Point of View September 2, 2026 – Hour 2 : Food Banks Suffering

[00:00:04] Across America, live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today, we want to get into some very practical things, then we'll get back to some issues in the news. If you've been listening to Point of View any length of time, you know that we want to address some of these very important issues

[00:00:30] about how we can reach out to those who are marginalized, those who are deprived of various things, including food. We've talked about this, of course, in our booklet that we have on homelessness. I've talked about it before, about the issue of food deserts that sometimes have developed, and there are policy changes that would need to take place if we were to put grocery stores in some of these key locations. Of course, we've talked about what's going on in New York City, which I think is going to be a disaster,

[00:00:58] but Zoran Mamdani dealing with that, but also just this whole idea of food insecurity. So we thought it might be good, especially as there's pretty good evidence right now that food insecurity is on the rise. Food banks, food pantries are hurting, and I think we can encourage you in your community to consider what you might be able to do. But we have an individual that's in the Dallas area that certainly can give us some of that perspective.

[00:01:28] Shani Ritchie is a food security expert. She's the founder of Independence Gardens. We have a link on our website if you'd like to know more about what she's doing. It's a nonprofit company that provides schools and communities with fresh food. And I heard, as I mentioned earlier, Shani's sick a little bit, so she's not going to be in studio. But glad to join me by phone. So I'm glad that you're there. I do want to meet you face-to-face sometime, but not today. So thank you for joining us. No, not today.

[00:01:58] And talk about what's going on, because you are really concerned about this, and it's a topic we only occasionally touch on. And I appreciate the fact we can spend a little bit of time learning more about it. So what have you learned in terms of where food banks and food pantries are right now? So we know that the changes in policies as it related to SNAP, I think, earlier in 2025 or later in 2025, we're seeing the impact of that now.

[00:02:26] Just current information here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, SNAP participation has dropped roughly about 14% to 17% since between 2025 and 2026. So roughly who really uses SNAP is 40% of the other children. And that's really the focus of Independence Gardens is to ensure that children have access to fresh food. And so we do that through various ways.

[00:02:52] We do it through hydroponic towers, cooking programs, and we do it at a school level, because as you spoke about, I heard earlier is the issue of food desert is really increasing with the rising cost of groceries, with all of the ongoing issues in the world. And everything really is culminating in what we're seeing right now is that a lot of families are having a hard time accessing some of those SNAP benefits,

[00:03:22] the changes in policies, and just everything else, like the rising cost. So what they're doing is they're turning towards food banks. But what you're also seeing is because of some of the changes in policies and how individuals and corporations give to nonprofits, that's also impacting that as well. So that's kind of a double whammy, I think, is if we're really looking at how food insecurity is on the rise

[00:03:49] and how organizations like food banks are trying to really bridge that gap. This is a can talk about yours for just a minute because I'll get back to it, because I'd like to know a little bit more about what you've been able to do, because you've been trying to find ways to actually have locally grown food. And for those of us that believe that we need to get away from all these packaged food and get back to basic nutrition, you know, make America healthy again, and those kinds of things,

[00:04:17] I know that's part of your vision as well. And for our listeners across the country, they might also start thinking about what they can do even in their local community in terms of growing food. Can you speak to that? Absolutely. So Independence Gardens really started with the belief that our children cannot be healthy in essence, in the basic sense of being healthy and successful, because we don't address what they're eating in school.

[00:04:43] So even in 2013, we were looking at how to make America healthy again, right? And they spend a lot of their time in schools, and a lot of the underserved population are also in school. So we thought, well, you know what? Why don't we start looking at school lunches? And what we saw was they were still eating those over-processed food. There was lack of fresh food access in schools specifically. And they spent a lot of their time there. And so what we thought, well,

[00:05:09] if we can get those students really understanding where food comes from, growing their own food, then all of a sudden schools become this central focus of communities, because they really pull from all of these different areas. And if we can start building a food system and using the elementary schools as a central hub, then all of a sudden communities should never wonder where they can get fresh food from. And we can start really looking at how we help our communities,

[00:05:37] how we help ourselves, how we teach children where food comes from. And in that capacity, then we're able to not only teach them where it comes from, how to really grow their own food, but also be impactful in their own communities. So that's what we're doing at Independence Gardens. We're really tackling it on the school component. What we always tell even our parents and even our community members is there's ways that you could do this.

