump. And she said, well, you need to interview a few more people from the administration because it's all people who are against the administration. Not cut what you've already put together, just interview a few more people from the other side against fairness.

[00:41:07] Well, Canada actually released the whole segment before the edits were made to try to say, like, we're not – we're free up here. Then it came out. And she just said, do a couple more interviews, get a few more quotes from the other side, and then you can release it. But that's just an example of the kind of fairness that I think she's trying to bring to the newsroom at CBS and then including at 60 Minutes that all of a sudden everybody's upset about.

[00:41:36] But the statistics that he includes, I mean, 28 percent of Americans today trust the mainstream media. That's down from 68 percent in the 70s. So, yeah, if you want to rebuild trust, you're going to have to change some things. Well, that's one of the arguments that was being made at the time. Well, we really want to address this because people don't trust us. And Scott Spelley, do you have any evidence? It's like, well, yes, I hear. For example, even the one he points here, the American Journalist study talking about the number that are Democrats

[00:42:05] compared to the fraction of almost a percent that are Republicans. And the number – the fact that when you look at the various polling, the – probably right now, people in the United States tend to trust the legacy media less than they ever have. And, again, Jeff and I can remember a time where after Watergate, journalists were regularly higher almost than any other institution in America

[00:42:33] for breaking the story about Watergate and Richard Nixon. And it's gone from that plateau down to probably the Dead Sea in terms of it's below sea level now. And these are the kinds of issues that, again, need to be addressed in all areas of media. But somehow that just – all that evidence seemed to escape Scott Pelley. Yeah, I think he wants to be a commentator, not a journalist. That's fine. Go ahead and do it. And fine. If you want to be a commentator, then be a commentator.

[00:43:03] But, I mean, the one – the other thing I love – of course, I love Cal Thomas. But his description of Joe – Pelley's description of Joe Biden. Let us do that. Yeah, let's read that. Let's see. Let's see. Do we think this is fair and unbiased? Joe Biden is among the longest-serving politicians in Washington. Okay. All right. Can I do commentary during it? That was true. If there's less bounce in the step than there once was,

[00:43:30] if the words don't fly like they used to, maybe there's something to be said for know-how, five decades on the hill in the Oval. And so, in other words, the fact that you're having a lot of issues, you know, don't worry about that because he's been on the hill for five years. You've lived a long life of triumph and tragedy. In November, you'll be 80, and I wonder what it is that keeps you in the arena.

[00:44:01] Okay. All right. I mean, so we know what he thinks about Joe Biden. It does not have any comments of what Scott Pelley thought about Donald Trump, but I can imagine it is not the same assessment that he has of Joe Biden. They do have one earlier where he did say that Trump is in defiance of the Constitution, and so ultimately that we'll see whether or not he is impeached again. And so you can see that there is not a journalist. Yeah.

[00:44:28] Again, if you're supposed to be an umpire in the Supreme Court calling balls and strikes, there's only certain strikes that are being called, and in many cases that is, I think, the problem. Nevertheless, I just thought it was a good piece because we haven't really talked about it. It's just all the more reason for you to have discernment. One of the reasons we post so many of the articles that we're talking about is you might say, well, is that exactly how it was said? So you can go back and read it.

[00:44:56] You can go to our newly revamped website and find all the articles we've mentioned. And, of course, in the next hour we have a lot more to cover, but stay tuned. We'll have more right after this. Will the American experiment endure? Or, as we approach the 250th anniversary for our nation,

[00:45:23] we must recognize the answer to that question largely depends on us. In 1789, President George Washington said something important. He said, America is an experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. That means that our actions, our values, determine the course of our nation. Washington also argued that we can't expect blessings if we ignore God's moral order.

[00:45:54] If you want to help the American experiment endure, if you want to restore the moral foundation that made this nation strong, partner with Point of View. Your support equips listeners to live according to God's moral order and defend freedom for the future. Give this month and your gift will be doubled. Call or click today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:46:22] That's pointofview.net and 1-800-347-5151. Point of View will continue after this. Across America, live, this is Point of View.

[00:46:59] And now, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today, we're going to spend some time talking about this issue of affirmative action, multiculturalism, DEI and the rest. And then a little bit later this hour, a piece by Roland Frye, that is Professor Roland Frye at Harvard. I've been following him for many years because as an African-American, he said, you know, should I really dig into whether or not we have racist police force? And came up with conclusions that some of his fellow African-Americans didn't appreciate,

[00:47:28] but nevertheless has a very good piece on why teenagers stop working in the summer. A lot of the summer jobs that used to exist don't, and a lot of young people that aren't working, and he'll talk about that, is the iPhone birth control. This is fascinating because it gets back to some of the things that Liberty has been talking about at certainly the Know Why podcast and the Next Generation Roundtable, and then Penna Dexter's piece as well.

