Point of View October 30, 2024 – Hour 1 : Texas Public Policy Foundation, Mistrust of the Media

[00:00:06] Live, this is Point of View, Anna Dexter.

[00:00:20] Thank you very much for joining us ladies and gentlemen. It's hard not to talk about the election.

[00:00:26] There's so much at stake, less than a week now until Election Day. I voted yesterday.

[00:00:31] The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos announced he is not going to endorse anyone. Actually the paper isn't.

[00:00:38] They're going to stop endorsing candidates for president. We'll talk about that a little bit later.

[00:00:42] Also, there's a false abortion narrative that's being promoted on the campaign trail.

[00:00:49] We will discuss that. And Trent England from Save Our States is going to join us to talk about why it's wrong to think about getting rid of the electoral college.

[00:01:01] But first, I'm very excited about my guest.

[00:01:05] And you know, one of the issues we thought was going to be a big one in the campaign, of course, was climate change.

[00:01:14] In a sense it is, but it's not talked about.

[00:01:19] But with me to discuss this is Jason Isaac. He is CEO and founder of American Energy Institute.

[00:01:25] He is also, he was four times elected as state representative here in the state of Texas.

[00:01:33] He's been part of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. That's where I have heard him speak.

[00:01:38] And he was repeatedly honored for his commitment to limited government.

[00:01:43] And he proved to be a very effective leader.

[00:01:45] He lives in Hayes County, Texas, and has a wife and two kids.

[00:01:50] And Jason, thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:01:53] Thanks for having me on, Penn. It's great to be on.

[00:01:54] Well, I'm glad to have you.

[00:01:56] And you know, I mentioned a minute ago the fact that, you know, we thought we'd be fighting about electric vehicles a lot on the campaign trail.

[00:02:05] And in a sense it's brought up sometimes.

[00:02:08] But I want to go back to August this summer where you wrote something sort of quoting Kamala Harris, her saying, we are not going back.

[00:02:21] And really she most Americans would like to go back to affordable gas prices.

[00:02:26] You said this in the article.

[00:02:28] But she doesn't want to talk about it, does she?

[00:02:31] No, she really doesn't.

[00:02:32] She doesn't want to go back to affordable fuel, affordable groceries, affordable electricity.

[00:02:38] Those are things that her policies completely contradict.

[00:02:41] And it was interesting because she gave a speech just recently, I think, at the Ellipse, near the Capitol, near the White House, and not once mentioned the word climate.

[00:02:50] I'm sure her donors and supporters are just furious.

[00:02:53] They are not excited about voting for her because they don't believe in the things that she does, or at least she's not even talking about them.

[00:03:00] And really she shouldn't be because that would just give them credence to something that's absolutely false.

[00:03:05] As President Trump refers to as the Green News scam or a climate scam.

[00:03:10] And those are the true and accurate terms of what the left is pushing on to us with their efforts to drive up the cost of everything.

[00:03:18] But, Jason, because people don't want to be forced to buy an electric vehicle, even if they're leftists, because some people just can't afford one.

[00:03:27] But is Kamala Harris winking to the left that she really does want to shut down our fossil fuel production?

[00:03:34] She just doesn't want to talk about it right now?

[00:03:36] Yeah, I've joked recently that I don't think mechanical engineers have figured out how to harness flip-flopping,

[00:03:42] because if they would, we'd have an unlimited supply of electricity from Kamala on her positions.

[00:03:47] But groups like climate defiance, these are really terrorist groups that protest, that shut down traffic,

[00:03:53] that keep people from going to the work, that disrupt our economies.

[00:03:56] Groups like Greenpeace that protest and shut down ports and pipelines.

[00:04:00] To the detriment of the people that are working at those facilities, they are eco-terrorists,

[00:04:05] and they have endorsed and supported Kamala Harris.

[00:04:08] Now, a lot of people will kind of balk, like, oh, I don't have to buy an EV.

[00:04:13] They're not going to force me to buy an EV.

[00:04:15] The deep state EV mandate is alive, it's true, and it's real.

[00:04:20] The regulations, and I've been doing extensive research on this for years,

[00:04:24] about to publish some more research to show the many ways that the Environmental Protection Agency,

[00:04:31] the Department of Transportation, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration,

[00:04:35] they have requirements in their policies, not passed by Congress,

[00:04:40] but they are forcing automobile manufacturers to make and sell electric vehicles.

[00:04:46] But, you know, I read in my Wall Street Journal that people aren't buying them sufficiently to make it profitable.

[00:04:52] They are not.

[00:04:54] And, unfortunately, the internal combustion engine vehicles, gasoline and diesel vehicles,

[00:04:59] are heavily subsidizing the losses.

[00:05:03] Ford just reported another billion-dollar loss in one quarter.

[00:05:06] They're losing nearly $60,000 for every EV sold.

[00:05:10] But because of the fuel economy requirements and the favors that EVs get from the deep state,

[00:05:17] these bureaucrats in D.C., they have to make them, and they are losing millions of dollars to the detriment of the employees

[00:05:23] at companies like Ford and GM and Stellantis that make Chrysler's Dodge and Jeeps,

[00:05:28] to the detriment of the shareholders of those companies, the pensions that have invested in those companies

[00:05:33] that are losing billions of dollars because of a deep state EV mandate.