[00:06:05] So we saw all of the issues that's actually still now where there are some, there are some like lettuce and fresh fruit that's been contaminated. And so what, why we love hydroponic systems and it's kind of in its capacity is because it's, what we like to say, it grows clean food. Like it's really one of the cleanest ways to kind of grow fresh foods components and specifically.

[00:06:31] And, and so what, what there is no stoppage by the way in the way you grow. So you can control the sunlight, you can control the environment. So you can literally grow food 365 days every day. And, and if, if we can start really looking at those innovative ways to start connecting food systems, really try to find ways on, on how communities can not only come together, but also, but also really invest in,

[00:07:01] in how we grow that food. And because at the, at the basic level, we have to have food, right? We can't be, we can't not have it, but we, we need to start really looking at ways to be able to grow that food and feed those individuals that really need it the most. And that's the children. And again, I'm going to take a break. I'm going to come back and get into this a little bit more detail, but I just, it occurred to me that as we talk about this, since I go and visit many of the radio stations that carry this program, you go out to California, the radio station there is right there in the central value.

[00:07:31] You can see all the sorts of land where you could grow that. But I go to some of these other places. First of all, Alaska, which probably doesn't have as much opportunity to grow and a long season, or I'm thinking of South Carolina or Georgia. Sometimes I'm in an urban area, but even there you can grow things. And it's just a way to start thinking about growing your own food. You think, well, I need to have an acre of land or I need to have a constant sunlight. No, there are all sorts of other things that you can do.

[00:08:01] And if nothing else, I want people during the break to go to independence gardens.org because that's your organization. And when we come back, I do want to talk more about the issue of food pantries and what we can do, because it seems to me that individually we should give, but I know that some of our listeners might have connections to major companies. And I know some of your partners have been things like a sun life and fidelity and things like that. And the rotary club,

[00:08:30] there may be some ways in which individuals have a connection that could help their local food bank as well. So we'll continue our conversation with Johnny Ritchie right after these important messages.

[00:09:00] This is viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Have you noticed that many of the political polls are way off? Jeffrey Blahar warns, don't fall for fake polls. The Senate race in Michigan ended up being very close. The governor's race in Wisconsin was completely reversed from the predictions. He provides evidence that many of these primary polls weren't just inaccurate, but fraudulent. His article linked to my commentary is there. So you could read it.

[00:09:29] Not only should we ignore fraudulent polls, but we should also question many of the polls done by reputable polling organizations. Here is the problem. First, let's look at the statistical issues. A typical three day poll of 1000 people, if proportion among the 3000 counties can accurately represent American adults 19 out of 20 times within three to five percentage points. Statistics isn't the issue. Polling the right people is the issue.

[00:09:56] It is difficult to estimate how many people will vote in a primary. And that is also somewhat difficult to estimate who will vote in the midterm general election. Getting the right percentage of people to answer a poll is difficult because most Americans do not answer a phone call from a number they don't know. Even when they are on the phone, they may be tempted to answer the way they think the pollster wants. Then there is also what is called the Bradley effect.

[00:10:21] Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley was an African American who lost in 1982 election, despite being ahead in the polls. Many voters say they were undecided or would vote for Bradley because they didn't want to say they weren't voting for a black candidate. The only poll that matters takes place in November. I'm Kirby Anderson. And that's my point of view.

[00:10:49] Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting point of view dot net. That's point of view dot net. You're listening to point of view. Your listener supported source for truth. Pleased to have with us for a few more minutes. Shani Ritchie, again, is a food security expert. And Shani, I thought for just a few minutes, we might talk about what we can do to help a food bank or food pantry. One of those, of course, is you can make donations.

[00:11:19] My wife and I do that. Sometimes there's a drive where they'll say, put canned food in goods in a bag outside your front door. I've done that as well. But also, let's talk about what we could do to even create some, because many churches have a food bank or a food pantry. And so what would that entail? Are you familiar with that? Creating food bank and food pantry. Absolutely. So anybody can,

[00:11:48] so let me just kind of give you some of the, like really the simplest thing I always tell individuals to do. If for some reason you cannot give because of, you know, if it's you're economically not able to do that, all of us, even myself, go to either Costco, Sam's, and we just over-purchase things all the time. And so what I always tell them to do is go into your own pantry right now and kind of look at the expiration date on some of the food. If you know that you have 10,