[00:47:53] But just before I get into this piece by Roger Kimball about affirmative action, it seems to me right now, Jeff, we have some cases before the Supreme Court. We've talked about them with Lathan Watts when he's been in here, about the whole issue of affirmative action as it relates to whether or not men can participate in women's sports, and how this whole DEI issue has played itself out, not only on campus, but in the corporate world and much more.

[00:48:22] So tell us what's going on. Yeah, so as we're recording this today, it's June 12th, so we've got 18 days left in this Supreme Court term, the United States Supreme Court. And it's got two very, very important cases on this issue before it. And speculation is that the court will combine the two cases into one decision, but they're the same issue from two different angles.

[00:48:46] Idaho, the state of Idaho, passed a law called the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, and that law is one of those common sense laws that says, you know, to compete in Idaho sports, you have to be, to compete in women's sports, this is going to be radical again, you actually have to be a woman.

[00:49:13] And that law has been challenged, and it has made its way up to the United States Supreme Court. Whether can the state of Idaho say that in order to compete in women's sports, you have to be a woman, which means biologically a woman. When you were born, you're a woman, that you can't have been a man who decided at some point,

[00:49:39] I want to compete in women's sports even though I was born a man. A similar case, but this one is actually a student who was a high school track student, is transgender, and so it's a person who was born as a man who now thinks he's a woman and wanted to compete in girls cross country.

[00:50:08] And of course, that person was doing really, really well competing, a man competing in girls cross country, he was doing really, really well. And so that person is suing in a case coming out of West Virginia saying he went through hormone therapy and he takes the medication, therefore he should be able to compete in women's sports.

[00:50:37] So it's a really important case. The speculation is because it's kind of interesting. You have these guys who I think all they do is watch the U.S. Supreme Court. And one of my colleagues was telling me today, there are people who determine, based upon when the cases were argued, who is written in that month. And so you can kind of figure out who's left. There are 20 opinions left to be issued.

[00:51:04] There are 20 cases that have been argued that they're not opinions yet. And so you can, based upon the opinions, the other, I guess this year they heard in the 60s. So there are 40 opinions a minute. So you can kind of figure out who's going to write what. And the speculation is that these cases are going to be, it's going to be Judge Justice Kavanaugh. And which is interesting because Justice Kavanaugh, before he was Justice Kavanaugh, he was Coach Kavanaugh and coached girls sports and has girls.

[00:51:34] And so the speculation is, and if you just count noses, and we don't want to, you know, count our chickens before they're hatched. But speculation is Justice Kavanaugh's writing these opinions and that the Idaho law will be upheld. And the claim of this man who thinks he's a woman will be denied. I would hope so.

[00:51:57] I mean, this is something that has united a lot of people that normally do not share political opinions because it is so common sense. And it really is a women's rights issue. And I think it's a sign of the times that when you have some sort of deceit, it is posing as a human rights issue, even a women's rights issue. We have heard people say trans women are women.

[00:52:24] And it's the exact opposite of what is actually true. And what it does is it harms women athletes, takes away opportunities for them to excel. We jogged today. I'll go ahead and say that on the air. I have a chance to brag about it. But we were both, my husband and I went on an easy jog, but even just both of us barely jogging, he like was very soon quite far ahead of me.

[00:52:50] And that's even when there is hormone therapy and things like that, just the way that bodies are designed, that God designed bodies. They've done a lot of studies on this. There are things about bone density that you just can't change because that's how you were made and your body is good. You shouldn't want to change it. But this is just a couple of days ago and I think illustrates the stakes here. This is another case that the ADF has taken about a wrestling match, a high school girls wrestling match.

[00:53:19] And basically, without getting too graphic, what happened was she was not told ahead of time that her opponent was biologically male. And she ended up getting assaulted during the wrestling match. And so that's the kind of safety stakes that girls are up against. And so this is really important. No, it is.

[00:53:36] And we've had cases where representing Christian schools who then show up and they find out their opponent, another private school, not necessarily a Christian school, but one of the – that there's a boy playing against girls. And they're like, well, we can't do that. I mean, for a lot of reasons, including, I mean, probably the most – safety, right? I mean, yeah, there's a huge difference between men and women.

[00:54:05] And so these are common sense and it's one of those things. But it's going to take a Supreme Court case, this case two Supreme Court cases, to make this clear. And I think the other point you bring up is exactly right. I mean, this is not a women's rights issue. This is actually the opposite. It's giving men, you know, who now for some reason identify as a woman, giving rights and preferences over women.

[00:54:30] And you think of records being destroyed because men competing in women's sports. And, you know, this is one also – yeah, our allies are broader. I mean, we have people like J.K. Rowling speaking out on this issue. Of course, she – you know, the left then attacks her and does all this crazy stuff. So it's very important.

