Radio America Online News Bureau

Archives for February 2017

Three Martini Lunch 2/14/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss why the problems surrounding former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn should have been seen long ago and avoided.  They also discuss former Dem Sen. Jim Webb ripping Democrats for having no message and catering to identity politics instead of appealing to the working class.  And they react to Elon Musk’s prediction that we all have to become cyborgs or else risk being irrelevant due to the major advances in artificial intelligence.

Share

‘We Need to Anger the Chinese’ to Stop North Korea & Iran

by

North Korea will pose a nuclear risk to the United States within a few years and stopping the threat means realizing North Korea and Iran are two components of the same threat and getting tough on China is the key to stopping both of them.

Gordon Chang is widely seen as one the world’s leading experts on China and North Korea.  He is the author of “The Coming Collapse of China” and “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World.”  He says this past weekend’s North Korean test of an intermediate range missile needs to be a call to awareness and to action.

“The North Koreans and the Iranians have been thick as thieves.  This is one program conducted in two separate locations.  When we add in China’s participation in this, we’ve got to look at this as a whole, not just the separate pieces,” said Chang.

Chang says no further evidence is needed than to note the Iranian missile test which made worldwide headlines last month was actually conducted with a North Korean missile.

Officially, China is condemning the latest North Korean provocation, but Chang says Beijing is is doing that largely to sooth the rest of the world.  He says China is notoriously duplicitous when it comes to North Korea.

“The Chinese have consistently been helping the North Koreans develop both nukes and long-range missiles.  We see Chinese banks involved in money laundering for North Korea and involved in North Korea’s illicit commerce.  Chinese entities have been selling things like uranium hexafluoride and components for the North’s uranium weapons program,” said Chang.

“If Beijing wanted this to stop, it would.  It hasn’t been,” added Chang, who says the Chinese are equally deceptive on the diplomatic stage.

“We see China rhetorically supporting sanctions and then turning around and busting them when the world isn’t watching.  So I don’t think the Chinese are genuine in what they say in New York (at the United Nations),” said Chang.

North Korean provocations in the past 20 years are often followed by a familiar pattern of condemnation and sanctions.  Yet, since the failure to stop North Korea’s nuclear ambitions in the 1990s, little has been effective at getting the regime to change course.

Chang says it’s time to get serious with China.

“One thing we could do is unplug Chinese financial institutions from the global system because of their participation in North Korea’s illicit commerce.  That would shock markets but we’ve got to show Beijing that we are serious,” said Chang.

While carrying economic and diplomatic challenges, Chang says the move would gut the nuclear threats emanating from both North Korea and Iran.

“It certainly would but we have not had the political will to do that.  But if some American city ends up to be a radioactive slab, it will not do for the president to say, ‘Well, I could have stopped this but I didn’t want to anger the Chinese.  We need to anger the Chinese because we need, first of all, to protect our homeland,” said Chang.

Chang says are obvious things China could do to show it was serious about stopping the North Korean nuclear program, but like other efforts, Beijing must be closely monitored.

“If we saw commerce between North Korea and China drop to zero, that would be an indication that Beijing is serious about this.  After the next to last sanctions on North Korea, which were in March of last year, there was a brief fall-off in commerce in April and May.  After that, everything went back to pre-sanction levels.  So that is a pattern,” said Chang.

Chang also advocates the financial strategy against China because it’s clear that softer diplomacy is a massive failure.

“Yes, we’ve had diplomacy intended to disarm the North Koreans but we have not seriously pursued it with the vigor that it requires.  That’s why the North Koreans now have nuclear weapons and are on the verge of being able to mate them to their longest-range launchers.  Clearly, our diplomacy over the course of decades has failed,” said Chang.

That’s right.  Chang says the North Korean missile program is making great strides in recent years, regardless of the failed tests that tend to make headlines.

“When they have a test which fails, they learn a lot, so it’s not necessarily a setback.  We know that within 3-5 years, they will be able to have an intercontinental ballistic missile which will be able to reach most of the lower 48 states, and they’ll be able to mate a nuclear weapon to that,” said Chang.

“Right now, they have the launchers.  They have the distance.  They just don’t have the ability to mate a weapon to a long-range launcher,” said Chang.

Standard Podcast [ 7:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 2/13/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America groan as trust issues arise around National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.  They also discuss the latest North Korean missile launch and whether there is a good strategy for confronting Kim Jong-Un.  And they shake their heads as liberal comedian Sarah Silverman mistakes utility line markings as swastikas, just the latest episode in SJW hysteria.