[00:05:40] So it's just really crushing the American auto industry.

[00:05:45] And, actually, it's crushing foreign autos as well, with the exception of China.

[00:05:49] Volkswagen reported just yesterday they're considering closing a plant in Germany,

[00:05:54] and they're citing higher energy costs and a lack of demand for EVs.

[00:05:58] So, I mean, that's huge because Volkswagen, isn't it one of the largest companies in Germany?

[00:06:04] It really is.

[00:06:06] Volkswagen is looking to shut down manufacturing, employing thousands of employees in Germany.

[00:06:11] Germany is, unfortunately, I should say way ahead of us, but they're really way behind.

[00:06:16] They're way ahead of this energy transition.

[00:06:19] They've been embracing political agendas like decarbonization.

[00:06:22] They've been feeding and really allowing the climate alarmists to take hold of their government.

[00:06:28] And what's happening in Germany is zero environmental improvement.

[00:06:31] They're shifting production to China.

[00:06:33] Companies like BASF, one of the biggest chemical companies in the world,

[00:06:37] is closing facilities in Germany because they can't afford the electricity.

[00:06:41] They're moving operations to China.

[00:06:44] This is really just a Chinese energy transition to the detriment of Western society.

[00:06:49] So, the costs, we're finding out now as these mandates get closer and closer,

[00:06:55] especially on EVs or for your electricity in your home, then the benefits are negligible.

[00:07:03] You really don't affect the climate much, especially because China is just so huge.

[00:07:08] And what they do, they pollute.

[00:07:12] And that pollution spreads all over the world, doesn't it?

[00:07:15] It really does.

[00:07:16] It takes, you know, anywhere from a matter of days.

[00:07:18] And I've joked in front of Congress, instead of all the technology the Chinese steal from us,

[00:07:22] it would be nice that they would utilize our pollution control technology.

[00:07:26] And I can say that because we're world leaders in clean air here in the United States.

[00:07:30] We've reduced pollution that in certain concentrations impacts human health.

[00:07:34] We've reduced that pollution nearly 80%.

[00:07:36] We are world leaders in clean air.

[00:07:38] We're number one when it comes to access to clean and safe drinking water.

[00:07:42] And those are made possible because of innovations in energy production.

[00:07:46] With affordable, reliable energy, you can cook with clean cooking fuels.

[00:07:51] But there's 3.8 million people that will die this year, according to UNICEF,

[00:07:55] because of pollution from indoor cooking, because they're using dung and wood and other forms of biomass that aren't clean.

[00:08:03] And if they just had the access to propane, which we have in abundance here in the United States,

[00:08:08] we could save millions of lives a year with clean cooking fuels.

[00:08:13] But all we're doing with this climate alarmist agenda that's, you know, again, decarbonization, net zero, low emission future,

[00:08:21] those are catchy buzzwords.

[00:08:22] They're political agendas.

[00:08:24] I tell people I live a high carbon lifestyle.

[00:08:26] Let me jump in a minute, Jason.

[00:08:27] Jason, we're just coming up to the break.

[00:08:28] But Jason Isaac knows what he's talking about with regard to the climate.

[00:08:34] And we will continue our discussion right after this.

[00:08:37] It's the election issue that nobody talks about.

[00:08:41] We'll be right back with more of Point of View.

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

[00:09:04] When students are back in school, Jeremy Adams decided to write a five part series that proposed ideas for fixing American education.

[00:09:10] What I found so surprising was how many of the ideas had less to do with teachers in the classroom.

[00:09:16] For example, his first idea was to ban cell phones in class once and for all.

[00:09:20] When he was a guest on a radio program recently, he described what he called one of the seismic changes to classroom life since the birth of the cell phone era.

[00:09:28] Notice what happens when students are given a few minutes of free time at the end of a class period.

[00:09:33] In the past, the classroom was filled with juvenile chatter, nervous movement or youthful gossip.

[00:09:38] Instead, the classroom is transformed into a silent void with everyone looking at their phone.

[00:09:43] You know, more and more teachers have arrived at the conclusion that cell phones in the hands of teens and preteens is nothing less than a metastasizing generational cancer.

[00:09:52] He reports that teachers are fed up.

[00:09:54] They're tired of students playing video games and watching TikTok videos in the middle of class.

[00:09:59] They are sick of the incessant cheating.

[00:10:01] They are sick of students who feign engagement but still have earbuds playing music throughout the entire class period.

[00:10:06] They are exhausted from having to repeat themselves multiple times because attention spans have been hijacked.

[00:10:12] Fortunately, school districts are setting policies that will make a difference.

[00:10:16] One school district, he mentions, requires students to lock up their devices in a magnetically sealed pouch during the school day.

[00:10:23] One state is considering a bill to ban phones on buses and inside classrooms.

[00:10:27] These are all positive steps.

[00:10:29] In previous commentaries, I've talked about the impact these digital devices are having on schools, businesses and at home.

[00:10:35] This is one positive step in fixing American education.

[00:10:39] I'm Kirby Anderson and that's my point of view.