[00:54:50] People should watch, pray over the next 18 days that we get a solid – because there is a world where they'll do a soft opinion, which means they won't hit the issue head on. They'll find a way to rule in favor the right way, but it won't be clear. We need a very clear, strong opinion. Well, again, one of the things that Liberty does is write a lot of Pray for America. So maybe there's a Pray for America. I think so. We have 20 coming down. And as you might imagine, we will talk about those.

[00:55:18] When we come back, though, we'll also be talking about this idea of multiculturalism, affirmative action, DEI. It's the piece by Roger Kimball, the hyphen and the melting pot. We'll talk about that right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:55:48] As we get closer to the 250th anniversary celebration of America, many commentators are talking about how this country survived a quarter millennium. John Stoss will pull together a video from his past interviews to answer that question. Rob Henderson reminds us that in the U.S. Constitution you see a lot of phrases like Congress shall not or no law shall be passed. The focus is not about what government is going to do for you, but instead on how Congress and government are not going to interfere in your lives.

[00:56:15] Linnea Lucan points to the early settlers, who by necessity were very independent. She says we went out into the untamed wilderness and established towns that didn't have to lean on central government to function properly. Without nobility controlling property, ordinary people could own land, start business, and keep their profits. Ryan McMaken observes that America is more devoted to property rights than any other country, and that is why America is more free. Others pointed to checks and balances.

[00:56:43] Wilford Riley reminds us that the founders created three branches of government designed specifically to check each other. Add to that the belief mentioned by Jennifer Grossman that this is the first nation in history founded on the inalitable right of the individual. Now, John Stoss also provides video of those who warn about the future of a republic. This includes concerns like the towering debt we continue to accrue and the targeting of political enemies.

[00:57:09] And this brings us to the famous response from Benjamin Franklin when asked what government they created. A republic, he replied, if you can keep it. The perennial question is whether we will work hard enough to keep it. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net.

[00:57:37] That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again, if you want to find this article, it is one that is very well written, the hyphen and the melting pot. And it gets into issues like multiculturalism, diversity, especially DEI, the need for assimilation.

[00:58:02] This kind of takes you in all sorts of directions from men and women's sports to the issue of affirmative action to assimilation in terms of immigration. And it even relates a little bit to my commentary yesterday. One of the interviews I'm looking forward to, and we've done it in the past with Gatsad on The Parasitic Mind, his new book out, which is a New York Times bestseller, Suicidal Empathy. And my commentary yesterday is, again, the argument that empathy is a virtue.

[00:58:29] But when it is taken to its unchecked extreme, it becomes a vice. And one of the examples he uses is how German Chancellor Angela Merkel thought, you know, we need to have empathy, so we'll just have an open-door immigration policy. And we brought in all sorts of Muslim migrants who had no intention of assimilating. And the disaster that you see in Europe and the U.K. and all the rest, I think, illustrates that point.

[00:58:57] But Roger Kimball points out that this whole idea of affirmative action, it sounds really good until you realize it's discrimination on the basis of sex, skin color, and a variety of other issues. And that a lot of this is now no longer called affirmative action. It travels under DEI. And, Jeff Mateer, if I think about a third of the cases that you've been involved with at First Liberty, in one way or another, come out of the root of DEI, don't they? No, a lot of them do.

[00:59:24] I mean, as soon as you say it, the first thing I think is Valerie Klosterman, the physician assistant who Michigan Health takes over. You've got to get on board. You've got to affirm our DEI policy, which is kind of diversity, equity, and inclusion. And there's inclusion if you're not a Christian and you have orthodox beliefs. And you have to get on board or you're gone. And that's exactly what happened to her.

[00:59:53] She was fired. She was told to keep her Bible at home. She was told she was evil for having the beliefs that we all have, orthodox beliefs about sexuality. And that's the problem. So it's not diversity. It's not equity. And it's not inclusion. It's so misnamed. Well, again, whether you're working as a health care provider or even a flight attendant, don't you have a case like that? Same thing.

[01:00:23] We've got two flight attendants. And again, in their case, I mean, they didn't even assert their beliefs. They just asked questions. Asked questions. And they were rewarded by being fired. So, yeah. I mean, yes. Now, there's been a – the Trump administration has done a good job of calling corporations on the carpet for it.

[01:00:48] But my fear is it's a temporary – it's a temporary pause because I think what I'm hearing in a lot of corporate America is just going underground. And so even they've renamed – I mean they've renamed the departments. They know DEI. Oh, we can't call it DEI. Let's call it something else. And I think they're just waiting. They're waiting out the Trump presidency and having Democrats back in power. And that's one of the reasons why – well, of course, as we talk about all the time, politics matter.