[00:12:17] let's say cans of green beans that will expire in 30 days, and you're not going to go through 10 cans of green beans in 30 days, then I would take some of that and then donate that to a food bank. Sure. Because, and I've done that, and I've done that, and I've actually come out of it with bags of food that I know I won't eat in 30 days, and just donated that to the food bank. So that's the easiest way to do it. And if for some reason you're, let's say, at a church or you're at a school,

[00:12:45] and a lot of some of the things that we encourage at Independence Gardens is starting at the school level because you're already there. And if we're not in your campus, let us know because our programs are free, by the way, for elementary school. So they just have to reach out to us. And what I think is that you can create as a project for even fourth or fifth grade and say we're going to be able to gather all of these canned goods and donate it even on the upcoming for Thanksgiving.

[00:13:14] So we know that a lot of schools do that as well. I always, and I always come back because, you know, a lot of what drives Independence Gardens is my faith, and I always come back to Matthew 25 and worries as I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. It's really as simple as that, right? You just have to live. And I think that's kind of really the basis of what we do at Independence Gardens is because even at the most basic level,

[00:13:41] we need to be able to not only take care of the littlest citizens that we have because they're our future, but we need to be able to do that. And then one of the ways that we actually do that is really teaching them how to be able to give to others. I think that's the greatest gift we can give them. And what we do at Independence Gardens is when we teach them to grow their own food, part of what we also teach them is they have to give 20% back up to what they grow to a local food bank.

[00:14:09] So what we're automatically teaching them is for you to be good stewards not only of the food that you grow, but of your neighbors as well. And so we automatically, that's an automatic leadership component that we teach them, but also it's a way for them to really take care of their neighbors as well. So if the listeners that are looking for ways to really help food being sold, it's always about timing your treasure. But what we always ask is if for some reason you can't get any of those,

[00:14:39] what we always say is you may know somebody in your network that doesn't know. So some companies that if they can't give, let's say, $1,000 or $5,000, can absolutely go and purchase $100 worth of food and then send it to a food bank. If for some reason you don't have the time to go to the grocery store, I would go to Amazon because a lot of these food banks may have Amazon lists that you can just purchase and it will go directly there.

[00:15:07] So there are ways to do it. And so, I mean, sometimes you just have to be creative. But the most important thing, I think, is to just know that sometimes your neighbor may not tell you that they need that and then that they have that need specifically. And that's kind of why what we're really trying to build at Independence Gardens is that interconnected food system where communities should never wonder where food comes from.

[00:15:35] Because I think it's a basic need and a basic right that everybody should have access to fresh food. And if for some reason you still have questions, we're going to put other ways to start giving to local food banks, especially here in North Texas. North Texas Giving Day is roughly two weeks away. And so there is a way for you guys to not only give to Independence Gardens to help us get fresh food access to kids,

[00:16:01] but we're also going to highlight food banks in our website that you're able to give to them as well. Well, again, lots of great ideas. And, again, I would encourage people all over the country as they're hearing about this to contact you if they have some more questions. Another one that came to mind is you're talking about growing your own food. We have a number of listeners that have Christian schools, and they could actually start having, growing, maybe have a plot of land there in the Christian school. And so that's a place.

[00:16:29] There are churches right now that maybe have never thought about having a food pantry, but if we're going to get to the point where we might have a food shortage, and I recognize that now we have about 10 million barrels a day going through this grade of Hormuz, but normally we've had 20. So we're better than we were, but the problem is the fertilizer that we're supposed to go through did not. And so we might have a food shortage, and certainly people financially are going to have a shortage of being able to purchase food.

[00:16:59] It would be really important if you have a homeless shelter, if you have a pregnancy resource center, if you have a church, obviously. These are some opportunities to maybe connect up with Shawnee and learn what you could do in your own community because there are many ideas, and it's obvious that you've been thinking creatively about how to do this. Yeah, we would be able to help them because you talk about the possible impact of what's happening in the world right now.

[00:17:27] And what we always kind of like to say is we've found creative ways not only to grow fresh food, but to grow it in and impactful and amplify the yield of it, right? And that's really what we're looking for. And so there's ways to do that. And if you go to independencegardens.org, we would be more than happy to connect with you to kind of help either your church or your school to start growing that fresh food and to really start not only feeding your children in your schools, but start feeding your communities as well.