[00:10:46] For a free booklet on a biblical view on big data, go to viewpoints.info.com.

[00:10:53] That's viewpoints.info.com.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:04] Welcome back to Point of View.

[00:11:06] My guest is Jason Isaac and he is CEO and founder of American Energy Institute.

[00:11:12] Jason, tell us about your organization.

[00:11:16] Yeah, we're a nonprofit trade organization representing American energy producers, primarily oil, gas, coal, nuclear companies that support free markets and are tired of national trade organizations that have capitulated to European political agendas that don't do anything to reduce the cost of energy, actually make everything more expensive.

[00:11:36] They don't do anything to mitigate a changing climate.

[00:11:39] And so I've launched this organization with some great member companies that are actually okay with me pushing for policies that would reduce the cost of energy.

[00:11:49] Can you tell us some of those companies?

[00:11:52] Yeah, they're on our website, American Energy Institute.

[00:11:55] There's some great Texas companies that are on there, Atlas Energy, Liberty Energy in Colorado.

[00:12:00] So these are just some great entrepreneurs, both public and private companies like Discovery Operating in Midland that want me to get out there and kind of push back on this alarmist narrative that's really just scaring kids.

[00:12:14] And it's really just leading to higher energy costs.

[00:12:18] And we're seeing this around the country.

[00:12:19] The policies of the last few years have resulted in a 30% increase in the cost of electricity.

[00:12:24] It was flat for nearly a decade, and it should be lower because of the cost of natural gas.

[00:12:30] And so I think it gives me some credibility with policymakers around the country when I'm not advocating for handouts for subsidies.

[00:12:37] I'm actually advocating against them.

[00:12:39] We want to see the cost of energy decrease.

[00:12:41] And there's not many multinational oil and gas companies or other energy producing companies that want to see the cost of energy go down.

[00:12:48] They like the high profits.

[00:12:49] They like the high margins.

[00:12:50] And the people that I work for would prefer to improve the human condition.

[00:12:54] Well, when you talk about the election, the top issue, two top issues, but one of them is inflation.

[00:13:00] Higher energy costs certainly contributes to that.

[00:13:04] Higher electricity costs and the regulatory burdens for fossil fuels, if you do, if you're using those, it just, it all plays into to inflation.

[00:13:14] So, you know, I think that right now reality is starting to hit the American public.

[00:13:23] And, you know, maybe it'll get into the minds of some of our leaders.

[00:13:26] I think that you could contribute to that with what you're doing.

[00:13:30] I hope so, because over the last two decades, $4 trillion has been directed to investments in unreliable foreign-made energy.

[00:13:40] The so-called Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Infrastructure Act, one of the first bills that was passed by the current administration,

[00:13:47] those started pumping even billions of dollars more into unreliable foreign-made energy sources.

[00:13:54] So they're printing money, which is making the money that we have less affordable.

[00:14:00] This is how you have inflation.

[00:14:01] You print more money.

[00:14:02] You put more money into the system.

[00:14:04] And then what we're getting in return is higher energy costs.

[00:14:08] You're seeing access to capital for responsible American energy producers reduce.

[00:14:13] You're seeing access to insurance become a lot more expensive for these companies, and that's getting passed on to the consumer.

[00:14:19] Even though we're producing records amounts of energy, it's completely despite the current administration, not because of it.

[00:14:26] Now, those are happening because it's happening on private land.

[00:14:29] Thank God for private property rights.

[00:14:31] It's one of the reasons we're flourishing in this country.

[00:14:33] And it would be wonderful if other countries had those same rights, but they don't.

[00:14:37] We're compelled to produce minerals on our private property.

[00:14:40] But you're seeing a reduction in production on government land.

[00:14:43] And it would be good if government lands and government leases were allowed to happen because that would fill the government coffers.

[00:14:49] And we truly could eliminate our income taxes if we had the government producing more minerals on their lands.

[00:14:57] But they're just demonizing something that's necessary for life on Earth

[00:15:01] and has really led to the greatest improvements in mankind in the last 150 years, and that's hydrocarbon.

[00:15:05] One of the things that the left has been able to make a boogeyman in some people's minds is fracking.

[00:15:12] And you mentioned that we should have lower prices because there is so much liquid natural gas available.

[00:15:20] So what about that?

[00:15:22] I mean, you've got some swing states that that is a huge issue in, don't you?

[00:15:28] Yeah, it really is.

[00:15:30] And you're right.

[00:15:30] We have an absolute abundance of natural gas.

[00:15:32] It's really cheap, and they can't get it to market.

[00:15:35] And this is the problem.

[00:15:36] When you put a pause on liquefied natural gas exporting facilities in the United States,

[00:15:41] that's essentially stealing people's private property.

[00:15:43] They know they're sitting on top of a lot of natural gas, but guess what?

[00:15:47] We're not going to allow you to get it to market so that you can prosper, so that our country can prosper.

[00:15:51] And that's a big problem.

[00:15:53] You've got groups like Greenpeace that demonstrate against the construction of pipelines,

[00:15:57] the safest means of transportation on the planet Earth.

[00:16:00] And they trespass on people's private property.

[00:16:04] And what happened?