[01:01:18] But what matters more is culture. And I think that this article that you've posted, Kirby, really highlights that the root issue is that a lot of people are not gaining any sort of sense of identity in just being American and kind of that creedal sense of identity that we took for granted for a long time.

[01:01:40] And so if people don't have an appreciation for being American and what that means and understand what freedom means, you know, it's not the freedom to never be offended or the freedom or everybody else having to positively affirm everything you do. But being able to live in community and respect other people with different beliefs, like we've just lost so much of that.

[01:02:04] And I think that that's what you really need to regain if you want to have that kind of culture where you can have different beliefs but you can exist together. But we don't – I mean, one of the best arguments for public schools for so long were, well, this was an opportunity because then you bring the Irish, they bring the Italians, you bring the Scotch – you bring them in, right? You bring the Polish students. I mean, all these immigrants who came to our country.

[01:02:30] And so the great equalizing was our public schools where our public schools don't do that any longer. I mean, do we pledge allegiance to the flag? Do we even start something basic? But one thing that's been removed – and I know you got this at Patrick Henry and you got it at home – but you're by far the rare exception. We're not teaching civics at all. We don't teach American civics.

[01:02:55] And even if you're proud – I mean, this article makes a point, and I've seen it – the word patriot. There you go. I mean – We can't say that. We can't say the word patriot. And I – you know, I'm going – I mentioned I'm going to get to go to a World Cup game next week. And I'm actually going to Boston to see Scotland. And it's a gift for my daughter, which is a wonderful gift.

[01:03:22] Now, I am – like most Americans – have Scottish ancestry. I'm actually probably about 50 percent. So I'm proud of that Scottish ancestry. And I might – I've got a Scottish flag, and Scotland's playing tomorrow. They're playing the great nation of Haiti. And so I will be really bummed if Haiti beats Scotland at the World Cup. But I will – I have a Scottish flag. I will probably fly my Scottish flag. But I'm an American. He is. Yeah.

[01:03:52] I'm an American. I mean, I can be proud of my Scottish ancestry. Sure. And I joke with the folks, you know, and, you know, Scotland, of course, you know, Scotland gives us Jonathan Witherspoon. Witherspoon gives us James Madison. I mean, so that's the Scottish contribution to the American Republic, the First Amendment, the Bill of Rights, our Constitution. But I don't want a little mini Scotland here, right?

[01:04:20] I want America. And so I think, you know – and the melting pot. I mean, and Kimball makes this point. I mean, we don't have a melting pot anymore. We retreated into – in so many parts of the country, retreated into communities. And I saw this when I was in France earlier, about a month ago. In France, you walk through the little – the city we were in, a small city in southern France.

[01:04:47] There are parts of it that you don't know you're in France. That is so true. We thought we – I mean, it was – No goes in. They weren't speaking French. Yeah. They were Muslims from Tunisia, and it's as if Tunisia was dropped into southern France. Now, France can make that decision if that's what they want, but that's not what America is. America has always been a place people come to this country, and they do assimilate,

[01:05:15] and that we're formed not based upon nationalities, but we're formed by creeds. Again, this even gives you the history of this idea of a melting pot because it comes from a French-born American farmer who said that we have individuals of all nations melted into a new race of men, and that's the idea of the melting pot. And then, of course, he even has in here the code for citizenship.

[01:05:36] But I think that gets us back to the fact that, Liberty, we're almost in this postmodern culture because when we talk about assimilation, which has not been happening in Europe and has not been happening in the U.K., and in many cases not happening here, every time we talk about assimilation, then that brings us to being a patriot, and that's something that gets you in trouble. And we can't even agree on what are the standards and the fundamental principles of America,

[01:06:05] which is one of the reasons why I guess I'll use this as my quick commercial here. This is the July issue coming out of, again, understanding America's Christian heritage. And we have all sorts of articles from Tim Gagline as well as from William Federer, Mark David Hall, all sorts of people that Jeff knows as well as, of course, you and Jerry Newcomb and myself. And this is why we recognize if we don't come back on this 250th anniversary to some of the fundamentals,

[01:06:33] what it means to be an American, then we really are going to have this sort of balkanized America. And that is not leading very well to human flourishing. Yeah. I mean, you know, George Washington called the nation an experiment. And I think the experiment is can we have a creedal nation? Can this constitutional republic work? But if you aren't even educated about what the Constitution is, I mean, read the Declaration of Independence to your kids,

[01:07:03] for starters, like, why are we? Why is America here? Tell them about the pilgrims. You have to tell them about why did people come here in the first place? What rights do we have? Are they given to us by the government? No. The founders acknowledged that they were protecting us from the government because our rights are given to us by God. And every single human has those rights. And we cherish them here in this country. So that's where you can get started. Well, again, seven pages on the hyphen in the melting pot gives you a lot of the history of what America was,

[01:07:32] really where America needs to go. And Roger Kimball, I think, did a very good job. We could spend the rest of our time talking about that. But I've got a couple other articles that I think will be fascinating to you. Summer is when we usually have summer jobs. Well, that's kind of different than it's been before. And I had to put this one in for no other reason. These are the kinds of things Liberty's been talking about. Is the birth iPhone birth control. It's a bit of a joke, but you can get out of where this is going very quickly. And then we'll get into, of course, the commentary by Pentadexter.