Standard Podcast [ 16:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

‘I Don’t See A Floor Under This Elevator’

by

A new survey detailing the extent of casual sex among singles shows many are having intimate relations before the first date, a development that can be blamed in part on technology but leads to tremendous regret and permanently damaged relationships.

This week, the dating service Match released a new survey on sex and singles conducted by Research Now.  Included in the data are the revelations that 34 percent of singles have had sex before a first date and that millennials are 48 percent more likely to have sex before a first date than all other generations of singles in order “to see if there is a connection.”

In a USA Today story on the survey, sex therapist Kimberly Resnick Anderson suggests millennials have inverted the relationship process, using sex to determine if they want to pursue anything further with that person.

“We used to think of sex as you crossed the line now you are in an intimate zone, but now sex is almost a given and it’s not the intimate part.  The intimate part is getting to know someone and going on a date,” Anderson is quoted as saying.

Ruth Institute Founder and President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse says the discrepancy between millennials and other singles is that the older ones know better.

“The reason older generations are not [having sex before a first date] is because they have figured out already from experience that this is not a good idea.  What we’re doing is just one generation of young people after another are having to figure out for themselves that hopping into bed with somebody is a lot more complicated and potentially hurtful than we’re led to believe by the media and stories like this one,” said Morse.

Morse also says smartphone apps for the explicit purpose of casual sex are contributing to the trend.

“It’s a new thing when you having dating apps or casual sex apps on your cell phone and you can find out if there’s somebody close by who wants to have sex with you.  That’s a new thing,” she said.

“The desire to be sexually active has been with us forever obviously, but this way of going about it and the way the culture is pushing people towards sex without any kind of intimacy or friendship, that is something new and, I think, uniquely destructive,” said Morse.

Morse calls surveys like this and their positive portrayal in the media “cheerleading for the sexual revolution.” But despite the glamorous and enticing portrayal of casual sex, she says it comes with many consequences, including the attachment people are specifically not looking for.

“What you learn from experience is that your body has a tendency to attach to the person you have sex with.  If it doesn’t attach, often times what we have done is we are separating ourselves from our bodies, we’re anesthetizing ourselves,” said Morse.

She also says the surveys and the pop culture leave out other aspects of the hook-up culture.

“One thing they don’t talk about here is the roles of alcohol and drugs in casual sex.  What one can see in other kinds of surveys is that when people decide they’re going to do completely anonymous sex like this, it isn’t unusual for people to get themselves completely plastered before they do it,” said Morse.

“That should tell you it’s not as much fun as it’s cracked up to be.  That’s something that I’ve been hearing from college students for quite a while,” said Morse.

It’s not just college students who have regrets.  The Ruth Institute has begun what may be a one-of-a-kind program called “Tell Ruth the Truth,” which invites people to share the impact that casual sex has had on their lives.

“What we’re trying to do is get away from this message of airbrushing away all the problems and allowing people space and time to say here’s what really happened.  ‘Here’s how I really felt after casual sex.  Here’s the next step after the first time you have that kind of encounter and then you get kind of swept away in it and are having one encounter after another and they’re not really satisfying you.  Here’s where that leads,'” stated Morse.

She says her work shows that personal stories resonate best with young people.

“I think millennials particularly want to hear stories.  They don’t care for data.  All these numbers aren’t going to touch them one bit.  But if someone who is 35 years old stands in front of them and says, ‘This is how my heart was broken by doing what you’re standing there thinking about doing.  They just might listen to that,” said Morse.

Perhaps worst of all, says Morse, is the long-term damage casual sex inflicts on future efforts at meaningful relationships.

“The results of sex are bonding and babies.  That’s the natural biological result of sex, bonding and babies.  If people don’t know how to bond with one another, they’re going to have trouble creating lasting, stable relationships for when they do finally want to have babies.  Then they’re not going to be ready to really care for their children and give the children the kind of security and attachment that they need,” said Morse.

She says impact of poor bonding is also is also felt by the children.

“The kind of damage that’s going to happen to children of people who can’t form relationships is really hard to predict just how bad that can be.  Honestly, I don’t see a floor under this elevator.  We’re still going down,” said Morse.

Standard Podcast [ 9:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 2/10/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are thrilled to see Tom Price confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services.  They also discuss the numerous problems with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Trump immigration order.  And they slam CNN’s Chris Cuomo for asserting that accusing a journalist of fake news is the equivalent of using the N word.