[00:16:05] This happened in North Dakota, and you had oil from Canada that was supposed to be coming down to Illinois to get refined,

[00:16:12] and they blocked these pipelines.

[00:16:14] They protested and protested and protested.

[00:16:16] And what happened?

[00:16:16] The pipeline got built from Canada to Western Canada, and they're now exporting that oil to be refined in China.

[00:16:23] China, for the first time, is exporting energy.

[00:16:26] I mean, this is just absolutely appalling that we've allowed this to happen,

[00:16:29] that we're capitulating to children that have no idea what they're talking about.

[00:16:34] And it's really they're terrorists that are destroying our country.

[00:16:39] We're world leaders from production of oil and gas and coal.

[00:16:42] We should be producing more of it and getting it to our allies around the country

[00:16:45] to lift the last remaining few billion people on the planet out of poverty.

[00:16:50] Energy is the key to ending poverty, and I would love to see us in poverty in my lifetime.

[00:16:55] The other part of this, of course, is that the United States actually, with regard to our production of fossil fuel,

[00:17:02] we've made so much progress in cleaning it up.

[00:17:06] I mean, I was born and raised in California in the L.A. area, in fact, Pasadena.

[00:17:13] And I remember the smog up against the mountains when I was a little kid just being horrible.

[00:17:19] And now I go back there, and the air is clear.

[00:17:21] So we've made so much progress.

[00:17:24] And, you know, that's where our efforts should be really headed instead of adding this huge kind of energy

[00:17:33] that doesn't produce consistent energy when we need it.

[00:17:36] We still got to have a fossil fuel backup, don't we?

[00:17:40] You really do.

[00:17:41] And it's really not necessarily a backup.

[00:17:43] It should be the primary.

[00:17:44] When you look at the amount of land, and every source of energy production has some sort of environmental impact on the Earth.

[00:17:52] And do you want the one that has the least environmental impact?

[00:17:55] And I think I do.

[00:17:56] But, and that's hydrocarbons.

[00:17:58] That's oil, gas, coal, and nuclear.

[00:18:00] They have the smallest environmental impact.

[00:18:03] If you look at solar and wind, they take up 25 to 75 times the amount of land to produce the equivalent amount of electricity.

[00:18:10] And that's the only thing that you get from them is electricity.

[00:18:13] You don't get the products that we come to use in our daily lives that we depend on.

[00:18:18] Over 96% of the products that we use have hydrocarbons built into them.

[00:18:22] Almost all of them at one point in time are put on a truck that is powered by hydrocarbons.

[00:18:28] It's made of hydrocarbons.

[00:18:29] They're incredibly beneficial to mankind.

[00:18:31] Over the last 100 years, we've become world leaders in clean air.

[00:18:36] We've reduced deaths from weather-related events by 99%, all while our population has quadrupled.

[00:18:43] And access to energy allows us to move.

[00:18:46] It allows us to put satellites so that we can be warned about storms when they're coming.

[00:18:50] And it's just, it's an absolute blessing that we shouldn't take for granted.

[00:18:55] And we need to be producing more of it.

[00:18:57] And you're right.

[00:18:57] We're world leaders in clean air.

[00:18:58] You look at the smog in Southern California, look at Pittsburgh.

[00:19:02] But instead, the left and the alarmists want to focus on CO2, a gas that's necessary for life on Earth.

[00:19:08] It's a trace gas in our atmosphere.

[00:19:10] We're really low points for CO2 in the atmosphere.

[00:19:13] And man only contributes 4% of the CO2 that reaches our atmosphere every year.

[00:19:19] 4%.

[00:19:20] And this is what the left is fixated on.

[00:19:22] Because I think we've done really well economically and prosperity-wise and environmentally.

[00:19:27] They're just trying to find something to control every aspect of our lives.

[00:19:30] And it's quite alarming.

[00:19:32] Yes.

[00:19:33] That you're getting back to, I think, the key to all of this.

[00:19:37] And that is that you can be an environmentalist.

[00:19:41] You've said this, I think, in something that you wrote.

[00:19:43] You can be an environmentalist and promote fossil fuels.

[00:19:48] Because, you know, we have.

[00:19:51] I mean, we have in our country.

[00:19:52] We've cleaned up so many of our industries.

[00:19:56] And some of the ideas, wind, for instance, can be very polluting to the environment when it comes to the equipment that they have to have to do it.

[00:20:08] And just the ugliness of the windmills and all of that.

[00:20:11] So there's just, there's no common sense here.

[00:20:14] And like a lot that the left does, this is about power.

[00:20:17] So I'm glad you made that point.

[00:20:19] And Jason, thank you.

[00:20:20] I'm glad for your new organization.

[00:20:22] Ladies and gentlemen, go to pointofview.net.

[00:20:24] And you can click through to the website and find out more.

[00:20:28] And thank you so much for what you do and for joining me today.

[00:20:31] Great to be on.

[00:20:32] Thanks for having me.

[00:20:32] Thank you.

[00:20:33] Ladies and gentlemen, Bjorn Lungbord, who is president of the Copenhagen Consensus, he believes global warming is real.

[00:20:42] But he doesn't think that we should ban fossil fuels because it's just a drastic, drastic move.