[01:08:02] So all of it coming up in this last half hour, right after these important messages. At Point of View, we believe there is power in prayer. And that is why we have relaunched our Pray for America campaign, a series of weekly emails to unite Americans in prayer for our nation.

[01:08:30] Imagine if hundreds of thousands of Americans started praying intentionally together on a weekly basis. You can help make that a reality by subscribing to our Pray for America emails. Just go to pointofview.net and click on the Pray for America banner that's right there on the homepage. Each week you'll receive a brief news update, a specific prayer guide,

[01:08:59] and a free resource to equip you in further action. We encourage you to not only pray with us each week, but to share these prayers and the resources with others in your life. Join the movement today. Visit pointofview.net and click on the banner Pray for America right there at the top. That's pointofview.net.

[01:09:24] Let's pray together for God to make a difference in our land. Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[01:09:54] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. You know, it is summer, and first of all, that is something that I think would be relevant in terms of the fact that my Monday commentary is about empty school desks. We're just about ready to actually figure out how many young people actually made it into the public schools, how many were chronically absent. And that's my commentary for Monday, but we have mentioned that before.

[01:10:21] But there's another part of that, and that is summer is usually a time for summer jobs. And Roland Fry, who is an individual I've been following for some time, he's a professor at Harvard University, probably best known for one who actually did the research to show that, you know, we really don't have a racist police force in America. And he did some really good work, but of course was criticized by his fellow African Americans about that. But he wrote this piece on why teenagers stop working in the summer.

[01:10:51] And in the process, I learned that he actually had bagged groceries at Albertson in Louisville, which is just down the road from where this is. But Liberty, let me come to you for just a minute. I know probably in high school and certainly in college, you probably had a summer job. But summer jobs are kind of changing rather dramatically, according to some of the research that Roland Fry has put together. Oh, yeah.

[01:11:13] You know, one of the things I've seen a few people writing about this is that those kinds of jobs that you get when you're a teen, maybe it's your first real job, you get your first paycheck, and it's usually not anything flashy, but it's character building. And I've raked leaves and vacuumed long hallways and, you know, babysat lots of kids. And I can say that, yes, those were very formative experiences that I had.

[01:11:40] So it is, I think a lot of people are justifiably concerned when they think, okay, why aren't teens really doing this anymore? One of the interesting things I thought of actually reminded me of Gilmore Girls. So I'll make pop culture reference today. Any Gilmore Girls fans out there, you'll understand when Rory's trying to get into Harvard, she's, you know, straight A student. But all of a sudden she realizes, wait, I have to get this long list of extracurricular activities.

[01:12:05] And she starts panicking and she signs up for the Habitat for Humanity and tries to go build a house real quick so that she can, you know, add all these things. So it really is kind of a rat race to get into college. So that's one of the interesting things is that kind of the upper middle class and up from there, those teens are busy, but they're spending their time on SAT prep.

[01:12:29] I don't know how much you need for the current SAT as it is right now, but we can leave that for another discussion. But just, you know, extracurriculars, tutoring, things like this that are going to try to build their resume so that they have a better chance of getting into college. And yet the kids who really are going to need the summer jobs, who maybe are from lower income households where their household actually needs the money, they don't have money from mom and dad, and maybe they need more help staying out of trouble.

[01:12:59] They're not able to get jobs. So it's interesting to see that kind of class divide there and get into the nuance of it. So you guys will never guess. It wasn't my first because my dad would take me to work with him, so I did get paid, well, at some rate. I'm not sure exactly it was fair. I don't know if there's minimum wage there, but you'll probably never guess. So my first, like real job other than working for my dad was, believe it or not, I worked at Dairy Queen.

[01:13:28] Dairy Queen. Wow. I worked at Dairy Queen. Look at you. I know. I mean, that's, you know. All you can eat. Did you get to dump the lizard upside down? Well, we did. Well. To make sure? This is going to shock you, but when I worked at Dairy Queen, they didn't have blizzards. That's how, I know. What did they have? Milkshakes. Milkshakes.