Standard Podcast [ 14:12 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

‘Making Decisions Based on What the Law Says’

by

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says the confirmation of Jeff Sessions means we will once again have a Justice Department that follows the law and he says the way Democrats treated Sessions could mean fewer of them in the Senate after the 2018 elections.

After eight years of Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch running the Justice Department, Cuccinelli says Sessions will be a breath of fresh air.

“Simply making decisions based on what the law says would be a radical change at the Department of Justice, as would the appearance of justice,” said Cuccinelli, who served four years as the top law enforcement official in Virginia.

While hoping to see many changes compared to the Obama years, Cuccinelli says one of Sessions’ top goals should be to stop federal agencies from granting themselves power that the law does not grant them.

“They have to stop backing up executive agencies, including the department itself, in expanding the law.  They need to focus on containing government within the law.  That includes everything from silly stuff like transgender bathrooms being covered by gender discrimination all the way up to agencies attempting to create new regulatory arenas for themselves and this vastly increase their power,” said Cuccinelli.

President Trump has already talked about his desire to roll back the ability of the government to grab more power.  But Cuccinelli says that effort really needs to be rooted at the Justice Department.

“The legal oompf for all of that comes from the Department of Justice and having Sessions there – someone who’s committed to the rule of law and to reining in the federal government and not using it to exercise power – is going to be a very welcome change,” said Cuccinelli.

One specific area Cuccinelli expects to see great improvement in is the Justice Department’s relationship with law enforcement.

“These are people going to bat to protect you and me who have not had the back of the government.  Frankly, it’s been the opposite.  They’ve had to worry about getting prosecuted just for doing their job.  That day is over thanks to the ascension of Jeff Sessions as the attorney general,” said Cuccinelli.

However, Cuccinelli reminds Sessions and all Americans that attorney general is different than every other cabinet position.

“When it comes to matters of policy, the attorney general does what the president wants.  When it comes to matters of law, the attorney general does what the law dictates regardless of what the president wants,” said Cuccinelli.

“As opposed to what we’ve seen for the past eight years, I am confident that Sessions is going to be an attorney general who is actually going to uphold both sides of that deal for the American people,” said Cuccinelli.

On Wednesday, Sessions was confirmed by the Senate on a 52-47 vote.  Only Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, crossed the aisle to back Sessions.

The confirmation process featured heated debate, including Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that Sessions should be rejected for his record on race and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was booted from the debate for allegedly disparaging Sessions in her floor speech.

Cuccinelli says the vitriol coming from Democrats is telling.

“They’re playing to a rabid left-wing base that is wildly out of touch with just ordinary Americans,” said Cuccinelli, who says the Democrats never found substantive reasons to oppose Sessions.

“There’s just nothing that they can point to other than generating their own allegations for complaints.  He is a nice guy.  He is an intelligent individual.  He believes what he believes and that is somewhat different than the lefties there.  Nonetheless, the way he conducts himself even in those situations has never given any of them cause for complaint before,” said Cuccinelli.

He believes Booker and Warren lodged their fierce protests for the sake of their own self-promotion.  He notes Booker recently lavished praise on Sessions in public after they worked together, but then turned and accused Sessions of being racially biased.

“I don’t care what the project is.  If I think you’re a racist, I will never stand next to you and tell the world what a great guy you are,” said Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli is also president of the Senate Conervatives Fund, which recruits and contributes to conservative U.S. Senate candidates.  The group has frequently clashed with establishment Republicans and the national party, but right now Cuccinelli sees great opportunities as Democrats have to defend the vast majority of Senate seats in 2018.

“I fully expect Republicans to gain seats.  The only question is how many.  The biggest targets of them all are going to be Democrats in states that President Trump won,” said Cuccinelli.

Three years after narrowly losing the governor’s race in Virginia, Cuccinelli will not be a Senate candidate against Tim Kaine in 2018.  However, he believes the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee is vulnerable too.

“This is an eminently winnable state and Sen. Kaine has really accomplished nothing and has become more radicalized, certainly much more so than the average voter in Virginia, than his time in the Senate,” said Cuccinelli.

Standard Podcast [ 10:10 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 2/9/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss a good day for judicial conservatives as Neil Gorsuch distances himself from some of Trump’s tweets on the judiciary, the Senate confirms Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General and Sen. Tim Scott exposes the racist messages he got for supporting Sessions.  They also cringe as Tucker Carlson suggests Elizabeth Warren would have defeated Donald Trump.  And they slam Kellyanne Conway for blatantly promoting Ivanka Trump’s products in a national television interview.