[00:20:50] He says this is the first presidential election in which the economic consequences of green deals have become real with less reliable and higher total energy costs, less reliable power and higher total energy costs.

[00:21:06] And that is the issue here.

[00:21:07] We're forcing the country to spend more for energy.

[00:21:11] And energy is something that we're only going to increase our usage of.

[00:21:15] So I think it's no wonder that people don't really want to talk about the climate agenda during this election, but you've got to know about it.

[00:21:25] So go to pointofview.net and check out Jason's website.

[00:21:28] We'll be right back.

[00:21:30] It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority.

[00:21:36] They say men can be women and women men.

[00:21:39] People are prosecuted differently or not at all, depending on their politics.

[00:21:45] Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law abiding citizens.

[00:21:49] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing.

[00:21:52] You feel like giving up, but we can't.

[00:21:55] We shouldn't.

[00:21:56] We must not.

[00:21:58] As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War Two,

[00:22:02] Never give in.

[00:22:04] Never give in.

[00:22:05] Never, never, never.

[00:22:06] Never yield to force.

[00:22:08] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[00:22:12] And that's what we say to you today.

[00:22:15] This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos.

[00:22:22] We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness.

[00:22:29] Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:22:38] Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151.

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

[00:22:52] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:01] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[00:23:09] And now, here again is Panna Dexter.

[00:23:14] We've had closing arguments and we've had a twist happening just yesterday, one week before Election Day.

[00:23:21] President Joe Biden called Trump supporters garbage in response to the comedian that was at Donald Trump's rally over the weekend joke about Puerto Rico at Madison Square Gardens.

[00:23:34] So we've got competing closing statements and the news covering that.

[00:23:40] And, oh boy, did President Biden intentionally soak up all of Kamala's media coverage?

[00:23:46] She gave her closing speech.

[00:23:47] She gave her closing speech.

[00:23:50] But, you know, she gave me two of her efforts in Washington, D.C.

[00:23:56] And, you know, when Biden said that, I'm sure they were shocked.

[00:23:59] He just said that on some kind of a Zoom call to one of his interest groups or one of the Democrat leaning, I guess, groups.

[00:24:10] But he sounded like he was describing Trump voters as garbage.

[00:24:15] Way to go.

[00:24:17] Right during what was supposed to be a lot of nice positive coverage for Kamala Harris speaking on the ellipse.

[00:24:25] Was it a mistake?

[00:24:26] Well, it was a mistake in the sense that it was bad for the Democrat campaign.

[00:24:31] But was it unintentional?

[00:24:33] That's another question.

[00:24:35] Was it a stutter?

[00:24:37] Some of the media has blamed it on that.

[00:24:39] Or was it do they really think Trump supporters are garbage as opposed to calling them garbage?

[00:24:49] Some people tried to put an apostrophe in there.

[00:24:55] Supports garbage.

[00:24:57] Supporters garbage.

[00:24:58] Their garbage, which would mean what's coming out of their mouth.

[00:25:01] What are their opinions?

[00:25:02] What are their biases?

[00:25:03] That's the garbage that that Biden was referring to.

[00:25:08] So that's kind of what the media is trying to do with those statements.

[00:25:13] And this is what Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is talking about when he actually made an announcement this week.

[00:25:24] He took the action first.

[00:25:26] The Washington Post, his newspaper, decided that it will not be endorsing Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.

[00:25:33] In fact, it's going to stop endorsing candidates, something they've been doing for decades.

[00:25:38] But they've decided they're not going to do it anymore.

[00:25:40] No presidential candidates will be endorsed by the Washington Post.

[00:25:43] L.A. Times and I think it's USA Today have also made that decision now.

[00:25:48] But the Post editorial board had already written an endorsement of Kamala Harris.

[00:25:54] Longtime columnist Dana Milbank also, he expressed disgust at the decision.

[00:26:00] Over 200,000 people canceled their subscriptions to the Washington Post after this announcement was made by the company, by the Washington Post.

[00:26:14] So, you know, it's actually caused quite a stir.

[00:26:17] I'm a subscriber to the Washington Post.

[00:26:19] I read the headlines every day just to find out what they're talking about.

[00:26:23] And sometimes I'll read an article and I really want to get my blood pressure up.

[00:26:27] That's a good thing to do.

[00:26:28] But it's just something I do because I want to know what the other side is thinking.

[00:26:34] So I sometimes read some of their columnists also.

[00:26:37] But the Post had a big role in the Russia collusion host, a hoax.

[00:26:44] In 2021, it had to correct and remove significant portions of two articles posted in 2017 and 2019 about that Steele dossier.

[00:26:56] And, you know, it took the Post until March of 22 to admit that the Hunter Biden laptop and e-mails were real.

[00:27:06] And there's just so much in there every day that, you know, just paints the picture of what kind of a newspaper it is.

[00:27:15] But Jeff Bezos now, he wants to change, I guess, the perception.

[00:27:23] So he wrote an editorial.

[00:27:24] And this was, I don't know how many days after the actual action was taken to announce that there would be no presidential endorsement.

[00:27:33] But he's the owner.

[00:27:35] Of course, he started Amazon and Blue Origin.