[00:17:56] And, again, we have that link to independencegardens.org. As you go there, you're going to find a number of things in terms of some of the different organizations that have helped sponsor that, and that may be something you could think about. We even have the school lunch pack, and, of course, what you've been doing for some time. You even had something that was kind of a fun little piece that you did, what was called Food Fight. So you could take some of these ideas that they've used in Dallas, and you can use them in your community. Talk about that for just a minute.

[00:18:25] So Food Fight is really a fun way for us to get third, fourth, and fifth graders who are eating school lunches every day. They're the ones that are the decision makers. And so what we did was this is actually going to be happening September 17, 2026, and we will be showing this live on social media. That is our North Texas Giving Day event. And what it is is we have two chefs competing to create a school lunch meal for $5.

[00:18:52] And why we do $5 is because the reimbursable rate of, let's say, a school is roughly $4.60 right now. But if you really take all of the costs, you're seeing about $1.75 in food costs. And I always ask parents if that's enough for you to feel like your child is getting the optimum meal, then we don't have to have this conversation. But in a lot of the cases, it's not. And so what they're doing is they're turning some of that food into processed food,

[00:19:20] and so it's really counterintuitive. Right. So we challenge the chefs to say, hey, can you create an absolutely fresh meal for $5, and let's have third, fourth, and fifth graders be your judge. It's a CHOP style event. And we get really honest feedback. And so what we saw in Food Fight is that the kids will always say, can I have this in my school, and why doesn't my chicken nuggets taste like this?

[00:19:49] And then we have parents saying, if my child ate food like this every day, I would send them to school to eat there every day. Yes. And so that's really the feedback. So we are in no way thinking that Food Fight is going to solve school lunch in the country, but we need to start having that conversation, and we need to start involving the students that's actually eating the food. It's really easy for adults to make decisions for kids,

[00:20:15] but all of a sudden they're throwing 80% of their food away, and that's billions of dollars in waste that we're doing every year. Yes, just a big waste. So that's kind of what Food Fight is. And so we would appreciate it. It's as small as $5 will actually kind of get us to our overall goal of impacting about 1,000 students here in Dallas-Fort Worth, and we're going to be in 10 schools.

[00:20:42] But our program is free for anybody across the country. You just have to reach out to us. And because some of our partners like Fidelity and Sun Life Health have been really generous in the last couple of years, so we're able to really provide our programming for a lot of schools across the country. Very good. Again, Shani, Richie with us. You can find out more at our website, pointofview.net. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll get into some more of this,

[00:21:08] but take these ideas and make your community better and make it healthier, especially for the students in the public schools and even in the Christian schools. We'll take a break. Come back with more right after this. At Point of View, we believe there is power in prayer,

[00:21:36] 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. 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.

[00:22:02] 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, 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.

[00:22:31] Visit pointofview.net and click on the banner Pray for America right there at the top. That's pointofview.net. Let's pray together for God to make a difference in our land. Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:53] 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. Back once again, let's see if we can, focus a few minutes just on perhaps one of the more controversial issues,

[00:23:23] I guess is a good way to put that, and that is the issue of data centers. Now, again, if you've already made up your mind, well, you can ignore what I'm going to say for a few minutes, but I thought this was a very good piece put together by the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. But I recognize that this has become so controversial that it's at least, I think, helpful to put some of the facts on the table. And the illustration of this I can find in my own community, because right now you have two individuals, leaders in the Republican Party,

[00:23:53] with two different positions on data centers. Donald Trump has really been beating the drum for data center development and really warning Americans that if we don't embrace the technology, especially AI technology, we're going to be left behind, and that will be dangerous in terms of the kind of development that China is developing. On the other hand, in the state of Texas, the governor, again,

[00:24:19] in the largest state run by a Republican, Greg Abbott, has actually staked out a more cautious position, issuing a moratorium. And I have in front of me here a survey that was done by our friends at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. They found that nearly half of Texas Republican primary voters, that is 47%, almost 48%,

[00:24:42] actually strongly support or somewhat support a total ban on data construction in their local communities. So, you know, this is already an issue where there's a great deal of division. But I think, if nothing else, it would be incumbent upon us to keep bringing the facts. I've given you some point and counterpoint in the past. This piece that came out from the Wall Street Journal, I think, is well done in terms of helping us understand

[00:25:11] that maybe there's an overreaction, you think, over data center panic. And that's the title of it. So, again, the question the editors asked was this. Can the U.S. political system meet the challenges of a rapidly changing age? The answer is far from certain. And the latest evidence for pessimism is the election year panic over data centers. They point out that the centers look a lot like large warehouses.