[01:13:50] But I thought, but the one thing you did have to, and I was not good at this, and it always dreaded when the person would, but it was the chocolate covered cone. Yes. It is hard to dip a cone in chocolate and not lose. The ice cream. And not lose. I was good at doing, with Dairy Queen, the thing you do, can you do it? I could do that. I could make the swirl. But dipping it was really hard.

[01:14:15] And I will tell you that, working at Dairy Queen did, Bill, because you look out there and you see a long line of people who want their ice cream. I mean, you learn some things. This is a disturbing trend because, I mean, each of my kids had summer jobs. One of them, as you mentioned, doing groceries, you know, packing groceries. One worked at Brookshire's. We had a Brookshire's not too far from our house.

[01:14:45] One did that and, you know, each of them. And I think that is just part – I mean, to me, that's just part of developing a work ethic. And also, I think my dad's philosophy in taking me to his work, it was so you go to college and you realize, you know, there's more to – and my dad, it was a warehouse. And so it was manual labor, really hard lifting, lifting items. And it was like, I'm going to college.

[01:15:13] I'm going to – I want a job where I'm not doing that. Yeah. I worked in a machine shop. I worked for PG&E, digging ditches. I worked as a janitor. And after a while, you say, there's got to be a better way to make a living. And that is the case. But here, let's follow this up because I mentioned my commentary coming out on Monday. But my commentary coming out on Wednesday is what I call American Idol, I-D-L-E.

[01:15:37] One out of three American males – you and I talked about this just recently, Jeff – are not working and not looking for work. And so we have lost the work ethic here in America, haven't we? Yeah. I mean, that – we did. Last week, I think we mentioned that briefly.

[01:15:53] And, I mean, that is a very disturbing, very, very disturbing statistic that that many young men are not working, which may lead into the next why we're not having babies. Because they're not leaving their basement. Yeah. Right? I mean – And no girl – I'm sorry. No young woman is going to be – no matter how successful she is on her own – is going to be attracted to a young man who doesn't even care about trying to go out and work.

[01:16:22] Who doesn't have a job. I mean, didn't that sound like, oh, I want a guy who doesn't have a job. I mean, I just – and the – again, I – obviously, the young men are responsible. But at some point, the parents – Yes, you're right. Are responsible. And look, I get that there are situations that young men, after they graduate from high school, college, may have to come home for whatever reason. But gosh, the plan has got to be you need to be on your own.

[01:16:51] You need to be working. And I mentioned last week that, you know, as troubling as that statistic was, the numbers are higher in Europe. Yes. That European men are not working. Wow. And you've seen that in France. And I've seen it in France. They're just sitting there. You're in the middle of the day. They're sitting there smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. Well, is that the French work ethic anyway? Well, I – you know. They do have a lot of – they do have a lot of – I'm not going to defend the French. I'm Scottish.

[01:17:22] I just declared my allegiance. Trust me, the Scots, half day on Christmas. I mean, you work a half day on Christmas. The Scots are serious about their work. So, yeah. Well, again, just one more point, and then we'll take a break. But it just seems to me that we do see that division because for the affluent teenager, he says, skipping the paycheck is a genuine optimization.

[01:17:45] She trades the lifeguard chair for research internship, science camp, and SAT tutor. And economists have found that that is certainly the case among more educated, higher-income households. On the other hand, as we've talked about before, Liberty, given the fact that the value of the dollar keeps declining and we don't keep pace with wages, including minimum wage as well,

[01:18:11] then it is more and more difficult for a young person to go out and work during the summer to have enough to pay for tuition, which is what I did to pay for my tuition. And I see this in seminary as well. It used to be that a lot of our individuals at Dallas Theological Seminary, they would take classes in the daytime,

[01:18:31] and they would be a guard or they would clean pools in the afternoon or the evening and just not working anymore because, again, for those who have a need, whether you're lower income or whether you're going to college or graduate school, the dollar isn't worth as much and the wages haven't kept up. Yeah, I mean, it's sad.

[01:18:52] I don't remember the exact numbers, but just the amount that when you adjust for inflation that the minimum wage has gone down in terms of how much that's actually going to benefit a young person that's working. So a lot of them may be making long-term calculations saying, well, do I want to try to study and boost my high school resume academically so that I can get a scholarship and get a degree

[01:19:18] and then maybe get a higher paycheck down the road, or do I want to spend time working a minimum wage job right now that really isn't paying me that much, and yet those starting jobs are so good for character building. So for somebody who has a small business or is able to potentially employ some teenagers, I would say there's a need for that. Yeah. Well, back again, how many are bagging groceries anymore?

[01:19:44] We're old enough to remember that when you would pull up at a service station, there would be service station attendance. I guess still in New Jersey and Oregon, sometimes you have to have other people pump your gas, but in most places, those have vanished, and so the lowest rungs on the economic ladder aren't there, and that has hurt the poor as well. So anyway, Roland Fly, very good piece, Why Teenagers Stop Working in the Summer, and if you have not seen that piece, certainly do commend it to you. We come back.