[00:27:38] But this is what he says.

[00:27:40] He says, in the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress.

[00:27:50] Our profession is now the least trusted of all.

[00:27:54] Something we're doing is clearly not working.

[00:27:57] Apparently, he's recognized this.

[00:27:59] He says, let me give an analogy.

[00:28:01] Voting machines must meet two requirements.

[00:28:03] They must count the vote accurately and people must believe they count the vote accurately.

[00:28:08] Second requirement is distinct from and just as important as the first.

[00:28:13] And then so he's kind of comparing that to newspapers.

[00:28:16] He says we must be accurate.

[00:28:17] We must be believed to be accurate.

[00:28:20] It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement.

[00:28:23] You might argue they're sometimes failing on the first requirement, too.

[00:28:27] But most people believe the media is biased.

[00:28:29] Anyone who doesn't see this is paying scant attention to reality.

[00:28:33] And those who fight reality lose.

[00:28:36] I might mention that Jeff Bezos took over the Washington Post, I think, in 2013.

[00:28:42] And the Post was really just about to die.

[00:28:45] So the infusion of cash from Jeff Bezos is what saved it.

[00:28:49] And he's been running it ever since.

[00:28:50] I don't know how hands on he is.

[00:28:52] But this is just a decision that was made here right before the election.

[00:28:56] And so, you know, whether or not this is a real change of heart, it is an admission that the media is getting its reputation is declining.

[00:29:09] Let's put it mildly.

[00:29:12] Complaining is not a strategy.

[00:29:14] We must work harder, says Jeff Bezos, to control what we can control to increase our credibility.

[00:29:23] Jeff Bezos goes on to say in his editorial, presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election.

[00:29:30] I don't know if that's true or not.

[00:29:31] It might be true most of the time, but perhaps in certain cases it does.

[00:29:35] No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, I'm going with newspaper A's endorsement.

[00:29:40] None.

[00:29:40] What presidential endorsements actually do create is perception of bias, a prescription of non, let's see, non-independence.

[00:29:52] Ending them is a principal decision, and it's the right one.

[00:29:56] So he says ending endorsements of presidential candidates is a principal decision and the right decision.

[00:30:02] I'd love to know if you think so.

[00:30:03] Do you think newspapers should endorse presidential candidates, or do you think they should not?

[00:30:09] Do you think Jeff Bezos is making the right call here?

[00:30:11] You can call us, 800-351-1212 if you want to weigh in on this.

[00:30:17] But he points back to the 30s, to the 40s.

[00:30:22] 1933 to 1946, he says.

[00:30:24] Eugene Meyer, publisher of the Washington Post at that time, thought the same.

[00:30:29] He did not endorse presidential candidates.

[00:30:34] He said, it's not enough right now to move us up the trust scale, but it's a meaningful step in the right direction.

[00:30:40] I wish we had made the change earlier than we did in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it.

[00:30:46] That was an adequate planning and not some intentional strategy.

[00:30:50] But he says, when it comes to the appearance of conflict, I am not the ideal owner of the post because I've got wealth and business interests.

[00:31:00] And that's why Bezos is protected because he's got so much money.

[00:31:05] Whatever he does, even if 200,000 people leave, and they just did as subscribers, he can weather that.

[00:31:13] Because in the long run, he'd like to see the post become, I guess, a different paper.

[00:31:18] I mean, if you believe this, he seems to want that.

[00:31:23] But he says that also that he's going to perhaps try to begin to get more conservative voices in the paper.

[00:31:33] There are a couple of columnists that I do like to read.

[00:31:36] And they are conservative, I guess, if you want to compare them to most of the columnists at the Washington Post.

[00:31:45] But, for instance, Kathleen Parker.

[00:31:48] I really like her.

[00:31:50] And she's fairly conservative.

[00:31:52] She's pro-life.

[00:31:54] But she's not going to give you all the information that you need to be conservative.

[00:32:00] The paper is incomplete in that way.

[00:32:03] So, you know, Jeff Bezos, again, in his piece, he says, you're free to make your own determination.

[00:32:09] But I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at the Washington Post in favor of my own interests.

[00:32:18] It hasn't happened.

[00:32:22] But now I guess he's going to try to make the post.

[00:32:26] I don't know if you would call it centrist, but more credible.

[00:32:31] And he says the Washington Post and the New York Times actually win prizes.

[00:32:35] But we only talk to a certain elite.

[00:32:37] And he's very right about that.

[00:32:39] More and more we talk to ourselves.

[00:32:41] It wasn't always this way.

[00:32:42] In the 90s, we achieved 80 percent household penetration in the D.C. metro area.

[00:32:47] But he said, I will not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance overtaken by unsearched podcasts and social media barbs.

[00:32:57] He says, now more than ever, the world needs a credible, trusted, independent voice.

[00:33:03] Where better for that voice to originate than the capital city of the most important country in the world?

[00:33:09] He says, many of the finest journalists you'll find anywhere work at the Washington Post.

[00:33:14] But they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth.

[00:33:17] But most of them are, you have to say, very, very liberal.

[00:33:23] I'd love to know what you think about this decision at the Washington Post.