[00:25:36] If you've ever been by one of them, they are certainly important in terms of not only artificial intelligence, but let's just be honest for just a minute. If you use a smartphone, you are certainly linking into some of these data centers. If you use a Google search, you are. Now, there is a difference, and this article doesn't go into it, but I have done the research, and I've seen enough of the research to point out that it's one thing to do a Google search.

[00:26:04] It's quite another to do an AI search. Almost ten times the energy is necessary. So we're in a competition. Like it or don't like it, right now we are, because of the president and because of China. And we're in an AI competition with China. And the argument from the editors is that China won't quite be the benevolent force if they are able to get ahead of us on AI.

[00:26:31] And without the energy and data centers to power it, our safety and prosperity will be compromised. So they're arguing that this has become quite an election issue. And the backlash has been, I think, very interesting, because the editors point out that originally the reaction to the data centers came from the left. For example, Bernie Sanders now wants a nationwide halt on new data centers.

[00:26:59] But if you go to the state of Ohio, and we have listeners up there right now, Sherrod Brown is really trying to make an issue of the recently appointed Republican, John Husted, and you can see for our listeners in Illinois, that originally the governor of the state of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, was really at one time really courting data centers. Now he's really kind of turned his back on that. For our listeners in Pennsylvania, again, let's use a good example,

[00:27:29] Governor Josh Shapiro actually has quite a lead right now. I don't think his reelection is even up for grabs. But nevertheless has issued an executive order restricting the development of data centers. So here I've picked a couple of Democrats. But, of course, I just mentioned a Republican. And that would, of course, be the governor of the state of Texas. And so you can kind of get the sense that this has become a big issue.

[00:27:56] And Governor Greg Abbott in August paused new construction pending a completed statewide audit, citing concerns about that, and even blamed some of the AI firms. He said they basically dug their own grave for the problem they've been caused for themselves. And that's why this is the backlash they deserve. And the editors, I think, wisely point out, and this is a point where, again, I look on both sides of this issue, that the AI industry has,

[00:28:24] and they say, I would agree, hurt its own cause, because what they did sometimes is fuel all sorts of anxiety about the fact that AI would lead to mass unemployment. We've talked on this program before that any time somebody mentions artificial intelligence at a graduation ceremony, there are just this round of boos that come from some of those college graduates. And AI developers have also, they said,

[00:28:53] failed to explain how data centers would benefit their local communities. I'm going to go back to that in just a minute. But nevertheless, that is part of the issue. And right now, there's some politicians, both on the left and on the right, both in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, that are kind of running scared. Now, let's put this in some perspective. If you want to take some notes, we have right now, in this country, 5,400 data centers, 5,400 data centers.

[00:29:22] I'm going to talk about some of them in just a minute. But these are, right now, the backbone of the Internet. Even if we didn't develop another one for people to say, we don't need data centers, yes, we do. Because that's what gives us the Internet. That's what powers the apps on your smartphone. That's what allows you to do Zoom meetings.

[00:29:43] And those then also allow you to have, as they point out, online food deliveries, video streaming, instant retail, stock trading, on and on and on. If data centers went dark, so would the modern economy. Now, again, I don't hear anybody saying, let's close down the ones that we have in Oregon, the ones we have in Washington, the ones we have in Loudoun County, Virginia, the ones we have here in the state of Texas.

[00:30:07] But you also have people very hesitant about wanting to develop any future ones. And the issue is some of these new large-scale data centers are really going to be necessary to train and run the AI models. And that's more than just chatbots that you've used on your phone. Again, I've got to tell the story.

[00:30:35] There is right now a senatorial candidate in Massachusetts, and Senator Markey won, hands down. But if you've ever watched some of the videos, in one of the debates, somebody asked about whether or not the senator had used chatbots like Claude or ChatGBT. He had no clue what we were talking about. Of course, he's 80, and if he wins re-election, probably will in Massachusetts. He will be 86 by the time he ends.

[00:31:00] And his challenger, who is also a member of Congress, but a congressman, was saying, you know, Mr. Senator, we need to have some people know what a chatbot is, need to know something about AI, and you do not at age of 80. So, nevertheless, that's a story I thought I would just inject into this real quickly. And, of course, we need these in many cases. But what are the benefits? Few people talk about that. Let me pick on our friends in Virginia.