[01:20:13] We've talked about social media. Is the iPhone birth control? And I think it's a great piece, which I'm sure will show up again maybe in the Next Generation Roundtable discussion or somewhere else. We'll talk about that right after this.

[01:20:28] Six years ago, in the thick of COVID, Regents at the University of California voted that applicants to the prestigious school system would no longer be required to submit SAT or ACT scores. Regent Jay Shores told reporters, I believe the test is racist.

[01:20:57] One woke argument was that test questions contain cultural biases that make it harder for racial and ethnic minorities or low-income applicants to do well. But the Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley, who is black, pointed out that questions that depend on exposure to white privilege are rare, not typical. He said scrapping standardized tests is unfortunate because low-income minorities have more to lose than gain from the end of standardized testing. The SAT was designed to measure potential to succeed in college.

[01:21:24] This includes identifying students with the aptitude but not necessarily the educational opportunities to attain good high school grades. Still, the 2020 UC rollbacks on ACT-SAT scores were adopted by over 90% of four-year universities. Now, top schools like Yale and Dartmouth are reversing course. Two years after suspending the testing requirement, MIT restored it, and 1,200 members of the UC faculty, many of whom who teach in STEM programs,

[01:21:51] have signed a letter to the Board of Regents asking that the UC system bring back the SAT-ACT requirement for admission. Among the signers were seven of nine math department chairs. The letter states, We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics, and other quantitatively demanding fields.

[01:22:15] A November report compiled at UC San Diego revealed about 900 freshmen unable to do high school level math, up from just 30 in 2020. 70% of those students struggled even with middle school math. Due to grade inflation, high school transcripts alone are insufficient. It's good the Academy is rethinking the SAT. For Point of View, I'm Penna Dexter.

[01:22:42] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes. I put this one up in large part because I've got a feeling that Liberty will be talking about this again. If you've listened to any of her Next Generation Roundtable or, again, Know Why podcast, you know that she is very passionate about what is happening in terms of social media and the impact of digital devices.

[01:23:08] And so the author here says, as someone who grew up with a modern smartphone, I feared that phones were making Gen Z dumb, antisocial, brain-rot-filled robots. Are they making us infertile, too? And, Liberty, let's explain that because, in some respects, this is a research done by a very reputable organization, the National Bureau of Economic Research. And it has the rather interesting title, Is the iPhone Birth Control?

[01:23:37] Casual Evidence from AT&T's Carrier Monopoly. And staring in an iPhone all day or any kind of smartphone isn't conducive to going out on dates or even meeting other people, is it? No. And I think the answer to the question in the headline is yes.

[01:24:00] Effectively, basically what we have seen is that with iPhones becoming ubiquitous and everybody having them, we already knew that, okay, adolescent mental health tanked. So did so many other things. People who have been talking about this, like Jonathan Haidt, Claire Morrell, who I've interviewed on Point of View, say it's the phones. Like, hey, what's the problem? It's the phones. Fertility rate declining? It's the phones.

[01:24:28] So there was a 52% drop in general fertility, or 33% to 52% drop in general fertility after 2007, whenever they were looking at this data. And so, yeah, it's just, it's very interesting to see how that would affect fertility rates. But why is it? It's because it really does take people away from human interaction. And the author of the article even admits, and she's Gen Z, people are saying,

[01:24:57] how come guys aren't coming up to girls at a bar anymore and striking up a conversation? That's not happening. If you ask people who are kind of going out, trying to date, trying to meet somebody, everybody's just staring at their phones. They don't know how to interact or to talk. And then, I mean, even if you are married, if you're distracted all the time, you're not going to make a family. So there are just so many reasons why the technology today that sucks people in and gets them addicted,

[01:25:26] it's harming us. It's harming what it means to be human. Yeah, I mean, I think we're going to look back and not even realize what we've done, that the addiction to this thing. And look, I mean, gosh, I mean, it's sitting here right before me. As soon as I leave, we go off the air. I'm going to check my messages immediately. And we're doing that younger and younger.

[01:25:56] I mean, I just, I mean, I think I've seen five-year-olds with phones. And, I mean, you're a parent, Liberty. And I, I mean, fortunately, my kids didn't get phones. I mean, it was not a thing until, actually, I think the youngest was a senior in high school. The others didn't get it in high school. And I know there's so much pressure.

[01:26:21] And then parents, and you're not one of these, but like the helicopter, well, my son has to have a phone. Because I need, what if I need to get in touch with him? Well, you know, for thousands of years, parents have been able to get in touch with their kids. And guess what? We went to school for 12 years. And, you know, if my parents, I don't think they ever needed me. But if they had, they would have called the school. And they would have found me.