Standard Podcast [ 19:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 2/8/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are pleased to see nine Senate Democrats claim to want an up or down vote for Judge Gorsuch.  They also applaud Missouri passing right to work legislation but wince as opponents may be able to stall the law from taking effect for almost two years.  And they scold President Trump for tweeting about Ivanka’s battle with Nordstrom.

Standard Podcast [ 13:44 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Brat: Tax Reform Must Come First

by

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are pushing party leaders to speed up work on major legislative priorities and stay committed to their campaign promises, but one key member says the effort should begin with tax reform and not Obamacare.

As the first 100 days of the Trump administration tick by, conservative lawmakers are urging leaders in the House and Senate to get going on their vows to repeal and replace the Obama health care law and jump start the economy with significant tax reform.

Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., shot to conservative stardom when he topped then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 congressional primary.  A former college economics professor, Brat says getting tax reform done first and done right are at the top of his priority list.

He says news that top Republicans plan to address health care and infrastructure before the tax code is a mistake.

“That is hugely concerning.  I taught economics for 20 years.  That is piece number one, without which I can’t vote for anything else,” said Brat.

Specifically, Brat wants to see a major reduction in the corporate income tax rate and immediate expensing for business.  He says that is the key to getting the economic engine humming.  He says experts who helped to craft the 1981 Reagan tax cuts, such as Arthur Laffer, see those provisions as they keys to explosive growth, wage growth and job creation.

“He said that is consistent with eight percent wage growth, four percent GDP growth for the country and eight percent wage growth for a country that has not seen the average guy have their wages increase for 30 years,” said Brat.

He says getting that right will set the stage for everything else.

“If we don’t get that piece, we will not be able to afford any of the rest of it.  That has to come first.  It’s got to be in writing.  It’s got to be in stone or I can’t go along with the rest of it,” said Brat.

As for Obamacare, conservatives have two growing concerns: moving more quickly to advance legislation and pushing hard against some GOP leaders who now seem willing to work within the framework of Obamacare than to repeal it in full.

Brat says part of the current delay on legislation is due to the Senate slow-playing the confirmation of Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to be the nest Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The congressman says President Trump has made it clear that is the key to revving up the reform effort.

“A few weeks ago, he said, ‘Look, once Price is in that slot, then we’re going to move at lightning speed.’  So I think that’s what you can realistically hope for.  Once Price [is confirmed], boom, the plan comes out and we run with it.  I think it’s going to be surprisingly good,” said Brat.

“I don’t think it will be perfect.  I’m not a big fan of tax credits because you can bid those up forever,” said Brat.  “But it will not be Obama-lite from what I’m hearing.”

An aggressive approach in the House, however, may run into hesitation from Senate Republicans, who seem more willing to work within the existing framework of Obamacare.

“The Senate has made it clear they’re OK with tweaking Obamacare and repairing the existing broken system.  I obviously think that’s the wrong way,” said Brat.

Brat says Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., is coming to rally the GOP members to stand strong on campaign promises to repeal and replace Obamacare.

“[Walker] says, ‘Once you start reform, you can’t backtrack.  Once you take out one leg of the stool, which we already have done – Trump has already done some of the repeal by regulatory fiat.  Once we start down that road, we’ve got to conclude it.  I think (House Speaker) Paul Ryan is going to to come out and make that clear in the next few days,” said Brat.

Brat says the tinkering approach cannot work.  He points out that the typical family on just a bronze plan is saddled with a $12,000 deductible just to get access to the health care system.  As a result, he says it’s putting even greater financial pressure on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veteran’s programs, which are now headed towards insolvency faster and faster.

The congressman says the current system bends the cost curve up by 20 percent for Americans.  He says the only responsible approach is to bend the cost curve to zero in order to spare those programs and give younger Americans a fighting chance of actually seeing some of those benefits.

“We’re growing (the cost curve) at 20 percent now.  Bending the cost curve down doesn’t mean you grow at 10 percent or five percent.  It means you shrink the cost of health care to zero.  That’s what you’ve got to do just to maintain balance.  That doesn’t reduce costs.  That just keeps them from growing more in the out years.  So we’ve got some heavy lifting to do,” said Brat.

Standard Podcast [ 8:14 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 2/7/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to the Senate confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education.  They also sigh as the Trump administration gets bent out of shape over the Saturday Night Live spoofing of Press Secretary Sean Spicer.  And they learn about the man angling to become the Democratic nominee for governor in Florida.

Standard Podcast [ 18:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share