[00:31:29] We have data centers right now in Loudoun County, Virginia. That's kind of known as Data Center Alley. And they point out that if you got rid of those, homeowners would need to pay an additional $5,800 more in property tax for the same government services. I know the other day we had a guest on that was from Virginia saying, my price for electric bill went up. You know, well, it went up because it's going up all over the country.

[00:31:57] But it didn't go up because of the data center alley. It probably prevented that as well. Teachers, I'll use the one from Louisiana, in the Richland Parish there, received a bonus of $50,000 thanks to tax revenue that came from Meta's AI data center. Okay, what about pollution? Well, there is some CO2 emissions, but most of that comes from the natural gas plants that power them, not from the data centers. And what about water?

[00:32:26] Well, again, data centers now are much more efficient in recycling wastewater and water. Microsoft's new data center, which they developed right there in Wisconsin. I know Microsoft's in Washington, but this one in Wisconsin uses about, this is around numbers, of only four Olympic swimming pools of water each year. Half as much as a car wash.

[00:32:51] As a matter of fact, they say these data centers use a fraction of the kind of water used on a golf course. So, if nothing else, there are going to have to be some compromises, some negotiations. But a lot of these data center developers are learning that when they come into a community, they're going to talk about all the benefits they want to provide. Whether it's roads, whether it's a hospital, whether it's school, whether it's funding or something like that.

[00:33:20] And nevertheless, I wanted you to see that this whole issue of data center panic might be overplayed. And yet, we'll keep looking at these facts and figures and information. But if you have at least an open mind, let me encourage you to read this three-page well-written piece by the editors of the Wall Street Journal on data center panic. We'll take a break, come back with more right after this.

[00:33:59] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Well, as we wind down today, let me just mention tomorrow we're going to talk about this idea of deportation and some of the things that Tom Homan has actually accomplished that you probably would not know about if it weren't for this very good article by Rich Lowry. We're going to talk also about what we can do to help those people that have been affected by the flash flood in Nepal.

[00:34:25] We talked about that the other day, but we're going to go back to our good friends in a different place at Send Relief, where some of you, of course, wanted to pray for those individuals. But if you wanted to make a gift, we wanted you to know about that. But our second hour is going to be spent with our good friend Lathan Watts. He is with Alliance Defending Freedom. He's written about some religious liberty issues. He's written about the WNBA. He's talked about this whole issue of censorship, and we might even get to a very good piece he wrote

[00:34:54] about the theology behind the Declaration of Independence. So I think you will really appreciate the conversation with him, and he'll be in studio with us in the second hour tomorrow. Let me, if I can, wind down with what I like to do so often is to get mighty sort of a 30,000-foot view, and that comes oftentimes from our good friend Victor Davis Hanson. He's been on the program with us before, but I thought this piece, which is five pages long, there's no way I will cover all of it, not even going to try.

[00:35:23] But it has the title Progressive Regression and the New Middle Evilism. In other words, he says that in some respects the medieval world or the dark ages or the middle ages is something in the past, but there are places in this country that are starting to look like it again. He says,

[00:36:15] Yet, meanwhile, science advanced, he says, quietly among the true elites in universities, courts, and monasteries, producing windmills, mechanical clocks, eyeglasses. Sophisticated crossbows were manufactured in great number. Large multi-cell warships were built that could cross the narrow seas. Some of history's greatest literature, Dante's Divine Comedy, Chaucer's Canterbury Stales, St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica,

[00:36:44] were all products of the medieval mind. And even to this day, he says, dumbfounded at the architectural genius and beauty of the colossal cathedrals in Cologne and Florence and Milan and Paris, Rome, and Seville. Yet, after the collapse of the classical world, Western civilization still needed a millennium to recover even a modicum of its lost knowledge and technology.

[00:37:13] Centuries passed before the Renaissance saw hygienic principles of sewage systems, aqueducts, and waste disposal, not to mention medical expertise of classically trained doctors and scientists. Now, here's where he makes the turn. He said, yet our progressive, regressive modern West is now suddenly becoming something that resembles the medieval age.