[01:26:47] And so I really, it is, and my son's a ninth grade high school teacher. And, I mean, they've, I mean, because a lot of schools are now going to, I mean, you're not allowed to have them in the classroom during class. And so I think I'm almost hesitant because I'm so bad. I mean, I know I'm this thing.

[01:27:16] And, you know, my dad, this is a little bit sad, but my dad lost his wife, my stepmother recently. And my dad didn't have a phone. My stepmother had one. She used it very rare, but she had it. And so now he's, he's got this phone. But he, and I keep, and we have him, my wife put him on something called Life 360. You probably know what that is. And so I look at it and like, I'm calling. He doesn't answer.

[01:27:46] And he decided to get rid of his landline. So he's just going to use his cell phone. The problem is he doesn't take, it's like in a drawer somewhere. And so we can't, because he's all, I look at him. He's all, dad, you're always at home. Oh, I'm not at home. I did this and this. I said, well, where's your phone? Oh, it's in the drawer. But me, that's not the case. Yeah. And so, and, and to think that we, and look, I've just overused, but we're a five-year-old, seven-year-olds, eight-year-olds. I know.

[01:28:17] I mean, it's troubling. It's very, very troubling. If it can addict adults, then how much more so kids when they get started at a young age when their brains are still forming? So what are you doing as a parent? Can I ask that? Yeah. We're following The Tech Exit, which is a book I recommend by Claire Morrell, who I mentioned. So you can find that interview at pointofview.net. If you're a parent or even a grandparent, you have to read it. So we let them watch some movies sometimes. But other than that, they don't have technology.

[01:28:47] And so that's what I'm doing. You're homeschooling. Yeah, we do. You're homeschooling. So they're not. And that's the thing, because so many people, they'll do that at home, and then their kids are, at first grade, given a laptop at school, and they're watching YouTube videos. So it's just really hard. It's hard for parents right now, but that's why it's important for schools to get on board. So the Tech Exit is just a must-read for parents in this generation. Very good. Let me just mention real quickly the Viewpoints Commentary.

[01:29:16] We have Pentadexters rethinking the SAT, and that is something that should have happened a long time ago. But they thought, well, that might be back to our DEI conversation. Need to get rid of it. And a lot of us are saying, no, I think we need ACT and SAT. So that is the case. Mine is on America 250. Done a couple of things, obviously, on the history of America. And that, in particular, are some of the interviews that, in the past, John Stossel has done on those regards.

[01:29:45] But just before we run out of time, one of the things that we talked about earlier, Jeff, is the need to maybe pray for some Supreme Court decisions coming down. And when I think about that, of course, we talked about men in women's sports, birthright citizenship. And, again, there's about 20 very important cases. And oftentimes the most controversial ones are the ones they announce in the last few weeks of January.

[01:30:14] And so some of the most significant ones have yet to be announced. Yeah, there's another one that I mentioned, and we covet prayers. Again, not one of our cases, but it's an important case that comes out of Louisiana. And it's whether if in these cases that we talked about, like the New Jersey case, when the government official is just acting completely out of control, and then you can show that they're engaged in deliberate bad behavior,

[01:30:43] can the individual, not the city, but the individual who's actually engaged in this bad behavior, can they be accountable? Right. And there's a case called Landor that comes out of Louisiana that has to do with a prison guard who was violating the Constitution. And the issue in the case is under federal law, can that individual be personally liable? And let me tell you, as a civil rights lawyer who does religious liberty,

[01:31:12] that is a game changer because if the people who actually are engaged in this bad behavior, and they know it's bad behavior, but nevertheless they're engaged in it, can they personally be held liable? That's a game changer for our work. So that's a very important one. Very good. Well, enjoy the weekend. We've got baseball, basketball, and at least a few others. Soccer. And soccer, to mention just a few. MMA at the White House.

[01:31:41] Who would have guessed all of this? But nevertheless, I want to thank Megan for her help engineering the program. Steve, thank you for introducing the program. Enjoy the weekend. We'll see you back here, right here, on Point of View on Monday. Will the American experiment endure? As we approach the 250th anniversary for our nation, we must recognize the answer to that question largely depends on us.

[01:32:11] In 1789, President George Washington said something important. He said, America is an experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. That means that our actions, our values determine the course of our nation. Washington also argued that we can't expect blessings if we ignore God's moral order.

[01:32:34] If you want to help the American experiment endure, if you want to restore the moral foundation that made this nation strong, partner with Point of View. Your support equips listeners to live according to God's moral order and defend freedom for the future. Give this month and your gift will be doubled. Call or click today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[01:33:03] That's pointofview.net and 1-800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.