[00:33:27] And do you think it will hold?

[00:33:29] And do you think it will hold if Trump is elected?

[00:33:32] Do you think it will hold if Harris is elected?

[00:33:34] Give us a call, 800-351-1212.

[00:33:37] And we'll be right back with more of Point of View.

[00:33:40] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:01] Welcome back to Point of View.

[00:34:03] I'm Penna Dexter.

[00:34:03] Lots of calls coming in answering my question.

[00:34:06] Should newspapers endorse presidential candidates?

[00:34:09] Or should they take the action that the Washington Post is now taking and also the L.A. Times and USA Today that they will not do so?

[00:34:18] They will not endorse presidential candidates.

[00:34:20] But I do want to mention that early voting is already underway.

[00:34:23] I voted yesterday.

[00:34:26] In many states, they're having early voting.

[00:34:28] And I would encourage you to vote early because, just in case something comes up on Election Day that precludes you from voting, it's good to get it done.

[00:34:38] I feel very good that it's done.

[00:34:41] Are you ready to cast an informed vote, though, all the way down your ballot?

[00:34:45] I mean, you probably know who you're going to vote for, for president, U.S. senator, your congressman, maybe some of your state representatives.

[00:34:52] But there are a lot of other offices.

[00:34:54] To help you, we've compiled multiple free resources, which you can find by clicking on Election Central.

[00:35:02] We have a banner on our website, Election Central.

[00:35:06] And here's what you'll find.

[00:35:07] You're going to find links to voter guides and sample ballots for your local region.

[00:35:12] You're going to find help finding your polling location, your voter registration status, and other resources based on your state.

[00:35:19] You're going to find articles that have been recommended by Kirby Anderson.

[00:35:26] And these are fact checkers, some fact checkers.

[00:35:30] You'll find those.

[00:35:31] And you will find a free digital booklet from Kirby, a biblical view on the importance of voting.

[00:35:37] And we encourage you to take a look at these.

[00:35:40] We want people to vote, but only if they're informed voters.

[00:35:44] And that's what we try to do.

[00:35:45] We've got a really robust Election Central banner.

[00:35:49] And what's behind the banner is what's robust.

[00:35:51] So I encourage you to go there.

[00:35:53] And I also encourage you to vote.

[00:35:56] And if you can vote early in your state, it would be great if you just got it done.

[00:36:03] So, ladies and gentlemen, we are taking your calls.

[00:36:05] Let's go to Patty in the state of Arkansas.

[00:36:08] Hi, Patty.

[00:36:08] Thanks for calling in.

[00:36:11] Hello.

[00:36:12] Hi.

[00:36:13] What's your comment?

[00:36:16] Are you there?

[00:36:19] I think we may have lost.

[00:36:20] Yes, I'm here.

[00:36:21] Okay, Patty, go ahead.

[00:36:22] What do you think about newspapers and their endorsements?

[00:36:28] I really am glad that they're not doing that, but I wish they would put information in there on all the candidates.

[00:36:35] So it gives people more information to have an informed, you know, make a deformed decision.

[00:36:42] Yes.

[00:36:44] That's, I think that's the balance.

[00:36:47] I hope that's the balance that Jeff Bezos of the Washington Post is talking about.

[00:36:51] You're from Alaska, right?

[00:36:54] Yeah.

[00:36:54] Okay, I said Arkansas, but I constantly,

[00:36:56] I think I have a mental block about the abbreviation for your state.

[00:37:00] But thank you so much for calling in.

[00:37:03] So have you voted?

[00:37:06] I did.

[00:37:07] I voted early yesterday.

[00:37:09] Good for you.

[00:37:10] Yeah, I did it yesterday, too.

[00:37:11] Got it done, and it feels good to have done that.

[00:37:14] So would you like to see, for instance, perhaps candidates writing editorials that are being,

[00:37:22] or columns that are being posted or included in various media outlets on both sides?

[00:37:29] Yes.

[00:37:30] Yeah.

[00:37:31] I think that would be good.

[00:37:32] I mean, I think we should all vote our morals and our values.

[00:37:36] But I do feel that if, you know, we could be more informed if people actually took the time to look up candidates' voting records.

[00:37:45] When they run, they make promises.

[00:37:47] Did they fulfill those promises?

[00:37:49] Did they do what they said they were going to do, or at least attempt it?

[00:37:54] Yes.

[00:37:55] And some of those vote scorecards that you can get really help with that.

[00:38:00] Mm-hmm.

[00:38:01] Well, so you're an advocate of being an informed voter, obviously.

[00:38:05] Oh, yes.

[00:38:06] Definitely.

[00:38:07] All right, Patty.

[00:38:08] Definitely.

[00:38:09] Well, I'm glad to hear that from you, and thank you so much for calling.

[00:38:13] We appreciate it.

[00:38:14] Yeah, thank you.

[00:38:15] Have a great day.

[00:38:16] Okay.

[00:38:17] Let's go now to Ruth in the state of Georgia.

[00:38:20] Ruth, thanks for calling in.

[00:38:23] Yes, ma'am.

[00:38:24] I can hear you.

[00:38:25] I can hear you.

[00:38:26] What's your comment?