[00:37:39] With one important caveat, after centuries of so-called progress, we should know better. Our mounting urban filth, dangerous streets, resurgent diseases are juxtaposed with brilliant revolutions in artificial intelligence, bioengineering, robotics, satellite technology, spaceflight, and cancer research.

[00:38:02] Unlike their counterparts in the medieval fiefdom, our officers and officials know how to stop disease, crime, and filth, but apparently choose not to. Their neglect grows out of a sick ideology that divides the world into the blameworthy oppressors and the blameless oppressed. The victim is always right and must be championed, at least from a distance or as long as he doesn't show up smelly on your doorstep.

[00:38:29] We have just experienced a tribal invasion of millions of impoverished foreigners swarming across the southern border until the belated resumption of border wall construction, medieval style, and the deployment of detested patrols who try bravely to stop them. We'll talk more about that tomorrow.

[00:38:49] So it is technically illegal for people to camp out on public sidewalks or on someone's property unless they do so in such numbers that it paralyzes city officials who then have to look the other way. He goes on to, and it's pretty gross, but okay, defecation, urination, fornication, drug injection, and now just routine spectacles on our sidewalks.

[00:39:14] Whether you walk up and down the streets in Los Angeles or Berkeley, California, which allow its streets and sidewalks to become almost medieval, should we be surprised that there is an outbreak now of medieval diseases like typhos and in all sorts of other diseases, some of which I can't even pronounce. Just unbelievable. And today's mares will not stop rats from breeding.

[00:39:42] In New York, some of the richest people in the world sidestep rancid piles of rat-infested trash. In San Francisco and Chicago, some of the world's greatest cancer researchers check their shoe soles for you-know-what before entering their space-age labs. Weirder still, he says, the Western world has become both the most regulated and most lawless civilization on the planet.

[00:40:10] On the one hand, of course, you have state environmental detectives to visit industries to ensure that nothing can be removed or released from that particular factory or industry, which even has one part per billion of a toxic substance.

[00:40:28] At the same time, you have all sorts of microscopic traces of dangerous toxins that are bubbling in pools of sewage at the treatment plants. And yet, under cover of darkness, you even have masked city workers checked out and decked out in hazmat suits, rubber boots and gloves,

[00:40:50] with high-pressure hoses to blast, and you can imagine all the things they're getting rid of, into the storm drains. But then, of course, it goes into the storm drains, and it goes into our sewage treatment plants, or it goes into our rivers, lakes, and our oceans. And in the modern West, one billionth of a part of Roundup is a threat to civilization, but tons of feces on city sidewalks is not.

[00:41:19] Of course, the theory is that the law-abiding are monitored to the nth degree, and the society itself has simply turned a blind eye to the lawless. Well, he goes on to point out many of the other problems. One of those is that we have told ourselves that we want to make sure that anybody driving an 80,000-pound double-trail behemoth,

[00:41:43] which is as potentially dangerous as a T-Rex, as a big rig, will actually be able to handle that. But on the other hand, we've had more than 20,000 illegal aliens that have been able to obtain commercial driver's license. And so, as a result, just begins to point out just the rank absurdity of some of the things that are happening in our society.

[00:42:10] It is, to borrow from Charles Dickens, the best of times and the worst of times, a time in which we say we're concerned about the environment, and at the same time in which we turned a blind eye to the degradation of the urban environment because of homelessness and all sorts of actions that are taking place there. Incredible peace. And just a reminder again, this crazy world that we find ourselves in. And again, it's the last of our articles,

[00:42:40] The West and the New Medieval World That We Find Ourselves In, by our good friend Victor Davis Hanson. That's all we have for today. I hope you will join us tomorrow, especially looking forward to a series of very good articles by Lathan Watts in our second hour today. As always, I want to thank Megan for her help engineering the program. As well, Derek, thank you for producing the program. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View.

[00:43:14] Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Those are the words of President Ronald Reagan, a staunch defender against socialism. Sadly, too many Americans have failed to educate this generation about the dangers and failures of socialism. Surveys show that a majority of young Americans hold favorable views of socialism. And here's what's really surprising.

[00:43:43] More than a third of churchgoers prefer socialism to capitalism. How can we prevent freedom's extinction? It's up to patriotic Americans like you, those who believe in the existence of truth, to band together and defend freedom's legacy. Thankfully, there is a team dedicated to doing just that, the truth team. And we have a spot for you. Join us in defending freedom's legacy.

[00:44:13] Learn more by visiting pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151. That's pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.