[00:38:28] My comment is, I am not trying to insult any newspaper, the owner, or the editors, the writers.

[00:38:37] But when I want to vote, you open up your Bible, and it tells you exactly how to vote.

[00:38:43] It has its directions from God about gender identity, about open borders, and about abortion.

[00:38:51] And personally, I do not, I'm not saying I'm against newspapers, and I know they work hard,

[00:38:58] but personally, I do not believe anything that someone says, you should vote for this person.

[00:39:05] If you just keep your ears open, you'll hear what the candidates stand for, and then you will know,

[00:39:12] if you let God direct you, which one is the right one and which one is the wrong one.

[00:39:17] How do you find out where the candidates stand on things?

[00:39:20] Do you go to candidate forums?

[00:39:21] How do I find out?

[00:39:22] Yeah, do you go to candidate forums, or do you find out the voter guides?

[00:39:28] Just like this past week, I've not listened to every single word that was said on all the rallies,

[00:39:35] but I have listened to some of Trump's rallies and what he's saying he's going to do,

[00:39:39] and I've listened to Kamala and what she's saying.

[00:39:42] The only way I would believe anything, and I'm not saying they're telling the truth,

[00:39:47] is that when it comes out of their mouth, that is part of their platform.

[00:39:51] And so that's where I get information.

[00:39:54] I do research it some on the Internet to get what, like, when she had her rally in Pennsylvania,

[00:40:04] you know, sometime this week or at the end of last week,

[00:40:07] and then I heard her out of her own mouth say what she stands for.

[00:40:12] But a lot of times, for instance,

[00:40:14] Kamala Harris has actually not articulated her positions very much during the campaign.

[00:40:21] She's actually tried to hide some of them.

[00:40:24] You are exactly correct, and most of what she said is a word salad.

[00:40:28] And so you just have to, you know, I just listen, give them the fair amount,

[00:40:34] and you know when somebody's lying, and I mean, I'm not trying to insult her,

[00:40:39] but she has been in office nearly four years,

[00:40:42] and I have not seen anything, nothing, zero, improve in the United States.

[00:40:50] Well, that was the question that President Trump asked at his rally was,

[00:40:54] are things better for you?

[00:40:55] I will say, though, I appreciate your wisdom to say that your core convictions

[00:40:59] that come from your faith, come from reading your Bible,

[00:41:04] come from the, you know, the teachings that you get,

[00:41:06] the faith teachings that you get should inform your vote.

[00:41:10] And that, you know, that's why I always encourage believers to vote,

[00:41:15] because I want the people to vote that think like I do

[00:41:19] and really have the values that, have God's values.

[00:41:24] Let's put it that way.

[00:41:25] I was going to say God's values.

[00:41:27] God is against murder in the womb, out of the womb.

[00:41:31] God is against closed borders.

[00:41:33] Go read your Bible in Genesis about the Tower of Babel.

[00:41:37] And God is, God, in the very first chapter, God made a woman and a man.

[00:41:43] And God does not make mistakes when he makes people in his image.

[00:41:47] Right.

[00:41:49] Ruth, thank you so much for your call and for those words.

[00:41:51] We really appreciate it.

[00:41:53] Yes, and I do hope everyone gets out and votes their conviction.

[00:41:57] We have another couple calls,

[00:42:00] but I don't have the time to take them before the end of the segment.

[00:42:03] But I will just mention that Susan in California said some media outlets are afraid of Trump

[00:42:09] if they promote Harris.

[00:42:12] And, you know, I wish I could have gotten a little bit more information on that.

[00:42:17] But I think the opposite might be also true.

[00:42:21] So you can't really operate out of fear.

[00:42:23] I think you need to operate out of conviction.

[00:42:26] Someone also said that Jeff Bezos may be trying to make the post more of a legacy centrist paper

[00:42:34] like the Wall Street Journal, which the journal is just basic news,

[00:42:39] and then their editorial section is a little bit more balanced between liberals and conservatives,

[00:42:45] mostly conservative.

[00:42:46] So that's probably the right idea, a good thought.

[00:42:51] But ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for participating in the program.

[00:42:56] Next up, we are going to talk about abortion,

[00:42:59] how it's been really a false narrative in this election campaign.

[00:43:05] We'll talk about that after this.

[00:43:07] In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle,

[00:43:16] not with guns and bombs, but words and ideas.

[00:43:20] London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism,

[00:43:24] and legendary Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon.

[00:43:28] London was in many ways the center of the world economically, militarily, and intellectually.

[00:43:34] Marx sought to destroy religion, the family, and everything the Bible supports.

[00:43:39] Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers.

[00:43:44] Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth.

[00:43:48] It is truth for all of life.

[00:43:50] Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom to stand against darkness today?

[00:43:56] Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues delivered to your inbox

[00:44:01] when you sign up for the Viewpoints commentary at pointofview.net slash signup.

[00:44:07] Every weekday, in less than two minutes,

[00:44:10] you'll learn how to be a person of light to stand against darkness in our time.

[00:44:15] It's free, so visit pointofview.net slash signup right now.

[00:44:20] Pointofview.net slash signup.

[00:44:28] Point of View will continue after this.